SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Start Me Up -Just back from a subpar three-game road trip in which they had to put on a late burst just to scrape a single point from the final game of the journey, the Caps are home for a three-game, holiday week homestand, starting with the opener tonight against the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.

The Caps carry a three-game losing streak (0-2-1) into tonight's tilt, having dropped all three games on the trip. Washington was outscored by a combined 8-0 in the three games, and it never owned a lead on the trip.
"The Tampa game in Tampa, I thought that we were second everywhere for the whole game," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "But the [other two first frames on the road], one of them I thought Florida really pushed. Even though we generated some chances, they really pushed hard. They're a shot volume team and it felt like they were just coming at us, and then we flipped it.
"I don't feel like that was necessarily the way it was in St. Louis. However, the score didn't lie; it was 3-0, and we found ourselves with a hole to dig out of."
Prior to the trip, the Caps had yielded only eight first-period goals against all season, tied for third fewest in the League at that point. They doubled that total in three games, but the Caps have still scored only nine first-period goals of their own all season, tied for second fewest in the circuit.
Since scoring five first-period goals in their first five games of the season, the Caps have managed only four goals in the first in 15 games since, fewest in the League over that stretch. Washington averaged 11 shots on net in the first period of its first five games of the season, but it has been limited to single-digit shot totals in 11 of 14 games since, including each of the last five.
"I don't like the first period offensively in St. Louis," says Laviolette. "I just don't feel like we pushed enough. In Florida, we had probably seven or eight chances in that period to make something happen, and it didn't.
"But the bottom line is, the first period in the last three games can be better. And the last two games, I thought the second and third periods we took over the game, but we've dug ourselves a hole."
Washington will get winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel back in its lineup tonight after he finished serving a three-game suspension for an illegal check to the head on Tampa Bay blueliner Cal Foote in a Nov. 11 game in D.C. With Aube-Kubel coming back into the lineup, tonight marks the 11th consecutive game in which Washington has made a change relating to who is in and who is out of the lineup.
"It is what it is," shrugs Laviolette. "This is the hand that we're playing. And so there's no excuses for not playing good defense or not attacking offensively or not winning a hockey game. Those things have to get checked off, and they have to get done. Tonight's no different.
"Like I said, it's got to start with team defense. We're going to have to hammer offensively, and we've got to win a hockey game."
Fighting My Way Back -With the return of Aube-Kubel to the Caps' lineup tonight, the list of players currently unavailable to play is back to seven, and all of them are out because of injury. Three of the injured - center Nicklas Backstrom, defenseman Dmitry Orlov and right wing T.J. Oshie were on the ice for Saturday's morning skate, though none will play tonight.
Backstrom and Oshie were in non-contact sweaters, and their return is not imminent, nor is there any clear-cut timetable for them to be back in the lineup.
"It's part of the process," says Laviolette. "They do a lot of stuff behind this wall, and then they do stuff that we don't necessarily see on the ice and they progress and progress. And that's the next progression, is to get out with our guys and start to move a little bit. So it was a positive to see that."
Aside from the aforementioned trio, Washington is also still without left wings Carl Hagelin and Beck Malenstyn and right wings Connor Brown and Tom Wilson. Brown is rehabbing from knee surgery, but both Hagelin and Malenstyn were spotted on Saturday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex as well, as they continue to rehab their respective injuries.
Laviolette was also asked specifically about Wilson after Saturday's morning skate.
"He's doing good," responds the Caps coach. "He's been doing a lot of work behind the wall. He's been out there [on the ice] on days where you don't notice it like today. But he is progressing and he's moving along really well."
As to Orlov and Oshie - who stayed out on the ice for extra late work with the scratches - Laviolette was also optimistic.
"Really good, good to see both of them out there," he says. "The fact that they're out there grinding, you can kind of put the math together yourselves, the fact that they're out here grinding a little bit more tells you that they're a little bit ahead of one guy or maybe a little bit ahead of another guy. Still no timetables, but it's nice to see them out there competing and battling a little bit."
In The Nets - Tonight, Caps goalie Darcy Kuemper gets his first start against his former team since helping them hoist the Stanley Cup last June. Kuemper spent one season with Colorado, but it was the right season, as the Avalanche captured the Cup for the first time since 2001. Kuemper had a career year with the Avs in 2021-22, going 37-12-4 in 57 starts with a 2.54 GAA and a .921 save pct.
For the Caps this season, Kuemper is 5-8-1 in 14 starts, with a shutout, a 2.73 GAA and a .911 save pct. Lifetime against the Avalanche, he is 4-1-2 in nine appearances (eight starts) with three shutouts, a 1.90 GAA and a .928 save pct.
For the Avalanche, we are expecting to see Alexandar Georgiev in the nets tonight, Georgiev is in his first season with Colorado; he was obtained from the Rangers in exchange for a trio of draft choices, a deal that was consummated at the NHL Draft this past summer.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Georgiev is 2-5-1 in eight appearances (all starts) with a 3.62 GAA and an .882 save pct.
All Lined Up - Here's how we expect the Capitals and the Avalanche to look when they take to the ice tonight at Capital One Arena:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 73-Sheary
59-Protas, 92-Kuznetsov, 15-Milano
39-Mantha, 20-Eller, 96-Aube-Kubel
90-Johansson, 26-Dowd, 21-Hathaway
Defensemen
56-Gustafsson, 74-Carlson
42-Fehervary, 3-Jensen
52-Irwin, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
24-McMichael
27-Alexeyev
91-Snively
Injured
9-Orlov (lower body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
28-Brown (lower body)
43-Wilson (knee)
47-Malenstyn (upper body)
62-Hagelin (hip)
77-Oshie (lower body)
COLORADO
Forwards
62-Lehkohnen, 29-MacKinnon, 96-Rantanen
18-Newhook, 9-Rodrigues, 61-Kaut
11-Cogliano, 37-Compher, 25-O'Connor
36-Blidh, 12-Megna, 22-Hunt
Defensemen
7-Toews, 8-Makar
26-MacDonald, 42-Manson
88-Englund, 6-Johnson
Goaltenders
40-Georgiev
39-Francouz
Healthy Extras
None
Injured
4-Byram (lower body)
13-Nichushkin (ankle)
15-Bowers (upper body)
43-Helm (hip abductor)
49-Girard (undisclosed)
56-MacDermid (lower body)
92-Landeskog (knee)