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Get your game notes: Caps at Blues

Ken Hitchcock

St. Louis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock gives instructions during a timeout of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Sunday, March 23, 2014. The Blues won 1-0. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

AP

Tonight on NBCSN, it’s the St. Louis Blues hosting the Washington Capitals starting at 8 p.m. ET. Following are some game notes, as compiled by the NHL on NBC research team:

• With only four goals in four games in April, the Blues are tied with Phoenix for the fewest goals among all 30 NHL teams this month (1.00 goals/game). The Capitals have the same number of goals (four) as the Blues, in one fewer game, which ranks them 28th this month (1.33 goals/game). The Caps are the only team that has not won a game (0-25-6) this season when scoring two or fewer goals. (No other team has fewer than three wins in those scenarios.) The Caps’ last regular-season win when scoring two or fewer was Apr. 4, 2013, when they defeated the N.Y. Islanders 2-1 in a shootout.

• Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, who has an NHL-high 420 goals since entering the league before the 2005-06 season (110 more than the second-highest scorer during that span, Boston’s Jarome Iginla – 310), has scored at least one goal in all but two current NHL arenas: Staples Center in Los Angeles (no goals in five games) and Scottrade Center in St. Louis (no goals in three games).

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• The Capitals (23.0%, 2nd in the NHL) and Blues (20.3%, 6th) have two of the top power play units in the league, but both have struggled recently. St. Louis is 1/13 in its last 4 four games, while Washington is 0/13 in its last three. The Caps’ latest downturn aside, trends since the Olympic break show that the two clubs have been heading in opposite directions in terms of power play efficiency.

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• Two of this season’s power-play point leaders, Capitals teammates Nicklas Backstrom (42 PPP, 1st in the NHL) and Alex Ovechkin (36 PPP, 3rd), have combined for nine power-play goals since the Olympic break (19 games). However, even-strength scoring suffered. Ovechkin scored his first even-strength goal in 17 games on Apr. 4 vs N.J., and Backstrom scored his first in 18 games on Apr. 5 vs. NYI.

• Blues top linemates David Backes, T.J. Oshie and Alexander Steen (questionable, upper-body injury) are enjoying career years. The trio are the Blues’ top three scorers this season, combining for 81 of the team’s 236 goals this season (34.3%), including 11 of the club’s last 17 goals.

• This season, the Blues offense has been more effective at home than away. In 39 home games, they have 134 goals (an NHL-high 3.44 goals/game at home), while in 39 road games, they have only 102 (2.62 goals/game). Their +32 home-road goal differential ranks second in the NHL, behind Columbus (+34).

• On Saturday, the Capitals tied an NHL record with their 20th shootout of the season (a record co-held by the 2009-10 Coyotes and 2011-12 Wild). The Caps, who have a 10-10 record this season in the shootout, have needed the one-on-one session to decide five of their last eight games (2-3 record). They have not won a game in regulation since Mar. 18, when they won in Anaheim, 3-2.

• The Blues have gone 12 games without a goal by a defenseman (last goal: Alex Pietrangelo, Mar. 13 vs. Edmonton), and the Capitals have gone ten games without one (last goal: Mike Green, Mar. 14 vs. Vancouver). Those goal droughts are the two longest active d-man goal droughts in the NHL. Elias