Washington Capitals vs. New Jersey Devils: Gameday Preview

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils will square off tonight in a game that the Washington Capitals would love to win. With a win and a New York Rangers loss (they play the Maple Leafs in Toronto), they would gain sole possession of third place in the Metropolitan Division. Not only that, but they would also create a bit of breathing room between themselves and the Devils. With a regulation win in New Jersey, that would give the Washington Capitals a four point lead over the Devils in the standings.

Here’s a statistical breakdown of the Washington Capitals and the New Jersey Devils:

As you can see, though their records might suggest otherwise, the Washington Capitals are definitely a better team than the New Jersey Devils, especially once you start looking at puck possession. Considering that it’s quite likely that Jaromir Jagr will not be playing tonight due to the flu (and even if he does, he won’t be anything close to 100%), I think the Washington Capitals should definitely win tonight. Losing to a team like the Devils, especially if Jagr doesn’t play, would be unacceptable. They have no excuses for not winning the possession battle.

Keys To Victory

There are three keys to victory for the Washington Capitals tonight. If they do these three things, they are extremely likely to win.

Start off strong. The Washington Capitals had a strong first period against the Carolina Hurricanes, and that helped them to gain control

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of the game and beat Carolina 2-1. If the Capitals can do the same thing in New Jersey tonight, that would go a long way to helping them get two points.

Don’t let Mike Cammalleri and Adam Henrique beat them. Assuming Jagr doesn’t play, Cammalleri and Henrique are the two Devils forwards that could beat the Washington Capitals. That’s a lot easier said than done though: Cammalleri has scored 1.91 points per 60 minutes at even strength and Henrique has scored 2.23. John Carlson and Brooks Orpik are going to have their hands full tonight trying to shut down that duo.

Get traffic in front of

Cory Schneider

. Schneider has been very good this season. In 25 games so far, he has an even strength save percentage of 93.16%. He’s very good at reading the puck and his positioning is elite. However, there’s an old saying: “You can’t stop what you can’t see.” The Washington Capitals have to be pests around the net and get bodies in front of Schneider. They have to fight for every rebound. It’s not going to be an easy task to score on Schneider, but if they get bodies in front of him, that should help.

Injury Report

It’s been confirmed that Mike Green will not be suiting up for the Washington Capitals this evening. As mentioned earlier, Jagr is questionable due to the flu. Patrick Elias (groin), Adam Larsson (illness), Travis Zajac (lower body), Stephen Gionta (foot), and Martin Havalt (lower body) are also likely out for tonight’s game for the Devils. The Devils are going to be a bit depleted tonight. Hopefully the Washington Capitals can take advantage of that.

Predicted Lines

The Devils didn’t do a morning rush, so their lines are a question until closer to game time. The likely lineup for the Washington Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstorm – Tom Wilson
Marcus Johansson – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Troy Brouwer
Brooks Laich – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward
Jason Chimera – Michael Latta – Jay Beagle

Orpik – Carlson
Karl Alzner – Matt Niskanen
Nate Schmidt – Jack Hillen

Braden Holtby

Scratched: Andre Burakovsky, Justin Peters

Worth Noting:

Carlson will be playing in his 322nd consecutive NHL game tonight. That is the seventh longest current streak in the NHL. He will be tied with Kelly Miller for second place as far as the franchise record. He’ll still have 101 games left to break Bobby Carpenter‘s franchise record of 422.

TV Listings:

The game will be on CSN Washington, and it starts at 7:00 PM EST. You can listen to the game with the Caps Mobile App or anywhere on the Capitals Radio Network.

Prediction:

I can’t tell you what will happen, and quite frankly, I don’t know if the Washington Capitals will take advantage of this game against a depleted team. However, they should win, and I expect them to. I’ll go with 4-2 with Ovechkin getting the game winning goal to set the franchise record. Holtby will be solid in net.