Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the New York Rangers (1-4-0) and the Washington Capitals (2-4-0) face off live from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. The game can be live streamed here. New York fans can hear all of the action by turning their dials to 98.7 ESPN Radio, while Washington fans can do the same by accessing WFED-AM 1500.
This is the first meeting of the two teams and they both come in struggling as the visiting Rangers continue a season-opening nine game road trip that has seen them win only one game while the Capitals have only won two of their first six. This will be the first meeting of these two teams as division rivals after the NHL realignment has put both clubs in the Metropolitan Division. While they haven't been division rivals before, there's no love lost between these two teams as they've met four out of the last five years in the playoffs and have each come away with two victories.
The last meeting between these two clubs took place in the opening round of last year's NHL Playoffs that saw the Rangers defeat the Capitals at Verizon Center by a 5-0 tally in a decisive Game 7.
The Rangers have been outscored 20-5 in their first five games under new head coach Alain Vigneault, and the club is looking to make some changes. The first wave of changes began when backup goalie Martin Biron and bruising forward Arron Asham were sent down to the AHL while winger J.T. Miller and goalie Cam Talbot were called up to the big club.
Vigneault mentioned that some more shakeups can come if the team doesn't turn it around after Tuesday's practice.
"We have some players right now that are getting a real good opportunity to show what they can do," Vigneault told the New York Daily News. "Some guys are getting top-six forward minutes, power-play time, and some guys' production is not where it needs to be to stay in those spots [over] the long term."
Washington has also had a troublesome start to the season, but there is room for optimism as its power play unit has been firing on all cylinders. The problem with Washington thus far this year has been defensive breakdowns that have led to the team ranking 27th in goals-against, which has left them behind the eight ball many times throughout the start of the season.
2013 Hart Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin has paved the way for Washington with six goals and three assists for nine points on the year. Ovechkin ranks second in goals and third in points thus far throughout the NHL. Nicklas Backstrom isn't too far behind with seven points on a goal and six assists to start the year.
The goal-strapped Rangers have been paced by Brad Richards, who has a team-high four goals and an assist for five points while Derek Stepan has five assists to nod Richards in points. Richards was a compliance buyout option for New York in the offseason and Stepan held out for a new contract, but now the two have led the offensively anemic team in points.
In between the pipes, former Vezina Trophy winner Henrik Lundqvist hasn't looked himself as he's allowed 16 goals while turning away 125 of 141 shots so far this season. For the Caps, Braden Holtby has allowed 15 goals while stopping 117 of 132 shots.
The Rangers will be without Rick Nash (concussion) who led the team in goals with 21 last season.
Both of these teams are in desperate need of a win, but only one will emerge victorious when the puck drops at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. this evening.
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