NFL Show
The Washington Capitals (14-12-4, 32 points, 6th Metro) pay a visit to the Windy City on Tuesday and the United Center to play the Chicago Blackhawks (7-15-4, 18 points, 8th Central). Washington has won four straight after defeating the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Sunday. Washington scored four goals in the second period to take a lead the Capitals would not relinquish. Chicago is the opposite of Washington, as the Blackhawks have lost three straight after falling to Winnipeg 3-1 on Friday night. Chicago has lost 11 of the last 12. Washington has several players on its injury list including Nicklas Backstrom, Connor Brown, Carl Hagelin and Darcy Kuemper amongst others. Chicago will play without Tyler Johnson, Petr Mrazek and Alex Stalock, while Andreas Athanasiou is d oubtful.
The Washington Capitals are scoring an average of 2.90 (27th) goals per game and allowing exactly the same 2.90 (11th) goals per game. Washington is averaging 30.7 shots per game which is 20th in the NHL and scoring 21.4% of time with the man advantage which is 21st. Alex Ovechkin is the leading goal scorer for Washington with 17 and Conor Sheary is second with eight. The leader in assists is Evgeny Kuznetsov with 18 and Dylan Strome has 16. Ovechkin is the points leader with 30, while Kuznetsov and Strome each have 22. Washington has scored 23 power play goals in 30 games.
As mentioned earlier, Washington is allowing an average of 2.90 goals per game. The Capitals are allowing an average of 30.7 shots per game which is 10th and have the 8th best penalty-kill unit in hockey, holding opponents scoreless 80.7% of the time the Capitals are short-handed. Washington's number one goalie Darcy Kuemper is out injured and backup Charlie Lindgren is 6-3-2 with a 2.79 goals-against average and .910 save percentage.