The Anaheim Ducks will try to cool off Ryan Leonard and the visiting Washington Capitals when the teams meet Friday night.
Leonard, a 20-year-old rookie, had two goals and two assists in the surging Capitals’ 7-1 win against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. Washington, which is 3-0 on a four-game road trip, has won six straight and nine of 10.
Anaheim is coming off a 7-0 home loss to the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday and alternated losses and wins over its past eight games while averaging 3.25 goals.
Alex Ovechkin scored his 910th and 911th career goals against San Jose. Matt Roy had three assists, and Brandon Duhaime had a goal and an assist. Charlie Lindgren made 23 saves and took a shutout into the third period on a night the Capitals were playing the second of back-to-back games.
“We get in three in the morning, and some different things are going on with our lineup and playing back-to-back,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “It didn’t affect our group and the commitment level to how we play, and our identity was as good as it could possibly be.”
Carbery was referring to injuries to defenseman John Carlson (upper body) and forward Justin Sourdif (lower body), who missed the game.
Washington’s offense did not suffer from their absences and is averaging 4.5 goals per game during the winning streak. Ovechkin extended his points streak to six games (four goals, five assists).
Leonard has a four-game point streak (two goals, five assists). His four-point game was the first by a Capitals rookie since Nicklas Backstrom in 2008.
“That guy just has it,” Lindgren said of Leonard. “He’s just such a phenomenal offensive threat.”
Forward Nic Dowd returned to the lineup after missing eight games with an upper-body injury.
The Ducks allowed multiple goals in each period against the Mammoth and were shut out for the second time this season.
“They played like they were a desperate team and we looked like we were a step slow,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “It’s one of those games you look back on at the end of the year … that you can say you throw in the garbage can. That’s our first one that we’re gonna throw in the garbage can.”
Ville Husso gave up four goals over two periods. Vyacheslav Buteyets made his NHL debut in relief and had 10 saves on 13 shots.
“We want to hold ourselves to the highest possible standard,” Anaheim captain Radko Gudas said. “We think highly of ourselves. We want to be better every day and this wasn’t the case (Wednesday). Big learning process for us. We never want to have games like that, especially in our own barn.”
Ducks rookie forward Beckett Sennecke saw his point streak end at eight games (one goal, seven assists).
Anaheim is without goalies Lukas Dostal (upper-body injury) and Petr Mrazek (lower body).
Washington has scored first in 20 of its 28 games this season. Anaheim has allowed the opening goal in 17 of 27 games.
–Field Level Media
