While the Caps wait for their shooting percentage to regress (and it likely will somewhat, including on the PP), it's worth noting it may not come from the players you'd expect. Guys like Strome, Pro, Chychrun have regressed to perfectly reasonable Sh%; last year, not this one, was the outlier.(1/2)

I sent out this part of the quote because of the line about "Players will get here that can shoot the puck in the net," which raised my eyebrows. Here's the full answer from Carbery, just for maximal context

Spencer Carbery on a frustrating stretch for the Caps: "The process isn't going to change just because we're not scoring goals. That's just not how it works. Eventually, pucks should go in and players will get here that can shoot the puck in the net. That's all you can trust."

Ryan Leonard hits the post, then the Caps recycle possession and Rasmus Sandin turns another point shot into a goal. Not sure if that hit Leonard or if it's Sandin's. Either way, 5-3

Nic Dowd takes four minutes worth of penalties and the Panthers score again with 45 seconds left in Dowd's double minor (of sorts, it was two separate penalties actually). 5-2

Can't turn it over to Sam Reinhart on the edge of the crease. Not a good strategy. 4-2 Florida

3-2. Justin Sourdif gets his second goal as a Capital, and one that will mean a lot to him against his former team. One goal game with 19:08 left

Caps take a too many men penalty immediately after a penalty kill, and give up a goal. 3-1 Panthers with 5:19 left in the second

2-1 Florida. Off Thompson's glove and in

Lol, obviously I meant 1-0. Had Duhaime's three-game goal streak on the brain!

3-0 Capitals. Who else but Brandon Duhaime? This is getting hilarious, in the best possible way

Chychrun is taking a spin during the TV timeout. Was hobbled after blocking a shot but looks okay now

Jakob Chychrun is heading down the tunnel after being slow to get up

Spencer Carbery is a sucker for a good story, which often means he'll put someone in the starting lineup if they're playing against their old team, in their hometown or reaching a milestone. It also means that at least once a week I go, "Wait, what is this line?" before I realize

No lineup changes for the Caps tonight in Florida. Logan Thompson starts in goal and Declan Chisholm stays in on defense.

Playing in the NHL is a pretty charmed life. But being a 20-year-old rookie on a team that expects to win every night, while a dream come true, isn't always easy. I had a long chat with Ryan Leonard on adapting, finding his game and figuring it all out: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Caps make it official that Patrick Wellar, who has been on the staff on a temporary basis all year, will remain as a permanent assistant to Spencer Carbery. His role is to work with the defensemen

Dylan Strome on tonight's win: "Analytically I think that we’re a really good team, from what it’s shown through the first 15. But it’s nice to get results, obviously. "You try to tell 20 hockey players that you’re great analytically, but you’re .500. It doesn’t go so well."

Alex Ovechkin hits the empty net, and the Capitals are going to win in Raleigh for the first time in almost two years.

Freddie Andersen appeared to be staying in the game after being slow to get up after getting run over by Jordan Staal, but Kochetkov is in net now. Maybe a pull by the spotter for Andersen

There's a review of a would-be Carolina goal, but official review from Toronto determines that the puck never fully crossed the line. It was sitting on the goal line but stopped with about a fifth of it still on the red — huge bounce for the Caps. Still 3-1

3-1 Capitals on a power play goal for Jakob Chychrun in the low slot. Set up by a shot from Ryan Leonard that Andersen saved, rebound went right to Chychrun for the finish

2-1. Ehlers scores for Carolina off a rebound at the side of the net

2-0 Capitals. Dylan Strome off the rush, against the run of play early in what had been an all-Carolina second period so far

Huge time in the game for the Caps to get back-to-back PKs. The kill has struggled this year, but that was a really big sequence with several of their best PKers in the box and all the energy in the building going Carolina's way. They hang on to lead 1-0 through 20

Minors on Dowd for goalie interference, Fehervary for roughing and Protas for roughing. Fehervary and Stankoven each get five for fighting. Andersen also got a minor for roughing, so it's a 5v4 power play for Carolina

