March 3 vs. Utah Mammoth at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Utah Mammoth (30-24-4)
Washington Capitals (31-24-7)
The Capitals kick off the March portion of their schedule – a baker’s dozen of games – Tuesday night when they host the Utah Mammoth at Capital One Arena. The Mammoth is the last team the Caps are playing for the first time this season; the two teams will meet again on March 26 in Salt Lake City to conclude their season series.
Washington came out of the Olympic break with a pair of victories at home before suffering a 6-2 setback at the hands of the Habs in Montreal on Saturday night. The Caps will carry a five-game home ice winning streak Tuesday’s tilt with the Mammoth.
Following a day away from the rigors of the rink on Sunday, the Caps were refreshed and reinvigorated when they reconvened for a Monday morning practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. The takeaways from the Montreal game were that the Caps played okay, but they made too many big mistakes to expect to win against a rested team of that caliber.
“It wasn’t terrible,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “The score makes it look worse than it was; two empty-netters will do that. But I think it was even closer than the 4-2 [score without the empty-netters]. If I could characterize or sum it up, we made some significant mistakes which, given the scenario – Saturday at Bell Centre against one of the best teams in the NHL, playing on a back-to-back – you can’t shoot yourself in the foot, and it felt like we did that on a number of occasions.
“And then special teams, it just felt like our power play had an opportunity. On some of those nights, if we could just get one or two there [it would make a difference]. And our penalty kill did a real good job, but if we could have got one of those power plays to calm things down, I think that would have helped.”
In winning three straight games before Saturday’s loss, the Caps generally controlled play and dictated the game. They also never trailed on the scoreboard at any point in those three victories. In Saturday’s loss, the weary Caps fell behind 1-0 half a minute into the game, and they were chasing it the rest of the night.
“Even that Montreal game, after the first two periods obviously we were down, but I thought we were right there,” says Caps forward Connor McMichael. “We had good looks to tie that game up and even take the lead, and then in the third it kind of fell apart.
“But I think in the last 10 games we’ve been playing desperate hockey, and we're playing our brand of hockey. The biggest thing for us is we're not letting the other team dictate play; we're forcing them to play how we want to. And I think that's what we did a lot of last year. When we force teams to play how we want, it frustrates them. When we have puck possession, we get chances. And when we're at our best, we're playing real sticky [defense]; they're not really getting too many opportunities.
“In that Montreal game, we didn't make too many mistakes, but when we did, they were pretty big, and that's what cost us. But I really like where our game's at right now, and I think we're just trying to keep it rolling.”
Washington enters Tuesday’s game with six wins in its last eight games (6-2-0). With precisely 20 games remaining, the Caps will likely need to claim somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of the 40 points remaining on the table for them.
Caps captain Alex Ovechkin took a maintenance day on Monday, but Carbery indicates the Great Eight will be in the lineup Tuesday. Defenseman John Carlson suffered a lower body injury in the first period of the Caps’ Feb. 5 game with Nashville and has been sidelined since, but he did participate in Monday’s session – including power play drills – albeit in a light blue non-contact sweater.
“We’ll find out [Tuesday], but today was a positive step,” says Carbery of Carlson’s progress. “Him being able to participate in practice is a good sign.”
With the most games played in the NHL, the Caps will be doing a fair amount of resting – and scoreboard watching – in March. They play only 13 games this month, compared to 16 contests in January, the most recent 31-day month.
“With the 13 [games] in 31 [nights], I think it’s a huge advantage for us,” says McMichael. “We got the hard part out of the way, and I think we’re going to start rolling here.”
From Nov. 1 through Feb. 28 of this season, the Caps were the only NHL team to play as many as 50 games, and they played 51.
“It’s unique because we’ve been playing so many games in such a tight amount of time,” says Carbery. “And now, with us having played the most games in the League, you know this is eventually going to come. I think it sets up well from the standpoint of with the [trade] deadline coming, we’ve got one game, against a really good Utah team.
“I was looking at them this morning, and I don’t think their record is necessarily indicative of how good they are. They’re a top five team – I think they’re sixth – in expected goals for and fifth in expected goals against. That’s pretty [good]. That means their game is in a real good spot and it’s very well-rounded as a season’s sample.
“It sets up well for just one game. We had a little bit of a bump in the road on Saturday night, we’re back on home ice, focus on one game. You’re going to get plenty of rest, you don’t have to worry about game sixty-whatever it is, you don’t have to worry about Saturday night. We just have to perform at our highest level, one game, [Tuesday] night.”
Utah figures to hit town in a sour mood after a 4-0 home ice humbling at the hands of the Blackhawks in Salt Lake City on Sunday. That setback left Utah with an even 3-3-0 split for the homestand. With Tuesday’s game in the District, the Mammoth is embarking upon a five-game road trip across eight nights, concluding a week from Tuesday in Minnesota.
