Alex Tuch and Others Who Scored in Caps Debut

Photo by Rob Raymer

In a 5-2 win against the Hurricanes on Friday, Alex Tuch became the 46th player to score in his Caps debut, but also the fifth player in franchise history to score multiple goals in his debut, joining Mikhail Grabovski (10/1/2013), Scott Walker (3/4/2010), Alex Ovechkin (10/5/2005) and Brian Bellows (3/28/1998).

The last player to score in his Caps debut was Cole Hutson,who scored his first career goal (an empty-netter) on March 18, 2026 (and also scored in Friday’s win). Prior to that was Hendrix Lapierre, who did it in 2021.

Of the players who scored in their Caps debut, 15 of them also scored in their first NHL game, the last being Hutson. Only Alex Ovechkin scored two goals in his first career game with the Caps. Grabovski is the only player to have a hat trick in his debut.

Here’s a list of every Caps player who scored a goal in their first Caps game.

Date	Player	Opponent	Assists	Result	Info	Photo
2026-10-02	Alex Tuch	at CAR	Pierre-Luc Dubois, Alex Ovechkin	W, 5-2	Scored twice in his Caps debut
2026-03-18	Cole Hutson	OTT	Unassisted	W, 4-1	Scored an empty-netter in his first NHL game
2021-10-13	Hendrix Lapierre	NYR	T.J. Oshie, Conor Sheary	W, 5-1	Scored in first career game.
2021-04-13	Anthony Mantha	PHI	John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov	W, 6-1	Scored in first game as a Cap.
2018-10-03	Nic Dowd	BOS	Nathan Walker, Devante Smith-Pelly	W, 7-0	Scored in first game with Caps. Video
2017-10-11	Christian Djoos	PIT	Lars Eller, Brett Connolly	L, 2-3	Scored in first career game and also has an assist. | Story | Video
2017-10-07	Nathan Walker	MTL	Smith-Pelly, Jay Beagle	W, 6-1	Tips in a shot in his first career game. First Australian player to play in NHL. | Video
2014-10-09	Andre Burakovsky	MON	Troy Brouwer	SOL, 2-1	Scored in his first career game. | Story | Video
2013-10-01	Mikhail Grabovski	at CHI	Joel Ward	L, 6-4	Had a hat trick and an assist in first Caps game.
2013-01-19	Wojtek Wolski	at TBL	Mike Ribeiro, Roman Hamrlik	L, 6-3	Scored in first game with Caps.
2010-03-04	Scott Walker	TAM	Mike Green, Boyd Gordon	W, 5-4	Traded from Carolina. Scored twice in first game.
2005-11-04	Jakub Klepis	ATL	Mathieu Biron, Brian Willsie	W, 3-2	Scored in first career game. | Story
2005-10-05	Alex Ovechkin	CBJ	Dainius Zubrus, Jeff Halpern	W, 3-2	Scored twice in his first career game. | Story
2003-03-25	Josef Boumedienne	at MON	Jaromir Jagr, Sergei Berezin	W, 4-3	Scored in his first Caps game.
2003-03-14	Sergei Berezin	LAK	Robert Lang, Dainius Zubrus	L, 3-1	Traded from Chicago. Scored in first Caps game.
2002-10-11	Robert Lang	NSH	Kip Miller, Jaromir Jagr	W, 5-4	Also had an assist. Scored in first Caps game.
2002-01-09	Colin Forbes	CBJ	Andrei Nikolishin, Jeff Halpern	W, 6-3	Scored in first Caps game.
2001-10-06	Jaromir Jagr	NJD	Dainius Zubrus, Adam Oates	W, 6-1	Also had an assist.
1998-03-28	Brian Bellows	at VAN	Jeff Brown, Calle Johansson	W, 3-2	Scored twice in first Caps game.
