One of the underdiscussed aspects of the Capitals’ surprisingly successful 2021 season has been the resurgence of Evgeny Kuznetsov. This year at 5v5, Kuznetsov is playing career-best defense (much more on this in WLB this weekend), all while outscoring opponents 14-6 and owning nearly 60% of the expected goal share.
Yet another wrinkle this year? Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin, when playing together, have been... extraordinarily effective. That might be a surprise, given the heat map that the two had when playing together last year:
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