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The Capitals have reassigned Tyler Lewington to AHL Hershey. Brooks Orpik could dress.
Two streaking teams will face off today in Washington as the Mero Division-leading Capitals host the Nashville Predators in an afternoon affair at Capital One Arena. While the Preds are still second in the Central Division and fourth overall in the Western Conference, they have lost six games in a row including a 0-8-2 record in their last 10 on the road. The Capitals, on the other hand, have won four straight games and 16 of their last 19 overall. It will be the second consecutive game the Caps get a team on the second end of a back-to-back as the Preds played yesterday in a loss to the New York Rangers. (The Predators played Saturday vs NY and are not in a back-to-back - correction)
The Predators had been hurt by injury recently which contributed to their lack of success lately. Former Capital and star forward Filip Forsberg has not played in over a month and C Colton Sissons and D Yannick Weber are also on Injured Reserve. In yesterdays' loss to the Rangers, Kyle Turris was injured as well and may not play vs the Capitals today either. Right before the Christmas break, they did get back energetic defenseman PK Subban who had been out since November 13th, and winger Viktor Arvidsson, out since November 10th.
Washington is close to getting Brooks Orpik back and Matt Niskanen looks to be day-to-day after that scary incident vs Carolina. I’d expect another game before we see Orpik as both rookies Tyler Lewington and Jonas Seigenthaler have been holding their own the last couple games. Lewington had a Gordie Howe hat trick last game vs Ottawa in only his second NHL game.
In total, 21 of the Capitals' 22 players that have played in December have recorded a point at five-on-five as the team continues to progress without reliance on the power play. The 17 goals against while at 5 on 5 is the best in the NHL on December so far.
Braden Holtby will be back in net for Washington after another strong game from backup Pheonix Copley in Ottawa. Holtby has given up only 11 goals his last six games for a 5-1 record and is the hottest goalie in the NHL since the second week of November.
Alex Ovechkin continues to lead the NHL goal-scoring race with 29. Additionally, Ovechkin is one goal shy of joining former Capital great Mike Gartner as the only players in NHL history to begin their career with 15 consecutive 30-goal seasons.
After not registering a point in the four previous games, a two-point game for John Carlson vs Carolina on Dec. 27th gave him more multi-point games (13) than any other defenseman in the NHL and is 14th best overall.
Note the early game time of 12:30PM EST. The Capitals next game is January 3rd as they begin a three-game road trip in St. Louis at 8 PM EST.
Capital Gain:
Capitals 2018 1st rd pick Alex Alexeyev of the Red Deer Rebels (WHL) recorded a goal and an assist in Russia’s 7-4 win on Dec.30 vs Switzerland. His next game is tonight vs Canada at 8PM EST.
Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson both made the TOP 10 in The Hockey News players of 2018. Ovechkin #1.
Year in Review: Top 10 NHL players of 2018 - TheHockeyNews
— Marcus Boutilier (@SportMajor) December 31, 2018
Winning a Cup changes things.
Two â¦@Capitalsâ© top 10
Ovechkin #1#AllCaps https://t.co/BrN9njcqU9
Alex Ovechkin is 13 points shy of passing Sergei Fedorov (1,179) for the most points in NHL history by a Russian-born player.
Evgeny Kuznetsov needs 3 points for career 300
Madison Bowey scored his 1st NHL goal vs Ottawa on Dec 29