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WASHINGTON CAPITALS FRUDAY, OCTOBER 24TH 7:00 P.M. NATIONWIDE ARENA COLUMBUS, OH |
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With two days off after the team's 5-1 dismantling of Dallas on Tuesday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets return to Nationwide Arena ice Friday night for a divisional battle against the Washington Capitals.
Five different Blue Jackets scored in Texas, including a pair of power play goals to give the man-advantage some life for the first time this season.
Coupled with their win over the Tampa Bay Lightning last Saturday, the Blue Jackets seem to be finding their stride as they now seek a three-game winning streak for the first time in the young season.
Here's what to know when the Blue Jackets begin their first back-to-back of the season:
| WSH | SEASON STATS | CBJ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-0-0 | ROAD / HOME | 1-2-0 | ||
| t-16th | 3.00 | GOALS FOR | 3.17 | 13th |
| First | 1.86 | GOALS AGAINST | 2.67 | 10th |
| 24th | 18.2% | POWER PLAY | 20.0% | t-16th |
| 25th | 70.6% | PENALTY KILL | 60.0% | Last |
| 4th | 32.0 | SHOTS FOR | 31.2 | 5th |
| 3rd | 24.1 | SHOTS AGAINST | 32.5 | 30th |
| t-22nd | 48.3% | FACE-OFFS | 52.8% | 7th |
| WASHINGTON: LAST THREE GAMES | ||||
| FRI, 10/17 | vs. Wild | W, 5-1 | ||
| SUN, 10/19 | vs. Canucks | L, 4-3 | ||
| TUE, 10/21 | vs. Kraken | W, 4-1 | ||
| WASHINGTON: TEAM LEADERS | ||||
| GOALS |
Aliaksei Protas Tom Wilson |
4 | ||
| ASSISTS | Dylan Strome | 7 | ||
| POINTS | Tom Wilson | 10 | ||
| ODDS & PROJECTIONS | ||||
| CBJ WIN PER MONEYPUCK: | 45% | |||
| CBJ ODDS PER BETMGM: | -105 | |||
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The CAPITALS are off to a nice start, winning five of their first seven games and the early leaders of what is shaping up to be a tough Metropolitan division. Goaltending has been a big reason for that, as the Caps have a league-leading 1.86 goals against average so far. Alex Ovechkin, the league's all-time leading goal scorer, is just two goals away from 900 for his career.
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If there's one spot the Capitals have been weak, it's been SPECIAL TEAMS (familiar, eh?). They rank in the bottom quarter of the league in both the power play and penalty kill, so the Blue Jackets should look to capitalize (no pun intended) when they get opportunities here.
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As it has every game this season, the goalie rotation continues. That means Friday's starter is JET GREAVES. Jet's been great through his first three starts: 77 saves on 83 shots (.928 save percentage) with a 2.04 goals against average. According to MoneyPuck, Greaves expected goals against average in those three starts is 4.43, and the 2.39 difference leads the league amongst goalies who have started multiple games this season.
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After missing the last four games with an upper-body injury, ERIK GUDBRANSON returns to the lineup Friday night. He's slated to be on the third pairing opposite Dante Fabbro.
- Here are the complete LINEUP PROJECTIONS:
| LW | C | RW | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Dmitri Voronkov | 23 | Sean Monahan | 86 | Kirill Marchenko |
| 38 | Boone Jenner | 19 | Adam Fantilli | 91 | Kent Johnson |
| 4 | Cole Sillinger | 3 | Charlie Coyle | 24 | Mathieu Olivier |
| 27 | Zach Aston-Reese | 21 | Isac Lundestrom | 59 | Yegor Chinakhov |
| LD | RD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 5 | Denton Mateychuk |
| 9 | Ivan Provorov | 78 | Damon Severson |
| 15 | Dante Fabbro | 44 | Erik Gudbranson |
| Starting Goalie | Back-Up | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | Jet Greaves | 90 | Elvis Merzlikins |
