Home, Home Again – Fresh from a five-game road trip out west, the Capitals are back in town and set to open up a two-game homestand, starting on Thursday night against Dallas. The Caps opened the season with 12 of their first 17 games at home, but they’ll be spending most of December on the road. Thursday’s game with the Stars is the opener of Washington’s only “homestand” of the month; the Rangers are here on Saturday to finish up the homestand.
Each of Washington’s three home games later in the month are “stand alone” games that aren’t part of a homestand.
The Caps are coming into tonight’s game on the heels of successive regulation losses, and they’ve lost four of their last six (2-4-0), a stretch that followed a 9-1-1 spree. Dallas is also coming off consecutive regulation losses, but the Stars are in a much better position in the standings in the Central Division than the Caps are in the Metro.
“I think it’s important to understand what we’re not doing well, but it’s also good to take note of what we are doing well,” says Caps’ center Nic Dowd. “Otherwise, I think you just drag yourself into the ground, because at any given point throughout the season, there’s always things to work on. I honestly feel that – as long as it’s not a work ethic thing – it’s a game of inches.
“All those goals [against] the other night [in Arizona] were centimeters away from getting ticked away. And just in general, it’s such a small margin of error out there, that as long as the work ethic is there, I think every team is going to go through times where it feels like it’s not getting the bounces, not scoring enough goals, and you’re not winning games.
“I just think our special teams need to tighten up. We’ve been good at times; we just need to get a little more consistent.”
The 700 Club – Evgeny Kuznetsov is set to play in the 700th game of his NHL career tonight against Dallas. A healthy scratch for the first time in years in Washington’s most recent game on Monday in Arizona, Kuznetsov made his NHL debut with the Caps here in the District on March 10, 2014 against Pittsburgh.
“I’m definitely a little bit older,” cracks Kuznetsov. “I’ve got a couple of kids now and stuff like that. But in hockey, you get more mature, you get more confidence. You understand the game better, you know certain situations and how you should react on the ice. It’s a pleasure to play the hockey, and it’s a fun sport to play.”
Kuznetsov is the 13th player to reach the 700-game plateau with Washington, and he joins current teammates Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson and Tom Wilson in that distinction. Among the 13 players who’ve reached 700 games with the Capitals, Kuznetsov ranks third in assists (behind Ovechkin and Backstrom) and fourth in points (behind Ovechkin, Backstrom and Mike Gartner).
Kuznetsov leads all Washington forwards with an average of 21 minutes a night in ice time, and he ranks 11th among all forwards in the League in that category. But he has skated under 20 minutes in five of his last seven games, a stretch that includes a pair of games he missed because of illness.
Now in his 11th season in the NHL, Kuznetsov is a relative rarity among NHL forwards in terms of his presence on both special teams; he is one of just five players in the League who averages more than two minutes per game on the penalty kill, and more than three and a half minutes per game on the power play. The others are Joel Eriksson Ek of Minnesota, Jack Eichel of Vegas, Brad Marchand of Boston, and Sam Reinhart of Florida.
“I think early on, it was out of necessity, because of where we were at as a team, and because he's an effective penalty killer,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery of Kuznetsov’s career high average ice time. “And we use him there, and he was playing first unit power play. And at the beginning of the year, we had a lot of matchups where he was playing against other teams’ top lines, and we won a lot of games. And I told him this, he played a big part in that, in neutralizing or playing against [Sasha] Barkov, or playing against Jack Hughes, or whoever the matchup was early in the season. And we won some of those games, and those are tough, tough minutes against elite players.
“And then his minutes sort of started to decrease, because we didn't need to lean on him as much – which I didn't want to do; I didn’t need him leading the league in minutes. That wasn't by design. It was – like I said – out of necessity. But as the last few weeks have gone, it felt like his game had gotten to not a great spot. That's where we need to reset, and I'm looking forward to watch him [tonight]. I think. I know the player that's in there and I'm excited to watch him.”
Despite garnering the highest average nightly ice time of his NHL career this season, Kuznetsov’s offensive production is at its lowest level ever; he is one of several proven top six or top nine forwards who’ve had difficulty producing offense on a consistent basis this season.
