At this time last year, the Washington Capitals were in a push to lock up their spot in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Caps succeeded, and then played through 14 hard-fought games before being eliminated as they were on the brink of their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 1998.
One of the biggest stories of last year’s playoff run was the rapid breakout of Evgeny Kuznetsov, something that has clearly carried over into this season. On this date last year, he had 9 goals and 21 assists through the regular season.
Over his final nine games last season, Kuznetsov posted two goals and five assists before scoring five goals and two assists in those 14 playoffs games.