JNGD.S8.G17 Flight Plan: The Champs Are Here

5 years ago

It’s a match up of two dynamic offenses – the two best power plays in the league with the Jets sitting at the top spot and the Caps not far behind in second place. Both teams have also had their struggles early on, the Jets with an inability to sustain consistent play while the Caps have had some struggled on defense and goaltending.

None of this matters though because tonight it’s Laine versus his idol (and Jets killer as we’ll note below) Alex Ovechkin. In the end, that’s all any one really cares about

Washington Capitals (8-6-3 – 5th Atlantic)
@
Winnipeg Jets (10-5-1 / 3rd Central)

November 14, 2018 – Puck drop: 6:00 PM CST
Bell MTS Place – Winnipeg, MB
TV: Sportsnet – Radio: TSN 1290


@ MIN: 5-2 Win	Last Game	vs NJD: 5-2 Win
3-2-0 (1 L)	Last 5 Games	3-2-0 (2 W)
Alex Ovechkin – 12	Goal Leader	Mark Scheifele – 9
Nicklas Backstrom – 15	Assist Leader	Blake Wheeler – 20
Evgeny Kuznetsov – 20	Points Leader	Blake Wheeler – 23
30.36% (2nd)	The Power Play	34.04% (1st)
72.73% (28th)	The Penalty Kill	81.03% (16th)
Braden Holtby (5-5-2) / .900 Sv%)	Starting Goalie	Connor Hellebuyck (7-5-1 / .912Sv%)
L @ ARI (18-21 / .857 Sv%)	Last Goalie Start	W vs NJD (34-36 / .944Sv%)
3-3-1 On Road	Road v Home Record	7-2-1 @ Home

Capitals Notebook

The Capitals as well have had issues scoring at even strength. During their five game home stand, they had only managed to score seven goals while 5v5. Last night against the Wild though, they had five even strength goals.
Forward Tom Wilson returned to the ice after having his 20 game suspension reduced to 14 games. He fittingly scored a goal while taking a penalty for running into Wild goalie Devon Dubnyk in the most Tom Wilson thing you’ve ever heard of happening.
Braden Holtby gets the start for Washington tonight as he’s struggled this season, but does have a very good record against the Jets going 10-3-2 with a .926 save percentage.
Alex Ovechkin as well has done very well against the Jets franchise. He has totaled 47 goals and 44 assists in the 63 career games he’s played against AtlantaPeg. This as you might imagine is the highest point total he has against any NHL team.

Last Capitals Game

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Jets Notebook

Tonight starts a run of three straight games against Eastern Conference teams at home to close out this latest home stand. The Jets are currently 4-3-0 against teams from the east a;though four of those seven games were against Toronto for a pair and Florida for a pair.
The Jets finally went an entire game without scoring a power play goal in their November 11th win over the Devils, but they maintain their top rank in the NHL with the man advantage thanks mostly to their franchise record run of 11 straight games with a power play goal scored.
Speaking of streaks… Blake Wheeler – who just won the NHL’s second star of the past week – has a ten game point streak (two goals, 17 assists), Mark Scheifele has a nine game point streak (seven goals, eight assists), Dustin Byfuglien has a six game point streak (one goal, seven assists), and Nik Ehlers has a three game goal streak.
Both games against the Capitals last season went to overtime. The Jets posted a 4-3 OT win in Winnipeg back on February 13 while the Caps returned the favor a month later in Washington with a 3-2 overtime victory.
Connor Hellebuyck has done well against the Caps early on in his career with a 2-1-1 record and a .926 save percentage.
Milestone watches: Dustin Byfuglien needs two more points to hit 400 as a Winnipeg Jet. Nik Ehlers needs three more assists for 100 career helpers.
Injury update: Dmitry Kulikov remains out with an upper body injury (expected return time is mid-December at the earliest); Mathieu Perreault was dinged up in practice on Tuesday but should be good to go today; Brendan Lemieux has served his two game suspension.