Caps Ring in New Year with Coyotes at Verizon Jan. 1 vs. Phoenix Coyotes at Verizon Center
Time: 2:00 pm
TV: CSN
Radio: WTEM 980 AM
Phoenix Coyotes (15-20-2)
Washington Capitals (16-16-7)Washington hosts the Phoenix Coyotes in the team?s traditional New Year?s Eve matinee contest on Monday at Verizon Center. Face-off is at 2 p.m. The game not only rings in the New Year, it also opens a four-game homestand for Washington.
The Caps come into Monday?s game having dropped four straight games in regulation, their longest such streak since Feb. 4-11, 2006. The four losses came in a span of just five days, and while a stomach virus coursed its way through the Washington locker room. The Caps have slipped back to the break-even level for the first time since the start of December.
The Capitals enjoyed an off day on Sunday, a rare treat during a recent stretch in which they played five sets of back-to-back games in just 23 days. The Caps will play only one set of back-to-backs in the next 34 days and their next five sets on contests on consecutive dates are spread out over a span of 70 days.
Washington will be without veteran winger Donald Brashear, who was handed a one-game suspension for punching New York defenseman Aaron Ward in Saturday?s 4-1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Brashear will sit out Monday?s game with Phoenix, but will be eligible to return on Thursday when Washington entertains Montreal.
The Capitals should be back at relatively full strength for the Phoenix game. The players who were taken ill should be back in the lineup on Monday, but the Caps are still without injured defensemen John Erskine and Bryan Muir and injured forwards Matt Bradley and Richard Zednik.
Washington?s power play ranks 19th in the league with a conversion rate of 16.7%. The Capitals are 20th in the NHL in penalty killing with a success rate of 81.4%.
After a 7-15 start to the 2006-07 season, the Coyotes are a respectable 8-5-2 since. They?ve picked up at least a point in four straight, going 3-0-1. Monday?s game in Washington starts a five-game, nine-day road trip for Phoenix. The Coyotes? 4-12-1 road record is second worst in the NHL.
Phoenix comes into town on the heels of an 8-0 home ice beatdown over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night. Veteran netminder Curtis Joseph picked up his 48th career shutout in that game, and ran his career record against the Sharks to 34-9-1. The 34 wins over a single opponent is tied with New Jersey?s Martin Brodeur (34 wins over the Rangers) for most against any one club by an active netminder.
Veteran forward Jeremy Roenick hung a hat trick on San Jose in Saturday night?s win, ending a career-long 22-game goal scoring drought in the process. Roenick?s longest prior drought was a 13-game skid to start the 1989-90 season.
Special teams have been extremely troublesome for Phoenix this season. The Coyotes have scored on just 13.4% of their power play chances this season, the second worst rate in the NHL. Phoenix?s penalty killing unit ranks third from the bottom in the NHL with a kill rate of 77.8%.
Notes: Phoenix has visited Washington previously on New Year?s Day. The Coyotes took a 2-1 overtime decision from the Caps on Jan. 1, 2003. Washington outshot the Desert Dogs 32-14 in that game, but lost on Tony Amonte?s goal at 1:20 of the extra session. The only Coyotes remaining on the roster who played in that game are Ladislav Nagy and Shane Doan. The three remaining Caps are Dainius Zubrus, Brian Sutherby and Olie Kolzig.
