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NHL Game-Winning Goals Leaders: Washington Capitals
2020-21All situationsThrough 56 team games
Jakub Vrana (WSH/DET) leads NHL skaters with 7 GWG for the Washington Capitals in 2020-21, ahead of 
Alex Ovechkin (WSH) (6).
Leaders: Game-Winning Goals, Washington Capitals, 2020-21
1stJakub VranaWSH/DET · 50 GP7- 2ndAlex OvechkinWSH · 45 GP6
3rdTom WilsonWSH · 47 GP4
4thEvgeny KuznetsovWSH · 41 GP4
5thNic DowdWSH · 56 GP3
The full ranked table, with filters, follows.
What Game-Winning Goals measures
This board ranks every NHL skater by game-winning goals, regular season only, listing players with at least one. Pick any season back to 2017-18 above the table. Goals that were the winning team's (loser's final score + 1)th goal, shootouts excluded.
Game-winning goals are goals plus timing luck: year-to-year correlation is weak (about 0.1 beyond what goals explain).
The game-winning goal is the winning team's goal that put it one ahead of the loser's final total: in a 5-2 win, the third goal. Shootout winners do not count. GWG mostly follows goals: the best scorers on the best teams pile them up. Season to season the total has almost no skill signal beyond goal scoring. In 2020-21, 13 skaters qualify for this board; the median is 3 and Jakub Vrana leads at 7.
Game-Winning Goals leaderboard
| # | Player | Team | GWG | GP | Per game | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jakub VranaFWSH/DET | WSH/DET | 7 | 50 | 0.14 | 19 | — |
| 2 | Alex OvechkinFWSH | WSH | 6 | 45 | 0.13 | 24 | 88%▼4 |
| 3 | Tom WilsonFWSH | WSH | 4 | 47 | 0.09 | 13 | 93%▼1.1 |
| 4 | Evgeny KuznetsovFWSH | WSH | 4 | 41 | 0.10 | 9 | — |
| 5 | Nic DowdFWSH | WSH | 3 | 56 | 0.05 | 11 | 3.2% |
| 6 |  Michael RafflFPHI/WSH | PHI/WSH | 3 | 44 | 0.07 | 4 | — |
| 7 |  Daniel SprongFWSH | WSH | 3 | 42 | 0.07 | 13 | — |
| 8 |  Dmitry OrlovDWSH | WSH | 2 | 51 | 0.04 | 8 | 33%▲7.5 |
| 9 |  Lars EllerFWSH | WSH | 2 | 44 | 0.05 | 8 | 4.9%▲0.8 |
| 10 |  T.J. OshieFWSH | WSH | 1 | 53 | 0.02 | 22 | — |
| 11 |  Conor ShearyFWSH | WSH | 1 | 53 | 0.02 | 14 | 0.1% |
| 12 |  John CarlsonDWSH | WSH | 1 | 52 | 0.02 | 10 | 98% |
| 13 |  Justin SchultzDWSH | WSH | 1 | 46 | 0.02 | 3 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Who leads the NHL in Game-Winning Goals in 2020-21?
Jakub Vrana leads with 7. The median of the 13 qualified skaters is 3.
Which defenseman leads in Game-Winning Goals in 2020-21?
Dmitry Orlov leads NHL defensemen with 2; the top forward is Jakub Vrana at 7.
How is Game-Winning Goals calculated?
Goals that were the winning team's (loser's final score + 1)th goal, shootouts excluded. Regular season only, from the NHL's official game data.
How reliable is Game-Winning Goals?
Game-winning goals are goals plus timing luck: year-to-year correlation is weak (about 0.1 beyond what goals explain).