Washington Capitals: Top 3 impact players to watch against Devils
The Washington Capitals are back in action for their first road game of the season. Tonight they will take on the New Jersey Devils. Here’s how to watch the game as well as how to gear up for the holidays. Here are the top 3 players that will have an impact in tonight’s game.
#3 Anthony Mantha
Anthony Mantha is in the midst of his first full season with the Caps after the team traded Jakub Vrana for him at the trade deadline last season. In his first four games with the Caps, Mantha had a goal in each game. Since then, he cooled off.
On Tuesday night, however, Mantha scored his first goal of the season. It was also his 100th career goal. Since his NHL debut on March 15, 2016, Mantha is one of 29 left wingers with at least 100 goals, and his 319 games are the sixth fewest.
Skate --> stick --> net pic.twitter.com/91Q2z6Xws8
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 20, 2021
Mantha also had an overtime game winning goal in the preseason to give the Caps their first win in a long time. He’s been an important piece of the second line. He has also gotten reps on the top power play unit lately. He had a goal the other night despite finishing with a plus/minus of minus one.
#2 Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin has 10 goals in his last 10 games against the New Jersey Devils including 13 points, including four multi point games during that span. He has 36 goals and 37 assists for 73 points all time in his career against the Devils. He played in his 1,200th game against the Colorado Avalanche and scored a goal.
Ovechkin’s goal the other night marked the 40th empty net goal of his career. That is tied with Marian Hossa for the second most in NHL history. He only trails Wayne Gretzky who has 56. Ovechkin has scored four goals in his first three games this season, that’s the first time he’s accomplished this feat since 2018-19 and for the fifth time to start a season in his career. Ovechkin’s personal longest goal streak is five games, accomplished in 2015-16 with five goals.
Ovechkin is also the only player in the NHL with a five on five goal, a power play goal, a shorthanded goal, and an empty net goal this season. Ovechkin became the first Caps player in franchise history to reach the 1,200 game milestone. He’s also one of four Russian born players.
Any kind of Ovi goal is a gr8 one pic.twitter.com/82I5gluzmx
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 20, 2021
Can Ovechkin continue the momentum tonight? We can’t wait to find out. Something about Russian machines not breaking.
#1 Evgeny Kuznetsov
Evgeny Kuznetsov is off to a hot start this season and the other night he had two goals. He has recorded six points with two goals and four assists in the first three games of the season, which is tied with Ovechkin (four goals and two assists), for the team lead.
Kuznetsov’s multi goal game on Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche marked the 17th multi goal game of his career. His three point night marked the 28th of his career. Kuznetsov is tied with T.J. Oshie for the third most games with at least three points on the team since the start of the 2014-15 season. Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom both have 39.
Individually at five on five, Kuznetsov has created a team high eight scoring chances. He is tied with Garnet Hathaway with 10 individual shot attempts. He is three points shy of passing Kevin Hatcher (426) for 13th on the Capitals franchise points list.
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 20, 2021
Kuznetsov spoke on the importance of the team win on Tuesday night:
“I’m happy the way we play, I’m happy with the personal performance, but at the end of the day it’s still two points. It doesn’t matter how many points I’m going to get if we’re not going to make the playoffs and not going to be successful there. … So that’s why it’s very important to have a great team game.”
Must Read. Washington Capitals vs. Devils: Date, Time, Betting Odds, Streaming, More. light
The game starts at 7 p.m. and you can catch it on NBC Sports Washington.