Preview: Washington Spends St. Patrick’s Day With St. Louis

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues will close out their season series for the 2022-23 campaign when the two clash at Capital One Arena on Friday. St. Louis is 5-0-1 in their last six against Washington, including a 5-4 shootout victory in the Gateway City exactly four months ago. Action from Capital One Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington in-market or ESPN+ out-of-market.

SCHEDULE

St. Louis: make lone pit stop on the road in a span of five games (0-2-0 so far)

Washington: continue stretch where they play nine of final 13 games at home after Wednesday’s 5-4 shootout win over the Buffalo Sabres

STANDINGS

St. Louis: 15-17-1 on road (3-8-0 in last 11), 20th in NHL; Western Conference Wild Card Standings

Screenshot: NHL.com

Washington: 16-13-4 at home (2-0-1 in the past three), 21st; Eastern Conference Wild Card Standings

Screenshot: NHL.com

HOW EACH TEAM IS DOING

St. Louis: 3-8-2 in last 13 games since three straight wins coming out of NHL All-Star Break

Washington: 5-3-1 in last nine since season-long six-game regulation losing streak

TEAM LEADERS

St. Louis

• RW Jordan Kyrou (30 goals, 64 points)
• C Robert Thomas (44 assists)
• D Justin Faulk (23:29 TOI/game)

Notes: Kyrou, 24, has four goals, eight points over five-game point-streak and five goals, 10 points in last seven; Thomas, 23, has two goals, nine points over six-game point-streak and three goals, 12 points in last nine; Faulk, 30, snapped a three-game scoring drought with an assist in 8-5 loss to Minnesota Wild on Wednesday; C Brayden Schenn has four helpers over four-game assist streak; LW Pavel Buchnevich has 37 assists, 59 points in his last 46, including 11 assists, 18 points over 10-game point-streak; RW Kasperi Kapanen has just one assist in his last five and none in three straight; D Torey Krug has three assists, four points in his last four; Former Washington and 2018 Stanley Cup Champion LW Jakub Vrana has four goals in his last four, including two vs. Minnesota; D Colton Parayko has just two assists, three points in last 11, including just one assist in his last six and none in his last three; LW Sammy Blais has two goals, four points in his last four; D Nick Leddy has just one assist in his last 14, including none in his last seven

Washington

Notes: Ovechkin, 37, has five goals, nine points in last eight after five-game scoring drought; Kuznetsov, 30, snapped six-game scoring drought with an assist vs. Buffalo; C Dylan Strome has three goals, 10 points over six-game point-streak; LW Conor Sheary has just one goal, three points in last 27, including one assist in last 17; RW T.J. Oshie has eight goals, 16 points over his last 14, including seven goals, 13 points in last 10 and two goals, five points over four-game point-streak; LW Sonny Milano had four assists over three-game assist-streak, which ended in Washington’s 5-1 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday, and six points in his last seven but has not played last two games (non-COVID-19-related illness); D Rasmus Sandin has one goal, nine points in six games since joining Washington and two goals, 13 points, five multi-point outings in his last nine overall; D Trevor Van Riemsdyk has one goal, five points, +5 rating over four-game point-streak; RW Craig Smith has gone scoreless in six of seven, including five straight, with Washington; RW Tom Wilson snapped a four-game scoring drought with a goal vs. Buffalo; C Nic Dowd has two goals in his last three

KEY TEAM STATS

Goals-per-game:                 STL – 3.09 (20th)        WSH – 3.1 (T-18th)

Goals-against per game:   STL – 3.72 (28th)         WSH – 2.99 (13th)

Power Play:                          STL – 21% (T-18th)     WSH – 20.8% (T-20th)

Penalty Kill:                         STL – 76.2% (T-22nd) WSH – 82.7% (5th)

Shots-per-game:                 STL – 29 (27th)            WSH – 31.6 (18th)

Shots-against per game:   STL – 32.5 (24th)         WSH – 30.4 (10th)

Faceoff-winning %:           STL – 49.6% (18th)      WSH – 49.8% (17th)

5v5 Corsi-for %:                 STL – 46.15% (26th)     WSH – 50.61% (17th)

5v5 x Goals-For %:            STL – 45.12% (27th)     WSH – 50.42% (17th)

5v5 SCF %:                          STL – 46.09% (25th)    WSH – 50.11% (19th)

5v5 Shooting %:                 STL – 9.05% (8th)        WSH – 8.56% (17th)

5v5 Save %:                         STL – .9031 (30th)       WSH – .9114 (T-20th)

5v5 PDO:                             STL – .994 (T-23rd)     WSH – .997 (T-19th)

EXPECTED STARTING GOALTENDERS

St. Louis: Thomas Greiss, 37 — 7-9-0, .900 save percentage, 3.50 goals-against average, shutout in 19 games this season; 6-5-1, .924 save percentage, 2.33 goals-against average, shutout in 12 career games vs. Washington, including 47-save performance (.922 save percentage) in November

Washington: Darcy Kuemper, 32 — 20-21-5 (T-18th in wins), .912 save percentage (T-15th in NHL), 2.75 goals-against average (18th), five shutouts (T-1st) in 46 games; 9-5-0, .917 save percentage, 2.44 goals-against average, shutout in 16 career regular-season games vs. St. Louis

🗣 DARCY KUEMPER WITH HIS 30th CAREER @pepsi SHUTOUT ‼️

With tonight’s 27-save performance, Kuemper now leads the league in shutouts on the season with five under his belt. pic.twitter.com/VERa6ZnXAL

— NHL (@NHL) January 20, 2023

INJURIES/ILLNESSES/OTHER ABSENCES

St. Louis

• LW Jake Neighbours (upper-body, expected to miss 12th straight game, out week-to-week)
• G Jordan Binnington (suspended, first of two games)

Washington

• Carlson (upper-body, 34th, indefinite)
• Jensen (undisclosed, first, day-to-day)
• RW Connor Brown (ACL, 64th, indefinite)
• LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 68th, indefinite)

PROJECTED LINEUPS

St. Louis

Alexey Toropchenko — Thomas — Kyrou
Vrana — Buchnevich — Kapanen
Brandon Saad — Schenn — Blais
Nathan Walker — Nikita Alexandrov — Tyler Pitlick

Leddy — Parayko
Marco Scandella — Faulk
Krug — Tyler Tucker

Greiss
Joel Hofer

Scratched: D Calle Rosen, D Robert Bortuzzo, RW Josh Leivo, C Logan Brown

Washington

Ovechkin — Strome — Sheary
Oshie — Kuznetsov — Wilson
Milano — Nicklas Backstrom — Smith
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Sandin — Van Riemsdyk
Matt Irwin — Gabriel Carlsson
Alexander Alexeyev — Martin Fehevary

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: LW Anthony Mantha

BETTING ODDS (Per BetMGM)

St. Louis: +145, Washington: -175

Over 6.5: -105, Under 6.5: -115

Game Notes

By Harrison Brown