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WATCH LIVE: Capitals host Red Wings on NBCSN

By James O'BrienDec 11, 2018, 6:30 PM EST
1 Comment

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with Tuesday night’s matchup between the Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals with coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

The Capitals and especially Red Wings probably wouldn’t admit this – at least on the record – but both teams should be pretty happy about where they are right now.

For the defending Stanley Cup champions, it’s a familiar place. Through early ups and downs, the Caps have mostly shook off an expected Stanley Cup hangover, finding away to grab the Metropolitan Division lead. Also familiar: Alex Ovechkin keeps lighting the lamp, as the prolific sniper already has 22 goals (to go with 36 points) in just 29 games.

If the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs began on Tuesday, the Red Wings would be on the outside looking in. Even so, the Red Wings have 32 standings points coming into their game against the Capitals, placing them 10th in the East. That’s not half-bad when you realize that this team is very much in a rebuilding process, whether they like it (and accept it) or not.

[Speaking of which, is coach Jeff Blashill part of that future?]

Sure, the Red Wings will be underdogs in this contest. They’d already carry that role out of context, but that’s especially clear being that they’re wrapping up a back-to-back set after beating the Kings 3-1 on Monday.

Washington would be foolish to take Detroit lightly, however. The Red Wings are 4-2-1 in their last seven games, enjoying solid seasons from Dylan Larkin (29 points) and Gustav Nyquist (27).

Can the Capitals take business at home? Find out on NBCSN.

[WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

What: Detroit Red Wings at Washington Capitals
Where: Capital One Arena
When: Tuesday, Dec. 11, 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: You can watch the Red Wings – Capitals stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

RED WINGS

Gustav Nyquist — Dylan Larkin — Justin Abdelkader

Thomas Vanek — Frans Nielsen — Andreas Athanasiou

Tyler Bertuzzi — Luke Glendening — Michael Rasmussen

Christoffer Ehn — Jacob De La Rose — Martin Frk

Niklas Kronwall — Mike Green

Jonathan Ericsson — Nick Jensen

Trevor Daley — Dennis Cholowski

Starting goalie: Jonathan Bernier

CAPITALS

Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie

Jakub Vrana — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Brett Connolly

Chandler Stephenson — Lars Eller — Devante Smith-Pelly

Dmitrij Jaskin — Nic Dowd — Travis Boyd

Michal Kempny — John Carlson

Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen

Christian Djoos — Madison Bowey

Starting goalie: Braden Holtby

John Walton (play-by-play) and AJ Mleczko (‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst) will have the call from Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule

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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.

Even Ovechkin was raving about Price in Capitals-Habs thriller

By James O'BrienNov 19, 2018, 10:57 PM EST
2 Comments

Goalies don’t often receive big ovations heading into overtime after allowing four goals, but Monday’s Capitals – Canadiens gaming wasn’t your typical contest.

That exciting 5-4 overtime win for Washington had a little bit of everything, really.

  • Former Canadiens forward Lars Eller received boos when he touched the puck in OT, yet the two-way center got the last laugh by scoring the game-winner.
  • Max Domi and the Canadiens looked very much up to speed with the defending champions. Montreal ended up firing 44 shots on goal. Pheonix Copley was chased after allowing four goals on 22 shots, giving way to Braden Holtby, who stopped all 22 he saw. (So this game had Holtby swoop in to save the day.)

Domi also roughed up Dmitry Orlov in this quick fight:

Early on in the game, Ovechkin had the advantage. Ovechkin’s first goal came even-strength, as he connected thanks to a great Tom Wilson pass. After that, Ovechkin generated the 236th power-play goal of his career, tying him with Mario Lemieux for seventh all-time while leaving him just one behind Brendan Shanahan.

It sure looked like Ovechkin would collect his 22nd career hat trick, but Carey Price said no … multiple times.

Ovechkin came quite close coming from the opposite circle of his typical “office,” with the other distinction being that it wasn’t a power-play chance:

Impressive stuff, yet that wasn’t the save that drew rave reviews from basically everyone involved.

