The Washington Capitals held their gameday morning skate at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary Tuesday morning. They face the high-flying Flames tonight in their first game of a back-to-back set in Alberta. The team will travel to Edmonton following tonight’s game in advance of their tilt with the Oilers Wednesday night.
The Capitals held an optional morning skate today in Calgary with a back-to-back set tonight and tomorrow and three games in four nights coming up. Vitek Vanecek will start tonight against the Flames. There will be no other lineup changes.
Vitek Vanecek will start in net for the Capitals tonight in Calgary. Peter Laviolette said no lineup changes.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) March 8, 2022
It sounds like Daniel Sprong will once again be the healthy scratch. The Capitals lines from yesterday’s practice.
Capitals at practice today:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Mantha-Backstrom-Oshie
McMichael-Eller-Sheary/Sprong
AJF-Dowd-HathawayFehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR-Schultz
Kempny-IrwinVanecek
Samsonov— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) March 7, 2022
The Flames will counter with Dan Vladar in goal tonight. He is 8-3-1 with a .904 save percentage and a 2.87 goals-against average. He has two shutouts so far this season. The Flames number one goaltender, Jacob Markstrom, played last night against Edmonton.
Fightin’ The Flames
The Washington Capitals visit the Calgary Flames for the first time since October 22, 2019 on Tuesday. The Flames took the only other meeting between the two teams this season by a score of 4-3 in overtime on October 23 but the Capitals are 5-1-0 in their last six visits to Calgary, including a 5-3 win in their last trip out west. Action from the Scotiabank Saddledome can be seen on NBC Sports Washington in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market beginning at 9 PM ET.
You can read our complete game preview here.
The Great 8 And Slick Nick
Tonight’s game against the Calgary Flames will mark the 1,000th game played with both Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom in the lineup. They will become the first set of Capitals teammates to play 1,000 games together in franchise history. Ovechkin and Backstrom will become the ninth set of teammates to accomplish this feat in NHL history. There is only one other active duo still playing on the same team with 1,000 games played together: Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown.
#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/6ATE0QOx86
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) March 8, 2022
Backstrom has assisted on 274 of Ovechkin’s career goals (35.9% of total goals). Ovechkin has assisted on 106 of Backstrom’s career goals (40.5% of total goals). Additionally, Backstrom has assisted on 117 of Ovechkin’s NHL record 279 career power play goals (41.9%). The duo played their first game together on Oct. 5, 2007 against the Atlanta Thrashers, winning the game 3-1 with each player recording an assist. The Capitals hold a record of 590-299-110 with Ovechkin and Backstrom in the lineup.
By Jon Sorensen
I guess Samsonov will go tomorrow in Edmonton. Probably the best scenario available.
Could debate going with Sammy tonight against weaker goaltender in Vladar. They will get Oilers number one tomorrow night.
Hehe – Cgy’s back up is better than Edm’s #1 so it makes little difference
Entirely possible that Vanecek plays all three games on this roadtrip. You don’t have to split back-to-backs.
I’d be surprised if they go that route but not totally shocked.