Tonight the Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues go head to head just one day after a kind of quiet trade deadline. The Caps did nothing with their goaltending so they’re going to run it back with the young tandem of Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov. The Caps will be looking to bounce back from Sunday’s loss as well as a 5-1 loss to the Blues back on Jan. 7.
The Capitals have won two of their last three games against the Blues at Capital One Arena with a 2-1-0 record. Alex Ovechkin’s 1.48 points per game against St. Louis in his career (31 points in 21 games) is the third highest rate he has against a team. The great eight has recorded goals in five of his last six games against the Blues.
The Caps made two trades to address their forward corps. First they sent Daniel Sprong to the Seattle Kraken as well as a pair of draft picks in exchange for Marcus Johansson, bringing the Swede back to D.C. They also acquired Johan Larsson from the Arizona Coyotes.
Johansson has recorded 23 points with six goals and 17 assists in 51 games with the Kraken this season. He played seven seasons with Washington from 2010-2017, compiling 290 points in 501 games with 102 goals and 188 assists. He is one of 31 players in franchise history to play 500 games for the Capitals.
Larsson recorded 15 points with six goals and nine assists in 29 games with the Arizona Coyotes this season. He ranked second among Arizona forwards in penalty kill time per game (1:49). Additionally, Larsson’s 4.57 relative shot attempt percentage at five on five ranked first among Coyotes with at least 20 games played.
The Caps held a morning skate at MedStar Capitals Iceplex this morning. Here were the lines via Samantha Pell of The Washington Post:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Johansson
Mantha-Backstrom-Wilson
Sheary-McMichael-Oshie
AJF-Eller-Hathaway
Fehervar-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
Kempny-Schultz
As you can see, Johansson was taking rushes on the top line alongside Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ovechkin. Although T.J. Oshie took morning rushes, he stayed on the ice at the end of morning skate so it might mean he’s out. If that’s the case the Caps will go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Nic Dowd (upper body) was an extra. Trevor Van Riemsdyk is on injured reserve.
Johansson was also on the second unit of the Caps power play with Dmitry Orlov, Justin Schultz, Anthony Mantha and Conor Sheary. Oshie did not practice on either power play unit. Capitals Head Coach Peter Laviolette said he was unsure whether or not Oshie will be in the lineup tonight. I wasn’t at the rink but I can already say that they are going to be “working through some things in the room.” Vitek Vanecek will get the start in goal tonight.
"This is the one place I wanted to go. We were here a few weeks ago - coming here always still feels like home. I'm just very excited for the opportunity. This feels special and I'm just very happy to be here."
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 22, 2022
Marcus Johansson after morning skate.#CapsBlues | @MedStarHealth pic.twitter.com/SZqbk4axJY
Date: March 22, 2022
Time: 7 p.m.
Where: Capital One Arena
What Channel Is The Capitals Game On: NBC Sports Washington
Radio: 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7
Betting Odds: The Blues vs. Capitals betting odds on WynnBET have the Capitals as -1.5 point favorites at home. The moneyline is set with the Capitals at -150 and the Blues at +130. The over/under for tonight’s game is 6.0.
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