Capitals Look to Finish Back-to-Back Wins Against Habs

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These Washington Capitals that we have seen over the last six games are the ones we’ve gotten used to. They have no problem scoring, know how to play a solid all-around hockey game and are oozing that winning culture that won them the President’s Trophy just a season ago.

After escaping PNC Arena with two points after a 4-3 shootout victory over Carolina Friday, Washington seeks to finish its back-to-back series with a win over Montreal Saturday and extend their winning streak to seven games.

 

Montreal Canadiens at Washington Capitals

Verizon Center – 7 p.m. EST

Broadcast channels – CSNMA, NHLN, TVAS

2015-16 Season Series:

Dec. 3- Capitals 3 Canadiens 2

Dec. 26- Capitals 3 Canadiens 1

Feb. 24- Canadiens 4 Capitals 3

Washington Capitals – 19-7-3, 41 Points

Home Record: 11-4-0

Hot Players: Evgeny Kuznetsov, Justin Williams, Matt Niskanen

Projected Lines:

Forwards

Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Justin Williams

Marcus Johansson-Nicklas Backstrom-T.J. Oshie

Zach Sanford-Lars Eller-Jakub Vrana

Daniel Winnik-Jay Beagle-Tom Wilson

Defense

Karl Alzner-John Carlson

Dmitri Orlov- Matt Niskanen

Brooks Orpik-Nate Schmidt

Goaltender

Braden Holtby

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Montreal Canadiens- 19-7-4, 42 Points

Away Record: 5-5-2

Hot Players: Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec

Key Injuries: David Desharnais, Alex Galchenyuk, Charles Hudon

Projected Lines:

Forwards

Max Pacioretty-Tomas Plekanec-Alexander Radulov

Artturi Lehkonen-Phillip Danault-Andrew Shaw

Paul Byron-Torrey Mitchell-Brendan Gallagher

Daniel Carr-Brian Flynn-Michael McCarron

Defense

Alexei Emelin-Shea Weber

Andrei Markov-Jeff Petry

Nathan Beaulieu-Zach Redmond

Goaltender

Carey Price

Game Notes

[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]1)[/miptheme_dropcap]Evgeny Kuznetsov is riding a six-game point streak, and Justin Williams has a goal in three straight games. With Alex Ovechkin also starting to score, many of Washington’s top six forwards appear to be getting their groove back.

[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]2)[/miptheme_dropcap]Washington’s power-play has scored a goal in its last four games, and is showing no signs of slowing down. If they want to beat Montreal, making the most of their chances on the man advantage will be huge, especially when facing off against Shea Weber and the Canadiens’ penalty kill, which has over 80 percent success on the PK.

[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]3) [/miptheme_dropcap]The Capitals have recalled Zach Sanford from Hershey, where he got the opportunity to work on upgrading his offensive game. He’ll be back in the lineup, replacing Brett Conolly on the third line wing. Andre Burakovsky will continue to sit as a healthy scratch due to his stop in production.

[miptheme_dropcap style=”normal” color=”#222222″ background=””]4)[/miptheme_dropcap]Braden Holtby will get the start between the pipes Saturday after Grubauer played Carolina Friday. He is 8-0-1 his career against Montreal and boasts outstanding numbers, including a .944 save percentage and 1.60 GAA against the Habs.

This will be one of the Capitals toughest games to date. The Canadiens are the best team in the Eastern Conference and with Carey Price, Alex Radulov and Shea Weber, they have a full arsenal of weapons in each part of their lineup.

Not to mention, both teams are playing each other as part of back-to-back matchups, so expect each team to try to balance fatigue as well as effort to defeat each other.