Caps Conclude Trip vs. Canadiens

Nov. 19 vs. Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV:NBCSW
Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7, FAN 106.7
Washington Capitals 9-7-3
Montreal Canadiens 11-6-3

The Capitals conclude a weeklong road trip on Monday night in Montreal against the Canadiens. Washington has won two of three on the trip to date, and Monday's game is the difference between coming home with a winning mark or a break-even record on the journey.
The Caps are making their second visit to Quebec in less than three weeks; they opened the month with a stunning 6-4 loss to the Habs here on Nov. 1. Washington was up 4-3 with less than four minutes left in that game, but went home without a point after surrendering three goals in the last 3:04 of the game. The Caps are 4-3-1 since that loss, and the Canadiens are 4-3-1 since pulling that game out of the fire against Washington.

It's been an eventful week away from the District for the Caps, who left last Monday afternoon to play four games in three different time zones against teams whose combined home ice record at the start of the trip was 21-7-5. On Tuesday morning in Minnesota, the Caps learned they'd have the services of Tom Wilson in the trip opener against the Wild that night. An independent arbitrator reduced Wilson's 20-game league suspension to 14 games, and since he'd already sat out 16, he was good to go. Wilson scored in his first game back, a 5-2 win over the Wild with Pheonix Copley in goal.
Wednesday in Winnipeg didn't go as smoothly. Expecting to have Braden Holtby in net for second half of a set of back-to-backs against the Jets, the Caps lost their No. 1 netminder to an upper body injury suffered that morning while preparing for his start. The Caps were also without the services of defenseman Michal Kempny, who fell ill and couldn't play.
With Copley playing for the second time in as many nights for the first tine in his brief NHL career, and with Jonas Siegenthaler playing his second career game in Kempny's absence, Washington went into the third all even at 1-1 with Winnipeg, but ultimately lost 3-1. Worse, they lost the services of leading scorer Evgeny Kuznetsov (21 points) and second-leading goal scorer T.J. Oshie (nine goals), both of whom left the game with upper body injuries.
Moving on to Denver to face the league's most potent attack in the Colorado Avalanche on Friday, the Caps got Kempny back but were without Holtby, Kuznetsov and Oshie. Washington fell behind early but got a full team effort in a solid 3-2 road victory, with Nicklas Backstrom supplying the game-winner in overtime.
With Holtby out, Pheonix Copley has stepped up and done excellent work in the Washington nets. Copley has started all three games on the trip to date, and he has won four of his last five starts, allowing exactly two goals in four straight. The Caps have also tightened up in front of their goaltenders in the last couple of weeks; After allowing eight goals at five-on-five in its first two games of November, Washington has yielded just six goals at five-on-five over seven games since.

"I think structurally, we've tightened things up a little bit," says Caps right wing Tom Wilson. "But that happens at the beginning of the year. The hockey is a little bit more open and you find out the hard way a few times that maybe you need to dial it in and play a little bit more structured.
"The Winnipeg game, the Minnesota game, and even against Colorado, you see that kind of playoff structure; it's a little more tight knit hockey. Maybe less chances for, but maybe less chances against as well, and making them count when we can get the looks. Not pushing the envelope too much, but sticking to our system and making sure that if we have confidence in that, we'll get it done."
Holtby was back on the ice with his teammates at Sunday's practice in Montreal, but there's no word yet on who will get the nod in net for Monday's game in Montreal. Ilya Samsonov is currently traveling with the Caps, too; he was summoned from AHL Hershey to serve as Copley's backup on Friday in Denver.

"Holtby was back on the ice today, which was good to see," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "So we'll continue to evaluate that, even later [Sunday] afternoon. And Kuznetsov and Oshie are both day-to-day."
Neither Kuznetsov nor Oshie is expected to play on Monday in Montreal, but Holtby is at least a possibility. His last start was just over a week ago, on Nov. 11 against the Coyotes in Washington.
"It was good," says Holtby. "Obviously it was nice to be back out on the ice and start feeling some shots and work some things out. It felt good."
Holtby believes he is capable of playing on Monday, but the medical staff and the coaching staff will also have some say-so in that regard.

"We've got to make sure how everything responds, too," cautions Reirden. "I'm glad to hear him say that. I was happy just to have him out on the ice today, so that was the first step for me. Obviously, we've got to do what's right for him so we don't have a recurring issue here. We'll talk later [Sunday] afternoon and make a decision [Sunday] night or [Monday] morning."
Montreal is just back from a three-game tour of Western Canada. After falling 6-2 to Edmonton in the trip opener, the Habs earned 3-2 wins over Calgary and Vancouver, respectively, and they returned home on Sunday. The Canadiens will host the Caps on Monday before departing for a two-game trip to New Jersey and Buffalo later in the week.
Acquired from Arizona over the summer Max Domi is Montreal's leading scorer with 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists). In just 20 games this season, Domi has exceeded his total of nine goals from last season, when he skated in all 82 games for the Coyotes. Domi's point total is nearly halfway to his single-season career high of 52 established in his rookie season of 2015-16 when he finished sixth in the balloting for the Calder Trophy.