Caps Clash With Columbus
Five days after a 2-1 overtime loss to in Columbus, the Caps face the Jackets again in a Sunday matinee in the District.
© Patrick Smith/Getty Images
By
Mike Vogel
WashingtonCaps.com
Washington hosts the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday afternoon at Verizon Center. The game is the Capitals' first matinee contest of the 2016-17 season and it's the middle match of the team's season-long five-game homestand. The Caps have taken each of the first two games of the homestand, trouncing the Penguins 7-1 on Wednesday and eking out a 1-0 win over Detroit on Friday.
Friday's win over the Wings was a costly one for the Capitals. Washington lost the services of three of its forwards in the first period of the game, and it was forced to play with a short bench the rest of the way. Lars Eller, T.J. Oshie and Andre Burakovsky departed with upper body injuries at various junctures of the first period, and none was able to return.
Subsequent examination of the three players reveals Oshie's to be the most serious; he is now listed as week-to-week. Eller is listed as day-to-day while Burakovsky participated fully in Saturday's Caps practice and is expected to be able to suit up for Sunday's game against Columbus.
The Caps recalled forward Paul Carey from AHL Hershey to help fill the gaping void left by Oshie's absence. Oshie is tied for the team lead with eight goals and is tied for third on the team in scoring with a dozen points. He is a staple on Washington's power play and penalty killing units.
Carey is a 28-year-old native of Boston who was originally a Colorado draft choice (fifth round, 135th overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft). With Hershey this season, Carey has four goals and 13 points in 15 games. He has collected a point in 13 of 15 games this season, including each of the last 11 in a row.
Carey got into four games with Washington last season, scoring his first NHL goal - a game-tying, third-period tally - on Feb. 6 at New Jersey.
Eller and Oshie are key penalty killers for Washington, so the Caps' penalty killing outfit was stressed in their absence. Caps goalie Braden Holtby was his team's best penalty killer, making six of his 25 saves while Detroit had the extra man on Friday night, and making the Wings rue their inability to score on the power play.
"There is no question that we've got to score on one of those power play looks," lamented Wings coach Jeff Blashill after the game. "It ended up being the difference in the game. I think if we score, then obviously big advantage to us at that point."
The Red Wings had two power play chances in the first period, and two more in the second. Scoring on any one of those extra-man opportunities would have given the Wings a 1-0 lead.
"It would have been nice to see a puck go in," said Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg. "I thought we had some good chances, but we need goals in those situations."
For the sixth straight meeting between the Caps and the Wings, neither side was able to score more than three goals. The two teams have combined to score a grand total of just 16 goals in their last six meetings.
"I'm not sure," answers, Holtby when asked why recent games in the Caps-Wings series have been so low-scoring. "It is kind of strange how it has happened the last couple of years like that. We like playing them; they're a fun team to play against. I don't know if it's just the aura of the Detroit Red Wings that we get up for and get excited to play. Their goaltenders have played good against us in the past, and [Jimmy Howard] did again [Friday night] too, so it usually makes for a tight game."
Two nights after unleashing a seven-goal assault on the Pittsburgh Penguins, the depleted Caps were able to win a 1-0 decision thanks to Jay Beagle's clutch third-period goal, Holtby's netminding and the team's penalty killing performance.
"The biggest thing is it's hard coming off those games and making sure you're prepared to play the right way," says Holtby, referring to the one-sided win over Pittsburgh. "I think that's the main reason we won [Friday night] is that we stuck with the system. That was taking the game that was handed to us and playing through it, killing a lot of minutes below their goal line, trying to stamp them out in the neutral zone and stop their speed.
"We played the game that was needed and we didn't think too much about last game, and that was a good thing."
Sunday's game will be the second meeting between the Capitals and the Blue Jackets this season, and the second meeting this week. The Caps took a 2-1 overtime loss from the Jackets in Columbus on Tuesday night in the final game of a three-game road trip that preceded the current homestand. Noted Caps killer Cam Atkinson supplied the game-winning goal for the Jackets in that Tuesday triumph over Washington in Ohio's capital city.
Since that night, the Jackets have played only once, downing the New York Rangers by a 4-2 count in Columbus on Friday night.
The Jackets' total of 15 games played to this point of the season is the fewest in the league, but they've already played four sets of back-to-back games and are starting on their fifth set here in Washington in Sunday. The Blue Jackets return home to host the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night.
Columbus has won a franchise record seven straight games on home ice, and they come to the District with a three-game winning streak overall, having swept a three-game homestand.
The Blue Jackets are 2-2-2 on the road this season, and both of their road victories have come via the shutout route. They blanked the Stars in Dallas in their road opener on Oct. 22 and did the same to the Ducks in Anaheim on Oct. 28. Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has three shutouts on the season; he was also in goal when the Blue Jackets blasted the Habs 10-0 on Nov. 4.
Friday's win over the Rangers tightened things up considerably in the Metropolitan Division standings. While the Blueshirts still sit atop the Metro with 26 points, they've played one more game than Washington and Pittsburgh, who are tied for second with 24 points and own identical 11-4-2 records. New Jersey has 21 points, but has also played one fewer game than New York.
Although the Jackets sit in fifth place, they have three games in hand on New York, and those three games are conceivably the margin of difference between the two teams. Were the Jackets to win those games in hand, they'd be even with the Rangers.
The Metropolitan Division boasts three teams - Washington, Pittsburgh and Columbus - with only four regulation losses on the season. Only Montreal (three) has fewer regulation losses and Chicago is the only other team in the league with as few as four.
