Washington Capitals: Match Ratings for December

A great final month of 2018 wrapped up the best calendar year in the history of the Washington Capitals, and put the team in a strong spot heading into next year.

When we last checked in on the Washington Capitals, they were riding high as November came to a close, having won their last seven games in a row. Buoyed by the return of Tom Wilson, the Capitals looked as good as they had all season.

With the final month of the year coming up, it was yet to be seen whether the team could maintain their high level of play going forward. After all, teams such as the Detroit Red Wings have already seen long winning streaks undone by inconsistent play thereafter.

So how important were the games that Washington played in December? Which ones should be remembered at the end of the season as key turning points or indicators of the team’s performance? Or, which games were so fun that they can be rewatched time and time again?

As I have mentioned in previous iterations, that is the purpose of these articles. Perhaps the patterns that are obvious here will still be relevant come next spring. Or maybe one of these games is just so fun that it must be rewatched. Hopefully, this article helps with that decision.

If you have followed this series of articles this year, you would notice that they were normally done on a weekly basis. I decided to try something new this time, by doing a monthly wrap with less detailed write-ups for each game.

Instead, one or two games every week that I believe are very important will be spotlighted and analyzed. The other games will be awarded performance and entertainment ratings, but will not be discussed. If you disagree with any of the scores I give, let me know in the comments!

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 December for Washington!