JUNKIES: Coach Carbs breaks down a couple emotional notes from Capitals' first win of 2024-25
A big 4-2 win for the Capitals Tuesday night gave Washington their first W of the season, and saw Alex Ovechkin become the 60th player in NHL history to notch 700 assists and sixth with 700 goals and 700 assists.
Ovi had a pair of helpers on the Caps’ second and third goals, but the first one they got was just as historic: Jakub Vrana, on his first shot of the season, scored his first goal at Cap One on 1,316 days, ironically against the same Vegas team he helped the Caps beat to win the Stanley Cup years ago.
That chance came about from something the team was stressing after their season-opening loss: Andrew Mangiapane making a play in the corner to create a turnover, leading to the point.
“It sort of set the table for our night overall, them creating that turnover, and a great finish, too; it’s one thing to set up a chance, but we needed that early goal to get the building to come alive and get some confidence in our group,” Carbery said. “A great play to start it.”
And, some special significance on that goal, on a night that the late Johnny Gaudreau was honored with a banner in the rafters in Columbus.
“On that goal…Andrew was very close to Johnny, I think they were roommates coming up in the Calgary organization, and he was a pallbearer at his funeral,” Carbs said. “For Mangiapane to make that play and then pass it to V, who wears 13 – which was Johnny Gaudreau’s number – just a great play.”
On the other end, Logan Thompson got the start against his former team and stopped 24 of 26 shots, which had to feel good coming just months after the Golden Knights sent him to Washington for a pair of draft picks after he requested a trade following a playoff benching.
“Some guys play into it and some guys play it down, but there’s no doubt; it’s one thing if you leave in free agency and sign somewhere else, but it's another thing if you're traded, just because a trade is a trade,” Carbery said. “Usually you're acquiring some type of asset in return, which you're what you're trying to get, but you're also saying, like, we don't need your services anymore, and that there's no way a player doesn't think about that in the back of their mind when they're going up against a former team. I thought LT did a great job of channeling it last night, because he’s a really fiery competitor with some emotion and animation to him. I love his fire, but you can be a little bit worried if he’s gonna be able to just be under control and calm when he's trying to make his saves and going through his progressions. I thought he did a tremendous job last night of staying in the moment and doing what he needed to do, and he made some big saves in timely moments for us to hold on to that lead.”
And as for the overall Caps offense that Carbery said last week was ‘a work in progress’ but has seven goals in their first two games?
“We’re doing a way better job; I think there’s still areas that we can continue to grow and get better at, but overall, especially last night, one of our better games I would say offensively since I've been here, against a really good team,” Carbery said. “To be able to do that offensively against them, control play, O-Zone time, scoring chances, shot attempts, all those offensive metrics that we're trying to improve, was a really good step. Still early, but we want to just continue to build on that, and replicate that tomorrow night against Dallas.”
Take a listen to Coach Carbs’ entire visit above, which touches on Vrana’s return, the adjustments they made from Game 1 to Game 2, Ovi’s latest record, and more!
