2024-25 NHL regular season thread

Halfway point for a bunch of teams. I think I'm OK to start getting really excited about this Caps squad?

Five points up in the Metro (with two games in hand on the second-place Devils). Every damn move that McLellan made in the offseason seems to be hitting. PLD has been great. So has Chychrun. Carbery has unlocked the cheat codes for McMichael and Protas, who clearly struggled with Laviolette's unwillingness to stick with young guys. Strome has been a beast. Ovechkin is Ovechkin, even with six weeks lost due to injury. He seems energized by the young guys. Raddysh and Mangiapane have contributed. The only miss so far seems to be Roy, who has dealt with his own injury problems and can get better in the second half. The Thompson/Lindgren rotation has been fantastic in goal. Yes, I realize this team hasn't won a playoff series since hoisting the Cup in Vegas seven years ago, but I'm optimistic that they can keep it up.

Oh, and Ryan Leonard is sitting there at BC, ready to jump in after the college season ends and maybe he can make a Cole Makar-like splash as a third-line wing down the stretch?

Most fun team Washington has had in a long time. No surprise that Carbery is -215 to win the Jack Adams. He's a stud.

 

Lord. Has it really been seven years?

 

Wings go for seventh consecutive victory this afternoon hosting Seattle.
Jackets beat St. Louis 2-1 last night for their fourth straight win.
Been an enjoyable couple of weeks on this front.
Still pondering about going to the game at Ohio Stadium.

 

Wings score three goals in the first 6:16.

 

CBJ going for its sixth straight win versus San Jose. Lead 3-0 after two having out-shot the Sharks 27-7.

 

Love the Blue Jackets' sweaters for the Stadium Series. Don't hate Detroit's, either.

Speaking of, what the hell happened to the Red Wings? They figure out they may be pretty decent?

 

Jackets win 4-1, at least temporarily moving to the first wildcard in the East.
No one would have predicted that.
Wings nice bounce-back 5-2 victory against Florida after stumbling against the Sharks two nights ago.
Good night at the Liut compound.

 

I did not have Caps-Sens 0-0 into OT with Ovi potting the winner tonight. Yeesh.

Also, pregame, Ovi last goal was +900, which is an interesting bet considering how many empty netters he had. First goal, last goal, whatever. This team is so much fun right now.

 

Oh Sabres. Can't you go more than five seconds without humiliating yourselves?

 

Nice deep dive on the Capitals here.

Inside the Washington Capitals' stunning retool on the fly around Alex Ovechkin

 

Went to my second VGK game of tge season yesterday, capping off a birthday weekend trip. First game I've been to that went OT. That was five minutes of really intense play. The shootout was almost a letdown.