Top 3 key Capitals to watch against Flames
Hope you enjoyed the Turkey Washington Capitals fans. And I hope you got your Black Friday shopping done because the Caps have an early one today.
Today at 2 p.m. the Capitals will host the Calgary Flames in a blackout game as fans will get a reverse retro T shirt while the team dons those sweet Screaming Eagle jerseys.
The Caps held a practice on Thanksgiving since there’s no morning skate today. Here were the lines via Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic:
Ovechkin-Strome-Sheary
Milano-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Johansson-Eller-Mantha
NAK/Protas-Dowd-Hathaway
Snively
Gustafsson-Carlson
Fehervary-Jensen
Irwin-TvR
Orlov-Alexeyev
Kuemper
Lindgren
Here were the Caps power play units:
PP1: Ovechkin, Oshie, Carlson, Strome and Johansson
PP2: Kuznetsov, Sheary, Milano, Gustafsson and TvR
#3 T.J. Oshie
In T.J. Oshie’s return to action after missing 11 games with a lower body injury, the Oshbabe recorded two assists on Wednesday night, helping the Caps to a win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Oshie also had a team high seven hits and recorded three shots on goal. He’s recorded seven points with two goals and five assists in 10 games this season.
Since the start of the 2020-21 season, the Capitals are 66-29-12 with an .873 point percentage with Oshie in the lineup and 35-12-6 with a .717 point percentage when he records a point.
In games without Oshie since the 2021 COVID shortened season, the Caps are .500 with a record of 22-22-8.
#2 Dylan Strome
Dylan Strome had the primary assist on Alex Ovechkin’s game winning overtime goal on Wednesday night which marked his second game winning assist of the season. The other one came on Oct. 24 at the New Jersey Devils.
We got so excited we at first tweeted that Strome scored but of course it was Ovechkin, more on him later.
Strome has been a roll recording four points in his last four games with one goal and three assists. Strome has recorded 16 points in 21 games this season with five goals and 11 assists. Strome ranks second on the Capitals in points, assists and power play points.
He has eight power play points with two goals and six assists. He also leads the Capitals in multi assist games with three and multi point games this season with five.
Through 21 games, Strome is averaging 17:14 minutes of ice time, which ranks third among Capitals forwards. Alex Ovechkin has 21:07 minutes of ice time while Evgeny Kuznetsov has 18:54 minutes of ice time.
Prior to the start of this season, Strome had averaged 16:02 minutes of ice time per game in his career. He has been a perfect fit on his new team and he has the potential to breakout soon.
#1 Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin, after having a goal taken from him in the first period as it went to Marcus Johansson, got one back in overtime to win the game on Wednesday night.
It was Ovechkin’s 25th career overtime goal which extended his own NHL record. It also marked Ovechkin’s 790th career goal. He is 10 goals shy of becoming the third player in NHL history to score 800 goals and 12 goals shy of passing Gordie Howe (801 career goals) for second on the NHL’s all time goals list.
Ovechkin ranks first in NHL history in power play goals with 290 and overtime goals, second in game winning goals with 123, road goals with 401, and multi goal games with 159 while ranking fourth in even strength goals with 495.
Ovechkin also recorded an assist on Wednesday which marked his 401st career multi point game. Ovechkin has recorded 21 points in 20 games this season with 10 goals and nine assists, leading th eCapitals.
Ovechkin is on pace to score 39 goals this season. Should Ovechkin reach he 30 goal mark, it would mark his 17th career 30 goal season, tying him with Mike Gartner for the most in NHL history.
Must Read. Flames vs. Capitals: Date, Time, Betting Odds, Streaming, More. light
It’s good to see Ovechkin heating up after the slow start he had to the season. He could pass Gordie Howe around the holidays or fresh off the new year.