After a lengthy 4-day break, the Washington Capitals are back at it for a 3-game homestand.  The Capitals (25-13-3) will see a heavy dose of the Carolina Hurricanes over this 10-day stretch, as they have 3 matchups with them.  Before they face Carolina later in the week, they will face off against the St. Louis Blues (26-16-2) in a Sunday afternoon matchup.  Puck drop is at 3 PM ET on NBC Sports Washington.

ST. LOUIS BLUES

Like the Capitals, the Blues are in a dogfight within their division.  The Blues are in a logjam with the Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators, and Dallas Stars.  They are coming off a 6-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon.

Despite significant injuries to forwards Jaden Schwartz and Robby Fabbri, the Blues are moving along and hanging tough in the Central Division.  What is keeping this team around in the playoff picture is the depth of their blueline.  The Blues have tremendous blueline depth with players like Colton Parayko, Joel Edmundson, and Vince Dunn.  These defensemen are all 24 years of age or younger.  Captain Alex Pietrangelo leads all Blues defensemen with 28 points.

The Blues are getting good goaltending from both of their netminders.  Jake Allen got the start in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, so the Blues might decide to give Carter Hutton the start against the Capitals.  Hutton has recorded 8 wins, a 1.64 goals against average, and .947 save percentage.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

The Capitals have had a lengthy rest period after going through a long month of December.  The Capitals are coming off a 5-4 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.

Alex Ovechkin stole the show against the Hurricanes as he capped off the victory in overtime.  This lengthy break for the Capitals probably came at a good time, as Matt Niskanen should be available to play after he has been battling with an upper-body injury.  The Capitals are also expected to slide forward Andre Burakovsky back into the lineup.  Chandler Stephenson will likely be the forward taken out with Burakovsky going back in.

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Trotz said he expects Niskanen to be good to go tomorrow.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) January 6, 2018

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Burakovsky was also on the second power play.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) January 6, 2018

Despite being off for a few days, the Capitals are still at the top of the Metropolitan Division.  Their lead is slim, but nobody in the Division has won more games in a row than the Capitals have (3).

After Alex Ovechkin’s heroic moments recently, Nicklas Backstrom has picked up his game in the last couple of outings.  Backstrom has 1 goal and 5 points in his last 2 games.

SKATE SHAVINGS

It’ll be the third time Barry Trotz has been behind the bench for an All-Star Game. He was the Metropolitan head coach in Nashville (2016) and Randy Carlyle’s assistant in Dallas (2007). #Caps

— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) January 6, 2018

A LOOK BACK IN TIME

The Capitals last faced off against the St. Louis Blues at Capital One Arena on September 22 in preseason action.  Tom Wilson delivered a bone crushing hit, followed by a bone crushing fight in the game.

By: George Foussekis