Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

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. Action from T-Mobile Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market starting at 10 PM ET.

SCHEDULE

Washington: continue three-game Western Conference road trip after opening it with a 4-0 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday, stretch where they play four straight against the West and six of last eight on the road before NHL All-Star Break

Vegas: end season-long seven-game homestand (2-4-0), start set of back-to-backs with a visit to Arizona on the slate for Sunday night 22 hours after puck drop at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday

RECORDS

Washington: 25-17-6/.583 points percentage – fourth in Metropolitan Division (fifth in points percentage), seventh in Eastern Conference (eighth); 12-9-3 on road, 10th in NHL (have won nine of last 10 away from home)

Vegas: 28-16-2/.630 points percentage – second in Pacific Division, fourth in Western Conference; 13-13-0 at home (15th)

HOW EACH TEAM IS DOING

Washington: has won two of their last three but is 3-4-0 since season-long nine-game point-streak (7-0-2) ended

Vegas: has dropped last three games and four of last five in regulation after 3-2 loss to Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, is 15-14-2 (T-21st) after 13-2-0 start

TEAM LEADERS

Washington

• LW Alex Ovechkin (30 goals, 52 points)
• C Evgeny Kuznetsov (33 assists)
• D Dmitry Orlov (22:24 TOI/game) — excluding D John Carlson

Notes: Ovechkin, 37, has just one goal, four points in last four; Kuznetsov, 30, has three assists in his last three; Orlov, 31, has a goal, four points in his last three; C Dylan Strome has three goals in his last three after going scoreless in five of his previous six; LW Conor Sheary has just one assist in last eight and gone scoreless over his last six; C Lars Eller has gone scoreless in his last eight; RW Tom Wilson has two goals, three points in his last three; D Erik Gustafsson has just one assist in his last five

Vegas

• RW Reilly Smith (18 goals)
• C Chandler Stephenson (29 assists, 40 points)
• D Alex Pietrangelo (24:46 average TOI/game)

Notes: Stephenson, 28, has gone scoreless and has a -5 rating over his last six and won the Stanley Cup with Washington in 2018; Smith’s two-assist game vs. Detroit snapped a four-game scoring drought (where he tallied a -4 rating); Pietrangelo snapped a five-game scoring drought (-5) with a goal vs. Detroit; C Jack Eichel has a goal, assist, -8 rating in last five; C William Karlsson has three goals in his last four and five points in his last six; LW Jonathan Marchessault has just one assist over his last four; C Nic Roy has gone scoreless in his last three

KEY TEAM STATS

Goals-per-game:                 WSH – 3.21 (13th)           VGK – 3.17 (17th)

Goals-against per game:   WSH – 2.73 (9th)             VGK – 2.87 (12th)

Power Play:                          WSH – 21% (18th)           VGK – 24.8% (T-7th)

Penalty Kill:                         WSH – 81.5% (8th)         VGK – 78.5% (16th)

Shots-per-game:                 WSH – 31.8 (16th)           VGK – 32.4 (T-12th)

Shots-against per game:   WSH – 30.1 (10th)           VGK – 30.5 (11th)

Faceoff-winning %:            WSH – 49.9% (T-16th)   VGK – 52.6% (7th)

5v5 Corsi-for %:                  WSH – 51.43% (13th)      VGK – 49.39% (20th)

5v5 x Goals-For %:             WSH – 51.96% (13th)      VGK – 52.26% (11th)

5v5 SCF %:                           WSH – 51.65% (14th)      VGK – 50.18% (19th)

5v5 Shooting %:                  WSH – 8.41% (15th)        VGK – 8.01% (21st)

5v5 Save %:                          WSH – .9223 (10th)        VGK – .9155 (17th)

5v5 PDO:                              WSH – 1.006 (T-10th)    VGK – .996 (22nd)

EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS

Washington: Darcy Kuemper, 32 — 14-9-3 (T-15th in wins), .920 save percentage (T-7th), 2.46 goals-against average (11th), five shutouts (first) in 30 games; 6-5-3, .937 save percentage, 2.08 goals-against average, one shutout in 15 career games vs. Vegas

🗣 DARCY KUEMPER WITH HIS 30th CAREER @pepsi SHUTOUT ‼️

With tonight’s 27-save performance, Kuemper now leads the league in shutouts on the season with five under his belt. pic.twitter.com/VERa6ZnXAL

— NHL (@NHL) January 20, 2023

Vegas: Logan Thompson, 25 — 18-12-1 (T-7th), .913 save percentage (T-18th), 2.72 goals-against average (19th), two shutouts (T-8th) in 31 games; 2-0-0, .889 save percentage, 2.32 goals-against average over two career games vs. Washington, including 19 saves (.905 save percentage) in lone start against them in November

INJURIES/ILLNESSES

Washington

• Carlson (upper-body, will miss 13th straight game, out indefinitely)
• RW Connor Brown (ACL, 45th, indefinite)
• LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 49th, indefinite)
• C Nic Dowd (lower-body, third, indefinite)

Vegas

• G Robin Lehner (hip, 47th, entire season)
• C Brett Howden (lower-body, 26th, indefinite)
• C Nolan Patrick (upper-body, 47th, entire season)
• D Zach Whitecloud (lower-body, 17th, month-to-month)
• D Shea Theodore (leg, 18th, week-to-week)
• RW Mark Stone (upper-body, fourth, week-to-week)
• LW William Carrier (upper-body, third, day-to-day)

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Washington

Ovechkin — Strome — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Sonny Milano — Nicklas Backstrom — Wilson
Sheary — Eller — Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Kuznetsov — Garnet Hathaway

Gustafsson — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Orlov — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Martin Fehervary

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: LW Anthony Mantha, D Matt Irwin

Vegas

Stephenson — Eichel — Phil Kessel
Smith — Karlsson — Marchessault
Paul Cotter — Roy — Keegan Kolesar
Michael Amadio — Byron Froese — Jonas Rondbjerg

Nic Hague — Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb — Kaedan Korczak
Alec Martinez — Ben Hutton

Thompson
Adin Hill

Scratched: D Daniil Miromanov

Game Notes

By Harrison Brown