The frozen frenzy was a blast as every team got to play a game last night. Now, New Jersey (3-1-1) returns home for the second half of a back to back while coming off a dominant victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
Their opponent is the Washington Capitals (1–3-1), who are coming off a loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. It is a Metropolitan Division showdown, nationally televised, on Wednesday night and is the lone game on the slate.
Projected Lineup
Washington Capitals –
Forwards
Ovechkin-Strome-Phillips
McMichael-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Milano-Backstrom-Wilson
Malenstyn-Protas-Mantha
Defense
Fehervary-Carlson
Sandin-van Riemsdyk
Alexeyev-Jensen
Goaltending
Shepard
Kuemper
New Jersey Devils –
Forwards
Toffoli-Hughes-Meier
Palat-Hischier-Bratt
Mercer-Haula-Holtz
Lazar-McLeod-Bastian
Defense
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Bahl-Marino
Hughes-Smith
Goaltending
Vanecek
Schmid
What to Watch For
Washington’s Struggling Offense
Entering the 2023-24 season the Capitals were a bit of a question mark. They brought back the same squad that failed to make the playoffs last season and it has not paid dividends to begin the season. Last season, there was a glaring scoring problem outside of Alexander Ovechkin, but this year’s offensive struggles are alarming.
Washington has just five players who have scored goals and just six tallies in total. As a team, they have the 32nd-ranked shooting percentage (4.4%) and rank 28th in shots per game.
They’ll need to convert and generate way more opportunities against a high-scoring Devils team.
Overmatched Special Teams Play
Entering play, both teams are coming off playing the night before and traveling to get to Newark. There could be tired legs and that could lead to penalty trouble. Mental mistakes can happen and the play on the ice can get sloppy. If this ends up happening, the Devils’ lethal power play is something to keep an eye on.
New Jersey has more power play goals scored than Washington does overall (six). They move the puck crisply and always manage to find the open man. The Devils enter tonight’s matchup with the league-best power play, which has a 44% success rate.
Early on, the Capitals own the league’s 31st-best penalty kill at only a 68.2% success rate.
Where to Watch
Tonight’s puck drop is at 7:30 pm ET and can be found on TNT.