SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Season Of The Shark - When the Sharks come to the District in January, expect the unexpected. When San Jose last visited Washington on Jan. 5, 2020, the Sharks seemed to have the game well in hand. Evander Kane notched a hat trick in the second period, and after a Logan Couture empty-netter gave the visitors a 4-2 lead with a minute remaining in regulation, it looked as though it was game over for the Caps.

But Jakub Vrana scored to make it 4-3 at 19:13, and T.J. Oshie scored the tying tally just 22 seconds later, forcing overtime. At 2:01 of the extra session, Lars Eller scored to give the Caps an improbable 5-4 victory.
Back on Jan. 22, 2019, the Caps hosted the Sharks while Washington was in the midst of a miserable seven-game losing skid (0-5-2). They'd lost the first five of those seven by the time the Sharks hit town, and were getting antsy about getting back in the win column before the All-Star break, which was only two games away.
San Jose's Joe Pavelski scored a dozen seconds into the game, the first of a total of 13 goals the two teams combined to score here that night in a 7-6 San Jose victory in overtime. The Caps led 3-2 after the first and 5-4 after 40 minutes of play, and they went up 6-4 when Alex Ovechkin completed a hat trick on the power play early in the third.
But Tomas Hertl scored on a San Jose power play midway through the final period, and Kane scored his second of the game with one second remaining in regulation, forcing overtime. Hertl won it for the Sharks in the extra session, completing his own hat trick in the process.
Sideway Shuffle - Heading into the month of December, the Caps had scored 60 goals at 5-on-5 in 23 games, and they led the NHL in 5-on-5 scoring. Fast forward to now, and the Caps have tumbled to seventh on that list. In their last 20 games, they've managed to score 38 goals at 5-on-5, and they rank 20th in the NHL in that category since the start of December.
Caps coach Peter Laviolette has shuffled the deck of his forward corps once again heading into tonight's game. Daniel Sprong is back in the lineup after being scratched for each of the last three games, and Connor McMichael is a healthy scratch once again after skating less than seven minutes in three of the Caps' last four games.
Sprong's season has mirrored Washington's luck of late. He has scoring chances virtually every night he is in the lineup, but has not had the best of luck with lighting the lamp.
"I feel like that's kind of been my thing the whole year," says Sprong. "I've been having some really good looks. Like that game against Vancouver [on Jan. 16], I got the one in the slot in the first and that little breakaway in the second where I beat [Luke] Schenn to the puck and then cut in. If one of those goes in, I think we're talking a lot differently or maybe a couple more go in.
"But I think during that stretch as a team we had a lot of looks. I know personally I had a lot of looks, and it's kind of been a theme for me this year, they haven't been going in. But hopefully that changes soon."
The Caps have played a lot of tight games this season where a well-timed goal here or there could make a difference for them in the result and in the standings. Forty-three games into the '21-22 season, they've played 21 games that have been decided by a single goal. Washington has forged a mediocre 6-6-9 mark in those one-goal affairs.
Last season, the Caps played to 25 one-goal decisions in the 56-game slate, and they fashioned an impressive 19-1-5 mark in those contests. Early this season, the Caps played with the lead more than most teams in the League, and they frequently played with a multi-goal lead. Lately, leads have been much harder to come by, even when Washington scores first.
Although they've scored the game's first goal in six of 10 games this month, the Caps are 1-4-1 in those games. They've owned a lead for 144:01 in the month of January, ranking 27th among all NHL clubs in lead time in their last 10 games.
At the start of December, the Caps were second in the NHL in total time with the lead (660:23), less than four minutes behind front-running Calgary (663:38) over that span.
"It changes everything a little bit," says Laviolette of the swing in lead time. "I remember there was a stat at the beginning of the season on how little we didn't lead [see above]. And we were ahead the whole time, and it changes the way that you attack the game, it changes the way you roll your lines - it changes a lot of different things.
"And so the lead is important. To have that lead - and then to build and add to the lead - gives you strength on the bench to roll [lines] more and kind of grind the clock down and grind teams down. Whereas, when you're looking at the third period and you're down a goal or you're down two goals, you're looking to get the guys out that have a history of putting up a lot of offense as much as you can. And so I've shortened the bench in the third period in a few games here. It's not because somebody is not doing something right, it's because we are chasing that game and some guys have a history of scoring goals, and you got to get them out on the ice more.
With two games left in what's been a rather dreary January, the Caps are seeking to string together a pair of wins for the first time in calendar 2022, a feat that would see them finish the month at what passes for .500 in the modern NHL, if they can pull it off.
"Coach said one thing that I like [Tuesday]," says Caps center Evgeny Kuznetsov. "He said, 'Through every year, there is always one month that you have problems to generate offense or the record is not right, or something like that.' It kind of clicked in my head that it's always been like that every year for one month.
"For us, we just have to fight through. We have to stick together and execute the coaches' plan; it's really important. I believe that if we're going to do great things, the power play, the results are not there, right? But we're doing the right things, we generate some chances, we're shooting pucks. Sometimes, it's like the hockey gods are testing you, and I feel like that now."
In The Nets - Ilya Samsonov is back in the crease for the Capitals tonight, making his first start since a 4-2 loss against Vancouver here on Jan. 16. Samsonov has yielded three or more goals against in seven of his last eight starts, going 3-3-2 during that stretch, with a 3.36 GAA and an .881 save pct.
Samsonov shutout the Sharks on 22 shots in San Jose on Nov. 20 in a 4-0 Washington win; that's his lone career appearance against them.
James Reimer gets the net tonight for the Sharks. He will be making his fifth appearance of the month tonight, but he has played 60 minutes just once in those previous four outings in January. His GAA has climbed and his save pct. has decreased each month of the season to date, and Reimer is 1-3-0 thus far in January with a 7.24 GAA and an .832 save pct.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Reimer is 5-4-2 with a shutout, a 2.37 GAA and a .930 save pct. in a dozen career appearances.
All Lined Up - Here's how we believe the Caps and the Sharks might look on Wednesday night in Washington:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
73-Sheary, 19-Backstrom, 10-Sprong
59-Protas 20-Eller, 21-Hathaway
62-Hagelin, 26-Dowd, 49-Leason
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 2-Schultz
6-Kempny, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
30-Samsonov
41-Vanecek
Extras/Taxi Squad
23-Sgarbossa
24-McMichael
31-Shepard
38-Cholowski
52-Irwin
Injured/Out
3-Jensen (upper body, week-to-week)
39-Mantha (upper body, indefinite)
77-Oshie (upper body, day-to-day)
SAN JOSE
Forwards
28-Meier 48-Hertl, 94-Barabanov
92-Balcers, 39-Couture, 75-Dahlen,
73-Gregor, 13-Bonino, 83-Nieto
63-Viel, 26-Weatherby, 11-Cogliano
Defensemen
38-Ferraro, 88-Burns
24-Megna, 53-Meloche
44-Vlasic, 51-Simek
Goaltenders
47-Reimer
36-Sawchenko
Extras/Taxi Squad
6-Merkley
18-Pedersen
57-Raska
Injured/Out
21-Middleton (upper body)
33-Hill
42-Gadjovich (upper body)
62-Labanc (shoulder)
65-Karlsson (upper body)