ARLINGTON, Va. — The Washington Capitals have had a lot to be thankful for over the course of their last 10 performances. A four-game win streak, a perfect penalty kill and big contributions from the young guns. But the Buffalo Sabres will look to cool off the red-hot Caps and spoil their pre-Thanksgiving festivities.
Here are the projected lines:
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha – Connor McMichael – T.J. Oshie
Sonny Milano – Hendrix Lapierre – Aliaksei Protas
Beck Malenstyn – Nic Dowd – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Rasmus Sandin – John Carlson
Joel Edmundson – Nick Jensen
Alex Alexeyev – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Lucas Johansen
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
After sitting out against the Vegas Golden Knights, the 21-year-old center was slotted back into the lineup because Evgeny Kuznetsov was dealing with an illness. Kuznetsov will not play tonight according to Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery.
While the Capitals are playing better hockey, compared to how they were performing at the start of the year, the team believes that they have another gear to get to.
“We definitely have another level that we can get to. I think we know that and we’re working towards that,” T.J. Oshie said. “I think you’re starting to see a little bit of the identity of our team come through here in this little stretch. It’s easy to say when you’re winning games, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement I think in our overall game.”
“I really like where we’re at, I really like how far we’ve come from last season and from training camp,” Oshie added. “It’s nice to be getting these wins but there’s still a level or two where we need to get to, but we got a good foundation right now to fall back on.”
The Capitals’ bottom six has been producing most of the offense during this four-game stretch. In the 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, the line composed of Aliaksei Protas, Hendrix Lapierre and Sonny Milano contributed to three Capitals goals. Lapierre was the most productive out of the trio, scoring the game-winning goal in the third period and also having two assists.
“It’s good to see because we talked about it all offseason after I came to the organization about an influx of young players and opportunity was going to be there,” Carbery said after Tuesday’s practice. “Opportunity is one thing, but we also need results and need people to take advantage of that opportunity. They’re going to fail at times but to me, it’s players that are ready for the opportunity and are now taking advantage of the opportunity.”
The Caps have kept saying over the course of the last week that they are “finding ways to win”. This is mainly because they are playing in a lot of tight games that put them on their heels down the stretch. Washington has blocked a lot of shots and has been forced to spend a lot of time in the defensive zone.
“If we get out to a lead, we have to keep pushing forward. I think maybe we’re sitting back a little bit too much. You don’t want to give up the lead, so maybe you play a bit more conservative,” Dylan Strome said. “It’s kind of like a zone defense in the NFL [where] you kind of just sit back and it makes it easy for the other team to kind of get through you and you’re not giving up the big play, but you’re giving up little chances that kind of can lead to the big play.”
Scouting Buffalo
The Sabres (8-9-1) had a lot of expectations coming into the campaign but have yet to find their groove. They are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games and are sixth in the Atlantic Division. Buffalo is coming off a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Buffalo is going to be without Tage Thompson for the third consecutive night as he is listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury he sustained back on Nov. 14 against the Boston Bruins. Thompson has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in 16 games this season.
He had a breakout season last year setting career-highs across the board with 94 points (47 goals, 47 assists).
Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin leads the Sabres with 15 points (four goals, 11 assists).
Player To Watch
Sabres forward JJ Peterka has six points (two goals, three assists) in his last five games. He had two helpers against the Blackhawks and is third on the team with 14 points (seven goals, seven assists).
Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. at Capital One Arena. The game can be streamed on Monumental Sports Network.
By Jacob Cheris