SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Don't Let Us Get Sick - After taking Sunday off, the Capitals awoke to the news of a third player - right wing Garnet Hathaway - landing on the COVID-19 protocol list and being unavailable for Monday's game against the Anaheim Ducks.

Hathaway joins Nic Dowd and Trevor van Riemsdyk on the list; Dowd landed there on Friday and van Riemsdyk on Saturday, and both missed the Caps' Saturday night contest against Columbus. In an attempt to prevent further infections, the Caps took Sunday off, and they've also got a long scheduled day off on Tuesday, the first day of their first break of more than two days between games this season.
"Just with the way things have gone in the last 48 hours, we're trying to keep guys apart," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "We talked to the guys real quick on the ice instead of putting them into a confined room, and we're just doing whatever we can to stay as safe as we can. It's just the world that we're living in right now, so we can only do the best we can to try and stay distanced and stay apart."
Twenty-five games into the 2021-22 season, the Caps have dealt with various types and degrees of adversity, not the least of which is a loss of 81 man-games because of injury. Heading into tonight's game, eight of those 81 man-games lost are because of COVID-19 protocol, but that figure will climb by three more tonight.
As of Saturday, the Caps have been placed in the League's "enhanced measures" protocol, as Laviolette noted after Saturday's game.
"Now there is a new protocol for all of us, and we will continue to follow that and hopefully just keep it there," said the Caps bench boss.

Washington is off to one of its best starts in franchise history, and rampant COVID-19 outbreaks have waylaid the Ottawa Senators and the New York Islanders this season. As best as we can discern, there are a total of 20 NHL players from a dozen different teams in COVID-19 protocol as of Monday afternoon, and Washington and St. Louis each have three players on the list, tied for most in the League at the moment.
Back In The Saddle Again - With Hathaway unavailable, Daniel Sprong draws back into the lineup. Sprong is expected to skate the left side of a line with Conor Sheary and Connor McMichael tonight against Anaheim.
Sprong sat out both games of Washington's most recent road trip to Carolina and Florida, respectively, but he was reinstalled for the homestand opener against Chicago on Thursday, playing 14:02 in that game. Sprong was scratched again for Saturday's game against Columbus.
"For me, there's decisions that have to be made all the time," says Laviolette. "And we've now had guys come up here from Hershey, and they've played really well. I think that things should always - for the most part - be based on how you play the games. And those guys that do it well and are consistent and play a 200-foot game, we evaluate everything and we make lineup decisions.
"Sometimes the lineup decisions are tough and you find yourself on the outside, but tonight is a chance for Daniel to get back in there and work at a 200-foot game, and puck battles and defense, and continue to generate offense and create offense out there. I'd like to think that he's going to go back in there and have a good game for us."
Do Your Thing, Behave Yourself - Last season, the Caps finished 13th in the NHL with 194 penalties drawn. But they were 11th in the League with 206 penalties taken, leading to a minus-12 differential, which was tied for 22nd in the circuit.
Thus far this season, Washington has fared much better all around. The Caps have drawn 87 calls, which is tied for 15th in the League, and they're tied for 27th with just 74 penalties taken, a figure that is only two above the bottom (72). Their plus-13 differential is tied for third in the League and represents an improvement of plus-25 over last season's differential.
On Saturday night against Columbus, the Caps didn't take a single penalty of any kind. That's an ultra-rare occurrence that has happened exactly 13 times in Washington's 3,658 regular season games since 1974-75. (Stick tap to Carter Myers for that golden niugget.)
Despite a dominant night of possession against the Blue Jackets, the Caps had only one power play of their own in that game, and they've had only four power play chances in the last three games.
"I think the way the last couple of games went, I thought the referees were consistent," says Laviolette. "There wasn't a lot either way. The games weren't overly physical, they didn't get out of hand, and I thought the refs did a good job of letting teams play. I think there was only one power play last game; it wasn't like there was six [for one team] and one [for the other]. It wasn't a lopsided amount.
"I think that they did a good job of recognizing the game, and they let the game go and be played until there was something that really needed to be called, or don't call anything, which is great. That was the game that was played. I didn't think that last game warranted a lot of penalties, and therefore I think that they did a good job."

In The Nets - Ilya Samsonov starts Monday's game against Anaheim, his second straight starting assignment and his sixth in Washington's last seven games.
"He's had some really good games, he's had some really strong games," says Laviolette of Samsonov. "For right now, it's just about winning. Not that Vitek [Vanecek] doesn't, but Sammy seems to be winning games and finding ways to win. Vitek will get going here in a couple of games, we'll get him in here. But tonight goes to Sammy.
"I thought our guys played extremely well defensively the other night [against Columbus]; I don't think we gave up four scoring chances the entire night. Sammy did his job - you've got to handle the pucks that aren't scoring chances and keep things quiet and settle things down - and he's winning games for us."
That he is. Samsonov is tied for 10th in the NHL with 10 wins (10-1-1) on the season, and his total time in the crease of 726:53 is easily the lowest of every goalie ahead of him on the wins list. Among the 14 NHL goaltenders with 10 or more victories, Samsonov ranks eighth in GAA (2.39) and 10th in save pct. (.917), but he ranks second among all NHL goaltenders in offensive support, as the Caps are scoring a whopping 4.13 goals per game with him between the pipes.
But give Samsonov credit too, for bending and not breaking. In 13 games this season, Samsonov has been in the crease for a total of just 56:04 while Washington has trailed on the scoreboard. He seldom allows a goal to put the Caps behind in a game, and among NHL goalies with at least 10 games played, the closest one to Samsonov in lowest time trailing is L.A.'s Cal Peterson, who has trailed for more than 100 more minutes than Samsonov. Peterson has trailed for 156:31 of the 598:53 he has played over his 10 appearances this season.
Samsonov will be making his first career appearance against Anaheim.
John Gibson is the Anaheim starter for tonight as the Ducks play the front end of a set of back-to-back games in the opener of a five-game road trip in which they'll play five times in five cities in just seven nights. The Ducks are in Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Tuesday.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Gibson is 2-3-2 with a shutout, a 3.13 GAA and a .901 save pct.
All Lined Up - Here's how we expect the Capitals and the Ducks to look on Monday night in Washington when the two teams meet for the second and final time this season:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
62-Hagelin, 20-Eller, 77-Oshie
73-Sheary, 24-McMichael, 10-Sprong
47-Malenstyn, 59-Protas, 49-Leason
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
52-Irwin, 2-Schultz
Goaltenders
30-Samsonov
41-Vanecek
Extras
23-Sgarbossa
38-Cholowski
Injured
19-Backstrom (hip, week-to-week)
21-Hathaway (COVID-19 protocol)
26-Dowd (COVID-19 protocol)

39-Mantha (upper body, indefinite)
57-van Riemsdyk (COVID-19 protocol)
ANAHEIM
Forwards
12-Milano, 46-Zegras, 67-Rackell
14-Henrique, 23-Steel, 19-Terry
38-Grant, 21-Lundestrom, 33-Silfverberg
20-Deslauriers, 39-Carrick, 28-Lettieri
Defensemen
47-Lindholm, 34-Drysdale
4-Fowler, 42-Manson
86-Benoit, 22-Shattenkirk
Goaltenders
36-Gibson
41-Stolarz
Extras
53-Robinson
76-Mahura
Injured
14-Henrique (lower body)
15-Getzlaf (lower body)
17-Kesler (hip)
44-Comtois (hand)
49-Jones (torn pectoral)