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Everything You Want: Blackhawks at Capitals Preview

Chicago could become a part of NHL history if things don’t go their way on Friday night.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Daniel Bartel-USA TODAY Sports

History could be made on Friday night when the Blackhawks visit the nation’s capital to face the Washington Capitals.

The Capitals currently have the second-best points percentage in the league at .700, training only the Winnipeg Jets league-leading 108 points in 76 games by only three points — but with a game in hand — in a race to see which team earns the President’s Trophy. The Jets overtook the Capitals recently, going 7-3-0 in their last 10 games versus the Capitals at 5-4-1. One of those losses was the last game for the Capitals: they fell 5-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday though, to be fair, it was the second game in a back-to-back situation. Alex Ovechkin was the lone goal scorer for the Capitals in that game.

Speaking of Ovechkin, let’s get into the big story heading into tonight: will Alex Ovechkin break Wayne Gretzky’s goal record against the Blackhawks on Friday? It would take a hat trick, which is obviously more difficult than him being just a goal away, but Ovechkin has two other hat tricks already this season and he’s highly motivated, so it’s a very real possibility. So possible that Gretzky is expected to be in attendance and so will several of Ovechkin’s former teammates, just in case it happens.

Ovechkin obviously leads the Capitals in goal scoring (39) and is also the team leader in points-per-game at 1.12. His primary center, Dylan Strome, is next up with 0.97 PPG (team-high 73 points in 75 games) and then there are four other forwards that produce at 0.6 or better: Aliaksei Protas (66 in 75, 0.88), Pierre-Luc Dubois (63 in 75, 0.84), Tom Wilson (61 in 74, 0.82), and Connor McMichael (54 in 75, 0.67). On defense, Jakob Chychrun (47 in 70, 0.67) and John Carlson (47 in 75, 0.63) are an offensive force as well. This is one of the most productive top-six groups in the league with solid contributions from their defense, so it’s not surprising that the Capitals have the top goals rate (3.60 goals per game) in the league.

Capitals lines and pairings will be somewhat similar to how they rolled against the Hurricanes:

The main changes will be old friend Taylor Raddysh coming in for Anthony Beauviller for forwards, while Matt Roy will be return to replace Dylan McIlrath on defense.

The Capitals usual starter, Logan Thompson, was injured during the Carolina game, so Charlie Lindgren will be in net against Chicago. He has a .899 save percentage this season.

As for the the Blackhawks, they have only won one game in their last 10, despite many feeling more competitive as of late. Most recently, they dropped a 3-2 affair to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night, failing to hold to a two-goal lead going into the third and losing in the shootout. Still, the Avalanche are one of the best teams in the league, so it wasn’t unexpectedly for the Blackhawks to lose and was honestly commendable that the game took until the shootout to be decided. Connor Murphy had a goal and an assist, and Ilya Mikheyev scored a short-handed goal for the Blackhawks (21-44-10), who have lost four in a row. Spencer Knight made 29 saves for a .935 save percentage.

The Blackhawks lines and pairings remain basically untouched from the previous game against the Avalanche save for two changes: Philipp Kurashev is in for Lukas Reichel and Kevin Korchinski is in for Ethan Del Mastro.

Reichel apparently missed a team meeting, hence the healthy scratch.

Spencer Knight will be the starter for the Blackhawks:

The Blackhawks actually won the last bout with the Capitals, coming back after being down 2-0 going into the third and then winning 3-2. The game was in mid-December, so only a couple of weeks into Anders Sorensen’s tenure as interim head coach when the Blackhawks were riding a a bit of a new-coach high. It was during that high that the Ilya Mikheyev and Teuvo Teravainen connection was made, and the two combined for the most points in that particular game, too: Mikheyev scored a short-handed goal and had an assist while Teravainen had three assists.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Capitals
44.03% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 50.67% (11th)
42.82% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 50.70% (13th)
2.69 (27th) — Goals per game — 3.60 (1st)
3.59 (30th) — Goals against per game — 2.68 (8th)
45.0% (31st) — Faceoffs — 50.2 (16th)
24.6% (10th) — Power play — 22.2% (13th)
81.1% (9th) — Penalty kill — 81.3% (8th)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

When: 6 p.m. CT
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington
TV: CHSN, NHL Network
Webstream: CHSN+
Radio: WGN 720

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