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Wild Wilson and Caps Zip Down to ‘Zona

(Caps Outsider)

After a dominant 4-2 win in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche, the Capitals head to Arizona to face the Coyotes. Arizona is led by veterans Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Shane Doan, with rising young players in Anthony Duclair and Max Domi. Arizona is going though a rebuild and has been improving through out this season. Despite that, they’ve been out of the playoff hunt for a while.

The Caps dominated the Avalanche even though the score might indicate otherwise – 46-19 shots on net tell more of the story. With only a handful of games left, this is the type of performance the Caps need going into the playoffs. The Caps did this without all star center Nicklas Backstrom, who was out for precautionary reasons due to an “upper body injury.”

The Caps also have likely opened the eyes to more scrutiny after Tom Wilson‘s hit against defender Nikita Zadorov, who was lying on his back for a few minutes before being helped off the ice. Zadorov did not return to the game due to a head injury. Here is the hit.

Even though the hit was clean, a hit this hard draws league-wideattention, and Wilson might not keep getting away with doing this. He’s been called for penalties on ‘clean’ hits before, where the brutality of them alone makes the refs blow the whistle and send him to the penalty box.

It’s important that the Caps continue to play the style they want and control the game against a non-playoff team as they prepare for a deep playoff run. Although not confirmed, expect Philipp Grubauer to start in net for the Caps.

Brandon Alter

Brandon Alter covers all three teams in the Washington Capitals Organization. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in May of 2021.

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