Music: {allcanada} CAPITALS (26-15-10) at SENATORS (20-20-9)

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

{allcanada} CAPITALS (26-15-10) at SENATORS (20-20-9)

Thursday, February 5, 2015

7:30 PM ET

CAPITALS (26-15-10) at SENATORS (20-20-9)

TV: CSN-DC+, RDS, TSN5

Season series: The Washington Capitals defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-1 at Verizon Center on Dec. 22, with Nicklas Backstrom scoring the winning goal. It was Washington's first victory against Ottawa since Dec. 7, 2011; the Senators had won seven straight.

Capitals team scope: Washington lost six of seven games before playing one of its best games of the season Tuesday, a 4-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings. Coach Barry Trotz juggled his forward combinations, and the top three lines each contributed a goal. Goalie Braden Holtby had his sixth shutout of the season, which is tied for the second-most in a season in Capitals history. Holtby has 17 shutouts in 149 NHL games. Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth, his predecessors with Washington, combined for 11 shutouts in 193 games. Holtby is one of 14 goaltenders in NHL history with at least 17 shutouts by his age-25 season. New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist had 17 in 195 games and Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price had 19 in 310 by that point.

Senators team scope: This game features the two best players at their respective positions at shot generation in the NHL. Washington forward Alex Ovechkin has 293 shot attempts this season, 40 more than Montreal's Max Pacioretty. Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson has 229 shot attempts, five more than Keith Yandle of the Arizona Coyotes. Karlsson is producing 3.82 shots on goal per game, 0.6 more than in 2011-12 when he won the Norris Trophy. Karlsson is scoring goals at essentially the same rate as 2011-12 and last season (0.24 per game in 2013-14 and 2014-15, 0.23 in 2011-12), but his points per game are down (0.71 this season, from 0.90 last season and 0.96 in his Norris year). Ottawa's struggles have a lot to do with that.

Team Stats