Dec. 21 vs. Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena
Time: 1:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Washington Capitals (19-12-4)
Detroit Red Wings (20-13-3)
The venue and the time are both different, but the combatants remain the same. A day after the Detroit Red Wings took a 5-2 decision from the Caps in a Saturday afternoon game in the District – the first of three meetings between the two former Norris Division rivals (look it up) this season – the two teams tangle again in a Motor City matinee on Sunday at Little Caesars Arena.
Coming off one of their best 60-minute performances of the season in Thursday’s 4-0 whitewash of the Maple Leafs in DC, the Caps couldn’t get a winning streak started on Saturday. Their start was lackluster, and the Wings scored in the second minute of each of the first two periods on their way to a 4-0 lead midway through the contest.
Although the Caps rallied a bit in the back half of the game, the early deficit proved to be too deep against the Atlantic Division-leading Red Wings, who have now collected points in seven of their last eight road games (5-1-2).
“There’s a lot of things that go into it,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of getting off to a good start in afternoon games. “And I can just speak personally; Detroit’s playing in the exact same game we are, they’re playing at the exact same time. So they’re the same players, and we have the same players. There’s no advantage.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Well, what about the ice conditions and that?’ All that stuff is completely equal for both teams, so there’s no excuses there. It’s just a matter of adjusting your preparation and making sure you’re ready early in the day and early in the morning. And that doesn’t start today; to me, a lot of that is the previous day. You’re already getting ready, whether it’s what you put in your body or your recovery stuff, your preparation whether it’s on ice or off ice stuff to get ready. And then, as you get into the morning and that, you’re just adjusting your timeline. And we have to do a better job, because that’s not good enough to start the game.”
They won’t even have 24 hours to wait for another opportunity to do a better job, as Carbery suggests. Sunday’s game time is 1 p.m., so it will be a short night and morning with travel for both teams.
Saturday’s loss leaves the Caps with four setbacks in their last five games (1-3-1).
Another problem that plagued the Caps on Saturday was puck battles, particularly at the net front, where Detroit scored each of its first three goals of the game. Two of the first three Detroit goals came on rebounds after Logan Thompson made the initial save of the sequence, and the other came off a lively bounce off the back wall, which came right to James van Riemsdyk – brother of Washington defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk – who quickly put it home.
van Riemsdyk wasn’t the only brother of a Capital to score on Saturday. John Leonard, brother of injured Washington winger Ryan Leonard, started the scoring just 65 seconds into the game on a rebound. Elmer Soderblom also scored for the Wings – whose mothers were along for the trip to DC – but his brother Arvid plays for Chicago.
“We didn’t really start like we wanted to,” says Caps defenseman Martin Fehervary, who scored the second of Washington’s two goals on Saturday. “They were quicker, they were winning more battles, and they’re a good team. With them, you’ve got to do those things right, otherwise they can score.”
Saturday’s setback drops the Caps to 4-6-1 against Atlantic Division competition on the season. Washington owns a winning record this season against each of the NHL’s other three divisions.
Detroit rebounded from a 4-1 home ice loss to Utah on Wednesday, maintaining its slim lead in the Atlantic Division standings regardless of what happens in later NHL action on Saturday. The Wings are 5-1-1 in their last seven road games, and goaltender John Gibson ran his personal winning streak to seven straight games (7-0-0), matching his career best streak and notching the longest winning streak by a Detroit goaltender since Joey MacDonald won seven straight games from Feb. 8-28, 2012.
