Caps Host Islanders in Saturday Night Home Opener
Two nights after opening 2016-17 season in Pittsburgh, Washington returns home to host the Islanders.
© Greg Fiume
For the first time since 2003-04, the New York Islanders will provide the opposition for the Capitals' home opener. The Isles visit the District on Saturday night, two nights after both teams dropped their respective season openers on the road against Metropolitan Division rivals.
While the Isles found themselves on the short end of a 5-3 crosstown decision to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the Capitals were in Pittsburgh on Thursday. Washington played well, but came away with just a single point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Penguins at the freshly renamed PPG Paints Arena.
"I think it's a good game to get you going right away," says Caps forward Marcus Johansson. "I feel like we were a little slow to start. I think the first half of the game we were a little sloppy. We weren't playing our game, but in the third period we got going a little bit and got back to our own game.
"I think we created enough chances to win the game, and in the three-on-three as well. It's just fun to get out there again and fun to get going."
Braden Holtby was sturdy in goal, making several key stops in critical one-on-one situations. He was beaten on a power play deflection that went to video review for a possible high stick, and also on a shot that ricocheted off the post and then Holtby's left leg before going in.
"I thought we were okay early," says Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen. "Holts was outstanding all night long. Talk about some huge saves. But [the Penguins] had a good second [period]. We weren't able to forecheck. They were beating our forecheck and getting some looks up the ice. I thought in the third, we were really strong. All in all, not bad for the first one."
Each of the Caps' top three lines - and in particular the Tre Kronor unit of Nicklas Backstrom between fellow Swedes Johansson and Andre Burakovsky - was effective at possessing the puck and creating scoring chances while the team's fourth line saw scarce duty.
Two sublime primary feeds from Backstrom to Burakovsky accounted for Washington's scoring in the game. The first of Burakovsky's two tallies came just 59 seconds after the opening puck drop and it staked the Caps to an early 1-0 lead.
"We don't have to talk about slow starts until at least game two here," quips Niskanen. "That was a theme last year for us, and it's something we addressed. There's no better way to do it than to score right away like that."
The Caps were tasked with only two shorthanded missions in the opener against the Penguins, and both were abbreviated. Pittsburgh's Patric Hornqvist scored on the aforementioned power-play deflection on the Pens' first extra-man opportunity, and Pens' center Evgeni Malkin short-circuited the other when he tripped Washington's Lars Eller.
With neither Pens power play going the distance, the Caps were shorthanded for only 113 seconds of Thursday's game, cutting into the ice time of fourth liners Daniel Winnik (7:32), Jay Beagle (7:37) and Tom Wilson (5:31).
Five months after the two teams played six games in a hard-fought playoff series, ill tempers were occasionally on display from both sides in the opener.
"I think it's just two good teams competing to win," says Holtby. "History is what it is, but when it comes down to it, you're still trying to make plays and you're trying to win a game out there. It's fun playing good teams like that."
The Caps will face another good team on Saturday when the Islanders pay the first of their two visits to Verizon Center this season. For the first time in more than three decades, the Isles are coming off consecutive 100-point seasons as they head into 2016-17.
After some key offseason defections via free agency, the Islanders remade their roster a bit over the summer. In losing Kyle Okposo (to Buffalo), Frans Nielsen (to Detroit) and Matt Martin (to Toronto) while replacing that trio with Andrew Ladd, ex-Cap Jason Chimera and P.A. Parenteau, the Isles got older; they also added 35-year-old defenseman Dennis Seidenberg.
That group of 30-something additions seemingly places more emphasis on these next two seasons for the Islanders, ahead of the expiration of captain John Tavares' contract. But the Isles jettisoned Parenteau late in training camp, and are starting the season with a pair of teenaged rookie forwards in Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier.
At season's outset, the Islanders are slightly younger (27.3 years) than the Capitals (27.7 years) in terms of average age, but it remains to be seen whether Barzal and/or Beauvillier remains on the roster into the second month of the season.
Veteran Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak was nicked for four goals on 38 shots in Thursday's season-opening setback at the hands of the Rangers. The Isles entered the third period of that game staring up at a 2-0 deficit, but knotted the score before the final frame was even five minutes old on goals from Nick Leddy and Cal Clutterbuck.
That was as good as it got for the Isles. The Rangers reached Halak for three goals in less than eight minutes to take a commanding three-goal lead, winning by two in the end.
After their Saturday night visit to the District, the Islanders will return to Brooklyn for a five-game homestand, starting with New York's home opener against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
The last time the Islanders faced the Capitals in Washington's home opener was on Oct. 9, 2003. The Caps crushed New York 6-1 in that game, a victory that turned out to be the only one in Washington's first nine games. The Caps started 1-7-1 that season, a campaign that culminated in a 59-point finish and the fire sale that led to a draft lottery win and Alex Ovechkin's eventual landing in Washington.
Home Opener - On Saturday night at Verizon Center, the Capitals will open the home portion of their 2016-17 regular season slate, hosting the New York Islanders in the first of 41 home dates on the schedule.
Even after many years in the NHL, veteran players still get amped up for their team's home opener.
"Yeah, you have to," says Washington center Lars Eller, who will be experiencing his first home opener as a member of the Capitals tonight. "If you don't get excited for that, then you shouldn't be out there. I know I was excited to go on the ice [Thursday in Pittsburgh] and I'm going to be excited for tonight. You need to get pumped up for every game, but tonight it won't be a problem to get motivated."
"I love it," says Caps forward Marcus Johansson. "There's nothing better than playing at Verizon Center and seeing all the fans and hearing all the cheers, it's one of the best parts of playing. We're all excited and we think we can do better than we did last game, so we're going to go out and do everything we can do to get those points."
