Caps back at it vs Hurricanes - 14 of last 17 Wins, Orpik back? (Aho)

Aho

Caps back at it vs Hurricanes - 14 of last 17 Wins, Orpik back?

By Marcus Boutilier

Dec 27, 2018 • 12:40 pm

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I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Christmas! Now let’s get back to some flying pucks!!

By the way, I really appreciate the feedback I have been getting. It makes it way easier to put out stuff for Y'all!

If anything some of you would like to see, lemme know……

The Washington Capitals will look to continue their strong play tonight as they host the Carolina Hurricanes coming out of the Christmas break as they try for a third straight victory and have won 14 of their last 17 games. With a 22-10-3 record, the Caps entered the break with 47 points and a two-point lead in the Metro Division over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Capitals won a 6-5 shootout game in the last matchup in Carolina on Dec. 14. A night many Caps fans remember as they came back from a 4-1 deficit to win.

The 15-15-5 Carolina Hurricanes have won only 6 games of 15 on the road and will face a tough task in Capital One Arena. The Capitals have won 11 of 17 games in DC and are always a handful in one of the more energized arenas in the league. Winners of only 4 of their last 13 games, the Hurricanes are still struggling to score as the effect of the loss of forward Jeff Skinner last summer (Buffalo) is showing.

Carolina is coming off an emotional night as they dedicated a throw-back night and donned the old Hartford Whalers uniforms for a game in which they came back from a 2-goal deficit to win 5-3 in a game where both Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen had 2 goals and four points. The Canes scored two shorthanded goals in the game and now have three on the year with an average penalty killing unit sitting 14th in the NHL. Man, I love these uniforms!

Only the Los Angeles Kings have scored less team total goals than Carolina’s 90 with Aho and Teravainen being the only Canes in the NHL’s top 80 scorers. Aho’s 38 points place him 31st on the scoring list and his team-leading 14 goals have him tied for 50th. The pair combined for 7 points in the last meeting in Carolina and I would think the Caps will try another game plane for these two. Rookie Andrei Svechnikov has been having a great season for Carolina with 10 goals and 18 points good enough for 4th in NHL rookie scoring. The former OHL star will be a handful for years to come.

Washington, on the other hand, is amongst the top three in goals as only the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs have scored more total goals than the Caps’ 129. Alex Ovechkin leads the team and the NHL with 29 goals and his 44 points have him in a tie for 12th in the point scoring race. Nicklas Backstrom is tied for 10th in NHL assists and he, as seemingly always, leads the Caps in this area with 31. Defenseman John Carlson is tied with Brent Burns of San Jose for 3rd in NHL defense scoring with 35 points and continues to be the Caps ice-time leader although the big rearguard has failed to register a point in the last five games.

Tom Wilson is earning every penny of the new contract signed last summer through 2023-24 paying an average cap hit of $5.17M. The burly forward has 9 goals and 7 assists his last 14 games and is well on his way to a career year in points even having missed 19 games already (suspension/injury).

While the Caps power play hasn’t been as hot as it was at the start of the season, the team is scoring five-on-five at a healthy rate which bodes well for the rest of the season as I feel the Caps have at times relied too much on their power play in the past. The Capitals have only scored 2 power play goals over the last 9 games but have lost only twice scoring 32 even strength goals.

The Caps depth is starting to take shape now as well, having five players with 10 goals or more and 2 more surely to pass that mark shortly. Every Capitals player appearing in 10 games has at least 2 points and only defensemen Madison Bowey and injured Christian Djoos have failed to score a goal so far.

Coach Todd Reirden has switched up the forward lines with Nic Dowd and Dmitrij Jaskin as the healthy scratches. I’m a little surprised at Dowd taking a seat in the press box as he has been playing well of late. If Reirden is doing this to keep guys fresh I can appreciate it, but you need to be careful sometimes about breaking up chemistry which the 4th has had for the Caps.

Brooks Orpik has been skating but will not return to the lineup tonight. He will be welcomed back as the Capitals defense is not as deep as it used to be, at least at the pro level, as both Jonas Seigenthaler and Tyler Lewington have played their 1st NHL games since Orpik and Djoos went down. Lewington was again called up from AHL Hershey for tonight’s game as Orpik is still not ready but will not dress.

Alex Ovechkin was named the captain for the Metro Division All-Star team today and will make his 11th appearance at the mid-winter classic. John Carlson could join him when the team gets fully named though some would argue Evgeny Kuznetsov could go as well. For my money, Backstrom should be there every year.

Game time tonight is 7 PM EST at Capital One Arena. Caps will then head off to Ottawa for the second time in a week for a date on Saturday night with the Senators.

Capital Gain:

The Capitals 1st round pick and 31st overall selection in last summer’s draft Alexander Alexeyev will suit up for Team Russia today at the World Junior Championships in beautiful British Columbia, Canada as they take on Denmark at 4 PM EST. I am excited to watch him play as all reports seem to have him playing well in Red Deer of the WHL. He escaped serious injury as well after a hit.

Jamie Oleksiak is skating again after the scary KO punch he took from Tom Wilson. Good news as you never want to see a guy hurt.

After the win vs Ottawa on December 23rd..

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