Fresh off a trip to the White House in honor of their 2023 Stanley Cup championship, the Vegas Golden Knights will turn their sights toward the Washington Capitals when the two clubs square off Tuesday at Capital One Arena (4 p.m. PT).
It will be the first of five games on Vegas’ current road trip, which also will include stops in Montreal, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Dallas. Last year, the Golden Knights went 5-0-0 on their Eastern Conference road trip, which also began in Washington.
Vegas is 12-2-1 on the year and sits in first place in the Western Conference with 25 points, though teams are hot on the trail with games in hand.
After losing two straight in regulation, the Golden Knights bounced back with a 5-0 win against the San Jose Sharks last Friday.
This will be a more competitive matchup, however, as the Capitals are third in the Metropolitan Division with a 7-4-2 record through 13 games.
That being said, Washington is dealing with a plethora of injuries. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper is day-to-day, and the club is without rearguards Trevor van Riemsdyk and Martin Fehervary in addition to forward Anthony Mantha. Nicklas Backstrom is taking time away from hockey due to ongoing injury concerns, and both Max Pacioretty and Joel Edmundson have yet to make their Capitals debuts after being acquired in the offseason.
For Vegas, Chandler Stephenson and Nicolas Roy have shed their non-contact jerseys but will not play today. Nicolas Hague did not skate with the team and may be further away from a return, though head coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t rule out the possibility of any or all of them playing soon.
The Capitals have gone 6-1-1 in their last eight games after getting off to a 1-3-1 start. Despite the recent success, the Capitals have had trouble holding leads and playing for a full 60 minutes. But, like the Golden Knights, the Caps have found ways to win.
It hasn’t necessarily been through a steady flow of offense, though, as Washington is averaging just 2.31 goals per game, which is the lowest rate in the league other than San Jose (1.31). It hasn’t helped that the Capitals have had a slew of goals overturned due to successful challenges in recent contests. For reference, the Golden Knights have scored an average of 3.67 goals per game (fifth overall); goal location data via NHL EDGE is shown below for the Golden Knights (left) and Capitals (right).
But much more significantly, the Washington power play has been abysmal, clicking at just 7.9 percent, which is the third-worst efficiency in the league. The Capitals have a total of three power-play goals on 38 chances this season.
On the other side of the puck, the Capitals are surrendering an average of 2.85 goals, which is good for eighth overall. Vegas trails only Boston with an average of 2.13 goals against per game.
Like Vegas, Washington’s penalty kill has been a strength, operating at 82.5 percent on the year. However, it has killed off all 18 power plays over the last eight games while netting two shorthanded tallies.
Notably, it has been a very slow start to the season for Alex Ovechkin, who has just four goals in 13 games; two of them came in Washington’s most recent tilt, a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders. Ovechkin still leads the team in scoring with 11 points, and he and John Carlson are tied with a team-high seven assists. Dylan Strome has a team-best six goals, while four players are tied for third with three: Tom Wilson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Connor McMichael and Mantha.
Kuznetsov leads the Capitals with 11 points (three goals and eight assists) in nine career games against Vegas. Ovechkin is second with seven (5-2—7). No one on the current Capitals roster has played in every meeting since 2017-18, but three of the original Golden Knights — William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Brayden McNabb — have suited up in all 10.
The Golden Knights are 8-2-0 all-time against the Capitals and 3-2-0 at Capital One Arena. Vegas won both matchups against Washington last season.
2022-23 season series recap
Game 11 of 82: Vegas @ Washington (3-2 VGK, OT)
Vegas trailed 2-1 going into the third period, but William Carrier evened things up at 14:04 to force overtime. This was Vegas’ first game after Jack Eichel’s memorable goal with seven seconds left in overtime against Connor Hellebuyck and the Jets. Once again, Eichel came through in extra time, this time setting up Shea Theodore for the game-winner at 1:35 of the extra frame.
