The Washington Capitals made their way from Edmonton, Alberta to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Tuesday in advance of their tilt with the Flyers Wednesday night. The team held morning skate at Wells Fargo Center in Philly Wednesday morning at 11AM.
Capitals bench boss Peter Laviolette changed the bottom defensive pairings, moving Trevor van Reiemsdyk up with Nick Jensen in the second pairing and moving Matt Irwin down to the third pairing with Alex Alexeyev.
The Capitals forward lines and defensive pairs at morning skate, as reported by The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir:
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Sonny Milano — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Anthony Mantha
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Trevor van Riemsdyk — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Matt Irwin
Charlie Lindgren
Hunter Shepard
Extras: Joe Snively, Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Injured: Connor Brown, Dmitry Orlov, Carl Hagelin, Tom Wilson, Nicklas Backstrom, Beck Malenstyn, Darcy Kuemper, Martin Fehervary.
PP1: Ovechkin, Carlson, Kuznetsov, Oshie and Strome
PP2: Sheary, Johansson, Milano, Gustafsson and TvR #Caps
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) December 7, 2022
Charlie Lindgren was the first netminder off the ice this morning, indicating he will likely get the start tonight.
FINALE IN PHILLY
The Capitals conclude their season-long six-game road trip tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers. Wednesday’s contest marks the second of four meetings between the teams this season.
stateside pic.twitter.com/616fUNLuaf
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 7, 2022
The Capitals overcame a one-goal deficit in the third period to defeat the Flyers 3-2 in overtime on Nov. 23 at Capital One Arena. Marcus Johansson and Sonny Milano scored in regulation for Washington, while Alex Ovechkin scored his 25th career overtime goal to give the Capitals the victory. The Capitals are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games at Wells Fargo Center. More here.
STAT OF THE DAY – EXPECTED GOALS DIFFERENTIAL
Today’s stat of the day simply subtracts expected goals against (xGA) from expected goals for (xGF) for each of the Capitals skaters after 27 games. (xGF – xGA). [Click to enlarge].
No real surprises from the assessment. Aliaksei Protas has always posted a good differential, even though he has an offensive zone shift start percentage of 33.70%l Anthony Mantha has been creating more scoring chances than the opposition when he is on the ice, but has been lacking in the “finishing” department.
BONUS STAT – CONTINUING IMPROVEMENTS
Today’s bonus stat plots the Capitals xGF% for each game so far this season. It also provides the averages for the first nine games (44.93%), middle nine games (48.13%) and last nine games (53.37%) of the season.
The Capitals continue to improve in xGF% and have been well above 50% in the last nine games. This is a positive sign for long-term trends. You may recall that the Capitals have a much easier schedule in the second half of the season.
[The statistics used in this post are courtesy of Natural Stat Trick. If you’d like to learn more about the statistical terms used in this post, please check out our NHL Analytics Glossary.]
DOWN ON THE FARM
Hendrix Lapierre scored his seventh goal of the season last night against the Charlotte Checkers.
Hendrix Lapierre with his 7th of the season. Bears lead 1-0. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/fB9Bh21Oc1
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) December 7, 2022
Ivan Miroshnichenko was moved from 13th forward to 4th line for Tuesday’s game against Salavat Ufa, his second game in KHL. He logged 9:13 TOI, 2 SOG and 3 hits for the game. Miroshnichenko logged 4:28 in his first KHL game on Sunday, so they are increasing his minutes.
Ryan Hofer scored his 16th goal of the season Tuesday night in Everett’s 3-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars. Hofer, 20, now has 16g and 11a (27 points) in 25 games played. He’s shot the puck 118 times for a 13.6% shooting percentage.
Posting’ up like his name was Shaq.
HUGE goal by Ryan Hofer!#ForEverett x @Capitals pic.twitter.com/S6XDFAaBw3
— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) December 7, 2022
Tween Sweden named their training camp roster for the upcoming 2023 World Juniors Championship starting at the end of December. Ludwig Persson and Alexander Suzdalev were not named to the roster.
DAILY READER’S POLL
We asked our followers on Twitter this week: Will the Capitals re-sign Peter Laviolette?:
Daily ask: Will the #ALLCAPS re-sign Peter Laviolette?
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 4, 2022
The Capitals have killed off 54 of 64 power plays (84.4 percent) over their last 22 games, dating back to Oct. 22. During that span, Washington’s 84.4 penalty kill percentage ranks tied for first in the NHL. Through 27 games played this season, the Capitals’ 80.8 penalty kill percentage ranks tied for eighth in the NHL. [More here.]
By Jon Sorensen