The Washington Capitals are ready to dance with the New Jersey Devils at Capital One Arena on Saturday afternoon.
After a couple of days off following their victory over the Montreal Canadiens, the Capitals will take on the Devils in the first of four intra-division games between the two clubs this season. New Jersey enters the matchup with the same 4-3-0 record as the Caps and has won its last two games.
“New Jersey, I would say, we’re now going to see arguably the best rush, speed, attack team in the National Hockey League,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said Friday. “And that poses a lot of specific issues that you have to be ready for when we don’t have the puck. Montreal is a very quick team as well, but they do it a little bit differently than New Jersey does. There’ll be significant challenges.”
The Devils have been red hot offensively this week, scoring 12 goals in their two wins, which included a 7-1 beatdown of the New York Rangers on Thursday. They are led in scoring by star center Jack Hughes, who has recorded nine points (2g, 7a) in seven games.
“They are an excellent offensive-zone team because of their skating ability,” Carbery said. “They can get you in the soup. We want to limit the amount of times that happens, but inevitably it’s going to happen. One of the top teams in the league at generating O-zone time and putting teams in the blender. You wanna make sure that you limit the amount of times that you get into those situations and try not to give up a high-danger look.”
Capitals injury updates
The Capitals’ list of recent absences has grown: Pierre-Luc Dubois (illness) and Matt Roy (lower-body injury) will miss another game, and Justin Sourdif (illness) will join them on the sidelines.
Dubois has not played since October 9 against the Rangers, and Roy has not played since October 3 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The two skated together at MedStar Capitals Iceplex ahead of puck drop, indicating they are nearing a return.
“I saw [Dubois] this morning at the facility,” Carbery said. “That’s a positive step. He’s back in the facility, and so we’ll go from there. The next step would be, I think, he was hopping on the ice actually this morning. I left before [assistant coach Kenny McCudden] had the injured guys on the ice, so I didn’t physically see him skate, but I think the plan was for him to skate, and then we’ll get him back into practice as soon as we can.”
Jonny Brodzinski recalled from AHL
To solve their new depth issues at center, the Capitals recalled Jonny Brodzinski from the AHL’s Hershey Bears. He will immediately be inserted into the club’s lineup down the middle.
“I would look to see, hopefully, exactly what he put on display in training camp,” Carbery said. “I thought he had a phenomenal camp. I thought he was noticeable every day through the practices, scrimmages, and then in the exhibition games. I thought he was outstanding. So, hopefully, keeping him playing and getting some game reps in Hershey and being able to come right back up and seamlessly go into NHL games and just play the way that he did in training camp.”
Dubois was placed on injured reserve to make room for Brodzinski on the 23-man active roster.
Projected lineup
Capitals lines
With Brodzinski primed for his season debut, here’s how the Capitals are set to line up.
Devils lines
New Jersey’s projected lines come via team reporter Amanda Stein.
Devious details
- The Capitals went 2-1-1 against the Devils last season. Alex Ovechkin and Aliaksei Protas led Washington in scoring with four points (2g, 2a) in the four games.
- Anthony Mantha will play his former team for the first time as a member of the Devils. He signed a two-year, $9.5 million contract with New Jersey as an unrestricted free agent this past summer.
- Saturday’s game is the second of five straight at home for the Capitals. They won’t return to the road until October 29, when they meet the Nashville Predators in their last game of the month.
Puck drop for the game is set for 1 pm. Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin will have the call on Monumental Sports Network.
