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John Carlson’s return night is a resounding success: numbers for the morning after

By Chris Cerullo

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March 24, 2023 6:30 am

The Washington Capitals beat all up on the Chicago Blackhawks with ease on Thursday night. The team got one of their leaders back in John Carlson and responded by thumping the lowly Western Conference squad.

Touchdown.

  • Well, even if it’s clear the Caps aren’t a playoff team this season, they’re still not even close to as bad as that purposefully terrible Blackhawks team. The Caps finished with 23 scoring chances at five-on-five to Chicago’s 11 and scored six goals for the second straight game. They have scored six or more goals in a game now nine times this season.
  • John Carlson made his long-awaited return from the long-term injured reserve. He skated almost exactly 20 minutes in his first game back which was second on the team only to Nick Jensen by nine seconds. He also potted a goal, added an assist, and led the team both in individual shot attempts (9) and scoring chances (6).
  • Alex Ovechkin scored his 41st goal of the season and the 821st of his career. He has nine games left to try and hit 50 goals for the 10th time in his career. That’s going to be very tough but if anyone can do it, we know it’s Ovi. He has scored four goals in his last three games and eight in his last ten.

  • The Caps were utterly fantastic with Dylan Strome on the ice five-on-five against his former team. In those minutes, they saw positive differentials in shot attempts (+11), scoring chances (+7), and high-danger chances (+3). Chicago did not record a single scoring chance while playing against the Strome, Alex Ovechkin, and Tom Wilson trio.
  • This next one made me do a double-take when I read it. Per Caps PR, the Capitals have now earned at least one point in 11-straight home games against the Blackhawks (9-0-2) dating back to January 10, 2006. The last time they were unable to garner at least a point in a home game against Chicago came on March 12, 2004, in a 4-3 loss. The players on the scoresheet points-wise for the Caps in that game include Jeff Halpern, Alexander Semin, Kip Miller, Stephen Peat, Brooks Laich, Owen Fussey, and Brian Willsie. Rick Berry and Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre also got into a combined three fights.
  • Really nice to see Darcy Kuemper between the pipes again. He made 28 stops on 29 shots in the victory. NaturalStatTrick had him stopping 1.42 more goals than expected.

Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.

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