Caps Seek Offensive Spark as they Visit Columbus
Coming off an "embarrassing" loss in Carolina and having lost two of their last three, the Caps change things up as they head to Columbus.
© Jamie Sabau
By
Mike Vogel
WashingtonCaps.com
Washington finishes a three-game road wing and starts a set of games on back-to-back nights when it visits the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Tuesday. The Caps return home immediately afterwards, and they'll open a five-game homestand - their longest of the season - on Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Although the Caps have won six of their last eight games, they've also dropped two of their last three. Most recently, the Capitals absorbed a 5-1 beating from the Hurricanes in Carolina on Saturday night, a game in which they managed a meager total of 21 shots on net, their lowest total in a span of 25 regular season games dating back to last March.
Standards are high in the Caps' locker room, which is why they're more focused on the fact that they've dropped two of three than the six wins in the last eight contests.
"I think we know what this team can do," says Caps right wing Tom Wilson, "which is why we look more at the aspect of losing two of our last three. I think if you ask anyone in this room, we know that it hasn't been the hockey that we'd like to play yet this year. We've kind of just been shining it on and shining it on. Some of those games you win when you're not playing your best hockey, it kind of sugarcoats it. And then you have a game like Carolina where it all comes out. You can put whatever excuse you want on it - back-to-backs against a good Chicago team - but it doesn't matter. It's our job. It's part of the gig. We've got to show up and frankly, we got embarrassed in Carolina."
Caps coach Barry Trotz put his line combinations in a blender earlier this season, after Washington suffered the rare indignity of consecutive regulation losses to the New York Rangers and at Edmonton, respectively. The Caps responded by reeling off five straight wins. At Monday's practice in preparation for the Jackets, he scrambled the lines once again.
"Probably a four-line attack," says Trotz, when asked what he hoped to achieve with the line shuffling. "One thing that resonates with me a lot is that you have to have a balance of will and skill. And sometimes we forget that we need the will and the skill to work together. It gives us the ability to make a lot of changes. The players that have played well are going to move up and get an opportunity. You never know. Sometimes, you put lines together and those combinations that you think will never work, work. I just put some balance of will and skill on each line, and hopefully it works."
Jay Beagle was promoted to the middle of the top line between Alex Ovechkin and either Andre Burakovsky or Brett Connolly. NIcklas Backstrom now centers for Marcus Johansson and T.J. Oshie. Evgeny Kuznetsov is in the middle of a unit with Zach Sanford and Justin Williams, and the group is rounded out with the trio of Lars Eller between Daniel Winnik and Wilson.
"I'm not sure what the mindset is behind it, him pairing me with Ovi," says Beagle, "but when I do get paired with him I make sure I want to do a job and do it to the best of my ability."
"Will and skill," echoes Trotz. "They've got a lot of skill and they've got a lot of will. Hopefully, they can help each other with that combination of someone getting pucks, someone shooting pucks and someone helping them along, all that stuff. That line should be fine. All of the lines have a unique quality to them. I just think there is a balance there."
Washington has scored just two even-strength goals in its last three games, and just four goals total during that span.
"I feel like we've had some chances, but we can still generate more," says Backstrom. "We're playing a good offensive team [Tuesday]. It's going to be a good test for us. They've got a good power play, too. It's time for us to start playing really good. We're at the top, but I don't think we've played good at all, to be honest with you. We can be better by at least 30 percent."
The Jackets are on a five-game winning roll at Nationwide Arena, and they'll be looking to match a franchise standard for longest home ice winning streak in Tuesday's game. Twice previously Columbus has won six straight at home, doing so from Dec. 26, 2007-Jan. 15, 2008 and matching that standard once again from March 24-April 10, 2015.
Columbus comes into Tuesday's game on the heels of an 8-4 drubbing of the Blues here on Saturday night, the second game in the young season in which the Jackets erupted for eight or more goals. The Blue Jackets bombed Montreal 10-0 at Nationwide on Nov. 4.
