Caps Come Home to Host Colorado
A night after their four-game winning streak ended in Brooklyn, the Caps look to start up another winning run against the Avalanche
A night after absorbing a 3-1 loss on the road to the New York Islanders in Brooklyn, the Caps are right back at it on home ice. They'll host the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday to finish off the sixth of their 16 sets of games on back-to-back nights this season.
"Yeah, I think it's good," says Caps center Lars Eller. "I think it's good that we have a quick turnaround to get this game out of our mind. Reload quickly and we have a chance to feel good about ourselves again [Tuesday] night."
Washington's four-game winning streak came to an end on Monday in Brooklyn, and the Caps' four-game winning streak against Metropolitan Division opponents also came to a stop. The Caps fell down a goal before the game was even three minutes old, and they trailed for the remainder of the evening. It marked the first time in five games that Washington trailed at any point at all.
"I think the first thing is that everyone knows we didn't really have our best game tonight," said Washington winger Tom Wilson after the loss to New York. "That's a bit of a wakeup call. I thought we played better in the third once everyone started moving their legs.
"We know them very well. They played us hard, and they played us smart. We didn't seem to have the legs in order to compete against them tonight. So we're obviously going to have to turn it around, and [Tuesday] is a huge game. We've got to stop this after one [loss]."
"I think overall, everybody needs to be better. We played the right way a bunch of games ago, and we got onto a little streak. Now we lost one, and we've got to get going again and we've got to get back to the way that we played before."
In coming home for one game, the Caps will be facing a Colorado team that humbled Washington in Denver less than a month ago. The Capitals dropped a 6-2 decision to the Avs out west on Nov. 16.
"That was a bad road trip for us," notes Caps goaltender Philipp Grubauer, who came on in relief of Braden Holtby early in the second period of Monday's loss. "I think everybody remembers that, and it was a turning point a little bit for us. It got the group a little tighter together, and all of a sudden we started playing a little bit better and better. Every game we improved.
"[Monday night] was a little step back, but it's going to be for sure a motivation [on Tuesday] because they beat us, and we want to beat them and get the two points at home."
The Caps seem to have used that November loss to the Avs as a bit of a rallying point. Washington has won eight of 11 games since that loss to Colorado.
"Oh yeah, that should be a motivational factor for us," says Eller of facing the Avalanche, "it definitely should. I think that was the low point of our season right there, so far, so we should be pumped up to play [Tuesday]."
Prior to being humbled in Denver last month, the Capitals won six straight games against the Avs. Washington plays four games this week, one against a member of each of the NHL's four divisions. The Capitals are only 6-6-0 against Western Conference opponents this season, going 2-2 against Central Division clubs and 4-4 agianst Pacific Division opponents.
Colorado will be completing a four-game road trip on Tuesday in Washington. The Avs have won two of three games on the trip to date. After dropping the trip opener to the Lightning in Tampa Bay on Thursday, the Avalanche was saddled with a four-game losing streak overall, and it had been outscored by a combined total of 18-7 in those four losses.
Since then, the Avs have righted the ship with a 7-3 win over the Panthers in Florida on Saturday and a 2-1 victory over the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Monday night.
Colorado netminder Jonathan Bernier came within a dozen seconds of a shutout against the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins on Monday, yielding a goal to Pens winger Phil Kessel in the waning seconds of the contest. Bernier made 39 saves to earn the victory, pushing his record to 5-6-1 on the season.
With Bernier getting the start against the Penguins, Washington will face ex-Cap Semyon Varlamov on Tuesday. It would mark the second straight night in which the Caps will face a former goaltender of theirs; Jaroslav Halak earned the win for the Islanders with a 31-save performance.
Colorado finished the 2016-17 season with a meek total of just 48 points, the lowest single-season total of that franchise since it managed only 46 points in 1990-91 when it was still located in eastern Canada and known as the Quebec Nordiques. Although the Avs are still pulling up the rear of the standings in the NHL's only seven-team division, the Central, Colorado's total of 30 points is tops among all last place teams in the league and the Avalanche is well on its way to an improved season in 2017-18.
The Avs managed only 22 victories last season, but they've already secured 14 wins in 29 games this season.
