The Washington Capitals conclude their brief two-game weekend homestand on Sunday night with an epic contest against the Winnipeg Jets. This is sure to be a high-flying game. No pun intended.
The Capitals have won six in a row, outscoring their opponents 27-13 in that stretch. Five of those wins came from the always tough and competitive Metropolitan Division. Washington is coming off a 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils. This was a contest that saw Braden Holtby record his 35th career shutout to tie Olaf Kolzing for the franchise record. The Capitals also got goals from Andre Burakvosky, who continues his hot tear, as well as Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller.
Thanks to a New York Islanders loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Capitals remain in first place in the Metropolitan Division with 14 games left in the regular season. If the season ended today, the Capitals would have to play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. Them as well as the Columbus Blue Jackets occupy the two wild card spots, the former beating the latter on Saturday night.
Sunday’s game will mark the second and final time the Capitals and Jets will meet this season. Winnipeg took the first meeting 3-1 on Nov. 14. In that game,
The Jets are currently in first place in the Central Division and are wrapping up a four-game road trip. So far, the Jets are 2-1 picking up wins over the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 as well as an 8-1 blowout win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. Their lone loss came to the Tampa Bay Lightining 3-2.
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This is Washington’s penultimate game of the season against a team of the Western Conference, unless of course they make a deep run this spring. The Capitals are 14-11-3 against the West including 7-4-2 at home. Their final game against a Western opponent occurs on Friday March 22 against the Minnesota Wild.
The Jets will certainly prove to be a tough opponent for the Capitals, much tougher than their New Jersey counterparts were on Friday night. An 8-1 blowout win on the road in Carolina in front of those, “bunch of jerks“, that team that is playing for a playoff spot and celebrates their wins like no other.
After that, the road does not get easier for the Capitals. They will have to go to Pittsburgh on Tuesday night and Tampa Bay on Saturday for playoff rematches between the Penguins and Lightning that could be just as big this time of year now. Part of the reason why there’s only two West games left is that there are 12 games against Eastern Conference foes including seven against the Metropolitan Division. Seedings and positioning will be at stake.
The Capitals and their fans hope to have another summer of celebrating like none other and the Jets could be one of those teams that could challenge should they both go far. In fact, they almost were that opponent the Capitals could’ve faced last June. They fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Finals in five games.
Tonight the Capitlals go for their seventh win in a row, which would tie their season-high that was set from November 16-30th. Here is a look back at Friday night’s win:
Last season when these two teams met in D.C., nearly a year ago, Alex Ovechkin scored his 600th career goal in a 3-2 Capitals overtime win. Patrick Laine also had a goal in that game and it has been said that Laine looked up to Ovechkin when he was younger.
You can catch the game at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Washington.