[ad_1]
Photo: WTOP
The Washington Capitals will close out their season series with the rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, EPSN+ out-of-market). After Pittsburgh shut Washington out, 4-0, on opening night, Washington won 4-3 on January 2 and 6-0 on March 7 in the Steel City. Washington scored four unanswered goals before Pittsburgh responded with three straight of their own prior to Washington’s blowout win last month after the first game between the two teams. Washington is 10-7-4 (.585 points percentage) vs. Pittsburgh in the 2020s.
Schedule
Pittsburgh: ends four-game Metropolitan Division road trip (2-0-1 so far) and continues stretch where they go on the road for eight of nine (4-2-2)
Washington: continues stretch where they host seven of 10 games (3-3-1) after a 6-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, open set of back-to-backs with a trip to Raleigh to see the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday looming
How Each Team Is Doing
Pittsburgh: six-game point-streak (4-0-2) after going 3-9-1 over their previous 13
Washington: has lost three straight (0-2-1) since three-game winning-streak, stretch where they went 14-7-2 wrapped up
Standings
Pittsburgh: 34-30-11 (.527 points percentage — sixth in Metropolitan Division, 11th in Eastern Conference); three points behind Washington (who have a game in hand) for final wild-card spot and four back of Philadelphia Flyers (with one) for third place in Metropolitan Division; also trailing Detroit Red Wings (with both teams having played 75 games) by three, New York Islanders (75) by two in wild-card standings; lead Buffalo Sabres (with one) by two and New Jersey Devils (75) by three
Washington: 36-28-10 (.554 points percentage — third in Metropolitan Division, seventh in Eastern Conference)
Team Leaders
Crosby is tied for 12th in the NHL in goals and 13th in points. Letang and Carlson both rank among the league’s top-12 in time-on-ice.
Team Statistics
Both Pittsburgh and Washington are among the NHL’s worst-11 in goals. Pittsburgh’s power-play is better than only the Columbus Blue Jackets (14.4%) and Philadelphia (12.9%). Pittsburgh, who is the best faceoff team, ranks sixth in shots while Washington’s average bests only the San Jose Sharks (25.5).
Washington entered Wednesday 26th in Corsi, 25th in expected goals, 24th in scoring chances, and 25th in save percentage. Both teams shoot below the NHL average.
Expected Goalie Matchup
Nedeljkovic bests Kuemper, who made 32 saves in Washington’s 4-3 win at PPG Paints Arena in January, in every stat.
Injuries/Illnesses/Suspensions
Pittsburgh
- LW Matt Nieto (knee)
- C Jansen Harkins (hand)
- C Noel Acciari (lower-body)
Washington
- D Ethan Bear (NHLPA players assistance program)
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- RW T.J. Oshie (undisclosed)
Projected Lines
Pittsburgh
Reilly Smith — Crosby — Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting — Evgeni Malkin — Rickard Rakell
Drew O’Connor — Lars Eller — Valtteri Puustinen
Jesse Puljujarvi — Jeff Carter — Emil Bemstrom
Pierre-Olivier Joseph — Letang
Marcus Pettersson — Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea — Jack St. Ivany
Nedeljkovic
Tristan Jarry
Scratched: D Ryan Graves, D John Ludvig
Washington
Ovechkin — Connor McMichael — Ivan Miroshnichenko
Max Pacioretty — Strome — Sonny Milano
Michael Sgarbossa— Hendrix Lapierre — Aliaksei Protas
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary — Carlson
Rasmus Sandin — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: RW Matthew Phillips, D Vinny Iorio
Betting Odds (BetMGM)
Pittsburgh: -110, Washington: -110
Over-under: 6 (-105 over, -115 under)
By Harrison Brown
[ad_2]
Source link
