The Washington Capitals wrap up their 5 game road skid when they battle the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night at Wells Fargo center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00pm.
The Flyers are coming off of a loss to the Anaheim Ducks in which they gave up 2 straight goals in the 3rd period for a final score of 2-3. They have a less than desirable record at home of 2-5. New addition Vincent Lecavalier is hot with 4 goals in the last 2 contests including a hat trick on Oct 26th against the New York Islanders.
The Flyers executed a trade Thursday which sent Maxime Talbot to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Steve Downie. Steve Downie was drafted by the Flyers in the 1st round of the 2005 NHL draft and with his arrival, he is interestingly tied atop the Flyers squad with 7 points.
The Washington Capitals are coming off of a 2-3 Monday night loss to the Vancouver Canucks and are hoping to improve from the matchup. The loss worsened the Capitals record on the road to 2-4. They started the game off strong but gave up a 1 goal lead in the 3rd period to the rallying Canucks. Alex Ovechkin was injured in the 1st period of play (although he finished the game) and will not be making the trip to Philadelphia for the team's Friday night matchup. Adam Oates has described it as an "upper body" injury and his recovery time is listed as "day to day." Perhaps the rookie Tom Wilson could get some top line minutes.
The third line of Chimera, Ward and Grabovski has been arguably the hottest line for the Caps as of late. In the last three games, Chimera has scored a goal in each and the 3rd line has combined for 5 goals and ten total points. They are excellent at winning board battles and creating scoring chances in all zones of the rink. With Ovechkin out of the lineup, the Flyers should be anticipating a heavy dose of the 3rd line.
Neuvirth was strong against the Canucks (besides one puck that squirted from his glove for a goal) and is making his case for being marked down as the starting goalie. The decision will be tough, but given Oates' track record, I expect he'll give the nod to Braden Holtby.
Zach's Three Keys to the Game:
** Score on the power play- The Caps power play has been quite non-existent the last three games and has dropped from 1st to 5th in the league. Without their leading goal scorer in the lineup, they'll need to capitalize on special teams.
** Defense- The defense has had a slow start this season and it's time to prove that the amount of talent these players have is capable of showing on the ice. It's time for Green to lead by example and show the critics he isn't being paid roughly $6 million a year to QB a power play.
** Line 4- This line hasn't done much this season. Hopefully, they can throw a point or two on the board and get more aggressive. Hit people hard, wear out the defense, get some zone time, and throw some pucks on the net.
Thanks for reading,
Zach
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