Home, Home Again – As they open a five-game homestand on Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers, the Caps will have their hands full in trying to extend their 15-game home point streak (10-0-5). The high-octane Oilers come in on the heels of a 6-3 loss to the Flyers in Philly on Saturday, a game in which they yielded four goals against in the second period.
Washington may be without Tom Wilson this afternoon – the big winger departed Saturday’s game midway through the third period, after establishing a career high with his 25th goal late in the second period – and Edmonton will have Connor McDavid in its lineup this afternoon. When the Caps were able to sneak past the Oilers just over a month ago – on Jan. 21 – in Edmonton, McDavid was out of the lineup, serving a short NHL suspension.
His presence obviously brings a different look to the table for Edmonton today.
“I thought it was a pretty good overall game,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of his team’s game against the Oilers last month. “I thought there were times where we controlled the play for good portions. I thought there were times where we got back on our heels, but we did a good job of managing those times, because they are one of the top teams in the League; they’re going to stress you at certain points of the game. And it’s how you handle that and how you work your way through that, and how you can, instead of it being eight shifts, can it maybe be five shifts of momentum.
“And I thought we did a good job of that in their building. And now with 97 in their lineup, it’s going to make it a little bit more challenging. But we’re hoping for another good performance, coming back home from last night, and try to carry that over and some momentum into tonight.”
Washington won that game despite being limited to just 14 shots on net; the Caps’ penalty killing outfit was excellent in shutting down the Edmonton power play all three times the Oilers had the extra man that night. The Caps got goals from Wilson, Matt Roy and P-L Dubois in that game, plus a 30-save effort from Logan Thompson, who had just been named the NHL’s No. 1 star of the previous week.
Today though, the Caps will have to contend with the magical McDavid, who delivered a 4 Nations Face-Off victory for Team Canada less than 72 hours ago in Boston with a game-winning overtime goal. McDavid’s talents and wizardry can be even more evident when the opposition has one less skater on the sheet.
“Two things,” says Carbery. “One, the entry piece becomes a lot more difficult when they drop that puck to him. He's as close to unstoppable as you can get when he gets a drop, has speed and is weaving his way through whatever penalty kill forecheck you're doing. Hopefully, we do a good job, but it's almost an automatic entry when 97 gets it with speed.
“And then the other thing that he does so well is his movement around the offensive zone, of being able to use his skating [and] deception to threaten, get people committed to him, and then usually finds options, or can shoot it as well – but usually finding option – whether that's Hyman at the net front, or whether it's 29 [Leon Draisaitl] in his office, or even sometimes back up top to [Joel] Bouchard. It’s as good a power play as is out there, and so hopefully we can limit the kills to one or two tonight and do a job when we have to.”
Six Blade Knife – In their 8-3 win over the Penguins on Saturday in Pittsburgh, the Caps got three goals – two of them from Jakob Chychrun – and 10 points from their six defensemen, and all six blueliners collected at least a point. Four of the Caps’ defensemen had multi-point games on Saturday, and in the process, the group has now accumulated 142 points in 56 games this season, seven more points than it amassed in 82 games last season.
Saturday’s game marks the first time since a Nov. 21, 2015 home game against Colorado, a 7-3 victory in which all six defensemen recorded exactly one point, with four of them – Karl Alzner, John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov and Nate Schmidt – denting the twine. Taylor Chorney and Matt Niskanen had assists.
That game was also noteworthy for the remarkable and unforgettable goal that Orlov scored, the first he had scored in over 20 months after missing all of the 2014-15 season because of wrist surgery. Orlov’s goal in that game was only the seventh of his NHL career, and he and the referee were the only ones who knew where the puck was.
One more note on that Nov. 21, 2015 game; it was the first time since a Dec. 4, 1992 contest that the Caps got goals from four different defensemen in the same game. Paul Cavallini, Sylvain Cote, Kevin Hatcher, and Al Iafrate scored in an 8-4 victory over the New York Rangers at USAir Arena.
Growing Trade – Speaking of Orlov, today is the two-year anniversary of the deal that sent he and Garnet Hathaway to Boston. Washington got a first-round pick, a second-rounder and a third-rounder plus veteran winger Craig Smith back in that deal. Days later, the Caps then dealt the first-rounder and defenseman Erik Gustafsson to Toronto for Rasmus Sandin.
Since the swap Sandin has emerged as solid two-way, top four defenseman, and he signed a five-year contract extension just over a year after the deal went down.
This past summer, the Caps used the third-round pick in that deal to select center Eriks Mateiko, who has already signed a three-year entry level deal with Washington and who showed well at the recent IIHF 2025 World Junior Championship.
Going into the 2025 NHL Draft in Los Angeles, the Caps have two second-round picks, their own and Boston’s, the last piece from that deal that went down two years ago today.
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren gets the net for the Caps on Sunday against Edmonton, making his 100th start with Washington. In his previous start on Feb. 6 in Philadelphia, Lindgren earned his 50th career victory with a sturdy, 19-save performance. In his last five appearances, Lindgren is 2-1-1 with a shutout, a 2.28 GAA and a .911 save pct.
Lifetime against the Oilers, Lindgren is 2-1-0 with a 3.68 GAA and an .883 save pct. in three appearances, all starts.
For the Oilers, we are expecting to see Calvin Pickard in net today. On the season, Pickard is 14-5-0 with a 2.52 GAA and a .901 save pct. Lifetime against the Capitals, Pickard is 0-1-0 in two appearances – one start – with a 4.26 GAA and an .873 save pct.
And one more thing here, to tie this all up with a pretty bow: Pickard was the victim of that wild Orlov goal nearly a decade ago. You’re welcome.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Capitals and the Oilers might look on Sunday afternoon in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
21-Protas, 80-Dubois, 24-McMichael
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
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Extras
13-Vrana
27-Alexeyev
52-McIlrath
Out/Injured
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
EDMONTON
Forwards
93-Nugent-Hopkins, 97-McDavid, 18-Hyman
92-Podkolzin, 29-Draisaitl, 22-Savoie
33-Ardvidsson, 19-Henrique, 28-Brown
53-Skinner, 13-Janmark, 90-Perry
Defensemen
14-Ekholm, 2-Bouchard
25-Nurse, 36-Klingberg
27-Kulak, 49-Emberson
Goaltenders
74-Skinner
30-Pickard
Extras
42-Kapanen
51-Stecher
Out/Injured
91-Kane (lower body)
