Black Friday – The Caps will be shopping for a sixth straight victory on Friday afternoon at Capital One Arena when they host the Edmonton Oilers in the finale of a four-game homestand. Edmonton will be seeking to halt a three-game slide, and to avoid going home empty-handed from its current four-game road trip.
The Oilers were preseason Cup favorites of some pundits and prognosticators, and their 2-9-1 start led to the dismissal of Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft. Although the Oilers are struggling, they still possess all the offensive weapons that they’ve had for the last several seasons, and they can’t be taken lightly.
“Certainly, when you see them on the schedule, you don’t think about where they are in the standings, and it will always be like that,” says Caps’ defenseman John Carlson. “It’s just another added reason to tune out the noise, and to tune out everything that could distract you from the task at hand.
“I think we’re the type of team that’s not going to turn it on and off. We set the pace and we set the standard for ourselves. What’s going to make this team good is just that we stick to it all the time. We bring that intensity whether it’s game three or game 82, and I think this is a good example for us to show our colors.”
Washington expects to have Evgeny Kuznetsov back in its lineup after a two-game absence because of illness; Hendrix Lapierre will sit tonight after playing a couple of solid games while Kuznetsov was covalescing.
Blueliner Martin Fehervary (lower body) practiced with the team on Thursday, but he remains on injured reserve and won’t play this afternoon. There is hope that he could return for Monday’s game against the Sharks in San Jose, the opener of the Caps’ upcoming five-game road trip.
Immediately after today’s tilt, the Caps hit the road for their longest trip of the season, a five-game, 12-day journey that takes them to California, Vegas and Arizona. But until the final buzzer of today’s game, the Caps’ focus has to be on Edmonton.
“I think it’s a dangerous situation for our group just with us going on the road tonight, and leaving tonight,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “Thanksgiving was yesterday, we’re going out west to California, so we talked quite a bit about getting ahead of ourselves and making sure that we’re very present in the moment for today, and we understand the significant challenge ahead with the group that’s coming in here, and where they’re at with their season. We’re going to need out best tonight to finish this homestand.”
Lowdown – The Caps’ current five-game winning streak is their longest of the season, and longest since they strung together a pair of five-game winning streaks last December. The last time Washington managed a winning streak longer than five games was a seven-game spree from March 7-19, 2021.
Each of the five victories in the current streak has been secured with the Caps scoring four or fewer goals, and Washington has outscored the opposition by a combined 19-9 over the life of its current streak, needing overtime only once, in Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Sabres. Over the course of the franchise’s history of nearly half a century, the Caps have cobbled together 59 separate winning streaks of five or more games in duration, but this is only the second one in which each win was achieved by scoring four or fewer goals.
When they reeled off six straight wins from Dec. 5-16, 2016, the Caps also scored four or fewer goals in each game, two of the victories came in overtime and the sixth one was sealed in the shootout. Washington outscored the opposition by a combined 21-12 over those six triumphs in the middle of that Presidents’ Trophy-winning campaign.
In The Nets – Darcy Kuemper earned his fourth win of the season with a 24-save effort against the Sabres on Wednesday night, but Charlie Lindgren is back between the pipes for the Caps this afternoon against Edmonton. Lindgren will be making his fourth start in the Caps’ last six games, and his fifth in the last eight.
In his four November starts, Lindgren is a perfect 4-0-0 with a shutout, a 1.51 GAA and a .955 save pct. Lifetime against the Oilers, he is 2-0-0 with a 3.01 GAA and an .898 save pct. in two appearances, both starts.
For the Oilers, we are guessing that Stuart Skinner will get the start today. Skinner has started seven of Edmonton’s last eight games, but he was pulled in the first period of his last start – on Wednesday in Carolina – after being dented for four goals on a dozen shots in just under 15 minutes of work.
On the season, Skinner is 4-7-1 with a 3.66 GAA and an .865 save pct. in 13 appearances (12 starts). Lifetime against Washington, Skinner is 0-2-0 with a 4.09 GAA and a .901 save pct. in two appearances, both starts.
All Lined Up – Here is how we believe the Capitals and Oilers might look when they take the ice at Capital One Arena on Friday afternoon:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
15-Milano, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
21-Protas, 24-McMichael, 39-Mantha
47-Malenstyn, 26-Dowd, 96-Aube-Kubel
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
6-Edmundson, 3-Jensen
27-Alexeyev, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
35-Kuemper
Injured
19-Backstrom (upper body)
42-Fehervary (lower body)
67-Pacioretty (torn Achilles’ tendon)
Scratches
29-Lapierre
45-Phillips
46-Johansen
EDMONTON
Forwards
37-Foegele, 97-McDavid, 29-Draisaitl
91-Kane, 93-Nugent-Hopkins, 18-Hyman
13-Janmark, 71-McLeod, 10-Ryan
57-Hamblin, 28-Brown
Defensemen
25-Nurse, 27-Kulak
14-Ekholm, 2-Bouchard
86-Broberg, 73-Desharnais
5-Ceci
Goaltenders
74-Skinner
30-Pickard
Injured
55-Holloway (upper body)
Scratches
21-Erne
89-Gagner
