Vegas Golden Knights vs. Washington Capitals Pick & Prediction OCTOBER 15th 2024
Preview and Prediction
The Vegas Golden Knights are no strangers to a strong start to the season, while the Washington Capitals once again find themselves trying to bounce back from a loss in their opener.
On Tuesday night, the Golden Knights will be looking to extend their streak of 4-0-0 starts to a second consecutive season when they face off against the Capitals.
This is not the first time that Vegas has come out of the gate strong. In the 2023-34 season, they won their first seven games and had an impressive 11-0-1 start. This year, their offense has been on fire, scoring a total of 15 goals and converting on 3 of 9 power play opportunities. Leading the way is Jack Eichel with seven points, but he is not alone as nine other Golden Knights have at least two points in the first three games.
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"We've been getting some great opportunities," said veteran Tomas Hertl, who scored the game-winning power play goal in Sunday's 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, in an interview with NHL.com.
Vegas' early success has all come at home, but now they will be hitting the road for their first three away games.
"Having three home games to start the season, you want to take advantage of that," said Golden Knights forward Brett Howden, who scored his second goal of the season on Sunday. "We've been building our game each period and we're feeling confident, but there's still a long way to go. It's a good sign and now going on the road, we want to continue that and keep it going."
Even though the Golden Knights lost to the Capitals in five games during the 2018 Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, they have a strong 9-3-0 record against them in regular season games.
Former Capital Ilya Samsonov made his debut for Vegas on Sunday, making 22 saves. However, he may be replaced by Adin Hill, who is looking to improve after allowing seven goals on 54 shots in the first two games.
For the third year in a row, the Capitals lost their season opener. John Carlson scored the first goal of the game and added an assist on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils, but the Capitals found themselves down 4-2 after two periods and couldn't come back, ultimately losing 5-3.
"We did some good things and some bad things," said veteran Capitals forward Tom Wilson, who also scored on Saturday. "It's the first game, so we'll take what we can from it and regroup."
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Washington's star player, Alex Ovechkin, recorded an assist in his 20th NHL season opener on Saturday. In total, Ovechkin has eight goals and four assists in 16 games against Vegas, including playoff games.
Charlie Lindgren, who stopped 28 of 32 shots against the Devils, may be replaced by former Golden Knight Logan Thompson, who could make his Capitals debut on Tuesday.
Thompson was acquired by Washington in a trade over the summer and had a solid record of 56-32-11 with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage in 103 games over the past four seasons with Vegas. He is looking for a fresh start with the Capitals after sharing the net with Hill for the past year and a half.
"I'm just really excited," Thompson told The Hockey News. "I couldn't be happier to be here."
Eichel has had success against the Capitals in the past, with five goals and 13 assists in 21 career games against them.
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Washington Capitals
Nicklas Backstrom scored twice, and Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and an assist as the Washington Capitals defeated the visiting Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 victory Saturday night.
Backstrom scored both of his goals in the third period -- the final two goals of the game and last into an empty net. Tom Wilson and Jonas Siegenthaler each also scored as Washington won its sixth consecutive game.
Jakub Vrana and John Carlson both added two assists as the Caps are on a 10-0-1 roll, earning points in 11 straight games.
Goalie Braden Holtby earned the win with 30 saves and has gone 7-0-1 in his last eight games.
These two teams met in the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals, which Washington won in five games. But this is the first time they've played since Dec. 4, when the Golden Knights beat them 5-3.
The Capitals started quickly Saturday when Dmitry Orlov made a pass that sprung Kuznetsov on a breakaway, and he beat goalie Marc-Andre Fleury 58 seconda into the game.
Washington kept the pressure on and made it 2-0 after a Vegas turnover in its own end that Vrana sent over to Wilson. The big winger quickly fired one past Fleury 5:53 into the first period.
The Golden Knights answered when Max Pacioretty scored from in front just under nine minutes in. Vegas won a draw, and the puck rolled over to Pacioretty, who put it into the net.
Washington and the Golden Knights traded goals in the second period. Siegenthaler scored his first NHL goal -- and even grabbed the puck off the ice moments later with 4:28 left.
Then, Reilly Smith notched his 10th goal of the season, a power-play score just under two minutes later to cut the Knights' deficit to 3-2.
But Backstrom gave Washington some insurance on a power-play goal with 8:30 remaining in the game. His goal snuck between Fleury's left arm and body and dribbled into the net for a 4-2 lead.
Backstrom's empty-net goal came in the final minute.