With the twin trouncings of Montreal and St. Louis serving as bookends, Columbus has scored 21 goals in its last three home games, the most prolific span of three home games in franchise history.
"They've got a good power play; it's No. 1 in the league," says Trotz of the Jackets. "They're going to the net really hard. They're forechecking really hard, they're creating a lot of seconds, they're winning their battles at the blue paint, they're shooting the puck. They're going to the net hard, that's what they're doing."
Since starting the season with a 2-3-1 mark over their first half dozen games, the Jackets are 5-1-1 in their last seven. Coming into Tuesday's tilt with the Caps, the Jackets trail Washington by only three points in the Metropolitan Division standings.
Columbus features the league's top power play, a unit that has been clicking at a lusty 33.3 percent rate through 13 games. The Jackets are averaging 3.46 goals per game, trailing only the prolific New York Rangers (4.06 goals per game) in that department.
Rookie defenseman Zach Werenski has been a difference-maker in the first month of his NHL career, putting up four goals and a dozen points in his first 13 games in the NHL. The 19-year-old Werenski was patrolling the blueline for the U. of Michigan at this time last year. After opting to leave school and turn pro at the end of the NCAA season, he was an important cog in the Lake Erie Monsters' remarkable 15-2 postseason run to the Calder Cup championship last spring.
Werenski played in all 17 postseason games for the Monsters, usually paired with veteran pro and former Capital Steve Eminger. Werenski totaled five goals and 14 points in those 17 postseason games at the AHL level, leading the Monsters' blueline in postseason scoring and finishing third overall on the team.
"He is a high end, modern-day, offensive defenseman," says Trotz of Werenski. "I don't know a lot about him, but I do see the offensive instincts and the skill aspect he has. We'll give him lots of time in this league, and we'll be able to accurately describe him perfectly. But he is a high end talent and he really sees the ice extremely well."
See You Soon -Washington finishes off a three-game road swing on Tuesday night in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. The Caps and Jackets will tangle again less than a week from now. Columbus visits Verizon Center for a Sunday matinee match this weekend.
Starting with tonight's game against the Blue Jackets, the Capitals will play three of their next four games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
"It's going to be important," says Caps center Nicklas Backstrom. "You've got to make sure you play good against the teams in your own division. Anytime you win against them, they lose points, so that's important. I feel like our division is going to be so tight this year, too, so you've got to try to take care of every game you play against them."
While these divisional games are important, the feeling from Caps coach Barry Trotz is that his team needs to direct its collective focus within, and not pay much heed to the divisional identity of the opposition.
"I think we have to worry about our game, how we're playing," declares Trotz. "Obviously when you're playing within your own division, they're four-point games. They're extremely important, not that the other games aren't. But you get an opportunity within your own division to have an effect on it.
"I just think you get through the first 10-12 games in this league and then the NHL grind kicks in. You start playing those four games in six nights and you get the travel and you're getting all of the other stuff of the continual grind. So this is where - as a hockey team - if you're playing well through the grind, then the grind doesn't feel as grinding on you because of the pressure to win.
"We lost our last game. We always talk about the next game is the most important game after a loss. You don't want to extend anything in a negative way; you want to get it rolling in a positive way. I'm hoping for a bounce-back from our group. We're playing a team that's very good at home, especially lately. They've been feeling it. One of the funniest things I saw on Twitter was that the cannon had to have a maintenance day from all the goals that they scored. They're scoring a lot of goals at home, they're feeling it at home, they've got a good record at home so this will be a very, very good challenge for us."
Back-To-Back -With a set of back-to-back games beginning tonight in Columbus, the Caps were planning on splitting the netminding duties between Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer, as per usual in back-to-back situations. Grubauer was in goal when the Caps played last, on Saturday night in Raleigh, a 5-1 loss that might have been significantly worse if not for Grubauer's strong goaltending.
Tonight, the Caps will come right back with Grubauer against Columbus.
"The number on thing for me was that we left him on an island in Carolina, and no teammate deserves that," says Trotz. "So he's going back in, and hopefully they will surround him and make sure they surround the island."
