Washington Capitals Preview: Back in the City of Brotherly Love
The Washington Capitals continue their four-game rival road trip against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. Weren’t we just there?
As a matter of fact we were. For the second time in eight days, the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers will square off. The Capitals won the first meeting 5-3 which is the identical score they lost to the Penguins by on Tuesday night in the first game of the trip. The Capitals look to bounce back Thursday before an epic Saturday night Eastern Conference Finals rematch in Tampa Bay.
Thursday is not necessarily a must win for the Capitals but a victory wouldn’t hurt the cause. With a 41-22-7 record, the Capitals sit in first place with 89 points but the Islanders are right behind them down by two points. The Penguins, elated from that Tuesday victory, are in third place in the Metropolitan Division just four points back.
The Flyers are in the uncomfortable position of fighting for their playoff lives. They trail the Blue Jackets, who currently occupy the second and final Wild Card spot, by five points. On Monday night, the Flyers defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2. In that contest the Flyers got goals from Oskar Lindbolm, Michael Raffl, and Scott Laughton. Craig Anderson made 33 saves in the victory.
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The Flyers will be missing forward Jakub Voracek, who was suspended for two games for interference on Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk on Saturday night. Voracek tried to appeal the suspension and had a hearing on Wednesday morning. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman decided to uphold the suspension which means Voracek won’t be playing on Wednesday.
The Capitals had a 2-0 lead in Pittsburgh but failed to win, falling to the Penguins 5-3 after allowing four consecutive goals. In effort, Jakub Vrana scored twice and Alex Ovechkin assisted on John Carlson‘s goal. Ovehckin’s assist was the 1,200th of his career.
LINES FROM WEDNESDAY’S PRACTICE
Caps lines in practice
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) March 13, 2019
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Vrana-Backstrom-Oshie
Hagelin-Eller-Connolly
Burakovsky-Stephenson-Boyd
Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Jensen
Only change is Stephenson replacing Dowd on the fourth line. Holtby in the starter’s net.
The Capitals held a practice on Wednesday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center. There was a big change in the fourth line. The Capitals kept the same lineup for the last seven games during their winning streak. Now with that streak now snapped, that could be their reasoning on the change. Nic Dowd was a healthy scratch while Chandler Stephenson centered the fourth line alongside Andre Burakovsky and Travis Boyd.
CAPS FACTS (via Game Notes)
- The Capitals have earned a point in 12 of their last 14 games against the Flyers.
- Nicklas Backstrom recorded two assists against the Penguins on Tuesday night, marking his 147th career multi-assist game, the second-most in the NHL since the start of the 2007-08 season.
- Jakub Vrana‘s two goals Tuesday night in Pittsburgh were his 20th and 21st games of the season, which tied him with T.J. Oshie for the second-most goals on the Capitals this season.
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Puck drop Thursday night is at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Washington and you can also catch the game nationally on ESPN+.