Game Preview: Capitals Continue Road Trip in Manhattan vs. Rangers
The Washington Capitals conclude their weekend New York road trip this afternoon in Manhattan at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. Puck drop is at 12:30 p.m.on NBC. These two teams met just one week ago in Washington, with the Capitals prevailing in overtime on a goal from Evgeny Kuznetsov. The Capitals head into Sunday’s matinee having won three games in a row, a streak that began against this Rangers team.
The streak continued with a home win over the Senators and a win on Friday night in Long Island over the first place Islanders that began a three-game road trip. After Sunday’s game, the Capitals will head to Philadelphia to try and get a win against Gritty’s Flyers in front of fired up fans that also like a baseball team that just got Bryce Harper. The Capitals and Islanders are tied for first place in the Metropolitan Division with 81 points each, Washington with a 37-21-7 record.
The Rangers come into Sunday’s game on a three-game winless drought. First the fell in overtime to the league-leading Lightning. On Friday, the Blueshirts fell to the Canadiens 4-2. The Rangers are in the midst of rebuilding. They sit in seventh place in the wild cared with a .500 record of 27-27-10. They play pretty well inside the Garden with a 16-11-7 record on home ice.
The Capitals meanwhile are 18-12-2 on the road. The Capitals have 16 games left in the regular season and nine of them are on the road. Last season, their success away from Capital One Arena helped them to a Stanley Cup. They’ll need that same success down the stretch.
CAPITALS LINES
The Capitals were off on Saturday after Friday’s win but it is highly likely that head coach Todd Reirden will go with the same lines he went with from Friday’s game. Here’s what they were:
Forwards
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Vrana-Backstrom-Oshie
Burakovsky-Eller-Connolly
Hagelin-Dowd-Boyd
Defense
Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Jensen