Capitals at Kraken
The Kraken are even in points (55) with two other Western Conference NHL teams for the final wild card spot. The Capitals are six points back of that position in the Eastern Conference.
“Big picture, view from 10,000 feet, they’re in a very similar situation to what we’re in,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carberry told us after the morning skate on Tuesday. “You’ve got two teams that are basically just on the outside looking in, scratching and clawing,”
That would be an optimistic appraisal given the respective math.
And speaking of math, we asked Kraken head coach Lane Lambert if he’s projecting what his team needs to accomplish over the final five games before the Olympic break and whether he’s broken it down as a segment.
“It’s one day at a time, but I think maybe I have some math in my head, but we’ll leave it at that,” Lambert said Tuesday morning. “It’s just one game at a time, we’ve got two extremely good eastern opponents here and we’ll take it one at a time with Washington and Toronto and then we have three huge division games.”
The Capitals are on game-five of a season long six-game road trip, one that’s seen extra challenges along the way with airplane and airline crew mess-ups that have cost the club extra time and rest. They finish up the trip in Detroit on Thursday night against the Red Wings. The Kraken are on game-five of a six-game home stand.
Philipp Grubauer starts in net for Seattle.
NOTES:
— Forward Tom Wilson, pictured, is a game time decision for the Capitals.
— Seattle is 3-and-6 all time against Washington, having lost this season’s earlier match-up in D.C., 4-1 back on October 21st.
— Matty Beniers has a three-game point streak for the Kraken. Jordan Eberle has three points over his last two games.
Earlier Kraken:
— Young Kraken Cash In To Down NJ Devils 4-2
