SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Brothers Of The Road - The Caps close out the month of November tonight in Florida against the Panthers, finishing the month in the same state in which they started it. Tonight marks the Capitals' 10th road game this month, and despite dropping their first two road games of the month (0-1-1), the Caps enter tonight's game with a 5-1-1 record in their last seven road contests and a modest three-game winning streak.

Washington owns the third best road record (7-2-2) in the League and has allowed the fifth fewest goals per game (2.45) on the road this season.
November Reign -At this time last month, the Caps were getting set to embark upon their first multi-game road trip of the season, a two-game tour of Florida. It was the start of a daunting stretch of 15 games in 30 nights for Washington in November, with 10 of those games on the road and seven of them packed into an 11-night stretch with three sets of back-to-backs and their first cross-continent flight in nearly two years.
When key players continued to go down with injuries early in the month and the Caps lost the first three games (0-2-1) of November, it appeared as though finishing the month with a .500 mark would be a worthy goal. Instead, the Caps managed to go on an improbable 9-1-1 run through their next 11 games, which brings us to tonight in South Florida and the end of that 15-game November grind.
Once they get through this one, the Caps head home for a day off on Wednesday, a four-game homestand and finally - in the back half of that homestand next week - more than two days between games for the first time since the season started on Oct. 13.
Yet the Caps did much more than survive this stretch, they thrived. Despite dealing with lineup and personnel challenges night after night, and despite using eight different rookies in those first 22 games, the Caps were remarkably consistent, rarely even stringing together two subpar periods in succession. They head into tonight's tilt with the Panthers with just three regulation losses (14-3-5) on the season, fewest in the League.
"[The lineup] has been in a state of flux, because that's the hand we've been dealt," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "I thought we played a good game in Carolina [on Sunday], so we're not going to change the lineup. That's just the way it's gone this year. There's been a lot of things that we've had to deal with, and I think the guys have done a really good job."
Despite missing as many as five regular forwards from the lineup on a nightly basis, the Caps have scored 41 goals during their current 11-game hot spell that has been condensed into a span of just 21 nights. Among all teams in the league, only Colorado (43) has scored more goals during that span, and 15 different Caps have contributed lamplighters to the cause.
"The veteran players that have been here have really grabbed the rope and make sure that we're pulling in the right direction," says Laviolette, "and the guys that have come into the lineup have done an excellent job of playing inside of our team identity and also establishing their role inside the team.
"Beck Malenstyn is a perfect example, the way he played [Sunday's] game. He was physical, he had two huge blocks, he did a great job defensively. He came in and he pulled his weight, he did his job, and that helped our team be successful, and I think you need that.
"But it doesn't matter who's been in the lineup. I think the guys have done a good job and we've been able to secure wins."
While players like Malenstyn and Mike Sgarbossa and so many others have come up from AHL Hershey and made contributions, Laviolette's point about the veteran players can't be overlooked, either. Ovechkin, John Carlson, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson have all averaged a point per game to this point of the season, and Washington's blueline - which had been intact without any changes until last Friday's game against Florida - has been the team's foundation during this period where the forward group has been in flux.
"I think we understand each other a lot on the ice," says Ovechkin. "Basically, we have a situation where we have lots of players who get hurt, and as leaders on the team we have to step it up and play the right way. I think all of us have done a good job and we hope we're going to continue to play like that."
Ovechkin has had at least a point in 18 of 22 games and has scored in 14 of 22 this season. Carlson and Kuznetsov have each recorded a point in 15 of 22 and Wilson has done so in 14 of 22.
Coming into tonight's game against Florida, the Caps have allowed the fewest shots on net per game (27.3) and they've allowed 2.35 goals per game, fourth best in the League. And somewhat quietly, the goaltending has started to show some consistency as well. Washington netminders have combined for a .927 save pct. during the team's current 9-1-1 stretch.
"Each game we go into, you have to be focused and you have to be executing the game plan," says Wilson, "especially nowadays when every team is desperate. If you're in the bottom, you're desperate for wins. And if you're at the top, it's tight and you've got to keep collecting wins.
"It's been great. We've had guys going down left, right and center, and guys like Mally and Sgar these guys coming in are just doing a great job. It speaks to the organization - the scouts, the coaches, the players and everybody who is running this ship - they're first-class kids and first-class people and they're doing a great job on the ice, so it's been a fun stretch."
In The Nets - For the first time in his NHL career, Ilya Samsonov will make a fourth consecutive start on Tuesday night against the Panthers. Slated to start when Washington visited here earlier in the month, Samsonov ended up coming on in relief of Vitek Vanecek in the second minute of the game, and then ended up getting pulled before the midway mark of the game after yielding three goals on 18 shots. The Caps came back to tie that game, and Vanecek absorbed the loss in overtime.
Since that Nov. 4 game here, Samsonov has won six straight starts, allowing three or fewer goals in each. In his last five starts, he is 5-0-0 with two shutouts, a 1.60 GAA and a .942 save pct. He enters Tuesday's game on the heels of a 30-save effort in Carolina on Sunday, a victory that improved his season mark to 9-0-1 and his career record to 38-10-4. The Caps' current three-game winning streak coincides with Samsonov's first run of three straight regular season starts for the first time in his career; he did start each of Washington's final three playoff games last spring.
Lifetime against the Panthers, Samsonov is 1-0-0 in two appearances - both of them this month - and a 4.21 GAA and an .850 save pct.
Sergei Bobrosvsky is expected to start for the Panthers. Last Friday in Washington, Bobrovsky started but was twice removed and replaced by Spencer Knight in the second period of that contest when in-building concussion spotters requested he undergo testing before returning to the game.
Lifetime against the Caps, Bobrovsky is 9-13-5 with a shutout, a 3.01 GAA and an .899 save pct. in 29 appearances.
All Lined Up - Here's how we expect the Capitals and the Panthers to look on Tuesday night in Sunrise when the two teams tangle for the final time this season:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 59-Protas
24-McMichael, 20-Eller, 43-Wilson
62-Hagelin, 26-Dowd, 21-Hathaway
47-Malenstyn, 23-Sgarbossa, 49-Leason
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
38-Cholowski, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
30-Samsonov
41-Vanecek
Extras
10-Sprong
52-Irwin
Injured
2-Schultz (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip, week-to-week)

39-Mantha (upper body, indefinite)
73-Sheary (upper body)
77-Oshie (lower body)
FLORIDA
Forwards
11-Huberdeau, 9-Bennett, 74-Tippett
23-Verhaeghe, 15-Lundell, 13-Reinhart
77-Vatrano, 19-Thornton, 98-Mamin
94-Lomberg, 27-Luostarinen, 70-Hornqvist
Defensemen
52-Weegar, 5-Ekblad
8-Kiersted, 7-Gudas
32-Carlsson, 62-Montour
Goaltenders
72-Bobrovsky
30-Knight
Extras
44-Connauton
Injured
4-Juolevi
10-Duclair (lower body)
16-Barkov (knee)
17-Marchment (upper body)
42-Forsling (lower body)
55-Acciari (upper body)
65-Nutivaara (lower body)