The Washington Capitals and Seattle Kraken go head to head on Thursday night. Here are the top 3 key Washington Capitals players to watch
The Washington Capitals will look to build off their win over the Edmonton Oilers as the five game west coast trip stops in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena against the Kraken. Charlie Lindgren is slated to start in goal and you can learn more about how to watch the game here. Read on to find out who we think are the top 3 key players to watch in tonight's game.
3.Jakob Chychrun
Jakob Chychrun has led the offensive charge for Capitals defensemen as overall they have combined for 115 points with 24 goals and 91 assists. That's tied for the third highest goal total in the league and a big part of it has been Chychrun.
Chychrun scored his 13th goal of the season on Jan. 18 in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. His 13 goals rank third among NHL defensemen behind Zach Werenski and Cale Makar, each with 15.
With the tally, Chychrun tied Larry Murphy (13 goals in 1983-84) for the most by a defenseman in his first season with the Capitals. Acquired from the Ottawa Senators on July 1, he has recorded 31 points in 42 games this season with 13 goals and 18 assists.
The 26 year old defenseman ranks first among Caps blueliners in points, goals, game winning goals with three, power play goals with four, power play points with 11 and plus/minus with a plus 19. He's also second in assists and ice time per game at 2:40.
Chychrun has also recorded 23 points in his last 27 games with eight goals and 15 assists dating back to Nov. 25, the second most on the team in that span behind Aliaksei Protas who has 25 points in 27 games with seven goals and 18 assists.
Chychrun has been on the ice for 46 goals for at even strength, compared to 25 against. Chychrun's +21 even strength goal differential is the second highest on the team behind Protas who's got a +25.
2. Pierre-Luc Dubois
Pierre-Luc Dubois has eight goals and 22 assists for 30 points in 33 games played. In additon he has recorded 24 points in his last 24 games with seven goals and 17 assists. He scored the game winning goal and recorded an assist on Wednesday night at the Edmonton Oilers and has recorded multiple points in bck to back games after notching a goal and an assist in a win this past Saturday over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In 47 games this season, Dubois has recorded 38 points with nine goals and 29 assists. Dubois is two points why of matching his point total from last season with the Los Angeles Kings. Dubois also ranks first on the Capitals in primary assiss with 20, second in assists and even strength points (eight goals and 24 assists for 32 points) and third in points.
PLD is on pace for 50 assists and 66 points this season, both of which would mark career highs. Dubois talked about how the Capitals were out attempted last game but still prevailed. To break down the numbers agianst the Oilers, it was 71-37 at all strengths, and by a 60-28 count at five on five. Caps still owned the scoreboard lead for more than 31 minutes of playing time.
Dubois said via Mike Vogel of WashCaps.com in his game preview:
"When you defend (at five on five), you want to attack with five and you want to defend with five. So if one guy gets beat, you still have four that can cover him. And you know, when our (defensemen) are making plays - like Marty (Fehervary) made a really nice play in the third period, to get it off the wall, right to the middle... and we're out of the zone. If he just rims it up, we're probably staying in our zone for another 20 or 30 seconds. But I thought our (defense) did a really good job of making plays and helping us get out of the zone and not having to defend too much."
1. Tom Wilson
Tom Wilson notched his 20th goal of the season on Wednesday night at Edmonton reaching the 20 goal mark for the fourth time in his career. He scored his 20th goal in his 47th game of the season. It's the fastest Wilson has reached the 20 goal mark in his career. Nine of his 20 goals have come on the power play which is tied for the sixth most power play goals in the NHL.
With 35 points in 47 games with 20 goals and 15 assists, Wilson has matched his point total for last season. He's on pace for 34 goals and 61 points this season, both of which would mark career highs. In additon, Wilson is on pace to set a career low in penalty minutes. His current pace is 76 penalty minutes.
Wilson leads the Capitals and ranks tied for 16th in the NHL in hits with 137. He's the only player in the NHL with 20 goals and 125 plus hits. Once again puck drop is at 10 p.m. on Monumental Sports Network 2 as well as 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7.
