The Washington Capitals had the day off on Monday following their 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Sunday. The team held a gameday morning skate this morning in advance of their season-series finale against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at Capital One Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM on ESPN.

Nicklas Backstrom participated in morning skate on Tuesday after sitting out Sunday’s game against the Bruins for “body maintenance” reasons. Dmitry Orlov did not skate with the team this morning (lower-body). His status for tonight’s game with the Flyers is to be determined.

Capitals say D Dmitry Orlov won’t skate this morning (lower body). His status for tonight’s game vs. the Flyers is to be determined

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) April 12, 2022

Matt Irwin skated for Dmitry Orlov in the morning rushes. It looks like Connor McMichael, Axel Jonason-Fjallby and Michal Kempny will be the extras tonight. The lines at morning skate:

Capitals at morning skate:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary
Johansson-Backstrom-Oshie
Mantha-Eller-Wilson
Larsson-Dowd-Hathaway

Fehervary-Carlson
TvR-Jensen
Irwin-Schultz

Orlov (lower body)

Extra: McMichael, Kempny

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) April 12, 2022

Ilya Samsonov the first goalie off the ice after the Capitals morning skate, which could indicate he gets the start tonight. The Capitals power play units at morning skate:

PP1: Carlson, Ovechkin, Oshie, Backstrom, Kuznetsov
PP2: Schultz, TvR (Ovechkin spot), Wilson, Mantha, Johansson.

Silly-delphia 

The Capitals look to extend their three-game winning streak tonight when they host the Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Arena for the fourth and final time this season. The Capitals are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games against the Flyers, a span that began on March 7, 2021, and have outscored Philadelphia 36-24 during that stretch.

😄👋 pic.twitter.com/qM4C6bwIod

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 12, 2022

John Carlson leads the Capitals with 13 points (2g, 11a) during that span, while Alex Ovechkin leads Washington with six goals. Ilya Samsonov is 6-1-0 in his career against Philadelphia with a 2.37 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.

Beast Of The East

Washington (40-22-10, 90 points) earned its third straight win against a team higher than them in the Eastern Conference standings following the 4-2 win over Boston as they inch closer to securing a playoff spot for the eighth consecutive season and the 32nd time in franchise history.

The Capitals are aiming to reach the postseason in 14 of the last 15 seasons, joining the Pittsburgh Penguins as the only teams with as many appearances in the last 15 years. The Capitals have 10 games remaining on the schedule. Over the last five seasons, the Capitals have averaged a .710 points percentage in the final 10 games of the season.

Rebounds In Czech?

Two weeks ago we presented an initial look at Vitek Vanecek and his rising rebound shot attempts against. Since that initial post, Vanecek has made two additional starts so I thought it would be insightful to briefly revisit that particular component of Vanecek’s game and provide an update.

In his last game against the Bruins Vanecek faced 27 shot attempts at even strength, and 10 0f those were rebound shot attempts against. (37.04%). That’s a season high for both rebound shot attempts against and percentage of rebound shot attempts against, and continues the increasing trend over the past 21 games.

You can find more of the analysis here.

By Jon Sorensen

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