The Washington Capitals will host a much different Montreal Canadiens team on Friday night than the squad they beat in Montreal on December 7. After that game, the Habs were the fourth-worst club in the NHL with a 10-14-3 record.
Since then, they’ve gone 9-4 and sit just three points out of the second wild card playoff position in the Eastern Conference with two games in hand on the Columbus Blue Jackets. Coming into Friday, Montreal is one of just three teams in the NHL to have won eight of their last 10 games.
“[They’re] playing really well,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said pregame. “I feel like all their numbers have gone [up] offensively, like really clipping. And we find, when you go through the film, it’s all four lines and all three sets of D. There were some really good situations from their fourth line. I wanna say they have, right now, the way it’s constructed, something like 27 goals on their fourth line. And then you go look at their third line, like [Brendan] Gallagher, [Josh] Anderson, okay, that’s gonna be a handful, and Kirby Dach is playing at a high level.
“So now, they feel like they’ve got a lot of guys playing at a real high level, feeling good about themselves, playing with confidence. And so good test for us, really good test, playing against one of the hottest teams in the NHL.”
Montreal is led by Nick Suzuki’s 41 points (12g, 29a) in 40 games this season. Cole Caufield also has 22 goals in 40 games, and Lane Hutson leads all NHL rookies in scoring with 30 points (3g, 27a) from the backend.
Carbery hasn’t loved how the Capitals have played of late, frustrated that they may be resting on their laurels after such a hot start to the season. Washington eked out an overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, recording just 13 total shots on goal in regulation.
The Capitals will see a new face, Ethen Frank, in their lineup as he’s set for his NHL debut after being recalled on Friday morning. Frank will start as the right wing on the team’s third line, accompanied by Lars Eller and Taylor Raddysh.
Projected Capitals lines
Charlie Lindgren, a former Canadien, will get the start in goal after taking his fourth loss in a row against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. Lindgren made 12 saves in the Capitals’ 6-3 win over Montreal on Halloween.
Washington will get their first look at rookie netminder Jakub Dobeš in the other crease. Dobeš is 2-0 with a 0.48 goals-against average, a .982 save percentage, and one shutout in his first two career NHL starts.
The Canadiens will also be without forward Patrik Laine (flu-like symptoms) and defenseman David Savard (upper-body injury).
