The Noon Number: That Other Scoring Race

61 - Points for John Carlson, tied with John Klingberg for the most in the NHL among defensemen, three points more than Brent Burns and five ahead of Erik Karlsson (with other big names lurking just behind them).

Carlson scored his career-high 15th goal of the season and added his career-high 46th assist of the campaign in last night’s win over Dallas... a game in which Klingberg matched him point-for-point with a pair of helpers of his own.

Elias has more on Carlson:

John Carlson’s tiebreaking goal with 4:59 remaining in the third period was the game-winning tally for the Capitals in their 4–3 victory against the Stars in Washington. It was Carlson’s fourth game-winning goal this season (tying the career high he set in 2015–16) and his 14th game-winner over the last four seasons. Carlson’s 14 game-winning goals since 2014–15 tie him with Brent Burns, Aaron Ekblad and Dougie Hamilton for second-most over that span among NHL defensemen, behind Oliver Ekman-Larsson with 19.

Finally, Carlson became the eighth Caps defenseman to reach the 60-point plateau, joining Scott Stevens (who did it four times for Washington), Larry Murphy (three), Mike Green and Kevin Hatcher (twice each) and Sergei Gonchar, Al Iafrate and Robert Picard (one apiece).