The new-look Washington Capitals aren't to be taken lightly, and reminded the league of that as they dominated the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes in their season opener on Friday.
Alex Tuch led the heavyweight Capitals with two goals, and Logan Thompson shined en route to a big 5-2 win.
Here are all the takeaways from D.C.'s dominant victory to open the 2026-27 campaign.
From the moment the puck dropped in Raleigh, coach Spencer Carbery made the most of his newfound depth, prioritizing quick shifts and rolling all four lines right from the jump, leading to minutes going down across the board for more productive utilization (though not much time was spent at 5-on-5).
It paid off as each line continued to gel, building momentum and going hard on the forecheck. Ultimately, the first to benefit from it was newcomer Alex Tuch and his heavyweight line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Tom Wilson.
Tuch struck twice, with both of his goals coming at the net front. His first came after Brandon Bussi misplayed the puck behind the net, and his second came after he buried a loose puck that made its way to the crease. On both goals, Dubois was the one initiating the turnover and getting the puck to Tuch's tape, as he finished with two assists.
The 30-year-old, who inked an eight-year contract with Washington as part of a sign-and-trade this summer, led the way with two goals, but ultimately set the tone as D.C. dominated offensively at 5-on-5.
Cole Hutson got on the board, too, as he jumped up in the rush and buried a feed from Ilya Protas following a long, productive shift full of chances for the third line. Then in the second, just eight seconds after Sebastian Aho finally got the Hurricanes on the board, Ryan Leonard crashed the net and tucked a pass from Dylan Strome past Bussi to restore the team's four-goal lead.
Ultimately, the Capitals' four lines were able to continue to mesh and generate a number of chances and good pressure at even strength, and they also did a good job in the neutral zone while forcing Carolina to make quite a few mistakes and cough up the puck over the course of the night.
That said, coach Spencer Carbery probably wanted them to play more time at 5-on-5, though they didn't fare the worst on special teams, either.
In the second, Washington really got to run through its special teams, as it not only got a power-play chance, but started to get a bit loose with penalties, putting them on the PK often.
Jakob Chychrun, with his unit featuring Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson and Pierre-Luc Dubois being first over the boards on the man advantage, got the power play on the board early from point position as he buried a feed from Strome, who helped the team get set in the zone.
The Capitals got another power-play look in the third, where the team got to see more movement and some different looks while both units got time.
The entries even looked different, with Alex Ovechkin moving to a different spot off the entry on the first unit and the second unit benefiting from Kyrou when it came to establishing the puck in the zone. D.C. ultimately went 1-for-2 and got some good looks.
On the other side of the special teams battle, Washington had to spend quite a bit of time shorthanded, as the team lacked discipline as time went on and got a bit careless with penalties.
The Capitals took a total of six penalties, including four in the second alone, and the kill went 5-for-6 as Boone Jenner, Tom Wilson, Alex Tuch, Aliaksei Protas and more stepped up to shut things down, block shots and clear the puck out of the zone.
A lot of credit also goes to the blue line, who stepped in front of quite a few shots; at all strengths, Matt Roy led the way with five blocks, while Martin Fehervary had four and Vincent Desharnais had three.
While Washington's offense busted out for quite a few goals to pad the lead, Logan Thompson played a major role in getting two points for D.C., as he appeared in mid-season form in his first game of the year.
Thompson was strong between the pipes, relying on his instincts and showcasing his quick reflexes, agility and post play to shut down high-danger chances from the likes of Andrei Svechnikov, Nikolaj Ehlers and more.
The 29-year-old finished the night with 31 saves on 33 shots (.939 save percentage), and the ones that got past him were hardly his fault, with one being a nice backdoor play on the power play and the other being a redirect in front.
The Capitals' newest additions all had impressive games in their first regular-season outing for the team, from Alex Tuch to Boone Jenner.
Tuch had two goals and looked strong on his line, and Jordan Kyrou, playing with the Protas brothers, helped that line maintain good possession and generate some good looks in the offensive zone. That line led the way with an expected goals-for percentage of 91.32 at 5-on-5.
Jenner, meanwhile, ended up taking most of the draws when the fourth line was out there, as he led the Capitals in face-off percentage as he went 13-for-17 in the dot (76 percent). He and his fourth line with Justin Sourdif and Anthony Beauvillier also led the way and shut things down and took good care of the puck.
On the backend, Vincent Desharnais shined as he played 21:15 minutes, the second most on the team, and posted a plus-2 rating while picking up three hits and three blocks. He also logged the most minutes at 5-on-5 and played a major role on the penalty kill, and his pairing with Cole Hutson led with an expected goals-for percentage of 72.47.
- Matt Roy led the Capitals with 22:29 minutes of total ice time.
- Pierre-Luc Dubois and Dylan Strome were two of Washington's strongest players on the ice over the course of the game, making some smart heads-up plays at both ends of the ice. Both had multi-point nights with two assists, as did Jakob Chychrun with a goal and assist.
- Alex Ovechkin had an assist on Tuch's game-opening goal, moving him within four assists for passing Nicklas Backstrom for the most helpers in franchise history