Metropolitan Matinee - Based on points percentage, four of the league's best teams hail from the Metropolitan Division, and two of them will tangle on Sunday afternoon at Verizon Center when the Capitals host the Columbus Blue Jackets in the middle match of a five-game homestand. Both teams have identical 7-2-1 records over their previous 10 games.
On Tuesday in Columbus, the Caps and Jackets met for the first time this season with the latter prevailing 2-1 in overtime, with Cam Atkinson supplying the game-winner for the home team.
"It was a good hockey game," says Caps right wing Tom Wilson, of Tuesday's meeting between the two teams. "They come extremely hard; that's their identity. They send two on the puck and they have a third guy come down. I think we saw what we did from them the other night and they obviously had the upper hand on the scoreboard and beat us. But when we review that and we look at the video, there is lots of stuff that we can get better at.
"I think we're kind of hitting our stride right now. We're starting to play the right type of hockey, and Columbus is a team that's going to test that. If you're not playing the right way, then you won't win. They're playing well and we're going to show up with the right game and hopefully a four-line mentality if we can fill those holes of the guys that went down, and get the job done."
The Jackets limited the Caps to 22 shots on net on Tuesday, including just three over the final period and overtime.
"Columbus is playing a real strong, structured game," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "They've got balanced lines. They've got some young guys like [Zach] Werenski on the back end who can generate from back there. They've got a lot of trust in their game and a good vibe, especially in Columbus, where I think they've won seven in a row. They're just playing a good team game right now."
Seven Jackets players have amassed four or more goals in the team's first 15 games, so Columbus has displayed a deep and diverse attack in the early going this season.
"We watched a lot of video [Saturday] morning," says Caps defenseman Brooks Orpik. "I think we gave up one odd-man rush to Detroit [Friday] night and we gave up nine against Columbus [on Tuesday]. It's a team that really likes their defensemen to join, so as defensemen you've got to have a good gap to break some of those plays up before the blueline and not let those defensemen get into the play. Especially Werenski, who likes to jump up there. That will be a key for us [Sunday[."
All At Once -Washington avoided injuries and roster moves for the first 16 games of the season, but a trio of injuries to forwards in game No. 17 forced a roster move for today's game No. 18.
Forwards Lars Eller, T.J. Oshie and Andre Burakovsky all suffered upper body injuries in the first period of Friday's game against Detroit. Burakovsky will play on Sunday, but Eller is day-to-day and Oshie is week-to-week.
Washington recalled forward Paul Carey from AHL Hershey on Saturday, and he will be in the Caps' lineup today. Daniel Winnik, who was a healthy scratch on Friday, will also draw back in.
"He was playing very well," says Trotz of Carey. "I think he fits into what we want to do. He gives us a little bit of speed, he's a guy who has been consistent since day one and [Hershey head coach] Troy Mann has recommended him. He is a guy that we trust to use on the penalty kill. Lars and Osh have both killed some penalties for us, and we felt that was a real good fit for us right now, so he was the guy who was called up."
Carey had four goals and 13 points in 15 games with the Bears this season. He had an 11-game scoring streak - the longest in the AHL this season - going at the time of his recall.
Powering Down - With an average of 3.40 goals per game, the Jackets are the league's second most prolific team, trailing only the New York Rangers (4.11). Nearly a quarter (12 of 51) of the Jackets' goals this season have come on the power play, but the Columbus extra man unit has cooled recently.
After getting out to a torrid 11-for-25 (44%) start on the power play in their first nine games this season, the Blue Jackets are just 1-for-16 (6.3%) in half a dozen games since.
In The Nets - Sunday's game pits last season's Vezina Trophy winner (Washington's Braden Holtby) against the 2012-13 Vezina winner in Columbus' Sergei Bobrovsky.
Holtby is 8-2-2 lifetime in 13 appearances against Columbus, with a 2.81 GAA and a .902 save pct. He has surrendered two or fewer goals in 10 of his 13 starts this season, including each of his last five. Last season, Holtby had a run of eight straight games in which he did not permit more than two goals in a game (Nov. 27-Dec. 16, 2015).
Bobrovsky has started 14 of the Jackets' 15 games and has permitted two or fewer goals in 10 of those 14 starts. In his 14 career appearances against Washington, Bobrovsky is 5-5-3 with a 3.06 GAA and a .905 save pct.
All Lined Up-Because Sunday's Caps-Columbus contest is a 12:30 p.m. puck drop, there will be no morning skate for either side. We likely won't know exact starting lineups until warmups, and on Washington's side, we may not know who's healthy enough to play until then.
Here's a guess at how the Caps might lineup for Sunday's game, and a look at how the Jackets lined up for their most recent game, Friday's 4-2 win over the New York Rangers in Columbus.
WASHINGTON
Forwards
90-Johansson, 19-Backstrom, 14-Williams
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 65-Burakovsky
28-Carey, 83-Beagle, 43-Wilson
26-Winnik, 82-Sanford, 10-Connolly
Defensemen
9-Orlov, 74-Carlson
27-Alzner, 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik, 88-Schmidt
Goaltenders
70-Holtby
31-Grubauer
Injured
20-Eller (upper body, day-to-day)
77-Oshie (upper body, week-to-week)
Scratches
4-Chorney
COLUMBUS
Forwards
20-Saad, 11-Wennberg, 71-Foligno
38-Jenner, 17-Dubinsky, 13-Atkinson
43-Hartnell, 45-Sedlak, 89-Gagner
11-Calvert, 25-Karlsson, 34-Anderson
Defensemen
8-Werenski, 58-Savard
27-Murray, 7-Johnson
65-Nutivaara, 54-Harrington
Goaltenders
72-Bobrovsky
30-McElhinney
Injured
3-Jones (foot)
23-Clarkson (lower body)
Scratches
47-Prout
