Caps Play Philly Ahead of Pause
Caps take on Flyers before returning home for holiday break
By
Mike Vogel
WashingtonCaps.com
On Monday, the Caps departed the District to embark upon a what was to be a two-game road trip against a pair of Metropolitan Division foes this week, ahead of the NHL's annual three-day holiday break this weekend. But on Monday night, a day after issuing a joint statement expressing their will to move forward with the schedule, the League and the NHL Players' Association have done a Savardian spin-o-rama and have come to a completely different conclusion.
Washington will play on Tuesday in Philadelphia, where the Caps will face the Flyers for the second time this season. Philly nipped the Caps 2-1 in Washington on Nov. 6. But instead of continuing on to New York for a Dec. 23 date with the Islanders, the Caps will head back home and their holiday break will start earlier and end earlier than originally scheduled.
Instead of the League's traditional and annual three-day break from Dec. 24-26, the break will run from Dec. 22-25, and teams will be permitted to practice and/or travel on Dec. 26, even though players may have long ago made holiday travel plans for that date.
The Caps, who are one of only two teams in the League to reach this juncture of the season without having any games postponed, will now need to make up that Dec. 23 date with the Islanders at a future date.
Washington comes into Tuesday's divisional tilt on the heels of a 3-2 home ice loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night, a game in which the Caps held a 2-0 lead late in the second period. Prior to traveling to Philly for Tuesday's game, the Caps held an optional practice at Medstar Capitals Iceplex on Monday afternoon, a session in which only a handful of players participated.
Among that handful of players was Caps right wing Tom Wilson, who has been sidelined with an upper body injury since Dec. 10, causing him to miss each of the team's last four games. Wilson's presence on the ice raises hope that he might be on the verge of a return to the Washington lineup, which had just one healthy player - captain Alex Ovechkin - from its top-six forward group on the ice in Sunday's game against the Kings.
Center Mike Sgarbossa also took part in Monday's practice, a day after he was placed into COVID-19 protocol, causing him to miss Sunday's game with the Kings. Sgarbossa's Sunday test turned up a false positive, and he is now cleared to return.
In the previous meeting between these two teams last month, the Caps were rather listless in the game's first 40 minutes, a rarity for them this season. Philly grabbed a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals late in the second period, and although the Caps were much more on brand in the third, they could only manage to spoil Martin Jones' shutout bid with a goal from Brett Leason in the third.
That Nov. 6 setback to the Flyers was Washington's third straight (0-2-1) at the time, but the Caps have still not gone consecutive games without earning a point, a streak they'll be seeking to continue tonight against the Flyers. The Caps are 13-4-3 since that game against Philadelphia early last month.
Since the Caps last saw the Flyers, there has been a change behind the Philadelphia bench. Veteran NHL head coach Alain Vigneault was relieved of his coaching duties earlier this month after a 7-1 trouncing at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Mike Yeo, formerly the bench boss in Minnesota and St. Louis, was promoted from assistant coach to head coach in the wake of Vigneault's departure.
The Flyers dropped each of their first two games under Yeo, but they've won four of their last five as they head into tonight's game against the Capitals. Most recently, Philadelphia took a 4-3 overtime decision over Ottawa here in the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday night.
