WASHINGTON, DC \u2014 Seven games into his first full NHL season, Ryan Leonard looks like he\u2019s getting his sea legs. Leonard notched his fourth Capitals goal against the Seattle Kraken on Friday, getting another tally on the board two days after launching a comeback against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Leonard, 20, became the youngest player in team history to record a multi-game goal streak since a 20-year-old Nicklas Backstrom did so in March of 2008, per the Capitals<\/a>.<\/p>\n Per @NHLPR<\/a>, Ryan Leonard (20 years, 273 days) became the youngest Capitals player to score in consecutive games since Nicklas Backstrom (2 GP from March 3-5, 2008 at 20 years, 103 days).<\/p>\n \u2014 Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) October 22, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n After a busy start to his NHL career last spring, Leonard\u2019s confidence is growing as he gets into the rhythm of the regular season.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019s great,\u201d Leonard said postgame. \u201cPlaying with great players, so a lot of credit to them. Yeah, definitely feel a lot better, and each and every shift gets better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n Leonard\u2019s night began on a less auspicious note when he took a high stick to the nose from Aliaksei Protas during his first shift of the game. He left the ice in visible pain, but after receiving attention from head athletic trainer Jason Serbus, his main focus was on how soon he could rid of the plugs meant to stop the bleeding.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first period I was playing with those two suction thingies in my nose,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cI hated it. So I was trying to get it out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n His first shift of the second period proved more fruitful. Less than a minute after the faceoff, Protas poked the puck away from Kraken defender Adam Larsson on a zone entry, delivering it right to Leonard\u2019s stick. Leonard fired a quick shot from the high slot to beat goaltender Matt Murray.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just a quick transition play,\u201d Leonard said of the goal. \u201cI was in the middle and then passed it up to Pro. It wasn\u2019t the best of passes, and then he chased it down pretty good, and he used that long reach to his advantage and got to me in the slot.\u201d<\/p>\n Leonard now has three goals \u2014 including two game-winners \u2014 in the first six games of the season, a far cry from the 18 games (including playoffs) that it took him to score the first non-empty net goal of his NHL career. While head coach Spencer Carbery acknowledged there were still some unpolished aspects to Leonard\u2019s game, his underlying talent has shone through.<\/p>\n \u201cHe continues to do the things \u2014 every game, he\u2019s doing 3 or 4 or 5 or 6, right around there, really elite things,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s carrying a puck through the neutral zone, whether it\u2019s shooting a puck in the neck, whether it\u2019s attacking one-on-one and ringing one off the bar. Those are unique to not his skillset, but just how good of a hockey player he is at this level. And he can do things that other guys can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n After Pierre-Luc Dubois took Leonard under his wing early in his career, Leonard got to learn from another relative veteran on Tuesday in Protas, who joined Leonard and Justin Sourdif on the Caps\u2019 third line. Protas, 24, is still a young player himself, but Leonard told reporters that Protas served as a guide to him and Sourdif in their first game together.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d he said. \u201cThose are just two unbelievable players. Me and Sourdy are a little bit younger in the league, and Pro was really helping us out tonight, so they\u2019re both great.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond the obvious signs of success, Carbery highlighted how the smaller details of Leonard\u2019s game have also continued to develop. He told reporters during the preseason that he wanted Leonard to focus less on his pure scoring output<\/a> and more on the process. Now, both areas have improved.<\/p>\n Carbery noted that he doesn\u2019t expect instant perfection, but if Leonard\u2019s development path continues, he can become a serious threat in the NHL for years to come.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other little things inside of his game, his coverage reads, his puck decisions, his wall play, it\u2019s just slowly getting better,\u201d Carbery said postgame on Tuesday. \u201cAnd that\u2019s all that we\u2019re looking to do. We know it\u2019s going to be a process. We know he\u2019s going to have tough touches at certain points and missed coverage during games, and that\u2019s part of developing in the National Hockey League as a young player. And we\u2019re just looking for progress, right? Just a few less failed wall plays, a few less missed coverage.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd sooner or later, in game 40 or 50 or game 70, you\u2019ll start to get to a point\u2013 or maybe it\u2019ll take a couple years \u2014 to be that fully, fully polished NHL player. And then you combine that with the skill set that he has, and he makes a few more of those plays, and you\u2019re a good player.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t