The Point Of It – For the last six games, the Caps have alternated wins with overtime/shootout losses in which they earn a point (3-0-3), and over their last 11 games, they’ve earned points in nine of them (6-2-3). But given the standard they established for themselves early in the season, they’re aiming for better because they know they’re capable of playing better.
“We have a little bit more,” said Caps center Lars Eller after Washington dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Montreal Canadiens in the District on Friday night. “I think maybe at times we’re doing shifts that are a little bit too long, and when you’re out there for 40-plus seconds, it’s hard to beat the other team with pace and energy. So I think we can help ourselves by shortening that [shift time] down a little bit, and then we can have more energy and pace in our game."
The Caps are in Nashville on this Saturday night, finishing up the 10th of their 13 sets of back-to-backs this season. Nine of those sets came in the season’s first half, and after tonight, the Capitals won’t have to hassle with back-to-backs until Feb. 22-23, the first two games coming out of the Four Nations break. The 41 days between back-to-backs is the Caps’ longest such stretch of the season.
Tonight in Nashville, the Caps also play their third game in four nights. They’re doing so against a Predators team that has been idle since Tuesday (that’s zero games in four nights) after returning home from a six-game road trip. The Preds open up a five-game homestand tonight against Washington.
Since their franchise record 10-game road winning streak ended almost a month ago, the Caps have won only one of six (1-4-1) road games.
Guess Who – In addition to losing Friday night’s game in overtime, the Caps also lost goaltender Charlie Lindgren. Soon after teammate Brandon Duhaime checked Montreal forward Nick Suzuki into Lindgren early in the second period of Friday’s game, Lindgren departed the game and did not return. Logan Thompson came on in relief and finished up.
On Saturday afternoon, the Caps placed Lindgren on the injured reserve list and recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard from AHL Hershey.
“[Lindgren is on] IR, so he’ll just be now at least out seven days,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “And we’ll just play it game-by-game and see how he is.”
As to the identity of tonight’s netminder – or tonight’s lineup for that matter – your guess is as good as ours.
“You will find out the lineup and the goaltender at warmup,” says Carbery.
Will there be any lineup changes, players coming in who didn’t play Friday?
“We have extras on the trip, and so you’ll find out at warmup,” says Carbery.
Do It Again – Making his NHL debut on Friday against the Habs, Ethen Frank turned in a solid performance in his 10:29 of ice time, assisting on Eller’s game-tying goal in the third period that was ultimately responsible for earning Washington a point.
This is the NHL, so one game does not a career make. Like any other player heading into his second game in the League, Frank will need to start stacking up the good performances to remain here. Reaching the NHL is one thing but remaining in the NHL year after year is another thing altogether.
“Replicate exactly what he did last night, and be consistent with it,” says Carbery, asked what he wants to see from Frank in his second game in The Show. “That’s his challenge and that’s every young player in the National Hockey League’s [challenge]. Usually, players can show you stretches of really good play, and instances of when they are absolutely NHL players. The trick and the most difficult part is doing that consistently, night to night, back to back, 82 games, shift to shift.
“Hopefully he can replicate a lot of the things he did last night, and we’ll get him right back in there.”
In The Nets – Carbery didn’t divulge the identity of his starting netminder, but either Thompson will make his regularly scheduled start – albeit after playing 38:46 and facing 21 shots in relief of Lindgren last night – or Shepard will see his first NHL action of 2024-25.
Thompson has permitted two or fewer goals against in 13 of his last 17 starts. Including last night’s relief effort, Thompson is 13-2-3 in his last 18 appearances, with a 2.20 GAA and a .924 save pct. Lifetime against Nashville, he is 4-1-0 in five appearances – all starts – with a 2.22 GAA and a .935 save pct.
Shepard’s last NHL action came just over a year ago, on Jan. 3 of last year against New Jersey. Over the course of his brilliant AHL career in Hershey, Shepard is 70-22-9-9 with nine shutouts, a 2.10 GAA and a .919 save pct. Shepard has also earned all 28 of Hershey’s postseason victories over the course of its consecutive Calder Cup championships.
The identity of Nashville’s netminder is also less than certain, but it seems likely to be veteran No. 1 Juuse Saros. However, Justus Annunen – acquired from Colorado earlier in the season – is 3-2-0 with a 2.28 GAA and a .930 save pct. in six appearances (five starts) since arriving in Music City.
Lifetime against Washington, Saros is 5-4-0 with a 2.70 GAA and a .912 save pct. in nine appearances, all starts.
All Lined Up – Here’s how the Capitals looked on Friday night against Montreal, and here’s how we believe the Predators might look on Saturday night in Nashville:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
21-Protas, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
24-McMichael, 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
31-Shepard
Extras
13-Vrana
27-Alexeyev
52-McIlrath
Out/Injured
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
79-Lindgren (upper body)
NASHVILLE
Forwards
9-Forsberg, 91-Stamkos, 81-Marchessault
14-Nyquist, 90-O’Reilly, 12-Hinostroza
82-Novak, 40-Svechkov, 68-L’Heureux
17-Jankowski, 47-McCarron, 10-Sissons
Defensemen
59-Josi, 20-Barron
76-Skjei, 77-Blankenburg
81-Stasney, 2-Schenn
Goaltenders
74-Saros
29-Annunen
Extras
None
Out/Injured
3-Lauzon (lower body)
36-Smith (lower body)
83-Wilsby (upper body)
77-Evangelista (lower body)