“It’s different in each case,” says Carbery. “The players are so routine-based, and when you've been playing for five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven seasons – game after game after game – you get into a rhythm, and everything is sort of routine for you. And now when things aren't going well, you're still in that routine. But now when you sit and watch, even though it's just one game, it makes you take a step back.
“I know Kuz didn't necessarily agree with the decision – which he's completely entitled to – and I understand that from his perspective. But my objective is hopefully him sitting brings a better player, and brings the version that we've all seen and know he's capable of being, and frankly what we need as a team. We need that caliber player, of what he's capable of doing. And that's what we're hoping we see.”
When he sat out Monday’s game in Arizona, it marked the first time in over nine years he had been scratched; he sat out a pair of early season games in 2014-15 – his first full season in the NHL and the first season for Barry Trotz behind the Washington bench.
“That’s two different situations,” says Kuznetsov, referring to those earlier scratches. “Both of those situations was actually for a purpose, and in both of those situations, the coaches explained and talked, and both of those situations was for a good purpose. I’m lucky to have good people around me, that are always trying to help me, always trying to make me better and stuff like that, so I always believe in the process.
“It’s not nice when you’re missing games, and you’re watching hockey and you don’t east pasta before the games and stuff like that, and to have a nap – those little things – and then you go play the game. That’s the worst part, right? But I took that as a good lesson and a learning point. And we’ll see where it’s going to lead me tonight.”
The Old Man Down The Road – The third overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, Dallas forward Matt Duchene is slated to appear in his 1,000th career game tonight in Washington. Duchene debuted with Colorado on Oct. 1, 2009 and tonight he will join John Tavares, Ryan O’Reilly and Victor Hedman as just the fourth member of the 2009 NHL Draft Class to play in his 1,000th career contest in the League.
A durable player for most of his 15-season NHL career, Duchene doesn’t turn 33 until the middle of next month.
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren gets the net tonight for Washington. Lindgren came on in relief of Darcy Kuemper in the Caps’ most recent game, a 6-0 loss to Arizona on Monday night in Tempe. That game marked the first time this season that a Caps’ goaltender didn’t finish a game he started.
Lindgren put together a strong month of November, going 5-1-0 in six starts with a shutout, a 2.01 GAA and a .942 save pct. He will be making his first December start tonight; his relief outing in the desert on Monday was his first appearance this month.
Lifetime against the Stars, Lindgren is 2-2-0 in four appearances (all starts), with a 1.52 GAA and a .948 save pct.
Jake Oettinger started for the Stars last night in Florida, so we are expecting to see Scott Wedgewood between the pipes for tonight’s game with Washington. Wedgewood is 4-1-1 in his six starts this season, with a 3.17 GAA and a .911 save pct.
Lifetime against Washington, Wedgewood is 1-2-3 with a 3.07 GAA and an .889 save pct. in six appearances, all starts.
All Lined Up – Here is how we believe the Capitals and Stars might look when they take the ice on Thursday night in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
29-Lapierre, 92-Kuznetsov, 45-Phillips
21-Protas, 24-McMichael, 39-Mantha
47-Malenstyn, 26-Dowd, 96-Aube-Kubel
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk
6-Edmundson, 3-Jensen
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
35-Kuemper
Injured
19-Backstrom (lower body)
67-Pacioretty (torn Achilles’ tendon)
77-Oshie (upper body)
Scratches
15-Milano
27-Alexeyev
46-Johansen
DALLAS
Forwards
21-Robertson, 24-Hintz, 16-Pavelski
27-Marchment, 95-Duchene, 91-Seguin
14-Benn, 53-Johnston, 63-Dadonov
18-Steel, 12-Faksa, 15-Smith
Defensemen
20-Suter, 4-Heiskanen
23-Lindell, 44-Hanley
55-Harley, 2-Hakanpaa
Goaltenders
41-Wedgewood
29-Oettinger
Injured
None
Scratches
5-Lundkvist
10-Dellandrea
