CANUCKS AT CAPITALS PREVIEW

TV: Sportsnet Pacific 11am PST
Radio: SN650

Vancouver Canucks (16-18-3), 7th Pacific Division

Washington Capitals (21-8-9), 3rd Metropolitan Division

WASHINGTON

The Caps conclude a weekend set of back-to-backs when they host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday afternoon at Capital One Arena. Washington started the weekend on the good foot, with a 2-0 blanking of the Islanders in New York on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday’s victory was the Caps’ first of calendar 2022, and it halted a four-game slide (0-2-2) for Washington. 

Vitek Vanecek stopped all 23 shots he faced in his first start in nearly four weeks, and Tom Wilson‘s goal early in the first proved to be all the offense the Caps’ sophomore netminder needed. Vanecek’s whitewashing of the Islanders came in the Caps’ first ever visit to New York’s new home, UBS Arena.

During its four-game slide, the Caps played well for long stretches of every game, but they struggled to muster a full and cohesive 60-minute effort.

On Saturday against the Isles, they were strong from start to finish, but their second period was stellar. They held New York to just a single shot on net in the second, and they owned a lopsided 17-3 advantage in shots attempts at 5-on-5 in the middle frame.

“I think we’ve just got to stay the same way, even keel,” says Caps center Nic Dowd, when asked what the Caps will need to do to replicate Saturday’s performance on Sunday against the Canucks.

“We can win a game 1-0 or 2-0, and that’s no big deal. Our special teams has to continue to be good, and the biggest thing is I think our [defensemen] moved the puck so fast into our forwards’ hands that we barely spent any time in our [defensive] zone.”

CANUCKS

The Canucks are nearing the end of what has been a rugged five-game trip out East for them. Sunday’s matinee match is the fourth game of a journey that ends in Nashville on Tuesday night, and Vancouver is still seeking its first win and its first scoreboard lead of the trip.

Vancouver started the trip with a 5-2 loss to the Panthers in Florida on Tuesday, and it fell 4-2 to the Lightning in Tampa two nights later.

While the Caps were shutting out the Islanders on Saturday afternoon, the Canucks were absorbing a third straight setback, this one a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Hurricanes in Carolina.

Prior to their current three-game skid, the Canucks had been as hot as any team in the League, going 8-0-1 in their first nine games under former Caps coach Bruce Boudreau, who replaced Travis Green as Vancouver’s bench boss in early December.

Vancouver has had seven of its games postponed this season, and six of those contests are home games. The Canucks last played at home on Dec. 14 when they downed the Blue Jackets, 4-3. Sunday marks their seventh straight road game since then.

SOURCE: NHL.com