Caps Have Saturday Night Date with Rangers
Seeking four straight win, Caps face another elite Eastern Conference opponent as Rangers make first Verizon Center visit of 2016-17.
© Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
Two nights after earning their first road win of the season and their third victory in a row, the Capitals return home to host the New York Rangers on Saturday night at Verizon Center. Saturday's game is the Caps' last home game until the first week of November; they'll depart on a four-game, weeklong journey through Western Canada early next week.
Three different Caps notched their first goal of the season in Thursday's 4-2 win over the Panthers in Florida. Justin Williams, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson each tallied for the first time in 2016-17, but it was Alex Ovechkin's second goal of the season and second in as many games that proved to be the game-winner.
Ovechkin has now netted 90 career game-winning goals in the NHL, victimizing Florida for eight of them. Only the New York Islanders (nine times) have been on the wrong side of more Ovechkin game-winners.
After taking a 2-0 lead just after the midpoint of the first frame, the Caps let that lead slip away with a lackluster second period in which they were whistled for three minor penalties. Florida tied the game on the third of those power play opportunities in the middle stanza, and the Caps dodged a bullet earlier when another Florida power-play goal was waved off because of a quick whistle.
As has been the case all of the early season to date, the Caps put forth a strong third-period performance, taking the lead on Ovechkin's deflection of a Matt Niskanen shot from the left point and salting it away on Johansson's swipe and snipe with 80 seconds remaining.
"We didn't play good in the second," says Johansson, "and I think we stepped it up a little bit in the third and did the right things, got it deep and worked harder. Overall, we played all right but that second period, we'll try to forget about that one."
Soon after Ovechkin's goal, the Caps' penalty-killing outfit was put to work once again when Nate Schmidt was sent off for interference. This time, the Capitals' killers were up to the task. Brooks Orpik and Daniel Winnik blocked the only Florida shot attempts on the kill, Winnik leaving a chunk of his ear on the ice after absorbing a Reilly Smith blast thru the earhole of his helmet.
"Yeah, that's big," says Caps goalie Braden Holtby of Washington's clutch third-period kill. "That's one of the things we pride ourselves on is our PK, and I thought we did a pretty good job tonight."
Washington is the only team in the league that has yet to yield a goal in the third period of a game this season. The Caps have scored four of their 11 goals in the final frame of the game.
Last season, the Capitals allowed 66 goals in the third period, fifth fewest in the NHL.
"We're pretty confident in third periods, especially when it's tied or in any situation. We don't get too flustered in our room," says Holtby.
New York is the fourth of Washington's first five opponents to come into this season on the heels of a 100-or-more-points campaign in '15-16. This is the first season since 1972-73 in which the Rangers enter the campaign seeking a third straight 100-point season. The 72-73 Rangers were successful in that quest, finishing with 102 points.
"At the start of the season it's almost always important to take points," says Ovechkin, when asked about the team's difficult early season schedule. "Obviously we didn't lose a game [in regulation], and it's a good sign. We just have to continue to collect the points and move forward."
Washington has been stingy defensively this season, allowing only five goals in four games. Just two of those five goals were scored at even strength. The Caps returned the same seven defensemen and two goaltenders from last season, and they've continued their strong play from last season when they permitted a franchise record low 191 goals against.
"I think you're starting to see that we're matching up a lot better," says Caps defenseman Nate Schmidt. "We're not stuck to match-ups as much. When other teams try to put lines out, we have guys who can play against anyone who is on the ice, and that's a huge difference for longevity and for freshness in guys, and I think that continuing on this path will make a lot more sense when we get to game 60, 70 and 80 and guys are usually starting to feel worn down. But hopefully we'll be able to continue to roll all three pairs as well as we have been.
"I just think with our seven guys, we are so familiar with each other now and that's the biggest thing. We see some of these other organizations that have a little more turnover, and they have to kind of relearn how to play with guys where we can chuck anybody into any situation, and they're used to playing with the other guy. Having the ability to just chuck anybody out there and have them be comfortable in the system and comfortable with their partner is a luxury."
The Rangers should provide another good early season test for the Capitals; New York has won eight of its last 11 visits to Verizon Center (8-3-0), and the Rangers scored a total of 16 goals in their five games against the Caps last season. With 15 goals in four games this season, the Rangers are tied for fifth in the NHL with an average of 3.75 goals per game. Ten different Rangers have scored this season, and 18 of them - including goaltender Antti Raanta - have collected at least a point.
The Rangers are also the third Metropolitan Division foe the Caps have seen in their first five games of 2016-17. Washington opened the season with a 3-2 shootout loss at the hands of the Penguins in Pittsburgh, and downed the New York Islanders 2-1 a week ago at Verizon Center.
For the Rangers, Saturday's visit to the District is the front end of a set of back-to-backs. The Blueshirts return to Manhattan on Sunday to host the Arizona Coyotes. New York is coming into Saturday's game on the heels of a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night.
The Rangers dominated the Red Wings in Wednesday's game at Madison Square Garden, outshooting them 33-18 and generating several odd-man breaks with their speed. But veteran Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard stole the game for his team, leaving the Rangers in the loss column and at 2-2-0 on the season.
Eastern Elite -Saturday night's game against the New York Rangers is the Caps' fifth of the young 2016-17 season. It's also the fourth of those five games in which Washington has gone up against an Eastern Conference team that rolled up 100 or more points last season.
Facing a quartet of elite Eastern Conference foes early in the season is a strong test for the Capitals out of the gates, and they're off to a 3-0-1 start
"It is," says Caps goalie Braden Holtby. "In terms of last year, we play better against good teams, it seems. But there is a lot of depth in the Eastern Conference this year and I think there will be a lot of good teams this year. It will be a close fight and we'll take all the points we can get."