Both the Caps and Isles are coming off opening night road losses, but Washington pulled a point from its setback, a 3-2 shootout loss to the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Thursday. The Capitals played well enough to earn two points in that game against the defending Cup champs, and now they're set to take on a second straight Metropolitan Division opponent.
Last season, the Caps were 3-0-1 against the Islanders. They've collected at least a point in 12 of their last 13 games (9-1-3) against the Isles.
Tonight's home opener is the 18th for the Capitals in their downtown District home. The Caps are 13-2-1-1 in their previous 17 home openers on F. St.
New York lost a 5-3 decision to the crosstown Rangers in Manhattan on Thursday. After entering the third period of that game looking up at a 2-0 deficit, the Isles scored two quick goals to knot the score in the first five minutes of the third. But Isles goalie Jaroslav Halak surrendered the next three goals of the game in a span of less than eight minutes, losing to the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist for the first time since 2010.
"They're a good team," says Caps coach Barry Trotz of the Islanders. "They've got quality goaltending in [Jaroslav] Halak. They've got some dangerous people on the back end that really get up the ice like [Nick] Leddy. [Johnny] Boychuk has an absolute cannon from the back end. They've got [Travis] Hamonic, who is a pretty complete guy.
"You go up to the forward lines, and all of their forward lines they've got some experience with guys like [Andrew] Ladd and [John] Tavares, who is a top player in this league. They've got some young guys in [Ryan] Strome and [Brock] Nelson and they've got some good role guys in [Casey] Cizikas and [Cal] Clutterbuck and that.
"So they're a well-rounded team. They're not a young team anymore; they've got a couple young players in there now just like every team does now in the new age of the game. But they're a veteran team. They've gone through a few experiences of winning in the playoffs and all that. They're a good hockey team. They're going to be a force in the division."
Tre Kronor -Washington's top offensive unit in Thursday's opener was the all-Swedes line of Nicklas Backstrom centering for Johansson and Andre Burakovsky. Burakovsky scored both Washington goals in the game, and both came off sublime primary setups from Backstrom.
The trio had an excellent night in terms of possession and creating scoring chances.
"We enjoy playing with each other," says Johansson. "We've kind of grown up playing the same kind of hockey back home and we think the same way. We go out there and we just play. We don't overthink it, we just go and play. We have fun and we work hard, and I think that's when you get results."
Heading into his seventh NHL season, Johansson is arguably Washington's most versatile forward. In the last few seasons, he has been deployed on each of the top three lines, he has played all three forward positions and he has been utilized on both special teams.
"It's obviously a good feeling to know that you're able to help out where needed," says Johansson. "But you don't really think about it that much. Whatever the coach wants you to do, you go out and do it. You take your role and your responsibility.
"We're a team. Whatever you need to do to help the team win, that's what you're going to do."
Balanced By Experience - Washington's third line of rookie Zach Sanford and veterans Eller and Justin Williams got better as Thursday's opener wore on. The line features the Caps' least experienced player (Sanford), the team's most experienced player (Williams) and its most important offseason addition (Eller).
Thursday's game was the Sanford's first and Williams' 1001st in the league. Eller comes in virtually in the middle of those two numbers, with 443 career NHL games under his belt.
"I think this was only the first real full game we played together," says Eller. "I think everybody was a bit on their heels in the first period. Pittsburgh came out very hard. But I think as the game went on, we picked it up and finished pretty strong. In the end, it could have gone either way. But I think we're going to get better with the more reps we get in, us three."
A New Enemy - For most of the last seven years, left wing Jason Chimera was a staple in the Washington lineup and in the locker room. Acquired from Columbus in a Dec. 28, 2009 trade, Chimera played 490 games in a Caps sweater over the last seven seasons.
Chimera wasn't even with Washington for the first half of that '09-10 season, but from the start of that season to the start of this one, only Alex Ovechkin (515) played more games for the Capitals.
"Chimmer stays young," says Trotz. "He plays a quick game, which is sort of a young man's game. He takes care of himself and is a good pro."
Now 37 years old, the durable Chimera is still one of the fastest skaters in the league. He missed a total of only seven games during his six-plus seasons as a member of the Capitals.
The last time he played against the Capitals was almost seven years ago, on Nov. 1, 2009.
Ovechkin was injured in a tangle with Chimera in that game, and the Russian winger missed two weeks of action as a result, the longest he has been out of the lineup at any point in his NHL career.
"[Ovechkin] kind of throw a punch at me, and then [Blue Jackets winger Jared Boll] kind of got into it and it was a mess. I hope he's all right," Chimera said after that game nearly seven years ago.
"There was no intent to hurt somebody out there. He just hit me pretty hard that one shift, so I just let him know 'You're not going to hit me like that all game,' so I pushed him a bit, he punched me back in the face, and a couple shifts later he's off the ice, so I hope he's all right."
Less than two months after that incident, the two were teammates and they remained teammates for the next six-plus seasons.
All Lined Up -Here's how we expect the Capitals to look when they take to the Verizon Center ice for the first time this season:
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
65-Burakovsky, 19-Backstrom, 90-Johansson
82-Sanford, 20-Eller, 14-Williams
26-Winnik, 83-Beagle, 43-Wilson
Defensemen
27-Alzner, 2-Niskanen
9-Orlov, 74-Carlson
44-Orpik, 88-Schmidt
Goaltenders
70-Holtby
31-Grubauer
Scratches
4-Chorney
10-Connolly
