#CapsDevils Skate Shavings: Closing The Book On 2016

Saturday finds the Capitals in Newark, where they'll finish off the 2016 portion of the 2016-17 regular season slate and a home-and-home set of games with the New Jersey Devils. The Devils won the opener at Verizon Center on Thursday, taking a 2-1 shootout decision to hand the Caps their fourth loss in their last five games (1-2-2).

The Caps played well enough in most aspects of the game on Thursday. They teed up a total of 78 shot attempts and got a single-game season high of 44 of them on net. But Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid was at the top of his game, yielding only Daniel Winnik's shorthanded goal early in the third period.

"I think we had a good game," says Capitals winger Andre Burakovsky. "We did a lot of good things. We were skating and we kept them down in their zone. I don't think we gave them a whole lot - a couple of chances. And obviously the shootout is what it is, it's fifty/fifty. We've been a little unlucky in shootouts, but we've got to bounce back."

Although the Caps got a lot of shots on Kinkaid and although the Devils permit the seventh highest rate of shots per game (31.9) in the league this season, Washington wasn't able to generate enough of those shots from the prime areas of the ice, nor was it able to get the second and third chances that are so crucial to scoring in the modern NHL.

"They collapsed pretty good and kept everything to the outside," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "That's what you're going to find with collapse teams. They collapse and they keep you to the outside. They're committed to blocking shots, committed to getting on the inside and committed to boxing you out and preventing you from getting to the net.

"So they did a good job. And then there were some loose pucks where if we got to them, it would have been a different story. We didn't. It goes to a shootout, and we know the result."

Metro Woes - The Caps have already suffered as many regulation losses (five) to Metropolitan Division opponents as they did all last season (20-5-5). The Capitals own a 4-5-4 mark in 13 games against fellow Metro denizens this season, and Washington has lost three in a row (0-1-2) to Metro opponents. All three of those losses have come to teams behind the Caps in the divisional standings, and all while the teams ahead of Washington continue to pile up the wins and the points.

Heading into Saturday's slate of NHL activity, the Capitals are only six points ahead of sixth place Carolina in the Metro standings. The Caps are nine points behind the front-running Columbus Blue Jackets.

New Year's Eve - Today's game marks the ninth time in Washington's franchise history that the Capitals have played a game on New Year's Eve. With another game looming on Sunday night at Verizon Center against the Ottawa Senators, the Caps are the only NHL team scheduled to play on both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day this season.

The Caps have played seven New Year's Eve games on the road (3-4) and one at home (1-0) in their history. In their only previous New Year's Eve game against the Devils, they were victorious. On Dec. 31, 1983, the Caps earned a 3-2 win over the Devils in New Jersey, with Mike Gartner supplying the game-winning goal at 19:14 of the third period.

In The Nets -Today's game is the front end of a set of back-to-back games, and as is customary for the Capitals in such situations, Washington will split the goaltending chores. Philipp Grubauer goes on Saturday afternoon against the Devils while Braden Holtby is expected to get the net on Sunday against Ottawa.

Grubauer is 5-1-1 on the season with a 1.84 GAA and a .934 save pct. He has allowed two or fewer goals in five of his seven starts this season. Today marks his first career appearance against New Jersey.

For the Devils, Kinkaid gets a second consecutive start for the first time this season. Given the way he played against Washington on Thursday, that's not surprising. But given Cory Schneider's 9-2-1 record at the Prudential Center this season, it may qualify as a bit of a surprise. (Schneider is 1-10-4 with a 3.25 GAA and an .898 save pct. in road games this season.)

Kinkaid is 4-3-2 on the season with a 2.49 GAA and a .930 save pct. In just two starts on home ice, he is 0-1-1 with a 3.48 GAA and an .885 save pct.

"Kinkaid was real good last game," says Trotz. "We've just got to make it hard on every goaltender. We've got to score some more goals here. Be it on special teams or five-on-five, we've got to score some more goals.

"Defensively, we've been pretty decent. It's just making it hard on goaltenders, night in and night out. And I thought we did that for the most part [Thursday] night, but we'll have to make it even harder on him."

All Lined Up - With no morning skate prior to Saturday's matinee match against the Devils, we're not sure as to either team's lineup and we won't be until pregame warm-ups. So here's our best guess as to what you should expect when the two teams take the ice at Prudential Center on Saturday:

WASHINGTON

Forwards

8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie

90-Johansson, 92-Kuznetsov, 14-Williams

10-Connolly, 20-Eller, 65-Burakovsky

26-Winnik, 83-Beagle, 43-Wilson

Defensemen

27-Alzner, 74-Carlson

9-Orlov, 2-Niskanen

44-Orpik, 88-Schmidt

Goaltenders

31-Grubauer

70-Holtby

Scratches

4-Chorney

13-Vrana
NEW JERSEY

Forwards

13-Cammalleri, 19-Zajac, 21-Palmeiri

8-Bennett, 14-Henrique, 11-Parenteau

44-Wood, 16-Josefson, 25-Smith-Pelly

20-Gazdic, 51-Kalinin, 36-Lappin

Defensemen

6-Greene, 28-Severson

33-Auvitu, 12-Lovejoy

2-Moore, 22-Quincey

Goaltenders

1-Kinkaid

35-Schneider

Injuries

9-Hall (lower body)

38-Fiddler (lower body)

Scratches

7-Merrill

37-Zacha