Courtesy: Washington Post
The Washington Capitals are on the second game of their five-game road trip spanning Canada and Philadelphia as they look to improve to .500 for the first time since Oct. 3 when they take on the Edmonton Oilers Thursday night.
Washington is also looking to ride the momentum they have built and try to garner their first three-game winning streak of the 2013-14 NHL season with a win against the Oilers.
The first meeting between these two teams came on Oct. 14 and things got a little chippy. However, Washington was able to seal the home victory with three unanswered power play goals in the 2nd as the boys in red grabbed their second win of the season 4-2. The Oilers young talent gave Washington a test as they were outskating the Caps in the first period, but youth was trumped by experience in the physical department and by the ability to finish plays as the Capitals prevailed.
This time around, Washington will be facing an Oilers team that won’t feature former first-overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft Taylor Hall. Hall injured his left knee Saturday in what was Edmonton’s second win of the season as they defeated Ottawa 3-1. The 21-year-old will likely miss four weeks for the Oilers, but the Capitals are simply glad he won’t be able to score two goals in eight seconds… like he did here.
While Hall didn’t make a tremendous impact in the first game, Washington’s defense can you any help they can get at this point. If it means an injury to an opponent’s star player, so be it as the Oilers can be tricky to deal with offensively despite their 3-6-1 record. The problem with Edmonton isn’t that they don’t have offensive talent and an ability to score goals, preventing people from scoring them is a totally different monster for this team.
Edmonton has allowed 39 goals in 10 games, which is the highest number of goals allowed in the NHL this season — Florida is second-worst in the league with 34. They have netted 29 goals themselves and that is good for tied-seventh in the league with the Montreal Canadiens, who happen to be 5-4-0. Clearly, they need some work in their own zone and have to try to minimize high-quality scoring chances in the open ice.
This is where Washington can expose the Oilers. While they have only tallied 24 total goals as a team through nine games, the Capitals are tied for the best mark in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the highest-scoring team in the league the San Jose Sharks with 11 power play goals. The Caps boast the best power play success rate at 31.43%. While it isn’t necessarily great to live and die by the power play, Washington knows that is their biggest strength — taking advantage on special teams is what can make good teams great.
If they plan on leaving Edmonton, Alberta with a W, they will have to do three things:
– Allow captain Alexander Ovechkin to roam free as he pleases in the slot as the Oilers allowed him to do so during their previous game at Verizon Center.
– Backcheck and forecheck with high energy, forcing the action on the somewhat depleted Oilers.
– Keep traffic away from the slot and win the 50-50 pucks along the boards to limit complicated chances toward goaltender Braden Holtby.
Washington has had trouble maintaining solid possession in the opposing team’s zone in almost every game this season as possessions are virtually limited to one shot and go. That has to change as it tires the forwards out backchecking, wears down the defensive pairings and makes Holtby’s life a lot tougher. Sometimes, the game has to be slowed down and head coach Adam Oates is a great example to follow as patience was the name of his game as an assist man during his playing days in the NHL.
Courtesy: NESN
