The Washington Capitals made their way to Long Island, New York, on Wednesday following their 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers in Manhattan on Tuesday night. The Capitals face the New York Islanders tonight with puck drop set for just after 7:00 pm. This is the fourth meeting of the season between the two teams with the Capitals posting a 3-0-0 record in the prior meetings.
The Capitals concluded the month of March with a 11-3-0 record, tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the second-highest point percentage (.786) in the NHL. That tied for the fourth-highest point percentage the Capitals have had in the month of March in franchise history.
Here’s the latest from morning skate at Nassau Coliseum.
MORNING SKATE
T.J. Oshie skated with the team this morning and appears to be a go for tonight’s game against the Islanders.
T.J. Oshie is out here for Capitals’ morning skate so he appears good to go for tonight vs NYI after taking a hard cross-check late Tuesday vs NYR.
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) April 1, 2021
Richard Panik skated with the taxi squad again this morning, indicating he will likely be a scratch tonight against the Islanders.
Ilya Samsonov will start in goal tonight against the Islanders.
Laviolette: Ilya Samsonov will start in goal tonight. #ALLCAPS
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) April 1, 2021
Capitals bench boss Peter Laviolette said that the Capitals will go with the same lineup tonight as they had against the Rangers on Tuesday.
MEDIA AVAILABILTY
John Carlson
Full pressers with John Carlson and head coach Peter Laviolette from today’s morning skate.#CapsIsles
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 1, 2021
CAPITALS vs. RANGERS
Here are the advanced possession stats for the Capitals and Islanders so far this season.
Goaltending
More advanced stats on the Capitals and Islanders can be found here.
FACE-OFFS
- Tuesday night against the New York Rangers, the Capitals won 29 of their 52 face-offs (55.8%), tied for the fifth-highest face-off percentage in a game this season.
- Since Feb. 16 and during the last 22 games, the Capitals’ 50.6 face-off percentage (613 wins on 1,211 draws) ranks 12th in the NHL.
- In addition, the Capitals have won 52.8% of their face-offs in their defensive zone (218 wins on 413 draws) and 53% of their face-offs on the penalty kill (53 wins on 100 draws), which ranks ninth and fourth, respectively, in the NHL.
- During the first 13 games of the season (Jan. 14 through Feb. 15), the Capitals ranked 28th in the NHL with a 46.0 face-off percentage (336 wins on 730 draws).
SHAVINGS
- John Carlson (2g, 3a), Nicklas Backstrom (1g, 4a) and Justin Schultz (1g, 4a) each have five points against the Islanders this season, while Vitek Vanecek (2-0-0) and Ilya Samsonov (1-0-0) have combined for a .930 save percentage (80 saves on 86 shots faced) against New York.
- In the three prior games this season, Washington has outscored New York 12-6. The Capitals have converted on 5 of their 9 power play opportunities (55.6%), their highest power play percentage against a single team this season.
By Jon Sorensen
Follow @nova_caps
