SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Don't Let Me Slide -After their second four-day respite from the rigors of game action in as many weeks, the Caps dive back into the deep end with a set of back-to-backs and three games in four nights, again for the second time in as many weeks. The Caps kick off the back-to-backs on Long Island with their first meeting of the season with the New York Islanders.

Although Washington carries a four-game losing streak (0-2-2) into this game, it also carries a streak of 53 straight regular season games without suffering back-to-back regulation losses. That matches the third longest streak of its kind in franchise history. The current streak dates back to April 9 of last year.
"If you look at it, we are obviously on a four-game skid here," says Caps defenseman Justin Schultz. "You think you're playing terribly, but we've had some good stretches and a couple of those games we were right in it. We just need to tighten up a few things mentally and get back to the way we were playing at the start of the year when we were creating lots of chances, and we should be fine."
Since the outset of this season, the Caps are 4-0-3 in games following regulation losses. Along with the Tampa Bay Lightning (6-0-3), the Capitals are one of only two teams in the NHL that has yet to suffer consecutive setbacks in regulation.
Caps captain Alex Ovechkin has 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in Washington's seven games following a regulation defeat this season, and he has recorded at least a point in each of those contests.
New Way Home -Today's game will be the Caps' first at New York's new home, UBS Arena. The Isles have flopped back and forth from Nassau Coliseum to Brooklyn's Barclays Center and back to a neatly refurbished Nassau before moving into their freshly constructed new home here near the Belmont Park race track.
"There's been a lot of hype for a long time with this organization," says Caps defenseman Matt Irwin. "When I first came into the League, they were at Nassau, and then we were on the other side getting changed [following a switch of locker rooms in the refurbishing]. And then they moved over to Brooklyn for a bit, and then back to Nassau, which was obviously a fantastic environment.
"It's always cool checking out new rinks, and to see what kind of new tweaks they've done to it to separate it from the newer rinks in the League. It's always a good time to get there for the first time."
At this time two decades ago, Caps coach Peter Laviolette was the Isles' bench boss, his first head coaching gig in the NHL.
"I think anytime you go into a new building, it's exciting," says Laviolette. "It's like driving a new car - you can drove the old one if you want to, but when go get a new one you're more eager to go back out in the car, so that's always fun."
Washington won't have the benefit of a morning skate here in which it can get the lay of the land with the new rink, boards, glass, etc., so the pregame warm-ups will have to suffice.
"It would be nice to be able to get used to it before you have to play a game, but there's not much we can do," says Schultz. "I mean, it's hockey. You get out there and you play, and you do the same things that make us successful, and hopefully we'll get off to a good start and have a good 60 minutes."
"Ideally you have a pregame skate and you can check those things out," says Irwin. "But that'll just be something to do quickly in warm-ups, throw a couple pucks off the yellow. There are certain rinks around the League where those are big adjustments, especially for the [defensemen] where teams like to dump them in for icing off the end wall, with or to speed or whatnot, depending on how quick the kickback is.
"Joe Louis [Arena in Detroit] was one of those; That was pretty famous for lively boards, and there's a few around the league that are still like that, not so much to that degree, but you never know. You'd like to see how the glass is, and if there are stanchions around. Most of them are seamless nowadays, but there's still some around the Zamboni [opening] that have some stanchions, and for [defesnemen] and goalies, when there's hard rims, those could come into play with a kick out to the front or whatever. So there'll be a little more attention in warm-up to that kind of stuff."
In The Nets - Vitek Vanecek gets the net for the Caps today, making his first start since Dec. 19 in a 3-2 loss to Los Angeles. Vanececk came on in relief of Zach Fucale in Monday's 7-3 loss to Boston.
Lifetime against the Isles, Vanecek is 3-1-0 with a shutout, a 1.89 GAA and a .938 save pct. in five appearances.
Semyon Varlamov gets the net for New York. He is 6-9-2 with two shutouts, a 2.65 GAA and a .919 save pct. in 17 career appearances against Washington.
All Lined Up -Here's how we believe the Capitals and the Islanders might look on Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
10-Sprong, 19-Backstrom, 43-Wilson
24-McMichael, 20-Eller, 49-Leason
59-Protas, 26-Dowd, 21-Hathaway
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
57-van Riemsdyk, 3-Jensen
52-Irwin, 2-Schultz
Goaltenders
41-Vanecek
30-Samsonov
Extras/Taxi Squad
6-Kempny
23-Sgarbossa
31-Shepard
38-Cholowski
Injured/Out
9-Orlov (COVID-19 protocol)
39-Mantha (upper body, indefinite)
62-Hagelin (COVID-19 protocol)
73-Sheary (COVID-19 protocol)
NEW YORK
Forwards
27-Lee, 13-Barzal, 12-Bailey
20-Bellows, 29-Nelson, 18-Beauvillier
11-Parise, 44-Pageau, 26-Wahlstrom
17-Martin, 53-Cizikas, 15-Clutterbuck
Defensemen
3-Pelech, 24-Mayfield
33-Chara, 8-Dobson
2-Salo, 4-Greene
Goaltenders
40-Varlamov
30-Sorokin
Extras/Taxi Squad
21-Palmieri
25-Aho
Injured/Out
6-Pulock (lower body)
32-Johnston (NHL suspension)