{"id":382725,"date":"2025-11-16T09:56:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T09:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/382725\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T09:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T09:56:14","slug":"connor-mcmichael-relieved-to-snap-nine-game-goalless-streak-after-move-back-to-wing-i-havent-been-playing-at-the-level-i-want-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/382725\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor McMichael relieved to snap nine-game goalless streak after move back to wing: \u2018I haven\u2019t been playing at the level I want to\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connor McMichael<\/strong> was one of the driving forces behind the Washington Capitals\u2019 surprising rise to the top of the Eastern Conference last season. The 2019 first-round pick had a breakout year, recording 57 points (26g, 31a) in 82 games.<\/p>\n

The start to McMichael\u2019s 2025-26 season hasn\u2019t lived up to those lofty standards, though. Coming into Saturday night, he was without a goal for nine games and had just four points (1g, 3a) in his previous 17 outings. After being moved onto the wing of the Capitals\u2019 top line, McMichael responded with his second goal and multi-point game of the year against the New Jersey Devils.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it felt great,\u201d McMichael said postgame. \u201cI mean, obviously, I haven\u2019t been playing at the level I want to. Anytime you can help the team win and find the back of the net, it\u2019s huge. And it felt like a lot of weight off my shoulders there.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMichael\u2019s goal was the first in a two-goal spurt by the Capitals\u2019 first-line trio, coming just one minute into the third period. Alex Ovechkin made a beautiful pass to a wide-open McMichael, leaving the 24-year-old forward with an empty net to aim at.<\/p>\n

McMichael then chipped in with the primary assist on Ovechkin\u2019s goal 7:29 later<\/a>, which tied the game 2-2 and ultimately earned the Capitals a standings point. Overall, with McMichael, Ovechkin, and Dylan Strome on the ice five-on-five, the Capitals finished up 17-8 in shot attempts, 8-1 in scoring chances, and 2-0 in high-danger chances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we were just working,\u201d McMichael said. \u201cI think we were just hunting pucks. If you look at all the chances we created, they were mostly off forcing a turnover, working hard in the O-zone. I think that\u2019s what we need to do as a team more. Last year, you look at our team, we were just winning puck battles and all that stuff. So, yeah, it was nice to compete there and push back in the third.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMichael had his tremendous season last year almost exclusively playing on the wing. His move back to the position this season comes after a slew of games at center with Pierre-Luc Dubois out injured long-term. Without him down the middle, head coach Spencer Carbery opted for Strome, Justin Sourdif, Hendrix Lapierre, and Nic Dowd as his four centers.<\/p>\n

Carbery was impressed with McMichael\u2019s overall effort, which suggests that his assignment on the wing will likely continue into upcoming games.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, he\u2019s a big part of our team,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cI moved him back to the wing tonight. I liked his game tonight, playing with Stromer. I thought he did some good things. You can see he had a little bit more jump in his step. Made a few more plays, so it\u2019s a good step for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Capitals will be back on the ice Monday night when the Los Angeles Kings come to town. McMichael has been productive in past games against the Kings, recording four points (2g, 2a) in six career games against them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connor McMichael was one of the driving forces behind the Washington Capitals\u2019 surprising rise to the top of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":382726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-382725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115558782491382847","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}