POSTGAME NOTEBOOK - Caps, 3, Canes 2

Bubble Hockey - The Caps got their first taste of bubble hockey on Wednesday - and their first taste of hockey against another NHL opponent in more than four and a half months - when they skated to a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in an exhibition game in Toronto.

Alex Ovechkin paced the attack with a pair of goals and an assist, and the Caps showed well in taking their game out of storage and putting it on the ice in the only dress rehearsal they will have before playing a trio of round robin games against other top Eastern Conference clubs.

For players, this was the lone opportunity to go up against another NHL opponent and try to restore timing and chemistry while taking and delivering hits once again. It didn't feel like a typical September NHL exhibition; lineups were legitimate varsity groups and players had already shaken off any residual rust from the league's long pandemic-induced pause. The victory means nothing, but the Caps put those 60 minutes of hockey to good use as far as preparing for their next challenge.

"We need games to feel the puck, the ice, and the linemates," says Ovechkin. "Obviously, we have practiced a lot, but it's different in the game; it's a totally different situation. For us, it was very important to go out there to go out there and show good about ourselves first of all, and then try to see the connections, and the power play, the [penalty kill] and all those little details, because in practice it's a totally different speed and a totally different mind."

Washington faces Tampa Bay on Monday in the opener of its three round robin tilts.

Mr. July - The 34-year-old Ovechkin finished off the 2019-20 regular season on a prolonged offensive tear. From Jan. 7 through March 9, he bagged 24 goals and added a trio of assists in just 25 games, a stretch that includes eight multi-goal games, three of them hat trick efforts.

Few were surprised to see Ovechkin pick up right where he left off, scoring a first-period power-play goal on a one-timer from his office and another at even strength in the second, and crafting a primary helper on Evgeny Kuznetsov's tic-tac-toe tally in the first.

Ovechkin has scored more than 700 regular season goals, and dozens more in the playoffs and exhibition play, but Wednesday marked the first time he has scored in the month of July in a Capitals sweater. That leaves August as the only month in which Ovechkin has yet to light the lamp for the Caps, and his first taste of August NHL hockey is now days away.

Norris Nominee Nicked -Caps defenseman John Carlson, one of three nominees for the Norris Trophy for 2019-20, left the game for good midway through the third after taking just three shifts in the final frame. Carlson got tangled in some bodies and fell awkwardly into the boards behind the Washington net. He got up and skated off on his own with no visible distress, and the Caps wisely kept him out of the rest of the contest.

Both teams were permitted to dress two extra skaters for Wednesday's game, so the Caps still had six backliners available after Carlson's departure.

Caps coach Todd Reirden stated after the game that more information on Carlson would be available after Washington's Thursday afternoon practice session in Toronto.

V Squared - In the second round of the 2014 NHL Draft, Caps GM Brian MacLellan - then in his second month on the job - swung a deal with the Buffalo Sabres. MacLellan sent the Caps' third-round pick (74th overall) to the Sabres to move up five slots in the second round, from 44th overall to 39th. Once that 39th pick was secured, the Caps used it to select Czech goaltender Vitek Vanecek.

Now 24, Vanecek has logged four solid seasons with AHL Hershey and is on the verge of competing for an NHL roster spot. After Braden Holtby stopped 12 of 13 shots he faced in a relatively quiet first 40 minutes in goal on Wednesday, Vanecek took over at the outset of the third, as planned.

Vanecek faced his first shot just 30 seconds after situating himself in the crease, and before the period was two minutes old he was staring at a 3-on-5 situation with a face-off to his immediate right.

Carolina poured a series of shots in Vanecek's direction on the two-man advantage, and he stopped four of them before Teuvo Teravainen slipped a one-timer past him from the right dot to make it a 3-2 game at 2:42 of the third.

And that was it. Vanecek finished with more saves (13) than Holtby in half the amount of time in goal, sealing the win with a stellar stop on Canes star Andrei Svechnikov, a save in which he assertively challenged the shooter from above the paint.

Reirden was pleased to see that assertiveness from his young netminder, viewing it as a step forward from Vanecek's outing in an intrasquad scrimmage last Friday. With goaltender Ilya Samsonov sidelined for the duration of the playoffs, and with Vanecek still untested in regular season action, the Czech goaltender's Wednesday outing stands as one of the game's most positive developments.

"I thought he looked a little - at times - nervous in that intrasquad game," says Reirden. "I didn't feel it at all today. That's exciting to see from a young goaltender, is that growth already and I know it's something that [goalie coach] Scott Murray has been working with him on, and believing in himself.

"Part of that is us letting him know that right now, he is that backup and he's got to be ready for these situations. I think that helped him confidence-wise as well, gave him a little bit of a boost from that standpoint.

"The fact that he is outside that blue paint to make that save, that's where you see confidence in goaltenders and they start to give that off to our team. That's what's so important about having somebody back there that the players believe in."

Situation Room - It's impossible for coaches to script games and situations, but Wednesday's game provided Reirden and his staff and players with a number of intriguing game situations they can use to learn and build upon in the video room.

The game presented the Capitals with some 4-vs-4 hockey, some 4-vs-6 late in the game, and the lengthy 3-on-5 situation early in the third, just after Vanecek entered the game.

"That's what you hope for in a game like this, "says Reirden, "that you get a number of different coaching situations that you can use and teach from, as opposed to using footage from prior to our pause. We got a few different situations that we can grow from, and learn, and use as reminders and continue to make sure that all of our players are on the same page in that situation."

By The Numbers - The Caps limited the Canes to just 16 shots on net at 5-on-5 … Washington outhit Carolina by a 24-18 margin, and 13 of the Caps' 20 skaters delivered at least one bodycheck … Ovechkin led the Caps with five shots on net and eight shot attempts … Nick Jensen, Brenden Dillon, Garnet Hathaway and Nic Dowd had three hits each to lead the Capitals … Dillon, Tom Wilson, Carl Hagelin and Travis Boyd each blocked two shots to lead Washington … Eleven different Caps took at least one face-off in the game, but Washington won only 17 of 50 (34%) on the afternoon.