Grading Capitals offense against Canadiens
What a game and what a win it’s time to grade the offense
Time to further breakdown last night’s thrilling Halloween night win as the Washington Capitals protected Capital One Arena ice in a 6-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
In the win Tom Wilson scored a power play goal to snap a six game drought for the man advantage. Charlie Lindgren would make 13 stops and once again the Caps got contributions from up and down the lineup.
The Caps also got goals from Brandon Duhaime, Jakub Vrana, Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas. The outburst came in the second period. Alex Ovechkin would then score to bring the house down.
Ovechkin’s goal marked the first career goal he scored against Cayden Primeau which is the 176th different goaltender Ovechkin has scored on in his career. Only Jaromir Jagr and Patrick Marleau (177) have scored on more goaltenders in NHL history per Caps PR.
The Caps have won five straight games at Capital One Arena which marks their longest home winning streak since 2019. With three points in the win, Alex Ovechkin registered his 133rd career three point game. Among active players, only Sidney Crosby (180) has recorded more. It was also Ovi’s 128th career multi assist game.
Ovechkin has been on fire as he’s scored three goals in his last two games and now needs 37 goals to pass Wayne Gretzky for first on the NHL’s all time goals list.
Protas meanwhile had his third goal of the season and has eight points in nine games played this season with three goals and five assists. As for McMichael he scored his fifth goal of the season and has recorded nine points in his last seven games with five goals and four assists.
Duhaime and Vrana’s goals were scored 54 seconds apart in the middle stanza and it marks the second time this season the Caps have scored two goals within one minute of each other. The other game was Protas and Jakob Chychrun on Oct. 15 against the Vegas Golden Knights.
For even nicer numbers, Tom Wilson has six goals in his last nine games to lead the Caps. Ovechkin assisted on the goal for his fourth on the season. In 59 career games against Montreal, Ovechkin has recorded 68 points with 38 goals and 30 assists. His 38 goals and 68 points against the Habs are the most among active players.
Grade A+: No tricks on this Halloween night. Just treats for all of us in the form of six goals. An Ovi goal to end the night of course was icing on the cake.
