The Washington Capitals host the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday (7:30 PM ET, TNT) for the first time this season and third meeting of the campaign between the two squads. Washington took the first two by a combined score of 10-6 and has points in four straight games (2-0-2) and in 16 of their last 17 (13-1-3) vs. New Jersey dating back to the 2020-21 season.
Schedule
New Jersey: closes out stretch of three straight road games (1-1-0) but continues span where they play nine of their final 14 games before the bye-week/NHL All-Star Break on the road
Washington: conclude back-to-back set after Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, begins five-game homestand (tied for their longest of the season), continues stretch where they host eight of 10 games (1-0-1) at Capital One Arena
How Each Team Is Doing
New Jersey: had three-game winning-streak, which followed a three-game skid (0-2-1), end in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to Boston Bruins
Washington: snapped four-game losing streak (0-2-2), which followed a four-game point-streak (3-0-1) and stretch where they earned points in eight of their previous nine (5-1-3), on Tuesday
Standings
New Jersey: 19-14-2 (.571 points percentage — sixth in Metropolitan Division, ninth in Eastern Conference); tied with Pittsburgh (with a game in hand) for ninth in conference, two points behind Washington (with each team having played 35 games) for final wild-card spot
Washington: 18-11-6 (.600 points percentage — third in Metropolitan Division, sixth in Eastern Conference); point ahead of Tampa Bay Lightning (one) for second wild-card spot, one back of Philadelphia Flyers (two) for the first in actual points, two behind New York Islanders (two) for third in Metropolitan, four back of Carolina Hurricanes (three) for second
Team Leaders
The graph shows each teams’ player leaders. Excluding defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who is out due to injury, blueliner John Marino leads New Jersey in time-on-ice per game (20:56). New Jersey center Jack Hughes’ 1.47 points-per-game average (44 in 30) ranks fourth in the NHL.
Team Statistics
The following chart looks at New Jersey and Washington’s game averages entering Wednesday. New Jersey ranks eighth in goals but they also allow the fourth-most goals. Their power-play is the league’s best.
The second graph glances at both teams’ underlying statistics at five-on-five up to date this season. New Jersey ranks fifth in Corsi and sixth in expected goals but last in save percentage, indicating that their goaltending has put them in a worse spot than where they should be.
Injuries/Illnesses
New Jersey
- Hamilton (torn left pectoral)
- LW Tomas Nosek (right foot)
- LW Timo Meier (“medium-body”)
Washington
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- RW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
- RW T.J. Oshie (lower-body)
- G Charlie Lindgren (upper-body)
Expected Goaltending Matchup
New Jersey: Vitek Vanecek, 27 — 13-7-1, .883 save percentage, 3.35 goals-against average in 23 games; four goals-against on 21 shots (.810) in 47:50 over two games vs. his former team this season
Washington: Hunter Shepard, 28 — 2-0-1, .926 save percentage, 2.27 goals-against average in three NHL games; 14-2-0, .908 save percentage, 2.28 goals-against average, shutout in 16 AHL games; 18 saves on 22 shots (.818) in Washington’s 5-4 victory in New Jersey on October 25
Projected Lines
New Jersey
Toffoli – Hughes – Bratt
Ondrej Palat – Nico Hischier – Erik Haula
Curtis Lazar – Michael McLeod – Dawson Mercer
Alexander Holtz – Chris Tierney – Nathan Bastian
Jonas Siegenthaler – Simon Nemec
Luke Hughes – Marino
Kevin Bahl – Brendan Smith
Vanecek
Nico Daws
Scratched: D Colin Miller
Washington
Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Wilson
Aliaksei Protas — Connor McMichael — Anthony Mantha
Hendrix Lapierre — Strome — Max Pacioretty
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary — Carlson
Joel Edmundson — Ethan Bear
Rasmus Sandin — Nick Jensen
Shepard
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: D Alexander Alexeyev, D Trevor Van Riemsdyk, RW Matthew Phillips
Betting Odds (BetMGM)
New Jersey: -160, Washington: +135
Over-under: 6.5 (-110 for both over/under)
By Harrison Brown
