Washington Capitals (27–15–5) vs Chicago Blackhawks (16–24–9)
11:30am CST
United Center
TV/Radio: NBC/WGN
PROJECTED STARTERS
Chicago – Collin Delia (3–2–3, SV%: .929, GAA: 2.75)
Washington – Braden Holtby (17–11–2, SV%: .912, GAA: 2.82)
TEAM STATISTICS
Power Play
Chicago (18,8%, 17th)
Washington (21.3%, 12th)
Penalty Kill
Chicago (73.4%, 31st)
Washington (78.4%, 23rd)
Shorts for/against
Chicago (31.2, 19th; 34.9, 30th)
Washington (29.3, 23rd; 32.0, 21st)
Shooting %
Chicago (9.5%, 17th)
Washington (11.2%, 4th)
Faceoff %
Chicago (49.8%, 17th)
Washington (46.4%, 31st)
Avg. height/weight
Chicago 6’1”, 197lbs
Washington 6’2” 205lbs
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS
Chicago Blackhawks
Drake Caggiula–Jonathan Toews–Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat–Dylan Strome–Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad–David Kampf–Marcus Kruger
Chris Kunitz–Artem Anisimov–John Hayden
Slater Koekkoek–Erik Gustafsson
Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin–Nicklas Backstrom–T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana–Lars Eller–Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky–Evgeny Kuznetsov–Brett Connolly
Chandler Stephenson–Nic Dowd–Devante Smith-Pelly
Analysis
Another 4-3 loss for the Blackhawks ended the New York area trip for the Blackhawks without recording a point in the standings. The Blackhawks have a chance to redeem themselves as the Washington Capitals pay a visit to town.
After the back-to-back losses for the Blackhawks, Jeremy Colliton set the line blender to “high” for Saturday’s practice. Drake Caggiula was skating with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, DeBrincat and Strome were reunited and Chris Kunitz re-enters the lineup after Brendan Perlini entered concussion protocol.
The Capitals enter Sunday’s game on a four-game losing streak, most recently losing to the now-first-place New York Islanders 2-0. The Capitals will need to rebound in order to keep pace with the division, as the Islanders, Capitals, Blue Jackets and Penguins all have between 58 and 60 points.
This will mark the first and only time this season that defenseman Michal Kempny returns to the United Center. After never being able to find regular ice-time in Chicago, the former Blackhawks defenseman has put together an excellent campaign in the first year of his lucrative four-year deal. Most notably, Kempny is a plus-23 this season, which is currently tied for 7th-best in the NHL to this point.
Comment below in our live game thread tonight!