Washington Capitals Daily Report (12-16-15)

The Washington Capitals returned to practice at Kettler this morning (Wednesday) after having the day-off yesterday. The team spent part of their off-day visiting patients at Medstar Hospital in Georgetown. You can read all about the Caps visit right here:

Morning Skate
The team finalized preparations for tonight’s tilt against the Ottawa Senators at Verizon Center. Puck drop is 7:08 PM EST. Practice lines at morning skate:

Offensive Lines:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Williams
Chimera-Beagle-Wilson
Laich-Latta-Burakovsky

Defensive Pairs
Schmidt-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Orlov-Chorney

The healthy scratches for tonight’s game would appear to be Stanislav Galiev, Aaron Ness and Chris Brown.

Senators @ Capitals
The Ottawa Senators (16-10-5, 37 pts), fresh off a 5-3 win over the LA Kings, will face off against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night. Their star forward, Mike Hoffmann earned three points against the Kings while All-star candidate Erik Karlsson also logged a score. Hoffmann, the Sens hot man on ice, is currently 8th in the NHL in points per game, ahead of Alexander Ovechkin. Defenseman Karlsson is second in the league in assists and formidable on the blue line. He has won two Norris trophies in the past four years and has been the NHL’s highest scoring defenseman for three of the past four years.

The game marks the return of Sens goaltender Andrew Hammond, aka “the Hamburglar“. Hammond, sidelined from a concussion more than a month ago, played two games with the AHL Binghamton team last weekend and was cleared for a full return to the NHL. Hammond was thrust into the spotlight last season after posting a .941 save percentage and winning 20 of 24 games. He is 2-0-2 in the NHL this season having missed the start of the regular season due to a groin injury.

The Washington Capitals (21-6-2, 44 pts) have posted a 12-2-2 record in their last 16 home games against the Senators.. Braden Holtby made a season-high 44 saves on Monday at Pittsburgh, extending his point streak to 12 games. Holtby’s 12-game point streak is the longest by goalie in the NHL in 2015-16 and longest by a Capitals goaltender since Jose Theodore during the 2009-10 season. The Capitals are 11-3-1 at home this season and rank tied for third in the NHL in home wins (11).

Face-off Stats (Through Pittsburgh Game)
The Capitals are currently 14th in the NHL in face-off winning percentage overall. (Via Faceoffs.com)

News and Notes

The Capitals will wear their new alternate-third jerseys (uniforms) for the first time tonight.
Nicklas Backstrom registered three points (1g, 2a) on Monday at Pittsburgh, tying Michal Pivonka (599) for fourth place on the Capitals franchise points list.
Verizon Center will Host Two World Cup of Hockey Exhibition Games. The United States will face Finland on Sept. 13, at Verizon Center and Sweden will face Team Europe on Sept. 14. Kettler Capitals Iceplex will host practices for select teams.
The Capitals released their annual holiday greetings video. You can see it on Monumental Networks home page, right here: