Washington Capitals disappointed in a 5-3 season-opening defeat

The Washington Capitals slipped to 0-1 on the young NHL season following a 5-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils (2-1) in the home opener at Capital One Arena over the weekend. The Devils are already a few weeks into their season thanks to a season-opening European trip where they claimed two wins over the Buffalo Sabers in Czechia.

Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals had a full week off since their last preseason game against Boston. Alexander Ovechkin and the Caps faced a difficult mountain to scale thanks to the NHL schedule makers. That is a challenge every team will face at some point during the grind of an NHL campaign. 

Season-Opening Game Action

The on-ice action in this weekend’s opening night loss for the Washington Capitals did not match the pomp and circumstance that comes along with a 50th NHL season celebration. The Capitals held a first-class pre-game event for Alumni and fans, however, when the puck dropped it was apparent that only one team had NHL periods under their belt this season. 

John Carlsson struck first on the power play for Washington before the Caps conceded two unanswered goals from New Jersey. Dylan Strome scored 32 seconds into the second period to tie things up, but a quick response from the Devils returned the lead to the road squad at 3-2. New Jersey center Paul Cotter scored his second goal of the game late in the second frame. Tom Wilson scored 1:35 into the third period to make it a one-goal contest, but the Washington Capitals were unable to net the tying goal before Dawson Mercer’s empty-netter sealed the season-opening defeat for the Caps.

Washington Capitals Three Stars

Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlsson was the best player on the ice for the Caps in the season opener. Carlsson, 34, skated over 24 minutes and scored the first goal of the Washington Capitals regular season in 2024-25. Carlsson provided an assist on a second-period Washington goal. Dylan Strome was the Capitals second best player finishing with a goal and an assist in over 20 minutes of ice time. Due to his milestone assist on Strome’s second-period goal, Alexander Ovechkin receives the final gold star for the season-opening loss. 

The official Three Stars of the Game were New Jersey’s Paul Cotter and Eric Haula in the first two spots. Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson claimed the third star of the game.

Ovechkin NHL History Watch

Entering his 20th NHL season for the Washington Capitals, Alexander Ovechkin will be watched closely by everyone in the building for the remaining 81 games of the NHL regular season. With each game played and statistic accrued, “The Great 8” climbs higher in the all-time NHL record books. 

Alexander Ovechkin already holds many NHL records such as the most power-play goals in NHL history. With a healthy season, Ovechkin can climb into the top 25 of the all-time games played list in NHL history. Ovi currently sits at 1,427 games played and needs 57 more contests to tie Rod Brind’Amour for 25th place with 1,484 NHL games played. Next on the list would be none other than Wayne Gretzky with 1,487 contests skated in the National Hockey League. 

Washington’s generational superstar recorded an assist in the 5-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. The helper was the 698th of his legendary career and tied him for 60th in the NHL history books with NHL Hall-of-Famers Brendan Shanahan (2013)  and Dave Andreychuk (2017). Ovechkin is 2 helpers shy of 700 assists in his NHL career.

Ovechkin’s next chance at history comes when the Washington Capitals (0-1) battle the Vegas Golden Knights (3-0) at Capital One Arena on Tuesday night.