I hope everyone made it back here safely and is staying reasonably warm. The Canes open the 2018 calendar year with a game against the Caps.
The teams haven't played yet this year but will knock out 3 of the 4 games over the next 11 days, with an old fashioned home and home next Thursday and Friday. This also starts a stretch where the Canes will play 7 games over the next 13 days, leading into the 5 day break. The Canes carry a 6 game home winning streak into the game and have won 7 of their last 9 overall. Marcus Kruger didn't practice yesterday but Lee Stempniak continued to practice, albeit in a yellow jersey. His return could come before the break, although I imagine they'd want him to play a few games in Charlotte first. We'll see who's in and out after the 10:30 skate.
The Caps have overtaken the Devils and lead the Metro with 51 points in 40 games. They're only NHL .500 on the road at 8-8-3 and have lost their last 3 road games. Ovechkin is 2nd in the league with 24 goals and he also leads the team with 41 points, tied for 12th in the league. He's been relatively quite recently though, with 3 goals in his last 10 games and ony 1 in his last 6. Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson have 27 assists, tied for 12th in the league. Braden Holby isn't having a great year by his standards. His GAA is 2.63, more than .50 goals worse than last year and his highest since 2013-14 season. His Save % of .918 is in line with his career average of .921. Their PP is 15th at 19.5% but 10th on the road at 20.8%. Their PK is 21st at 80.4% and 18th on the road at 79.2%. They're 7th in the league in FO % at 51.4%, not far behind the Canes who are at 52.4%.
Fox Sports Carolinas for TV.
The teams haven't played yet this year but will knock out 3 of the 4 games over the next 11 days, with an old fashioned home and home next Thursday and Friday. This also starts a stretch where the Canes will play 7 games over the next 13 days, leading into the 5 day break. The Canes carry a 6 game home winning streak into the game and have won 7 of their last 9 overall. Marcus Kruger didn't practice yesterday but Lee Stempniak continued to practice, albeit in a yellow jersey. His return could come before the break, although I imagine they'd want him to play a few games in Charlotte first. We'll see who's in and out after the 10:30 skate.
The Caps have overtaken the Devils and lead the Metro with 51 points in 40 games. They're only NHL .500 on the road at 8-8-3 and have lost their last 3 road games. Ovechkin is 2nd in the league with 24 goals and he also leads the team with 41 points, tied for 12th in the league. He's been relatively quite recently though, with 3 goals in his last 10 games and ony 1 in his last 6. Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson have 27 assists, tied for 12th in the league. Braden Holby isn't having a great year by his standards. His GAA is 2.63, more than .50 goals worse than last year and his highest since 2013-14 season. His Save % of .918 is in line with his career average of .921. Their PP is 15th at 19.5% but 10th on the road at 20.8%. Their PK is 21st at 80.4% and 18th on the road at 79.2%. They're 7th in the league in FO % at 51.4%, not far behind the Canes who are at 52.4%.
Fox Sports Carolinas for TV.