from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,
Bet against Natick-born John Carlson reaching 100 points at your own peril. Headed into the weekend, the Capitals’ hard-shooting defenseman led the league in points and assists with a 5-16—21 line over 12 games.
Not likely that he could keep up that kind of pace, which would deliver 35-109—144, but it’s equally true that Carlson’s production is no fluke.
The 2018 Cup winners like to push the pace and Carlson, who will be 30 in January, has finished the last two seasons with 68 and 70 points, respectively (both career bests). A lift to 100 would be hefty, but not impossible, particularly with such an outsized start (as of Friday morning, Nashville’s Ryan Ellis was second on the D-man scoring list with 12 points)....
One wrinkle to the Capitals’ attack has Carlson, typically the lone point man on the No. 1 power play, switching spots on the fly with hard-shooting Alex Ovechkin in the left circle. Ovechkin slides back toward the blue line and is sometimes the guy who tosses the diagonal down for Carlson to launch, giving him a shorter and sharper-angled looked at the net. The Boston equivalent would have Torey Krug drifting off the blue line and switching off with David Pastrnak as the one-time specialist at the left dot.
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