1997-03-04	Adam Oates	CGY	Todd Krygier, Joe Juneau	W, 2-1	Traded late season from Boston. Scored in his first two games as a Cap.
1996-04-10	Steve Poapst	at NYR	Dale Hunter	W, 4-1	Scored in his first game.
1994-03-22	Joe Juneau	HAR	Shawn Anderson, Calle Johansson	W, 4-1	Late season trade from Boston. Also had two assists in first game with Washington.
1993-10-06	Dave Poulin	at WIN	Calle Johansson	L, 6-4	Scored in his first game with the Caps.
1992-03-03	Paul MacDermid	MIN	Kelly Miller, Kevin Hatcher	L, 3-1	Traded from Winnipeg. Scored in first Caps game.
1991-10-11	Todd Krygier	NYR	Michal Pivonka, Peter Bondra	W, 5-1	Scored in his first Caps game.
1990-10-05	Peter Zezel	PIT	Dino Ciccarelli, Bob Rouse	L, 7-4	Scored in first Caps game, on the power play.
1988-10-07	Geoff Courtnall	PIT	Bengt Gustafsson, Kelly Miller	L, 6-4	Scored in first game with Caps. Also had an assist.
1985-11-15	David Jensen	VAN	Bengt Gustafsson	W, 5-3	Scored in first game as a Cap.
1982-10-06	Scott Stevens	at NYR	Craig Laughlin, Chris Valentine	W, 5-4	Scored in his first career game. | Story
1982-10-06	Milan Novy	at NYR	Mike Gartner, Bobby Carpenter	W, 5-4	Scored a goal and has two assists in first game.
1982-10-06	Ted Bulley	at NYR	Milan Novy	W, 5-2	Scored in first Caps game.
1981-12-14	Mike Siltala	at MTL	Paul MacKinnon, Bengt Gustafsson	L, 3-6	Scored only NHL goal in first career game.
1981-11-22	Chris Valentine	at PHI	Tim Tookey, Gaeten Duchesne	W, 3-2	Scored in first career game.
1981-10-07	Bobby Carpenter	at BUF	Ryan Walter, Mike Gartner	L, 3-5	Had a goal and an assist in his first career game. | Story
1980-11-15	Rick Smith	at HAR	Paul Mulvey, Ryan Walter	W, 8-4	Traded from Detroit. Scored in first Caps game.
1980-01-19	Alan Hangsleben	PHI	Mike Kaszycki, Pierre Bouchard	T, 4-4	Traded from Hartford. Scored in first Caps game.
1977-11-02	Nelson Burton	CHI	Rick Green, Bill Collins	T, 2-2	Scored only NHL goal in first career game.
1977-02-02	Craig Patrick	at LAK	Bryan Watson, Bill Collins	L, 7-2	Scored in first game with Caps. Related to Caps president Dick Patrick.
1976-12-05	Tom Rowe	at BOS	Guy Charron, Garnet "Ace" Bailey	T, 5-5	Scored in first career game.
1976-10-05	Guy Charron	ATF	Hartland Monahan	W, 6-5	Scored in first game with Caps. Also had an assist.
1976-01-24	Gerry Meehan	at PIT	Harvey Bennett	L, 8-2	Traded from Atlanta. Scored in first game with Caps.
1976-01-23	Jean Lemieux	NYR	Garnet "Ace" Bailey, Nelson Pyatt	W, 7-5	Traded from Atlanta. Scored in first game with Caps, on the power play. Also had an assist.
1975-11-15	Mike Lampman	at STL	Peter Scamurra, Paul Nicholson	L, 9-2	Scored in first game with Caps.
1974-10-15	Yvon Labre	LAK	Dave Kryskow, Bill Lesuk	T, 1-1	Team got its first ever standings point.
1974-10-09	Ron Anderson	at NYR	Denis Dupere, Greg Joly	L, 3-6	Scored the second goal in Caps history in his first career game.
1974-10-09	Jim Hrycuik	at NYR	Unassisted	L, 3-6	Scored the first goal in Caps history in his first career game.