Gameday Preview – 11/23/2018 – Detroit Red Wings v. Washington Capitals

 

Detroit Red Wings (10-9-2 22pts) v. Washington Capitals (11-7-3 25pts)

 

Date: Friday November 23rd, 2018

Time: 4p EST

Station: NBC Sports Washington and Fox Sports Detroit

 

Preview:

The Washington Capitals go into the Black Friday Frenzy with a matinee against the visiting Detroit Red Wings, who are coming off of an overtime victory over the Boston Bruins. The Capitals will be looking to win their fourth game in a row, and have been playing much better since the return of Tom Wilson to their lineup. At the same time the Red Wings will be looking for their third straight victory, and are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games.

 

The Capitals will still be without the services of forwards TJ Oshie (Concussion) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (Upper Body) for a fourth consecutive game.

 

Detroit Red Wings:

Projected Lineup:

Anthony Mantha — Dylan Larkin — Gustav Nyquist

Thomas Vanek — Frans Nielsen — Andreas Athanasiou

Tyler Bertuzzi — Luke Glendening — Justin Abdelkader

Michael Rasmussen — Jacob de la Rose — Martin Frk

Dennis Cholowski — Mike Green

Danny DeKeyser — Trevor Daley

Niklas Kronwall — Nick Jensen

Jimmy Howard

Jonathan Bernier

Scratched: Luke Witkowski

Injured: Evgeny Svechnikov (knee surgery), Jonathan Ericsson (undisclosed), Darren Helm (upper body)

*  No reports of any line changes from their last game have been reported. If any changes are made they will be reflected in our Game Recap.

 

Keys to the Game:

1. Get a good start

The Red Wings did not start well against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night, but were able to turn it around and force overtime, and get the eventual winner. However, the Capitals have been known to start games really hot, or really cold and if the Red Wings can start the game strong they can push the Capitals into a position to where the Red Wings are controlling the tempo.

 

Washington Capitals:

Projected Lineup:

 

Injury Notes:

 

Keys to the Game:

1. Need to play a full 60 minutes

The Capitals started their game Wednesday night on fire by scoring two quick goals but then cooled themselves off by easing off and allowing the Chicago Blackhawks back into the game by giving them chances around the net. The Capitals will need to prevent this against the surging Red Wings, and play a complete 60 minutes.

 

2. Stay out of the penalty box

I don’t know what it is, but this season the Capitals have taken a lot of really bad penalties so far this season (whether warranted or not), and their Penalty Kill has not been the best so far this season having a 74.4% effective rate which ranks 28th in the League. The Capitals were a perfect 3 for 3 against Chicago, and will need to continue with that strong type of penalty killing to improve their effectiveness on the penalty kill.

 

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