NHL East Coast Action As Caps Host Rangers

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NHL East Coast Action As Caps Host Rangers

Friday night NHL action features an Eastern Conference battle between a couple of teams looking to solidify their postseason standings as the New York Rangers travel to Washington, DC to take on the Capitals. While the Eastern Conference isn’t anywhere near as competitive as their Western counterparts, the Caps and Rangers are both currently in the bottom half of the playoff seeding and would like to secure home ice advantage.

The Washington Capitals have made an extreme transformation from last season’s high octane offensive unit—in fact, they’re now the diametric opposite. Washington’s offense has sputtered at times but they’ve been able to keep winning due to solid defense and strong goaltending. The Caps currently have the #6 scoring defense in the NHL allowing only 2.43 goals per game. The most dramatic difference from last year is on offense—after spending much of last season with the #1 scoring offense in the league the Caps are now #20 scoring only 2.67 goals per game or over a full goal less than their 2009-2010 average of 3.82.

The Rangers are very similar to Washington from a statistical standpoint—they play decent defense and get strong goaltending from Henrick Lundquivst. New York is the #7 team defense in the NHL allowing just 2.43 goals per game. They’re the #21 scoring offense in the league, producing only 2.66 goals per game. Their functional game by game average is likely lower since they’ve exploded for 7 or more goals against overmatched opponents on at least four occasions this year.

New York will likely be without one of their best offensive playmakers here as Marián Gáborik suffered a concussion in Monday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers and is listed as being out ‘indefinitely’. Washington’s fairly healthy at the moment although they could still be without defensemen Tom Poti and Mike Green for this contest. They’ve played without both men at several junctures this season, and on balance are much healthier than the Rangers who are also without forwards Ruslan Fedotenko and Chris Drury.

The Capitals’ emergence as a defense first team has been a work in progress this season, but they’re starting to look very comfortable playing in this system. Alex Ovechkin has become a much more well rounded player, though is still a dangerous scoring threat at all times. We’ll back the healthier and more consistent home team and look for Washington take a victory over the Rangers.