Washington Capitals start Canadian trip with Vancouver
The Washington Capitals head to the Pacific Northwest to face the Vancouver Canucks. Here is a full game preview of the action.
10-26 Capitals (4-4-1) at Canucks (5-3-1)
10pm NBC Sports Washington
Last game for Washington: loss vs Florida 4-1
Goals: Djoos
Assists: Eller, Smith-Pelly
Last game for Vancouver: win at Minnesota 1-0
Goals: Virtanen
Assists: None
Injuries
Capitals-
- Matt Niskanen (upper body injury) week to week.
- Andre Burakovsky (broken left thumb) out 6-8 weeks.
Canucks-
- Brendan Gaunce (shoulder)
- Troy Stecher (knee) out 4-6 weeks.
- Loui Eriksson (knee)
- Alexander Edler (knee)
Keys to watch
Washington- The Capitals are beginning there three game western Canada road trip, in which they have lost 3 of 4. The team ranks 7th on the power play (25%), but are near the bottom on the penalty kill (76.9%), and are currently 25th out of 30 teams. Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov are still tied for 4th in the league with 12 points each. Alexander Ovechkin is 2nd in the league with 10 goals.
The Caps are a .500 team through their first nine games of this season and that’s unfamiliar territory for the Capitals. A 4-4-1 start is Washington’s worst start to a season since 2013-14 when the team 4-5-0 in what was Adam Oates final season as head coach.
Vancouver- The Canucks are returning after having a very successful 4-1-0 road trip, and play the next five games at Rogers Center. Derek Dorsett (5G-1A) and Brock Boeser (2G-4A) lead the team in points with 6. Vancouver averages a bit under three goals a game, but ranked 5th in the league allowing only 2.4 goals a game. Goalie Anders Nilsson ranks 2nd in the NHL, with a 1.84 GAA. The power play continues to hamper the team, as they currently are 10%, and that puts them in 28th out of 30 teams.
