SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Once Upon A Time In The West - The Caps open up a three-game road trip on Thursday night in Dallas, starting a journey that will take them back east through the Sun Belt. But the first two foes on this trip are Western Conference teams, and in visiting Dallas, the Caps are stepping outside of their time zone for the first time this season.

The 2022-23 NHL season is barely two weeks old, but one trend stands out in the early going, and that's the early season dominance of the Eastern Conference clubs against their Western Conference counterparts. The East owns a 31-14-5 combined mark against Western clubs, and the Western group is 19-27-4 against the East. Those numbers have taken an upward turn for the West this week, too; the difference was much more titled toward Eastern clubs over the past weekend.
The difference is also apparent in the overall standings. Each of the 16 Eastern clubs has recorded at least three wins. But out West, six of the 16 teams are still south of three victories in the standings. Eleven of the 16 teams in the East are clustered together with either eight or nine points. Boston is off to a strong 6-1-0 start, but no other team in the East has achieved any separation at the top - or bottom - of the standings.
In the West, only six teams have eight or nine points. Vegas (6-2-0) and Calgary (5-1-0) have leapt to the top of the Pacific Division in the early going, and on the south side, Vancouver, Anaheim, San Jose and Arizona find themselves with four or fewer points at this early juncture.
Last season, things were fairly even between the two conferences with the West (257-196-59) holding a slight advantage over the East (255-198-59).
For their part, the Caps are 2-0-0 against Western foes this season, defeating Vancouver and Los Angeles at home. They'll look to keep that string of success going on this trip, though they're playing in some buildings that have proven to be difficult for them over the years. Even though they've earned at least a point in five straight visits to Dallas (4-0-1), the Caps are still underwater in Texas (6-8-1) since the turn of the century.
In Nashville, the Caps are 2-6-1 in their last nine visits. Washington won in its visits to both Dallas and in Music City last season.
This note appears in the Dallas game notes for tonight's contest: Since moving to Dallas in 1993-94, the Stars have a 28-7-5 record against the Capitals, including a 14-3-4 record at home. They have earned 76.3 percent of the available points since 1993-94, their highest points percentage against any individual opponent over that span.
The Big Heat - For the last couple games, Lars Eller has been manning the middle of a line with Aliaksei Protas and Anthony Mantha. We're looking at a small sample size of virtually everything at this early juncture of the season, and two games is a fraction of even the young season to date as a whole. But the early returns on this trio have been good. They've been driving play, they've played well in their own end, and they have contributed on the scoresheet as well with a couple of goals.
"I'm fortunate to play with two really good players, two big guys," says Eller. "They want to have the puck, they want to play with the puck, and they're skilled players. They're both capable of scoring, they're both capable of making plays, so they're both very versatile players and their size helps them in a lot of ways. I really like the way we complement each other, and I've been enjoying playing with both of them so far."
The trio has combined for two goals and six points in Washington's last two games, both victories.
"They've been really good," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "They're big. I think Lars is playing well right now. Mantha when he gets going, he's skilled and hard to contain. And Protas - for me - has really done a good job of fitting in on that line. You notice him all the time with his work ethic and his skating. He's got such a long reach with his stick, and it's a big line to handle.
"They've done a pretty good job defensively as well, so I trust them out there on the ice. But they've been good, they've been noticeable. All three of them I think are contributing to each other and it's making a successful line."
Now the trick is to keep it going and to build off their early success together.
"It's just finding each other, knowing each other, and anticipating what each other is going to do," says Eller. "I think that anticipation is there a little bit - and that's the chemistry - and then they're both good skaters, so that gives you the rush game. And then when you have big bodies and guys who are heavy and can hold onto the puck, that should help you in the [offensive] zone time, being able to hang onto it longer, cycle around. Those big bodies, it's harder to take the puck away from them. Those are some of the things I think have been good, and we can keep getting better."
Six and a half years after he arrived in the District following a deal with Montreal, Eller reaches a sort of a milestone tonight when he suits up for his 436th regular season game in a Caps' sweater. That's one more game than he skated in as a member of the Habs (435).
"It makes me feel good," says Eller. "I love being here, love being part of the Caps' organization since I first got here, so I've been fortunate to be with the team for that long, or with two organizations for that long. It's been an amazing ride, and I hope it continues a little longer."
Beauty Of The Road - For the first time this season, the Caps are out on a multi-game road trip. Including the preseason, Washington has made four overnight journeys prior to this one, but on some of those trips players and staff didn't even leave the hotel, so short and condensed was their time in whatever city they were in.
This time around, actual packing and actual thinking about packing had to take place. And with more new faces on the roster than in recent seasons, getting ready to set out on a multi-game journey is also an appealing opportunity to spend some time with teammates away from the rigors of the rink.
"Everyone has a family over here, and kids, in Washington," says defenseman Erik Gustafsson, one of the new faces in D.C. this season. "So it's tough to go out and have dinners together. But this is the real first road trip we'll have in this season. It's going to be fun to go out and have dinner with the guys and go out and do stuff, and also have a day off."
"As a new guy on the team, it's nice," says Caps goaltender Darcy Kuemper. "As much time as the guys spend together at the rink, when you get out on the road, you're going for dinners and stuff like that. I feel like you get to know each other on the road a little bit more than you do at home, just because there's more time to spend together."
In The Nets - Kuemper will be in the net for the Caps tonight in Dallas, making his sixth start of the season. He enters the game with a 3-2-0 record to go along with a 3.04 GAA and an .899 save pct.
Lifetime against the Stars, Kuemper is 9-5-3 with two shutouts, a 2.78 GAA and a .915 save pct. in 17 appearances.
For the Stars, Jake Oettinger gets the start against the Caps. He's off to a terrific start this season with a 4-1-0 record in five starts, along with a 1.41 GAA and a .953 save pct. In two career appearances (one start) against Washington, Oettinger is 1-0-0 with a 1.50 GAA and a .950 save pct.
All Lined Up -Here's how we expect the Caps and the Stars to look when they take the ice on Thursday night in Dallas:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 73-Sheary
90-Johansson, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
59-Protas, 20-Eller, 39-Mantha
47-Malenstyn, 26-Dowd, 21-Hathaway
Defensemen
9-Orlov, 74-Carlson
42-Fehervary, 3-Jensen
56-Gustafsson, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
24-McMichael
52-Irwin
91-Snively
Injured
19-Backstrom (hip)
28-Brown (lower body)
43-Wilson (knee)
62-Hagelin (hip)
DALLAS
Forwards
21-Robertson, 24-Hintz, 16-Pavelski
27-Marchment, 90-Seguin, 34-Gurianov
14-Benn, 53-Johnston, 10-Dellandrea
12-Faksa, 11-Glendening, 25-Kiviranta
Defensemen
20-Suter, 5-Lundkvist
23-Lindell, 6-Miller
44-Hanley, 2-Hakanpaa
Goaltenders
29-Oettinger
41-Wedgewood
Healthy Extras
40-Peterson
Injured
4-Heiskanen (upper body)