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Capitals looking to Streak

October 19, 2018, 12:46 PM ET [2 Comments]
Marcus Boutilier
Washington Capitals Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Washington Capitals try and get a winning streak going and build off a 4-3 win vs the Rangers at home on Wednesday night as they host the Florida Panthers tonight at 7PM at Capitals One Arena. The Panthers roll into Washington looking to gain some traction on a so far sub par season as the Cats sit at 0-2-2 coming off a 6-5 SO loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Hot at the end of last season though ultimately missing the playoffs by a point, the Panthers were picked by many to battle in the East as a playoff contender. While still early the Panthers are struggling to score with only 11 goals in 4 games played. Leading scorers are Evgenii Dadonov, Vincent Trochek and Keith Yandle with 4 points each. Contrast that with the Capitals 24 goals for and with Kuznetsov, Backstrom, Ovechkin, and Carlson each having 5 or more PP points alone. New Captain Aleksander Barkov who led the team last year with 78 points sits with only 2 G and 1 A for 3 points.

Jonathan Huberdeau and Mike Hoffman (acquired from Ottawa in off-season) each have scored only once so far and offensive defenseman Aaron Ekblad is pointless. I expect these numbers to start to trend up or it will be a real long season in Miami. Ex-Capital Troy Brouwer returns to DC tonight. The popular forward has registered a goal and an assist for 2 points this season.

With Roberto Luongo out the Capitals will face James Reimer who is sporting numbers the Caps will look to take advantage of. His .882 SV% and 3.62 GAA are numbers you don’t want going against the high octane attack of Washington. Lifetime vs the Capitals, Reimer has a 4-4-2 record and a more respectable .937 SV% and 2.16 GAA.

Mike Matheson, suspended for two games for his controversial hit on Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson, sits out the second game tonight.

The Capitals have scored plenty of goals so far this season, however, as more games are being played it’s becoming evident the secondary scoring the Capitals utilized to a Cup win last year is not producing early. The bottom six hasn’t a scorer with more than 1 goal and Brett Connolly leads with 4 points, but Connolly started the season with Kuznetsov and Ovechkin. While it is early and I have seen scoring chances from these lines, they need to start taking the load of Kuzy, Ovechkin et al. Andre Burakovsky is pointless through 6 games as his consistency is anything but. A gifted shooter, Burakovsky is sometimes frustrating to watch and the coaching staff has taken notice as well with his ice time averaging close to 2 minutes less this season. Not good for a still developing player.

Kuznetsov is still struggling in the FO circle with a 35.4% rate. He was 4-14 vs Toronto and only won one in 12 vs Auston Matthews last Wednesday. Taking almost 17 draws a game it’s important that Kuzy gets better in this area. Backstrom has a career percentage over 50 and this year he’s at 53.6% which are much better numbers for your C. I expect to see the Backstrom continue to matchup with opposition teams best scorers.

Braden Holtby likely will be in net for the Caps as he looks to improve on his numbers. A little skewed this early by games like the 7-6 loss to Pittsburgh the 2017 Vezina winner has posted a 3.18 GAA and .898 SV% thus far. He has 2.42 and .919% over his career.


CAPITAL GAIN :

Tom Wilson had his suspension appeal hearing yesterday in New York City. The meeting lasted over 7 hours and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said he will make a decision this coming week sometime. I expect a couple games to be knocked off but won't be surprised either way.

Nicklas Backstrom needs 2 assists for 600.
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