The Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens go head to head on Monday night. The Caps are in the playoffs for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons and the 34th time in the franchise's 50 year history. Since 2007-08 no team has made the playoffs more than Washington with 16 playoff appearances in 18 seasons. Lets look at the 3 X Factors on the Caps who might determine this series.
#3 Connor McMichael
With Aliaksei Protas possibly still being out it's time for Connor McMichael to step up. Connor Mc practiced on the second line with Pierre-Luc Duobis and Tom Wilson. The trio had a combined corsi for percentage of 50.47 percent at five on five this season. They also combined for a 54.30 percent expected goals for percentage as well as a 55.37 percent high danger chances for percentage.
That's quality. When McMichael is not with either of them his corsi for percentage is at 47.35 percent, a 50.56 percent expected goals for percentage and a 54.07 percent high danger chances for percentage.
McMichael finished the regular season with 26 goals and 31 assists for 57 points while averaging 16:49 minutes of ice time a night. He also had five game winning goals and a plus/minus of plus 19.
#2 Alex Ovechkin
Like CJ mentioned yesterday, Alex Ovechkin will be a player to watch and a potential X Factor this series for a different reason than scoring goals. All eyes will be in Ovechkin to see if he can win his first playoff series since 2018. He finished the regular season with 44 goals and 29 assists for 73 points. He also passed Wayne Gretzky for the most NHL goals of all time.
At practice Ovechkin skated with Dylan Strome and Anthony Beauvillier. The three of them have a combined corsi for percentage of 43.86 percent at five on five as well as a 48.87 percent expected goals for percentage and a 66.67 high danger chances for percentage.
When Ovi and Strome are together their combined corsi for percentage is at 48.66 percent, their expected goals for percentage is at 45.25 percent and their high danger chances for percentage is at 45.35 percent.
Can Ovechkin replicate his regular season success in the playoffs? He's done it before and he's more than capable of doing it again with his hunger and drive.
#1 Pierre-Luc Dubois
Pierre-Luc Dubois was last summer's offseason prize for the Caps. Not many expected him to have the career resurgance he did with the Capitals. Some thought he was a locker room cancer but based on his interviews with the media and clips from the locker room after postgame wins, it appears PLD is anything but.
PLD finished the season with 20 goals and 46 assists for 66 points while averaging 17:18 minutes of ice time per game and had a plus/minus of plus 27 along with four game winning goals.
His playoff stats include 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points with his best performance coming with 10 points in 10 games with four goals and six assists in the 2020 bubble when he was with the Columbus Blue Jackets.