POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 4, Canes 0

Stop Right Now - In the midst of their longest regulation losing streak on home ice in just over four decades and owning a 2-8-1 home mark since the flip of the calendar to 2022, the Caps were seeking a win of any kind against any opponent, as long as it was at Capital One Arena. On Thursday night, the schedule brought in the Carolina Hurricanes, the top team in the Eastern Conference and the Metropolitan Division.

If the Caps were going to avoid a seventh straight loss at home, they'd have to do so against one of the top teams in the circuit, a team they were facing for the first of three times this month.
Buoyed by the twin returns of winger Anthony Mantha and goaltender Vitek Vanecek, the Caps went out and turned in one of their most complete 60-minute efforts of the season in a resounding 4-0 win over the Hurricanes.
I think that probably helped us," says Caps winger Conor Sheary, "knowing we had a top division opponent coming into our building and that we needed to be on our game, all four lines, all six [defensemen] and our goalie.
"And from goalie on out, I think we all played a really strong game. We got a big save when we needed it, our special teams were really good, and it was probably the first complete game we've played in a long time. It definitely felt good to get a win here."
Facing the Canes' top-ranked penalty killing unit, the Caps drew half a dozen minor penalties - including three in the first period - and scored their first 5-on-3 goal of the season late in the first to give Vanecek all the offensive support he would require on this night.
For the first time in calendar 2022, the Caps took an early lead, added to it and maintained it on home ice. For the second game in a row, the Caps won the special teams battle against a team ranking among the top special teams clubs in the NHL.
"Too many penalties, especially against a power play like that," laments Canes center Sebastian Aho. "Our power play was bad. We didn't create any momentum whatsoever."
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the Caps' first goal of the game with 1:27 left in the first period. Heading into Thursday's game, the Caps had been outscored 6-1 in the final two minutes of the first period of their 11 home games in 2022.
Alex Ovechkin added a power-play goal in the back half of the second period, and blueliners Martin Fehervary and Dmitry Orlov contributed a pair of needed 5-on-5 tallies; the Caps had managed only two goals at 5-on-5 in their previous three games.
Perhaps most importantly, Vanecek picked up right where he left off before suffering an upper body injury in his previous NHL start on Feb. 1 in Pittsburgh. He stopped six shots in the first, 13 in the second and a whopping 17 in the third when the Canes made a strong push to cut into what was a 3-0 deficit for most of the frame.
"I thought that he got stronger as the game went on," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of Vanecek. "He needed his best in the third, and for him to stay focused like that I thought was really good."
Back In The Saddle - On Thursday night against Carolina, Mantha played his first game in almost exactly four months, the longest he's ever been away from the game because of injury. Back on Nov. 4 in Florida, Mantha suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery later that night and a subsequent lengthy rehab process.
The big winger was installed on the left side of a line with Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie, two other veterans who have had injury-plagued 2021-22 seasons. The trio looked sharp throughout the night, and Mantha did not look like a guy who hadn't played in four months. Most of his passes were right on the tape and his skating didn't seem labored in the slightest.
"Maybe it didn't look like it, but it felt like it," says Mantha.
Initially, the timeline for Mantha's return was put at 4-6 months, and he beat the short end of that by a day, giving kudos to the Caps' training and strength and conditioning staff for his relatively "quick" return.
"The training staff - and I include [Mark Nemish] and Zack [Leddon] in there," says Mantha. "Even if it was only the skates - [Nemish] and I - over the past couple of weeks, and then jumping in with the team the last week on the road and this week. Everything kind of went quick from the moment I started on the ice, and I can't complain. [Nemish] did an awesome job with me."
Mantha skated 16:13 in his return, giving the Caps a healthy top six forward group for the first time in 56 games this season and whetting the appetite for what he and his linemates might be able to accomplish together going forward.
"He brings a little bit of everything," says Laviolette of Mantha. "He brings size, he brings speed, he brings skill. It was nice to have him out there."
Early in the first period of a Feb. 1 start against the Penguins in Pittsburgh, Vanecek was plowed into by Pens winger Kasperi Kapanen. Initially, Vanecek stayed in the game. But after a minute or two on the ice, he yielded to Ilya Samsonov and didn't play again until last Sunday, when he was sent to AHL Hershey to start a game against Utica.
Vanecek stopped 21 of 23 shots in that game, and he was forced into duty here in the District a night later when Samsonov was pulled after 20 minutes of play against Toronto. In two periods of relief against the Leafs, Vanecek stopped 16 of 17 shots in a hard luck loss.
"That Hershey game helped me a lot," says Vanecek. "I got my conditioning back, and it was really good."
Thursday's shutout was Vanecek's third of the season - all three of which have come since Jan. 15 - and the fifth of his NHL career. Dating back to Dec. 11, he is now 7-4-0 in his last dozen appearances, with three shutouts, a 1.87 GAA and a .937 save pct.
The World Outside - Hours ahead of Thursday's game between the Caps and the Canes, the NHL announced that the two Metro Division rivals will be pitted against one another on Feb. 18, 2023 in a Stadium Series outdoor game at Carter-Finley Stadium.
"It's awesome," says Laviolette, a former Carolina coach. "You see what happened in Nashville [last month] with their outside game, and what goes on with that. That's spectacular.
"I'm familiar with the building that it's going to just from coaching there for five or six years and having it be right next to the rink. We went to football games there and it's a great facility. Good for Carolina to get an outdoor game, and good for the fans in the Carolina market. And we're certainly excited to be a part of it. Anytime you can do an event like that, you draw in with your team and your organization and your fan base going to an event like that, it's a really cool day. We're excited about it."
"It's a long way away, but definitely we're really looking forward to that outdoor game," says Canes defenseman Brady Skjei. "It's going to be a ton of fun, and obviously playing against [the Caps]. It will be a good game, so we're definitely excited, but like I said it's a long way away."
District Doughnuts -Vanecek's shutout came in his first career appearance against the Canes, and in Carolina's first visit to Capital One Arena in more than two years, since Jan. 13, 2020. In that contest some 25 months ago, Ilya Samsonov shutout the Hurricanes on 23 shots for his first career NHL whitewash.
The last goal Carolina scored in D.C. was Jake Gardiner's overtime game-winner here on Oct. 5, 2019 in Washington's home opener for the 2019-20 season.
By The Numbers - John Carlson led the Caps with 22:51 in ice time and with three blocked shots … Orlov led the Caps with five shots on net, and he and Ovechkin tied for the team lead with six shot attempts each … Fehervary and Tom Wilson led the Caps with four hits each … Oshie won five of seven face-offs (71 percent) and Nic Dowd won seven of 10 (70 percent).