The Capitals play the New York Rangers tonight at the Verizon Center at 8 p.m. This will mark the first of three games remaining between the two Metropolitan Division rivals in the final month of the season.
The Capitals enter tonight’s game fourth in the Metropolitan division standings with 82 points. They trail the second place Rangers (89 points) by 7 points. In the overall NHL Eastern Conference standings the Capitals are in seventh place and the Rangers are fourth. New York however is just 2 points behind Eastern Conference leading Montreal which has 91 points.
Capitals Center Nicklas Backstrom earned two assists on Saturday against Buffalo, tying Michal Pivonka (418) for first place on the Capitals franchise assist list. Backstrom earned 418 assists in 562 career games, 263 games quicker than Pivonka (825). The Gavle, Sweden, native has tallied 22 assists in his last 24 games (1/16-3/7: 5g, 22a) and leads the NHL in assists (51) and power-play assists (26), ranks tied for second in points (69) and power-play points (29) and tied for fifth in primary assists (25). Backstrom has now reached the 50-assist plateau in five of his eight NHL seasons and Saturday marked his 15th multi-assist game of the season. Since he entered the NHL in 2007-08, Backstrom ranks third in the League in assists (418), trailing Henrik Sedin (464) and Joe Thornton (447). Backstrom and the Capitals host the New York Rangers at Verizon Center tonight. Backstrom has earned 23 points (6g, 17a) in 27 career games against the Rangers.
Power Surge – Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 20th power play goal of the season on Saturday against Buffalo, marking the fourth time in his career he has scored 20 or more power-play goals in a season. Ovechkin previously scored 20 power-play goals in 2005-06 (21), 2007-08 (22) and 2013-14 (24). The only other players in NHL history with at least four 20-PPG seasons are Brett Hull (5), Mike Bossy (4), Phil Esposito (4), Tim Kerr (4) and Luc Robitaille (4). Jaromir Jagr (2) is the only active player besides Ovechkin with more than one such season. Ovechkin has earned 19 points in his last 13 games (2/8-3/7: 12g, 7a) and has scored 28 goals in his last 31 games (12/29-3/7: 28g, 13a). The Moscow native leads the NHL in goals (44), power-play goals (20), game-winning goals (10) and shots (328), ranks tied for second in points (69) and 11th in hits (206).
Dynamic Duo – Alex Ovechkin ranks second on the Capitals franchise assist list (417), one assist shy of tying Nicklas Backstrom and Michal Pivonka (418) for first place. Ovechkin leads the League in goals (44) this season, Backstrom leads the NHL in assists (51) and Ovechkin and Backstrom rank tied for second in the NHL in points (69). Backstrom and Ovechkin have combined to register the most points (138) and goals (62) by any teammates in the NHL this season. Backstrom has earned an assist on 29 of Ovechkin’s 44 goals this season and since Backstrom entered the NHL in 2007-08, he has recorded an assist on 169 of Ovechkin’s 368 goals (45.9%).
Special Play – The Capitals have scored a power-play goal in four consecutive games (3/1-3/7) and have scored 12 power-play goals in their last 11 games (2/15-3/7). Washington is 50 for 201 (24.9%) on the power play this season, ranking second in the NHL. Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL in power-play goals (20), Nicklas Backstrom ranks first in power-play assists (26), and Ovechkin and Backstrom rank tied for second in the League in power-play points (29).
Getting the Green Light – Mike Green earned two assists on Saturday against Buffalo, marking his 10th multi-assist game of the season. The Calgary native ranks tied for first among NHL defensemen in multi-assist games this season (Kris Letang: 10) and third in multi-point games (12), trailing Letang and Roman Josi (13). In addition, Green ranks first among NHL defensemen in primary assists (21), tied for ninth in assists (33) and 17th in points (38). This season marks the fourth time in Green’s career he has recorded 30 assists in a season. He previously did so in 2007-08 (38), 2008-09 (42) and 2009-10 (57).
Leave it to Beagle – Capitals center Jay Beagle registered two points (1g, 1a) on Saturday against Buffalo, marking his third multi-point game of the season and fourth of this career. The Calgary native has set career highs in goals (10), assists (10) and points (20) this season, and Beagle has earned more points this season than he has did in the previous two seasons combined (17). The Capitals are 17-0-4 all-time when Beagle scores a goal and 15-0-1 this season when he earns a point.