"Obviously we hung him out to dry," says Caps center Jay Beagle. "We weren't happy with it. It was a game where, when you watch film and everything else, and even right after the game everyone was saying, 'Sorry' to him. It doesn't feel good to leave a teammate out to dry like that, and we're going to see a better effort tonight and definitely try and get a win for him and play a lot better game in front of him."
Washington will also make a change on the blueline tonight, installing Taylor Chorney into the lineup for the second time this season and the second time in the last three games. Nate Schmidt will be a healthy scratch.
Scoring Struggles - The Capitals have lost two of their last three games, and they've managed a total of just four goals - only two of them at even strength - during that stretch.
"I think maybe it's work ethic," says Caps center Nicklas Backstrom. "I feel like we've got to work better together than we have been doing in the offensive zone. From the blueline too, we've got to get shots through and get those secondary chances. I feel like we haven't gotten a lot of those. And I think we have to be a little more gritty, a little more in front of the net to get some of those rebound goals."
Columbus features seven different skaters who have scored at least four goals thus far this season. Washington has played one more game than the Blue Jackets, and the Caps have only three such players. Marcus Johansson and Alex Ovechkin have seven goals each and T. J. Oshie has six.
That trio has accounted for more than half (20 of 37) of Washington's goal total this season. The Caps went into the season believing they had a deep and diverse attack, but it hasn't shown itself yet.
"Just overall, I think we have to work a lot harder," echoes Caps forward Andre Burakovsky. "Just look at our game, we're not really there at all. On the forecheck, we're sloppy; wall plays and managing the puck [too]. Right now it's kind of sloppy, but I just think we have to go back and look at ourselves in the mirror individually and ask ourselves what we can do better. We need to find a way to be a lot better here. I think five-on-five, just look at Carolina. They were outworking us the whole game. I think we have to be on the same page and work harder."
Power Surge -Columbus features the league's best power play, a unit that's currently clicking at a torrid 33.3% clip. The Jackets have scored at least one power-play goal in eight of their 13 games to date this season, and they netted four extra-man tallies in a 10-0 trouncing of the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 4.
Since that game, the Jackets have cooled a bit. They've gone 1-for-11 (9.1%) with the extra man since.
"We see a lot of different looks," says Beagle of the Blue Jackets' power play unit. "They give you four or five different looks on their power play and the regular, standard power plays have maybe two or three different looks. They've got some dangerous guys. It's actually pretty similar to our power play with the one-timer on the far side there. And the way they play their middle slot guys is kind of how we want Oshie and [Justin Williams] to play. So it's a pretty similar power play to what we're used to defending in practice.
"But they're very skilled and they make you pay. They go hard to the net and they're hungry around the net. So we've got to make sure that we're boxing out and when it does get to Grubi, to make sure that we're boxing them out and not letting them get to him inside the paint."
All Lined Up - Here's how we expect the Capitals to look tonight as they take the ice in Columbus against the Blue Jackets, and here's how we expect the Jackets' lineup to look as well:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 83-Beagle, 65-Burakovsky
90-Johansson, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie
82-Sanford, 92-Kuznetsov, 14-Williams
26-Winnik, 20-Eller, 43-Wilson
Defensemen
9-Orlov, 74-Carlson
27-Alzner, 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik, 4-Chorney
Goaltenders
31-Grubauer
70-Holtby
Scratches
10-Connolly
88-Schmidt
COLUMBUS
Forwards
20-Saad, 10-Wennberg, 71-Foligno
38-Jenner, 17-Dubinsky, 13-Atkinson
43-Hartnell, 45-Sedlak, 89-Gagner
11-Calvert, 25-Karlsson, 34-Anderson
Defensemen
8-Werenski, 58-Savard
27-Murray, 7-Johnson
65-Nutivaara, 47-Prout
Goaltenders
72-Bobrovsky
30-McElhinney
Injured
3-Jones (foot)
23-Clarkson (lower body)
Scratches
54-Harrington
