Full Gameday Preview and Coverage – 11/13/18 – Washington Capitals v. Minnesota Wild

 

Washington Capitals (7-6-3 17pts) v. Minnesota Wild (11-4-2 24pts)

Time: 8p EST

Station: NBC Sports Washington

 

Preview:

After fizzling out at the end of their 5 game home stand, the Washington Capitals get a major boost with the return of Tom Wilson, who had his suspension reduced to 14 games earlier in the day, as they begin a 4 game road trip in Minnesota who have been 10-2-0 in their past 12 games.

 

Washington Capitals:

Projected Lineup:

Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov – Tom Wilson

Jakub Vrana — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie

Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly

Chandler Stephenson — Travis Boyd — Devante Smith-Pelly

Dmitry Orlov — John Carlson

Michal Kempny — Matt Niskanen

Christian Djoos — Madison Bowey

Pheonix Copley

Braden Holtby

Scratched: Jonas Siegenthaler, Nic Dowd, Dmitrij Jaskin

Injured: Brooks Orpik (lower body)

 

Keys to the Game:

1. Get your act together

The Capitals have not been playing inspired hockey as of late, and they need to get their act together and start playing the way they were that took them to a Stanley Cup victory this past summer.

 

2. Play Smart

With Tom Wilson being injected back into the lineup, all eyes will be on him tonight and he will need to play smart, and choose his spots wisely when throwing hits.

 

Minnesota Wild:

Projected Lineup:

Zach Parise — Mikko Koivu — Nino Niederreiter

Jason Zucker — Eric Staal — Mikael Granlund

Jordan Greenway — Joel Eriksson Ek — Charlie Coyle

Marcus Foligno — Eric Fehr — J.T. Brown

Ryan Suter — Matt Dumba

Jonas Brodin — Jared Spurgeon

Nick Seeler — Greg Pateryn

Devan Dubnyk

Alex Stalock

Scratched: Nate Prosser, Matt Hendricks

Injured: None

 

Official Lineups:

 

First Period:

Wild Penalty – 2:56 – Matt Dumba 2 minutes for Interference

Capitals Goal – 6:33 – Dmitry Orlov (1) from Lars Eller (6) and Andre Burakovsky (2)

Capitals Goal – 19:32 – Tom Wilson (1) from Dmitry Orlov (3) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (15)

Capitals Penalty – 19:32 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Goalie Interference

 

End of 1st – WAS – 2       MIN – 0

Shots              12                06

Faceoffs         12                07

Hits                 03                11

PP                   0/1               0/0 *First in progress

 

Analysis:

This was a good first period for the Capitals. They squandered their lone powerplay of the period but responded very well with the first goal of the game. Also seeing Wilson score late in the period is good for the Capitals momentum wise, despite the odd goalie interference penalty at the same time.

 

Need to Do:

The Capitals need to clean up their game a bit. They had too many odd passes trying to get into the offensive zone and they need to stop doing the “slingshot while on the powerplay as it is killing their entries into the zone.

 

Second Period:

Capitals Goal – 3:13 – Andre Burakovsky (2) from Lars Eller (7) and Brett Connolly (8)

Wild Penalty – 3:49 – Nick Seeler 2 minutes for Slashing

Capitals Penalty – 9:50 – Andre Burakovsky 2 minutes for Tripping

Wild Goal – 11:57 – Mikko Koivu (3) from unassisted

Wild Penalty – 11:58 – Marcus Foligno 5 minute major for Fighting

Capitals Penalty – 11:58 – Tom Wilson 5 minute major for Fighting

 

End of 2nd – WAS – 3        MIN – 1

Shots               27                 14

Faceoffs          24                 16

Hits                 05                  15

PP                   0/2                  0/2

 

Analysis:

This was a good period to start as it showed the Capitals out shoot the Wild 9-0 to start, but some sloppy play allowed the Wild to cut the lead to 3-1.

 

Need to Do:

The Capitals need to clean up their game a bit and make sure they play a full 20 minutes to close out the Wild. Cleaner passes and puck control will be key as well in the 3rd.

 

Third Period:

Capitals Penalty – 4:27 – Matt Niskanen 2 minutes for Holding

Capitals Goal – 5:23 – Dmitry Orlov (2) from Alex Ovechkin (8) and Matt Niskanen (6)

Capitals Goal – 9:48 – TJ Oshie (9) from Nicklas Backstrom (16) and Jakub Vrana (4)

Capitals Penalty – 10:41 – Dmitry Orlov 2 minutes for Holding

Wild Penalty – 12:11 – Nino Niederreiter 2 minutes for Roughing

Capitals Penalty – 12:11 – John Carlson 2 minutes for Roughing

Capitals Penalty – 12:18 – Madison Bowey 2 minutes for Delay of Game

Wild PPG – 14:08 – Matt Dumba (6) from Mikko Koivu (10) and Marcus Foligno (3)

Capitals Penalty – 17:41 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Elbowing

 

End of 3rd – WAS – 5         MIN – 2

Shots              33                   28

Faceoffs        30                    29

Hits               09                     21

PP                 0/2                    1/6

 

Analysis:

This was a good win for the Capitals. The return of Tom Wilson was definitely a boost for the Capitals. However, the third period was dominated by the Wild as they out shot the Capitals 14-6, but on the plus side the Capitals did score on their first 2 shots of the 3rd period. Also the penalties were a killer this period to end the game.

 

Next Up:

Washington (8-6-3 19pts) @ Winnipeg (10-5-1 21pts)

Minnesota (11-5-2 24pts) v. Vancouver (10-8-2 22pts)

 

You can watch TXHT Live tomorrow at 7p EST on Facebook Live and then on Twitch after the Capitals game