The ABC Hockey Saturday slate continues this weekend with the 2023 NHL Stadium Series event, with the Carolina Hurricanes hosting the Washington Capitals at Carter-Finley Stadium, the home of NC State football.
It’s the 37th regular season outdoor game for the league, and you can catch all the action from Raleigh, North Carolina, live on ABC and ESPN+, as well as a special alternate broadcast on ESPN+, starting at 8 a.m. ET.
To help you prepare for the game, we’ve put together a guide on all the key players to watch on each team, including detailed statistical information from ESPN Stats & Information, and more.
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capitals
ESPN Power Rating: fifteen
Top scorer: Alex Ovechkin, 54 points in 54 games
Record 2021-22: 28-23-6, fifth in Metro Division
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The Caps will be without Alex Ovechkin for this game, as he is out of the team for personal reasons. The Caps are 23-22-4 in 49 regular-season games without Ovechkin in the lineup since his debut in 2005-06.
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Ovechkin has been on the ice for 96.1% of the team’s power-play time this season, by far the highest in the NHL (next-highest is Leon Draisaitl at 80.6%). He has made 111 power play shot attempts this season, which is second behind David Pastrnak (114), and his 73 power play shots rank tied for second with Mika Zibanejad, behind only Pastrnak ( 84).
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Evgeny Kuznetsov is the team’s leading scorer since the start of the 2023 calendar year (two goals, nine assists).
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Kuznetsov has been limited to just eight goals this season, and his goals per game rate of 0.15 would be the second lowest of his career (0.14 in 2014-15). Kuznetsov has had a bit of bad luck this season. Of 141 forwards who have taken 100 shots on goal this season, Kuznetsov ranks 137th in shooting percentage at 6.4%, which would be a career low for him.
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Darcy Kuemper hasn’t gotten much on the offensive end in his games. Kuemper ranks 48th out of 54 ranked goalkeepers in support goal average, at 2.62 per game.
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His biggest strength has been stopping shots on the run, posting the fifth-best save percentage in the league in that situation among qualified goaltenders (minimum 17 games played) at .942. He has been close to league average when facing shots through traffic, with a .918 save percentage.
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Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Kuemper has a .920 save percentage, which is nearly tied with Andrei Vasilevskiy for fourth-best among goaltenders with 100 games played (Igor Shesterkin: .925; Ben Bishop: . 923; Ilya Sorokin: .923).
hurricanes
ESPN Power Rating: 2
Top scorer: Sebastián Aho, 48 points in 47 games
Record 2021-22: 36-10-8, first in Metro Division
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Under coach Rod Brind’Amour, the Hurricanes are on pace for their third straight .700-point season. If the Hurricanes complete a third consecutive season with a percentage of .700 points or higher, they will be the third team to achieve that streak in NHL history. The Canadiens had a five-season streak from 1974-75 to 1978-79, and the Flyers had a four-season streak from 1973-74 to 1976-77.
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Since Brind’Amour took over in 2018-19, the Hurricanes have the third-most wins (209) behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (227) and Boston Bruins (217), and the third-best point percentage ( .666) behind the Lightning (.695) and Bruins (.688).
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According to Stathletes data, the Hurricanes’ forward unit of Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast has been together for 481 minutes of 5-on-5 play this season, the most of any forward unit this season. That group has also done a great job limiting shot quality this season, allowing the sixth fewest expected goals against 5v5 per 60 minutes of any forward unit that has played at least 200 minutes together.
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At the same time, the defensive pairing of Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce have been together for 806 minutes in 5-on-5, third-most in the NHL behind the Kings’ Drew Doughty-Mikey Anderson duo (910 minutes) and the Kraken. . duo of Adam Larsson-Vince Dunn (905 minutes).
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The Hurricanes are the best team in turnover deflections per game this season (34.8). Among players with at least 20 games played, the Hurricanes have players ranked first (Jaccob Slavin: 3.87 per game), third (Brett Pesce: 3.26) and sixth (Brent Burns: 3.13 ) in deflections that cause turnovers per game.
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Sebastian Aho has been heating up in the 2023 calendar year with 12 goals in 17 games, tied for fourth with Tim Stutzle and behind Jack Hughes (15), David Pastrnak (14) and Adrian Kempe (13). Aho scored 11 goals in his first 29 games of the season. He is on pace to score 37 goals, which would equal his total from last season.
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Aho is averaging 1.00 points per game this season, which would be the fourth season of his career at that average. If he finishes the season with that average, he’ll tie Eric Staal for the second-most seasons in Hurricanes/Whalers history, trailing only Ron Francis (with nine seasons).
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Martin Necas has already set career single-season highs in goals (21) and points (47), and is one assist away from tying his career high set in 2020-21 (27). However, he has gone five straight games without a goal, tied for his second-longest skid of the season and one short of his longest drought.