Washington Capitals: Top 3 key players to watch against Sabres
Top 3 Washington Capitals players to watch.
It is finally here folks. Washington Capitals hockey is back. The Caps open up the season in a Thursday night tilt against the Buffalo Sabres on NBC Sports Washington. It is the first of a back to back.
The Caps open the season at the same location where the 2020 regular season ended. It, unfortunately, resulted in a shootout loss so we certainly can’t take these Sabres lightly. For more on how to watch the game, check out David’s preview here.
Here are the top 3 Caps players to keep your eyes on tonight.
#3 Ilya Samsonov
It is his net now. It is the full swing of the Ilya Samsonov era and he’s ready to take it over. Samsonov didn’t play in the Toronto bubble so this will be our first time seeing him play since March before the season was shutdown.
Samsonov played in 26 games last season starting in 22 of them. He went 16-6-2 with a 2.55 goals against average and a .913 save percentage. Samsonov will face the Sabres for the first time in his career. His last game came in an overtime loss to the New York Rangers.
There’s two more players to keep an eye on tonight.
#2 John Carlson
John Carlson was snubbed from the Norris Trophy last season, plain and simple. That doesn’t undermine the type of year that he had. During the 2019-20 season, Carlson set personal highs for points (75) and assists (60) in a season and led all NHL defensemen in both respective categories.
Carlson’s 60 assists were one shy of tying the franchise record for most by a defenseman in a single season when Scott Stevens set the record in 1988-89 with 61 assists. Carlson’s 75 points were six shy of the record held by Larry Murphy when he had 81 in the 1986-87 season.
Over the last 20 seasons only three other defensemen have recorded at least 60 assists in a season. That includes Nicklas Lidstrom twice in 2005-06 and 2007-08 where he had 64 and 60 assists, respectively. Erik Karlsson had 66 assists in the 2015-16 season and Brent Burns had 67 in 2018-19.
Over the last three seasons, Carlson has recorded 213 points over the last three seasons which rank first among defensemen. In that stretch he had 43 goals and 170 assists.
Back on Feb. 23, 2020 Carlson recorded an assist for his 475th career point. That passed Calle Johansson for the most by a defensemen in franchise history. Carlson ranks 76th among defensemen in NHL history in points but among top 100 point totals recorded, Carlson has the 26th best points per game rate at 0.63.
#1 Alex Ovechkin
The number one player to watch tonight is none other than Alex Ovechkin, who enters a big year. After winning the Rocket Richard Trophy last season with a league leading 48 goals, Ovechkin is determined to climb up the NHL scoring ladder and catch the great one’s record. Don’t be surprised to see him light the lamp a couple times tonight.
In 15 season opening games, Ovechkin has recorded 18 points with 11 goals and seven assists. His 11 goals in season openers is the most among active players. Only 12 players in NHL history have scored at least 12 career goals in their team’s season opening games. Ovechkin is a hat trick away from a share of the all time lead.
The Caps captain has scored 33 career goals and 51 career points against the Sabres in his career. After leading the league with 48 goals last season, Ovechkin won his third straight and NHL record ninth Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophy.
There were just 13 games remaining in the season last year before the league decided to pause due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Had they finished, Ovechkin was on pace for 57 goals which would’ve been his highest goal total since 2007-08 when he scored 65 goals.
More. Washington Capitals vs. Sabres: Will the Caps start with a bang?. light
Puck drop tonight is at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Washington.