Caps Clash with Panthers in Florida
Washington hits the road for its only game in a span of nine days, a Thursday night date with the Panthers in South Florida
Washington heads south for a Thursday night date with the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., the Caps' final game before the NHL's All-Star break. Thursday's game is the first of two visits to Sunrise for Washington this season, and it's the Capitals' only game in a span of nine days.
The Caps are dragging a three-game losing streak (0-1-2) with them to Florida and they'll be coming in off a three-day break in the schedule. Most recently, the Caps dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Philadelphia Flyers this past Sunday afternoon.
All three losses on the Caps' current streak came in a span of less than 72 hours after they returned from their bye week. By the time they take to the ice on Thursday night in South Florida, more than 72 hours will have passed since that home ice loss to the Flyers.
After facing the Panthers, the Caps will be idle for the next five days before they once again host the Flyers at Capital One Arena on Jan. 31.
Washington forged an impressive 10-2-2 mark in December, and it won its first three games in January as well. But January's schedule has provided four lengthy breaks, all of them longer than the league's mandated three-day holiday break in late December, and most of them superfluous.
During the Barry Trotz era, the Capitals have thrived on rhythm, and the January schedule has provided virtually nothing in the way of rhythm. The Caps come into Thursday's game on the heels of a three-day break and with another five-day respite looming on the other side. But they also know they've only got two more games in January, and that the stretch run schedule is much more conducive to rhythm and to success.
The idea is to let it all hang out on Thursday against the Panthers.
"We've got to play hard and play the right way," says Trotz. "We need the points. I think with the break, the last two days we've taken the approach of 'Let's keep working at our game.' And I think we have.
"We showed them some [video] the last two days. We haven't had a lot of meetings lately, but we did. We're trying to keep everybody engaged and [help them to] see the real picture of where we have to go with our group. Hopefully we've got them focused on one more game, and then we've got another break, and we'll have to redo this process again. I think we recognize we need the points. We just have to play our game, play hard, and be committed. And if we do that, then we can get a good result."
The silver lining of the Caps' ordinary January performance (4-2-2) is that they still maintain a lead in the Metropolitan Division standings, and the gap between Washington and its nearest pursuer - five points - is greater than the gap between any other two teams in the eight-team Metro Division. Nevertheless, there are only four more points available to the Caps this month, and their aim - as always - has to be to collect as many of them as possible.
"It's a must win," says Caps right wing Tom Wilson of Thursday's game against the Panthers. "We need to have that game. Everyone knows we'll be prepared for it, so it's just about executing and getting the job done. We're on a little skid here where we haven't gotten the results that we've wanted. So we've got to make sure we get this last one and then we get another break. We've got to keep building our game."
Three of the four long breaks are now in the rear view. The Caps' focus is on getting a couple of points on Thursday, enjoying one last long break, and then getting back to work in the middle of next week knowing that the schedule the rest of the way is more favorable in terms of rhythm over the final 33 games of the campaign.
"I think it's a good chunk of time," says Wilson of the stretch run. "It's not too much, and it's not too little. We'll have 30 games to get going, get the flow going, start playing the hockey we really want to play, get the lines set, get everything going for crunch time and playoff time.
"We've got to focus on January. We had a great December, but our January hasn't been really what we've wanted it to be, and we've had some adversity with all of the breaks. But we've got to use that as a positive, stay healthy and make sure we're using the breaks for recovery. We've got to make sure those bumps and bruises settle down and make sure we're ready for those final 30 games to end the year. We need to start putting some wins together and solidify our position in the standings for the playoffs."
Under first-year head coach Bob Boughner, who played for Trotz on the expansion 1998-99 Nashville Predators, the Panthers have been mostly also-rans in the Atlantic Division this season. The Cats weren't able to string together as many as three consecutive wins until late December, when they won five straight games sandwiched around the league's holiday break.
That winning run lifted the Panthers to 17-16-5 on the season, but they've not been able to build on that short stretch of success. The Cats are just 2-5-1 since the calendar flipped to 2018.
As the NHL prepares for its final day of scheduled games ahead of the 2018 NHL All-Star break, the Panthers find themselves in 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Cats are 11 points south of the final playoff berth in the east, and they've got half a dozen teams to climb over to get there. More than likely, the Panthers will be selling once the Feb. 26 trade deadline rolls around.
Florida lost veteran No. 1 netminder Roberto Luongo to a lower body injury in early December, leaving James Reimer to start the lion's share of the Panthers' games since. In Florida's most recent game - a 6-1 loss to the Stars in Dallas on Tuesday night - Reimer went down early in the first period with an injury of his own. That left Harri Sateri to finish up, and Sateri was reached for six goals on 36 shots after Reimer stopped all three shots he faced.
Given those injuries, the Panthers are likely thankful for the upcoming break. Luongo has been on the ice recently as he prepares to return to active duty, but Florida's goaltending situation for Thursday's game is unknown at this point.