As a brawl broke out behind the net, after Nic Dowd hit Freddie Andersen, Logan Thompson got ever closer to the red line. Andersen noticed him and tried to go, but the officials intervened before they could. Yet another almost-goalie fight snuffed out by people who hate fun

1-0 Capitals. Two goals in two games for Brandon Duhaime, sure why not

First time in a long time that the power play hasn't drained momentum for the Caps. They didn't score, but that had way more connection than anything they've done since the St. Louis game

Lines for the Caps tonight here in Raleigh: Beauvillier-Strome-Ovechkin Protas-McMichael-Wilson Lapierre-Sourdif-Leonard Duhaime-Dowd-Frank Fehervary-Carlson Chychrun-Roy Chisholm-Sandin

Logan Thompson starts in goal for the Caps tonight in Raleigh. Declan Chisholm will draw in on defense in place of Trevor van Riemsdyk; no other changes to the skaters

Logan Thompson had little contact with Team Canada last year, and the relationship was strained. Now, after a phone call from Kyle Dubas and some "really positive" conversations, things are in a different place for the Caps goalie ahead of the Olympics: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Pierre-Luc Dubois had surgery on Friday to address injuries to his abdominal and adductor muscles, the Caps announced this morning. He’s expected to miss three to four months.

Logan Thompson took responsibility for Tampa’s third goal. He said it looked like Hagel sort of fanned on it, so he made a mental mistake and got handcuffed on the shot. This was the first time this year he’s given up more than two goals.

John Carlson ties the game at 2-2. Slapshot from above the circle off the zone entry went under Vasilevskiy's arm, he thought he had it squeezed, and it dropped and trickled past the goal line. Hilarious goal but they all count the same

Logan Thompson just headed toward the bench with no weight on his left leg after getting bowled over inside his net. But everyone can stand down on their concern, it's just his skate blade. Getting it fixed now

Predictable storyline for the Caps, at this point. They were by far the better team at five-on-five in the first period, but gave up a goal on the penalty kill and couldn't score on the power play

2-1 Tampa. Hedman's point shot clips off the inside of Jake Guentzel's knee at the net front and goes in

1-1. Way too easy for Tampa on the rush against the Sourdif line, Lapierre loses a trailing Emil Lilleberg and he has a slam-dunk look from the low slot

1-0 Capitals. Ethen Frank makes a good play into the zone, finds Brandon Duhaime from behind the net and Florida Man Brandon Duhaime finds a tiny window over Vasilevskiy.

Lines for the Caps in Tampa, with Justin Sourdif at center and Ethen Frank back in: Beauvillier-Strome-Ovechkin Protas-McMichael-Wilson Lapierre-Sourdif-Leonard Duhaime-Dowd-Frank Fehervary-Carlson Chychrun-Roy Sandin-TvR

Now that he’s feeling much better, Ethen Frank agrees that his collision with Mikko Rantanen in Dallas — can’t even call it a hit from Rantanen, Frank just ran into him and went down — was funny. “I found out the hard way why they call him Moose,” Frank told me.

Spencer Carbery says Sonny Milano will come out of the lineup tonight for the Caps and that they’ll have some roster moves to make this afternoon. Appeared based on the skate that Ethen Frank will draw in; he needs to be activated from IR to play. Logan Thompson in net.

The jersey was for Malkin. Ovechkin and Malkin swapped jerseys after the game. So Crosby just came to say hi, it seems

Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby just met up outside the visitor’s dressing room here in Pittsburgh. Exchanged a hug and looked like Ovechkin is giving a jersey to Crosby.

Bryan Rust puts Pittsburgh back on top with a power play goal. Special teams have been the Caps' undoing tonight

Charlie Lindgren has been slow to get up from the butterfly a few times tonight and just had a conversation with head trainer Jason Serbus before he left the ice

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Tom Wilson ties this game at 3 with 3.6 seconds left in the second period.

Or maybe not a momentum killer for the Caps. Rasmus Sandin gets his first goal in a long, long time and it's 3-2 again. This one will count

No goal. Play was offside. Back to 3-1, and a momentum killer for the Caps.