Top 3 key Capitals to watch against Red Wings
The Washington Capitals take on the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena for the first of three meetings and their lone visit to the Motor City.
Washington has earned points in 15 straight games against Detroit, posting a 12-0-3 record, which dates back to Nov. 18, 2015.
The Caps have also won six straight games at Detroit and have a 6-0-0 record all time at the Red Wings new arena which opened in 2017.
The Caps won the season series with Detroit 2-0-1 and outscoring the Red Wings 7-4 in those three games. Alex Ovechkin led the Capitals with four points against Detroit with three goals and one assist.
Here are the top 3 players to watch tonight:
#3 Nick Jensen
Nick Jensen leads the Capitals in shorthanded ice time per game at 2:42 and ranks third on the team in total ice time per game at 20:41.
On Monday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, Jensen logged in 26:02 minutes of ice time which was the fourth highest single game total of his career and the highest since joining the Capitals in February 2019.
Jensen has recorded seven points in 11 games this season with one goal and six assists. That is tied for third on the Caps. His six assists are tied with Evgeny Kuznetsov for the second most on the team.
#2 Dylan Strome
Dylan Strome has been on a roll. He recorded two assists on Tuesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights which marked his second multi assist game of the season and the 20th of his career.
Strome has recorded nine points in 11 games this season with two goals and seven assists. Strome leads the Caps in assists and is tied with Alex Ovechkin for the team lead in points.
Strome also has five power play points with a goal and four assists which is also tied with Alex Ovechkin for the most on the Capitals.
Through 11 games, Strome is averaging 18:14 minutes of ice time which ranks second among Capitals forwards. Alex Ovechkin leads with 20:02 minutes of ice time per game.
Prior to the start of this season, Strome had averaged 16:02 minutes of ice time in his career. Strome leads the Capitals in assists with seven.
Strome was brought on to replace Nicklas Backstrom who is out for the possibility of the entire season. Today Strome will be centering the second line alongside Marcus Johansson and Anthony Mantha.
Mantha got off to a hot start but has cooled off while MoJo has re found his rhythm and showed why the Caps traded for him last season and re signed him over the summer.
#1 Alex Ovechkin
At morning skate Alex Ovechkin was at his usual spot on the top line next to Evgeny Kuznetsov and Conor Sheary. After a slow start to the season when it comes to Ovechkin standards, he has heated up.
Last season Ovechkin tied for the Capitals lead with Evgeny Kuznetsov with four points against the Red Wings. That equated to three goals and one assist while Kuznetsov had two goals and two assists.
Ovechkin has scored 22 goals and 35 points in his career against the Red Wings.
Ovechkin recorded an assist on Tuesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights which extended his point streak to three games with two goals and one assist.
Ovechkin has recorded nine points in 11 games this season with five goals and four assists. He’s two points shy of passing Adam Oates for the 19th most points in NHL history. Oates finished his career with 1,420 career points.
Related Story. Capitals vs. Red Wings: Date, Time, Betting Odds, Streaming, More. light
Ovechkin now sits 17 goals shy of passing Gordie Howe (801) for second place on the NHL’s all time goals list and two goals shy of passing Howe’s mark for the most goals scored by a player with a single franchise. Howe finished with 786 goals with the Red Wings.