Gameday Preview – 12/11/2018 – Detroit Red Wings v. Washington Capitals

Detroit Red Wings (13-13-4 30pts) v. Washington Capitals (17-9-3 37pts)

 

Time: 730p EST

Station: NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Network

 

Preview:

The Detroit Red Wings come to town to see if theyncan avenge their loss to the Washington Capitals on November 23rd. The Capitals will look to continue their winning ways as they get TJ Oshie back from a concussion that had him miss 11 straight games, while the Red Wings will be playing in the second game of their back to back.

 

Detroit Red Wings:

Projected Lineup:

Gustav Nyquist — Dylan Larkin — Justin Abdelkader

Thomas Vanek — Frans Nielsen — Andreas Athanasiou

Tyler Bertuzzi — Luke Glendening — Michael Rasmussen

Martin Frk — Christoffer Ehn — Jacob de la Rose

Jonathan Ericsson — Nick Jensen

Niklas Kronwall — Mike Green

Trevor Daley — Dennis Cholowski

Jonathan Bernier

Jimmy Howard

Scratched: Wade Megan, Luke Witkowski

Injured: Evgeny Svechnikov (knee surgery), Darren Helm (upper body), Anthony Mantha (hand), Danny DeKeyser (hand)

 

Keys to the Game:

1. Marathon, Not a Sprint

For the Red Wings they will be coming into today’s game having played the night before and will have some weary legs. If the Red Wings can pace themselves and control the game to a pace of their liking, it will be a great benefit to them against a rested Capitals team.

 

Washington Capitals:

Projected Lineup:

Lines:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Connolly
Stephenson-Eller-DSP
Jaskin-Dowd-Boyd

Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Djoos-Bowey

Holtby expected to start.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 11, 2018

As expected, Andre Burakovsky appears to be the extra today with T.J. Oshie slotting into the top-line spot.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 11, 2018

 

Keys to the Game:

1. Get the Jump on the Wings

The Red Wings will be playing their second game of a back to back and will have some weary legs. The Capitals need to get the jump on the Wings and get a quick start out of the gate.

 

2. Play full 60 minutes

Couple nights ago in Columbus the Capitals played an almost complete 60 minute game in their shut out victory. If the Capitals can replicate that performance and build upon it, this will be a good game for the Capitals.

 

Other Capitals Notes:

Tom Wilson is on the ice in a light-blue non-contact jersey. Could have him on track to play Friday, assuming he’s cleared for a full practice tomorrow.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 11, 2018