Harry Lichtman
The Washington Capitals (8-8-1) are back home after an eight-day, four-game road trip. They are set to host the New Jersey Devils (12-4-1) at Capital One Arena on Saturday night.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Saturday’s game is the beginning of a three-game homestand for the Capitals. It’s also a run of seven home games in their next eight.
The Capitals are coming off a four-game road trip where they went 1-3, with a win over Carolina, but losses to Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, and Florida.
The Capitals pulled off a convincing 4-1 win over Carolina on Tuesday night. However, the road trip ended with a whimper as they lost to Florida 6-3 on Thursday.
It’s been a rough three weeks for the Capitals as they haven’t been able to string consecutive wins since Oct. 21-24. Since starting the season 6-2-0, they have gone 2-6-1 in their last nine games.
Head coach Spencer Carbery has made multiple line changes over the course of those games to see what works. One of those changes was swapping Justin Sourdif and Connor McMichael on the second and third lines.
One big note for Saturday is that Nic Dowd will be playing in his 600th career NHL game. Since joining the Capitals in 2018-19, he ranks first on the team in face-off wins (3,092), second in plus-minus (+48), and second in shorthanded points (8).
Meanwhile, New Jersey started the season with a road loss against Carolina, but went on to win eight consecutive games. While they have gone 4-3-1 since, New Jersey remains in first place in the Metropolitan Division.
New Jersey just opened a five-game road trip with a 4-3 overtime win over Chicago on Wednesday night. Defenseman Simon Nemec recorded a hat trick by scoring the OT game-winner.
In terms of injuries, New Jersey will be without star center Jack Hughes as he suffered a non-hockey related hand injury. They also placed ex-Capital Connor Brown on injured reserve.
Expected Capitals Lines
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Anthony Beauvillier
Aliaksei Protas – Justin Sourdif – Tom Wilson
Hendrix Lapierre – Connor McMichael – Ryan Leonard
Ethen Frank – Nic Dowd – Brandon Duhaime
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson*
Jakob Chychrun – Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin – Declan Chisholm
*Game-time decision
Goalie
Logan Thompson
Expected Devils Lines
Forwards
Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Arseny Gritsysuk
Ondrej Palat – Dawson Mercer – Jesper Bratt
Paul Cotter – Cody Glass – Stefan Noesen
Juho Lamikko – Luke Glendening – Nathan Legare
Defensemen
Jonas Siegenthaler – Simon Nemec
Brendon Dillon – Luke Hughes
Dennis Cholowski – Colton White
Goalie
Jacob Markstrom
How to Watch
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio Network
