SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes from Caps' Morning Skate 1/18

Metro Clash - First place in the Metropolitan Division is at stake on Friday night in the District as the New York Islanders make their first visit of the season to face the Capitals. At puck drop, the Caps and Blue Jackets share the Metro lead with 59 points each, with Columbus occupying the actual top spot via the first tie-breaker, more regulation wins.

By virtue of their 4-1 home ice victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night, the Isles are a single point behind with 58 points. The fact that the Isles are finishing up a set of back-to-back games should not comfort the Caps in the slightest. New York is 6-0-0 in the second half of back-to-backs this season, outscoring the opposition by a combined total of 25-6 in the process. The Isles have scored at least one power-play goal in four of those six games as well.
Midseason Doldrums -The Caps figure to have their hands full with the Barry Trotz-coached Islanders tonight. In half a season, Trotz has altered the Islanders from the league's most porous defensive outfit to its stingiest, shaving more than a goal against a game off the Isles' ugly rate from last season. He's also got them within a point of the division lead.
Washington, on the other hand, is scuffling to score of late. When T.J. Oshie netted a rather meaningless goal late in the Caps' 7-2 loss to Nashville on Tuesday, it was the Caps' first goal at five-on-five in three games. Last month at this time, the Caps were in the midst of a 14-game run with three or more goals in each; that stretch overlapped with a 16-3-0 record over a 19-game span.
But since then, the Caps have won three of nine (3-4-2) while getting outscored 33-22. They've got issues in their own end as well, but the drop in scoring has lingered for longer, and a number of Caps forwards are mired in lengthy slumps. Perhaps the most noticeable dry spell is that of Evgeny Kuznetsov, whose six-on-five goal against Columbus last Saturday ended a 17-game dry spell.
Last season, Kuznetsov was second on the team with 19 even-strength goals. Thus far this season, he has only two, and one of them was scored with a six-on-five skater advantage. Kuznetsov's linemates - Jakub Vrana (15 goals) and Oshie (14 goals) have been scoring at a reasonable clip; they rank second and third on the team. Is there anything they can do to spark their talented linemate?
"Yeah, I think so," says Oshie. "I think that comes with line rushes. It's hard because typically the center man is in the middle, so he is going to be the middle lane drive guy. But I think that kind of lays on me a little bit more to try to push them back to create space for those other two guys.
"[Vrana] and I can do a better job of getting sustained [offensive] zone time. Once the other team in the [defensive] zone gets a little tired and Kuzy can start circling the zone and start feeling the puck and holding onto it for more than a second or two, that's when he gets very dangerous and he exploits people. So a lot of it will come on us to open up more space for him, to get him the puck more. When he has the puck, good things are going to happen. So a little bit of that onus is on us."
Mirror Moves - In facing the Islanders tonight, the Caps will be going up against virtually the same system they play themselves. When the Caps first faced the Isles this season in late November, some of them remarked after the game that it was rather eerie to be facing a team playing the same way they play.
"Yeah, kind of, especially in the neutral zone," says Caps center Nicklas Backstrom. "It felt like we were practicing, kind of. No, not really. But it's the same system and the same kind of details, so it's all about outworking them [Friday] I guess."
If that's the case, maybe the Caps have a bit of and edge since they've been playing that system a few years longer than the Isles. Some of the players who've made the shift from other teams have had some difficulty picking it up early on, too. Some, but not all.
"For me, it seemed fairly easy," says Oshie. "It's different, but I like to think that I do my homework off the ice, so it came fairly natural to me. But it is different. A lot of times - when you're playing in that neutral zone especially - as a winger you're thinking, 'I'm going to my [defenseman] or I'm taking away the red line on my side, or I'm covering over the middle if it goes to the other side.'
"So as a right winger - and I believe [the Islanders] do the right wing lock as well - you're not going as much. At the start of the game, sometimes you're like, 'Okay, we lost the draw, now I've got to sit back.' And as a forward, you always want to go, go, go. You want to skate forward. So you've got to be a little more patient if you're going to be that lock guy."
In The Nets - Braden Holtby suffered an eye injury in the second period of last Saturday's game against Columbus, and he departed in favor of Pheonix Copley at that point. Copley started on Monday against St. Louis with the expectation that Holtby would be able to go the next night in Nashville, but that's not how it played out. Holtby was unable to answer the bell, leaving Copley to play his third game in four nights while starting both ends of a back-to-back. Worse, he had to remain in the crease for the entire 60 minutes of the Caps' ugly 7-2 loss to the Predators.
Now, after an off day, a practice day and a morning skate, Holtby is back to 100 percent and ready to take on the Islanders tonight. Lifetime against New York, he is 15-4-3 with a 2.39 GAA and a .922 save pct. in 22 career appearances.
The Isles will be playing for the second time in as many nights. They used Robin Lehner on Thursday night in a home game against the Devils, and the former Sabre had an easy time of it, facing just 17 shots, so he could easily get the start here in Washington as well.
Lehner is 10-0-1 in his last 11 decisions, and his 2.16 GAA and .928 save pct. are both tops in the league. He has allowed a combined total of 20 goals in his last 14 games, and has not allowed more than three in any appearance in nearly two months, since Nov. 21. Lehner has allowed two or fewer goals against in 11 of his last 14 games.
If the Isles opt to give Lehner the night off, the Caps will see Thomas Greiss. After splitting his two January starts, Greiss is 13-8-1 on the season, almost identical to his 13-8-2 mark from 2017-18. That's where the similarity ends, however. Last season, Greiss owned an unsightly 3.82 GAA and an .892 save pct. This season, he sports much more respectable numbers - a 2.62 GAA and a .918 save pct.
All Lined Up - Here's how we expect the Capitals and the Islanders to look when they meet again on Friday night at Capital One Arena:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom,43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
65-Burakovsky, 20-Eller, 10-Connolly
18-Stephenson, 26-Dowd, 25-Smith-Pelly
Defensemen
6-Kempny, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik, 34-Siegenthaler
Goaltenders
70-Holtby
1-Copley
Injuries
29-Djoos (lower body)
Scratches
22-Bowey
23-Jaskin
72-Boyd
NEW YORK
Forwards
27-Lee, 29-Nelson, 7-Eberle
18-Beauvillier, 13-Barzal, 12-Bailey
28-Dal Colle, 51-Filppula, 47-Komarov
17-Martin, 53-Cizikas, 15-Clutterbuck
Defensemen
2-Leddy, 55-Boychuk
3-Pelech, 6-Pulock
25-Toews, 24-Mayfield
Goaltenders
1-Greiss
40-Lehner
Injuries
4-Hickey (upper body)
16-Ladd (leg)
Scratches
14-Kuhnhackl
21-Sbisa
32-Johnston