Nov. 2 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets at Capital One Arena

Time: 5:00 p.m

TV: MNMT

Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7

Columbus Blue Jackets (5-4-1)

Washington Capitals (7-2-0)

The Caps are on a five-game home ice winning streak and will complete a three-game home streak late Saturday afternoon when they face Columbus in the first of four Metro Division games this season. Saturday's game also marks the start of a series of back-to-back metro weekend games for Washington, which will travel to Raleigh soon after facing the Jackets. The Caps will face Carolina for the first time this season on Sunday afternoon in North Carolina's capital city.

Three weeks into the 2024-25 season and with games looming on Nov. 15, things are looking mostly rosy for the Capitals. They won seven of their nine games in October and looked like a much different team than the one that advanced to the postseason in the final seconds of the 23-24 regular season finale last April.

While last season's Caps struggled to score – especially early in the season – this year's model has been scoring consistently right from the start; They have scored four or more goals in six of their first nine games. The Caps have scored three goals in one period seven times this season; It took them 25 games to achieve the same feat in '23-24.

“We’re generating more,” Caps coach Spencer Carbery said of the eye-opening uptick in offense. “Our (offensive) zone time is significantly higher than last year, so we're trying to threaten the net more. We do a lot of things that lead to more shots and more (offensive) zone time — and at the end of the day, if you keep accumulating that, you're going to generate scoring opportunities and hopefully finish. And we succeeded.”

They actually have. In nine games last season, the Caps scored 17 goals, only ten of which came at 5-on-5. This season, they have scored 37 goals in their first nine games (their average of 4.11 per game is fourth in the NHL), 26 of which have come from 5-on-5 play and 29 from balanced play.

It has been over 30 years since an NHL team increased its preseason scoring output by 20 or more goals in just nine games of a season. In 1992-93, three different teams managed to win in the same season: Boston, Buffalo and Quebec.

“We’ve been pretty consistent so far,” Caps winger Tom Wilson said. “And in this league, consistency is huge – it’s everything. After losing a game, you have to make sure you get back on the horse and do the right things again, pull the next game our way and keep moving forward.”

The Caps have succeeded so far. After losing their opening game on October 12th, they won five times before suffering another defeat. After Thursday's 6-3 win over the Canadiens, the Caps now have two wins since their second loss.

In the win over Montreal, six different Caps scored points, including Wilson and Alex Ovechkin. Wilson's goal ended Washington's six-game power play drought and was part of Gordie Howe's first career hat trick, in his 763rd NHL regular-season game. Ovechkin's career goal tally rose to 858, putting him 37 fewer goals than Wayne Gretzky (894) for the NHL's all-time record.

The gun suppression in Washington also continued; the Caps have had fewer than 20 shots on goal in consecutive games; It is the first time they have done this in just over nine years (October 17-20, 2015). For the first time since October 9-17, 2003, the Capitals have limited opponents to fewer than 20 shots on goal three times in five games.

Only once in franchise history have the Caps managed to limit their opponents to fewer than 20 shots on goal in three consecutive games. This took place February 2-7, 1995, at the start of the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season.

Montreal managed just 16 shots on the Washington goal on Thursday, and although the Habs enjoyed more than 10 minutes of power play during the game, they only fired three pucks at Caps goaltender Charlie Lindgren with the man advantage.

“They stressed us out,” Carbery said of the Canadiens’ power play. “And give us credit, whether it was a last-second stick or a shot block from one of our guys to stop the shot.”

The Capitals will catch Columbus at the end of a string of back-to-back games. The Jackets hosted Winnipeg on Friday in the finale of a three-game homestand, and Saturday's game at District opens a five-game road trip for Columbus. The Jackets head west after Saturday's game; They will spend the next week playing in California and Seattle.

On Friday night in Columbus, the Jackets tried to accomplish what Washington is aiming for on Saturday: a three-game home win. After alternating losses and wins through the first seven games of the season, the Blue Jackets defeated the Oilers 6-1 on Monday and defeated the Islanders 2-0 on Wednesday.

The high-flying Jets proved too much for the Blue Jackets on Friday; Winnipeg improved to 10-1-0 on the season with a 6-2 win. Nikolaj Ehlers had a hat trick and four points to pace the Jets' attack, which scored two goals in each period.

Like the Capitals, Columbus initially had a home-heavy schedule and has only played three away games so far this season (1-1-1).