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Will Caps pay a Price in Montreal? Domi Hot.

November 19, 2018, 4:03 PM ET [3 Comments]
Marcus Boutilier
Washington Capitals Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The 9-7-3 Capitals head into the Bell Center in Montreal to take on a Canadiens team that has played above expectations so far with an 11-6-3 record placing them 4th in Atlantic division standings. Coming off an impressive road win in Denver on Friday night, an injury riddled Caps team came away with a solid 3-2 victory over one of the higher scoring teams in the league shutting down the NHL's best line in Landeskog, Rantanen and Mackonnon. The Capitals are 2-1 on a current four game road trip ending tonight in Montreal.

Max Domi leads Canadiens in scoring with 10 goals and 24 points and is tied for the team lead in assists with 14. Safe to say the son of former NHL’er Tie Domi is hot and the Caps will have to mitigate his chances. Domi, acquired in the Alex Galchenyuk trade with Arizona last summer, has 5 goals and 8 assists during a 9 game point streak. He last went pointless on October 30 against Dallas.

Goaltender Carey Price has struggled a bit a times this year but the Capitals may be running into one of his hot stretches. Price has stopped 79 of 83 shots he’s faced over his last 2 starts for a .951 SV% in wins over Vancouver and Calgary respectively.

The Capitals are facing a Canadiens team struggling on the power play at only 13.5%. Washington’s penalty kill is still trying to find consistency as they sit in 29th place with a subpar 73.2 efficiency rate so this may bode well for the Capitals. Washington’s power play is still one of the best in the league currently sitting at 29% and 5th in the NHL. They'll be facing a Montreal penalty kill that is near the league average of 80.9%.

Both teams are averaging over three goals a game but both also average over three goals against as well so I’d expect a high scoring game like the last time the two met on November 1. The Habs skated away with a 6-4 victory after scoring 3 unanswered goals in the last 3:04 of the game to roar back from 4-3 deficit and steal one from Washington.

The Capitals continue to deal with injuries as forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov and TJ Oshie remain out on day-to-day status and won’t play tonight. Goaltender Braden Holtby is back after missing the last three games due to injury. Holtby practiced with the club on Sunday and will backup Pheonix Copley tonight. Coach Todd Reirden said Holtby would get the start in Chicago on Wednesday. Copley has played well in Holtby’s absence sporting a healthy .929 Sv% over the last three games allowing two goals in each.

Defenseman Brooks Orpik is eligible to return off LTIR on Wednesday vs the Hawks. Madison Bowey has continued to progress in what is a silver lining while Orpik has been out. Alex Ovechkin always brings his A-game when playing the historic Canadiens franchise as he’s recorded 51 points including 29 goals in his 46 career games vs Montreal.

Caps lines remain the same as in Denver.


Former Capitals D Karl Alzner will be a healthy scratch.

Game time is 7:30 PM EST.



Capital Gain:

D Jonas Seigenthaler recalled to Washington
G Ilya Samsonov reassigned to Hershey
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