Getting seven of a possible eight in the first four games is a good start, and now the Caps will try for two more against a Rangers team that has had much success in the District in recent seasons. Washington is just 3-7-1 in its last 11 regular season games against the Rangers at Verizon Center.
The Need For Speed - When the Pittsburgh Penguins won the 2016 Stanley Cup with a team that featured speed up and down the lineup, it virtually guaranteed the league would turn in that direction. Whatever succeeds at the NHL level is almost immediately aped league-wide.
New York is one of several teams who have made no secret of their desire to be a faster team, and a team that plays faster. The Caps are only four games into the 2016-17 season, but already they've noted the league's new emphasis on wheels.
"I think with everyone, the main focus right now is getting speed and playing fast," says Caps right wing T.J. Oshie. "And one way you play fast is the puck is always going north, it's always going toward [your opponent's] end; you're never turning back.
"I think that's why you're seeing a lot more flipped pucks. Pittsburgh probably does that better than anyone. They flip pucks out to areas and try to skate up to it, and if not, they've got guys moving towards you with speed and you've got to try to regroup that way.
"That's one way, and then just in general, guys seem like they're working harder to get to areas or playing north. It's tough to defend, and when every team is doing it, I think it creates more turnovers."
Washington is built to play a number of different ways, and the Caps have enough guys who are strong and swift skaters that they're capable of playing the speed game as well.
"I love the fast game," says Washington winger Andre Burakovsky. "My whole game is probably about speed. I kind of like when the game is fast when it goes back and forth a little bit.
"It's going to be a good one for me to play against the Rangers. I need to be on my game and keep my speed up to keep up with these guys. They're a good skating team, and so are we. I think every guy in here is a really good skater, so it's going to be a really fast game out there today."
Net Men - Both head coaches announced their team's starting netminder for Saturday's game more than 24 hours in advance. To the surprise of no one, Washington's Holtby will go up against New York's Henrik Lundqvist.
Holtby is 6-8-1 with a 2.69 GAA and a .912 save pct. in 16 career appearances against the Rangers in the regular season. Lundqvist is 19-9-4 with four shutouts, a 2.65 GAA and a .906 save pct. in 32 career regular season contests against the Capitals.
As the estimable Carter Myers points out, Lundqvist has won his last five regular season starts at Verizon Center, going 5-0-0 with a 1.60 GAA in those games. He has not lost a regular season game in D.C. since Nov. 8, 2008.
Brent Johnson beat Lundqvist in that game nearly eight years ago, stopping a Chris Drury penalty shot and allowing only Aaron Voros to find the back of the net in a 3-1 Washington win. Despite playing without injured forwards Chris Clark and Sergei Fedorov and ailing defenseman Shaone Morrisonn, the Caps prevailed with goals from Brooks Laich and Tom Poti. Alexander Semin added an empty-netter with six seconds remaining.
Shots Not Fired - Saturday's game features two of the league's stingiest teams in terms of shots against. The Rangers have allowed just 23.8 shots on goal against per game, the lowest rate in the league in the young season. The Caps are permitting an average of 24.5 shots per game, ranking fourth in the circuit in that department.
New New Yorkers -The Rangers look a good deal different now than they did when they last faced the Capitals early last March at Verizon Center.
Former Senators center Mika Zibanejad came to New York in an offseason swap and the Rangers signed college free agent Jimmy Vesey after a protracted bidding war involving several teams. The BLueshirts also brought in a trio of bottom six forwards via free agency: Michael Grabner, Josh Jooris and Brandon Pirri.
On the backline, stalwarts Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal and Kevin Klein remain, but rookie Brady Skjei, off-season acquisition Nick Holden and free agent signee Adam Clendening have worked their way into the team's top six.
"A lot of the things that they've done is they've added the speed quotient quite a bit," says Caps coach Barry Trotz, "obviously injecting a little more youth with Jimmy Vesey and younger guys - the [Kevin] Hayeses and those guys - are probably getting a little more ice time and a little bigger roles.
"In the last two years, they've gone by guys like [Martin] St. Louis and people like that who were a little older and good players. At the same time, I think they've added some more speed, especially on their bottom two lines, that's for sure.
"They play a fast game. They have the maturity of a [Chris] Kreider and we know how good [Mats] Zuccarello is and [Rick] Nash. And they made the trade for Zibanejad, and he's a good young player. They're similar, but a little different and a little quicker."
Tonight's game with the Blueshirts is the last look the Caps will have at the Rangers for a few months. They'll face New York next on Feb. 19 in Manhattan. The Rangers' other trip to the District this season is on April 5 in Washington's penultimate home game of the 2016-17 season.
All Lined Up -Here's how we expect the Capitals to look when they take to the ice to face the Rangers on Saturday night, and here's a guess at how the Blueshirts might look as well:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
90-Johansson, 19-Backstrom, 65-Burakovsky
82-Sanford, 20-Eller, 14-Williams
26-Winnik, 83-Beagle, 43-Wilson
Defensemen
9-Orlov, 74-Carlson
27-Alzner, 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik, 88-Schmidt
Goaltenders
70-Holtby
31-Grubauer
Scratches
4-Chorney
10-Connolly
No Capitals Injuries
NEW YORK
Forwards
20-Kreider, 93-Zibanejad, 36-Zuccarello
26-Vesey, 21-Stepan, 61-Nash
10-Miller, 13-Hayes, 40-Grabner
73-Pirri, 86-Jooris, 19-Fast
Defensemen
27-McDonagh, 22-Holden
18-Staal, 8-Klein
76-Skjei, 4-Clendening
Goaltenders
30-Lundqvist
32-Raanta
Scratches
6-McIlrath
Injured
5-Girardi (lower body)
24-Lindberg (hip surgery)
89-Buchnevich (upper body)
