The Washington Capitals host the Edmonton Oilers on Black Friday (3 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market) in the first of the two meetings between the two teams during the regular-season.
Washington has points in 11 of their last 14 games (8-3-3) against Edmonton, including three straight (2-0-1) after sweeping the season set in 2022-23.
Schedule
Edmonton: concludes four-game Southeast road trip before going home to host Anaheim Ducks on Sunday
Washington: wraps up four-game homestand and stretch where they play 10 of 13 at home prior to five-game California, desert road trip
How Each Team Is Doing
Edmonton: winless on road trip, where they have been outscored 17-10, after three-game winning streak
Washington: enters Friday on seven-game point-streak (6-0-1), is 9-1-1 in their last 11 games since 1-3-1 start
Standings
Edmonton: 5-12-1 (.306 points percentage — seventh in Pacific Division, 14th in Western Conference); 10 points behind Seattle Kraken for final wild-card spot in conference but has three games in hand
Washington: 10-4-2 (.688 points percentage — second in Metropolitan Division, third in Eastern Conference); tied with Carolina Hurricanes for second in division (in actual points) with two games in hand, one point up on Philadelphia Flyers (with three games in hand), three on New York Islanders (two)
Team Leaders
The first graph shows each teams’ player leaders. Edmonton center Leon Draisaitl leads them in assists and points while Washington center Dylan Strome has been their best player to date.
Team Statistics
The following graph shows Edmonton and Washington’s game averages heading into Friday’s matinee, which could serve as an opportunity for Washington to get their sluggish power-play rolling.
The second graph views both teams’ underlying statistics at five-on-five so far this season. It demonstrates that Edmonton has pushed the pace offensively but that has been cancelled out with porous goaltending.
Injuries/Illnesses
Edmonton
- C Dylan Holloway (undisclosed)
Washington
- LW Max Pacioretty (Achilles)
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- D Martin Fehervary (lower-body)
- C Evgeny Kuznetsov (illness)
Expected Goaltending Matchup
Edmonton: Stuart Skinner, 25 — 4-7-1, .865 save percentage, 3.66 goals-against average
Washington: TBD
- Charlie Lindgren, 29 — 4-1-0, .940 save percentage (T-first in NHL), 2.01 goals-against average (third), one shutout
- Darcy Kuemper, 33 — 4-3-2, .892 save percentage, 3.04 goals-against average
Projected Lines
Edmonton
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Hyman
Evander Kane – Draisaitl – Connor Brown
Warren Foegele – Ryan McLeod – Derek Ryan
Adam Erne – James Hamblin – Mattias Janmark
Nurse – Cody Ceci
Mattias Ekholm – Evan Bouchard
Brett Kulak – Vincent Desharnais
Skinner
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: C Sam Gagner, D Philipp Broberg
Washington
Ovechkin — 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 — Carlson
Joel Edmundson — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Lindgren
Kuemper
Scratched: RW Matthew Philipps, D Lucas Johansen
Betting Odds (BetMGM)
Edmonton: -120, Washington: +100
Over-under: 6.5 (-115 over, -105 under)
By Harrison Brown