Caps Face Philly in Tuesday Rematch
Washington aims to halt a three-game slide against Flyers
Two nights after the first of their eight meetings this season, the Capitals and Flyers will tangle again on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena. Philly won the opener on Sunday afternoon by a 7-4 score.
Heading into their 13th game of the season on Tuesday, the Caps have yet to ice the same lineup from one game to the next this season. Early on, only the goaltender changed in a couple of those contests. But the Caps have also had days like Sunday when they learned that both Jakub Vrana and T.J. Oshie would not be available for Sunday's game against the Flyers. On the plus side, they were able to get Lars Eller back in the lineup against Philly.
"It's not ideal for sure," says Caps defenseman Brenden Dillon, one of only eight players who has suited up for each of the team's first dozen games. "I think we're going through a little adversity when it comes to healthy bodies and guys available to hop in there, and I think a lot of teams are going through the same things we are. For us to use it as an excuse I think would be a fault.
"In [Sunday's] game, for the most part I thought we were the better team. I thought we deserved better. A few of their goals were just kind of timely or whatever - it might be bounces or places that it was hopping to their stick - and I thought we did a great job on the penalty kill and got some good momentum when we could. It was just some unfortunate kind of goals for them, and we know we've got to bear down on our chances too, when we've got opportunities to put the puck in the net or to defend harder through the neutral zone or the [defensive] zone we've got to do that. But obviously having some more bodies is definitely going to help."
The Caps did have two new bodies on the ice for Monday's practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, but it's too soon to say whether either Justin Schultz (upper body) or Evgeny Kuznetsov (COVID protocol) will be sufficiently ready to take the ice on Tuesday night against the Flyers.
Schultz has missed the last four games after taking a puck to the face early in the third period of a Jan. 28 game against the Islanders. Monday's practice marked his first time on the ice with his teammates since then.
"I feel good," said Schultz after the practice. "Body's fine, face is feeling fine. Obviously, my teeth are a bit damaged and all that, but it's healing up well and I'm feeling good."
As to whether he felt up to facing the Flyers after more than a week away from the rigors of the rink, Schultz was unsure.
"I think it's day-to-day right now," says the Caps defenseman. "[Tuesday] is definitely in the air. We'll see how I respond to this and go from there."
Kuznetsov's absence has been even longer. He has missed the last eight games because of COVID protocol and didn't do any conditioning until rejoining the team for workouts on Saturday. Monday was his first day on the ice, and his last game action was three weeks ago, on Jan. 19 in Pittsburgh.
"I'm feeling better every day," says Kuznetsov. "It's nice to be back on the ice with the guys. It's been a long time without skating, so I've been missing it a little bit."
Like Schultz, Kuznetsov was non-committal to his Tuesday status.
"I don't know," he shrugs. "I'm day-to-day. It's all about how I'm going to feel [Tuesday]. I'm just happy I'm alive today and able to practice with the team. It's a big step for me."
Caps coach Peter Laviolette reiterated what his players stated.
"Everybody is still day-to-day," says Laviolette. "We're working through those things right now; I don't have definite answers for you. But we're working through it on the inside."
If the Caps can get through Tuesday's game with the Flyers unscathed by further ailment or injury, they may benefit from some down time. Washington was originally slated to depart for a four-game road trip on Wednesday, a journey featuring games in Buffalo on Thursday and Saturday and in Pittsburgh on Sunday and Tuesday. But because the Sabres are suffering from some serious COVID woes at the moment, the NHL announced on Monday afternoon that Washington's two games at Buffalo later this week would be postponed.
As it stands now, Washington would depart the District for Pittsburgh on Saturday, and would have a couple extra days with which to recuperate and/or practice.
After Sunday's Caps-Flyers game, the NHL announced that the Flyers underwent rapid testing throughout their group early Sunday morning. Defenseman Travis Sanheim missed Sunday's game because of COVID protocol and won't be available for Tuesday's rematch.
Having lost their two previous games to the Bruins on home ice despite leading in the third period in both contests, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault was understandably happy that his club was able to get a third-period lead in the first minute of Sunday's game against the Caps. Better yet for Philly, the Flyers were able to nurse that lead the rest of the way for a two-point result.
"We've looked at our stats in all areas of the last five games, and we have been getting better," said Vigneault after Monday's practice. "We are playing a better 5-on-5 game right now. The only stat that right now we're obviously a little bit behind in - in my estimation in the last five games - has got to be the shots on net and the attempted shots. But our overall game as far as scoring chances for, scoring chances against at 5-on-5, the number of outnumbered situations we might be giving up or getting, chances created off the rush, the battles, etc. - in the statistics I'm getting from our guys, there has been a very positive improvement.
"That's what I've been talking about since day one, we needed to get better and we needed to get better on a daily basis and I do think that we are doing that right now."
