SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Jet Fighter - The Winnipeg Jets are in town tonight, providing the opposition for the finale of the Caps' brief two-game homestand at Capital One Arena. The game also concludes the season's series between the two teams; they tangled just over a month ago in Winnipeg in the coaching debut of Dave Lowry, who took over as interim Jets bench boss earlier that day following the abrupt resignation of Paul Maurice.

Behind a stellar 40-save performance from Caps goaltender Vitek Vanecek, Washington won that game 5-2. But the Caps have been less than ordinary since, winning just three of nine games (3-4-2) since that victory in Manitoba.
The Jets have had more games postponed (eight) than they've played (five) since the Caps faced them last month, and they haven't played at home since Dec. 19. Winnipeg is opening a four-game road trip tonight in D.C., and the Jets will be playing just their second game in a span of a dozen nights tonight against the Capitals.
Paddle Forward - With one win in their last six home games (1-4-1) and one win in their last six overall (1-3-2), the Caps are seeking to get their train firmly back on track. Washington played a strong 60-minute game in a 2-0 win over the Islanders in New York on Saturday, a victory that halted a four-game slide (0-2-2). But a day later back in D.C., the Caps couldn't sustain a good start, giving up three second-period goals en route to a 4-2 setback.
"Some of the games, I don't like the way we played," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "I thought we dipped in our play from the first game of the back-to-back I thought we played a really strong game [Saturday] and then not as strong [Sunday]. I don't think it was horrible. It was a 50/50 game, and when you don't outplay somebody or play better than somebody, you run the risk of losing the game. It's a one-goal hockey game.
"There's a couple games in there that I don't like, and there's a couple of games where I thought we played really well - like the Minnesota game - but we didn't get the results we were looking for. But you can go back and [look] and I don't think it's one brush where you can say we were lousy in all the games, but we definitely could have played better last game. And so when we don't do that, you've got to find that consistency. If you don't, then your record probably shows a little inconsistent as well."
Washington has been dealing with lineup woes, absences and issues right from opening night, but the problem became more acute in early December when COVID-19 began to carve its way through the Caps' roster. Beginning with a loss to the Panthers in Florida on Nov. 30, the Caps have won only seven of their last 17 games (7-6-4).
"Usually every team will have those type of periods when lost your game or something like that," says Caps center Evgeny Kuznetsov. "It's just about how quick you realize what was the mistake you made and what you have to do. And the quicker you pick it up and the quicker you make adjustments, the quicker you're going to be successful.
"I don't think we're in that fall yet. Some of those results, we didn't get the wins. But the games are different games; some games could be good, some games could be bad. It's not like we have a system of bad or something like that. Of course, we don't like the result. But I think we're not that bad yet. And that gives me the reason to think as soon as you go down, you've got to pick it up sooner, and the sooner you pick it up it's better."
38 Special -Just prior to Sunday's game, Caps defenseman John Carlson landed in COVID-19 protocol, causing him to miss a game for the first time this season. Over the last six-plus weeks, all six of Washington's regular defensemen have now missed game action because of being in the protocol.
Additionally, defenseman Dennis Cholowski landed in protocol during the holiday break, a bit of poor luck and timing that cost him a chance to fill in for one of the regulars who was missing at the time. Claimed off waivers from Seattle in October, Cholowski didn't make his Caps debut for more than a month after being claimed, and he has suited up for only five of the team's first 39 games.
Cholowski is expected to step back into the Washington lineup tonight, skating the left side of a pairing with Trevor van Riemsdyk.
"Matty Irwin has jumped in and played some pretty good hockey for us," says Laviolette. "[Michal Kempny] gave us a couple of good games, Cholowski, we were looking to get [him] back in there, and then he got removed because of COVID protocol.
"When we were down all the [defensemen] and guys were coming up from Hershey, that would have been a great opportunity for him to play some games. But he was one of the 73 percent [of NHL players who have tested positive this season] and we had to deal with it. It's just unfortunate for him, because that would have been a good time to maybe get him some games consistently and try to put something together."
A former first-round pick (20th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft) of the Red Wings, the 23-year-old Cholowski is dealing with lengthy stretches of idle time for the first time in his career.
"You just do what you can, really," says Cholowski. "Like being out here and trying to do everything as hard as you can in practice and make it as game-like as you can. But really all you can do just keep working hard."
The last of Cholowski's five games this season came just over a month ago, when the Caps and Jets last met in Winnipeg. He stepped in after an absence of six games at that point and gave Washington over 14 good minutes in a game in which their lineup was decimated and they traveled from Chicago to Winnipeg on the day of the game. He notched his first point as a Capital in that game, a primary assist on Conor Sheary's game-winning goal in the third period.
In The Nets - Vanecek gets the start tonight against the Jets, as one would expect given his performance against them on the road last month. The sophomore goaltender was also unavailable for an extended period of time because of COVID-19 protocol; he made his first start in nearly four weeks on Saturday, shutting out the Islanders on 23 shots.
Dating back to a Dec. 11 outing in Buffalo, Vanecek is 3-1-0 in his last five appearances (four starts) with a shutout, a 2.18 GAA and a .926 save pct. He won his only career start against the Jets last month.
Connor Hellebuyck is the expected starter for Winnipeg tonight. Like Vanecek, he is coming into tonight's game on the heels of a shutout in his most recent start, a 33-save, 3-0 blanking of the Red Wings in Detroit last week. Hellebuyck will be making his eighth straight start and his 17th appearance in Winnipeg's last 18 games. Tonight marks his 29th start in the Jets' 35 games this season.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Hellebuyck is 4-3-1 with a shutout, a 1.97 GAA and a .936 save pct. in eight appearances.
All Lined Up -Here's how we believe the Capitals and the Jets might look on Tuesday evening in D.C.:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 21-Hathaway
59-Protas, 19-Backstrom, 43-Wilson
24-McMichael, 20-Eller, 10-Sprong
62-Hagelin, 26-Dowd, 49-Leason
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 2-Schultz
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
38-Cholowski, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
41-Vanecek
30-Samsonov
Extras/Taxi Squad
6-Kempny
23-Sgarbossa
31-Shepard
52-Irwin
Injured/Out
39-Mantha (upper body, indefinite)
73-Sheary (COVID-19 protocol)
74-Carlson (COVID-19 protocol)
77-Oshie (upper body)
WINNIPEG
Forwards
9-Copp, 55-Scheifele, 27-Ehlers
81-Connor, 80-Dubois, 91-Perfetti
12-Harkins, 17-Lowry, 22-Poganski
93-Vesalainen, 21-Toninato, 87-Reichel
Defensemen
44-Morrissey, 2-DeMelo
54-Samberg, 4-Pionk
64-Stanley, 88-Schmidt
Goaltenders
37-Hellebuyck
30-Berdin
Extras/Taxi Squad
28-Beaulieu
Injured/Out
1-Comrie (COVID-19 protocol)
5-Dillon (COVID-19 protocol)
14-Heinola (COVID-19 protocol)
18-Little (perforated eardrum, vertigo)
19-Gustafsson (lower body)
25-Stastny (lower body, COVID-19 protocol)
26-Wheeler (knee)
71-E. Svechnikov (upper body)
73-Suess (hand)