One more day to go.

The Washington Capitals held one final practice on Friday morning at MedStar Capitals Iceplex prior to departing for Boston. The team will re-start their 2022-23 season Saturday afternoon against Bruins in Beantown. Puck drop is set for 3:30PM. 

FRIDAY PRACTICE

Neither Tom Wilson nor Nic Dowd were on the ice for Friday’s practice. Wilson, who left in the second period of the team’s 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on January 24, skated before the team’s practice on Thursday, but left the ice with a noticeable limp and did not participate in practice.

The Capitals forward lines and defensive pairs at practice on Friday, courtesy of Tom Gulitti/NHL.com:

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Aube-Kubel
Conor Sheary — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Nicklas Backstrom — Sonny Milano
Anthony Mantha — Lars Eller — Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Martin Fehervary

Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Extras: Alexander Alexeyev

With no morning skate on Saturday, it’s very likely these will be the lines against the Bruins and it’s highly unlikely that Wilson and Dowd will play on Saturday.

Charlie Lindgren wasn’t having Evgeny Kuznetsov’s foolishness in practice 😂 pic.twitter.com/83bG2MhGdx

— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) February 10, 2023

CLEVER MAN, SEEMS LIKE

Trevor van Riemsdyk scored two goals in the Capitals’ 4-3 overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 31, marking his first career multi-goal game. The goals were van Riemsdyk’s fifth and sixth goals of the season, which established a new single-season career high, surpassing his previous high set last season (5).

van Riemsdyk, who has recorded 14 points (6g, 8a) in 53 games this season, is on pace to establish a single-season career high in points for the second consecutive season (2021-22: 1g-16a-17p in 72 GP). Capitals defensemen have combined for 29 goals this season, which is tied for the fourth-highest total in the NHL. [MORE HERE]

STAT OF THE DAY – UNDER FIRE

Yesterday we took a look at the rebound control for each of the Capitals goaltenders (Here). Today’s stat of the day takes a step back and just looks at the average number of shots fired per game against each of the league’s goaltenders who have played 500 minutes or more of time on ice (10-11 games) at five -on-five. [Click to enlarge].

The red line denotes the league average of 30.31 shots against at five-on-five. Both Charlie Lindgren (28.50) and Darcy Kuemper (29.79) are seeing less than the league average in shots against.

[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

Ryan Hofer continued his scorching-hot play for the the Kamloops Blazers over the weekend, including a hat-trick last Friday night. He added two more tallies over the weekend. He now has 32 goals and 18 assists in 46 games played.

Ryan Hofer with his 32nd goal of the season. His 9th since joining the Blazers (10 games), His 5th goal in last 7 periods. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/WZQeie1uon

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) February 6, 2023

Connor McMichael – Since his loan from Washington in late November, forward McMichael has served as one of Hershey’s top offensive weapons, often slotted in on the team’s second line. In that stretch of time, he ranks fourth in team scoring with 22 points (11g, 11a) in 31 games (.71 points/game). McMichael recorded 14 goals and 13 assists in 33 games (.82 points per game) in the 2020-21 Covid-shortened season.

Connor McMichael continues his hot streak, scores his 11th since joining the Bears. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/9SBhHdpthn

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) February 4, 2023

The Hershey Bears return to action tonight when they face the Comets in Utica, New York. Puck drop is set for 7PM.

SUPER BOWL PICKS

Capitals players were asked to make their predictions for the Super a bowl before taking the ice for practice on Friday:

The #SBLVII picks are in pic.twitter.com/gftleIzbkx

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 10, 2023

It’s nice of the NFL to hold a game after the Capitals big 30th annual Sunday afternoon home game. By the way, the Capitals annual Super Bowl Sunday games are one of the best games to go see all season. DC is a ghost town – No traffic!

SHAVINGS

• Report: Devils, Hurricanes among teams interested in Sharks’ Timo Meier [TSN]
• Breaking down how the Boston Bruins have been so dominant [ESPN]
• Caps to carry on tradition with their 30th Super Bowl Sunday matinee [WaPo]
• Five pending NHL UFAs exceeding their current salary values (Sheary, Gustafsson) [Daily Faceoff]
• Devils’ Martin Brodeur responds to Alex Ovechkin’s mirrored visor comments: ‘I never called the league about that’ [NJ.com]
• You can grab one of Alex Ovechkin’s game-worn jerseys from the 2006-07 season. Only, $75,000 [MeiGray]
• On this day in 2000, Olaf Kolzig recorded his 15th career shutout, becoming the Capitals’ all-time leader in career shutouts.

On this day in 2000, Olaf Kolzig recorded his 15th career shutout, becoming the Capitals’ all-time leader in career shutouts #Hockey365 #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/SXC999aWws

— Mike Commito (@mikecommito) February 10, 2023