The Capitals beat the Flyers last night and once again it was the line of Alex Tuch, Dylan Strome, and Jordan Kyrou that did the damage. Tuch scored his team-leading eighth and ninth goals of the season. Kyrou also scored twice, Dylan Strome dished out three assists, and the trio was the best line on the ice for the second game in a row. “We’ve kind of found a way to string some (wins) together…for the most part…it felt like probably… our most complete 60 minutes,” Strome said after the game.
With Tuch playing with Kyrou and Strome, the other lines are starting to fall into place. Aliaksei Protas was back on a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Tom Wilson and scored his first goal of the year, the game winner, in the second period. Having those three big rigs on the same line creates headaches for opposing teams. That line has the defensive ability to neutralize other teams’ top players while also being an offensive threat. Despite missing a few games with an illness, Dubois and Wilson are putting up points. With Big Pro starting to roll, the Caps will be that much harder to play against.
Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Protas, and Anthony Beauvillier were the Caps’ third line last night and didn’t factor in the scoring. They each had under twelve minutes of ice time last night and put a few shots on goal. But I’m sure head coach Spencer Carbery would like to see them catch fire and start scoring some goals. Lil’ Pro and Ovi have shown some flashes here and there, hinting that they might have some untapped potential. I thought those two players looked good when they played with Ivan Miroshnichenko last week. The other Russian winger has had limited playing time so far this years and has requested a trade. While Beauvillier is a valuable player and can play anywhere in the lineup, maybe Miro would provide the spark that Ovi and Lil' Pro need to get going.
New Capital Jack St. Ivany played his first game in a Capital’s sweater and had two assists in his DC debut. He got his first point, a secondary assist on Tuch’s first goal of the game in the first period and had another secondary assist on Kyrou’s second goal of the night. The Capitals claimed St. Ivany off waivers from Winnipeg on October 24th after defenseman Vincent Desharnais had surgery to remove his appendix. Now, he's got two points in one game. Not bad for the new guy who only had a couple of chances to practice with the team before taking the ice at Capital One Arena.
The Caps have won three in a row and will have a chance to build on that tonight when they play the Predators in Nashville.
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