The Capitals (27-7-5) managed to beat one aggressive forechecking team on Friday, now they will have to play another as they travel to Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes (22-14-2). Catch all the action on NBC Sports Washington Plus starting with Caps FaceOff Live at 6 p.m. followed by Caps Pregame Live at 6:30 p.m. bringing you up to the 7 p.m. puck drop. Stick with NBC Sports Washington Plus for postgame coverage with Caps Postgame Live and Caps Overtime Live.
Here is what you need to know for Saturday's game.
About last night
Both Washington and Carolina were in action on Friday. After Columbus managed to beat the Caps handily in two prior meetings, Ilya Samsonov was able to lead the Caps to their first win over the Blue Jackets this season, a 2-1 overtime thriller. Carl Hagelin scored his first goal of the season to tie the game in the third period and T.J. Oshie won it in overtime.
The Hurricanes suffered a 5-3 loss on the road to the New York Rangers. Lucas Wallmark put Carolina up 1-0 early, but the Rangers scored four straight goals from there to take control of the game. Brett Pesce and Sebastian Aho brought the Hurricanes to within one, but New York added a fifth goal in the third period to hold on for the win.
Who plays on defense?
Both Michal Kempny and Radko Gudas were game-time decisions on Friday due to illness prompting the team to recall Christian Djoos from Hershey. Kempny did not play allowing Djoos to make his season debut. The question now is whether one day will be enough to get Kempny back into the lineup or if Djoos will play for a second straight night.
Because of the back-to-back, there is no morning skate on Saturday so we will not know the lines until warmups for the game begin. Here is how the lines looked last night:
Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana - Evgeny Kuznetsov - T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin - Lars Eller - Richard Panik
Brendan Leipsic - Nic Dowd - Garnet Hathaway
Jonas Siegenthaler - John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov - Nick Jensen
Christian Djoos - Radko Gudas
Scratches: Travis Boyd, Michal Kempny
While that was how the lines started, it should be noted that Todd Reirden switched Kuznetsov with Eller and Kuznetsov helped the third line score the game-tying goal. We will see if he sticks with that or goes with his normal lines to start.
Goalie matchup
With Samsonov and James Reimer getting the starts on Friday, it is expected that Braden Holtby and Petr Mrazek will start on Saturday. Here's a look at both netminders' stats this season.
Holtby: 17-5-4, 2.87 GAA, .907 save percentage
Mrazek: 14-8-2, 2.69 GAA, .902 save percentage
Keep on eye on playing time
With Kempny out and the game going to overtime on Friday, Reirden was not able to manage the minutes of his top players the way he probably would have wanted in the first game of a back-to-back. Carlson played 28:06, Orlov played 26:36 and Jensen played 21:15. Ovechkin also logged a lot of minutes at 21:23.
Dougie Hamilton was the only Carolina player to skate more than 21 minutes on Friday with 26:19.
A similar style
One of the reasons the Hurricanes were able to defeat Washington in the playoffs last season was due to an incredibly aggressive forecheck. John Tortorella was taking notes as that is what he has employed against the Caps in three meetings this season. While Washington has shown struggles against that type of style, the good news for Saturday is that the team will not have to adjust to playing against a drastically different style of play in the back-to-back.
When last we met
Washington last played the Hurricanes on Oct. 5 in the team's home opener. The Caps were handed their first loss of the season as Carolina battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game and Jake Gardiner scored the overtime winner.
After not playing the Hurricanes for nearly three months, the Caps will be seeing a lot of their divisional rivals in the coming weeks. Saturday's game is the first of three meetings between these two teams between now and Jan. 13. Carolina will be Washington's first opponent in 2020 with a game in Raleigh on Jan. 3.
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