The Washington Capitals and New York Rangers face off in the Big Apple on Wednesday night (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market) in each teams’ first game after the NHL’s three-day holiday break. Washington shut New York out by a score of 4-0 in the first meeting of the year between the two teams on December 9.
Schedule
Washington: plays 11th of 12 road contests over a 16-game span (7-4-3 so far), starts New York road trip and stretch of three games in four nights
New York: ends three-game homestand (1-1-0) and stretch where they play six of eight at Madison Square Garden (5-2-0) before a back-to-back set in the Sunshine state over the weekend
How Each Team Is Doing
Washington: has points in four straight (3-0-1) and eight of their last nine (5-1-3), six of which have gone beyond regulation (including four of the last five and each of the last three)
New York: 21-6-1 in their last 28, including 5-2-0 since getting blanked in Washington
Standings
Washington: 17-9-5 (.629 points percentage — second in Metropolitan Division, fourth in Eastern Conference); point behind Philadelphia Flyers, two back of New York Islanders (with two games in hand on both) for second in Metropolitan in actual points
New York: 23-8-1 (.734 points percentage — first in NHL); six points in front of Islanders for division lead (one) and three ahead of Boston Bruins for Eastern Conference lead (with both teams having played 32 games)
Team Leaders
The graph examines at each teams’ player leaders. New York left-wing Artemi Panarin is near the top of the league in goals, assists, and points.
Team Statistics
The following chart takes a look at Washington and New York’s game averages heading back into game action. Expect a low-scoring tilt as these teams have two of the best defenses.
The second graph glances at both teams’ underlying statistics at five-on-five up to date this season. Both teams appear to be outperforming these metrics in the standings.
Injuries/Illnesses
Washington
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- RW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
- RW T.J. Oshie (lower-body)
New York
- RW Kaapo Kakko (lower-body)
- C Filip Chytil (upper-body)
Expected Goaltending Matchup
Washington: Darcy Kuemper, 33 — 8-6-0, .900 save percentage, 2.90 goals-against average
New York: Igor Shesterkin, 27 — 13-7-0 (seventh in NHL in wins), .906 save percentage, 2.86 goals-against average
Projected Lines
Washington
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Matthew Phillips
Connor McMichael — Aliaksei Protas — Anthony Mantha
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary — Carlson
Rasmus Sandin — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Joel Edmundson — Nick Jensen
Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: D Alexander Alexeyev
New York
Chris Kreider — Mika Zibanejad — Blake Wheeler
Panarin — Vincent Trocheck — Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle — Nick Bonino — Jonny Brodzinski
Jimmy Vesey — Barclay Goodrow — Tyler Pitlick
Ryan Lindgren — Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller — Trouba
Erik Gustafsson — Braden Schnieder
Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Scratched: C Riley Nash, D Zac Jones
Betting Odds (BetMGM)
Washington: +180, New York: -225
Over-under: 6 (-110 over and under)
By Harrison Brown