The road trip concludes for the Washington Capitals tonight in Ottawa against the Senators with a 7 p.m. puck drop on Monumental Sports Network 2
The Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators go head to head tonight at 7 p.m. in Washington's final game of their season long five game road trip. For more on how to watch head over here. Read on to find out who we think the top 3 key players are.
3. Pierre-Luc Dubois
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored his 11th goal of the season on Tuesday at the Calgary Flames. PLD has scored four goals in his last five games. With the goal, Dubois matched his point total from last season with the Los Angles Kings. This season he's got 11 goals and 29 assists for 40 points in 50 games played. Last season he had 16 goals and 24 assists for 40 points.
PLD is on pace for 47 assists and 65 points this season, both of which would mark career highs. Dubois leads the Capitals in scoring since Nov. 1 with 10 goals and 25 assists for 35 points in 41 games played. In additon, Dubois has recorded 26 points in his last 27 games with nine goals and 17 assists.
PLD ranks first on the Capitals in primary assists with 20, second in assists and even strength points (10 goals and 24 assists for 34 points) and third in points. Dubois has recorded 21 points with eigh goals and 13 assists in 22 career games against Ottawa. His 21 points against the Senators are the third most he has registered against a single franchise.
2. Aliaksei Protas
Aliaskei Protas scored his 21st goal of the season on Tuesday night in Calgary and his 21 goals rank second on the Capitals behind only Alex Ovechkin who has 22. With the goal, Protas extended his point streak to five games with three goals and three assists for six points. That marks the longest point streak of his career.
Entering this season, Protas had scored 13 goals in 169 career games. Protas ranks second on the Capitals in points with 42 (21 goals and 21 assists in 50 games played) this season and is one of 24 players in the NHL with 20 plus goals and 20 plus assists.
20 of Protas 21 goals have come at even strength, which leads Washington and is ranked tied for fifth in the NHL. In additon, Protas ranks tied for first in the NHL in plus/minus with +29, tied for seventh in five on five points (15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points) and tied for ninth in even strength points with 41.
1. Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin scored his 875th career goal on Jan. 23 at the Seattle Kraken. He is now 20 goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history. The 39 year old has scored 22 goals in 34 games this season which is a clip of 0.65 goals per games played.
Ovechkin entered the season 42 goals shy of passing Gretzky and has scored at least 42 goals in 13 of his 19 NHL seasons. Ovechkin's goal on Jan. 16 at the Ottawa Senators, the very same team facing the Caps tonight, marked his NHL record 27th career overtime goal and 134th career game winning goal. Ovi si now two game winning goals shy of passing Jaromir Jagr (135) for the most in NHL history.
On Tuesday night at Calgary, Ovechkin played in his 1,460th career game which moved him past Mike Modano for the eighth most games played with one franchise in NHL history. He also passed Modano for the most games played by a number one overall pick with the team that drafted him.
On Jan. 11 against the Nashville Predators on the road, he netted his 20th goal of the season to tie Ron Francis for the second most 20 goal seasons in NHL history. He also joined Gordie Howe (22) as the second player in NHL history to score 20 or more goals in 20 consecutive seasons.
Ovechkin is also the first player in NHL history to score 20 goals in 20 straight seasons from the start of his career. Ovechkin required the fewest games in NHL history by a player age 39 or older to reach the 20 goal mark in a single campaign, doing so in 15 fewer contests than the next closest skaters: Johnny Bucyk (42 in 1975-76 and Teemu Selanne (42 in 2009-10), per NHL PR.
