The Washington Capitals and New York Rangers will do battle again in The Big Apple on Sunday. The Capitals won first half of the back-to-back on Saturday and Spencer Carbery is sticking to his guns. The Capitals will not change a thing about their victorious lineup — even in goal.
Charlie Lindgren will get starts on back-to-back days, something he has never done in his NHL career. Lindgren picked up his eighth win of the season on Saturday, his first in 2024 due to time spent on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
The Capitals utilizing a carbon copy lineup also means that their captain, Alex Ovechkin, will sit for the second-straight game due to a lower-body injury. Ovechkin had played in all 39 games this season up until this weekend.
Lindgren brought home two points in his first 2024 start after stopping 25 of 27 shots that the Rangers fired at him. Per MoneyPuck, the 29-year-old backstop moved further up the “goals saved above expected” rankings and now sits third in the entire NHL (14.5) behind only Thatcher Demko (16.4) and Connor Hellebuyck (19.8).
In two starts against New York this season, Lindgren has been phenomenal. He has allowed just two goals in the two games, posted a .966 save percentage, and blanked the Rangers back on December 9.
The decision speaks to how poorly Darcy Kuemper has played of late. Dating back to December 27, Kuemper, in his six appearances, has given up five goals three different times and given up no fewer than three goals in all of them. In his four 2024 starts, Kuemper has posted a very rough 3.77 goals-against average and an .886 save percentage.
Big Apple Boys#ALLCAPS | @Kia pic.twitter.com/HSppOfFloV
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 14, 2024
Ovechkin will not play again as he continues to nurse the lower-body ailment that he has been dealing with since suffering it against the Carolina Hurricanes on January 5. Carbery said postgame on Saturday that the plan was for Ovechkin to travel with the team to New York but did not commit to having him involved on the ice.
“Yeah, it’s an outside chance,” Carbery said. “But I think there is a chance that he plays tomorrow.
“To my knowledge, [he is traveling]. I don’t want to speak out of turn, but to my knowledge he is.”
Ovechkin’s absence means that TJ Oshie will stick on the Capitals’ first line, playing alongside Dylan Strome and Max Pacioretty. Oshie combined with Strome to sink the Rangers on Saturday with the goal that completed Washington’s comeback in the third period.
Rookie forward Hendrix Lapierre will also play in his fifth-straight game. Lapierre centered Evgeny Kuznetsov and Anthony Mantha for portions of the team’s last win.
