Caps Beat Down The Blue Jackets As Evgeny Kuzventsov Now Has 10 Points In His Last 4 Games

Want to know who is filthy at hockey? Evgeny Kuznetsov is filthy at hockey. The 23 year old 2nd year player now has 15 points in 9 January games, including 10 in his last 4. He’s registered a point in 6 games this month, and 5 have been multi-point games. This tear has brought him up to 48 points through 46 games, good for 4th in the entire NHL.

The way Kuzy skates with the puck, turns even strength chances into odd man rushes with his vision, and finds his teammates on the ice reminds me of Pavel Datsyuk. The way Kuz can circle around and create space for his teammates might be second to none in the NHL right now. And the best thing about him- at 23 year old- he’s pretty sound defensively. Doesn’t take lazy stick penalties, basically ever. All he does is make plays, register points, and bring home wins.

Ovi also scored last night, keeping his hot streak going. That’s 7 in 9 January games for him as he stares down yet another 40 goal season. Glad he’s heating up, as he only had 7 goals in 13 November game. Not good for 895 chase. He’ll of course be fine, and with 28 goals through 46 games, he could very well have his 3rd straight 50 goal season. And he’s a +19. I know that’s important to so many of you. Oh wait, +/- doesn’t fit your narrative anymore? Oh. Moving on….

So the Caps are now 35-8-3, good for 73 points in the standings, not too bad. Big shout out to Mike Latta for playing his 100th NHL game last night and punching a face for good measure.

Just gotta stay healthy, get a couple of the injured guys back, and keep this going through the playoffs.

PS: Holtby is now 30-5-2. That doesn’t even make sense. There’s still 35 games left to be played. Mind blowing.

PS: The BOO line of Backstrom, Ovechkin, Oshie is so fast and so skilled that they make plays like this look so simple.