Photo: @Capitals
Things have not gone well for the Washington Capitals so far on their three-game California road trip. While they did play much better against the Kings on Thursday night than they did on Tuesday against the Ducks, the Capitals still came away with two regulation losses. The Capitals hit the ice at SAP Center in San Jose for practice on Friday afternoon as they’ll look for a much better showing against the Sharks Sharks on Saturday to at least leave California with a point or two. They don’t want a repeat of last year where they came away with no points and this will be their last chance to snap a California losing streak that has stretched to seven games.
LINES
The lines in today’s practice looked like this:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-DSP
Connolly-Backstrom-Burakovsky
Vrana-Eller-Oshie
Stephenson-Beagle-Boyd
Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Jerabek
NEWS
Tom Wilson didn’t practice on Friday, taking a maitenance day but will play tomorrow. Wilson got hit in the face by a puck that was deflected off the stick of Nicklas Backstrom in the second period of last night’s game. Wilson left the ice and went to the locker room but came back out for the third period.
Philipp Grubauer was in the starter’s net and is expected to be the starting netminder for tomorrow’s game. In last night’s loss to the Kings, Grubauer stopped 26-of-28 shots for a .929 save percentage. Grubauer is 1-1-1 with a 1.96 goals-against average and .926 save percentage lifetime against the Sharks.
The Capitals have confirmed that Brian MacLellan did indeed sign a contract extension to remain the general manager of the Washington Capitals. This news was initially reported last Saturday prior to the Stadium Series game by Nick Kypreos from Hockey Night in Canada.
The Capitals (81 points) will enter Saturday’s game in second place in the Metropolitan Division behind the first place Penguins by one point and two points ahead of the Flyers
SHAVINGS
- Jakub Vrana has scored two goals in his last three games and has points in three of his last four games (2 goals, 1 assist).
- Vrana’s 12 goals this season are tied for 15th in the NHL among rookies.
- Vrana’s 51.32 shot attempts percentage at five-on-five (719 shot attempts for, 682 against) ranks ninth among rookie forwards this season.
CAPS TODAY
CAPS TODAY: Jakub Vrana’s 15 goals in 81 games as a rookie are the most by a Capitals since Alex Ovechkin’s 52 in his 2005-06 rookie season. https://t.co/ORXiCsZGkW pic.twitter.com/ue527BQ3JT
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 9, 2018
CAPITALS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgF-OxeA2VJ/?taken-by=kuzy092
Just your average I-lost-a-bet-to-@GovLarryHogan-business-casual look for a full day of meetings at @CanEmbUSA. You can renege on many things but a sports bet is a sports bet! #StadiumSeries #Viewfrom501 pic.twitter.com/cGEMi7kaWN
— David MacNaughton (@AmbMacNaughton) March 9, 2018
I am officially on #OviWatch. See: pic.twitter.com/1TkmYRCxo4
— Amalie Benjamin (@AmalieBenjamin) March 9, 2018
By Michael Marzzzacco
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