Carolina Hurricanes vs. Washington Capitals Pick & Prediction DECEMBER 20th 2024
Preview and Prediction
The Washington Capitals will attempt to end a rare offensive drought in a divisional matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday evening.
Over their last two games, Washington has only managed to score three goals, resulting in two losses. This is only the second time this season that the Capitals have suffered back-to-back defeats.
"We were just slow all over the ice," stated forward Andrew Mangiapane to the Washington Post. "We need to learn from this. We are a strong team when we play as a cohesive unit and play with speed."
See also:
Disciplinary Action Imposed on Rangers Forward Matt Rempe for Elbowing Incident
See also:
Capitals Put F Lars Eller (Sickness) on Disabled List
Mangiapane gave Washington a 2-0 lead against Chicago on Tuesday night with his seventh goal of the season, but the Blackhawks came back in the third period to secure the win with three goals.
This loss came after the Capitals were defeated 3-1 by Dallas the previous night.
Despite their struggles on offense, Washington is currently tied for the third-most points in the league (44) and is only one point behind New Jersey for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Carolina currently sits in third place with 41 points and has a 9-2-1 record against their Metropolitan rivals, the best in the division. The Hurricanes previously beat the Capitals 4-2 on November 3rd in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The line of Jordan Staal, William Carrier, and Jordan Martinook have been key contributors to Carolina's recent offensive success.
Both Staal and Martinook have recorded three points in their last two games, while Carrier scored his third goal of the season in Sunday's 4-1 win against Columbus.
Martinook has recorded 16 points so far this season, the most he has ever had in the first 31 games of his 11-year NHL career. Staal has assisted on five of Martinook's eight goals.
See also:
"Rangers' Igor Shesterkin leads team to victory against the Stars in NHL roundup"
See also:
"Rasmus Dahlin (back) set to make comeback against Maple Leafs for Sabres"
"It's great to see them get rewarded," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "They always have a big impact on the game."
Carolina is coming off a 4-0 victory against the New York Islanders on Tuesday, completing a successful 3-1-0 homestand.
"It's a good game to build off of," said center Sebastian Aho. "It doesn't matter how you win, but you always want to improve your game."
Pyotr Kochetkov recorded 32 saves on Tuesday for his first shutout of the season and the team's second.
Kochetkov had Sunday off as Dustin Tokarski made his Hurricanes debut, but there's no doubt who the team's top goaltender is. Kochetkov has recorded 13 of the Hurricanes' 20 wins this season while filling in for an injured Frederik Andersen.
"We know Koch is our guy," said Brind'Amour.
Kochetkov made 19 saves in the November victory against Washington. Carolina had 45 shots on goal in that game, their second-highest total of the season. Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov scored two goals against his former team in that game, but has not scored since.
The Capitals typically rotate their goalies each game, meaning Charlie Lindgren would likely start on Friday night. He will be aiming for his 10th win of the season, although one of his six regulation losses this season came against the Hurricanes.
Overall, Lindgren has won four of his last five decisions. He is enjoying the team's success so far this season.
"It's a really fun team to be a part of," said Lindgren. "It's been great to see how we've developed an identity in the first couple of months. There's still a lot of hockey left, and hopefully we can continue this momentum."
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Washington Capitals Recap MAR 31TH 2015
Capitals 4, Hurricanes 2: Captain Alex Ovechkin scored to reach the 50-goal plateau for the sixth time in his career and tied the franchise mark with his 472nd tally as host Washington doubled up Carolina.
Ovechkin added an assist and defenseman Mike Green also scored and set up a goal for the Capitals, who have won six of their last eight to move within one point of second place Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division. Brooks Laich and Joel Ward scored 82 seconds apart in the second period, rookie Evgeny Kuznetsov notched two assists and Braden Holtby finished with 23 saves.
Captain Eric Staal netted his third goal in four games and Nathan Gerbe tallied in his second straight contest for the Hurricanes, who have dropped nine of their last 12 (3-5-4). Former Capital Alexander Semin recorded an assist and Cam Ward turned aside 16 shots.
After Green opened the scoring 2:46 into the first period, Ovechkin used Carolina defenseman Brett Bellemore as a screen and wristed a shot from the upper edge of the left faceoff circle that beat Ward 8 1/2 minutes later. Semin skated up the right wing and fed Gerbe in front exactly five minutes into the second to halve the deficit before an unmarked Staal scored from the doorstep at 10:33 to forge a tie.
Jason Chimera's pass from along the right-wing boards found Laich, who backhanded the puck past Ward with 2:54 remaining in the second period to give Washington a 3-2 edge. Ovechkin helped double the advantage shortly thereafter, wiring a backdoor feed that Ward deflected after putting his stick between the legs of Bellemore.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Ovechkin tied Guy Lafleur, Marcel Dionne and Mario Lemieux by reaching the 50-goal plateau for the sixth time, while Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky both accomplished the feat on nine occasions. ... The 29-year-old Ovechkin scored his 472nd goal in just 755 career games to pull even with Peter Bondra, who required 961 contests to reach that total with the Capitals. ... Carolina C Riley Nash missed his second straight game with a concussion, which was sustained when he was hit by a puck in warmups prior to Sunday's contest versus Boston.