Atlantic Avenue – With 15 games remaining in their season, the Caps return home from a lengthy road trip to start their last extended homestand of the ’23-24 campaign, starting tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Washington entered the second half of the season in the unique position of having the fewest divisional games (seven) of any team in the NHL, and it’s glaringly obvious now. The Caps will play 10 of their last 15 games against Atlantic Division opponents; and they’ll face Atlantic denizens Toronto, Buffalo, Detroit and Boston twice each the rest of the way. They’ve also got single games against Ottawa and Tampa Bay.
The Caps are 5-5-4 in their previous 14 games against Atlantic foes this season.
Rise Above – Beginning with a 3-0 blanking of the Bruins in Boston on Feb. 10, the Caps are 11-5-2 in their last 18 games. They’ve yielded three or fewer goals against in 14 of those 18 contests, and their .667 points percentage over that span is ninth best in the League.
The Caps’ play over the last five weeks has put them in position to make the playoffs, despite dealing away two regular players ahead of the March 8 trade deadline, without adding anything other than future draft choices. But Washington’s schedule doesn’t get any easier. Although they’ll play five of their final six games of March on home ice, all six of the Caps’ remaining games this month are against teams currently in the playoff picture.
If they’re going to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Capitals will have to find a way to knock off some good teams, like tonight’s opponent, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs come to town on the heels of a 4-3 loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia last night, their second straight loss. It’s the first time in over two months that the Leafs have dropped two straight games.
After Wednesday’s morning skate, Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery, a former Leafs’ assistant coach, cautioned against believing Washington might have any advantage in tonight’s game because the Leafs played last night in Philly.
“Do not for a second let your mind think that this is going to be any easier than any other game,” says Carbery. “Because that’s what I’ve seen time and time again, and we’ve done it to multiple teams this year. For whatever reason, if you think tonight that you’re going to get an ‘easier’ Toronto Maple Leafs team or someone that’s ‘ripe for the picking,’ you’re going to be caught off guard very early in this game.
“I think the mindset of teams coming into these games is almost reverse. We did it to Seattle [last Thursday]. Came in, got in at three in the morning, played them that night, they were rested, we weren’t. And the game could have gone either way – it was a tight game – but you can see that for teams playing in those situations, it’s not just a lay-up.
“And it’s going to be the same thing tonight. It’s important that our mindset is right, understanding that we’re going to get the absolute best the Toronto Maple Leafs have to offer coming off last night.”
Washington has its own schedule challenges. The Caps are playing their sixth game in 10 nights, in their fourth different time zone, and with a switch to daylight saving time thrown in. They returned to D.C. just over 24 hours ahead of tonight’s game, and had a full day of travel on Tuesday.
“I thought [Monday night] in Calgary, we got away with a game there,” says Carbery. “We were not sharp; it looked like we were out of gas mentally and physically. So it’s going to be important tonight. [Tuesday] was a travel day, but getting right back to our game from a physical, pace of play, speed [standpoint is important]. It felt like that wasn’t there in Calgary, and we’ve got to get that back on home ice.
“Guys know we’ve got no margin for error and there is no easing back into the homestand, or whatever it might be. This is going to be a massive game for our group, and we’re just focused on tonight and getting us dialed in physically and mentally, so we’re at our best.”
Record On Repeat – The Caps carry a three-game winning streak into tonight’s game, and it’s likely no coincidence that they’ve deployed the same lineup for those three victories, and are likely to do so again tonight against Toronto.
“That’s been nice to have,” says Carbery. “We’ve juggled our lines around all year long. I’m feeling like we’ve got a pretty good mix right now, with [Ivan] Miroshnichenko finding a nice fit there, [Max] Pacioretty, Sonny Milano and [Hendrix Lapierre] finding a little bit of chemistry there on that, call it third line, but you could interchange any of our three, four lines.
“We feel like we’ve got a little bit of consistency there, and some chemistry developing. I’m hopeful we can keep that going now, as we come home off the road trip.”
Injuries and inconsistency are the enemies of line stability, but the Caps have been reasonably healthy recently, and they’ve been playing good hockey for about five weeks, which lends itself to stability.
