Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals will see the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night for the first time in about two years in the nation’s capital. The Capitals and Golden Knights have split each of their past two regular-season series with the home team coming out on top each time, including 5-2 victories by the Capitals each time in Washington. Action from Capital One Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington locally or NHL Network nationally beginning at 7 PM ET.

Schedule

After three days off since their 4-3 overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens at home, the Golden Knights begin a four-game Eastern Conference road swing (Washington, Raleigh, Sunrise, and Tampa) and a set of back-to-backs with the Carolina Hurricanes awaiting them on Tuesday.

The Capitals continue a three-game homestand after coming back from down 2-0 in the third period in a 3-2 overtime win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. They will face a Western Conference opponent in three straight games and close their homestand out against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.

Records

Golden Knights: 11-5-0 on the road (11th in NHL), have won six straight and seven of their last eight away from T-Mobile Arena but have not played on the road since December 28, a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings

Capitals: 12-5-5 at home (10th), two straight home wins (both in overtime) after going 1-4-1 in their previous six

How Each Team Is Doing

Golden Knights: 2-3-2 since winning their first two games out of the NHL holiday/COVID-19 pause

Capitals: won three of five (3-2-0) since four-game losing-streak ended

Standings

Golden Knights: three-point lead over Anaheim Ducks for first place in Pacific Division with two games in hand, fourth in Western Conference in points percentage (.610)

Capitals: five-point lead over Boston Bruins for first wild-card in Eastern Conference but Bruins have four games in hand; tied with Pittsburgh Penguins for third in Metropolitan Division (but Penguins have two games in hand) and three points behind New York Rangers (both teams have played 42 games) for first, one behind Carolina Hurricanes (four games in hand) for second; eighth in Eastern Conference in points percentage (.655)

Team Leaders

Golden Knights

Points: C Chandler Stephenson, 38
Goals: RW Jonathan Marchessault, 19
Assists: Stephenson, 26
Plus-Minus: D Zach Whitecloud, +13
TOI-per-game: D Alex Pietrangelo, 25:49 (sixth in NHL)

Additional Notes: Stephenson, who will return to Washington for the first time since the Capitals traded him to the Golden Knights on December 2, 2019, has two goals during a two-game goal-streak and three points during a three-game point-streak. The 27-year-old, who played his first 168 career NHL games with the Capitals, was part of the 2018 Stanley Cup Champion team that defeated Vegas in five games in the Final; Marchessault has a goal and four points during a three-game point-streak and three goals and six points in his last five games; D Shea Theodore has a goal and four points in his last two games; RW Evgenii Dadonov has a goal and four points over a three-game point-streak and two goals and seven points in his last seven games; C Nic Roy has three goals and seven points in his last nine games

Capitals

Points: LW Alex Ovechkin, 58
Goals: Ovechkin, 29
Assists: Ovechkin, 29
Plus-Minus: D Nick Jensen, +20
TOI-per-game: D John Carlson, 23:42

Additional Notes: Ovechkin, 36, has five goals and eight points during a seven-game point-streak; C Evgeny Kuznetsov has two goals and eight points during a seven-game point-streak; RW Tom Wilson has three goals and five points in his last five games since a seven-game point-drought ended; LW Conor Sheary has three goals and four points in his last five games; D Dmitry Orlov will return after serving a two-game suspension for kneeing Winnipeg Jets LW Nikolaij Ehlers in team’s 4-3 overtime win on Tuesday; C Nicklas Backstrom has two goals and three points during a two-game goal-/point-streak and has earned at least a point in all but two of the nine games he has played in this season

Teams Stats

The first graphic shows the possession metrics for the Golden Knights and Capitals entering Tuesday’s game. Both teams are hovering around the same area in most of these categories but the Capitals hold a clear edge in goals for compared to goals against and the penalty kill while the Golden Knights have a better power play. [Click to enlarge]

The final graphic shows the possession metrics for the Golden Knights and Capitals entering Monday’s game. The two teams have similar numbers most categories but the Capitals hold a clear edge in goals-for compared to expected goals-for.

Expected Starting Goaltenders

Golden Knights: Laurent Brossoit, 28
8-3-1
.900 save percentage
2.78 goals-against average
0-0-2, .929 save percentage, 1.85 goals-against average in two career games vs. Capitals
Has not started since January 2, when he made 32 saves in in 5-4 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets

Capitals: Vitek Vanecek, 26
9-5-5
.909 save percentage
2.54 goals-against average (19th in NHL)                                                             First career start vs. Golden Knights
Fourth consecutive start and fifth in past six

Injuries/Illnesses

Golden Knights

* Whitecloud (upper-body injury, expected to miss second straight game, day-to-day)

* RW Mark Stone (COVID-19 protocol, second)

* LW Max Pacioretty (wrist, ninth, week-to-week)

* D Alec Martinez (just came out of COVID-19 protocol, 27th, day-to-day)

* C Jack Eichel (herniated disk, 32nd, week-to-week)

Capitals

* Carlson (COVID-19 protocol, second)

* Jensen (upper-body, second, day-to-day)

* LW Anthony Mantha (shoulder, 32nd, indefinite)

Projected Lineups

Golden Knights

Marchessault — William Karlsson — Reilly Smith

William Carrier — Stephenson — Dadonov

Mattias Janmark — Nicolas Roy — Keegan Kolesar

Brett Howden — Nolan Patrick — Michael Amadio

Brayden McNabb — Pietrangelo

Theodore — Whitecloud

Ben Hutton — Dylan Coghlan

Brossoit

Robin Lehner

Scratched: None

Capitals

Ovechkin — Kuznetsov — Garnet Hathaway

Aliaksei Protas — Backstrom — Wilson

Connor McMichael — Lars Eller — T.J. Oshie

Carl Hagelin — Nic Dowd — Conor Sheary

Martin Fehervary — Carlson

Orlov — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Matt Irwin — Justin Schultz

Vanecek

Ilya Samsonov

Scratched: RW Daniel Sprong, RW Brett Leason, LHD Dennis Cholowski

Game Notes

By Harrison Brown