The Washington Capitals (18-9-3) visit PNC Arena to face the Carolina Hurricanes (13-12-4) at 7:30 p.m. Friday evening. This is the first of four meetings that the teams have during the regular season. The game will be broadcasted on Fox Sports Carolinas and NBCSN Washington.
In their Tuesday night matchup against the Detroit Red Wings at Capital One Arena, the Capitals won 6-2. Alexander Ovechkin had his first hat trick of the season, place him in the lead for most goals in league. Ovechkin has scored 25 goals in the 30 games he has played so far this season, which is putting him on track to have another 50-plus goal season. Nicklas Backstrom had four assists in Tuesday night’s win, three of them counting from Ovechkin’s three goals.
The coming off a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Hurricanes visit the Montreal Canadiens Thursday night. The Hurricanes come home to face off with Capitals Friday night.
What to watch for in the Washington Capitals:
In his first game back since his concussion, TJ Oshie scored a power play goal against the Red Wings in the Tuesday night’s game. Oshie has ten goals so far this season, second most on the team, despite his 13-game absence. Oshie has a direct impact on the offensive production of the Capitals team. He is on the first line powerplay unit with Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Ovechkin and John Carlson.
Travis Boyd has started a goal streak. He recorded his first career NHL goal in Saturday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets and scored his second in the 6-2 win Tuesday night.
Alexander Ovechkin has a 12-game point streak going into Friday night’s game. He recorded his 21st career hat trick in Tuesday night’s game putting him it 12th place for most in NHL history. Adding the three goals in Tuesday night’s game, Ovechkin has 25 goals in 30 games so far this season. This is the most amount of goals that he has had in his first 30 games in a season during his career. Ovechkin looks to add his goal total in Friday’s game.
Nicklas Backstrom also is coming off a historic night, recording four assists in Tuesday’s game. This is his 12 game with 4-plus assists, tying him for sixth with Gilbert Perreault for most regular season games with 4-plus assists. Backstrom, with 28 assists on the season, has proven that to be one of the Capitals top playmakers.
Tom Wilson is expected back in the lineup for Friday night’s game against the Hurricanes. Wilson has been out since last week with a concussion from last week’s matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Braden Holtby is expected in net following the 6-2 win on Tuesday night.
What to watch for in the Carolina Hurricanes:
In the past two games, Justin Williams has scored in each. Williams will be looking for his seventh on the year, as he is only five away from the 300-goal milestone. Williams previously spent two seasons with the Washington Capital during the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 season.
Petr Mrazek is expected to start in Thursday night’s game against the Canadiens. Scott Darling could be in net for Friday’s matchup against the Capitals.
Prediction: Capitals 4- Hurricanes 2
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