The Washington Capitals held an optional gameday morning skate this morning at 10:30AM at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. They host the New York Islanders tonight at 7:30PM on TNT, and will depart for Tampa, Florida immediately following the game in advance of their tilt with the Lightning on Thursday night.
OPTIONAL MORNING SKATE
Sonny Milano skated in a non-contact jersey at Capitals’ morning skate. He missed Saturday’s game against the Penguins with an upper-body injury.
Lines and pairs were not skated during the optional morning skate. The Capitals lines and pairs from Tuesday’s practice :
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Craig Smith
Aliaksei Protas — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Conor Sheary — Nic Dowd — Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin — Nick Jensen
Alex Alexeyev — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
From The Other Side
Islanders at their morning skate, courtesy of Tom Gulitti/NHL.com:
Parise-Horvat-Fasching
Engvall-Nelson-Palmieri
Lee-Pageau-Holmstrom
Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck
Pelech-Mayfield
Romanov-Pulock
Bolduc-Dobson
Sorokin
Varlamov
DARCY KUEMPER
Goaltender Darcy Kuemper is expected to start tonight versus New York, which will mark his 350th NHL game. Kuemper has won his last three starts against the Islanders, dating back to last season. In those three games, Kuemper has recorded a 2.29 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage.
Morning pose pic.twitter.com/IQejf7Hu03
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 29, 2023
The Capitals limited the Islanders to just 18 shots in their last meeting on March 11, the fewest shots they have allowed in a game this season. Kuemper stopped all 18 Islanders’ shots he faced in the win, with his only goal against coming on an own goal. Among goaltenders with at least 45 starts this season, Kuemper ranks seventh in the NHL in goals-against average (2.76) and eighth in save percentage (.911). Kuemper’s five shutouts are tied for the most in the NHL, tied with the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin and Colorado’s Alexandar Georgiev. [MORE HERE]
STAT OF THE DAY – SHOOTING PERCENTAGE
Today’s stat of the day looks at each of the Capitals shooting percentages at five-on-five for the seas0n.
Nic Dowd’s shooting percentage is incredible, as more than 1 in every 4 shots he takes finds the back of the net. Sonny Milano, T.J. Oshie and Dylan Strome are also firing at very high success rates.
[The statistics used in this post are courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, MoneyPuck 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
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- Defenseman Dru Krebs was named to the WHL’s Central Division’s second all-star team.
- Hendrix Lapierre scored his first goal since January 14 against the Toronto Marlies Wednesday morning.
Play Hendrix! Hendrix Lapierre’s first goal since January 14. Bears lead 1-0. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/26tUn8EpOd
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) March 29, 2023
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- The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli is reporting that the Washington Capitals have signed goaltender prospect Mitchell Gibson to a one-year deal. Gibson is also expected to sign an amateur tryout agreement (ATO) with the Hershey Bears, which will allow him to join the team this season. [MORE HERE]
SHAVINGS
- Predators keep shooting victims in mind during Bruins upset. [ESPN]
-
Lambert’s impact with Islanders. [NHL.com]
- Top 50 free agents [Daily Faceoff]
- And finally, the Great 8 and son Sergei held a workout on Monday.
👋 Mama Ovi and #OviJr pic.twitter.com/9j3sbKHNIT
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 28, 2023
Speaking of Dru Krebs: apparently the Caps have until June 1 to sign him. If they don’t, he’ll go back into the draft.
This is correct. He’s a FA at end of season.
Might be worth tossing a contract his way and see if he has anything in the ECHL or AHL over the next year or two.
I wonder what attendance is looking like these days.
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Why aren’t the fans booing Mantha?
Probably because halfway through the game, he’s touched the puck for like 2 seconds total.