Game Preview: Ovechkin, Capitals Look To Cool Off Streaking Columbus Blue Jackets

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

7–2–4 (18 points) ROSTER / SCHEDULE

7 P.M. – FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12 NATIONWIDE ARENA COLUMBUS, OHIO

BALLY SPORTS OHIO ESPN+

With three games in four nights at Nationwide Arena, the Columbus Blue Jackets will look to turn their early-season success into something they can keep up as the cold of winter nears.

Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, however, are looking to put that idea on ice.

Coming off nearly a week off, the well-rested Blue Jackets will look for their first four-game winning streak in two seasons against an aging Washington roster that will be on the back end of a back-to-back. The Capitals picked up two points Thursday night in Detroit, a 2-0 shutout over the Red Wings in a game that saw both Washington goals come just ten seconds apart in the first period.

Know the Foe

Washington hasn't won in Columbus since December 8th, 2018 — a span of over 1,000 days. It's been nearly two years since the two even met. The pandemic has a lot to do with that, with a shortened 2019-20 season and a schedule that didn't see the two teams play against each other last season. But it’ll seem familiar, because these Capitals aren't much different than the ones of a couple years ago. Ovechkin still leads the team in goals (11) and points (22), Tom Wilson still leads the team in penalty minutes, and the combination of Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie — when healthy — are still one of the better 1-2 punches in the league at center. Oshie will not play Friday, as he's been out for the better part of two weeks with a lower body injury. Nic Dowd and Anthony Mantha are also out, meaning the Capitals are missing an entire lines worth of forwards. John Carlson, as he has for over a decade now, leads the Washington defense. He's been paired this season with rookie Martin Fehervary, to mixed results.

In net is likely to be Ilya Samsonov. Rookie goaltender Zachary Fucale made his NHL debut Thursday and became the first goalie since 2015 to record a shutout in his first start, but it would seem unlikely that the begins starts his career with back-to-back road starts. If it's Samsonov, the Capitals have won in each of his three starts, but they've scored 15 goals in those three games — including seven in a game in which Samsonov allowed five goals to the Ottawa Senators. The 24-year-old has an .893 save percentage and a 2.81 goals against average on the year.

It's a talented yet aging group. The Capitals have 11 players who are in their 30's. By comparison, Jake Voracek and Gustav Nyquist are the only two 30 or older for Columbus. Washington will be playing the second night of a back-to-back and their fifth game in nine nights, so the well-rested and youthful Blue Jackets should look to get to the net early and often.

Storylines

• TOP LINE TEST: That debut grouping of Yegor Chinakhov, Cole Sillinger, and Voracek had to be beginners' luck — right? They looked like something special against Colorado in Saturday's thrilling win, but with game tape now available to opposing teams (not to mention Ovechkin on the other side of the ice), can the two kids and the savvy veteran replicate the success of last weekend?
   
• SECOND LINE SUCCESS: Of the six Columbus forward groups who have at least 20 minutes of ice time together as a trio, the combination of Nyquist, Boone Jenner, and Oliver Bjorkstrand have the second highest expected goals (per game) total. Yes, the Blue Jackets second line has been more successful — at least by that metric — than the trio of Patrik Laine, Jenner, and Voracek. Consider that the only line that ranks higher in the category is Nyquist, Bjorkstrand, and the recently bumped up Sillinger, and the argument could be made that the Blue Jackets have two top lines. When both could make the argument that they're the top line and the numbers would back up each group, it's not only music to ones' ears — it's a jam. If the second (or 1-A) line can keep their rhythm, the aging Capitals could be singing the blues.
   
• FOURTH LINE FUN: A fourth line is typically associated with heavy checking, physical play, and hey, if a puck finds its way in the net every now and then, consider it icing frosting on the cake. That has not been the Blue Jackets fourth line this season. The trio of Eric Robinson, Sean Kuraly, and Alexandre Texier, as our Dan Dukart examines, "has shut down, out-chanced, and out-scored their opponents, all while playing at a positional disadvantage." Keep an eye on the Blue Jackets fourth line Friday, because as they've gone thus far, so have the Jackets.

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  Projected Lines*

  LW		C		RW
  59	Yegor Chinakhov	34	Cole Sillinger	93	Jakub Voracek
  14	Gustav Nyquist	38	Boone Jenner	28	Oliver Bjorkstrand
  15	Gregory Hofmann	96	Jack Roslovic	11	Kevin Stenlund
  50	Eric Robinson	7	Sean Kuraly	42	Alexandre Texier

  LD		RD
  8	Zach Werenski	22	Jake Bean
  44	Vladislav Gavrikov	5	Gavin Bayreuther
  53	Gabriel Carlsson	2	Andrew Peeke

  Starting Goalie		Backup
  90	Elvis Merzlikins	70	Joonas Korpisalo

  *subject to change