ELMONT, N.Y. — The previous time the Washington Capitals played on a Sunday afternoon at UBS Arena, Alex Ovechkin made history.
On April 6, a 12:30 p.m. start against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena was the setting as Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goals record with the 895th of his career. Sunday’s game is not of similar importance, but it begins a four-game road trip; the Capitals will head to California after the game.
Afternoon starts historically have been difficult for the Capitals. In their one midday game so far this season, they lost, 4-3, to the visiting Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 19 — after trailing 4-0 early in the second period.
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“That’s something that we’ll be on top of. Hopefully we can shake out the cobwebs,” Coach Spencer Carbery said Sunday morning. “Yesterday was a travel day. It’s going to be important, no doubt, because you have to get not only into the game physically right away in these, but you need to be ready to execute. If you come out and you’re sloppy in the first 10 minutes, one team can significantly put the other team, whether it’s on the scoreboard or just in the general game flow, on their heels.”
The Capitals (14-9-2) enter on a three-game winning streak and are not expected to make any lineup changes. The Islanders (13-9-3) will be without forward Kyle Palmieri, who tore his ACL on Friday — and somehow picked up an assist while heading off the ice.
Washington beat New York, 4-2, in the teams’ first meeting Oct. 11 at UBS Arena. When the Islanders came to Capital One Arena on Oct. 31, they prevailed, 3-1, which gave Carbery and his staff opposite examples to show the players as they prepared for a third matchup.
“Sort of a tale of two games, of us doing a good job here and then not so good at home,” Carbery said. “We’re going to have to correct some of those things, especially in the most recent games. There’s some things that they do specifically that gave us issues, so we’ll make sure that we identify those and make sure it’s clear what we’ve got to do a better job of today.”
How to watch Capitals at Islanders
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: UBS Arena, Elmont, New York
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 (WJFK FM)
Projected lineups
Capitals
Forwards
Anthony Beauvillier — Dylan Strome — Alex Ovechkin
Aliaksei Protas — Justin Sourdif — Tom Wilson
Brandon Duhaime — Connor McMichael — Ryan Leonard
Sonny Milano — Hendrix Lapierre — Ethen Frank
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun — Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Islanders
Forwards
Emil Heineman — Bo Horvat — Jonathan Drouin
Anders Lee — Mathew Barzal — Maxim Shabanov
Marc Gatcomb — Cal Ritchie — Simon Holmstrom
Kyle MacLean — Casey Cizikas — Anthony Duclair
Defensemen
Matthew Schaefer — Ryan Pulock
Adam Pelech — Tony DeAngelo
Travis Mitchell — Scott Mayfield
Goaltenders
Ilya Sorokin
David Rittich
Pregame reading
As Jakob Chychrun stays hot, so do Capitals in a win over Maple Leafs
Alex Ovechkin, honored pregame, keeps on capitalizing in win over Jets
‘That’s not normal’: Justin Sourdif is on a meteoric rise with the Caps
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