# 2020–21 Washington Capitals season

The 2020–21 Washington Capitals season was the 47th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 11, 1974. This was the first season for Peter Laviolette as head coach of the Capitals after their former head coach Todd Reirden was fired from the team on August 23, 2020. On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada–United States border. As a result of this realignment, the Capitals would play this season in the East Division and would play against only the other teams in their new division during the regular season and potentially the first two rounds of the playoffs.
On April 29, the Capitals clinched a playoff berth after a 5–4 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. As a result of the Capitals winning in overtime against the Philadelphia Flyers while the Penguins won in regulation against the Buffalo Sabres on May 8, the Penguins won the East division title, and the Capitals failed to win the division for the first time since the 2014–15 season. They were eliminated from the playoffs in the First Round with a 3–1 loss to the Boston Bruins in game five on May 23.

## Standings
### Divisional standings

East Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | y – Pittsburgh Penguins | 56 | 37 | 16 | 3 | 29 | 196 | 156 | +40 | 77 |
| 2 | x – Washington Capitals | 56 | 36 | 15 | 5 | 29 | 191 | 163 | +28 | 77 |
| 3 | x – Boston Bruins | 56 | 33 | 16 | 7 | 25 | 168 | 136 | +32 | 73 |
| 4 | x – New York Islanders | 56 | 32 | 17 | 7 | 24 | 156 | 128 | +28 | 71 |
| 5 | e – New York Rangers | 56 | 27 | 23 | 6 | 24 | 177 | 157 | +20 | 60 |
| 6 | e – Philadelphia Flyers | 56 | 25 | 23 | 8 | 17 | 163 | 201 | −38 | 58 |
| 7 | e – New Jersey Devils | 56 | 19 | 30 | 7 | 15 | 145 | 194 | −49 | 45 |
| 8 | e – Buffalo Sabres | 56 | 15 | 34 | 7 | 11 | 138 | 199 | −61 | 37 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.
2020–21 game log :
January: 6–0–3 (Home: 4–0–1; Road: 2–0–2)
GameDateOpponentScoreOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPointsRecap
1January 14@ Buffalo6–4Samsonov01–0–02
2January 15@ Buffalo2–1Vanecek02–0–04
3January 17@ Pittsburgh3–4SOSamsonov02–0–15
4January 19@ Pittsburgh4–5OTVanecek02–0–26
5January 22Buffalo4–3SOVanecek03–0–28
6January 24Buffalo3–4SOVanecek03–0–39
7January 26NY Islanders3–2Vanecek04–0–311
8January 28NY Islanders6–3Vanecek05–0–313
9January 30Boston4–3OTVanecek06–0–315 :
February: 6–5–1 (Home: 3–3–1; Road: 3–2–0)
GameDateOpponentScoreOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPointsRecap
10February 1Boston3–5Vanecek06–1–315
11February 4@ NY Rangers2–4Vanecek06–2–315
12February 7Philadelphia4–7Anderson06–3–315
–February 9Philadelphia–Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for April 13.
–February 11@ Buffalo–Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for March 15.
–February 13@ Buffalo–Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for April 9.
13February 14@ Pittsburgh3–6Vanecek06–4–315
14February 16@ Pittsburgh3–1Vanecek07–4–317
15February 18Buffalo3–1Vanecek08–4–319
16February 20NY Rangers1–4Vanecek08–5–319
17February 21New Jersey4–3Anderson09–5–321
18February 23Pittsburgh2–3OTVanecek09–5–422
19February 25Pittsburgh5–2Vanecek010–5–424
20February 27@ New Jersey5–2Vanecek011–5–426
21February 28@ New Jersey3–2Samsonov012–5–428 :
March: 11–3–0 (Home: 6–1–0; Road: 5–2–0)
GameDateOpponentScoreOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPointsRecap
22March 3@ Boston2–1SOVanecek013–5–430
23March 5@ Boston1–5Vanecek013–6–430
24March 7@ Philadelphia3–1Samsonov3,02314–6–432
25March 9New Jersey5–4OTVanecek015–6–434
26March 11@ Philadelphia5–3Samsonov2,80716–6–436
27March 13@ Philadelphia5–4Samsonov3,08317–6–438
28March 15@ Buffalo6–0Vanecek018–6–440
29March 16NY Islanders3–1Samsonov019–6–442
30March 19NY Rangers2–1Vanecek020–6–444
31March 20NY Rangers1–3Samsonov020–7–444
32March 25New Jersey4–3Vanecek021–7–446
33March 26New Jersey4–0Samsonov022–7–448
34March 28NY Rangers5–4Samsonov023–7–450
35March 30@ NY Rangers2–5Vanecek1,76123–8–450 :
April: 9–5–1 (Home: 2–2–1; Road: 7–3–0)
GameDateOpponentScoreOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPointsRecap
36April 1@ NY Islanders4–8Samsonov1,40023–9–450
37April 2@ New Jersey2–1OTVanecek3,60024–9–452
38April 4@ New Jersey5–4Samsonov3,60025–9–454
39April 6@ NY Islanders0–1Vanecek1,40025–10–454
40April 8Boston2–4Samsonov025–11–454
41April 9@ Buffalo4–3Vanecek—26–11–456
42April 11@ Boston8–1Vanecek2,19127–11–458
43April 13Philadelphia6–1Samsonov028–11–460
44April 15Buffalo2–5Vanecek028–12–460
45April 17@ Philadelphia6–3Samsonov3,43029–12–462
46April 18@ Boston3–6Vanecek2,19129–13–462
47April 22@ NY Islanders1–0SOSamsonov1,40030–13–464
48April 24@ NY Islanders6–3Samsonov1,40031–13–466
49April 27NY Islanders1–0Vanecek2,13332–13–468
50April 29Pittsburgh4–5OTVanecek2,13332–13–569 :
May: 4–2–0 (Home: 2–2–0; Road: 2–0–0)
GameDateOpponentScoreOTDecisionAttendanceRecordPointsRecap
51May 1Pittsburgh0–3Samsonov2,13332–14–569
52May 3@ NY Rangers6–3Vanecek1,80033–14–571
53May 5@ NY Rangers4–2Vanecek1,80034–14–573
54May 7Philadelphia2–4Vanecek2,13334–15–573
55May 8Philadelphia2–1OTAnderson2,13335–15–575
56May 11Boston2–1Vanecek2,13336–15–577 :
Win (2 Points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)
  Postponement :

