Caps Close Homestand vs. Cats on Friday
Washington seeks to string together consecutive wins for the first time on the young season while Florida remains in search of its first win
The Caps conclude a three-game homestand on Friday night when the Florida Panthers hit town for the first of their two visits to the District this season. Washington is seeking to string together consecutive wins for the first time this season while the Panthers are - along with the Detroit Red Wings - one of only two teams without a win thus far this season.
Washington has split the first two games of the homestand, losing a late-second period lead in a 4-2 loss to Toronto on Saturday and then rebounding for a 4-3 overtime win over the New York Rangers on Wednesday. In the loss to the Leafs, the Caps fell flat for a period of over 12 minutes from late in the second to the middle of the third periods, and Toronto managed to net both the tying and winning goals during that stretch.
Three nights later, the Caps found themselves in a vaguely similar situation, holding a 3-2 lead over the Rangers at the start of the third. Although New York was able to tie the game on a power play midway through the third, the Caps' play late in the game against the Rangers was much better than it was against the Leafs, and in the end they were able to get two points.
"The big move for me was the third period," says Caps coach Todd Reirden of Wednesday's win over the Rangers. "It was totally different than how we did [against] Toronto. I went in there between the second and third [periods] and addressed this exact subject.
"Sometimes things just go your way in terms of how games line up back to back, sometimes the games aren't comparable at all. But that was a situation where we were in a good spot going into the third period in our building, and are we going to react differently than we did against Toronto? And that was exactly how it was put to the players, and as a result, we did. We managed the puck much better and we were able to get in on the forecheck. Yeah, [the Rangers] were able to get an equalizer in the third period, but the way we played more often than not will allow us to have more success. And that's the thing that will eventually win out, and that was an important takeaway from the game."
Now, the Caps will try for the third time this season to get a modest winning streak going. In each of the first two instances, they were 1) on the road, 2) facing a Metropolitan Division rival, 3) supplying the opposition for their foe's home opener, and 4) playing for the second time in as many nights, circumstances that are hardly optimal for success.
Six games into the new season, the Caps have had some ups and downs, and they'd love to start putting together some consistently good performances.
"At this point, we're just trying to get that base workload where we can start really seeing where we are as a team," says Caps goaltender Braden Holtby. "We obviously just focus on one game at a time and just go out and play before we analyze ourselves too much. But every game we're getting better in some areas, and some areas we fall back a bit. That's just normal for the start of the season - ups and downs - until you find out how to get that consistency personally and team-wise."
Friday's game finishes off a two-game trip for the Cats, who have dropped four one-goal decisions to start the season. Most recently, the Panthers rallied from a three-goal deficit to earn a point in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Florida opened the season on the road, losing in a shootout to the cross-state rival Lightning in Tampa. In between earning those two points, the Panthers lost their first two home games to Columbus and Vancouver, respectively.
Although they've scored a respectable total of a dozen goals in their first four games, the Panthers haven't been able to earn a win. Florida lost veteran goaltender Roberto Luongo to sprained MCL in his right knee, an injury sustained on opening night. Luongo stopped all 13 shots he faced in just over 30 minutes of work before going down, but James Reimer (3.62 GAA and .885 save pct.) and Michael Hutchinson (4.63 GAA and .808 save pct.) haven't been brilliant in Luongo's absence.
For the Panthers, Friday's game starts a set of weekend back-to-backs. They'll return home immediately afterward to host the Red Wings on Saturday night in Sunrise.
