Bright Side Of The Road – The Caps open up their 16th – and longest – road trip of the season on Tuesday night in Edmonton. Prior to this journey, the Caps’ longest trip of the season was a three-game trip to Colorado, Vegas and Utah, respectively, in mid-November; those three games were played in four nights, with the last two games played on back-to-back nights.
The Caps’ current five-game trip is stretched out over a span of a dozen days and nights, with no games on back-to-back nights and includes four practice days, the first of which was Monday in Edmonton. That’s twice as many practice days as the Caps have amassed on the entire season to date on the road.
“Maybe you can help me answer this question,” said Caps television analyst Al Koken to Caps coach Spencer Carbery immediately after Monday’s practice session at Rogers Place. “When was the last time you had a full road practice?”
That Carbery wasn’t able to quickly answer the question is no surprise. Most of the Caps’ road trips this season haven’t been conducive to conducting a practice. Nine of them have been one game in duration, and four others have been two-game trips with the games played on back-to-back nights. No practices are taking place on those trips.
Washington’s first road trip of the season was a two-game trip to New Jersey and Philadelphia in October, and the Caps practiced in suburban Philly on Oct. 21, in between the two games. During the Mentors’ Trip to Florida in late November, the Caps practiced at Tampa’s Amalie Arena on Nov. 26, the day between those two games.
And that’s it, that’s the list.
“The uniqueness of the trip and us not having a back-to-back, that’s certainly unique,” says Carbery. “I’d be curious to know the last time there wasn’t a back-to-back on the Western trip. Usually, it’s an Edmonton-Calgary back-to-back. Last year, I think we did Edmonton-Seattle back-to-back.
“So the spacing out is nice, and then it does give us some opportunity for some practice time and to be able to utilize that through the trip. And now it extends the trip a little bit longer, with the Ottawa game at the end. But [Monday] was nice, to be able to get out as a full group and get a practice under our belt.”
In addition to the practice time, there’s plenty of time for the players to gather and hang out during the trip, too, and that’s a feature that few of the early season road trips offered.
“It’s always fun to be back in Alberta, and to come to these cities,” says Calgary native Logan Thompson. “And it’s a lot of fun. This is s fun road trip.
“As a team, I think we look forward to these trips. It’s always team bonding, right? You can never get enough of it. And we like being around each other, we like hanging out with each other. These trips are a lot of fun for us, and playing in Canadian cities – and especially Edmonton and Calgary; they’re big markets – it’s always a lot of fun, and we’ll be excited for the game [Tuesday].”
“I always appreciate the [bonding] time, because I think it’s a bit undervalued. Everybody assumes because we are playing games and around each other every day, that all of a sudden you’re just going to automatically come together as a group, and have those bonding [relationships] and friendships develop. And being able to get out on the road is where it really happens, when you have time between [games] and have meals together, practices, walking back to the hotel, all that sort of stuff. The downtime [after practice Monday] afternoon is a prime example of where a bunch of guys will be spending time together. It’s valuable to get out on the road and get together as a team.”
Driver 8 – Early in his second NHL season of 2006-07 – in late October of 2006 – Alex Ovechkin played his first career games in Western Canada, visiting Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary after starting the four-game trip in Denver. Teams didn’t visit every city every season in those division-heavy days, and the Caps didn’t visit this part of the continent during his rookie season. When they did bring The Great Eight out here for the first time, it was stunning to see the number of Caps sweaters with his name and number emblazoned on them, and the crowds of fans, autograph seekers and media were unlike any I had seen to that point of my career covering the Caps.
Fast forward nearly two decades, and Ovechkin mania is still as elevated as ever in this proud hockey town where Wayne Gretzky began his NHL career, playing nine seasons here and scoring the first 583 of what would be a total of 894 NHL goals. With Ovechkin now in his 20th NHL season and just 20 goals shy of matching Gretzky’s longstanding NHL record, and speculation rampant as to when he’ll surpass The Great One, this could be the last time Ovechkin is in Edmonton before breaking the mark.
With all that as a backdrop, local media here came out in droves to chat up the Caps captain at Tuesday’s morning skate. In front of a phalanx of tripods, cameras and reporters, Ovechkin held court for over six minutes here ahead of tonight’s Caps-Oilers tilt.
Asked to characterize his relationship with Gretzky, Ovechkin answered thusly: “I wish him a happy birthday [which is coming up in less than a week now], all of those [sorts of things]. I don’t text him every day; he wouldn’t respond. But yeah, I’m very proud that I have a relationship with the best player there.”
Asked for his thoughts on the Connor McDavid crosscheck on Vancouver’s Conor Garland and McDavid’s subsequent three-game NHL suspension, this was Ovechkin’s response:
“Well, if you’re in Canada and of course you turn on the TV, and you can see all of the time these highlights. It’s a game, it’s a passion. Obviously, I don’t think he meant to do that, but it sucks for him, and good for us he’s not playing tonight. So, we’ll take it.”
