At 5-0-0, Washington is one of two unbeatens Playing perfect hockey is an elusive task this early in the NHL season. And, really, it would be a pointless endeavor anyway. In the end, the Capitals will be judged on what they accomplish in April, May and maybe June.
But a good start remains critical. And despite some uneven play early this season, Washington finds itself with a perfect record after a 3-0 shutout of the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night at Verizon Center.
Marcus Johansson scored 4 minutes, 24 seconds into the first period and teammates Alexander Semin and Jason Chimera added tallies of their own as the Caps wore down a tired Panthers team that had played a game on Monday in Tampa Bay and didn’t arrive in the District until around 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
Washington is now 5-0-0 and one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the NHL — the other is the Detroit Red Wings, Saturday’s opponent at Verizon Center. The victory sets a new franchise record for most consecutive wins to start a season.
“We’ve got 10 points,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said when asked what 5-0 means to his team. “Quite frankly, when it comes to April and May I’m not going to be able to sit here and say, ‘Hey, we were 5-0. We got that record. Isn’t that great?’ It’s not going to really hold a lot of weight. So it’s nice, but it’s just the process of getting to where we want to get.”
Washington dominated puck possession in the first period. And Florida looked like a team that arrived in the wee hours after a game and a long flight. The Caps outshot them 11-2 in the first period and had a 1-0 lead on Johansson’s third goal of the season. Given space to the left of 21-year-old rookie goalie Jacob Markstrom — a fellow Swede and good friend — Johansson slipped a shot under the rookie’s pads. It was a power-play goal with assists to Nick Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin.
The game marked the return of forward Matt Bradley, who played six years for Washington before signing as a free agent with the Panthers over the summer. Before the game, Bradley again apologized for critical comments he made about former teammate Semin in an Aug. 17 interview with Ottawa radio station Team 1200.
“People who know me know that’s not my style. I’m not that kind of guy,” said Bradley, who shared a hug with Semin after the game and apologized in person. “As soon as I said it I knew I shouldn’t have said it. For whatever reason I had a mental lapse and all I can do now is apologize and move forward because I can’t take what I said back.”
Bradley played 13:04, took 18 shifts on the fourth line and finished a minus-1. Another former Caps player, Tomas Fleischmann, started on the Panther’s top line and recorded two shots on goal in 28 shifts (21:24 ice time). Fleischmann was traded by the Caps to Colorado last Nov. 30.
