Stadium Series 2018: Leafs At Capitals

The Washington Capitals host The Toronto Maple Leafs, in what will be both their 3rd outdoor game in team history. This will be the second time the Caps host an outdoor game, and the second time the Leafs will be the visiting team.

Both teams happen to be undefeated in 2 previous games. On January 1st 2011 they beat the host Penguins 3-1 and on January 1st 2015, they beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. 

In the two previous outdoor games the Leafs have been apart of, they beat the Red Wings both times. The first time was January 1st, 2014 at the Big House in Michigan, by a score of 3-2(SO) in front of a record crowd of 105,491 fans. Then again January 1st 2017 at BMO Field, coined as The Centennial Classic, by a score of 5-4 in OT. The red Wings tied it up late, with less than 1 second left on the clock to send the game to OT, where rookie phenom Auston Matthews scored the OT winner.

This game, part of the NHL Stadium Series, will be hosted in Annapolis, at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. On Friday, there were some heavy winds that caused the Leafs to practice indoors. The NHL claims to be monitoring the winds to make sure that the game is safe for the players.

Notes:

Ovechkin is 1 goal away from 40 on the season and 3 goals away from #600. 

Backstrom is currently only 3 games away from #800.

van Riemsdyk is 7 games away from #600 and 9 goals away from #200.

Carlson is 10 games away from #600.

Polak is 1 assist away from #100.

Big prediction by our Junior reporter.

Crosby VS Ovechkin

Number 87 versus number 8, Sid vs Ovi, Sid the Kid vs Alexander The Great.  All of their NHL careers they have been compared to each other. They were drafted a year apart, but entered the NHL during the same season because of the lockout in 2004.

From the time they started their careers, they didn't disappoint.  Ovechkin finished 3rd in league scoring and Crosby finished 6th in their 1st season. Ovechkin took home the Rookie of the year award that year.  If we are talking personal trophies, this is where we are at.

As you can see, Ovechkin has a lead in personal trophies. Although, a lot of people will only count cups by the time they retire, and in that regard, Crosby leads Ovechkin 1-0.

To add to their "rivalry", in 2009, their respective teams met in the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  The series went to seven, and boy did they impress.  The Penguins and Sidney Crosby ended up beating Ovechkin's Washington Captials 4-3.  Ovi and Sid had a wonderful series. Especially in game two, when both of them scored hattricks.

Ovechkin got his 500th point of his career on Feburary 4th 2010.  He managed to do this in just 373 games. Crosby you ask? Well he just HAD to show up Ovechkin and did it in 4 games less (369)

Where I am going with this, is we potentially have something special coming up.  Barring any long term injuries, (more than 10 games) these two studs could score their 1000th career points on the same night. Here is a look at where they are in relations to their 1000th career point.

As of Aug 15 2015

As you can see, Crosby will most likely blow away Ovechkin in games it takes to get to 1000 points, but they could get that 1000th point on the same night. How nice would it be to see them do this on the same night or maybe even against each other.


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