Daniel Winnik and Defense the Difference, Washington Capitals win Home Opener

The Caps took to the ice at Verizon Center on Saturday night, looking to continue their historical dominance in home openers. It wasn’t a perfect game, but two goals from Daniel Winnik and strong defending in front of Braden Holtby proved to be enough for Washington.

A few thoughts on tonights game:

1. John Carlson needs to be better on the power play.

One of the things Mike Green did well in his time in Washington was quarterback the poing on the power play. He was able to feed Alex Ovechkin right in his wheelhouse on the left side. Carlson will need to improve this if the top powerplay unit is going to return to a top-5 spot in the NHL. The youth of Orlov and Burakovsky have been able to…