The Detroit Red Wings (19-133-3) play a matinee road game Saturday against the Washington Capitals (19-11-4). The Red Wings are in first place in the Atlantic Division, while the Capitals are in second in the Metropolitan Division.
Where: Capital One Arena
When: 12:30 p.m. ET
TV/Radio: FanDuel Sports Network, /97.1 FM
Odds: Detroit (+1.5, -180), Washington (-1.5, +150).
Hot: Detroit’s power play is 8-for-24 (33.3%) since Dec. 2 vs. Boston.
Not: Big Elmer Soderblom has one goal in 22 games. “He didn’t get out of the gate quite the way he wanted to, and then he got hurt, and when he was hurt,” Coach Todd McLellan said. “That didn’t help at all. His injury didn’t allow him to skate a lot, and he had to get his legs going again and get his game back. I think over the last 10 games, it’s starting to come a little bit better. He’s got great hands. He has a pretty good idea of how the game should be played. He can be physical, you know, he can shoot the puck.”
Spotlight: Rookie forward Emmitt Finnie shows two goals in his last three games. His eight goals are the fourth-most on the Red Wings behind Alex DeBrincat (20), Dylan Larkin (17) and Lucas Raymond (10).
Story: The Red Wings are playing a home-and-home against Washington. The second game between the two teams is Sunday at 1 p.m. in Detroit. The Red Wings are 1-5 in the second game of back-to-back games this season…John Gibson has won six consecutive starts in net. He will start Saturday…The Red Wings are 6-2-1 in their last nine games… Detroit is 16-3-2 when the team scores at least three goals and 13-0-2 when it scores four goals… .. Injuries: Mason Appleton (lower-body injury), IR; Patrick Kane (undisclosed) will miss Saturday’s game.
Detroit Projected Lines
Emmitt Finnie — Dylan Larkin — Lucas Raymond
Alex DeBrincat — Andrew Copp — John Leonard
Marco Kasper — Nate Danielson — Elmer Soderblom
Michael Rasmussen — JT Compher — James van Riemsdyk
Defense Pairings
Simon Edvinsson — Moritz Seider
Ben Chiarot — Axel Sandin-Pellikka
Albert Johansson– Jacob Bernard-Docker
Subs: Travis Hamonic
Goalies
(John Gibson (Cam Talbot backing up)
Washington Capitals
Story: The Capitals plus-22 goal differential leads the Eastern Conference… The Capitals are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games. … Injuries: Ryan Leonard (shoulder, facial injuries), Pierre-Luc Dubois (lower body). Leonard is skating
Projected Lines
Anthony Beauvillier — Dylan Strome — Alex Ovechkin
Aliaksei Protas — Justin Sourdif — Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael — Hendrix Lapierre — Ethen Frank
Sonny Milano — Nic Dowd — Brandon Duhaime
Defense Pairings
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun — Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Logan Thompson (Charlie Lindgren backing up) (Unconfirmed)
Subs: Dylan McIlrath, Declan Chisholm, Bogdan Trineyev
