Washington Capitals: Match ratings from Weeks Eight and Nine

Another two weeks saw the shorthanded Washington Capitals put in their most impressive body of work so far this season.

After splitting four games in Week Seven, Week Eight saw the Washington Capitals have another quartet of matches on the schedule. The odds were not really in the team’s favor, as they had to play the week without the injured Evgeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie or Brooks Orpik.

However, Braden Holtby returned this week and helped lead the team to four wins against the surprising Montreal Canadiens, the red-hot Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers on a back-to-back, in addition to a Thanksgiving Eve date with the Chicago Blackhawks.

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The Capitals followed that up with a much lighter week of work in Week Nine, but the winning streak continued. They finished up their road trip with a win in Brooklyn over the New York Islanders, then came home to defeat the New Jersey Devils.

With the Thanksgiving deadline I have been talking about now in the past, the Capitals sit in a familiar spot in first place in the Metropolitan Division. The next big milestone to keep in mind is the All-Star Game in January, which should provide a clear picture as to what teams are in control.

With that being said, let us take a look at Weeks Eight and Nine for Washington, with regards to both the team’s performance as well as entertainment value. By this point, some of the patterns of how the team has played have become apparent, and there were some fun games as well.

While I would like to branch out the scope to more teams, I am unfortunately only able to watch Washington Capitals games with any consistency, so these articles will only look at those games. Without further ado, let us look back at these last two weeks for Washington!