The Washington Capitals and New York Rangers are set to square off in a Saturday morning game and there will be a new face in the Caps lineup.
Craig Smith, part of the return from the Boston Bruins in the trade that propelled Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway north, will make his debut for the Capitals as the team looks to avoid seven straight losses. Manager Peter Laviolette said on Friday that the plan is for Smith to line up on the right wing.
Recently acquired Craig Smith is expected to make his Capitals debut, per head coach Peter Laviolette’s pregame media availability.# Caps Rangers | @employee pic.twitter.com/hkJPlMDtSp
– Washington Capitals February 25, 2023
Smith, 33, has scored 10 points (4g, 6a) in 42 games with the Bruins this season. One of those assists came in Boston’s 3-1 win over the Rangers in mid-January.
Smith has a long history with Laviolette since they were both with the Nashville Predators. He has lined up with Lavy for parts of six seasons from 2014-15 to 2019-20.
“He’s a guy who can score goals,” Laviolette said before the match. “He’s got five 20-goal seasons. He’s able to put the puck in the net. He’s a worker. He’s got speed, he’s competitive. I played power. We’ll see how it goes. I think he came in late last night and got some systems information maybe streamline Things are up for him today and he sees where that goes from there.
“We’ve changed things up quite a bit since we last worked together,” he added when asked about their shared past. “Even if you don’t play a system, you’ve probably played against it. So, you have an understanding of what it is and then you fine-tune the details. I think the most important thing is just to go out there and bring some energy and speed to the game and look to get creative if it can.”
the team Also announced a few hours before the puck was dropped that Marcus Johansson will not be in the lineup due to an illness other than COVID. This will be the first game Johansson has missed this season. That leaves only Connor Cherry, Nick Jensen and Trevor van Riemsdyk as the only players to come into every game this season if they haven’t scratched late.
Johansson was skating on the third line with Niklas Backstrom and Conor Cherry. Smith could fill in there as he flips Sheary to his more natural left winger.
The Caps will also have Darcy Comber back in the net after Charlie Lindgren lost 4-2 to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. Comber’s last outing saw him stop 22 of 25 shots against the Detroit Red Wings in a 3-1 defeat on Tuesday.
In five starts in February, Kuemper was 1-4 with a 3.07 goals against average and a . 901 save percentage. At five-on-five as a team in February, the Caps are only 28th in the league in save percentage (895).
The Rangers will arrive in D.C. with 75 ranking points and sit comfortably in third place in the D.C. Division. They will be looking to snap their losing streak as they have dropped their last three games.
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