Game 47 of 82: Vegas vs. Washington (6-2 VGK)
The Golden Knights took advantage of a brutal night of goaltending by the Capitals’ netminders, scoring six times and getting goals from five different skaters. Vegas took a 5-0 lead when Paul Cotter scored at 13:38 of the second period. T.J. Oshie got on the board in the final two minutes of the frame, but Cotter scored again 3:59 into the third. Though Marcus Johansson beat Logan Thompson later in the period, Vegas had done more than enough to wrap up the victory and come away with two points. Vegas scored a goal in the first four minutes of each period (2:17, 2:15, 3:59).
Special teams report
Power play
Capitals: 7.9 percent (3-for-38) — 30th overall
Golden Knights: 22.5 percent (11-for-49) — 11th overall
Penalty kill
Capitals: 82.5 percent (33-for-40) — 12th overall
Golden Knights: 85.1 percent (40-for-47) — 8th overall
In the crease
Capitals
Darcy Kuemper
Record: 3-3-2
GAA: 3.07
SV%: .892
Charlie Lindgren
Record: 2-1-0
GAA: 2.35
SV%: .927
Hunter Shepard
Record: 2-0-0
GAA: 2.50
SV%: .915
Lindgren and Kuemper each got a start in the season series last year, though Lindgren replaced Kuemper in the 6-2 blowout after Kuemper yielded four goals on 18 shots in the first 32:04. Lindgren stopped seven of nine (.778 SV%) the rest of the way. In the earlier matchup, Lindgren turned aside 28 of 31 for a .903 save percentage.
With Kuemper out with an injury, Shepard got the nod in the club’s most recent game, turning aside 36 of 37 for a .973 save percentage. Over the summer, he made 45 saves in Game 7 of the Calder Cup Final to help the AHL Hershey Bears clinch their 12th title in franchise history.
Golden Knights
Adin Hill
Record: 7-1-1
GAA: 1.75
SV%: .939
Logan Thompson
Record: 5-1-0
GAA: 2.31
SV%: .923
Thompson started both matchups against the Capitals last season. He stopped 19 of 21 for a .905 save percentage in the 3-2 OT win, then 20 of 22 (.909 SV%) in the 6-2 win in late January.
Hill has gotten the last two starts for Vegas. Since no goalie has started three consecutive games for Vegas this year, Cassidy could go back to Thompson tonight. Both have been strong for Vegas.
Keys to the game
Head in the game: The Golden Knights haven’t played since Friday. They had a day off, traveled to D.C. and met the President at the White House. Vegas got a quick practice in yesterday, but it was primarily a cardio workout “to get the blood flowing,” as Cassidy said. The Golden Knights were able to put aside the emotion from the banner-raising ceremony in the home opener; doing so today should be a much more straightforward task, but the Golden Knights will have to be sharp early to avoid falling into a hole after a three-day break.
Power grab: The Capitals’ penalty kill has been perfect in the last eight games, while their power play has struggled all season. Winning (or at least managing) the special teams battle will be important. Vegas is 7-0-0 when scoring at least one power-play goal this season. The Golden Knights have gone a combined 0-for-10 in their three losses, and they’ve surrendered at least one power-play goal in all three, going 0-for-1 against Chicago, 1-for-2 against Anaheim and 2-for-4 against Los Angeles.
Projected lineups
Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Jonathan Marchessault
William Carrier — Michael Amadio — Mark Stone
Paul Cotter — William Karlsson — Pavel Dorofeyev
Jonas Rondbjerg — Brett Howden — Keegan Kolesar
Alec Martinez — Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Ben Hutton — Zach Whitecloud
Logan Thompson
Adin Hill
Injured: Chandler Stephenson, Nicolas Roy, Nicolas Hague
Washington
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Sonny Milano — Dylan Strome — T.J. Oshie
Aliaksei Protas — Connor McMichael — Matthew Phillips
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Lucas Johansen — John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin — Nick Jensen
Hardy Haman Aktell — Alexander Alexeyev
Charlie Lindgren
Hunter Shepard
Injured: Kuemper, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Martin Fehervary, Mantha, Edmundson, Pacioretty, Backstrom
How to watch
Game 16: Golden Knights at Capitals
When: 4 p.m. PT
Where: Capital One Arena — Washington, D.C.
TV: Scripps
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM
Statistics courtesy of NHL.com, NHL EDGE