The Washington Capitals will take on the defending Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market).
Vegas has won the past five games against Washington (0-3-2 in that time), who has not beaten the Golden Knights since November 9, 2019, a 5-2 win in the District. Vegas has also won eight of the 10 all-time regular-season games between the two teams (Washington: 2-6-2) but Washington beat them in five games during the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.
Schedule
Vegas: starts five-game road trip after playing five of their last six at home; has not played since a 5-0 win over the San Jose Sharks on Friday
Washington: begins four-game homestand and continues a stretch where they play 10 of 13 at home (6-2-1)
How Each Team Is Doing
Vegas: lost two in a row in regulation before beating San Jose
Washington: 6-1-1 in their last eight, including points in four straight (3-0-1), since starting the season 1-3-1
Standings
Vegas: 12-2-1 (.833 points percentage — first in Western Conference); two points ahead of Vancouver Canucks (who have a game in hand) for division/conference lead
Washington: 7-4-2 (.615 points percentage — second in Metropolitan Division, fourth in Eastern Conference); two points behind Carolina for second in division (in actual points) with two games in hand
Team Leaders
The graph shows each teams’ player leaders. Vegas center William Karlsson has led the way for his team while Washington captain Alex Ovechkin has been gaining ground after a slow start to the campaign.
Team Statistics
The first graph illustrates Vegas and Washington’s game averages heading into Tuesday’s contest.
The second graph views both teams’ underlying statistics at five-on-five up to date this season.
Injuries/Illnesses
Vegas
- C Nic Roy (undisclosed)
- D Nic Hague (lower-body)
- C Chandler Stephenson (upper-body)
Washington
- LW Anthony Mantha (upper-body)
- D Trevor Van Riemsdyk (lower-body)
- D Joel Edmundson (hand)
- LW Max Pacioretty (Achilles)
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- D Martin Fehervary (lower-body)
Expected Goaltending Matchup
Vegas: Adin Hill, 27 — 7-1-1 (tied for first in NHL), .939 save percentage (third), 1.75 goals-against average (second), two shutouts (second)
Washington: Darcy Kuemper, 33 — 3-3-2, .892 save percentage, 3.07 goals-against average
Projected Lines
Vegas
Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Jonathan Marchessault
William Carrier – Michael Amadio – Mark Stone
Paul Cotter – Karlsson – Pavel Dorofeyev
Jonas Rondbjerg – Brett Howden – Keegan Kolesar
Alec Martinez – Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Ben Hutton – Zach Whitecloud
Hill
Logan Thompson
Scratched: D Brayden Pachal
Washington
Ovechkin – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Tom Wilson
Sonny Milano – Strome – T.J. Oshie
Aliaksei Protas – Connor McMichael – Matthew Phillips
Beck Malenstyn – Nic Dowd – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Alexander Alexeyev – Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Nick Jensen
Hardy Häman Aktell – Lucas Johansen
Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: C Hendrix Lapierre
Betting Odds (BetMGM)
Vegas: -165, Washington: +135
Over-under: 6 (-110 both ways)
By Harrison Brown
Note: Oshie had taken a maintenance day today. If he can’t go, Lappy would be a “go”. I’m assuming McIlrath is still with the team and would be a scratch.
It’s gonna be a couple more games before reinforcements come in. Hoping by the Thanksgiving games (Wed and Fri) we have at least Mantha and Edmundson back. Maybe TVR. Suspect Fever and Patches still a little further away. Mostly worried about the Dee although the current lineup did step up this past weekend. I think we’ll see Johansen at 1LD and Alexyev at 3RD when they drop the puck. Johansen looked much better than Alexyev last game.