The Washington Capitals will take on their second straight Metropolitan Division opponent for a Wednesday night showdown with the New York Islanders. This will be the third meeting between these two clubs of the season. The Islanders blanked the Capitals 3-0 back on Nov. 2, but the Caps responded with a 4-1 victory on Nov. 11.
The Capitals (15-9-4) are coming off a 2-1 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes and are once again in a back-to-back slate. They will travel to Columbus following Wednesday’s game to take on the Blue Jackets for another divisional contest. Here are the projected lines.
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas – Connor McMichael – Anthony Mantha
Hendrix Lapierre – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Ivan Miroshnichenko
Beck Malenstyn – Nic Dowd – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Joel Edmundson – Nick Jensen
Charlie Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Injured: T.J. Oshie (lower), Sonny Milano (undisclosed), Max Pacioretty (Achillies), Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
The big story coming out of Tuesday was the promotion of 2022 first-round pick Ivan Miroschnichenko. The rookie forward is having an outstanding freshmen campaign with the Hershey Bears, racking up 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in 27 games. That leads all rookies on the team and his seven goals are seventh in the AHL among first-year players.
The 19-year-old Russian skated on the third line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Hendrix Lapierre, who was also called up, in practice. However, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery did not definitively say whether Miroshichenko would get a sweater. But he has liked what he has seen down in Hershey.
“He’s shown signs of improvement through the process down there and obviously we know the offensive ability that he has and scoring that he’s done down there,” Carbery said. “His play away from the puck, his details inside of his game. Those have gotten better over the last little stretch.”
Washington’s top line of Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson has started to find its groove offensively. They have created more chances and more importantly, they have been finishing. Even though Ovechkin does not have a goal in 13 straight games, which is a career-long drought, he has been getting the puck to the net. He had six shots on goal against the Nashville Predators and four against the Hurricanes.
Strome leads the team with 12 goals and is currently on a four-game point streak, and Wilson is second on the Caps with 18 points (10 goals, eight assists).
“They’re controlling play. They’re generating more scoring chances than they’re given up. They’re out-chancing the opposition when they’re on the ice. A big part of that is [Ovechkin] finishing and being able to start finishing some of those opportunities and [Strome] as well and [Strome] finishing some plays and finding [Ovechkin],” Carbery said. “They’re out playing their opponent on a consistent basis. So that’s giving us a top line [that has] given us quality minutes and giving us opportunities to win.”
The trio has generated 47 high-danger chances on the season at five-on-five, which is the most out of any line combination this season.
Sunday’s matchup in Raleigh was uneventful for the most part. Both teams were not giving each other any room to operate, but it had a playoff-like feel to it.
“They are difficult games, and it just feels like to me that teams and players in this division are very aware of the difficulties and what’s at stake. They’re hard games where space is limited, Checking is at a premium, generating scoring chances are at a premium,” Carbery said. “You can tell the games are hard, heavy and there’s not a lot of real estate out on the ice and I don’t expect tomorrow night will be any different.”
The Capitals are 7-2-1 against divisional opponents this season.
Scouting New York
The Islanders (15-8-8) are coming off a 3-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers. Their game in D.C. will mark the back-half of a back-to-back. New York is 7-1-2 in its last 10 games and are third in the Metropolitan Division with 38 points.
Bo Horvat is currently on an 11-game point streak with 17 points (eight goals, nine assists). He had a power-play goal on Tuesday. Horvat is currently third on the Islanders with 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists).
The Islanders scored two power play goals on Tuesday and currently boast the seventh-best power play in the NHL at 25.3%. Kyle Palmieri has four goals on the man-advantage along with defenseman Noah Dobson and Horvat.
Semyon Varlamov will face Washington for the second time this season. He earned a 32-save shutout in the first meeting between these two squads. The ex-Capitals netminder is currently 6-4-1 with a 2.73 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.
He gave up four goals on 40 shots in his last outing in a 5-3 loss against the Montreal Canadiens.
Player To Watch
Simon Holmstrom scored his fifth shorthanded goal of the season against the Oilers. That leads the NHL, and he has points in four out of his last six contests. Holmstrom scored in the first meeting with the Capitals.
Puck drop is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Capital One Arena. The game can be streamed on TNT.
By Jacob Cheris