First 8 Caps goals during 2021 season show balanced scoring originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
New Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette's start behind the bench saw seven different goal scorers net the team's first eight goals to start the 2021 season. To make that pleasantly surprising statistic even more startling: Alex Ovechkin hasn't even joined in on the fun yet.
Jakub Vrana is the lone player to notch multiple goals during Washington's back-to-back games against the Sabres. Vrana capitalized off a costly defensive turnover to score in-tight on Thursday before once again scoring a well-placed shot in stride on the break to open the Capitals' scoring on Friday.
Oddly enough, Vrana was again the only skater to produce multiple goals through Washington's first two contests last season. Washington netted five times in their opening two wins during the 2019-20 campaign, as opposed to eight times through two games in 2021.
Nicklas Backstrom scored the Caps' first goal of the 2021 season before T.J. Oshie, John Carlson, and Garnet Hathaway joined in on the fun. Defenseman Brenden Dillon even scored his first goal as a Capital on Thursday night before becoming just the third undrafted defenseman in NHL history to appear in 600 games on Friday night.
In Washington's 2-1 win against Buffalo on Saturday night, Tom Wilson notched his first of the season after some great forechecking. Wilson called his own number and rifled the puck to the same location that Vrana managed to score with, right over Buffalo goaltender Linus Ullmark's right shoulder.
While Buffalo's defensive and goaltending talent were always in question heading into the 2021 campaign, it's still impressive the way in which Laviolette's offense has all joined in on the fun.
