Top 3 key Capitals to watch against Blues
The Washington Capitals take on the St. Louis Blues tonight. Although both teams have struggled all season, the Blues have won four in a row and always play the Capitals pretty tough.
Here were the lines from morning skate via Samantha Pell of The Washington Post:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Protas
Milano-Strome-Sheary
McMichael-Eller-Mantha
Johansson-Dowd-Hathaway
Gustafsson-Carlson
Fehervary-Jensen
Irwin-TvR
Dmitry Orlov (lower body, injured reserve) was on the ice and skating with Alex Alexeyev as an extra defensive pair. Charlie Lindgren was the first goalie off the ice and the expected starter against his former team.
Here are the top 3 key players to watch tonight:
#3 Charlie Lindgren
With the Blues last season, Charlie Lindgren went 5-0-0. He was last seen in relief at the Tampa Bay Lightning where he stopped 24 of 25 shots.
In five games with the Capitals this season, Lindgren is 2-1-1 with a 2.98 goals against average and a .915 save percentage.
Last season with the Blues was his lone season in St. Louis. In addition to winning all five games, he posted a 1.22 goals against average and a .958 save percentage.
Lindgren made his Blues debut on Dec. 7, 2021 and became the first goaltender in their franchise history to earn wins in each of his first five appearances.
"I'm excited. When I think of St. Louis, I think of a lot of good memories here ... It'll be good to see some of the guys tonight and then hopefully we take it to them on the ice."
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 17, 2022
Charlie Lindgren talks starting tonight in his return to St. Louis.#CapsBlues | @MedStarHealth pic.twitter.com/BkcxCrRuhz
He is 37 saves shy of 1,000 career saves.
#2 Conor Sheary
Conor Sheary has been off to a hot start this season. He scored his sixth goal of the year on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. His six goals this season rank second on the Capitals, trailing only Alex Ovechkin who has eight.
With nine points in 18 games with six goals and three assists, Sheary is on pace to record 27 goals and 41 points this season. Should Sheary maintain his hot scoring pace, he would establish a new career high in goals. His previous best was 23 in the 2016-17 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Five of Sheary’s six goals have came at five on five, which lead the Capitals and ranks tied for 18th in the NHL through games played Nov. 15.
Sheary’s lone goal that wasn’t scored during five on five play was a shorthanded goal on Oct. 24 at the New Jersey Devils which marked his first career shorthanded goal.
Sheary ranks second among Capitals forwards in shorthanded ice time per game with 2:07. Prior to the start of this season, Sheary averaged 14 seconds of shorthanded ice time per game in his career.
Since joining the Capitals ahead of the 2021 season, Sheary ranks second on Washington in goals with 39 (Ovechkin has 82) and second in goals at five on five with 31 while Ovechkin has 40.
#1 John Carlson
John Carlson plays in his 900th career game tonight against the St. Louis Blues. He will become the sixth player in Washington Capitals franchise history to play 900 games, all with the Caps, joining Alex Ovechkin (1,292), Nicklas Backstrom (1,058), Calle Johansson (983), Peter Bondra (961), and Kelly Miller (940).
Since becoming a regular in the Caps lineup in 2010-11, Carlson has played in 877 of the Capitals 929 games which equates to 94.4 percent. His 877 games in that span trails only Alex Ovechkin (896).
Carlson was the 27th overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft. He ranks fourth among his draft class in games played trailing Steven Stamkos, Josh Bailey, and Drew Doughty.
Carlson recorded his 600th career point on Nov. 11 against the Tampa Bay Lightning and simultaneously passed Michal Pivonka (599) for the fifth most points in franchise history.
Carlson is the Capitals franchise leader in assists with 467 and points with 602 among defensemen and ranks second in games played (899) and third in goals (135) among Washington blue liners.
Since the 2017-18 season, Carlson ranks first in the NHL in points among defensemen (337), holding a 24 point lead over the next closest defensemen which is Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators with 313 points.
More. Capitals vs. Blues: Date, Time, Betting Odds, Streaming, More. light
Congrats to Carlson on reaching this milestone and those are the three Capitals to watch in tonight’s game. Let’s hope for a better result than the last two games.