Top 3 key Capitals to watch against Coyotes

Tonight the Washington Capitals take on the Arizona Coyotes in the second and final meeting between the two teams this season. It’ll be the Caps first time at Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State which is the rink the Coyotes currently call home.

Here were the lines at morning skate via Samantha Pell of The Washington Post:

Ovechkin-Strome-NAK
Milano-Backstrom-Wilson
Sheary-Eller-Oshie
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Hathaway

Gustafsson-TvR
Orlov-Jensen
Alexeyev-Fehervary

Extras: Mantha, Protas, Irwin
Out: Dowd (lower body injury)

Here are the top 3 players to watch tonight:

#3 Marcus Johansson

On Tuesday night against the Minnesota Wild, Marcus Johansson played in his 800th career NHL game. He has played in 566 of his 800 career games with Washington. The Capitals first round choice at 24th overall in the 2009 NHL Draft became the 11th player from his draft class to reach the 800 game mark.

Ryan O’Reilly and Craig Smith are the only players drafted after Johansson to have played in more career games. Among the 2009 draft class, Johansson ranks 15th in goals with 155, 10th in assists with 274, and 14th in points with 429.

Johansson’s 566 gams played with Washington are the 27th most in franchise history and the 19th most among players drafted by the Capitals. Congrats to MoJo and may he play in 800 more!

#2 Darcy Kuemper

Darcy Kuemper has a record of 5-1-3 with a 1.32 goals against average, a .947 save percentage, and three shutouts in nine career games against Arizona. He appeared in 121 games with the Coyotes from 2017-18 to 2020-21.

Kuemper stopped 27 of 30 shots faced on Monday at the New York Islanders including all 13 shots faced in the third period and overtime.

Kuemper has posted a record of 8-2-3 with three shutouts, a 2.26 goals against average, and a .927 save percentage in his last 14 starts dating back to Nov. 23. He leads the NHL in shutouts with four this season.

Kuemper earned at least one point in 10 straight decisions, posting a 7-0-3 record from Nov. 23 to Jan. 8, the second time in his career he has recorded at least one point in 10 or more consecutive decisions.

In 29 games played this season, Kuemper has a record of 13-11-4 with a 2.55 goals against average and a .917 save percentage. Among goaltenders with at least 25 starts, Kuemper ranks ninth in the NHL in save percentage and eighth in goals against average.

Since 2017-18, Kuemper ranks first in the NHL in save percentage with .921 and second in goals against average with 2.45.

Kuemper is the expected starter tonight as he takes on his former team. But it’ll be his first time in their new arena.