Match-up : New York Rangers (1-4-0) @ Washington Capitals(2-4-0)
Road/Home records: - 0-1-4 -------------- 2-2-0
TV:– NBCSN
Puck drop:- 8:00 PM ET
Season series :- 0-0
All-Time: 87-86-18-6 overall (48-38-9-3 at home; 39-48-9-3 on the road)
Last 10: Rangers 1-4-0 / Caps 2-4-0
Projected starting goalies: Henrik Lundqvist (1-3-0. GAA 4.21 and .887% save) V. Braden Holtby (1-3-0. GAA 3.56 and .886 % save).
Goals for/against per game:
Washington: 2.67/3.67
New York: 1.8/5
Power play/Penalty Kill:
Washington: 8/22=36.4%(1st in league) and 15/22=81.8% (14th in league).
New York: 4/17= 23.5% (10th in league) and 15/20=75% (22nd in league).
Projected Line-Up:
WASHINGTON:
Johansson - Backstrom - Ovechkin
Laich - Grabovski - Brouwer
Chimera - Ward - Fehr
Erat - Beagle - Wilson
Green - Alzner
Urbom - Carlson
Oleksy - Schmidt
Holtby (Confirmed)
NEW YORK:
Brad Richards-Derick Brassard-Ryan Callahan
Taylor Pyatt-Brian Boyle-Jesper Fast
Benoit Pouliot-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello
J.T. Miller-Dominic Moore-Derek Dorsett
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Anton Stralman
Justin Falk-John Moore
Henrik Lundqvist (Reported Likely, but not confirmed by Katie Carrera, Capitals Insider with Washington Post)
Tonight will mark the first time the New York Rangers return to the Verizon Center after shutting out the Capitals in game 7 of the playoffs last season. The teams have become rivals through their constant meetings in the playoffs and notorious game 7 playoff series. However, now they are no longer merely conference rivals, as both teams have been placed into the newly formed Metropolitan division. Despite this, both teams are in nontraditional situations, as they both have had disappointing starts.
When previously meeting in the playoffs, Henrik Lundqvist shutout the Capitals in the final two games of the series to help the Rangers rally from down 2-0 and also 3-2. The Capitals and their fans ended the season on a disappointing slaughter in game 7, falling by the tune of 5-0. However, the Rangers have not experienced the same quality of goaltending that they have so long been accustomed to, as they are the worst in the league for goals allowed, giving up 25 goals in 5 games.
Coming into tonight, the Capitals have some momentum as they conquered the youthful Oilers on Monday, winning the game by the score of 4-2. While the Capitals won the game, they did not particularly play well other than one 4 minute stretch in the second period, in which the Caps tallied 3 goals (2 powerplay). During the first period, the Capitals were greatly outplayed by the Oilers and spent a majority of the period watching Edmonton set the pace and were out-shot 10-3. While the Oilers controlled the first period, the Capitals were able to get a lucky five-hole trickler past Jason LaBarbera with around 6 minutes left in the period, allowing the Caps to be tied after the first. Until the final minute of the period, the game was played 5-5, thus it is not surprising that the pace was controlled by Edmonton. Looking at the Caps overall play 5-5, they have been outscored 18-8. More concerning is how poor the Capitals have started off their first 6 games, being outscored 9-4 in the first frame. In addition, the Caps have only scored first twice and lost both games.
Looking at the second period, the Caps were able to get 3 goals in the middle of the 2nd period within 4 minutes of play. However, unlike the first period, Edmonton went shorthanded 3 times, which allowed the Caps to take control of the game through special teams. In both powerplay situations, the Capitals struck quickly and were able to score within the first 30 seconds of the opportunity. Given the Oilers had really controlled the pace, these powerplay opportunities were the defining moment of the game as the Oilers were never able to recover. The puck movement on special teams was exceptionally strong. The powerplay goals were separated by a one-timer blast from Ovechkin in the highslot that was able to find its way past LaBarbera. Eliminating this 4 minute stretch of play, the Capitals were outplayed and lost the other 56 minutes, 2-1. Looking at all of the Caps second periods, they have outscored opponents 8-6, which is the only period that the Caps have a positive goals against/goals for ratio.
Holtby played the type of game that the Caps fans are accustomed. This was significant because the Capitals were outshoot 30-20 in all. He made some important saves in the first period making sure that the game did not get out of control and allowed the Caps to be tied after one. He had good rebound control, awareness of the backdoor and was square to the shooter, all of which are encouraging signs after a slow start to the season. Without his performance in net, the Capitals would have struggled to pull this one out.
