Welpen » Brayden Point and Victor Hedman

WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals return home from a successful four-game trip to host the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.Washington (10-7-3) won three of four games on the road despite injuries to goalie Braden Holtby and top-six forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie along the way.Holtby missed three games and was slated to make his return against the Blackhawks Travis Konecny Jersey , but when the Montreal Canadiens scored three goals in 75 seconds Monday night against Phoenix Copley, coach Todd Reirden inserted Holtby.Article continues below ...He stopped all 22 shots he faced and the Capitals rallied from a 4-2 second-period deficit for a 5-4 win on Lars Eller’s overtime goal.“I thought (Holtby) was great when he came in,” Reirden told the team’s website. “He looked really solid; he really settled things down for us and changed the momentum of the game. That’s what you have to do sometimes.”Washington, which has won two straight games in overtime, is home for two games sandwiched around Thanksgiving with the Detroit Red Wings visiting Friday.Kuznetsov and Oshie are day to day with upper-body injuries. Washington announced Tuesday that 38-year-old defenseman Brooks Orpik, who has missed 10 games, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and he will miss four to six weeks.Orpik’s absence has meant more time for second-year defenseman Madison Bowey Adam Cracknell Jersey Womens , who has three assists in his last five games. The 23-year-old Bowey played in 51 games as a rookie last season but was not in the lineup during the Stanley Cup run.Bowey told the Washington Post that sitting out taught him to focus on playing his game rather than worrying about making a mistake.“Now I’m just free-spirited. I’m making sure I come to the rink ready and I’m focused, and I’m prepared,” Bowey told the Post. “I have confidence in myself and in my game because I know the coaching staff does. I think that’s why I’m definitely feeling much better this year than I did last year.”The Blackhawks (8-8-5) play seven of their next nine games on the road. They’ll travel south to play the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers this weekend before heading back home for a game.“It’ll be a fun trip,” Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton told the Chicago Tribune. “Another measuring stick. I thought Sunday (against the Minnesota Wild) was a measuring stick against one of the top teams in the conference to see how we could handle it.“We’ll take it one game at a time. But it goes back to us. If we take care of our own performance, I believe we’ll have a chance to win.”Corey Crawford made a season-high 39 saves against the Wild. He has allowed two regulation goals in the past three games.“Overall, I think I’ve felt great,” Crawford told NHL.com. “I felt good in every game and just got to battle and work to be good. I’ve felt good so far Wayne Simmonds Jersey , but I felt our guys did a really good job of helping out in front of the net.”Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist against the Wild and Patrick Kane had two assists for the Blackhawks, who are 2-0-2 in their past four games despite scoring just seven goals.Crawford is 3-4-2 with a 3.54 goals-against average and .884 save percentage against the Capitals.Holtby is 7-3 with a 2.67 GAA and a .918 save percentage versus the Blackhawks. PITTSBURGH (AP) The Pittsburgh Penguins will start their bid for a Stanley Cup three-peat at home.Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel banked in goals off Craig Anderson minutes apart in the second period, Casey DeSmith stopped 34 shots and the Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 4-0 to clinch second place in the Metropolitan Division and home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.Phil Kessel got his 34th goal of the season and Patric Hornqvist pushed his career-high to 29 when he beat Anderson late in the third period for the Penguins, who will host Columbus, New Jersey or Philadelphia next week.Anderson finished with 19 saves but was beaten twice from behind the goal line in the second period as the Senators lost for the ninth time in 11 games.Ottawa and Pittsburgh met in the Eastern Conference finals 10 months ago, with the Penguins winning on an overtime goal in Game 7 before going on to beat Nashville for their second straight Cup. The Senators hoped it would be a springboard to becoming perennial contenders. Instead they will miss the postseason for the third time in five years.DUCKS 5, STARS 3ANAHEIM Womens Bryan Rust Jersey , Calif. (AP) – Jakob Silfverberg had a goal and two assists to help Anaheim keep up its surge toward the postseason with its ninth win in 11 games.Josh Manson and Andrew Cogliano each had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who leapfrogged the Los Angeles Kings by one point for third place in the Pacific Division. The playoff-bound rivals have been trading the spot down the stretch, and the race will go down to the last day of the regular season.Rickard Rakell and Derek Grant also scored for Anaheim before Cogliano got a key breakaway goal with 5:25 to play. Ryan Miller made 23 saves to win his second straight start in place of John Gibson. Miller also earned the 369th victory of his NHL career, tying Tom Barrasso for second among U.S.-born goaltenders.Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist, and Marc Methot and Radek Faksa also scored for Dallas. Mike McKenna stopped 28 shots in his second appearance of the season.LIGHTNING 7, SABRES 5TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Nikita Kucherov became the second player in the NHL to reach 100 points this season Josh Jooris Jersey Womens , and Tampa Bay took a two-point lead for the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Divisiion lead.Kucherov scored in the first period and got his 100th point assisting on Dan Girardi’s goal 1:04 into the second that put the Lightning up 4-2. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid tops the league with 106 points. According to the NHL, this is the first season since 2009-10 with multiple 100-point players.The Lightning got two goals from Anthony Cirelli, while Yanni Gourde, Brayden Point and Victor Hedman also scored. Alex Killorn had three assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots.Casey Mittelstadt and Alexander Nylander each got his first NHL goal for the last-place Sabres. Jason Pominville, Jordan Nolan and Kyle Okposo also scored for Buffalo, and Chad Johnson had 27 saves.BLUES 4, BLACKHAWKS 1CHICAGO (AP) – Patrik Berglund scored three times Melker Karlsson Jersey , including a tiebreaking rebound goal in the third period, and St. Louis moved into position for the last Western Conference wild card.Carter Hutton made 19 saves as St. Louis stopped a three-game slide. Jaden Schwartz also scored in the third after an ugly turnover by the Blackhawks.The Blues (44-31-6) moved one point ahead of the idle Avalanche (42-30-9) heading into their finale in Colorado on Saturday night. St. Louis has won three of four against Colorado this season.Erik Gustafsson scored for Chicago, and Jean-Francois Berube made 31 saves. The last-place Blackhawks (33-38-10) finished with an 18-18-5 record at home.