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Washington Capitals: Stars Of The Week – Ovechkin Gets 700

By CJ Witt |
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - FEBRUARY 22: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal at 4:50 of the third period against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on February 22, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey. With the goal, Ovechkin became the eight player in NHL history to score 700 goals. The Devils defeated the Capitals 3-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - FEBRUARY 22: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal at 4:50 of the third period against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on February 22, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey. With the goal, Ovechkin became the eight player in NHL history to score 700 goals. The Devils defeated the Capitals 3-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – FEBRUARY 22: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal at 4:50 of the third period against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on February 22, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey. With the goal, Ovechkin became the eight player in NHL history to score 700 goals. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – FEBRUARY 22: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal at 4:50 of the third period against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on February 22, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey. With the goal, Ovechkin became the eight player in NHL history to score 700 goals. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

It was not a very good week for the Washington Capitals.

It ended with a bang though. Four games were played, just one win goes in the books for the Caps. The one win did come against the arch rival Pittsburgh Penguins, so if you’re going to get a win that’s the one to get.

It’s now time to wrap up the week and give out our stars of the week. With the Capitals playing poorly recently it’s been difficult to hand these things out. A lot of guys have been somewhat invisible making it hard to pick standouts. This week, even with the losses, I think it was pretty easy to name our stars of the week. So we’ll start with…

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – FEBRUARY 22: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal at 4:50 of the third period against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on February 22, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey. With the goal, Ovechkin became the eight player in NHL history to score 700 goals. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – FEBRUARY 22: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal at 4:50 of the third period against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on February 22, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey. With the goal, Ovechkin became the eight player in NHL history to score 700 goals. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Alex Ovechkin

It wasn’t Ovechkin’s best week honestly. With four games played he had two goals. I guess you could call that a pretty typical week for the great eight. Lets be honest, he’s on this list for one reason and one reason alone. He now has scored 700 career goals in the National Hockey League. If that doesn’t give you a star of the week then what does?

I still thought Ovechkin was one of the better Capitals this week. With the whole team not playing well he was still getting plenty of chances. Even during his goalless spell he had plenty of chances.

His advanced stats don’t look too great. His Corsi% was 46.34%. Out of the 20 players to skate with the Capitals this week that ranked 13th. His scoring chance for% was 51.06%, over fifty percent which is good, but while on the ice the Capitals had 24 chances for and 23 against. It’s nearly the same thing for high danger chances. With Ovechkin on the ice the Caps had 13 high danger attempts for and 12 against.

Like always, Ovechkin got plenty of individual stats. His 14 shots this week was second on the team, second behind someone we’ll talk about shortly. He also had 15 scoring chances, behind another guy we’ll talk about in just a minute. His seven high danger attempts ranks second on the team as well, the high this week was nine which was shared by…the two guys we’re going to show you in a second now.

Two goals, some okay stats, among the team leaders in individual stats, and oh yes, made some history. If you don’t think Ovechkin deserves to be one of our stars of the week I don’t know what to tell you. Go watch him score his 700th goal and relax I guess.

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 23: Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period at Capital One Arena on February 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 23: Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period at Capital One Arena on February 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Tom Wilson

While the majority of the team was struggling, some mightily, Wilson was trying to dig his team out of it by scoring. This week Wilson scored three goals in the four games played. His three goals were tied for the lead on the team this week. Tom Wilson now has a career high 41 points and is quickly approaching his career high in goals. He currently has 20 goals, his career high is 22 goals which he scored a season ago.

Wilson was among the many Capitals to have a Corsi% under fifty percent. Twenty Caps skated this week, only five guys had a positive shot percentage number this week. Wilson was close to a good number though. He finished the week at 49.09%. While on the ice the team had the same amount of chances for as against. Washington had 22 chances for and 22 chances against. They also had 9 high danger attempts for and 10 against with the bruising forward on the ice.

Wilson did the unthinkable this week. He led the Capitals in shots on goal. He had more shots on goal than Alex Ovechkin. Wilson had 16 shots on goal, two more than Ovechkin. He was fifth on the team in scoring chances, he had 11 chances this week, behind T.J. Oshie, Ovechkin and Jakub Vrana. His 9 high danger attempts were tied for first with our final star of the week.

Like Ovechkin leading the team in shots is the most unshocking thing ever, Wilson led the team in hits this week with 24. The next highest total was 23 which was Garnet Hathaway. Wilson drew 3 penalties this week which was a team high as well.

In a time where not a lot of players are standing out, Wilson might be the exception to that. It’s hard to not notice big number forty-three out there. He’s always banging bodies out there and this week he combined that with scoring goals. He was one of the better Capitals this week and he deserves to be one of our stars of the week.

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 23: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period at Capital One Arena on February 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 23: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period at Capital One Arena on February 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

T.J. Oshie

I would compare T.J. Oshie to a snake these days. You don’t notice him very much during games. Then you turn around and he’s sniping a goal. He is the Randy Orton, RKO meme right now. You don’t see him, then BANG!

This week Oshie had four total points, three of those points being goals. Oshie now has 25 goals this season. In his five seasons in D.C. he has scored 25+ goals in four of them.

Oshie was one of the many who had a Corsi% under fifty percent, but he was close, his final number being 49.49%. While on the ice the Caps had 49 attempts for and 50 against. One more shot attempt and he’s at fifty percent.

This week he was second in scoring chance percentage behind only Radko Gudas of all people. Gudas percentage was 62.96%, Oshie was well behind at 58.49%. While on the ice the Capitals had 31 chances for and 22 against. They also had 15 high danger chances for and 14 against with 77 on the ice.

Oshie had 12 shots this week, that was third best on the team behind only our other two stars of the week. His 18 individual scoring chances led the team with the next highest being Ovechkin’s 15 chances. He tied Wilson for the most high danger attempts with nine.

He’s not a center, and doesn’t take draws too often, but he did take ten faceoffs this week and won seven of them. Not bad for a winger.

Trending. Capitals get a huge win against the Penguins. light

He may not be the most notable Capital every game, but if he’s going to score goals like this, maybe being a snake is just what the Capitals need. If nothing else, it earns him a spot on our stars of the week.

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