The Washington Capitals complete a back-to-back on Friday when visiting the Carolina Hurricanes after playing on the road Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Washington is 4th in the Metropolitan Division at 33-18-10 with 76 points and eighth in the Eastern Conference standings but a comfortable 11 points ahead of the ninth place Blue Jackets. Washington defeated the New York Islanders 4-3 in their most recent game.
Alex Ovechkin is leading Washington in goals scored with 37 and points with 72 while Evgeny Kuznetsov is the leader in assists with 40. In goal, Vitek Vanecek is 15-7-5 with a goals-against average of 2.36, save percentage of .917 and three shutouts. Washington is scoring an average of 3.25 goals per game and allowing an average of 2.79 goals per game. Washington's power play scores 18.6% of the time and its penalty-kill unit is successful 80.7% of the time.
Carolina completes a back-to-back on Friday when hosting Washington after playing on the road Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Carolina is first in the Metropolitan Division at 41-13-5 with 87 points and six points ahead of the second-place New York Rangers. Carolina is second in the Eastern Conference standings, one point behind the first-place Florida Panthers. Carolina lost to Pittsburgh in his last outing 4-2 and had its four-game winning streak snapped.
Sebastian Aho is leading Carolina in goals scored with 27, assists with 34 and points with 61. In goal, Frederik Andersen is 30-8-2 with a goals-against average of 2.06, save percentage of .929 and three shutouts. Carolina is scoring an average of 3.34 goals per game and allowing an average of 2.36 goals per game. Carolina’s power play scores 24.9% of the time and this penalty-kill unit is successful 89.4%.
