#CapsRangers Skate Shavings: To The Apple And Back

One of only three teams in the league to play back-to-back games both immediately before and immediately after the NHL's three-day holiday break, the Capitals launch back into action on Wednesday when they travel up to New York to take on the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Under normal circumstances, the Caps would have traveled to New York the night before the game, and they would have conducted a morning skate at MSG on Wednesday morning ahead of that night's game. But because the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NHL Players' Association prohibits travel, practice and any other team activity during that three-day break, the Caps must improvise for this game against the Rangers.

They'll travel to New York and head home from there on the same day, and they conducted their morning skate some three hours earlier than usual, doing so at Kettler Capitals Iceplex before traveling north for the game.

Wednesday's Rivalry Night game between the Caps and Rangers pits a pair of teams that were on the bottom two rungs of the Metro Division standings ladder at the start of November.

The Caps are 17-7-1 in their last 25 games, and New York is 16-6-2 in its last two dozen contests. When the Capitals returned from Western Canada at the end of October, they owned a 5-6-1 record. At that juncture of the season, the Caps were three points clear of the Metro cellar and they were five points south of the top spot in the Division.

Washington's performance over the last seven weeks has moved the Caps to one point shy of the top spot in the division. The Capitals are now eight points clear of the bottom spot in the Metro, which is currently occupied by Philadelphia.

Metro Madness - Washington played just eight of its first 37 games against fellow Metropolitan Division opponents. The Caps are 5-3-0 against Metro foes, but their second half schedule is going to be more skewed toward divisional play, and the next few weeks of the season will include nearly half of all of Washington's games against divisional opponents.

Over the course of an 82-game season in a 31-team league, the Caps will play a total of 28 games against Metro opposition. Beginning with Wednesday's game against the Rangers in New York, the Caps will play 11 of their next 17 games against Metro foes.

"I think it's a big benefit for us," says Caps right wing T.J. Oshie. "We weren't playing great hockey earlier [in the season]. At times, we were finding ways to win and there were flashes of good hockey, but you want to be at your best when you play within your division. Not only for points and to get some space between yourselves or to catch teams, but more so just for that mental edge when you get to the postseason.

"Every team has their place where they just don't play that great, or they seem like they can never get a win in certain buildings or against certain teams. I think it's very important to do well within your division, to get a little bit of that mental edge going into the playoffs, where they know that in the past they've been beaten a couple of times."

Washington has yet to face the Carolina Hurricanes this season - it will see the Canes three times over those next 17 games however - but with the lone exception of Philadelphia, the Caps have defeated every other Metro opponents they've faced at some point this season.

"I think that with the stretch leading up to Christmas," says Caps goalie Braden Holtby, "we put ourselves in a pretty good spot, standings-wise. And now with the ability to play a lot of the division rivals - the Metro teams - coming up, it's good because your fate is in our own hands.

"You're not worried about other teams winning or losing or whatever, because most games are going to be those four-point games and you can really focus in on the fact that we can control our own destiny that way. And it's always nice to play them later on in the season, too, the potential playoff match-ups to have their system and their tendencies fresher in your mind come playoffs."

End Of The Road -Wednesday's game is the Caps' last road game of calendar 2017. The Capitals are 22-16-5 on the road this year, and they are 2-2-1 on the road thus far this month.

Since Barry Trotz took over behind the Washington bench, December has been a great month for the Capitals, but it's been especially fruitful on the road. The Caps are 18-6-6 on the road in December over the last four seasons.

"I'm not sure exactly what it is," says Washington winger T.J. Oshie. "I do know that at this point of the season, you have a couple of months under your belt. And we've had - for the most part - some pretty veteran teams here. It doesn't take us until March to figure out how we have to play. I think we're able to figure that out a little earlier, and that probably shows.

"Last year, I don't think we had the best start, either. You've kind of got to work through some stuff before you can get and keep your game at a consistent level, and I think we're getting there right now."

Washington is 35-9-8 overall in December under Trotz.

In The Nets -With back-to-back games coming out of the holiday break, the Caps will split the goaltending duties for these two tilts. Washington will go with Philipp Grubauer in net on Wednesday against the Rangers.

Grubauer is coming off a strong start against the Coyotes in Arizona on Friday in a losing effort. The Caps nursed a one-goal lead into the latter stages of that contest, but the last half of the third period and all of overtime were all Arizona.

In his last four appearances (three starts) Grubauer is 2-0-1 with a 1.36 GAA and a .947 save pct. Grubauer earned his first career NHL victory at MSG against the Rangers on Dec. 8, 2013 in a 4-1 Washington win.

In a bit of a surprise, Ondrej Pavelec gets the call in net for New York on Wednesday. The Rangers don't have a set of back-to-backs until Jan. 6-7, and Wednesday's game is their only Metro match until Jan. 13, so it's a bit of an eyebrow-raiser for the Blueshirts to go with Pavelec tonight.

Pavelec is 2-4-1 with a 3.04 GAA and a .914 save pct. this season. Lifetime against the Capitals, Pavelec is 10-15-2 with three shutouts, a 2.89 GAA and a .907 save pct. in 29 appearances.

All Lined Up -Here's how we expect the Caps and Rangers to look when they take to the ice on Wednesday night for the first of their two meetings at Manhattan's Madison Square Garden this season:

WASHINGTONForwards

8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 43-Wilson

13-Vrana, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie

65-Burakovsky, 20-Eller, 10-Connolly

25-Smith-Pelly, 83-Beagle, 39-Chiasson

Defensemen

44-Orpik, 74-Carlson

9-Orlov, 2-Niskanen

29-Djoos, 22-Bowey

Goaltenders

31-Grubauer

70-Holtby

Scratches

4-Chorney

79-Walker

Injured

18-Stephenson (illness)

NEW YORKForwards

61-Nash, 93-Zibanejad, 36-Zuccarello

20-Kreider, 51-Desharnais, 26-Vesey

40-Grabner, 13-Hayes, 10-Miller

28-Carey, 24-Nieves, 89-Buchnevich

Defensemen

27-McDonagh, 55-Holden

42-Smith, 22-Shattenkirk

76-Skjei, 18-Staal

Goaltenders

31-Pavelec

30-Lundqvist

Scratches

47-Kampfer

Injuries

17-Fast (strained quadriceps)