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Caps in Philly - PK trending up, 20 goal scorers

March 6, 2019, 10:10 AM ET [0 Comments]
Marcus Boutilier
Washington Capitals Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
While the 38-21-7 Washington Capitals would admit they haven’t been playing their best hockey for 60 minutes they enter tonight’s game in Philadelphia on a four-game winning streak and have suffered only one loss in their last 7 to Buffalo on February 23rd. It’s going to be a battle down to the final days for the Metro playoff picture to sort itself out. Currently tied for 1st place with the New York Islanders (NYI has one game in hand), the Capitals are only 4 points up of the wild-card spot and just 6 points from the Columbus Blue Jackets, currently out of the playoff picture heading into tonight.

The 32-26-8 Flyers have had another season marked by inconsistency as they are looking like they will miss the playoffs. However, as the Caps should know, this won’t be an easy test as the Flyers have been playing well lately and have a 17-4-2 record since the two teams met last on Jan. 8 in a 5-3 Washington win.

Goaltending has been a merry-go-round in Philly this season as injuries have decimated them. The latest is rookie Carter Hart, who will not start. Formerly injured Brian Elliott will get the call today and he’s been playing well since returning going 3-0-1 with .936 save%.

Some good news for the Caps as Jakub Voracek will be out of action with injury and Nolan Patrick is questionable after the Flyers last game. Longtime nemesis Wayne Simmonds was traded to the Nashville Predators at the trade deadline.

One point of concern for the Capitals this season has been the number of penalties taken as they currently sit second (219) in times shorthanded behind only Colorado’s 240. This issue was being exacerbated by the struggling penalty killing units which have allowed the 5th most goals against while shorthanded with 47 and a 23rd ranked 78.5% mark of efficiency. Heading into the stretch drive it’s vital coach Todd Reirden has his team clamp down on both taking penalties and killing them. NHL scoring is up this year and specifically 5-on-5, so one can imagine how big special teams will come to play come playoff time.

The club is trending in the right direction. In 14 games over the last month, the Caps have only gone shorthanded 38 times placing them 10th in fewest taken over that span. When they have taken penalties, the penalty killing units have been better in the last month as well with an 81.6% mark, good enough for 15th in the NHL. It seems the emphasis on smart play has started to take shape after Reirden sent some messages with ice-time earlier in the season. The additions of Carl Hagelin and Nick Jensen just prior to the deadline have helped immensely. Hagelin has also been a threat to score shorthanded as well.

Alex Ovechkin continues to lead the NHL in goals with 45, however, he is getting some push with only a 4-goal cushion over the hard-charging Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers. The burly German has amassed 17 goals in his last 18 games as he and Connor McDavid continue to drive the Oilers offense. Ovechkin became the first player in NHL history to have ten 45-goal seasons in their career with his last goal. He has 8 goals in his last 11 games.

Depth in any line-up is a necessity for a team looking to contend for the Cup and the Caps are looking to have potentially six players hit the 20 goal mark this season. With 16 games remaining, Ovechkin (45) and TJ Oshie (21) have already hit the mark with Jakub Vrana (19), Tom Wilson (18), Evgeny Kuznetsov (17), Brett Connolly (16) all within reach. Nicklas Backstrom has 15 and could bring that number to seven.

Game time tonight is 7:30 PM EST from Wells Fargo Center.



Capital Gain:



It’s almost that time of year again if you’re in the DC area...



Former Capitals forward Marcus Johansson recently traded to Boston had a rude awakening …

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