The Washington Capitals take on the New Jersey Devils. If you play fantasy hockey and have Dmitry Orlov on your squad, you should definitely play him tonight.
The Capitals vs. Devils game also promises to be high scoring so the more Caps you have on your team, the merrier. Here’s what Sean Allen of ESPN.com had to say about the matchup overall:
"The Devils are playing right into the advanced metrics’ wheelhouse this season, but without the results. The Devils are second in Corsi for percentage and first in expected goals percentage this season, but rank 25th in goals for per game. Still, they are throwing a lot at their opponents and the Capitals are both banged up and defensively questionable (Darcy Kuemper sports a rough .907 save percentage at five-on-five). But if Kuemper has a troubling five-on-five save percentage, what do we say about the Devils goalies? Mackenzie Blackwood sits at .897 and Vitek Vanecek is dead last in the NHL for allowing four goals on 15 shots at five-on-five in his one game."
As far as Orlov goes he’s definitely a sleeper pick tonight. And I’m not just saying that because a few seasons ago he had a game winning blast in overtime to defeat the Devils which made for a perfect meme with the M&M’s character screaming in the background.
On Saturday night the defenseman assisted on Washington’s final three goals which were all in the third period. That included recording the primary assist on Marcus Johansson’s game winner. It marked his third career three assist game.
Through six games Orlov has recorded four assists while averaging 21:14 minutes of ice time, ranking second on the team in both categories. Orlov leads the Capitals in ice time at five on five at 113:33 and ranks tied for second in primary assists with two.
Orlov, who played in his 649th career game with Washington on Saturday, is six games shy of passing Sergei Gonchar (654) for the fifth most games played by a defenseman in franchise history.
Orlov has played in 530 of Washington’s 541 regular season games since 2015-16 which is the most on the team in that span.
The Caps and Devils face off tonight at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Washington.