Peter Laviolette coached the Washington Capitals for the past three seasons prior to taking his gig with the New York Rangers. Tonight, he returns to the nations capital for the first time since he and the organization parted ways.
The New York Rangers haven't lost back-to-back games all season.
They're skating to a record of 18-5-1 and have found a way to bounce back after every game they've lost. Their incredible ability to recover the way they have has a lot to do with their head coach, Peter Laviolette.
With that said, the Rangers have a lot of things to clean up. Over the course of their last six games, they have been much sloppier defensively and considering that they're playing against a divisional foe tonight, there needs to be a smaller margin of error.
Tonight will most likely have some extra meaning to it for Laviolette.
He spent three seasons behind the Capitals bench, leading them to two playoff appearances, but falling short in the long run. He and his group missed out on the postseason last year and had back-to-back first round exits in the two previous seasons.
The Rangers have had a nice couple of days to regroup after Tuesday's 6-2 loss against the Ottawa Senators.
It will be interesting to see who they decide to start in goal tonight considering that this is the first game of a back-to-back. My guess would be that Igor Shesterkin gets the nod tonight in a divisional matchup so that Jonathan Quick can start tomorrow against his former team, the Los Angeles Kings.
No matter who is in goal, based on recent trends they will have to be much better.
The Opponent:
The Washington Capitals had a very strong month of November as they skated to an 8-3-1 record, but the month of December has not been ideal for them thus far.
In their first three games of the month, the Capitals have gone 0-2-1, averaging 1.67 goals per game and have struggled mightily with their special teams. Their power play is only clicking at a 12.5% while their penalty kill has somehow been even worse, only succeeding at a 55.6%.
The Rangers number one villain on this team, Tom Wilson, has actually been their most productive player in the teams last five games. Wilson has four goals and one assist in that span.
Evgeni Kuznetsov had a phenomenal performance following a healthy scratch, which you can read up on in this article by Sammi Silber, the Washington Capital beat reporter for The Hockey News.
Capitals Goaltending:
Charlie Lindgren and Darcy Kuemper have been splitting time in the cage lately. Lindgren has been the better of the two lately as he is 3-1-1 in his last five appearances. He has earned a .922 save percentage and a 2.74 goals against average in that span. Today would be extra special for him today if he starts so he could play against his younger brother, Ryan, who is one of the Rangers most important defensemen.
Kuemper has struggled lately. He is 2-3-0 in his last five appearances while skating to a .877 save percentage and a 3.50 goals against average. My assumption would be that Lindgren gets the nod.
It's typically exciting when the Rangers and Capitals meet and tonight should be no different.