Buffalo Sabres (20-10-5 45pts) v. Washington Capitals (20-10-3 43pts)
Time: 7p EST
Station: NBC Sports Washington, SportsNet, and NBCSN
Preview:
The Washington Capitals host the Buffalo Sabres for the second time in 6 days as they start another backmto back weekend before they go into the Holiday break. For the Capitals, they will be looking to bounc3 back from their loss Wednesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Meanwhile, the Sabres will be looking to get back to their winning ways after winning one of their last three.
GAME NOTES: The Caps head into a Friday night matchup against the Buffalo Sabres in the first half of a back-to-back. https://t.co/0qBXgemftX pic.twitter.com/IOS1WRom2J
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) December 21, 2018
Buffalo Sabres:
Projected Lineup:
#Sabres in practice today:
Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart
Sheary-Sobotka-Rodrigues
Girgensons-Mittelstadt-Okposo
Elie-Larsson-Thompson
—-
Pilut-Ristolainen, Dahlin-Bogosian, Scandella-McCabe, Guhle-Hunwick, Beaulieu extra with Wilson
—–
Hutton-Ullmark..— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) December 20, 2018
The #Sabres have canceled their morning skate today in Washington. So Phil Housley will brief the media around 430.
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) December 21, 2018
Keys to the Game:
1. Full team effort
The Sabres need to get contributions from their depth players, and not just from their stars. Jack Eichel, and Jeff Skinner have neen on fire for the Sabres, bur they can’t win every game for them.
Washington Capitals:
Projected Lineup:
Holtby starting tonight.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 21, 2018
Capitals Notes:
Defenseman Brooks Orpik, who’s missed 23 games with a right knee injury, is again on the ice for morning skate in a non-contact jersey. Reirden already said he won’t play tonight or tomorrow.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 21, 2018
Keys to the Game:
1. Mix up the powerplay
The Capitals need to change up their powerplay a little bit. Not a complete overhaul, but some changes here and there. In their game against the Penguins, Pittsburgh did a really great job of taking away the passing lanes, ans we have seen other teams play the Capitals more aggressively with their penalty kills. Do a few tweaks, maybe even change some of the personnel on the two units and see how that shakes things up.
2. Clean defensive game
The Capitals need to play a much better defensive game, especially in their own zone. They need to do better passes to get out of their zone and make sure the passes are clean tape to tape ones too.
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