Caps Face Philly for First Time in '18-19

Jan. 8 vs. Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Arena
Time:7:30 p.m.
TV:NBCSW, NBCSN
Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7, FAN 106.7
Philadelphia Flyers 15-21-6
Washington Capitals 25-12-4

Halfway through the 2018-19 regular season, the Caps still haven't faced the Philadelphia Flyers. That changes on Tuesday when Washington hosts Philly to start off the second half of the campaign. The Flyers are the only Metropolitan Division team the Caps haven't faced yet this season.

The Caps finished up the first half on a high note, engineering a comeback from a 2-1 third-period deficit to claim a 3-2 regulation win over the Red Wings on Sunday in Detroit. That victory halted a brief three-game slide (0-2-1), the Caps' longest of the season to date.
Third-period goals from Travis Boyd and Michal Kempny combined with a 23-save effort from Braden Holtby and a clutch late penalty kill sent the Caps home with a 1-1-1 mark to show for a three-game tour through the middle of the continent. The Caps finished the first half with 54 points, one more than they had at the same juncture of last season. They owned a two-point lead over New Jersey midway through 2017-18; they head into the second half of this season with a two-point lead over Pittsburgh in the Metro standings.
Washington is in the midst of a thick, difficult and somewhat jagged patch of scheduling. The Caps will play nine times in 16 nights before taking a well-deserved bye week/All-Star break of eight days in duration. They'll also go on the road four separate times during that span, visiting a pair of Atlantic Division cities (Boston and Toronto) and a couple of Western Conference cities (Nashville and Chicago).
Among the home games during the upcoming stretch are visits from a trio of Metropolitan Division rivals, the Flyers, Columbus and the New York Islanders.

"Every week seems to be a big week," says Caps defenseman John Carlson. "But certainly when you're in the division, it's important, especially when we will be at home. It's big to step up and make a statement in those games. You always want to win in your division. You always want to - whether it has any effect or not - have something in their head from the regular season when you play them in the playoffs.
"But with that said, we're worried about ourselves, really, and worried about our process and what we would like to do and accomplish in these next couple of days. We've been pretty busy it seems, so to get the practice time in and get back home for a little bit and try to work on our game."
The Caps practiced on Monday in preparation for Philly's visit, their first practice opportunity since last Wednesday when they departed for St. Louis. They've scuffled against Western Conference opposition, going 1-4-1 in their last six and 8-7-2 on the season. The Capitals are 17-5-2 against Eastern Conference foes, and they've won eight straight road games against Eastern opponents. But four of those next nine games are against Western clubs.
"It's hard to say," says Caps goalie Braden Holtby, of the team's struggles with Western teams. "At times when you're playing a team you don't play much, it's easier to kind of not pay attention to the pre-scout and those type of things. Whereas with the Eastern Conference teams, it becomes second nature because we've heard the same meeting over and over 15 times in the last few years. If you zone out in a meeting or something, it comes to you quicker.
"I think that's something in the second half that we've got to make sure we're pushing those little things, those little details, especially against the Western teams that we don't play as much. That's where you really need to pay attention to pre-scouts and such to have success."
Philadelphia will be playing for the second time in as many nights on Tuesday. The Flyers started off their own second half slate on Monday night, hosting St. Louis. Philly suffered a 3-0 whitewashing at the hands of the Blues and rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington, who made 25 saves. It marked the sixth time this season that the Flyers have been held scoreless.

The Flyers have dropped seven straight games (0-5-2); their last win was a 3-2 shootout over the Rangers in New York on Dec. 23, just ahead of the NHL's holiday break. Philly replaced general manager Ron Hextall with Cliff Fletcher earlier this season, and weeks later replaced coach Dave Hakstol with ex-Isles coach Scott Gordon. The Flyers were 12-15-4 under Hakstol, and they've gone 3-6-2 since Gordon took over.
Over their last six games, the Flyers have scored a total of seven goals. Three of those were scored on the power play. On the season, Philly ranks 25th with an average of 2.71 goals per game. They've allowed 3.60 goals per game, second worst in the league, though they've been a bit better in that regard since the recent recall of Carter Hart from AHL Lehigh Valley.
Hart, the Flyers' second-round pick (48th overall) in the 2016 NHL Draft, won his first two starts but hasn't had much offensive support and is 2-4-1 after making 34 saves in Monday's loss to the Blues.
The Flyers recently claimed veteran goaltender Mike McKenna off waivers from Vancouver, and if he gets into a game he will be the seventh different netminder to work the crease for the Flyers this season. Behind Pheonix Copley's first NHL shutout, the Caps defeated McKenna 4-0 on Dec. 22 when he was with Ottawa.