SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes from Caps' Morning Skate 12/29

Saturday Night In Ottawa -The Caps are spending their final two Saturday nights of 2018 in the suburbs near Canada's capital city of Ottawa. A week after authoring a 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators here, the Caps are back for their second and final road game against the Senators this season.

Washington enters the game with the third best record in the league from a points percentage (.681) perspective, and it also owns the third best record in the Eastern Conference behind both Tampa Bay and Toronto. The Caps are also third in the league in goals per game, again trailing the Lightning and the Leafs.
The Sens are struggling; they've lost three straight and will be without goaltender Craig Anderson and top defenseman Thomas Chabot, both of whom are out with upper body injuries. Ottawa also played on the road last night, dropping a 6-3 decision to the Islanders in Brooklyn.
While the Sens allow the most goals in the league - an average of 3.95 per game - they also boast a potent attack that ranks 11th in the league with 3.18 goals per game, and they've played pretty well (11-6-3) on home ice in 2018-19.

"I expect a really desperate team," says Caps coach Todd Reirden of the Sens. "I saw how they finished the game last night. They're a team that battles and competes. I watched the game and they were in that game and they really should have had a good chance of winning it. A few miscues ended up costing them. I thought they carried the play in the beginning of the game for sure.
"So I expect that same look from them tonight. Obviously, they're going to have some different guys in the lineup, too. Sometimes, that adds a little bit of spark to your team. Our Capitals team this year has really been fortunate that our guys that have come in and stepped into our lineup have been able to add to our success, and they add a little extra enthusiasm to your lineup. So sometimes it's a blessing in disguise when you miss some guys. Obviously, they've got some top players out but sometimes it works better like that for you in the long run, especially in a back-to-back situation."
Down Some Dudes On D - After being on the receiving end of a scary hit from behind in Thursday's 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen will miss tonight's tilt because of an upper body injury. It's the first game Niskanen will miss this season and it leaves Dmitry Orlov as the only defenseman who has seen action in every game for Washington this season.
Niskanen joins Brooks Orpik (knee) and Christian Djoos (lower body) on the sidelines, leaving the Capitals without half of their Stanley Cup championship group of regular defensemen.
That means Tyler Lewington gets back into the lineup and is in the rare situation of playing each of his first two NHL games on the road and in the same building; he acquitted himself nicely here a week ago in making his NHL debut against the Sens in Washington's 4-0 win. It also means that Madison Bowey slides up a slot to Niskanen's customary spot playing alongside Orlov.
"It's tough losing such a key contributor to our success," says Bowey. "I know Nisky, the way he plays, the skill he has, the work ethic he has, he brings it every day and I know it's a tough gap to fill. But for myself, I've just got to look forward to it. I've had a few opportunities this year that I've tried to take advantage of, and this is another one of those times.
"I'm just looking to play my game, step up in his absence and do my best for the team and try to get us these two points here."

Rolling On The Road - Saturday's game is the last road game for the Washington in calendar 2018, a year which actually turned out fairly well for the Capitals, if you hadn't heard.
On Jan. 2, 2017, the Caps forged a 5-4 overtime win over the Hurricanes in Carolina in their first road game of the year.
Even though they endured a four-game road losing streak from Feb. 22-March 8 of this year, the Caps have rolled up an impressive 34-15-3 road record in 52 contests away from the District in 2018, going 24-12-3 in regular season play and 10-3 in the playoffs en route to a Stanley Cup championship last spring.
Since that aforementioned four-game losing streak, the Caps have posted a 28-9-1 road mark. Coming into Saturday's game at Ottawa, the Caps have won four straight road games and eight of their last nine.
"I think it's proper preparation by our guys in our room," says Reirden of his team's road success. "We have a really strong leadership group that makes sure we take advantage of every game we're playing and we get the most out of it, whether we are home or away. I think they're comfortable with each other - a lot of guys who have played together for back-to-back years here, and obviously we're getting some new guys in the lineup tonight. But it's just getting used to how we get prepared and holding each other accountable in the room. I think our leaders do a great job of that, and our staff does as well."
Way back in 1983-84, the Capitals forged a six-game road winning streak, the longest of the franchise's existence. Washington wasn't able to match that streak until 2010-11, and that six-game winning run still stands as the franchise standard for consecutive road wins within a single regular season. The Caps won their last five road games of 2017-18 for their longest road spree and they can match that with a win on Saturday night in their 2018 road finale in Ottawa.

In The Nets - A week after he made 35 saves to earn the first shutout of his NHL career over the Sens in Ottawa, Caps goaltender Pheonix Copley gets an encore start against the Sens in Ottawa.
"We continue to see his game evolve, develop and grow," says Reirden of Copley. "We're just getting him into situations where he is not on the sidelines too long after a break, and with us playing that 12:30 [p.m.] game against Nashville [on Monday], it's a quick turnaround to have Braden [Holtby] play all three. So we feel like this sets us up for success in all three games, by starting Braden right after the break and then going with Pheonix tonight and then going back with Braden against Nashville."
In his last 10 starts, Copley is 8-1-0 with a 2.41 GAA and a .916 save pct. Copley has claimed six of his eight victories on the road this season.
Veteran Senators goaltender Craig Anderson has been ruled out of action for this weekend's games; he suffered a concussion in a Dec. 21 game against the Devils in Newark when New Jersey forward Miles Wood ran into him. With Anderson out, the Sens have recalled goaltender Marcus Hogberg from AHL Belleville. The 24-year-old Hogberg was the Sens' third-round pick (78th overall) in the 2013 NHL Draft, and he is in his second season as a pro.
Ottawa has a set of back-to-backs this weekend; the Sens returned from their holiday break on Friday night against the Islanders in Brooklyn, where they took a 6-3 doubling up from New York. Mike McKenna stopped 33 of 38 in that game, and Hogberg is slated to make his NHL debut against Washington tonight.
The 6-foot-5, 217-pound Hogberg last started for Belleville on Wednesday, stopping 31 of 32 shots against Toronto to earn his third win of the season. He is 3-3-1 with a 2.32 GAA and a .916 save pct. with Belleville this season.
All Lined Up - This is how we expect the Caps and the Senators to look when they meet for the second straight Saturday night in suburban Ottawa:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie
13-Vrana, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
65-Burakovsky, 20-Eller, 10-Connolly
18-Stephenson, 26-Dowd, 25-Smith-Pelly
Defensemen
6-Kempny, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 22-Bowey
34-Siegenthaler, 78-Lewington
Goaltenders
1-Copley
70-Holtby
Injuries
2-Niskanen (upper body)
29-Djoos (lower body)
44-Orpik (lower body)
Scratches
23-Jaskin
72-Boyd
OTTAWA
Forwards
7-Tkachuk, 36-White, 61-Stone
18-Dzingel, 95-Duchene, 15-Smith,
89-Boedker, 71-Tierney, 9-Ryan
56-Paajarvi, 13-Paul
Defensemen
58-Lajoie 2-DiMelo
74-Borwiecki, 5-Ceci
67-Harpur, 29-Elliott
86-Wolanin
Goaltenders
35-Hogberg
33-McKenna
Injuries
12-Gaborik (back)
16-MacArthur (undisclosed)
41-Anderson (concussion)
42-Falk (upper body)
44-Pageau (torn Achilles)
72-Chabot (upper body)
83-Saros (undisclosed)
Scratches
10-Pyatt