Caps Clash with Cats in South Florida
The Caps head to Florida to close out their season's series with the Panthers on Thursday
Washington takes to the road once again, facing the Panthers on Thursday night in South Florida. The Caps and Cats will be closing out their 2017-18 season's series in Thursday's game at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, and it will be the rubber match of the set. The Panthers defeated the Caps by a 4-1 count in Washington on Oct. 21 and the Caps returned the favor with a 4-2 victory here in Florida on Jan. 25.
The Caps' win over the Panthers in Florida late last month came in Washington's final game before the NHL's All-Star break. The Caps were looking forward to getting beyond the break back then as they sought to get into the more rhythmic schedule routine that February would bring. Over the last couple of seasons, the Caps have played their best hockey when the schedule has them playing every other day.
But it hasn't quite worked out that way. The Caps have been treading water since the break, going 5-4-2 and not winning or losing more than two straight at any point. Truth be told, they've been treading water for a month and a half now, posting a pedestrian 7-6-4 mark in their last 17 games. That stretch includes one three-game losing streak (0-1-2), but the Caps haven't been able to string together more than two straight wins since early January.
Most recently, the Caps dropped a 4-2 home ice decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena. Washington played extremely well for the final 40 minutes of that game, but lost because it surrendered three goals in the first period and opened the middle frame in a three-goal hole against one of the league's top teams.
"That's where our game has to go to," says Caps coach Barry Trotz of the way his team played in the second and third periods of Tuesday's loss. "You build from the start, and the first period. Let's build from the first period and grow our game from there. And really our first period wasn't too bad.
"You know that we played [Monday], you know that Tampa was sitting here and they were going to try to jump on us early. I thought we managed it well. We were skating. There weren't a lot of chances or a lot of shots, but they got the goals. They were able to capitalize on mistakes and we end up sitting here with the loss."
Tuesday's loss was the fourth in succession (0-2-2) for Caps goaltender Braden Holtby, who has allowed four or more goals in each of those games. The slide matches the longest of Holtby's career - he went through a 0-3-1 stretch back in 2013-14 - but it's the first time in the goaltender's 351-game NHL career that he has surrendered as many as four goals in four straight starts.
Typically his own harshest critic, Holtby embraced the blame for Tuesday night's loss.
"Obviously you don't want to go down three [goals]," says Holtby, "and that's on no one else but me. That third goal - especially the third and fourth goals - those are the difference in the game. I thought we played a really strong game against a really good team and we should have gotten a better result. That's on me why we didn't."
But in hockey, you win as a team and you lose as a team.
"No one takes a loss [by themselves]," says Trotz. "We all take the loss. I take the loss, the group takes the loss, and Braden is part of the group.
"He has gone through a little bit of a tough [stretch]; I think that's three or four in a row he has lost. He has had a little tough stretch. It's no different then we've had guys who haven't scored in 15 or 20 games. It's no different than a player. We're playing some good teams and he gets top teams all the time. He has been a rock from the day I've been here, the last four years, and he has been an elite goaltender. I look at him that way.
"Braden will bounce back just like any other player."
Washington traveled to Florida on Wednesday, and just before doing so, it announced its second trade for a Czech defenseman in a span of just three days. The Caps swapped their fifth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for 26-year-old blueliner Jakub Jerabek.
The deal came two days after Washington obtained defenseman Michal Kempny from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a third-rounder in the 2018 NHL Draft.
Like Kempny, Jerabek is an undrafted player who has several seasons worth of pro experience in his native Czech Republic as well as a season's worth of experience in Russia's KHL. Also like Kempny, Jerabek found himself as the odd man out on a blueline corps for a non-playoff team. Jerabek had a goal and four points in 25 games with the Habs this season, but he had been a healthy scratch in xxx
Both players are good skaters and good puck movers, and the hope is that they'll help the Caps in playing in and exiting their own zone, a couple of problematic areas of late.
While Kempny is in his second NHL campaign in 2017-18, Jerabek made his NHL debut with Montreal earlier this season. Kempny is slated to make his Caps debut on Thursday against the Panthers, but Jerabk will not join the Caps until they return to the District after Thursday's game in Florida. The Capitals are off on Friday before hosting the Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena on Saturday night.
Since losing to the Capitals a home late last month, Florida has played good hockey as it tries to make a late push for a playoff berth. The Panthers won seven of their next eight games, but they'll come into Thursday's game having dropped two straight contests for the first time since the last time the Caps were in town.
Most recently, the Panthers dropped a difficult 1-0 decision to the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Tuesday night. Florida poured 40 shots on net on Tuesday, but couldn't solve Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen. Making his second start since coming off of the injured reserve list, Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo made 30 saves in the loss.
Tuesday's loss ended Florida's five-game road trip through Canada on a down note. The Panthers started the trip with victories in Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary before falling in Winnipeg and Toronto.
Heading into Wednesday's slate of NHL activity, the Panthers remain seven points behind Columbus for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers hold three games in hand on the Blue Jackets, but Florida also must first climb past three other Metropolitan Division clubs - Carolina, the New York Islanders and the New York Rangers - in order to overtake Columbus.
If Florida is going to make a legitimate run at a playoff berth, now is the time. Starting with Thursday's game against the Caps, the Panthers will play 11 of their next 12 games on home ice. They won't leave the state of Florida until they head north to face the Canadiens in Montreal on March 19. The Panthers' lone road contest in their next dozen games is a March 6 date with cross-state rival Tampa Bay.
