Preview: Capitals Return From Road Trip, See Seattle On Friday

Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals wrap up their regular-season series with the Seattle Kraken on Friday just eight days after falling at Climate Pledge Arena by a score of 3-2 in overtime despite leading 2-0 after the first period. Action from Capital One Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington+ in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market starting at 7 PM ET

SCHEDULE

Seattle: start four-game Southeast road trip after going 1-2-0 on a three-game homestand

Washington: return home from a season-long six-game road trip (3-2-1) but continue a stretch where they play eight of nine away from home

RECORDS

Seattle: 15-7-3/.660 points percentage – second in Pacific Division, tied for second in Western Conference; 8-1-1 on road, fifth in NHL

Washington: 12-12-4/.500 points percentage – sixth in Metropolitan Division, 12th in Eastern Conference in points; 7-4-1 at home, 16th

HOW EACH TEAM IS DOING

Seattle: outscored 9-3 in two straight regulation losses after going 7-0-1 in their previous eight, including seven wins in a row, and 10-3-2 in their previous 15

Washington: 5-2-1 in their last eight since dropping nine of their previous 11 (2-6-3)

TEAM LEADERS

Seattle

• C Jarred McCann (12 goals)
• LW Andre Burakovsky (17 assists, 26 points)
• D Adam Larsson (23:44 TOI/game)

Notes: Burakovsky, 27, has five goals and 11 points over his last seven games and 14 assists and 21 points in his last 19; McCann, 26, has five goals in his last five and seven goals and nine points in his last nine; RW Jordan Eberle has 14 assists and 20 points in his last 20; Rookie C Matty Beniers gone scoreless in his last two after scoring six goals and 12 points over a six-game point-streak; D Justin Schultz (who spent the last two seasons in Washington) has gone scoreless in his last three after scoring two goals and 10 points over a six-game point-streak; D Vince Dunn has two goals, six points, and a +9 rating in his last seven; LW Jaden Schwartz has just one goal (which came vs. Washington) in his last five; LW Brandon Tanev has gone scoreless in six straight

Washington

Notes: Ovechkin, 37, has seven goals and six multi-point games in his last 10 (11 points) after a two-goal outing in Washington’s 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday; Kuznetsov, 30, has four assists over a three-game assist streak, including two in Philadelphia; Carlson has three goals and five points in his last six; C Dylan Strome has a goal and four points over a three-game point streak and two goals and 10 points over his last 11; LW Conor Sheary has two goals and four points in his last four and three goals in his last two vs. Seattle; LW Anthony Mantha has gone scoreless in eight of his last 10 (goal, three points); RW T.J. Oshie has goals in back-to-back games

KEY TEAM STATS

Goals-per-game:                 SEA – 3.60 (5th)              WSH – 2.79 (27th)

Goals-against per game:   SEA – 3.16 (18th)             WSH – 3.00 (T-11th)

Power Play:                          SEA – 25% (10th)            WSH – 21.2% (T-22nd)

Penalty Kill:                         SEA – 68.3% (30th)        WSH – 80.3% (9th)

Shots-per-game:                 SEA – 29.4 (28th)           WSH – 30.4 (T-20th)

Shots-against per game:   SEA – 27 (3rd)                  WSH – 30.9 (11th)

Faceoff-winning %:            SEA – 44.4% (31st)          WSH – 48.4% (22nd)

5v5 Corsi-for %:                  SEA – 52.31% (9th)         WSH – 50.24% (15th)

5v5 x Goals-For %:             SEA – 53.16% (T-7th)     WSH – 49.17% (20th)

5v5 SCF %:                           SEA – 50.85% (15th)      WSH – 50.76% (T-17th)

5v5 Shooting %:                  SEA – 10.1% (2nd)          WSH – 7.38% (25th)

5v5 Save %:                          SEA – .913 (19th)            WSH – .9212 (11th)

5v5 PDO:                              SEA – 1.015 (T-7th)        WSH – .995 (18th)

EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS

Seattle: Philipp Grubauer, 30 — 2-2-1, .868 save percentage, 3.40 goals-against average in seven games this season; 3-1-1, .919 save percentage, 2.62 goals-against average in five career games vs. team he won the Stanley Cup with in 2018, including a 21-save performance (.913 save percentage) in the Emerald City last week

Washington: Charlie Lindgren, 28 — 4-3-2, .902 save percentage, 3.07 goals-against average in 10 games this season; first career start vs. Seattle

INJURIES/ILLNESSES

Seattle

• G Chris Driedger (knee, will miss 26th straight game, out indefinitely)
• RW Joonas Donskoi (upper-body, 26th, indefinite)
• LW Jaden Schwartz (undisclosed, first, day-to-day)

Washington

• G Darcy Kuemper ((lower-body, third, day-to-day)
• D Martin Fehervary (lower-body, third, day-to-day)
• RW Connor Brown (ACL, 25th, indefinite)
• D Dmitry Orlov (lower-body, 16th, day-to-day)
• LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 29th, indefinite)
• RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 29th, indefinite)
• C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 29th, indefinite)
• LW Beck Malenstyn (finger, 18th, week-to-week)

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Seattle

Karson Kuhlman — Alexander Wennberg — Burakovsky
McCann — Beniers — Eberle
Yanni Gourde — Ryan Donato — Oliver Bjorkstrand
Brandon Tanev — Morgan Geekie — Daniel Sprong

Dunn — Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak — Schultz
Carson Soucy — Will Borgen

Grubauer
Martin Jones

Scratched: D Cale Fleury

Washington

Ovechkin — Strome — Sheary
Sonny Milano — Kuznetsov — Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Mantha
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson — Carlson
Trevor Van Riemsdyk — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Matt Irwin

Lindgren
Hunter Shepard

Scratched: LW Joe Snively, RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel

By Harrison Brown