Ovechkin was asked whether the NHL’s skilled players should draw more penalty calls for the abuse they take on the ice. Here’s his response to that query:
“You can see that this is my 20th year. And my first year, it was totally different hockey. Ten years ago, it was totally different hockey. For young guys who come into the League, they know it’s a men’s League; you have to get a hit and you have to take a hit. You just have to be ready o battle out there, and you just have to be physical.”
I’m No Angel – Trips to Western Canada are also fun because we typically encounter Caps alumni whenever we come out this way. Tuesday morning brought a surprise when ex-Caps winger Mel Angelstad was on the Caps’ bench chatting up the coaches during morning slate.
In a different era, Angelstad had a legendary minor league career that reached its pinnacle in 2003-04 when the Caps recalled him from AHL Portland and put him in the varsity lineup for a set of season-ending back-to-back games in what had been the most trying season for the Caps and their fans since the dark, early days of the franchise in the late 1970s.
Angelstad played in the Colonial Hockey League, the ECHL, the International Hockey League, the Western Pro Hockey League, the United Hockey League and the American Hockey League from 1992-2006, amassing copious PIM totals along the way; he had several seasons with more than 300 PIM, and two seasons in which he climbed over 400. Late in his career, the Caps signed him as an organizational foot soldier, a mentor and protector to a bevy of young prospects Washington had playing for coach Tim Army in those days.
With the Caps’ ignominious ’03-04 almost over, Army suggested it would be a good gesture for the Caps to reward Angelstad for his two seasons of goodwill and good work with the Pirates, and Washington GM George McPhee didn’t need much convincing. Angelstad came up and made his NHL debut at the age of 31 on April 3, 2004 in a home game against the New York Rangers. He also played the next day in Washington’s season finale, on the road in Pittsburgh.
In his debut against the Rangers, Angelstad logged 13:21 in ice time and he skated 12:38 the next day in Pittsburgh. He joked about how he was getting more ice in the NHL than the AHL in this epic between periods interview with the equally legendary Craig Laughlin.
Angelstad got more than five minutes of power play time in the game against the Rangers as the Caps tried in vain to help him score a goal during his brief stay in The Show. He had six goals in 113 games in his three seasons with Portland.
“It was the best opportunity of my life for sure,” says Angelstad of his debut. “The Caps organization was always first class, and I was in their minors system for years, looking after all the first-round picks they had when they did that deal with Pittsburgh, and for a reward, they brought me up for a couple of games.
“It definitely changed my life. When you get to play in the NHL, it’s a whole new world. I’m really fortunate, and thank you very much, Washington Capitals.”
When he took the ice that day nearly 21 years ago, Angelstad became – and remains – the oldest player in Washington’s franchise history to make his NHL debut. He also became – and remains – the only player in NHL history to sport sweater No. 69. Nice.
In The Nets – A day after he was named the NHL’s No. 1 star for the week ending Jan. 19, Logan Thompson gets the net again tonight for the Capitals, making his seventh straight appearance and his fifth straight start.
Thompson is 9-0-1 in his last 10 appearances (nine starts) and he has won each of nine starts, dating back to Dec. 17. Over those 10 games, he has forged a 1.43 GAA and a .948 save pct. along with a pair of shutouts. In his career against the Oilers, Thompson is 0-2-1 in three appearances – all starts – with a 3.92 GAA and an .888 save pct.
For the Oilers, we will see Stuart Skinner between the pipes tonight. In his last 17 games, Skinner is 12-4-1 with a shutout, a 2.20 GAA and a .921 save pct.
Lifetime against Washington, Skinner is 2-2-0 in four appearances – all starts – with a shutout, a 2.53 GAA and a .924 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Capitals and the Oilers might look on Tuesday night in Edmonton:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
24-MicMichael, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
21-Protas, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
16-Raddysh, 20-Eller, 53-Frank
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 88-Mangiapane
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
42-Fehervary, 3-Roy
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Extras
13-Vrana
27-Alexeyev
52-McIlrath
Out/Injured
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
EDMONTON
Forwards
53-Skinner, 93-Nugent-Hopkins, 18-Hyman
92-Podkolzin, 29-Draisaitl, 33-Arvidsson
13-Janmark, 19-Henrique, 28-C. Brown
42-Kapanen, 48-Philp, 90-Perry
Defensemen
14-Ekholm, 2-Bouchard
25-Nurse, 51-Stecher
27-Kulak, 49-Emberson
Goaltenders
74-Skinner
30-Pickard
Extras
44-J. Brown
Out/Injured
75-Regula (lower body)
91-Kane (lower body)
97-McDavid (NHL suspension)