Pierre-Luc Dubois is a newcomer to the Washington Capitals this season. With him being a pretty big name in the world of hockey I thought it would be interesting to focus on him during a game and show people how that game went for him. That way maybe we can get a good idea what kind of player Dubois is.
Pierre-Luc Dubois season stats before the game – 8 GP, 1 G, 4 A’s, 5PTS, 17 SOG, 10 PIM, +1, 47.1 FO%
52.15 CF%, 55.81 SCF%, 60.98 HDCF%, 64.34 xGF%
Starting lines (according to Daily Faceoff)
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Tom Wilson
2nd PP unit
Wilson – Dubois – McMichael
Ovechkin – Sandin
1st Period
Shift 1: Lost the opening faceoff. Tough play on a breakout. McMichael gave him a puck on their own blue line Dubois had no space to catch the pass and do anything with the puck, but he was able to fight off a Canadien and receive a pass with his skate. Got the puck back to McMichael and went straight to the net. McMichael got him the puck at the net and a pretty good scoring chance early.
Shift 2: A good defensive play. Montreal was trying to get set up in the Caps zone. Dubois knocked the puck away and the Caps go the other way. He also breaks up an exit attempt by MTL right at their blue line a few seconds later.
Shift 3: Not much to mention. Dubois received a puck behind his net and he gets a pass up to McMichael I think? But MTL breaks it up and gets it back in the Caps zone. TvR draws a penalty a couple of seconds later.
Shift 4: PP, looks like he is on the top power play unit. Not too much to mention again. He got the puck once, tried to circle back off the faceoff win to get in, passed it off to a teammate who got in. He was mostly hanging out on the right hand side. Took one shot from the right side, ended up being an easy block and MTL clears it right after that.
Shift 5: Nice play to start the shift. Carlson with the puck both Wilson and Dubois with support, circle to his right, Dubois cuts to the middle, Carlson gets him the puck with space and speed, he gets in easily, cuts or circles back to his right, gets it to the point to Carlson who gets it on net and there is a nice half chance, bit of a mini scrum at the net after the Carlson shot. Later in the shift he again gets into the zone slower in the middle, a backhand pass to McMichael on his left who floats one to the goal, easy glove save and puck is frozen. End of the shift kind of play.
Shift 6: Weird line after a PK. Dubois out there with 88 and 16. Nice team board battle win on the far side. But led to an icing. Lost faceoff off the restart off the icing, but a soft shot from the blue line, easy save for Lindgren. Shift continued after a commercial break. he won a draw which led to an easy chip clear by WSH. Not much else after.
Shift 7: Won D zone faceoff. Another easy chip clear by WSH. Another weird pass to Dubois from McMichael. Dubois had a Canadien all over him. Not sure what McMichael is seeing or trying to do there.
Shift 8: Potential chance at the very end of the period. Dubois gets a puck on the left side, slowly gets in, but a real nice pass across the ice to McMichael who was streaking in on the right side. Couldn’t quite settle the puck down and he had pressure from a MTL defender. Nice feed from Dubois though. End of the first.
Dubois might be responsible for both of the Caps best chances of that period in a period which didn’t have many either way. He had a nice chance to score himself in the opening shift and he had that nice feed to Carlson which could have ended in something good. He’s broken up some plays by MTL too with a good stick defensively.
2nd Period
Shift 1: Power play shift. Lost the faceoff. Easy clear for MTL. PPG for WSH. Dubois not a factor in it. Ovechkin quick shot on the left. Wilson deflection in the slot. Dubois again on the right side at the top of the faceoff circle.
Shift 2: Just his second shift of the 2nd period. Just over 10 minutes left in the period. Caps on the PK a lot. No ice time for 80. Now he’s on the ice for a goal against. Not much he can do about it. He was in the middle. Forced the guy he was guarding with the puck towards the outside. A drop pass to the point and the slapper gets deflected.
Shift 3: I think he wins a faceoff after the Vrana goal. TV came back late from the replay. He had a nice play at the blue line, supporting his teammate who was in a battle, loose puck and he picks it up and sends it to Wilson at the front of the net who had a very good chance. To end his shift, on the left side he gains the zone but sends a backhand pass across the ice to the opposite point but no one there.
Shift 4: Power play shift. He wins the faceoff to start the power play. Caps got 3 or 4 chances off of just that including an Ovechkin post shot. Later the Caps are set up, he fumbles a pass and then gets pressured and ends up passing a puck out of the zone. Caps have to reenter as a result.
Shift 5: Ozone draw, lost it. final minute. Can’t handle a hot Wilson pass and it’s an icing call. Dzone draw, lost it. Hard shot from MTL misses, actually helps Wsh get out of the zone. Wilson flips a pass to Dubois near center ice, puck goes up into his elbow/shoulder area. He controls it somehow and gets in the zone. Later he gets a puck at the left side of the blue line, does a nice spin move to get a little bit of room and sends it lower in the zone. A nice little move to retain possession and the Caps got more zone time out of it. But nothing comes from it as the period expires.
3rd Period
Shift 1: He wins the opening faceoff. Wilson dumps the puck in and he wins a race and a small board battle and ends up getting the puck to Wilson. A hard shot from the point from Carlson but it missed. They end up finishing their shift after spending some time in the D zone but don’t allow anything.
Shift 2: McMichael goal. Both he and Dubois were in front of the goalie making life difficult. 24 picks up the rebound. Earlier in the shift he was involved in another small race, won the race but couldn’t get a pass past a defender behind the net and MTL got out.
Shift 3: Won faceoff in the Ozone. That led to the Caps possessing the puck for a couple of seconds. Dubois finds some space in the slot, close to the left faceoff circle and he rips a one timer. I believe he missed though. Not sure if the goalie got it or not. He later gets caught on a long shift in the D zone, but again, not much from it.
Shift 4: Another faceoff after a goal. I think he won it, replay came back even later than the other time. Nice support for the D to breakout again he gets the puck and gains the zone. But he forces a pass and lucky it wasn’t going to other way. Another turnover later in the shift trying to force another pass into the middle of the ice, but again MTL couldn’t get it out. Longer shift but pretty much all in the attacking zone. He also won a board battle below the goal line.
Shift 5: power play shift. Lost the opening draw. The puck ends up going out about halfway through the man advantage. Dubois again gave his teammate a good option and got the puck and got in with speed. That’s something I’ve liked from him tonight. Simple, but it’s led to some nice zone entries and even chances. A scrum and a fight ultimately leads to a 5v3 for WSH. PP continues. Dubois started on the RW. After starting on the right side he switches with Strome I think, then he actually ends up spending the rest of his shift in front of the goalie. No shots, a few nice blocks from MTL PKers.
Game Over
A real solid game from Dubois. I don’t think anyone would come away from it thinking he was great. But he did small things well I think. I think the support he gave teammates was really good and that ended in some chances. One example being his D pinched a little, got in a board battle and he was covering, picked up the puck and got it to Wilson for a good chance. He had a couple of nice chances, one on the opening shift of the game. Another where he was in the middle of the ice and found space and got a one timer off. Good game.
Final stats
0 PTS. 2 shots, 2 hits, 6/13 on faceoffs. 17:05 TOI.
61% shot attempts, 72% scoring chances, 77% high danger attempts and 79% expected goals for.
Very good advanced numbers.
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