Photo: Breakout Dallas
The Washington Capitals visit the Dallas Stars on Thursday night for the first of two meetings between the two teams this season. The teams split last season’s regular-season series, including a 5-0 win by the Capitals in Dallas on January 28.
Puck drop from American Airlines Center is set for 8:30 PM ET and can be seen on NBC Sports Washington in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market beginning at 8:30 PM ET.
SCHEDULE
Washington plays the second of four straight road games after opening the away games with a 6-3 win at the New Jersey Devils on Monday.
Dallas opens a three-game homestand after going 1-2-1 on their recent four-game Atlantic Division road trip, which ended with losses to the Ottawa Senators (4-2) and Boston Bruins (3-1) on back-to-back nights on Monday and Tuesday.
RECORDS
Washington: 4-3-0 (including 1-2-0 on road) – fourth in Metropolitan Division, ninth in Eastern Conference
Dallas: 4-2-1 (2-0-0 at home) – tied for first in Central Division and third in Western Conference with Colorado Avalanche
TEAM LEADERS
Washington
- LW Conor Sheary (four goals)
- Cs Evgeny Kuznetsov/Dylan Strome (five assists each)
- Strome/D John Carlson/LW Alex Ovechkin (six points each)
- Carlson (24:15 average TOI/game)
Notes: Strome, 25, has two multi-point games in his last four games; Carlson, 32, has two goals and six points during a four-game point-streak; Ovechkin, 37, has three goals and six points in his last five; Sheary, 30, has tallied a point in five of Washington’s seven games; All of Kuznetsov’s assists have come in his past four games; D Nick Jensen has a goal and five points in his last five; LW Marcus Johansson has three assists and four points in his last four; C Lars Eller has two goals and four points in his last four; C Nic Dowd has tallied goals in back-to-back games; D Dmitry Orlov has four assists in his last three
Dallas
- RW Joe Pavelski (four goals)
- LW Jason Robertson/C Roope Hintz (five assists each)
- Robertson/Hintz/Pavelski (seven points each)
- D Miro Heiskanen (24:48 average TOI/game)
Notes: Robertson, 23, has been held off of the scoresheet in three of his past four; Pavelski, 38, has not recorded a point in four of his last five; RW Mason Marchment is on a three-game point drought since scoring three times and adding three assists in his first four games with the team; Rookie C Wyatt Johnston has goals in back-to-back games.
KEY TEAM STATS
Goals-per-game: WSH – 3.57 (9th) DAL – 3.29 (T-14th)
Goals-against per game: WSH – 3.43 (25th) DAL – 2.14 (2nd)
Power Play: WSH – 25% (T-9th) DAL – 26.1% (8th)
Penalty Kill: WSH – 73.7% (26th) DAL – 88.2% (7th)
Shots-per-game: WSH – 28.3 (25th) DAL – 28.6 (24th)
Shots-against per game: WSH – 33.1 (24th) DAL – 32.9 (20th)
Faceoff-winning %: WSH – 42.6% (29th) DAL – 50.9% (17th)
5v5 Corsi-for Percentage: WSH – 48.11% (23rd) DAL – 48.31% (21st)
5v5 x Goals-For %: WSH – 42.8% (29th) DAL – 52.11% (11th)
5v5 SCF Percentage: WSH – 45.6% (23rd) DAL – 52.62% (12th)
5v5 Shooting Percentage: WSH – 12.41% (1st) DAL – 9.93% (11th)
5v5 Save Percentage: WSH – .9111 (17th) DAL – .9427 (5th)
5v5 PDO: WSH – 1.035 (4th) DAL – 1.042 (2nd)
EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS
Washington: Darcy Kuemper, 32 — 3-2-0, .899 save percentage, 3.04 goals-against average in five games; 9-5-3, .915 save percentage, 2.78 goals-against average, two shutouts in 17 career games vs. Dallas
Dallas: Jake Oettinger, 23 — 4-1-0, .953 save percentage, 1.41 goals-against average in five games; 38 saves on 40 shots (.950 save percentage) in four periods vs. Washington last season, the only games he has played against them in his career
INJURIES/ILLNESSES
Washington
* RW Connor Brown (lower-body, will miss fourth straight game, out indefinitely)
* LW Carl Hagelin (hip, eighth, indefinite)
* RW Tom Wilson (ACL, eighth, indefinite)
* C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, eighth, indefinite)
Dallas
* Heiskanen (upper-body, second, day-to-day)
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Washington
Ovechkin — Strome — Sheary
Johansson — Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie
Aliaksei Protas — Lars Eller — Anthony Mantha
Beck Malenstyn — Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Dmitry Orlov — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Erik Gustafsson — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: C Connor McMichael, LW Joe Snively, LHD Matt Irwin
Dallas
Robertson — Hintz — Pavelski
Marchment — Tyler Seguin — Jacob Peterson
Jamie Benn — Johnston — Ty Dellandrea
Radek Faksa — Luke Glendening — Joel Kiviranta
Heiskanen — Colin Miller
Ryan Suter — Jani Hakanpaa
Esa Lindell — Nils Lundkvist
Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched: RW Denis Gurianov, LHD Joel Hanley
By Harrison Brown
