One: Keep the hits coming – The Kraken actually had two more hits in the lethargic loss to Anaheim on Friday night than the 19 they managed in a spirited win Sunday over New Jersey. But the big difference was that Jacob Melanson on Friday had contributed a franchise record 10 of those 21 hits against the Ducks all by himself. And Eeli Tolvanen had five more, meaning two players delivered 71% of the physicality.
On Sunday, the distribution was a little more spread around with Melanson notching seven hits and Tolvanen three for 53% of the total. In all,10 players recorded hits against the Devils compared to seven in facing the Ducks.
Sure, the number of hits won’t always matter as much as where they were delivered and how effectively.
But where you really saw a difference was that, in the Ducks game, Jared McCann delivered two hits while Ryan Winterton had one as additional forward contributors to physical play besides Melanson and Tolvanen. But against the Devils, beyond Melanson and Tolvanen, you also had forward Jaden Schwartz deliver two hits while McCann, Wright, Freddy Gaudreau, and Chandler Stephenson pitched in with one apiece.
It’s a small piece of the game, but it suggests more all-around engaged Kraken forward lines, as a majority of hits by forwards occur in the offensive and neutral zones. That helps contribute to a higher offensive output, and this strong defensive team doesn’t need much additional offense to turn losses into wins. Want to avoid slow starts and early deficits? Stay engaged from the get-go.
The Capitals are a big team, so the Kraken will need to lay on the body against them and be able to absorb punishment as well.
Two: More play like this from Beniers - Matty Beniers is now tied with Jordan Eberle for the Kraken team lead in points with 34, courtesy of his five goals and three assists in his last 10 games. It isn’t just the stats that are important here, but the way Beniers has gone about compiling them. He’s been driving the team’s offensive play by getting to high danger areas, shooting more, and showing off some of the elite creativity that made him a No. 2 overall draft pick back in 2021.
Sure, Beniers showed plenty of offense in a 24-goal season in capturing the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie back in 2022-23. But the defensive aspects of his game are now much improved over three years ago, to the point where he can take on top opposing forwards and keep them blanketed all night, in addition to bringing the offense.
This was the two-way promise that made the Kraken so interested in Beniers to begin with. People forget he was always considered a top offensive threat. He just needed to remind them. Watching the skills he showed stickhandling the puck past Thatcher Demko of the Canucks earlier this month to deliver a rare Kraken shootout win was one way to remind them.
Seeing Beniers gather pucks in the neutral zone and carry them into the offensive end to set up quality scoring chances and goals the rest of the month has only reinforced that. And he’s done it with a significantly lower shooting percentage than three years ago – 12.5% compared to 16.8% -- suggesting the stats he’s now putting up are less subject to the whims of luck.
If this team is to make the playoffs, having Beniers among the top two Kraken point leaders by season’s end seems almost a necessity.
Against stingy defenses such as the hefty Capitals’ crew – 10th best in the league at 2.91 goals per game allowed -- it will be imperative for Beniers to keep driving the offense to help to turn the one-or-two-goal Kraken outputs we’ve seen before into the three-or-four needed to prevail.
Three: Know the foe – Tough to begin any conversation about the Capitals without getting into Alex Ovechkin, second in team goals at 21 and points at 44 – all at the ripe old age of 40. Then again, this should probably be expected from the NHL’s all-time goals leader, and Ovechkin has certainly proven worthy of that designation.
Then again, team goals and points leader Tom Wilson, with 22 and 46, respectively, is about to turn 32 in March, so perhaps age truly is a state of mind.
You want to talk balance, well, the Caps have 10 players with 21 points or more and six with 34 points or more. Those half dozen players with at least 34 points would be tied with Beniers and Eberle for the Kraken team lead.
All that said, the Capitals enter this game having dropped five of their last six contests, including a 6-5 overtime decision in Edmonton on Saturday night. They’ve won only four games the entire month, going 4-7-2 that span, to tumble out of playoff positioning they’d held most of the season. Charlie Lindgren, brother of Kraken defenseman Ryan, was in net for the Oilers game so the Kraken will likely see Logan Thompson between the pipes for this one.
Thompson was victorious in Calgary in a 3-1 decision on Friday night. He’s already been named to Team Canada’s squad at next month’s 2026 Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina. He’s got a .914 save percentage and a 2.39 goals against average for the Caps this season and is 4-1-0 lifetime against the Kraken – stopping 18 of 19 shots in a victory over them in Washington, DC back in October.
Projected lineup (not official):
Kakko - Beniers - Eberle
Schwartz - Stephenson - Tolvanen
Catton - Wright - McCann
Melanson – Gaudreau - Winterton
Dunn - Larsson
Lindgren - Montour
Evans - Oleksiak
Grubauer
