After their final multi-game road trip of the season, the Washington Capitals (37-28-9) return home to close March. They will host the Philadelphia Flyers (37-24-12) at Capital One Arena on Tuesday night.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET.
The Capitals enter Tuesday’s game with a 6-4-2 record in the month of March. The team took two out of three contests on their recent road trip.
After dropping the first matchup in St. Louis, the Capitals rebounded with wins in Utah and Vegas. Washington was able to string together road victories for the first time since a four consecutive road wins from Nov. 20-Dec. 3.
In Saturday’s 5-4 win over Vegas, the Capitals took an early 3-0 lead. However, the Golden Knights answered back with a pair of shorthanded goals on one penalty kill.
The Capitals trailed 4-3 in the third until Dylan Strome tied it up at 4-4 with a power play goal. The game eventually went to a shootout, where Strome recorded the game-winner.
Earlier in the game, the Capitals lost Aliaksei Protas after a head-to-head collision with former teammate Nic Dowd. Filling in for the injured Protas, David Kampf will make his Washington debut on Tuesday.
The Capitals and Flyers will meet for the fourth time in a span of 56 days. Each of the last three matchups were won on home ice, with Philadelphia taking two of them.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia enters Tuesday with an impressive 12-4-1 record since the Olympic break. It’s the third-best record in the NHL over that span, behind only Buffalo and St. Louis.
The Flyers are also riding on a three-game winning streak, with six wins in their last seven games (6-1-0). Philadelphia’s defense has been key as they’ve allowed just 2.24 points per game since the Olympic break.
Expected Capitals Lines
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Connor McMichael
Ethen Frank – Hendrix Lapierre – Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier – Justin Sourdif – Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime – David Kampf – Ivan Miroshnichenko
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary – Rasmus Sandin
Jakob Chychrun – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cole Hutson – Matt Roy
Goalies
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Expected Flyers Lines
Forwards
Carl Grundstrom – Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Alex Bump – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Luke Glendening – Sean Couturier – Garnet Hathaway
Defensemen
Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Emil Andrae
Goalies
Dan Vladar
Samuel Ersson
How to Watch
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio Network
Harry Lichtman is an award-winning journalist who covers the Washington Capitals for Sportsnaut. He also contributes to the sites … More about Harry Lichtman