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Trotz watch back in Washington - Holtby ?? |
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For the first time since leaving the Washington Capitals, Barry Trotz makes his first visit back to DC where he coached the Capitals to their first ever Stanley Cup in franchise history last season. He brings his New York Islanders to town and they are on a roll losing only 2 of their last 12 games including their last 3 to put them into the race for tops in the Metro division which is crowded with the Caps, Penguins, Blue Jackets, and Islanders all within 3 points of each other.
The Islanders are coming off a win 4-1 last night at home over the New Jersy Devils in a game where they allowed only 17 shots against as Trotz , not surprisingly, has the Islanders playing responsibly over 200 feet of ice. They have allowed only 8 goals in their last 5 games and also lead the NHL with the fewest goals against with 116 which is nine better than anyone else.
27-14-5 Capitals have lost 3 games in a row including the last two giving up a combined 11 goals in ugly losses to St. Louis and Nashville while scoring only 3 themselves. Pheonix Copley started both games as Braden Holtby was still suffering the effects of an eye injury he suffered against Columbus on Jan 12. While Copley can’t be entirely blamed for the losses he is starting to show some signs of slowing down after a great start to the season. He has an .844 SV% his over his last three appearances. Holtby was on the ice today for morning skate and is expected to start tonight.
The 27-14-4 Islanders have an almost identical record as Washington and have done it after the loss of superstar John Tavares who left for Toronto in the summer. With 8 players having 10 or more goals they are getting balanced scoring throughout their lineup. Conversely, the Capitals have only 4 scorers with more than 10 goals (Ovechkin, Vrana, Oshie, Wilson, and Backstrom). Top point scorer Matthew Barzal’s 43 points have him only 44th in the league while Caps Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and defenseman John Carlson all have 43 or more.
The Islanders leading goal scorer Anders Lee has only 18 goals placing him only 46th place overall. Alexander Ovechkin continues to lead the NHL in goals with 33 however he only has 4 over his last 14 games as the Rocket Richard Trophy race is tightening up as well. Brayden Point of Tampa Bay and Jeff Skinner of Buffalo both have 30.
With 4 minor penalties his last 7 games, Ovechkin, much like his teammates has been taking a lot of penalties this year. Jakub Vrana hasn’t been one, however. The sophomore forward took his first penalty since November 7th in the Caps last game. Impressive for a young player getting lots of minutes. The Capitals are tied for the fourth most minor penalties overall with 172 taken so far and with a struggling penalty kill and subpar face-off winning percentage they can ill afford to continue this trend.
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