Capitals Stick With Same Lineup After Dominant Win In Pittsburgh: Sunday’s Practice Notebook

Photo: @SamanthaJPell

The Washington Capitals stook their same lineup during practice at KeyBank Rink in Buffalo on Sunday after their dominant 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon, meaning that Radko Gudas remained the extra defenseman. The team visits the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington) to conclude their three-game northeastern road trip.

Capitals practice lines on Sunday:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-WIlson
Vrana-Backstrom-Oshie
Hagelin-Eller-Kovalchuk
Panik-Dowd-Hathaway

Dillon-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
Kempny-Siegenthaler

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) March 8, 2020

The Fort Dupont Ice Arena Board of Directors announced on Sunday that the Friends of Fort Dupont (FFD) have raised $1,309,610, which surpasses the dollar amount required to launch the construction of the new two rink facility at their Anacostia site.

Out of town, Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi has been fined $5,000 for cross-checking Dallas Stars forward Corey Perry on Saturday.

Interviews

Tom Wilson and Nick Jensen after practice day in Buffalo. #CapsSabres pic.twitter.com/x3fRlj1TAl

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 8, 2020

Quick Bits

Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Penguins marked center Nic Dowd’s second multi-point game of the season (two assists at San Jose Sharks on Dec. 3); Dowd’s two-goal game also marks the first multi-goal game of his career
Dowd’s three shorthanded goals this season is tied for fourth in the NHL
Braden Holtby made his fifth career save on a penalty shot against center Jared McCann on Saturday and has stopped five of his career seven career penalty shots faced
Forward Richard Panik has two goals and six points during a four-game point-streak
Forward Garnet Hathaway has two goals and three points during a three-game point-steak
Defenseman John Carlson enters Monday two assists shy of recording the most assists by a defenseman in a single season (Scott Stevens: 61 in 1988-89)
Captain Alex Ovechkin has 32 goals and 49 points in 49 career games vs. the Sabres while forward Ilya Kovalchuk has 24 goals and 39 points in 42 career games against them
Since 2007-08, center Nicklas Backstrom’s first NHL season, his 245 multi-point games rank fifth in the NHL (Penguins captain Sidney Crosby: 310; Ovechkin: 303; Penguins center Evgeni Malkin: 269; Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane: 266)
With Backstrom’s most recent assist, he passed Brad Park (683) for sole possession of 60th on the NHL’s all-time list
The Capitals have posted a record of 23-10-2 in 35 games on the road this season – tied for the most road wins in the NHL (Colorado Avalanche)
The Capitals have scored five or more goals in a road game for an NHL-leading 13 times this season – three more than the next closest clubs (Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, and Toronto Maple Leafs
This season, the Capitals have outscored opponents by 15 goals (122-107) on the road and rank second in the NHL in road goals (Maple Leafs: 123), and their 3.49 goals per road game lead the NHL.
Ovechkin has 28 goals in 34 road games this season, which leads the NHL, while Carlson’s 34 road assists only trail Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (35) for the most in the NHL
Since Feb. 25, Nick Jensen and Jonas Siegenthaler each lead Capitals defensemen with a 80.00 goals for percentage (Jensen: eight goals for, two against in six games; Siegenthaler: four goals for, one against in four games)
The Capitals have scored 16 goals at five-on-five since Feb. 25, tied for fifth in the NHL