Sunday's game was the Caps' first game back after returning from their longest road trip in more than 15 years - a six-game, 12-day journey that took them to from Columbus to California to Canada, and finally, Buffalo. Sunday's game was the Caps' eighth in a span of just 14 days, and they emerged from that grueling stretch with a respectable 5-3-0 mark.
Both of Washington's newest acquisitions - left wing Carl Hagelin and defenseman Nick Jensen - played their first home games in Caps sweaters on Sunday. Both players joined the Caps in Buffalo late last week, but only Hagelin played in Saturday's trip finale in Buffalo.
Hagelin has skated the left side of the fourth line in his first two games with the Caps, adding speed and penalty-killing prowess to the Washington mix. The Caps believe he can be used up and down the lineup.
"That's something we are going to continue to work and navigate through different combinations and how to best use a player like Carl Hagelin with his speed and his hockey sense, and his understanding of how to play in big games and pressurized situations," said Caps coach Todd Reirden after Sunday's game. "I thought he did a really good job again tonight showing us his speed and him being a factor that way. He gets a little three-on-three time there and opportunities.
"He is going to be a good pickup for us for sure. Systematically, it's just two days for him, but I think he has shown his versatility for us."
Hagelin has moved around before; the Caps are his third team this season and the fifth for which he has played during his NHL career. Jensen comes from Detroit, the only organization he ever knew, and where he spent the last decade budding into the player he is today.
While Hagelin had the luxury of a full practice with his new teammates on Friday in Buffalo, the Caps put the finishing touches on the Jensen trade during that practice. So when Jensen made his debut on Sunday, he had taken warm-ups ahead of both weekend games, he watched Saturday's game against the Sabres from the press box, and he watched video with the coaches and sat in on team meetings. Given those conditions, he acquitted himself quite nicely in just over 14 minutes of work in the win over the Rangers.
"He was able to understand what is expected of him," says Reirden of Jensen. "To me, expectations and understanding expectations are really important for both a coach and player to have - a clear understanding of what that is supposed to be. We knew going into the game that he was going to play with a veteran player [Brooks Orpik] that has played this particular system or nine or 10 years now. So it was someone that he was confortable with that would be able to help him at different times on the bench in different ways.
"The most important thing for me was to make sure that he was in a situation where he could have success, get the right match-ups for him, allow him to get some offensive zone time and touches and be able to showcase his best attributes which are his skating ability and his ability to defend, and some solid work on the penalty kill. So those were what we were looking for, and let's ease into it here. That's what's expected of you and we are not expecting a perfect game on day one. I thought for the most part he did that for sure."