The Washington Capitals are an enigma. They lost about a third of their roster, and only Jacob Vrana has really impressed out of the replacements. For the most part this season, they've played poorly and won games on the back of star goalie and perennial Vezina favorite Braden Holtby. Not only have the Capitals had a tough time finding their game following a tumultuous off season, but they've had some terrible injury luck so far this year. Niskanen, Connolly and Burakovsky have all gone down for extended times, just to name a few.
But despite all this, the Capitals are somehow just two points out of first place. They are 7-3 in their last ten, and before losing to the Islanders last night, they'd racked up four wins in a row.
Tonight they'll get back on the horse and take on the Avalanche.
Holtby starts, per Trotz.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 12, 2017
Also, T.J Oshie will miss his fourth straight game with what I am assuming is a snapping turtle related injury.
The only other news to pass along is that GM McLellan went to Russia to sign goalie Illya Samsonov, which is pretty impressive. Samsonov was a goalie they drafted in the first round two years ago, and if the GM personally goes to Russia to get the deal done, you have to think they are really high on him.