### Playoffs

2021 Stanley Cup playoffs :
East Division First Round vs. (E3) Boston Bruins: Boston won 4–1
GameDateOpponentScoreOTDecisionAttendanceSeriesRecap
1May 15Boston3–2OTAnderson5,3331–0
2May 17Boston3–4OTAnderson5,3331–1
3May 19@ Boston2–32OTSamsonov4,5651–2
4May 21@ Boston1–4Samsonov4,5651–3
5May 23Boston1–3Samsonov5,3331–4 :
Win
  Loss :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 55 | 15 | 38 | 53 | 0 | 14 |
| John Carlson | 52 | 10 | 34 | 44 | −5 | 12 |
| T. J. Oshie | 53 | 22 | 21 | 43 | −3 | 18 |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 45 | 24 | 18 | 42 | −7 | 12 |
| Tom Wilson | 47 | 13 | 20 | 33 | +1 | 96 |
| Evgeny Kuznetsov | 41 | 9 | 20 | 29 | +7 | 18 |
| Justin Schultz | 46 | 3 | 24 | 27 | +12 | 10 |
| Jakub Vrana$^‡$ | 39 | 11 | 14 | 25 | +9 | 8 |
| Lars Eller | 44 | 8 | 15 | 23 | −1 | 21 |
| Conor Sheary | 53 | 14 | 8 | 22 | −1 | 14 |
| Dmitry Orlov | 51 | 8 | 14 | 22 | +16 | 20 |
| Daniel Sprong | 42 | 13 | 7 | 20 | +7 | 12 |
| Brenden Dillon | 56 | 2 | 17 | 19 | +15 | 49 |
| Garnet Hathaway | 56 | 6 | 12 | 18 | +7 | 66 |
| Carl Hagelin | 56 | 6 | 10 | 16 | +7 | 19 |
| Nic Dowd | 56 | 11 | 4 | 15 | +4 | 31 |
| Nick Jensen | 53 | 2 | 12 | 14 | +5 | 14 |
| Zdeno Chara | 55 | 2 | 8 | 10 | +5 | 44 |
| Richard Panik$^‡$ | 36 | 3 | 6 | 9 | −9 | 16 |
| Anthony Mantha$^†$ | 14 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Michael Raffl$^†$ | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +1 | 7 |
| Trevor van Riemsdyk | 20 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 |
| Michael Sgarbossa | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +2 | 0 |
| Daniel Carr | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 2 |
| Jonas Siegenthaler$^‡$ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 2 |
| Garrett Pilon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brian Pinho | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| Connor McMichael | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Philippe Maillet | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 2 |
| T. J. Oshie | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −2 | 0 |
| Garnet Hathaway | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | +2 | 4 |
| Dmitry Orlov | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −1 | 6 |
| Nic Dowd | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 4 |
| Tom Wilson | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −3 | 6 |
| John Carlson | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −2 | 6 |
| Anthony Mantha | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Brenden Dillon | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −4 | 0 |
| Conor Sheary | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −4 | 2 |
| Daniel Sprong | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 0 |
| Carl Hagelin | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 0 |
| Lars Eller | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Evgeny Kuznetsov | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Daniel Carr | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Nick Jensen | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Michael Raffl | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 4 |
| Zdeno Chara | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 |
| Justin Schultz | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 2 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Vitek Vanecek | 37 | 36 | 2,115:29 | 21 | 10 | 4 | 95 | 2.69 | 1,031 | .908 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ilya Samsonov | 19 | 18 | 1,092:49 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 49 | 2.69 | 499 | .902 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Craig Anderson | 4 | 2 | 168:44 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2.13 | 71 | .915 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Craig Anderson | 2 | 1 | 112:10 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2.67 | 70 | .929 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ilya Samsonov | 3 | 3 | 200:55 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 2.99 | 99 | .899 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vitek Vanecek | 1 | 1 | 13:10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.56 | 4 | .750 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Capitals. Stats reflect time with the Capitals only. $^‡$Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Capitals only. Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

## Draft picks

Below are the Washington Capitals' selections at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally scheduled for June 26–27, 2020 at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On October 6–7, 2020 the draft was held virtually via Video conference call from the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 22 | Hendrix Lapierre | C | Canada | Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL) |
| 4 | 117 | Bogdan Trineyev | RW | Russia | Dynamo Moscow 2 (MHL) |
| 5 | 148 | Bear Hughes | D | United States | Spokane Chiefs (WHL) |
| 6 | 179 | Garin Bjorklund | G | Canada | Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) |
| 7 | 211 | Oskar Magunsson | LW | Sweden | Malmö Redhawks (SHL) |