The Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens both get back at it after the NHL All-Star Break and their respective bye weeks at Capital One Arena on Tuesday night (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market). Montreal has won the last two meetings head-to-head north of the border, including a 3-2 overtime victory on October 21, after Washington had points in seven straight against them (6-0-1). The teams will wrap up their regular-season series 11 days after Tuesday’s clash at Bell Centre in Montreal.
Schedule
Montreal: head out for their lone outing in four days before starting a three-game homestand on Saturday; will end stretch where five of seven come on the road (1-4-1 so far)
Washington: host Tuesday’s contest, their lone home game in a span of seven, before a two-game Atlantic Division road trip
How Each Team Is Doing
Montreal: 5-8-3 since NHL holiday break, 1-3-1 in last five games prior to All-Star Break
Washington: went o-3-1 on Central Division road trip before All-Star Break and is 5-9-2 since winning three straight over Metropolitan Division opponents from December 17-21
Standings
Montreal: 20-21-8 (.490 points percentage — tied for sixth in Atlantic Division, 13th in Eastern Conference with Buffalo Sabres); 10 points behind Detroit Red Wings (with a game in hand) and Toronto Maple Leafs (who have two on Montreal) for wild-card spots
Washington: 22-18-7 (.543 points percentage — tied for fifth in Metropolitan Division, 10th in Eastern Conference with New Jersey Devils); seven points back of Detroit (three games in hand) and Toronto (with each team having played 47 games) in wild-card race, five behind Philadelphia Flyers (three) for third in Metropolitan Division
Team Leaders
The graph shows each teams’ player leaders. Neither team has a player in the top-50 league-wide in points nor the top-35 in goals.
Team Statistics
The first chart exemplifies Montreal and Washington’s game averages entering Tuesday. Both teams are among the NHL’s bottom-five in scoring and shots. Montreal has the fourth-worst penalty kill and allows the third-most shots but ranks sixth in faceoffs.
The second examines both teams’ underlying numbers at five-on-five. Both teams have Corsi-for, expected goals-for percentages, and scoring chances-for percentage below 47.1%.
Injuries/Illnesses/Suspensions
Montreal
- C Christian Dvorak (torn pectoral muscle)
- C Kirby Dach (torn ACL/MCL)
- C Alex Newhook (high ankle sprain)
- RW Brendan Gallagher (suspended)
Washington
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- RW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
- C Evgeny Kuznetsov (NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program)
Expected Goaltending Matchup
The graph shows the statistics of Tuesday night’s likely starters in net. Charlie Lindgren has a better save percentage and goals-against average than Sam Montembeault.
Projected Lines
Montreal
Juraj Slafkovsky – Suzuki – Caufield
Josh Anderson – Jake Evans – Joel Armia
Tanner Pearson –Mitchell Stephens – Rafael Harvey-Pinard
Michael Pezzetta – Lucas Condotta – Jesse Ylonen
Matheson – Kaiden Guhle
Jayden Struble – David Savard
Jordan Harris – Johnathan Kovacevic
Montembeault
Jake Allen
Scratched: G Cayden Primeau, D Arber Xhekaj
Washington
Ovechkin – Strome – Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty – Connor McMichael – T.J. Oshie
Anthony Mantha – Michael Sgarbossa — Aliaksei Protas
Beck Malenstyn – Nic Dowd – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary – Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Joel Edmundson – Nick Jensen
Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: RW Matthew Phillips, D Alexander Alexeyev, D Ethan Bear
Betting Odds (BetMGM)
Montreal: +140, Washington: -165
Over-under: 5.5 (-120 over, +100 under)
By Harrison Brown
