The Washington Capitals host the Boston Bruins for the first of two times in a span of 16 days on Saturday (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, EPSN+ out-of-market) and the first since opening night of the 2022-23 season.
Washington has won two of the last three games against last season’s President’s Trophy winners, including a 3-0 shutout victory at TD Garden on February 10 in the only prior meeting with Boston this year. Saturday’s game will be the last that Washington will wear their navy “W” third jerseys.
Schedule
Boston: continues six-game road trip (1-2-0 so far), the last five of which coming against Southern teams, after a 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday
Washington: continues stretch where they host seven of 10 games (3-2-0) following a 5-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday
How Each Team Is Doing
Boston: has lost three of their last four since a three-game winning-streak was snapped
Washington: had won three in a row before losing in Toronto, is 14-7-2 (.652) since a season-long six-game losing streak ended
Standings
Boston: 42-17-15 (.669 points percentage — first in Atlantic Division, tied for second in Eastern Conference); three points behind New York Rangers (who have a game in hand) for first place in East, two points up on Florida Panthers (one) for first in Atlantic
Washington: 36-27-9 (.562 points percentage — third in Metropolitan Division, seventh in Eastern Conference); one point back of Philadelphia Flyers (with two games in hand) for third place in Metropolitan Division, six behind Tampa Bay Lightning (with both teams down to 10 games left) for first wild-card spot; two points ahead of Detroit Red Wings (one), four in front of New York Islanders (with both teams down to 10 games remaining), six ahead of Buffalo Sabres (two), seven clear of Pittsburgh Penguins (with both teams down to 10 games to go) in wild-card standings
Team Leaders
Pastrnak’s goal total is tied with Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon for fourth league-wide, assist mark is knotted up with Florida Panthers left-wing Matthew Tkachuk for 14th, and point total ranks fifth. Pastrnak has 17 more goals, 20 more assists, and 38 more points than any other Bruin — left-wing Brad Marchand is the first one behind the 27-year-old in all categories.
Carlson (second), who is expected to play in his 1,000th career game on Saturday, and McAvoy (ninth) are both among the NHL’s ice time leaders. Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm (23:22) ranks 29th in the league.
Team Statistics
Boston ranks seventh in goals-against, ninth on the power play, and eighth on the penalty kill.
Both teams are among the bottom-10 in Corsi and the bottom half in expected goals and scoring chances. Boston’s shooting percentage trails just the Vancouver Canucks (10.96%) and Detroit Red Wings (10.18%), save percentage is behind only the Winnipeg Jets (93.72%), and PDO is bested by only Vancouver (1.034).
Expected Goalie Matchup
Swayman has the better save percentage, which ranks fifth in the NHL, and goals-against average (ninth) of the two in addition to more wins but Lindgren has two more shutouts (and is one behind the league lead), including an 18-save blanking of Boston last month.
Injuries/Illnesses/Suspensions
Boston
- LW Milan Lucic (personal)
- C Matthew Poitras (shoulder)
- D Derek Forbort (undisclosed)
- LW Pat Maroon (back)
Washington
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- RW Tom Wilson (suspension)
- LW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
- D Ethan Bear (NHLPA Player Assistance Program)
Projected Lines
Boston
Marchand — Pavel Zacha — Pastrnak
Danton Heinen — Charlie Coyle — Trent Frederic
Jake DeBrusk — Morgan Geekie — Justin Brazeau
James Van Riemsdyk — Jesper Boqvist — Jakub Lauko
Hampus Lindholm — McAvoy
Matt Grzelyck — Brandon Carlo
Kevin Shattenkirk — Andrew Peeke
Swayman
Linus Ullmark
Scratched: C John Beecher, D Matthew Lohrei, D Parker Wotherspoon
Washington
Ovechkin — Connor McMichael — T.J. Oshie
Max Pacioretty — Strome —Ivan Miroshnichenko
Mike Sgarbossa — Hendrix Lapierre — Aliaksei Protas
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary — Carlson
Rasmus Sandin — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: RW Matthew Philipps, D Vincent Iorio
Betting Odds (BetMGM)
Boston: -165, Washington: +140
Over-under: 5.5 (-115 over, -105 under)
By Harrison Brown