Caps Look to Cool Down Auston Matthews and Maple Leafs
Taylor Chorney (Caps Outsider)
The Capitals are hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, looking to beat another team from Ontario. The Leafs have one five straight – including a dramatic 5-4 overtime win in the Centennial Classic on New Years Day – and have points in eight of their last nine. The Leafs are led by 19 year old phenom Auston Matthews who has 20 goals in his first 36 games.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Caps match-up with such a young team. The Caps lost 4-2 to Toronto on November 26 in the second game of a back to back and they did not look good. The Caps may try to clog up the middle and be physical with the Leafs, or they may try and play the up-tempo style and rely on goaltender Braden Holtby to fix their mistakes.
Barry Trotz has a lineup decision to make. He can either maintain his plan for Taylor Chorney and scratch him once again, or reward him for his goal against Ottawa and play him over Nate Schmidt once again.
Milestone watch: Nicklas Backstrom is only two assists in his career from 500 and Alex Ovechkin is six points away from 1,000 career points.