The Washington Capitals secured an early lead on Saturday night against the New York Islanders, and they sure needed it.<\/p>\n
Martin Fehervary kicked us off early, assisted by Alex Ovechkin. Aliaksei Protas followed with his first goal of the season after some strong forechecking.<\/p>\n
In the second period, Ryan Leonard scored his first NHL goal against an actual NHL goalie. Protas doubled his goal total with an unassisted breakaway against Tony DeAngelo, who \u2014 surprise! \u2014 he\u2019s in the NHL again. The period ended with Anthony Duclair, a.k.a. the good Tony, beating Logan Thompson seven seconds into a power play.<\/p>\n
Enter the third period. Matthew Shaefer, looking like a problematic Twitch streamer, scored his first NHL goal, but it took almost ten minutes of review to deem it so. The Caps survived the ensuing delay-of-game penalty for losing the challenge and held on to win.<\/p>\n
Caps beat Islanders 4-2!<\/p>\n
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More Info<\/a><\/p>\n Every October I get obsessed with stat nerds\u2019 projections. The Islanders finished sixth in the division last season with 82 points. The most optimistic projection for them in 2025-26 is four points better. Have fun, fans! Then again, the defender was Tony DeAngelo. Back. #joebsuitofthenight<\/p>\n \u2014 RMNB (@rmnb.bsky.social)<\/a> 2025-10-12T00:05:43.959Z<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m not mega enthusiastic about the Capitals\u2019 play through two games, but I\u2019m mega enthusiastic about the Capitals playing again in general. It\u2019s good to see Joe B and Locker, it\u2019s good to see Ovechkin, it\u2019s good to see overpassing on the power play, it\u2019s good to see the Caps half-assing the back half, it\u2019s good to see them giving a rookie his first NHL goal, it\u2019s good to see a goal review that took as long as \u201cAll Too Well<\/a>.\u201d Actually, never mind, a lot of those things are bad, but complaining about hockey is good because we get to do it together.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s do it together again tomorrow night, as the Capitals take Manhattan.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t
\nBut Matthew Schaefer, defender and 2025\u2019s first overall draft pick, looks real sharp. I don\u2019t fully understand how his goal counted after the hand pass<\/a>, but even the very wise cannot see all ends. It was also unfortunate that Jakob Chychrun hit the young star with a flying elbow in the second period. If Shaefer didn\u2019t deserve his goal, the Caps surely deserved to get scored on for the elbowing penalty.
\nAliaksei Protas had the 8th highest shooting percentage among forwards last season, so that\u2019s what haters cite when they predict he\u2019ll disappont this year. But Pro had two goals on Saturday night, so haters can shut up. The second was unassisted and looked like this:<\/p>\n
\nThe Caps were wearing their blue helmets in this one. I think they look just fine, but I don\u2019t have any taste for hockey jerseys. And I don\u2019t understand other people\u2019s tastes either. Every uniform in every sport is kinda garish. Who are we kidding?
\nRyan Leonard scored his first real NHL goal, a patient wrister set up by Chychrun and deflected in by some Islander\u2019s stick. Leonard\u2019s technically first NHL goal was fake, against an empty net, on the night of 894<\/a>. Leonard also had a great defensive pokecheck to break up a rush play. I\u2019m excited for his season.
\nChallenge: Tell a non-hockey person that the Islanders have a pairing of guys called Pelech and Pullock. They will not believe you.<\/p>\n