Photo: RJB.ch

Welcome to the week 23 Washington Capitals Prospect Report. The following includes a summary of game action and news for Capitals prospects that occurred between February 17th and February 23rd, 2020. (Reminder: you can always access all of our prospect news and analysis in the top menu under the “Prospects” tab. You can also follow the latest Capitals prospect news on Twitter under the #CapsProspect hashtag.

2019-2020 Top-20 Prospects Mid-Year Rankings

PREVIOUS WEEKLY REPORTS

• • Week 22 Report (02/10 – 02/16)
  • Week 21 Report (02/03 – 02/09)
  • Week 20 Report (01/27 – 02/02)
  • Week 19 Report (01/20 – 01/26)
  • Week 18 Report (01/13 – 01/19)
  • Week 17 Report (01/6 – 01/12)
  • Week 16 Report (12/30 – 01/5)
  • Week 15 Report (12/23 – 12/29)
  • Week 14 Report (12/6 – 12/22)
  • Week 13 Report (12/9 – 12/15)
  • Week 12 Report (12/2 – 12/8)
  • Week 11 Report (11/25 – 12/1)
  • Week 10 Report (11/18 – 11/24)
  • Week 9 Report (11/11 – 11/17)
  • Week 8 Report (11/4 – 11/10)
  • Week 7 Report (10/28 – 11/3)
  • Week 6 Report (10/21 – 10/27)
  • Week 5 Report (10/14 – 10/20)
  • Week 4 Report (10/7 – 10/13)
  • Week 3 Report (9/30 – 10/6)
  • Week 2 Report (9/23 – 9/29)
  • Week 1 Report (9/16 – 9/22)

MONTHLY PROSPECT REPORTS

• • January
  • December
  • November
  • October

AHL/HERSHEY BEARS
The Bears opened their two-game road trip on Friday with a 2-1 loss at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Bears rebounded with a 5-4 shootout win over the Sound Tigers on Saturday night in Bridgeport. The Bears are 33-17-3-3 (72 points) on the season and have a three-point lead over the Hartford Wolf Pack for first place in the Atlantic Division. Hartford still has two games “in hand”.

Pheonix Copley – stopped 17 of 19 shots faced for a game save percentage of .894% Friday night against the Penguins. For the season, Copley is 17-7-5-2 with a 2.37 GAA and a .908 save percentage, and remains the Bears number one netminder.

Vitek Vanecek – stopped 27 of 31 shots faced for a game save percentage of .870% Saturday night against Bridgeport. For the season, Vanecek is 15-10-1-1, with a 2.49 GAA and a .909 save percentage.

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby – scored his 12th goal of the season Friday night against the Penguins in Wilkes-Barre.

#CapsProspect Axel Jonsson-Fjallby with a snipe for his 12th of the season. Bears lead 1-0. #AxelFlows #flOMG pic.twitter.com/WcLgZE1cOZ

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) February 22, 2020

Brian Pinho – scored his 16th goal of the season Saturday night against the Sound Tigers in Bridgeport.

#CapsProspect Brian Pinho knocks home the rebound for his 16th goal of the season. Bears trail 2-1. #Pins pic.twitter.com/FtAleCAiqp

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) February 23, 2020

He would score again later in the game. For the season, Pinho has 17 goals and 14 assists in 56 games played. He’s shot 117 times for a 14.5% shooting percentage. He is third on the teams in goals and sixth on the team in points.

#CapsProspect Brian Pinho with his second goal of the game, 17th of the season. Bears lead 3-2. pic.twitter.com/PdgOiJGt4C

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) February 23, 2020

Garrett Pilon – scored his 17th goal of the season Saturday night against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. For the season, Pilon has 17 goals and 18 assists in 55 games played. He is second on the team in goals and third on the team in points.

#CapsProspect Garrett Pilon with a PPG, his 17th goal of the season. Game tied. #Peels pic.twitter.com/RqYidku9Qk

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) February 23, 2020

Brett Leason – scored his third goal of the season Saturday night against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

#CapsProspect Brett Leason with his third goal of the season. Bears lead 4-2. pic.twitter.com/SSILG6vPyw

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) February 23, 2020

OHL

Connor McMichael – began the week with a power play goal in the first period of the Knights tilt with the Ottawa 67’s on Monday.

#CapsProspect @con91mcmichael with his 40th goal of the season, a PPG snipe from the top of the left circle. pic.twitter.com/MVZ4lJIJDI

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) February 17, 2020

McMichael met with the Ottawa media during the first intermission.

He would finish the game with a goal and an assist in the Knights 4-2 win over the 67’s.

On Friday night McMichael would record an assist, but was a -4 on the night in a 5-3 loss to the Guelph Storm.

Martin Hugo Has – returned to action Friday night after missing the last four games due to illness.

WHL

Aliaksei Protas – returned to the score sheet on Tuesday night with a goal in the first period against the Regina Pats. This was his 27th goal of the season. He had 11 all of last season.

Protas would add another goal in the first frame, kicking his second tally (28) of the night.

The Prince Albert broadcast presented a piece on Protas during the first intermission on Monday nights game. He spoke about his recent international play, and his first two seasons with the Prince Albert Raiders. (Audio only).

Protas would add a primary assist in the second period. He finished the game with two goals and two assists, was named the game’s first star and was also named the WHL player of the night for Tuesday.

Eric Florchuk – scored his 20th goal of the season Friday night against Calgary, and would also add an assist. Capitals prospect Alex Kannok-Leipert had the primary assist on Florchuk’s goal.

⬆️ Shelf for @Capitals prospect Eric Florchuk! pic.twitter.com/p0z5IjfT6Y

— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) February 22, 2020

Florchuk would add another assist on Saturday night. For the season, Florchuk has 20 goals and 33 assists in 52 games played. He’s shot 109 times for a shooting percentage of 18.34%.

Alex Kannok-Leipert – had a pair of assists Friday against Vancouver. For the season, Kannok-Leipert-Leipert has three goals and 19 assists in 56 games played.

EUROPE

Damien Riat – scored four goals on Saturday in EHC Biel-Bienne’s 5-2 victory over HC Davos.  Riat now has 10 goals and 11 assists in just 34 games played.

NCAA

Mitchell Gibson – stopped 35 of 37 shots faced for a game save percentage of .954% in a 5-2 upset win Friday night over #5 Clarkson. Gibson would win the hard hat for the game. The games was Gibson’s fifth 30-plus save performance of the year.

Saturday night did not go as well for Gibson. He stopped 26 of 31 shots faced for game save percentage of .838%. For the season, Gibson is 9-7-3 with a 2.74 GAA and a .915 save percentage.

By Jon Sorensen