The Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights duel it out on a Sunday night. Here are the top 3 keys to a Caps win
The Washington Capitals take on the Vegas Golden Knights in the middle game of their three game road trip. It won't be easy as the Caps are 0-5-1 inside T-Mobile Arena in the regular season, having been outscored 25-11 in those contests BUT are 2-1 in Stanley Cup Final play.
The Golden Knights are a tough out at home. Sin City's darlings were unbeaten for their first eight home games before falling to the Carolina Hurricanes in a 5-2 decision this past Sunday on their ice.
The Caps landed after their win over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday around the same time the Golden Knights did. The oppostion was coming off a successful two game road trip first with a win over the Anaheim Ducks 5-1 followed by a 4-2 come from behind win over the Utah Hockey Club, who the Caps will see next on Monday.
#3 Special Teams must continue momentum
To stop a team like the Golden Knights just like the Capitals were able to pull off on Oct. 15 at Capital One Arena, they must make sure that penalty kill is uptight and the power play keeps rolling. Sounds cliche but yeah.
Through games played Nov. 15, Washington ranks fourth in the NHL in penalty kill percentage at a success rate of 65.7 percent.
#2 Defense wins on the road
The Capitals are the only team in the Eastern Conference to have a perfect record against the Western Conference, going 5-0-0. A big part of that has been the Caps defense that has stymied the top tier teams out there in the west.
In Friday night's Caps win at Colorado over the Avalanche, four of Washington's six defensemen recorded a point. Jakob Chychrun and Rasmus Sandin each had a goal while John Carlson and Trevor van Riemsdyk had an assist.
Capitals defensemen have combined for 43 points with nine goals and 34 assists through the team's first 16 games of the season, which is the fourth highest total in the NHL. In addition, Washington's 34 assists from defensemen rank tied for fourth in the league.
Through their first 16 games last season, Capitals defensemen combined for 25 points with two goals and 23 assists and finished the season with the third lowest point total from defensemen. But that's where the help came in over the summer to assist John Carlson, who passed Riley Suter and Reed Larson (685) for the seventh most points by an American born defenseman in NHL history.
#1 Like the other night in Colorado, everybody has to eat
The Caps are getting point production from down the lineup which is a far cry from last year. Back to the defense real quick. Chychrun's four goals including the one he scored Friday night over Colorado rank tied for second among NHL defensemen while his 0.36 goals per game rank first among blueliners with at least 10 games played.
Rasmus Sandin also had a goal and established a new career long point streak with four points in his last four games (three goals and one assist). The defenseman who recorded 35 points last season with seven goals and 28 assists is now on pace for 45 points this season.
Sandin along with Carlson each have a plus/minus of +13 and +11 respectively and both rank among the top 10 in the NHL in that stat. Only the Winnipeg Jets are the other team with multiple defensemen in the top 10.
The top line has to click and we've talked about them aplenty in our top 3 key players to watch, but the Caps second line of Connor McMichael, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Tom Wilson has also been top notch, as they've been on the ice for 14 goals at five on five this season which is the third most by a line in the NHL.
The puck drops at 8 p.m. on the east coast and you can catch the game on Monumental Sports Network.
