Vancouver Canucks vs. Washington Capitals: Preview, Lineups, Insights

The Vancouver Canucks will face the Washington Capitals tonight at Rogers Arena.

Two straight shutout losses are not what the Vancouver Canucks expected when they faced the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers. The only thing they can do now is look forward, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Up next are the Washington Capitals.

Washington Capitals

OVERVIEW:

2016-17 Record: 3-2-1

Away Record: 1-1-1

2015-16 Record vs. Canucks: 2-0-0

Goals For: 14

Goals Against: 14

Power Play: 10.5% (29th)

Penalty Kill: 72.2% (28th)

Leading Scorers: Alex Ovechkin (6 GP – 4 G – 1 A – 5 PTS), Marcus Johansson (6 GP – 1 G – 3 A – 4 PTS), Matt Niskanen (6 GP – 0 G – 4 A – 4 PTS).

Injuries: –

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WHO’S ON OFFENCE:

Alex Ovechkin: Ovechkin is still the Capitals’ best player and possibly the NHL’s best goal scorer. However, the Caps have been struggling to score, especially on the man advantage. Ovechkin has four goals in six games, but the Caps need him to win games by himself again.

Tom Wilson: Perhaps it isn’t fair to blame the scoring woes on Ovechkin. The fact that Wilson plays on the second line with zero goals and zero assists in six games might be more worrying. Washington needs bigger production (or any production at all) from Wilson and Co.

WHO’S ON DEFENCE:

Matt Niskanen: Niskanen is doing a great job on the Capitals’ top pairing, being the team’s third-best scorer through six games. The former Dallas Star and Pittsburgh Penguin has no goals but four assists.

WHO’S IN NET:

Braden Holtby: The 2016 Vezina Trophy winner, Holtby is one of the big reasons why it is so hard to score against the Capitals. If the Canucks want to get pucks past him and into the net, they will need to get really creative.

PROJECTED LINEUP:

Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Justin Williams
Marcus Johansson — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — T.J. Oshie
Zachary Stanford — Jay Beagle — Brett Connolly

Karl Alzner — Matt Niskanen
Dmitri Orlov — John Carlson
Brooks Orpik — Nate Schmidt

Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer

Vancouver Canucks

OVERVIEW:

2016-17 Record: 4-3-1

Home Record: 4-2-0

2015-16 Record vs. Capitals: 0-2-0

Goals For: 15

Goals Against: 19

Power Play: 12% (26th)

Penalty Kill: 84.2% (10th)

Leading Scorers: Brandon Sutter (6 GP – 1 G – 4 A – 5 PTS), Henrik Sedin (6 GP – 3 G – 2 A – 5 PTS), Daniel Sedin (6 GP – 2 G – 2 A – 4 PTS)

Injuries: Chris Tanev (lower body, day-to-day), Alex Burrows (neck, day-to-day), Derek Dorsett (shoulder, day-to-day), Anton Rodin (knee, day-to-day), Jayson Megna (undisclosed, day-to-day), Brendan Gaunce (undisclosed, day-to-day)

WHO’S ON OFFENCE:

Mike Zalewski: Zalewski was recalled from the AHL Utica Comets to serve as a healthy scratch until one of the NHL forwards returns. Following injuries to Jayson Megna and Brendan Gaunce against the Edmonton Oilers, Zalewski could draw into the lineup and centre the fourth line.

Alex Biega: Yes, Biega could return to the lineup as a winger. Unless the Canucks managed to recall someone from Utica last night, who could catch an early flight to Vancouver this morning, Biega could be the one manning the fourth-line wing for Megna.

WHO’S ON DEFENCE:

Erik Gudbranson: The fan base is still a little divided on Gudbranson. He does bring physicality to the lineup, but that seems to be it. Gudbranson is 6-foot-5, which is cool, but there isn’t much else he can provide.

Philip Larsen: Larsen should be scared to lose his spot in the lineup soon. He isn’t playing too well defensively, Troy Stecher keeps outplaying him, and once Chris Tanev returns, Larsen could be the odd man out.

WHO’S IN NET:

Jacob Markstrom: Ryan Miller might get a break after two straight losses. It’s not like getting shut out was on Miller, but Markstrom needs some playing time as well.

PROJECTED LINEUP:

Daniel Sedin — Henrik Sedin — Loui Eriksson
Markus Granlund — Brandon Sutter — Jannik Hansen
Sven Baertschi — Bo Horvat — Jack Skille
Jake Virtanen — Mike Zalewski — Alex Biega

Alex Edler — Troy Stecher
Ben Hutton — Erik Gudbranson
Luca Sbisa — Philip Larsen

Jacob Markstrom
Ryan Miller