Thoughts for tonight:
-Olesky, Urbom and Schmidt played much better than they did against Colorado which was encouraging. They let a lot fewer guys sneak in from behind them when there was a point or high slot shot. With the inexperience on the blue-line for the Caps, maintaining an active backcheck to help them out with the third forward high will be important. If the Caps are lethargic backchecking tonight, the speed and talent the Rangers have could create a problem then. Urbom and Carlson together make for an interesting pair, I them it a lot though because of the size. Schmidt and Olesky paired nicely together, both bringing good speed but could improve in physicality and closing the gap between them and the incoming forward. All three of the youngsters will have to be more aware with their d-zone coverage and continue to work on gap control as forwards enter the zone on the rush. Most importantly, the Caps have struggled at times on 5-5 to get the puck cleanly out of the zone on the breakout; the d will have to stop making no look passes and make smarter plays within their end. High off the glass and out is always better than a no look pass to the middle of the ice…
-The Caps need to play a full 60 minute game. A strong start will be important, as well as a strong finish. It was disappointing against Edmonton to see the Caps give up an early goal, but even more disappointing was the goal scored in the final two minutes of the third. The change in intensity on special teams is great if you are looking at the results, however, the lack of intensity when reverting back to 5-5 is a concern. The Caps need to maintain a high level of play the entire game and stop fading in and out. The ability to play more consistent is one of their biggest Achilles Heel right now.
-The obvious…Special teams are huge for the Caps. With Del Zotto out sick this evening and some other key players out of the lineup for Blue Shirts (IE Rick Nash, Carl Hagelin) the Caps need to rely on their speed to create opportunities and draw penalties. This is particularly true because the Rangers have been shorthanded only 20 times this season, which puts them at 12th meaning they are one of the more disciplined teams this year. Coming out with high intensity and drawing some early penalties, could allow the Caps to deflate the already pessimistic Rangers team. The Caps must make the Rangers rise to their level, rather than playing down to the Rangers. Given the Rangers have been throttled in the past three games against San Jose, Anaheim and St. Louis (9-2, 6-0 and 5-3), a fast start is exactly what the Caps need to get the dominos falling early. In the game verse Anaheim and San Jose, only a few times have I seen players that look that disengaged and “out to lunch;” The entire team was just completely demoralized to another level not typically witnessed in the NHL. Not to mention the fact that they let a rookie, Tomas Hertl notch 4 goals, of which his last was a between the legs, breakaway, top glove shot right under the bar.
-Holtby has the opportunity to get a winning streak going for the first time this year coming off of his first win over Edmonton. He has played inconsistently and has at times been a different goalie not just game to game, but even to the extreme of period to period. However, he has seen an incline in his performance since the Chicago and Calgary game. The Rangers are known for being a team which gets good traffic in front, capitalizes on rebounds and plays a physical style. So, Holtby’s ability to be aggressive and control the play will no doubt have a huge impact on the Caps chances to win.
-Brooks Lacih, Joel Ward and Troy Brouwer all netted their first goals of the season against Edmonton. While Laich’s goal was a lucky trickler and the other two were on the powerplay…it is encouraging that the Capitals had more of a scoring threat from not just Ovie and Grabo. On the concerning end, the three assists came from Backstrom with either Ovie, Mojo or Grabo getting credit for an assist as well on each of them (Olesky had the only assist for the goal by Laich). Ultimately, my concern is shut down the first line at 5-5, and limit penalties and the Caps are a relatively easy team to beat.
-The Capitals will need to continue to show that they are more than 1 line and a powerplay, so getting scoring from three players who were anticipated to have strong seasons hopefully gets the ball moving in the right direction. Some help with scoring from the blue-line would be great too, as the Caps only goal from a D came on a Connor Carrick breakaway. Looking at the stats, if you take away Ovie (6g, 3a), Mojo (0g,5a), Backstrom (1g 7a) and Grabo ( 3g, 3a, 5 powerplay points); the rest of the forwards have produced little to none with Ward leading the points effort with 3 points (1g, 2a).
Thanks for the read and be sure to watch the game tonight at 8:00 on NBCSN. Comments are always appreciated, let me know what your predications are for this evening. If you do Twitter, feel free to
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