Capitals: Top 3 keys to victory against Golden Knights
The Washington Capitals conclude their three game road trip against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday. Here are the top 3 keys to a victory.
The Washington Capitals return to the place where they won the Stanley Cup to take on a Vegas Golden Knights team that is third place in the Pacific Division while Washington will look to maintain their first place hold on the Metropolitan Division.
The Capitals (37-16-5, 79 points) defeated the Golden Knights (30-22-8, 68 points) in their last meeting on Nov. 9 in D.C. 5-2 in a game that saw Nicklas Backstrom score twice and the Caps also got goals from Evgeny Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson and Jonas Siegenthaler.
3. Power play needs to step up
The Capitals power play is ranked in the middle of the pack with a 20.5 percent success rate. The team went 0-for-3 on the man advantage in their last game. In their win against the Colorado Avalanche, the power play connected twice in five opportunities with goals from Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson.
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Backstrom’s goal came on a pass from Jakub Vrana that was perfectly placed through traffic. I think Vrana will continue to be an X-Factor on a power play unit looking to improve. Look for him to get a rare PPG soon.
2. Defense in front of Braden Holtby needs to tighten up
I couldn’t be more obvious here than a frustrated Caps fan. The defense has to step up and not waste brilliant efforts from Braden Holtby like they did the other night.
Despite two early hiccups in Colorado, one coming on the power play, the defense played much better and had 16 blocked shots. On Saturday the Caps had 15 blocks and allowed two goals on even strength.
It looks like the Caps will be going with the same defensive pairs from Saturday as they practiced with those same guys yesterday. That’s Kempny-Carlson, Orlov-Jensen, and Siegenthaler-Gudas.
1. Good memories
For the Capitals to have success in Vegas they need to look no further than that magical night on June 7, 2018 when they won the Stanley Cup. They look for that same success this spring but before that happens they got to get out of their recent funk now.
Nicklas Backstrom felt nostalgic when he was back telling Samantha Pell of The Washington Post, “It’s very special and especially in this locker room, too. This is where the party was going on… from now on it is our favorite (away) place to play.”
Top 3 key players to watch against Golden Knights. light. More
Can Alex Ovechkin score two goals to reach 700? More importantly, can the Caps come away with two important points? Tune in at 6 p.m. eastern on NBC Sports Washington or NBCSN to find out.