The Washington Capitals made their way from Las Vegas to Denver on Sunday following their 6-2 loss to the Vegas Knights on Saturday night. They conclude their western road trip Tuesday night against the Avalanche. Puck drop is set for 9PM ET.

PRACTICE

The Capitals held practice Monday afternoon at Ball Arena in Denver. Capitals’ captain Alex Ovechkin, who missed the team’s last game in Vegas, participated in the team’s practice on Monday.

Positive sign seeing ⁦@ovi8⁩ on the ice before ⁦@Capitals⁩ practice today in Denver pic.twitter.com/vAz0LGglqd

— Al Koken (@RealSmokinAl) January 23, 2023

Ovechkin skated on a four-man line with Dylan Strome, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Aliaksei Protas. There were no other reports regarding other line combinations.

Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette said Alex Ovechkin looked good at practice today but he’s still technically day-to-day. Will see how he feels tomorrow.

T.J. Oshie has returned to Washington to be with his wife Lauren, who is expecting the birth of their fourth child.

POWER PLAY UPDATE

The Capitals power play continues to rank near the bottom third of the league, with and without John Carlson. They currently sit at 20.5%. [Click to enlarge].

The Capitals power play has ranked around 17-20th in the league for most of the season, and hovered around 17-18 since mid-December. [Click to enlarge].

EVGENY MEANS NECESSARY

Evgeny Kuznetsov has recorded three assists in his last two games and leads the Capitals with 34 assists this season. Kuznetsov tallied two assists in Washington’s 4-0 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday, passing Dale Hunter (375) for the sixth-most assists in franchise history.

Kuznetsov has passed Peter Bondra, Bengt Gustafsson, Calle Johansson and Hunter on the franchise’s all-time assist list this season and is now 16 assists shy of passing Mike Gartner (392) for the fifth-most assists in team history. In addition, Kuznetsov, who has a team-high seven multi-assist games this season, is one multi-assist game shy of passing Gustafsson (70) and tying Gartner (71) for the fifth-most multi-assist games in franchise history. MORE ON KUZNETSOV.

STAT OF THE DAY – METROPOLITAN GOALTENDING

Today’s stat of the day looks at goaltending in the Metropolitan Division. The following graph plots the save percentage and goals differential (xGA – GA) for each of the goaltenders in the Metropolitan Division with 350+ minutes of 5v5 ice time. (About 10 games) [Click to enlarge].

Darcy Kuemper remains in the top right quadrant (above average in both stats) while Charlie Lindgren has dropped to the lower left quadrant (below average in both categories)

Shots Fired 

Today’s BONUS stat of the day revisits the Capitals differential between shots for and shots against per game averages (SF/GM-avg – SA/GM-avg). [Click to enlarge]

The Capitals have basically flatlined since late December, sitting at around +1.5 more shots for than against per game.

[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

Alexander Auzdalev scored his 25th goal of the season on Spongebob Squarepants night in Regina on Saturday. He also added two helpers. He has 24g, 33a in 42 games played. He’s shot the puck 97 times for a 24.7% shooting percentage in the season.

Ravioli ravioli. Give me the formuoli [for a go-ahead goal].

Suzy has it!#LegendsInTheMaking | #REGvsSC pic.twitter.com/48b7OjTPVM

— Regina Pats (@WHLPats) January 22, 2023

Ryan Chesley had a nice cross-ice pass for a primary assist against Michigan on Friday night.

A grown man’s goal pic.twitter.com/buO4nUYXSI

— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) January 21, 2023

Hendrix Lapierre made an excellent play for the Bears on Saturday night that led to the game-winning goal. Lapierre would cause a turnover behind the Belleville goal, turn and fire a pass to Garrett Pilon who roofed one for the Bears go ahead goal.

Hendrix Lapierre with the theft behind the goal, then finds Garrett Pilon for the snipe. Bears lead 3-2. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/PX7oQHHQdP

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 22, 2023

Lapierre has 10 goals and 12 assists in 39 games played so far this season for the Bears. He’s 11th on the team in points per game average at 0.56 points per game.

SHAVINGS

• Capitals players talk about setting up Alex Ovechkin for the shot (AP News)
• Bruce Boudreau was a guest on Sirius XM this morning and spoke about his time Vancouver and what’s next for him:

Bruce Boudreau joined @GordStellick and @LaughlinSXM on #NHL Morning Skate after being relieved of his head coaching duties yesterday by the #Canucks

🎧- https://t.co/F3l2nu3fHT pic.twitter.com/ybYHGPWiKO

— SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) January 23, 2023

• And finally, Bruce’s wife, Crystal sent one final message to the people of Vancouver on Tuesday:

Thank you Vancouver! It’s been a wild 13 months but the city, the fans, and the players have been amazing. Bruce and I thank you all! It’s one for the memory books ❤️

— hockeymom (@BoudreauCrystal) January 23, 2023