Oct. 11 vs. Seattle Kraken at Capital One Arena
Time: 5:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio Network
Seattle Kraken (3-2-0)
Washington Capitals (3-1-0)
After starting the season with three wins – all of them against Metropolitan Division opponents – the Caps get their first taste of Western Conference opposition on Sunday afternoon when the Seattle Kraken comes to town to close out Washington’s three-game homestand.
Following wins over Pittsburgh on Wednesday and the New York Rangers on Friday, the Caps are seeking a sweep of their home season-opening homestand Sunday against Seattle.
The Caps earned their first come-from-behind victory of the season on Friday night against the visiting Rangers. After Alexis Lafreniere staked the Blueshirts to a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal midway through the first period, the Caps pulled even on a Timothy Liljegren point shot in the front half of the middle period. Boone Jenner scored the eventual game-winner late in the second, and the Caps went on to a 3-1 victory.
Jenner’s game-winner was his first goal as a Capital after 13 seasons in Columbus, the last five as the Blue Jackets’ captain. And as Caps coach Spencer Carbery noted Saturday, Jenner doesn’t need to score to make a positive impact. He had been doing that through the first three games of the season as well.
“I think he's been playing well,” says Carbery of the veteran forward. And it's funny, but in pregame skate [Friday], I just grabbed him for a quick sec because I just wanted to tell him, he’s come into a new place, he hasn't been rewarded, and I thought he was playing really, really well. And I said, ‘Listen, I will never evaluate your game on goals and assists. Continue to do the things that you're doing, whether one goes in for you or not doesn't matter to me because you're helping drive a line that's being very productive and tilting the ice for us.
“And that's going to be really important to stay focused and not go. ‘Gosh, I really need to score.’ And sure enough, it ends up in the back of the net by doing the right things. And there were a couple great shifts that set that up, but the puck pressure, the ability to forecheck [were keys.]
“So I was happy that Boone was able to get rewarded because he's done a real good job for us, and a lot of times it flies under the radar.
Jenner has won 27 of 44 draws (61.7 percent), sixth in the NHL and tops on the team going into Saturday’s slate of NHL activity. He and linemates Justin Sourdif and Ryan Leonard have been driving play through what is obviously a small early season sample size, controlling shot attempts, shots on goal, expected goals, scoring chances and high danger scoring chances – all to the tune of 66.7 percent or better – at even strength.
Jenner has also been part of the Caps’ closing rotation in the season’s first two home games. While P-L Dubois and linemates Alex Tuch and Tom Wilson chew up most of the even-strength minutes among Washington forwards in the third period as the team closed out wins over the Pens and Rangers, Jenner, Sourdif and Aliaksei Protas are next in even-strength ice-time in the final frame.
Closing out those wins against divisional opponents is so crucial at all times of the season, and the Caps haven’t allowed a third-period goal against on the homestand.
“Yeah, and the home games too, especially early on,” said Carbery after Friday’s win. “And to get points when it’s still a little sloppy at times is huge, because you could easily have these games go the other way, and now you’re dropping crucial points early in the season. This is a good time to grind out wins, while you’re still trying to get all your lines, all your [defense] pairs on the same page, really clicking and finding consistency amongst the group and getting your structure cemented in, so that almost every time it looks the same in all three zones.”
A day after leading all Caps skaters with 8:15 in third-period ice time in Friday’s win, Caps center Pierre-Luc Dubois was absent from Saturday’s practice because of illness. With the 5 p.m. start against Seattle on Sunday, there is no morning skate. Dubois’ presence or absence in the lineup will be a game day – if not a game time – decision.
“Too early to tell,” says Carbery of the center’s status.
Defenseman Matt Roy skated on his own Saturday morning, a week after sustaining a lower body injury in Tampa Bay. Dylan McIlrath has filled in during Roy’s absence, but he played 4:59 in Friday’s game. The Caps will start a stretch of three games in four nights with Sunday’s game against the Kraken, and the top four has shouldered a heavier workload recently, particularly in the third period.
Seattle started a five-game road trip on Friday night in Detroit, where it thumped the Red Wings by a 6-3 count. The Kraken erupted for four goals in the second period of their victory in the Motor City, and Seattle has now scored exactly six goals in each of its three triumphs on the young season, the first two of which came by identical 6-1 scores over the Calgary Flames. The Kraken scored six or more goals in a game twice all season.
Seattle chased Detroit starter John Gibson with four goals on 10 shots in the second. Ex-Caps goalie Philipp Grubauer was the winning netminder on Friday, making 37 saves to pick up his first victory of the season.
On Saturday morning at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, former Stanley Cup Caps champs Grubauer and Chandler Stephenson said hello to some old friends on the Washington staff and to their Cup-winning teammates Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson. The Kraken practiced at MedStar Satruday afternoon, following the Caps’ morning ice session in Arlington. Seattle head coach Lane Lambert and Kraken video coach Tim Ohashi are also Stanley Cup champs from that 2017-18 team.
After visiting the District on Sunday, the Kraken’s road tour continues with stops in Philadelphia, Tampa and Florida later this week.
