The Washington Capitals visit the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (8 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market) for the second and final meeting between the two teams this season. Washington took a 3-2 decision in a shootout in the nation’s capital on October 27 but Minnesota has points in six of their last seven head-to-head (5-1-1).
Schedule
Washington: continues four-game Central Division road trip, stretch where they play six of seven on the road after opening it with a 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday; begin set of back-to-backs with Colorado Avalanche awaiting them in Denver for Wednesday night’s tilt
Minnesota: starts three-game homestand, stretch where they host four of their next five; return from three-game Southeast road trip (where they went 2-0-1)
How Each Team Is Doing
Washington: won three of their previous four before Saturday’s shutout loss
Minnesota: has won three of their last four since a four-game skid (0-3-1)
Standings
Washington: 22-16-6 (.568 points percentage — fourth in Metropolitan Division, ninth in Eastern Conference); three points back of Tampa Bay Lightning (with three games in hand) for final wild-card spot in Eastern Conference in actual points and Detroit Red Wings (two) for the first, five points behind Carolina Hurricanes (one) for third place in Metropolitan
Minnesota: 20-21-5 (.489 points percentage — seventh in Central Division, 13th in Western Conference); six points behind Nashville Predators (with both teams having played 46 games) for final wild-card spot
Team Leaders
The graph shows each teams’ player leaders. Minnesota left-wing Kirill Kaprizov is coming off of a hat trick in their 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.
Team Statistics
The first chart pictures Washington and Minnesota’s game averages entering Tuesday. Minnesota has the third-worst penalty-killing rate and allows the eighth-most goals. Both teams are among the NHL’s worst in faceoffs.
The next graph looks at both teams’ underlying numbers at five-on-five. Both teams have Corsi-for and expected goals-for percentages below 50%.
Injuries/Illnesses
Washington
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- RW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
- D Rasmus Sandin (upper-body)
Minnesota
- C Connor Dewar (lower-body)
- C Frederick Gaudreau (upper-body)
- G Marc-Andre Fleury (upper-body)
- D Jared Spurgeon (hip)
Expected Goaltending Matchup
The graph shows the statistics of Tuesday night’s probable duel in net. Both have awfully similar save percentages and records just above .500.
Projected Lines
Washington
Ovechkin — Nic Dowd — Wilson
Aliaksei Protas — Connor McMichael — Anthony Mantha
Max Pacioretty — Dylan Strome — T.J. Oshie
Beck Malenstyn — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary — Carlson
Alexander Alexeyev — Nick Jensen
Joel Edmundson — Ethan Bear
Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: RW Matthew Philipps, D Trevor Van Riemsdyk, C Hendrix Lapierre
Minnesota
Kaprizov — Marco Rossi — Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno — Eriksson Ek — Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson — Ryan Hartman — Pat Maroon
Brandon Duchaime — Jake Lucchini — Adam Raska
Jonas Brodin — Faber
Jacob Middleton — Dakota Mermis
Alex Goligoski — Zach Bogosian
Gustavsson
Jesper Wallstedt
Scratched: D Jon Merrill, C Vinni Lettieri
Betting Odds (BetMGM)
Washington: +135, Minnesota: -160
Over-under: 6 (-105 over, -115 under)
By Harrison Brown
