John Carlson just became the first Capitals defenseman in franchise history to score 500 points.
Point number 500 came on a beautiful one-timer goal set up by Jakub Vrana.
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Vrana did all the hard work here minus the finish. V gained the offensive zone, curled down the right wing, and then found Carlson driving the center lane. Carlson beat Brian Elliott far side with the perfect finish.
“I saw the other team was a little puck focused on their backcheck,” Carlson said at intermission to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Keith Jones. “Just tried to find some open space. V turned up at the right time and saw me. He made a great play to get it to me.”
5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ looks good on ya @JohnCarlson74 pic.twitter.com/bGD1JkYCcM
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 12, 2021
Carlson now has 111 goals and 389 assists.
The Capitals published a tribute video honoring Carly shortly after the goal.
The third-fastest active defenseman to reach the 500-point mark.
Congrats, Carly! 👏#ALLCAPS | @LeidosInc pic.twitter.com/9VMsheZImv
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 12, 2021
Carlson is one of only 10 other active defensemen who have reached 500 points and the third-fastest (783 games) to reach the mark (Erik Karlsson: 613 games; Kris Letang: 753 games).
John Carlson becomes the first defenseman in franchise history and the third-fastest active defenseman to reach the 500-point mark, doing so in 783 career games. pic.twitter.com/UPUBjhEc6t
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 12, 2021
Carlson is also the ninth player overall in Capitals franchise history to reach the mark.
Expanding his team's lead to 3-1 vs PHI, John Carlson becomes the 9th player- but the 1st defenceman- to reach 500 career points with the @Capitals franchise. He's also the 14th US-born blueliner to get to that mark in the NHL, doing it in the 6th fewest games of that group (783) pic.twitter.com/LRWgDRlVv4
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) March 12, 2021
According to the Capitals PR, Carlson, who already has the most points in Capitals’ history for defensemen, is four assists shy of passing Mike Gartner (392a) for the fourth-most assists and three goals shy (111) of passing both Mike Green (113) and Calle Johansson (113) for the third-most goals in franchise history by a defenseman.
