Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals host the defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche on Saturday in the first of two meetings between the teams this season. Washington swept the two-game regular-season set against Colorado in 2021-22, including a 3-2 victory in Denver on April 18. Action from Capital One Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market starting at 7 PM ET.

SCHEDULE

Colorado plays the middle match of a three-game road trip and continues a stretch where they play eight of 10 on the road. They opened it with a 3-2 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

Washington opens a three-game homestand after finishing a 0-2-1 road trip with a 5-4 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. The team will have three days in between games after Saturday’s clash.

RECORDS

Colorado: 9-5-1/.633 points percentage (5-3-0 on road) – third in Central Division, fifth in Western Conference

Washington: 7-9-3/.447 points percentage (5-3-1 at home) – seventh in Metropolitan Division, tied for 10th in Eastern Conference in points but rank 13th in points percentage

HOW EACH TEAM IS DOING

Colorado: have won five of their last six games (5-1-0) since dropping four of six (2-3-1) just prior to playing a two-game set against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Finland from November 4-5

Washington: 3-6-3 since winning back-to-back games for the second time this season on October 22 and 24

TEAM LEADERS

Colorado

• RW Mikko Rantanen (11 goals, 25 points)
• C Nathan MacKinnon (20 assists)
• D Cale Makar (26:48 average TOI/game)

Notes: Rantanen, 26, saw a six-game point-streak (eight goals, 16 points) end in Carolina; MacKinnon, 27, saw six-game assist- and point-streaks (13 assists, 14 points) end in Carolina and has earned a point in 12 of 15 games this season (24 total); Makar, 24, saw six-game point-streak (three goals, 11 points) halt on Thursday, just the fourth time he has been held off of the scoresheet (18 points); LW Artturi Lehkonen has a point in each of his last five (three goals), a goal in each of his last two, and six points in his last seven; D Devon Toews has recorded at least one point in six of his last seven (one goal, eight points)

Washington

• LW Alex Ovechkin (nine goals, 17 points)
• C Evgeny Kuznetsov (12 assists)
• D John Carlson (23:09 average TOI/game)

Notes: Kuznetsov, 30, has five assists and seven points over his last six games; Carlson has three goals and four points in his last two and five points in four games since returning from a six-game injury absence; C Dylan Strome has a goal and three points in his last two; LW Conor Sheary has three goals in his last four; LW Anthony Mantha has a goal and four points over his last four

KEY TEAM STATS

Goals-per-game:                 COL – 3.53 (T-6th)      WSH – 2.89 (T-23rd)

Goals-against per game:    COL – 2.67 (T-5th)      WSH – 3.21 (17th)

Power Play:                           COL – 36.6% (1st)       WSH – 19.4% (24th)

Penalty Kill:                          COL – 74.1% (T-25th) WSH – 79% (14th)

Shots-per-game:                  COL – 32.5 (10th)        WSH – 29.8 (26th)

Shots-against per game:    COL – 34.3 (27th)        WSH – 31.5 (15th)

Faceoff-winning %:            COL – 44.5% (31st)      WSH – 46.1% (27th)

5v5 Corsi-for %:                  COL – 50.14% (14th)    WSH – 51.02% (12th)

5v5 x Goals-For %:             COL – 46.38% (26th)   WSH – 48.2% (21st)

5v5 SCF %:                           COL – 49.54% (21st)    WSH – 50.42% (16th)

5v5 Shooting %:                  COL – 6.84% (29th)     WSH – 8.47% (18th)

5v5 Save %:                          COL – .9496 (1st)         WSH – .9181 (13th)

5v5 PDO:                              COL – 1.018 (T-5th)     WSH – 1.003 (13th)

EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS

Colorado: Alexandar Georgiev, 25 — 7-2-1, .924 save percentage, 2.70 goals-against average in 10 games; 2-5-1, .857 save percentage, 3.62 save percentage in eight career games vs. Washington as a member of New York Rangers

Washington: Darcy Kuemper, 32 — 5-8-1, .911 save percentage, 2.73 goals-against average, one shutout in 14 games; 4-1-2, .928 save percentage, 1.90 goals-against average, three shutouts in nine career regular-season games vs. Colorado; 37-12-4, .921 save percentage, 2.54 goals-against average, five shutouts in 57 regular-season games and 10-4, .902 save percentage, 2.57 goals-against average, one shutout in 16 postseason games to lead Colorado to the Stanley Cup last season

INJURIES/ILLNESSES

Colorado

• C Shane Bowers (upper-body, will miss fourth straight game, out week-to-week)
• D Bowen Byram (lower-body, fifth, week-to-week)
• C Darren Helm (abductor, 17th, indefinite)
• RW Gabriel Landeskog (knee, 17th, indefinite)
• D Kurtis MacDermid (lower-body, third, week-to-week)
• RW Valeri Nichushkin (ankle, ninth, week-to-week)
• D Sam Girard (lower-body, fifth, day-to-day)

Washington

• RW Connor Brown (lower-body, 16th, indefinite)
• D Dmitry Orlov (lower-body, seventh, day-to-day)
• LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 20th, indefinite)
• RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 20th, indefinite)
• C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 20th, indefinite)
• RW T.J. Oshie (lower-body, 11th, indefinite)
• LW Beck Malenstyn (finger, ninth, week-to-week)

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Colorado

Lehkonen — MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Alex Newhook — Evan Rodrigues — Martin Kaut
Andrew Cogliano — J.T. Compher — Logan O’Connor
Dryden Hunt — Jason Megna — Anton Blidh

Makar — Toews
Jacob MacDonald — Josh Manson
Andreas Englund — Erik Johnson

Georgiev
Pavel Francouz

Scratched: N/A

Washington

Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Aliaksei Protas
Sonny Milano — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Anthony Mantha
Nicolas Aube-Kubel — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: LW Joe Snively, D Alexander Alexeyev, C Connor McMichael

Game Notes

By Harrison Brown