Capitals vs. Penguins; Time to turn things around!
Today the Pittsburg Penguins (37-17-6) come to Capital One Arena to face the Washington Capitals (37-18-6). This is the second afternoon game in a row for both teams. The Pens took a beating at the hands of Buffalo yesterday losing 5-2. The Caps also lost yesterday 3-2 to New Jersey. This will be the second of four games in regular season between these two rivals. The next two games will be in Pittsburg.
The last time they played the Pens won 4-3. In the last twelve games played against each other, it’s split down the middle, six wins for the Pens and six for the Caps. However in the last ten games against other opponents, Washington is 3-6-1 and Pittsburg is 6-3-1. The Caps are in a rough spot losing four in a row and Pens have a two game losing streak. So one way or another someone breaks a losing streak today.
Alex Ovechkin did score against the Devils, to become the eighth NHL players to score 700 goals and also the second youngest player to accomplish this feat. Now that he has reached 700, the Caps can put it behind them and get back to focusing on the task at hand. Caps next game will be February 25 at home. Coach Reirden has left the lines as they were.
Washington Capitals
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Wilson
Vrana – Backstrom – Oshie
Hagelin – Eller – Panik
Leipsic – Dowd – Hathaway
Dillon – Carlson
Kempny – Orlov
Siegenthaler – Jensen
Pittsburg Penguins
Zucker – Crosby – Simon
Rust – Malkin – Hornqvist
McCann – Blueger – Tanev
Angello – Agozzino – Lafferty
Johnson – Letang
Petterson – Schultz
Trotman – Ruhwedel
Murray
In the crease
Braden Holtby (21-13-4) will get the start today. The numbers for Holtby are .896 save percentage and 3.14 goals against average. His numbers have been bad this year and he now has a three game losing streak. I don’t think the losses fall solely on his hands and he has been left out to dry by teammates at times. Despite losing three in a row, if you look at his numbers for the last five games, he is .896 save percentage and 2.52 games against average. So he has improved his numbers as of late, despite the losses. Puck drops at noon.
