Caps Clash with Canes in Carolina

September 21 vs. Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: NBCSW
Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7
A week after their first day on the ice at their 2018 training camp, the Caps will play the fourth of their seven preseason contests. They will take a short flight to Raleigh on Friday for the first of two exhibition games against Metropolitan Division rival Carolina. The Caps will host the Hurricanes a week from Friday at Capital One Arena in the rematch.

After dropping each of their first two exhibition matches - one of them in a shootout - to the Boston Bruins, the Caps took a 5-2 tumble at hands of the Montreal Canadiens in Quebec City on Thursday night. The Habs scored all the goals they would need in the first frame, striking three times before the Caps could get started in the second.
Washington's power play scored twice in the middle period, but by then the Caps' offensive output merely halved the Habs' 4-0 advantage.

"That's why you have to play preseason games," said Caps captain Alex Ovechkin, in the wake of Thursday's loss, "to feel the puck and feel the rhythm so you will be ready for the home opener and for the year."
Ovechkin scored the Caps' first power-play goal against Montreal and he assisted on the second, a Connor Hobbs goal that came in the back half of the middle frame.
"Just the fact that I'm getting out there and getting a chance to play is awesome," says Hobbs, "and nothing but good things can come from that. I think I've been building in a lot of different areas and getting better, but there is still tons of work to do and it's a long road ahead."

In addition to their slow start, the Caps were outplayed at five-on-five in Thursday's loss. None of this is worrisome yet, because they still haven't played even half of their full regular season roster in any of the games to date. But with AHL Hershey set to start camp on Monday, some significant roster trimmings are likely coming this weekend.
"We are kind of caught in the middle right now of some younger guys not being able to execute at an NHL or at least NHL exhibition season [level]," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "And then you have older guys that are coming in to play their first [preseason] game, that have been off for quite a while. So we're in between right now with our groups.
"To me, it's just taking advantage of opportunities, and some guys have so far and some guys haven't. And in turn, we hope for a better response from our team [Friday] in Carolina."

For Friday's game against the Hurricanes, the Caps stopped back home in the District and collected an entirely different crop of players. Madison Bowey, Lars Eller, Juuso Ikonen and Sergei Shumakov are all expected to be in the lineup for the first time this fall on Friday in Carolina, leaving John Carlson and Devante Smith-Pelly as the only two Caps regulars who have yet to taste exhibition action.
Centers Travis Boyd and Nic Dowd are both in Friday's lineup against Carolina as well, as they continue to make their respective cases for the fourth-line center slot left vacant by Jay Beagle's off-season departure; he signed with Vancouver as an unrestricted free agent.
Both Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Jayson Megna played each of the first three Caps preseason games, the only two players to do so. Megna is also in the mix for that fourth-line pivot post, and he has looked good in his exhibition showings.
Braden Holtby and Ilya Samsonov are the goaltenders the Caps are taking to Carolina. That duo shared the crease on Tuesday night in Washington when the Caps fell 5-2 to the Bruins.
The blueline pairing of Dmitry Orlov and Matt Niskanen will head the Caps' defense on Friday against the Canes, and Washington's top forward trio will consist of Nicklas Backstrom in the middle of a unit with Jakub Vrana and T.J. Oshie on the flanks.