The Washington Capitals had the day off on Friday following their 4-0 victory over the Coyotes in Arizona. The team made their way to Las Vegas immediately following the game in Tempe in advance of their tilt with the Golden Knights on Saturday night. Puck drop is set for tonight at 10PM ET.
The Capitals held their gameday morning skate at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Alex Ovechkin did not participate. The team said it was “maintenance” for him.
Alex Ovechkin is taking a maintenance morning in Vegas. #Caps pic.twitter.com/03TNCQziBJ
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) January 21, 2023
Ovechkin will be a game time decision tonight in Vegas, per Coach Peter Laviolette.
The forward lines and defensive pairs at morning skate, courtesy of Samantha Pell/Washington Post:
*Anthony Mantha — Dylan Strome — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Sonny Milano — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson
Conor Sheary — Lars Eller — T.J. Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Martin Fehervary
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Extras: Aliaksei Protas, Matt Irwin (* Mantha skated for Ovechkin, who had the morning off.) Should Ovechkin play tonight, it looks like it’s more press box time for Mantha.
RETURN TO MECCA
The Washington Capitals make their lone visit to see the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night for their final meeting of the season and fourth game back in Sin City since winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history on June 7, 2018.
However, Washington has never won a regular-season game in Vegas (0-3-1) and dropped three straight against them (0-1-2), including a 3-2 overtime loss in the nation’s capital despite leading twice on November 1.
#ALLCAPS return to the scene of the crime: “The Great Dane Robbery” pic.twitter.com/3eD7hFl1qC
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 3, 2018
Logan Thompson was the first goalie off the ice for Vegas at morning skate, and is expected to start tonight vs Washington.
Action from T-Mobile Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market starting at 10 PM ET.
STAT OF THE DAY – DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Today’s stat of the day takes a look at each of the defensive pairings deployed by the Capitals so far this season. The graph presents all pairings deployed, regardless of total time on ice together. [Click to enlarge].
It should be noted the the chart does not include a time element. It just strictly the accumulated differentials for each pairing.
[The statistics used in this post are courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and the NoVa Caps Advanced Analytics Model (NCAAM). 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
Joe Snively scored his third goal in the four games he’s played since being sent down to Hershey on January 8.
Joe Snipely! Joe Snively with his 3rd tally since returning to the Bears. This one comes on a 5-on-3 power play. Bears lead 1-0. #ALLCAPS #HBH pic.twitter.com/hqSGAOWUeX
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 21, 2023
Ryan Chesley had a really nice primary assist Friday night against Michigan. He made the diagonal cross-ice feed off the boards to spring his forward for the Gophers second tally of the game.
A grown man’s goal pic.twitter.com/buO4nUYXSI
— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) January 21, 2023