As you can see from the video above this post’s headline, Price found a way to get a piece of Ovechkin’s bread-and-butter shot, sprawling out for a spectacular save. In fact, it was so spectacular that Ovechkin himself a) clapped for Price and then b) patted him on the chest.

Ovechkin – Price wasn’t the only entertaining element of Washington’s 5-4 OT win against Montreal. There were a ton of scoring chances, close calls, and some physicality.

That said, that duel between star sniper and big-name goalie made for quite the marquee main event.

MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule

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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.

Brad Marchand pulls a Roger Neilson, waves ‘white flag’

Fox Southwest
By Adam GretzNov 16, 2018, 10:46 PM EST
20 Comments

It was another eventful for night for Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand.

After a series of penalties in the second period of his team’s 1-0 overtime loss in Dallas, he decided to pull a Roger Neilson and wave the white flag by sticking a towel on the blade of his hockey stick and … well … waving it from the penalty box. This was presumably a form of surrendering to the referees.

Or simply Brad Marchand doing Brad Marchand things.

His adventure started in the second period when he was given a double-minor for roughing Radek Faksa after Marchand came to the defense of his linemate, Patrice Bergeron, who was sent flying into the boards at the hands of Faksa. Bergeron briefly exited the game before returning.

Here is the entire sequence.

After serving his four minutes for that altercation, Marchand returned to the ice and was almost immediately sent back to the box for slashing stars goalie Ben Bishop.

Nobody from Boston liked the call at all, with Marchand at being at the top of the list.

That was when he waved the white flag and was sent off for 10 additional minutes.

That might look familiar to you because you might recall former long-time NHL coach Roger Neilson doing something similar during the 1982 playoffs when he was coach of the Vancouver Canucks.

Marchand has been in rare form this season, even for him. Earlier this month he was given a 10-minute misconduct for mocking Nashville Predators forward Colton Sissons for embellishing a high-sticking call, which came after he bloodied Washington Capitals forward Lars Eller in the season-opener after Eller taunted the Bruins’ bench.

In the playoffs the NHL had to instruct Marchand to stop licking opposing players.

No matter what you think of Marchand as a player you at least have to admit this: It is never boring with him around.

MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

WATCH LIVE: Capitals host Penguins on Wednesday Night Hockey

Getty Images
By Sean LeahyNov 7, 2018, 7:15 PM EST

NBC’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with Wednesday night’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals at 7:30 p.m. ET. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports App by clicking here.

The two Metropolitan Division rivals meet for the second of four games this season. On Oct. 4, the Penguins took the first meeting in a wild 7-6 overtime game. Right now the teams, who are two of the NHL’s top offenses (WSH, 3.77 goals/gm /  PIT, 3.54 goals/gm – T-4th) have identical 6-4-3 records.

The Penguins are struggling at the moment and enter Wednesday’s game on a four-game losing streak, including the last two at home by a combined 10-1 score (5-0 vs TOR, 5-1 vs NJ). They’ve never lost five in a row under Mike Sullivan.

Hoping some change will do good, Sullivan split up Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel during Tuesday’s practice.

“We’ve got some balance through our lines. We’re hoping by just simplifying our game and taking some of the thinking out of it and just getting after it out there and trying to establish some momentum, that will help us,” Sullivan explained.

Washington heads into the game in the middle of a five-game homestand. They’re coming off a 4-2 win over Edmonton on Monday and a victory on Wednesday would give them consecutive wins for the first time all year.

