The always-intense rivalry between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins highlights a light two-game NHL schedule on Wednesday night.
The Capitals started the season 7-0 before a November slump led to the firing of coach Bruce Boudreau, replacing him with Dale Hunter. Boudreau had great regular season success, but not in the playoffs, and his spotty relationship with superstar Alex Ovechkin sealed the deal.
The former gritty player Hunter hasn’t set the NHL on fire in his first time as head coach, going 9-8-1 in his 18 games. Hunter has been under a lot of pressure from the get-go, especially with Boudreau instantly hired by Anaheim, although the not-so-mighty Ducks have continued to struggle under his regime (5-9-2).
Note there have been seven league coaching changes this year, the latest with Columbus jettisoning Scott Arniel on Monday for assistant Todd Richards after an NHL-worst 11-25-5 record. Richards had a tough debut on Tuesday night at the Chicago Blackhawks as big 230 underdogs (result pending).
Washington (21-17-2, 44 points) is in third place in the Southeast Division and wouldn’t make the playoffs if it started today, but there is cause for optimism Wednesday. For starters, the team has a 4-game home winning streak and is 14-5-1 overall there compared to 7-12-1 away.
The Capitals are also 8-2 in the last 10 meetings against rival Pittsburgh. They’ve split the two this year with each winning on the other’s home ice. Both were low scoring and the ‘under’ is 6-0 in the last six meetings overall.
The Penguins (21-15-4, 46 points) are on a four-game losing streak, scoring a total of four goals. They have a Tuesday night home game with Ottawa as 160 favorites (result pending) before traveling to the nation’s capital.
Injuries are rarely an excuse in hockey, but an exception can be made in the Penguins’ case. Sidney Crosby’s long term concussion issues are well documented, but left winger James Neal (foot) and center Jordan Staal (knee) are also out several weeks after getting hurt over the weekend. Their best defenseman Kris Letang (concussion) is also out indefinitely and several others are banged up.
Evgeni Malkin (44 points) is tied for seventh in the league in scoring, but Pitt’s second-leading scorer Neal (36 points) will be badly missed and it’s hard to see where the consistent offensive punch will come from. That puts more pressure on goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, currently ranked 12th in the league with a 2.31 GAA.
Pittsburgh is 3-2-1 this year when playing the second half of back-to-back games, but this is an extremely difficult challenge with the current ailments.
Washington does have two key players questionable in defenseman Mike Green (groin) and center Nicklas Backstrom (concussion), but the health factor clearly favors the home team.
Slumping Oilers return home against New Jersey
The young Edmonton Oilers (16-22-3, 35 points) have seen a great start disappear quickly, but they at least return home to face the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
Edmonton got off to a great start (8-2-2) and its mouth-watering young talent appeared to skip a year or two of its development. Alas, the bottom has fallen out since early November with an 8-20-1 mark, including a grueling 1-6 road trip that just ended Saturday in Dallas.
Injuries have hurt Edmonton badly with center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (shoulder) out several weeks. Hopkins leads all rookies in scoring (35 points) and is second on the team behind Jordan Eberle (43 points). Eberle (knee) is doubtful Wednesday after getting hurt last game.
The back end is also hurting with Ryan Whitney (foot) and Tom Gilbert (ankle) both listed as questionable. Edmonton is respectable on both ends of the ice, tied for 16th in scoring defense (2.83 goals per game) and 13th in offense (2.68). That small negative goal differential would suggest a better record, but a lot of close losses have really hurt.
The Devils (23-16-2, 48 points) have had a solid start after finishing out of the playoffs last year with 81 points. This is the second of a 4-game trip that started with a 3-1 win at Pittsburgh on Saturday. A pending Tuesday affair at Calgary as slight -105 ‘dogs means they could be dragging some for the Oilers.
The Devils are 12-9-1 away this year. The ‘over’ is 10-4-1 in their last 15 road games.
New Jersey has had success at the Oilers, going 4-1 in the last five games, although losing (2-0) the most recent one last March. The ‘under’ is 4-1-1 in the last six meetings in Edmonton.