The windup of the Ducks’ lengthy six-game road trip is a rough one, as they close it out against Washington and Minnesota, respectively. And this Saturday, they’ll take on the Caps in Verizon Center, where Anaheim is 6-4 in its last 10 trips there.
As of this writing, the Ducks are winless thus far in the road trip, losing the first three outings of their current travels. That includes a 4-1 loss in New York last Tuesday, which saw the Ducks outshoot the Rangers 44-20 but was just unable to solve Henrik Lundqvist at the net. Anaheim will have to deal with yet another rock-solid netminder this Saturday in the form of Washington’s Braden Holtby.
Just like in the loss to the Rangers, Anaheim must be able to win the possession battle and just keep chasing Holtby at the net. Anaheim is seventh in the league with 2.5 goals for per game.
The Ducks might have to do better on the defensive side of things. Washington’s been scoring almost at will of late so whether it’s John Gibson or Jonathan Bernier starting this Saturday, that goalie needs the blue line to step up in slowing down Washington’s attack. Anaheim is top 10 in the league in shots against in 5-on-5 situations.
Whatever the outcome is of the Capitals tussle with Detroit Thursday, they’ll still be an imposing opponent for the Anaheim.
Washington has just been dominant on both sides of the ice lately. The Caps have outscored opponents 18-5 in the four games prior to Thursday’s match with the Red Wings.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s Braden Holtby or Philipp Grubauer in between the pipes for the Capitals. Opponents just find it difficult to get pucks inside Washington’s net these days with the Caps allowing just 2.0 goals against per contest, the best mark in the league. Holtby is 27-8-4 with a 1.94 GAA thus far this season, while Grubauer is 10-3-2 with a 1.98 GAA. Both goalies could expect being spoiled with a healthy amount of cushion provided by Washington’s offense that produces 3.3 goals per game.
It gets scarier for Anaheim thinking that Alex Ovechkin is heating up again. Ovi has three goals and two assists the past five games prior to the showdown with Detroit.
Washington is 4-1 in its last five meetings with the Ducks.
