Caps beat Blues 6-1: Wilson gets two, Ovi gets 900, Binnington gets the hook

The Washington Capitals lit up the St. Louis Blues six times in a raucous win on Wednesday night. And somewhere in the middle of it Alex Ovechkin scored his 900th goal.

Our first goal was Washington’s first power-play goal in five games, with Tom Wilson deflecting John Carlson’s shot.

Next, in the second period, Alex Ovechkin put a blind backhand behind Binnington to become the first player in NHL history to embarrass Jordan Binnington on Wednesday night. Not the last. Anthony Beauvillier then used Ovi as a decoy to make it 3-0. A fadeaway goal from John Carlson was all Blues coach Jim Montgomery needed to see, pulling Binnington for future HOF-er Joel Hofer. Beauvillier scored one more time before second intermission came.

Alexey Toropchenko scored a shorthanded goal early in the third period to snap Logan Thompson’s shutout and make the Caps PP look bad some more. Tom Wilson shook it off, teaming up with Ds Sandin and van Riemsdyk to make it 6-1. That was the final.

Caps win!

• This game snaps 1) a four-game losing streak, 2) a power-play slump, 3) some cranky attitudes in the RMNB Discord from people I usually depend on to cheer me up. It was a fortunate matchup for the Caps: the Blues have a crummy PK and the worst goaltending in the league.
• With two tonight, Tom Wilson leads the team with eight goals. He also led the team out of PP hell by playing one of the hockey roles I admire most: the guy in the low slot, screening the goalie, absorbing cross-checks, getting in front of 90 mph shots, and sometimes tipping them in. That’s what he did on Carlson’s shot. That’s how the PP is supposed to work. They still have work to do – as evidenced by the shorty they allowed early in the third.
• Marginally related: I was thinking about Ovi and 900 goals, and I was thinking about who else could get there. I don’t think anyone thinks Auston Matthews will anymore. Wilson, with eight goals, is one ahead of Matthews at seven, this season. Whatever you or me or the villain-fans of other teams thought of Wilson back in the day, now he’s a superstar. You’ll find a difference, as we, his subjects, have in wonder found, between the promise of his greener days and these he masters now.
• No one was recording predictions, but I doubt anyone thought #900 would be a no-look backhand earned by his own forechecking pressure.

Alex Ovechkin becomes first player in NHL history to score 900 goals

• Also, can I say that it was a bit dispiriting to see Ovechkin crash into the boards after his goal to celebrate with… eight or nine empty seats along the glass. I get that it’s a middle-of-the-week game during a government shutdown in a government town in the ever-passing moment before our next economic crisis, but – no, nevermind. No but, I get it. Still. Would have looked cool if some kids were losing their minds behind Ovi, doing the Default Dance from Fortnite and yelling “6-7” for whatever the hell reason they do that.
• I am now obsessed with the Vanda drug ad. They are made by a company called Studio Konkret. Their web page has a section about their “Charachter devolpment” ads.

• If you told me Brayden Schenn fought a Cap, I would respond by saying, “And did Tom Wilson win?” But he did not, because it was Brandon Duhaime doing the punching, and he did not win either. He lost pretty utterly. I like to think that Wilson hopes his career will be just long enough that he will get to fight this child.

Joe hitting ’em with that dark on dark combo, gonna be a good night #joebsuitofthenight

— RMNB (@rmnb.bsky.social) 2025-11-06T00:28:05.510Z

Needed that. Now the Caps get to focus on what really matters: Ovechkin’s next 900 goals. Sid and the Penguins tomorrow night.