Lighting the Lamp: Ovi’s back while the Caps remain on track
The Washington Capitals wrapped up December in fine fashion, beating Boston 3-1 on New Year’s Eve after splitting a back-to-back against two other Original Six teams (Toronto and Detroit). The club enters 2025 playing solid hockey that is no longer simply a strong start, but sustained success.
Alex Ovechkin is back in the lineup and the captain returned with a bang, scoring twice over the weekend (we’ll update the Ovi-dometer below).
Record: 25-10-2 (after an 8-4-1 month) is good enough for first place in the Metropolitan Division (one point ahead of New Jersey). Almost halfway through the season, the Caps own the best record in the Eastern Conference while standing three points behind Winnipeg for the best record mark in the NHL. Their playoff cushion is 13 points over the first team out of the Wild Card — Pittsburgh.
Rankings: Second (3.65 goals per game) in scoring and fourth (2.60) in goals against, 14th (22.7%) on the power play and sixth (83.3%) on the penalty kill.
Diamonds Direct Iceman: Aliaksei Protas netted eight goals with three assists in December. In less than half a season, the fourth-year player (33, 58 and 78 games played before this fall) has posted 16 goals and 32 points, both career highs.
Hot Sticks and Cold Pads: Defenseman Jakob Chychrun has given the blue line a major boost with 11 goals and 14 assists this season (three goals and seven assists in December), while Tom Wilson scored five goals with three assists last month to stay on pace for career highs in both this season. And Pierre-Luc Dubois tallied 10 assists in December (his 23 are second-most to Dylan Strome’s 29). Goaltender Logan Thompson went 5-1-1 with a goals-against average of 1.86 and a save percentage of .931. Thompson and Charlie Lindgren are nearly even (19-18) in starts … for now.
Ovi-dometer: Alex Ovechkin’s return from injury Saturday in Toronto saw the captain score an empty netter and he tallied another goal Sunday in Detroit. Ovi has 17 goals for the season and 870 for his career, which places him 24 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL mark. Before the injury, Ovi was on pace to score 68 goals this season and, assuming he plays the remainder of the team’s games this season, (he missed a total of 17 games the previous three campaigns) he’s on a 53-goal pace.
Here’s where my head explodes: Prorating his pace over the final 45 games of the season has Ovechkin reaching Gretzky’s mark in game 30, which is Saturday, March 15, at San Jose. Game 31 is Tuesday, March 18, at home against Detroit.
Matchup of the Month: The Caps play six home games in January, and their first one brings the toughest opponent Thursday night. But Minnesota (23-11-4) forward Kirill Kaprizov and his 23 goals (tied for second in the NHL) is on Injured Reserve with a return date, according to ESPN, projected to be two nights after the Wild are in Washington. That means we move to Saturday at noon and the eighth place New York Rangers — yes, the team that swept the Caps out of the playoffs last spring. Revenge is a dish best served cold, especially on the ice.