The Washington Capitals are looking to extend their six-game home point streak (5-0-1) when they welcome the Detroit Red Wings to the nation’s capital on Saturday afternoon.
The Capitals are coming off an impressive 4-0 home victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
Jakob Chychrun scored twice to stretch his league lead for goals by a defenseman to 14, while Logan Thompson made 22 saves en route to his second shutout effort in his past four starts.
“I thought it was probably our best game of the year from a whole collective group,” Thompson said. “I thought honestly, a perfect game.”
Chychrun’s fellow blueliner John Carlson finished with a goal and two assists, and Justin Sourdif picked up two assists as well.
“We wanted to play a lot better than we have been and I think the guys responded well,” Carlson said after the game. “I think that’s a big step for our group. Kind of a big moment to stop the little losing streak that we were on.”
The Capitals had entered Thursday’s tilt on a short slide, with three straight losses (0-2-1).
Captain Alex Ovechkin will be hoping to get off the schneid on Saturday, as the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer has failed to find the back of the net in six straight games, amassing just two assists across that stretch.
The veteran sniper has had no trouble scoring against Detroit in his career though, totaling 25 goals in 38 clashes with the Red Wings.
The division-leading Red Wings have been faring well of late, coming out on top in five of their past seven contests (5-1-1), but fell to the Utah Mammoth 4-1 at home in their most recent contest on Wednesday.
“Tonight, for me, the difference was obvious, it was play around our net,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “It wasn’t just the goals we gave up, it was some chances that they had even earlier in the game. They were much better around their blue paint. … They were better than us in that area and they got the best of us, it’s obviously an area that we have to work on this week because we’re going to play against a team that goes to the net and scores in those spots, in Washington.”
Suiting up for the second consecutive night after defeating the New York Islanders 3-2 on Tuesday, Detroit’s offense fell flat, with Emmitt Finnie providing the lone goal for the losing side.
The Red Wings’ attack could receive a welcomed boost on Saturday as veteran forward Patrick Kane has a chance to return to the lineup after missing the previous two contests with an upper-body injury.
The 39-year-old is nearly a point-per-game player this season with six goals and 17 assists across 24 games and he currently sits just two goals shy of becoming the 50th player in NHL history to join the 500-goal club.
The Capitals have won each of the previous three home clashes with the Red Wings and four of the past five overall meetings. The teams meet again on Sunday in Detroit.
–Field Level Media
