The Washington Capitals will be hosting the Minnesota Wild at Verizon Center on Thursday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
The Capitals are coming off of a strong 6-2 win against John Tavares and the speedy Islanders. The Caps overcame the 1 goal deficit and scored 5 goals in the second period of play. In the explosion of scoring, the Caps scored 4 of their 5 2nd period goals in a 5 minute frame.
In Ovechkin's first game back from injury, he found the back of the net twice for two powerplay goals. John Carlson tallied his first goal of the season and Tom Wilson tallied his first NHL career goal and assist. It was an overall strong performance from the Caps and they'll look to extend their 3 game win streak against the Wild tonight.
In Braden Holtby's last two starts, he has shutout the Flyers and held the Islanders to only two goals. He is our projected starting goalie for tonights matchup.
The Caps have scored 15 goals in their last 3 games but they shouldn't let it get to their heads because the Wild have scored 13 in their last 3.
The Wild overcame a 1 goal deficit of their own on Tuesday, when they scored 5 unanswered goals against the Flames to get the win. Parise scored two goals in the matchup.
The Capitals will have their hands full tonight. In the Wild, they face the league's ice-time leader in defensemen Ryan Suter and the goal scorer Zach Parise. I expect the Wild will give Harding the start in goal and if they do the Caps will have to be at their best on the scoring front. Harding leads the league with a stellar 1.09 goals against average and also save percentage with a .951.
Note: With a Capitals win tonight, they can pull themselves to within 4 points of the 1st place Penguins in the Metropolitan Division. (The Penguins lost to the Rangers last night)
Zach's Three Keys to the Game:
** Defense - The Caps will have to play strong in their own end tonight. This is no team to make mistakes against as they are hot right now.
** Traffic - If Harding gets the start, the Caps are playing against the league's #1 ranked goalie. They will have to get traffic in front of the net and eliminate Harding's sight lines, try for some deflections and attack the net for rebounds.
** Special Teams - The Caps special teams match up nicely against the Wild on paper. The Caps #1 ranked powerplay should work well against the Wild's 25th ranked penalty kill. The Capitals have the leagues #1 ranked penalty kill and should matchup ok against the leagues #2 ranked powerplay unit in the Wild. Hopefully the Caps can capitalize on a few opportunities.
If your attending tonights game, ROCK THE RED !
Thanks for reading
Zach Hart
Shades of Red
Shades of Red
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