“I’m a huge fan of having a stable lineup,” says Pacioretty. “We haven’t had that this year, whether it be injuries or the coaches kind of changing things around. It was one of the first things they asked me – ‘Do you like staying with linemates? – and I always do. I feel you develop chemistry with guys, and you can only get better.
“Obviously, there are times when things get stale, but at the very minimum, I like having at least a running mate to go with, and then maybe have someone who can switch in and out with that guy. I’ve done that my whole career and had success that way. And maybe that is a reason why our team is finding success right now, but I do feel that a lot of offensive guys feel that’s a positive way to develop chemistry.”
That familiarity and chemistry extends to the back end, too.
“I think that chemistry is really big and important,” says blueliner Martin Fehervary. “Once you get used to playing with someone, it’s obviously a little bit easier because whenever your [defense] partner is going forward or backwards, you kind of know what he’s planning to do and what you should expect. I think it’s a big part that we are winning, that chemistry.”
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren starts for Washington tonight, his fourth straight starting assignment and his 13th in the team’s last 15 games. In his eight March starts, Lindgren is 6-2-0 with a shutout, a 1.76 GAA and a .940 save pct.
“It’s a little bit reminiscent of the beginning of the year, I feel like,” says Carbery of Lindgren. “He’s just in the zone right now. I think him consistently starting games as well has helped; us giving the ball to him, and him playing game after game now, it feels like he’s in a real good rhythm and he’s got a ton of confidence. The guys have a ton of confidence in him, so he’s in a real good spot.”
The often imitated and never duplicated Japers’ Rink shed some light on Lindgren’s amazing season the other day. Among all goaltenders in the NHL with 200 or more minutes played while their team is in the lead, none has a better save pct. while playing with the lead than Lindgren’s .939 (stats via naturalstattrick.com)
Don’t forget too, that among all goalies with 15 or more appearances – there are 68 such netminders in the League this season – that Lindgren ranks 56th in offensive support at 2.68 goals per game, a figure that has climbed over the last five weeks or so.
Lifetime against the Leafs, Lindgren is 2-3-0 with a 3.80 GAA, and a .903 save pct. in six appearances, (five starts).
Toronto is currently carrying three goaltenders, and ex-Caps netminder Ilya Samsonov was in net last night in Philadelphia. That leaves veteran Martin Jones and youngster Joseph Woll as the options for tonight, with Woll being the likely candidate; Jones hasn’t played since Feb. 22 in Vegas.
On the season at the NHL level, Woll is 9-7-1 with a 2.89 GAA and a .911 save pct. in 18 appearances (16 starts). His lone previous career appearance against Washington came in the Leafs’ first visit to town this season, on Oct. 24. Woll stopped 37 of 38 shots that night to pick up the win, a 4-1 Toronto victory.
All Lined Up – Here’s how the Caps and the Maple Leafs might look on Wednesday night in Washington:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 24-McMichael, 77-Oshie
63-Miroshnichenko, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
67-Pacioretty, 29-Lapierre, 15-Milano
47-Malenstyn, 26-Dowd, 21-Protas
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 3-Jensen
27-Alexeyev, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
35-Kuemper
Injured/Out
19-Backstrom (lower body)
Scratches
23-Sgarbossa
25-Bear
96-Aubé-Kubel
TORONTO
Forwards
59-Bertuzzi, 34-Matthews, 29-Holmberg
74-McMann, 11-Domi, 88-Nylander
23-Knies, 91-Tavares, 89-Robertson
24-Dewar, 64-Kampf, 75-Reaves
Defensemen
44-Rielly, 78-Brodie
2-Benoit, 22-McCabe
20-Edmundson, 37-Liljegren
Goaltenders
60-Woll
31-Jones
35-Samsonov
Injured/Out
3-Klingberg (hip)
8-Muzzin (back)
16-Marner (lower body)
19-Jarnkrok (hand)
25-Timmins (mononucleosis)
30-Murray (hip)
46-Lyubushkin (illness)
55-Giordano (concussion)
Scratches
18-Gregor
56-Chadwick
