Thursday, February 21, 2013

Caps look to bounce back against the Devils


The Caps are now 15 games into the season and currently sit at rock bottom of the Eastern Conference. Washington will face off against the New Jersey Devils tonight coming off their longest break of the season of four days. The Caps have a 4-6 record in their last ten games and are coming off a 2-1 loss to the Rangers on Sunday. The next two contests will feature the Devils in a home and home stand at the Verizon Center. The Capitals next three games will be in Washington. New Jersey is not an easy opponent currently ranking second in the Eastern Conference.

The goalie matchup in tonight’s game will be Braden Holtby vs. Martin Brodeur. Most of the Devil’s success can be credited to the play of Brodeur between the pipes. The 40 year old has seven of the nine team wins with respectable numbers on the season. Holtby has been no slouch winning three of his four consecutive starts for the Caps. He has logged a .922 save percentage in those four games and was arguably the best player for Washington in the loss to New York on Sunday. We are starting to see the Holtby that showed up last spring for the playoffs.

Many people believe the fault of this abysmal season lies with the struggles of Alex Ovechkin. The Great Eight has only five goals and ten points in 15 games. He is off to his worst start in his career, but the blame could be put on the switch to right wing. Adam Oates continues to preach that it takes time to adjust and it will pay off in the long run as it did for Ilya Kovalchuk. There is some evidence pointing towards Ovi getting more chances on the right side as he is currently fifth in the league in shots with 64. He is also paired with Mike Ribeiro who is nothing short of a magician with the puck. He will continue to get the scoring chances, but the question is will he start capitalizing.

The Capitals continue to suffer from injuries with the list now including the team’s best defenseman, Mike Green. Green remains questionable, while Marcus Johansson and Brooks Laich remain out of the lineup for tonight’s game. Mike Green currently leads all Caps defensemen in points (7), plus-minus (plus-3) and average ice time (26:33). He is a monumental loss to the Caps blue-liners and that was easily recognized on Sunday in his absence. Brooks Laich’s injury seems to be lingering each week with no certain time table for return. His offensive and defensive presence is missed on a nightly basis. He is a top six forward with incredible penalty killing abilities. I don’t think people realize that he lead all NHL forwards last season in blocked shots.

The Capitals play seven of their next ten at the Verizon Center and it starts tonight against the Devils. The Caps have played well the past four games and need to keep building off that. Adam Oates will face his old team for the second and third time in the next three days. The first contest was a 3-2 OT loss earlier in the season. The forward and defense lines appear to be the same as Sunday’s game, pending on Mike Green’s return. The puck drops at 7 PM. Keep the Faith. Rock the Red. Unleash the Fury.

 

 

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