EDMONTON - Alex Ovechkinsa国际传媒 pursuit of the all-time goal scoring record has certainly been a worthy story, but a number of other guys are having either resurgent or career seasons for the red-hot Washington Capitals.
The Capitals won their fifth game in a row, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Tuesday, earning them at least a point in an NHL-high 11 straight games, going 8-0-3 over that span.
One of the players having a career campaign is Tom Wilson, who scored his 20th goal of the season.
It is the fourth time in Wilson's career that he has hit the 20-goal mark, but his best season was only 24 in 2021-2022 and he seems certain to surge well past that benchmark with so much of this season remaining.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 take scoring goals for granted, itsa国际传媒 a huge privilege, and scoring 20 is something that is always a goal and coming into this league itsa国际传媒 something I wanted to be able to do at least a couple of times,鈥 said the 30-year-old Toronto native.
鈥淚鈥檓 playing with a lot of good players right now and this year they are finding me in good spots and I鈥檓 making it count, so I鈥檒l take it when it comes.鈥
One of those "good players" is Pierre-Luc Dubois, who had a goal and an assist to put him at 38 points in 47 games this season as he continues to bounce back strongly from a tough year in Los Angeles last season, where he recorded just 40 points in 82 games with the Kings.
鈥淲hen you have guys like (linemates Aliaksei Protas) and (Wilson), it makes my life easier as a centreman,鈥 Dubois said. 鈥淲illy and Pro, they鈥檙e good players, they forecheck well, they make nice plays, they do a little bit of everything out there. Those two guys have been great all year and they were great again tonight.鈥
Goalie Logan Thompson, who was named the NHLsa国际传媒 No. 1 star for last week, made 30 stops in net for the Capitals as he continues to shine after coming over to the Caps in a trade with Vegas over the summer.
鈥淵ou know what I liked, there were a lot of shots and people around him and a ton of traffic and the puck is moving around and it felt like he held his ground really well in the crease tonight,鈥 said Washington head coach Spencer Carbery.
鈥淲hether he was freezing that puck and getting through, hesa国际传媒 looking around traffic and those are not easy situations and there is chaos in front of him. Once again in true Caps fashion, he delivers when we need a big save and preserve the win and keep the one-goal win, he delivers.鈥
Thompson now sports an impressive record of 22-2-3 on the season, after posting a career best 25 wins with the Golden Knights last year.
鈥淚t was a lot of fun, I don鈥檛 think I ever beat these guys,鈥 said Thompson of the Oilers. 鈥淚tsa国际传媒 a lot of fun, itsa国际传媒 a great atmosphere, it kind of felt like a playoff game. It was a lot of fun, credit to the guys, we stuck with it and thatsa国际传媒 kind of been the way the whole year. It was a huge two points to start this trip.鈥
It was the first game of a season-high five game road trip for the Capitals.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2025.