[WATCH LIVE – 7:30 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

What: Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals
Where: Capital One Arena
When: Wednesday, November 7th, 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: You can watch the Penguins-Capitals stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

PENGUINS
Dominik Simon – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Carl Hagelin – Evgeni Malkin – Patric Hornqvist
Jake Guentzel – Riley Sheahan – Phil Kessel
Garrett Wilson – Matt Cullen – Zach Aston-Reese

Jack Johnson – Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin – Chad Ruhwedel
Olli Maatta – Jamie Oleksiak

Starting goalie: Casey DeSmith

CAPITALS
Alex Ovechkin – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Dmitrij Jaskin
Chandler Stephenson – Nicklas Backstrom – T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky – Lars Eller – Brett Connolly
Jakub Vrana – Travis Boyd – Devante Smith-Pelly

Michal Kempny – John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov – Matt Niskanen
Christian Djoos – Madison Bowey

Starting goalie: Braden Holtby

MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line atphtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.

More afternoon games could boost NHL popularity in Europe

AP Images
Associated PressNov 3, 2018, 10:27 AM EST
4 Comments

Aleksander Barkov is quick to point out the NHL is so popular in Finland that tickets to two games in Helsinki sold out in less than five minutes.

”It shows how much they love the game,” the Florida Panthers captain said. ”There’s good reason to do that every year.”

The NHL is planning just that after Commissioner Gary Bettman announced initial plans for a 2019 season-opener in Prague, two regular-season games in Stockholm and exhibitions in Germany and Switzerland. The Panthers and Winnipeg Jets played the 24th and 25th regular-season games outside North America on Thursday and Friday at a packed Hartwall Arena in the Finnish capital.

As the league sows seeds of interest in new markets like China, it is also continuing to cultivate interest in established hockey countries like Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic. And there’s a modest proposal for continuing to stoke the interest in the sport in Scandinavia and across Europe.

”One thing that I know former players have been talking about is maybe more games earlier on the weekends so they can actually watch,” said Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom, who is Swedish. ”Prime time here is middle of the night there. To make it more popular in Europe and Sweden, I think more games in the middle of the day on the weekends would be great. That’s how you can get it more popular.”

A crowded sports calendar in the U.S. with the NFL and college football going on during the first half of the season makes that a challenge. Not counting the three games this season taking place in Europe, just 127 regular-season NHL games – roughly 10 percent of the full schedule – start early enough in North America that fans in places in Western and Central Europe can watch before a late evening bedtime.

Even with games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights to fill prime-time spots in the U.S., traditional Sunday afternoon kickoffs have helped the NFL become bigger in Europe. Games at Wembley Stadium in London feature fans in jerseys of just about every team, not just the two playing, and the influence goes beyond England.

”In Denmark, the NFL (became) quite popular like 10, 15 years ago because they started games in the afternoon, so people could start watching at dinner time and they could just keep watching a new game,” Capitals center Lars Eller said. ”I would welcome more afternoon games.”

The ”NHL on NBC” games that start at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on Sunday largely after the American football season ends fit that bill. And with more teams choosing to skip morning skates altogether, afternoon starts wouldn’t throw off game-day routines to the point that there’s pushback from players.

”Whenever that happens, games at 12 or 1 p.m. Eastern time, it’s like 7 o’clock in Finland or (nighttime) in Europe, so people can see,” Barkov said. ”Of course there’s a big audience there.”

Bettman said he is not sure hockey can grow more in places like Sweden and Finland where there are already strong domestic leagues and a steady flow of talented players reaching the NHL.

”What we need to do is continue to work to keep it at the extraordinarily high level that it’s at,” he said.

Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly brushed aside the idea of basing an NHL team in Europe, saying it would need to be a group of teams and that no one has come up with a viable plan. They said staging an outdoor game in Europe is a possibility but not something likely to happen soon.

More likely is a regular schedule of ”Global Series” games across Europe. Since the NHL opened the 1997-98 season in Japan, 24 of 31 teams have played overseas. The Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders, Dallas Stars, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Vegas Golden Knights and defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals are the only ones left. Probably not for long.

”We’re happy to share our game,” Bettman said in Helsinki. ”We’d like to continue to encourage the enthusiasm, support and development that hockey gets by bringing the world’s best players and the world’s best league over here.”

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Associated Press Writer Karel Janicek in Helsinki contributed.

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Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno