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The 25-15-3 Washington Capitals host their Metro division rival 27-12-4 Columbus Blue Jackets tonight with only 5 points separating the first place Caps and third place Jackets. After losing three straight the Caps have now been victorious over their last three including a hard-fought 4-2 win over Boston on Thursday in their last game. Columbus has been a roller coaster of late, see-sawing their last six winning a game and then losing a game and enter tonight coming off a 4-3 win over Nashville Thursday.
There were some ripples made earlier this week when Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was suspended for a game by the organization for their last game. Some speculated it may have even been his last game in Columbus, though I wasn't so sure it was that bad. Nonetheless, he is back with the team and will start tonight.
Team source says Sergei Bobrovsky situation has been resolved. At practice now. Will travel to Washington.
— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) January 11, 2019
Both teams have been struggling on the power play of late although the Jackets did go 2-2 in their last game Thursday night. Sitting 29th in the NHL with a 14.2% success rate, the Jackets PP is certainly not been clicking and it may be a good game for the Caps penalty kill units who have been steadily getting better. That being said, it would be nice if the Caps stopped taking as many penalties as they do.
Who was it that said “the Caps don’t have a PK problem, they have a penalty taking problem.…@russianmachine @NoVa_Caps
— Marcus Boutilier (@SportMajor) January 11, 2019
After scoring a Jakub Vrana power-play goal two games ago the Capitals went 0-2 in the win over Boston Thursday and Vrana’s marker represents the only goal in the last 16 opportunities. I like that coach Todd Reirden had the PP unit showing some different looks last game including having Ovechkin line up closer to the goal line.
Caps showing a new look in the PP.
— Marcus Boutilier (@SportMajor) January 11, 2019
Bout time. #AllCaps pic.twitter.com/l3t86x8V4P
Andre Burakovsky continues to be a healthy scratch after sitting out vs Boston. Trade talks are heating up although to many in Caps land it’s not a surprise. I wrote about this a while back.
No surprises here.... been saying it all year. #AllCaps https://t.co/Z7ACEFznEb
— Marcus Boutilier (@SportMajor) January 11, 2019
Alex Ovechkin scored his 33rd goal last game against Boston and now holds a two-goal lead over Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner in the Rocket Richard trophy race. Another dangerous threat emerging nightly it seems is winger Jakub Vrana. The speedster has 3 goals and an assist his last two games giving him a career-high already in goals with 15 and now sits just two points back of a career-high 27 points set last year. For all the penalty taking issue with the Capitals, it isn’t something Vrana has had an issue with. In just his second full-time season in the NHL, he has taken only one penalty since October 19th. And that was on November 5th vs Edmonton. Great work for a young player who is getting lots of ice-time.
Recently named All-Star Braden Holtby will get the start for Washington and by all indications, it looks like we’ll see the aforementioned Bobrovsky in for Columbus.
Braden Holtby stopped 39 of the 41 shots he faced tonight (.951 save percentage) and has stopped 62 of the last 66 shots he's faced (.939 save percentage) over his last two games.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 11, 2019
The rest of the line-up is unchanged from the Boston game.
Caps expected lineup:
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) January 12, 2019
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Vrana-Backstrom-Oshie
Connolly-Eller-Boyd
Stephenson-Dowd-DSP
Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Siegenthaler.
So, it’s the same lineup as last time. Burakovsky, Jaskin and Bowey out again.
Game time is 7 PM EST from Capital One Arena.
Capital Gain:
Can’t wait……..
Gonna be another fun spring of @Capitals hockey 🤟#AllCaps pic.twitter.com/q3EiWAP56O
— Marcus Boutilier (@SportMajor) January 11, 2019
Defenseman John Carlson is +25 good enough for 5th in the NHL.
Injured Defenseman Christian Djoos has begun skating again as he begins his on-ice rehab.