Top 3 key Capitals to watch against Canucks
The Washington Capitals host the Vancouver Canucks tonight at Capital One Arena. For more on how to watch plus betting odds click here.
The Capitals held a morning skate today. Evgeny Kuznetsov was not on the ice due to a maintenance day. He will be a game time decision tonight.
Connor McMichael was in at second line center in Kuznetsov’s place. Otherwise there were no changes to the lines on Saturday, per Sammi Silber of Washington Hockey Now:
Ovechkin-Strome-Brown
Mantha-McMichael-Oshie
Johansson-Eller-Protas
Sheary-Dowd-Hathaway
Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
Gustafsson-TVR
Darcy Kuemper will get the start in goal after making 21 saves the other night for his first Capitals win. Here are the top 3 players to watch tonight:
#3 John Carlson
John Carlson is due for a goal. Last season he reached the 70 point mark for the third time in his last four seasons with 17 goals and 54 assists.
Carlson became the 18th defenseman in NHL history and one of two active defensemen to record three 70 point seasons. In addition, his 17 goes set a career high for goals in a season becoming one of nine defensemen in franchise history to reach the mark. Since the 2017-18 season, Carlson ranks first in the NHL in points among defenseman with 328. That is a 24 point lead over the second closest defenseman which is Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators.
#2 Darcy Kuemper
Darcy Kuemper gets the nod tonight in goal. He stopped 21 of 22 shots faced against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday to earn his first win as a Washington Capital.
Kuemper’s 64 wins since 2019-20 are tied with Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers for the most among goaltenders with 120 or fewer starts in that span.
Kuemper made his Capitals debut and played in his 300th career game on Oct. 12 vs. the Boston Bruins and has a career record of 147-96-36.
Among active goaltenders currently on an NHL roster with at least 300 gams played, Kuemper ranks second in save percentage at .918 and a goals against average of 2.48.
Since the 2017-18 season, Kuemper ranks first in the NHL in save percentage with .921 and second in goals against average at 2.43.
It feels good to have a goalie that’s stable and competent in Washington. Kuemper was a home run free agent acquisition by Brian MacLellan and it was the right decision to part ways with both Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov.
Charlie Lindgren, the new backup goalie also had a good game in his Caps debut despite the loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was certainly a game that could’ve been a lot worse if those infamous goalies were in the net instead.
#1 Alex Ovechkin
With 780 career goals, Alex Ovechkin sits 22 goals shy of passing Gordie Howe (801) for second place on the NHL’s all time goals list. Ovechkin is also seven goals shy of passing Howe for the most goals scored by a player with a single team. Howe had 786 goals with the Detroit Red Wings.
Ovechkin can also move up the NHL’s all time lists for game winning goals. The leaders are Jaromir Jagr with 135, Howe has 121. Ovechkin also has 121 game winning goals so he could pass Howe with a game winner tonight.
Ovechkin also has 6,074 shots which is second all time. Ray Bourque leads with 6,209.
Ovechkin needs 115 goals to pass Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s all time leading goal scorer. With Ovechkin signed with the Capitals for the next four seasons, he would need to average 29 goals per season during that span to pass Gretzky as the NHL’s all time goal scoring leader.
He nearly scored the other night. He had a goal taken away from him due to offsides and then hit the post on an empty net chance. This is only the second time in his career that Ovechkin didn’t score through the first three games.
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The previous time was in the 2013 lockout shortened season. That season saw Ovechkin lead the league in goals and take home a Hart Trophy.