Top 3 key Capitals to watch against Sharks
The Washington Capitals take on the San Jose Sharks tonight at Capital One Arena. Puck drop is at 5 p.m. and you can catch the game on Monumental Sports Network.
Last season the teams split the season series with the road team winning each time. That included a 4-1 loss by the Capitals on Feb. 12 at Capital One Arena while the Caps rebounded with an 8-3 win on March 4 in San Jose.
Charlie Lindgren is off from IR and expected to backup Darcy Kuemper tonight. Hunter Shepard goes back to Hershey. Hendrix Lapierre got recalled from the Bears while Nic Dowd heads to IR.
Here are the top 3 players to watch tonight:
#3 Darcy Kuemper
Darcy Kuemper had a good game on Friday night making a season high 39 saves against the Minnesota Wild to secure his second win of the season. He is the only goalie this season to record two wins while registering 38 or more saves. Kuemper had 38 saves in their first win of the season over the Calgary Flames on Oct. 16.
Kuemper has posted an 8-4-4 record with a 2.84 goals against average, a .906 save percentage and one shutout in 18 career appearances against San Jose. He played in 57 games for the Capitals last season which tied a career high.
#2 Dylan Strome
Dylan Strome has been a beast this season. He’s scored five goals in his last four games including two multi goal games at New Jersey against the Devils Wednesday and Oct. 21 at Montreal against the Canadiens.
Strome’s five goals this season lead the Capitals. Three of his five goals have come in the third period. He has been on the ice for six of Washington’s eight even strength goals this season. His 54.8 shot attempt percentage at five on five ranks first on Washington.
Strome set career highs in games played with 81, goals with 23, assists with 42, and points with 65 in his first season with the Capitals last season.
Strome also recorded 28 points in his final 22 games of the 2022 23 season with 11 goals and 17 assists. He leads Washington in points since Dec. 20, 2022. That total is 54 games played and 22 goals and 24 assists for 46 points.
I knew Strome was going to be an X factor this season. As Alex Ovechkin started the season cold I began to think that Strome would lead the team in goals. Let’s hope Ovechkin keeps scoring so that’s not the case at the end of the season but Strome can enjoy the team lead in goals for now this early in the season.
#1 Alex Ovechkin
After a cold start to the season, Alex Ovechkin is heating up. He would’ve had a three game goal streak if his would’ve been goal on Friday night didn’t get called back for offsides. If he scores today he’ll be 69 goals away from Wayne Gretzky which is pretty nice.
It began with his 300th power play goal on Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Nobody else has more power play goals than Ovechkin and he’s the first ever to reach the 300 milestone. It was also the 3,000th power play goal in Capitals history.
Ovechkin has scored 9.99 percent of the power play goals in franchise history which is the third highest percentage in NHL history among players with at least 40 power lay goals with one franchise. Teemu Selanne has 12.2 percent with the Anaheim Ducks and Steven Stamkos has 11.6 percent with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tampa Bay entered the NHL in 1992 93 while Anaheim played it’s first season in 1993 94. The Capitals’ inaugural season was in 1974 75 which is 31 years before Ovechkin’s first NHL season in 2005 06.
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Ovechkin needs to average 25 goals a season for the next three seasons to to bypass Wayne Gretzky. Two down and 23 more to go but let’s hope he scores more than 25 this season.