We’ve been here before. As the preseason (and Todd Reirden) has shown us, there is plenty of bad blood still brewing between these two teams. Being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs as the defending Stanley Cup Champions has a tendency to create some not-so-warm-and-fuzzy feelings on the losing side.
Washington is currently riding a two-game winning streak after ousting the St. Louis Blues on October 2nd, and the New York Islanders on October 4th. Ilya Samsonov earned his first win of the season last night in the 2-1 victory over the Islanders, so we can expect to see Braden Holtby in net tonight for their 2nd game in the Caps’ first back-to-back of 2019-20, opposite James Reimer for the Carolina Hurricanes.