Stars and Sticks
Fansided

Capitals: Alex Ovechkin is top star of the week

ByCJ Witt|
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 29: Capitals left wing Alexander Alex Ovechkin (8) takes a shot on net during the Nashville Predators vs. Washington Capitals NHL game on January 29, 2020 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.. (Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 29: Capitals left wing Alexander Alex Ovechkin (8) takes a shot on net during the Nashville Predators vs. Washington Capitals NHL game on January 29, 2020 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.. (Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 02: Lars Eller #20 of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring a goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first period at Capital One Arena on February 2, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 02: Lars Eller #20 of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring a goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first period at Capital One Arena on February 2, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)

Lars Eller

Maybe I’m too high on Lars Eller this season. But I don’t think so. I’ve said it a bunch up to this point and I’ll say it again. I think Eller has been one of the best Capitals players this entire season.

Maybe John Carlson was better in the early season when he exploded out of the gate, but to me there hasn’t been one Capital as consistent as Eller. Every night you notice this guy. Him being on the third line gives this team a huge advantage. The way he’s playing I’m not taking anyone’s third line center over Eller.

This week he tied for the team lead in points with five, tied with Jakub Vrana. He had two goals and three assists, all three helpers were primary assists. I’ll give a shout-out to Eller’s linemates here, Hagelin and Panik both helped out this week by finishing their chances. You could give a star to this entire line.

Eller’s advanced stats were fine, I guess, this week, not great, not bad. His Corsi% was a solid 52.81%. He was on the ice for 20 scoring chances for and 24 scoring chances against which is not good. He was also on the ice for seven high danger attempts and 17 against, that’s bad. Still, he was on the ice for three goals for and two against.

Eller this week had 12 shots, third on the team. He had 15 scoring chances, also third on the team. He also had 5 high danger attempts for, tied for second on the team with Ovechkin.

Eller drew five penalties this week which was a team high. The next highest being Garnet Hathaway with four. You usually don’t see numbers this high in a week, five is a lot of penalties drawn.

I don’t think I can sing the praises of Eller all season and then not put him on stars of the week after a week like this. It was a heck of a week for the Caps third line center. I wouldn’t expect him to slow down anytime soon.

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