The Blackhawks brief December homestand continues on Tuesday night when they host the Washington Capitals at the United Center.
The Capitals made an impressive jump this season, going from finishing a lackluster 17th in the league and being swept in the first round of the playoffs last season to currently sitting in first in the Metropolitan Division and second overall in the league. Some of that is due to them shooting at a likely unsustainable 11.42 percent at 5-on-5 (second in the league), but that likely won’t drop too much because, while the Capitals could stand to shoot a bit more, their quality is pretty high (2.94 expected goals per 60, second in the league too). So even if the team doesn’t maintain that standing position, it’s a strong reversal in just a single season.
In recent play, the Capitals are 8-1-1 in their last 10, outscoring their opponents 35-25 in that span, moving them up to second best offense in the league (3.87 goals per game). That one loss was their most recent game: a 3-1 defeat to the Dallas Stars on Monday night that ended the Capitals 10-game road win streak. Dylan Strome opened the scoring for the Capitals with a few minutes left in the first period, but the Stars then scored three unanswered goals though the next two periods. Despite the outcome, Washington was pretty excellent in the game, controlling most of the game (59.09 percent share of shot attempts, 55.72 percent share of expected goals), but they couldn’t solve Jake Oettinger.
One thing to note about the Capitals scoring in their last 10 games: only 17 of those 35 goals were scored at 5-on-5, meaning they’re relying on their power play (10 goals) for a lot of offense as well. The rest of their goals came against an empty net (4), with an empty net (1), in 3-on-3 overtime (2), and on the penalty kill (1).
In terms of personnel, it’s not surprising the Capitals have a couple of guys producing at over a point-per-game rate: Alex Ovechkin at 1.39 and Strome at 1.27. The two have had good chemistry in the past, but it’s been off the charts this year, and Strome’s production only dipped slightly in the 12 games that Ovechkin missed due to injury. Beyond those two, the Capitals have youngsters Connor McMichael with 27 points (15 G, 12 A) and Aliaksei Protas (11 G, 15 A) along with veterans Tom Wilson (13 G, 11 A) and Pierre-Luc Dobois (4 G, 17 A) rounding out the top-six. Additionally, Washington has five other players between 0.35 and 0.5 point-per-game rates, which is really nice offensive forward depth.
The forwards aren’t the only one getting in on the action: on the back end, Jakob Chychrun has 21 points (9 G, 12 A) and John Carlson has 23 points (3 G, 20 A) in 25 and 30 games, respectively, while Rasmus Sandin (0.43 PPG) and Trevor van Riemsdyk (0.37 PPG) also have double-digit point totals.
The Capitals did not practice Tuesday morning since they played the night before, but their lines aren’t likely to be too different from what was rolled out against Dallas outside of a possible swap on the fourth line or bottom pairing. Logan Thompson is expected to be in goal: he has a .913 save-percentage and 2.45 goals against average in 15 games this season.
As for the Blackhawks, they’re coming off of one of their most complete and entertaining games of the season, a 5-3 win over the New York Islanders on Sunday. The two traded goals throughout the game before Connor Bedard broke the tie with 54 seconds left in the game. Teuvo Teravainen had a goal and two assists while Ilya Mikheyev and Connor Murphy scored the other two goals. Arvid Soderblom made 30 saves on 33 shots, a solid bounce back from his previous start where he was pulled (though arguably that wasn’t all on him).
In terms of lines, they were a little different at Tuesday’s morning skate: Nick Foligno was up on the top line with Bedard and Ryan Donato while Philipp Kurashev moved down to slot with Frank Nazar and Tyler Bertuzzi. Taylor Hall apparently did not practice this morning.
Interim coach Anders Sorenson wouldn’t say specifically why Hall missed practice, but confirmed that Hall will be a game-time decision. He also gave injury updates on Seth Jones and Petr Mrazek:
For the most part, these lines are fine, though it would be great to have at least one competent playmaker with Bedard. Foligno, Bedard, and Teravainen were the best line for Bedard this season by a longshot and, for some reason, was never reunited after Luke Richardson broke them up prematurely despite their success. Given his success in the last game, though, I can’t really understand leaving Teravainen where he is for now. Wyatt Kaiser sitting another game is also irksome. Yes, he had a very bad game against the Winnipeg Jets, but I believe there is just more value to Kaiser as a young player — whether as a long-term Blackhawks player or as a trade piece — than in TJ Brodie, who has been at best mediocre recently.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Capitals
45.02% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 51.46% (11th)
44.93% (29th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 53.65% (6th)
2.48 (30th) — Goals per game — 3.87 (2nd)
3.19 (24th) — Goals against per game — 2.67 (7th)
44.1% (31st) — Faceoffs — 50.1% (18th)
23.8% (9th) — Power play — 21.5% (15th)
84.4% (4th) — Penalty kill — 83.2% (6th)
(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 7:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
TV: CHSN (How to Watch) Crazy that we still have to provide a how-to-watch guide in mid-December, right?
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720