(Photo: @capsbigbossman)
The Washington Capitals (17-5-1) make their first visit to the Bell Centre this evening to take on the Montreal Canadiens (19-4-3). The Capitals will look to improve on their rather gaudy record for recent play in Montreal. Washington has won eight of its last nine games on the road against the Canadiens and has earned a point in 11 straight games at Bell Centre (9-0-2).
Morning skate in Montreal. (Photo: @washingtoncaps)
Morning Skate
Brooks Orpik made the trip to Montreal, but will not play tonight. Stanislav Galiev and Chris Brown are the likely healthy scratches for this evening.Practice lines at this mornings skate:
Offensive Lines
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Williams
Chimera-Beagle-Burakovsky
Laich-Latta-Wilson
Defensive Pairs
Schmidt-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Orlov-Chorney
(Photo: @washcaps)
Capitals @ Canadiens
The Capitals will be looking to extend their season-high five-ga e winning streak tonight at the Bell Centre. Montreal rolled out to a red-hot 9-0 start this season, the best in franchise history. Braden Holtby is 6-0-2 in his career against Montreal with two shutouts, a 1.33 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage. the Canadiens will be without their superstar netminder Carey Price, who is out for six weeks with a lower body injury. Price will likely miss the next game against the Caps on December 26th at Verizon Center. For a complete game preview from NoVa Caps, please click here:
News and Notes
- Washington Capitals prospect Vitek Vanecek named ECHL Rookie of Month. Vanecek was also named to the Czech World Junior Championship Evaluation Camp.
- Braden Holtby posted a 9-2-0 record during the month and finished November on a career-high seven game winning streak.
- The Capitals defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Saturday to improve to 17-5-1 (35 points) this season, marking the team’s best start (in terms of points) in franchise history.
- Karl Alzner is scheduled to play in his 400th consecutive game on Thursday at Montreal. Capitals teammate John Carlson played in his 400th consecutive game on Nov. 27 against the Lightning.
Standings
Latest Stories
With Brooks Orpik out, John Carlson taking on leadership role for the defense (WaPo)
With or without Carey Price, Capitals not taking Montreal lightly
Capitals piece together clues about ‘Mr. Game 7’ (WaPo)
Brooks Orpik back at practice, but doubtful for game at Montreal (WaPo)
Braden Holtby named NHL’s ‘Second Star’ of the week (WaPo)
Jason Chimera: The Capitals’ surprise ‘secret weapon’ (WaPo)
Capitals getting a boost from their second power play unit (WaPo)
Capitals defenseman Taylor Chorney is a young veteran at 28 (WaPo)
Organized Chaos (Dump N’ Chase)
(From ESPN.Com)
