Courtesy: Washington Post
WASHINGTON — For the fourth time this season, the former Southeast Division foes the 20-15-5 Washington Capitals and the 15-16-9 Carolina Hurricanes will square off in a Thursday evening soiree.
These now Metropolitan Division opponents have been struggling as of late as the Capitals are riding a two-game losing streak and have gone 4-3-3 in their last 10 contests, while the Hurricanes have been abysmal losing their last five and have gone a woeful 2-4-4 in their last 10. However, when it comes to the previous meetings of these two squads, Carolina is 2-1 with both victories coming at Verizon Center where tonight’s game will take place. Washington won the last meeting between these two clubs in Raleigh Dec. 20 when Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin scored his 400th career NHL goal.
The 28-year-old still holds the NHL lead in goals with 30 and has played well against Carolina in the past. In 55 career games against the Hurricanes, Ovechkin has tallied 69 points — 26 goals and 43 assists. The captain hasn’t scored in the last four contests, but could look to bounce back on the score sheet with Cam Ward missing in action between the pipes due to a lower-body injury.
Carolina will look to improve their 7-8-4 road record by putting Anton Khudobin in goal for just the fourth time this season to keep the pucks from lighting up his team’s lamp Thursday night. Khudobin has already started against the Capitals this season Oct. 10 where the Hurricanes prevailed 3-2. For the season, the 27-year-old is 2-0-0 with a .929 save percentage and 2.00 goals against average.
His opposition tonight will trot out Philipp Grubauer once again as the young netminder will appear in his ninth game over the last 12. Some may speculate that head coach Adam Oates may have put Braden Holtby in his “doghouse” — the 24-year-old goaltender last saw action in a game Dec. 21 against the New Jersey Devils, where the Capitals fell in the overtime period for the first time during the 2013-14 season 5-4 — but others will point to Grubauer’s superior play as of late. In 10 games this season, the 22-year-old is 5-2-2 with a .939 save percentage and a 2.02 goals against average. Holtby will serve as the backup as Michal Neuvirth will once again be a healthy scratch tonight.
Aaron Volpatti will join Neuvirth on that list of scratches as Brooks Laich will in fact get the call to the lineup. It is uncertain as to what the lines may look like come game time, but Oates has hinted that the top six, especially the first line, has been working a bit stale and may need some arrangement.
Each time Washington has faced Carolina, it’s been a battle of 50-50 pucks and who can dictate the pace of the hockey game. While the Capitals have great athletes, the Hurricanes outskated them especially in the two contests in D.C. and it will be interesting to see how much Eric Fehr and those types of high effort players on the ice tonight.
Puck-watching and playing soft along the boards shouldn’t be the case against a team the Capitals match up well against on paper. They don’t kill a lot of penalties (80.2%) and Washington is highly successful on the power play (25.2%). Traditionally, Carolina isn’t the best at burying pucks in the back of the net, while Washington is a top-10 scoring offense.
If Washington is to win tonight and get off of their two-game skid, they will have to avoid pressing so much and stick to the basics with a team like Carolina. Fehr and forward Jason Chimera — both high effort guys — have mentioned to reporters in the past about not getting too cute with leads and not being aggressive enough when a team should get buried. Considering the way the Capitals fell to the Buffalo Sabres Sunday by throwing 50 shots at Ryan Miller and the way they were defeated by the Ottawa Senators Monday night, scoring just one goal on 35 shots at Craig Anderson, they will be looking to put on a show for their fans in the friendly confines where they are 13-8-1 this season.
