Home / News / Vitek Vanecek to get start in net against Arizona, Capitals to go with same forward and defense lineup that played in Vegas

Vitek Vanecek to get start in net against Arizona, Capitals to go with same forward and defense lineup that played in Vegas

By Chris Cerullo

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April 22, 2022 3:36 pm

The Washington Capitals will wrap up the longest road trip of their season against the league-worst Arizona Coyotes. It will be Washington’s last trip to Gila River Arena before the Coyotes move into Arizona State’s multi-purpose stadium next season.

At Friday’s morning skate was a familiar lineup as head coach Peter Laviolette declined to make any changes to his squad that lost 4-3 in overtime to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. The only new face taking on the Coyotes will be Vitek Vanecek as according to The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir, the Czech netminder will get his first start in six days.

If you need a reminder of what the Caps looked like against the Golden Knights, here is that via The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell.

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Johansson-Backstrom-Sheary
Mantha-Eller-Oshie
Larsson-Dowd-Hathaway

Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TVR-Schultz

Sticking together is that first-line trio that has had spurts of tremendous success at five-on-five this season, including Wednesday in Vegas. With Alex Ovechkin on the ice, the team had a plus-four shot attempt differential, a plus-six scoring chance differential, a plus-three high danger chance differential (none given up), and scored three goals to Vegas’ zero. That effort allowed Ovi to reach the 50-goal mark for the ninth time in his career and is a great recipe for success in any game. As Ovi and Evgeny Kuznetsov go, so does usually the whole team.

A player to watch for the Caps will be Johan Larsson as he makes his first return trip to Arizona since being dealt to DC at the deadline. The fourth line as a whole needs a bounce-back game as they were trounced in Vegas (minus-11 shot attempt differential). Larsson had his four-game point streak snapped in that game and will look to add to his six total points in nine games since being acquired.

Vanecek’s last start came in the offensive fireworks display that was the Caps’ 8-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on April 16. In four April appearances, Vanecek has been shaky, to say the least. He is 2-1 in those games with a 3.76 goals-against average and a .860 save percentage. This will be his first career meeting with the Coyotes.

The Coyotes are the league’s worst team and have lost eight games in a row coming into Friday night’s action. The Pittsburgh Penguins shut out the Boston Bruins 4-0 on Thursday so the Caps need to win to keep pace in the Metro Division third-place race. There will also, sadly, be no reunion with Jay Beagle as he is out injured.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB

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