Game 44 Preview and Open Thread: Ottawa Senators versus Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals, if nothing else, can make a pretty decent case in favour of "soft" rebuilding, given their current success. Since the Capitals won the cup, I can't pinpoint an exact moment when they waved the white flag and blew up their core. Nonetheless, you wouldn't confuse this capitals roster today with that one from 2018. Other than players like Ovechkin and Carlson, the Caps have gotten contributions mostly from new guys and they didn't need top-five or top-ten picks to complete the transition. (I should note here that I much prefer the complete approach to rebuilds. I just find it interesting that another team made it work without a fire sale.)

To that effect, the Capitals find themselves sitting comfortably in a playoff position in a division that I had assumed would go through either Carolina or New Jersey– goaltending makes fools of us all! Washington by no means has a bad roster, and at the midway mark of the season I can't really argue with their results. They seem to me a bit of a whole-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts and the coaching staff in DC has gotten due credit for the team's success through 40 games. I also wouldn't overlook the contributions of Logan Thompson in net. I guess I find Washington interesting mainly because most of the bigger names on their roster (Ovechkin and Carlson notwithstanding) never found homes on the teams that drafted them despite their pedigree (Dubois, Strome, Sandin, Chychrun, Roy). The Caps also have really good balance across their lines and pairings.

Roster updates: Donovan Sebrango will make his NHL debut in place of Thomas Chabot (day-to-day) and Michael Amadio will return in place of Zack Ostapchuk. Leevi will start for Ottawa again (no announcement for the Caps at the moment).

Game Notes:

• Washington won 3-0 at home over Anaheim on Tuesday so someone will have a shutout streak broken tonight.
• Given Lindgren's injury status, I reckon Washington will start Thompson tonight so Ottawa will have their work cut out for them.
• Washington as you can imagine has pretty darn good offence at five-on-five while Ottawa has slightly better defence and that could keep things relatively close.
• On special teams, Washington has the decided advantage (don't let their power play conversion rate fool you) and Ottawa will do well to limit penalties (as always).
• A lot of us will have eyes on Jakob Chychrun and Nick Jensen, naturally. I still don't really know what to make of that trade except that Jensen and Chabot seem to have some good chemistry so you won't catch me complaining.
• Last season, Ottawa won the series 2-1 (including an overtime win) by a combined margin of 12-9 and I don't think the Sens would want high-scoring affair against this iteration of the Caps.
• Go the Ottawa Senators Go

Ottawa Injuries: Jacob Bernard-Docker, Thomas Chabot, Noah Gregor, Travis Hamonic, David Perron, Cole Reinhardt, Linus Ullmark

Washington Injuries: Nicklas Backstrom, Charlie Lindgren, Sonny Milano, TJ Oshie

Where to watch/listen: RDS, TSN5, TSN1200 @ 7PM EST

Lines from Last Game:

Ottawa Senators

Washington Capitals

Stats