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Caps host Blues - Nolan vs Wilson? Holtby OK!! |
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Coming off a 2-1 OT loss to Columbus on Saturday night and looking to increase their lead in the tight Metro Division, The Washington Capitals host the St. Louis Blues tonight in the second game of a three-game homestand. With only 5 points separating the Capitals from the 4th place New York Islanders it’s getting more and more vital to keep racking up points.
The game will mark the 1000th of defenseman Brooks Orpiks career. The former 1st round pick in 2000 has 17 goals with 171 assists and is a plus-73 in his 999 games so far capturing two Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in ‘09 and the Capitals last season.
Braden Holtby was back on the ice after a scary incident where he was high-sticked vs Columbus when Cam Atkinson’s stick came up and clipped the goaltender with a part of the stick protruding through the wiring. He left the game and Pheonix Copley would finish. Expect Copley to play today as the Caps will be cautious and they can enjoy the confidence they have in the back-up goalie.
Washington lost in St. Louis in their last matchup 5-2 on January 3rd in a game where Alex Ovechkin scored his 30th goal. The Blues were just too much for the Capitals scoring four unanswered goals after the Caps had taken a 2-1 lead early in the second period and finished with 42 shots on Braden Holtby. The Blues have a 10-7-1 record over the Caps since the start of the 2013-14 season.
The Blues have won two games in a row in a season where they’ve been anything but the powerhouse team some saw in pre-season Western Conference predictions. However, even with the subpar season so far, they sit just 5 points back of a wildcard playoff spot and will be coming on strong today to try and continue their push after a disastrous start. They have suffered a lot of injuries and come into this game without Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak, both placed on IR January 11. Alex Steen is traveling with the team but will not play tonight because of his ongoing shoulder injury.
Rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington has won his first three starts of his career for the Blues including backstopping them to their last win over Dallas on Saturday night stopping 21 of 22 shots.
Jordan Nolan was recalled by St. Louis yesterday in what I see as a move to try and counter Tom Wilson who fought Robert Bortuzzo the last time these two met. Wilson wins that battle every day of the week as I don’t see Nolan on the 1st line. The 6’3” 217 lb is a tough customer and can play a little with 19 points in 30 games for AHL San Antonio. He has 14 PIMs in 11 NHL appearances this year with 2 assists.
Not helping the Blues cause, perennial 35-goal scorer Vladimir Tarasenko has been having on off-year with only 14 goals so far. The 2010 16th-overall selection did have 2 in the Blues last game and 3 in the last five, so hopefully, he isn’t heating up or the Caps face some trouble.
Only three teams have taken fewer minor penalties than the Capitals total of 164. This is an issue that was in the Caps games a few years ago but seemed to get better over the last season. This year, that is unacceptable and GM Brian McLellan was commenting on it in his mid-season presser. While the penalty killing units could be better and are trending up the coach Todd Reirden knows this is a concern heading into the stretch drive where every goal is huge. You do not want to be gifting teams power plays at any time much less when goals are getting even harder to come by.
Jakub Vrana has been excellent not taking penalties. For all his goal-scoring prowess lately, it’s hard to look past the fact he’s taken only one penalty since October 22... And that was Nov 7th! Good on the young player who had 6 minors in the first seven games of the year. It’s actually quite impressive when you think about it.
Capital Gain:
Ovechkin Rocket Richard Watch
Ovechkin 32
Skinner (BUF) 30
Point (TB) 29
Tavares (TOR) 29
Mike Vogel sat down with Caps GM for some mid-season tidbits…
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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