Colorado Bound – The Caps take the ice tonight in Denver against one of the NHL’s elite offensive outfits, the Colorado Avalanche. While Washington is finishing up another set of back-to-back games tonight, Colorado last left the ice on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia. The Caps have played – and lost – two full games since the Avs’ last contest.
Tonight’s game is the first meeting of the season between the Caps and the Avs; the two clubs will conclude their season’s series on Feb. 13 in the District.
Colorado’s attack is paced by Nathan MacKinnon, whose 77 points (26 goals, 51 assists) is equal to the combined total of Washington’s top three scoring forwards: Alex Ovechkin (28), Dylan Strome (28) and Anthony Mantha (21). MacKinnon was the NHL’s leading scorer in calendar 2023, totaling 135 points (53 goals, 82 assists) in 84 games to finish six points ahead of Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (129), who played eight fewer games last year.
Entering tonight’s game with Washington, MacKinnon has collected at least a point in 30 of his last 31 games. With 836 career points, the 28-year-old MacKinnon is already more than halfway to Joe Sakic’s all-time franchise record (1,641) for total points, and Sakic currently ranks ninth on the NHL’s all-time ledger in that department.
Colorado’s backline brigade is also a crucial part of its attack; the Avs’ defensemen have contributed 147 points (37 goals, 110 assists) in the team’s 47 games, leading the League in offense from the blueline.
Washington ranks 30th in the NHL in offensive contributions from the blueline, getting less than half (eight goals, 62 assists, 70 points) of what Colorado’s defense corps produces.
Follow The Leader – Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery goes up against one of his mentors tonight, as two members of the fabled ECHL South Carolina coaching tree go head-to-head tonight for the first time in the National Hockey League. Former South Carolina Stingrays’ coach Jason Fitzsimmons started that coaching tree when he hired Jared Bednar to be his assistant coach in 2002.
Fitzsimmons, now Washington’s director of minor league operations, was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame earlier this month.
During the latter stages of Carbery’s playing career, Bednar – who by then had succeeded Fitzsimmons as the head coach of the Stingrays – convinced Carbery to come to Charleston to play for him. After the Stingrays won the Kelly Cup in 2009, Bednar departed South Carolina for the AHL, and Cail MacLean took over behind the Stingrays’ bench.
MacLean eventually convinced Carbery to join him as an assistant coach, and when MacLean eventually ascended to the AHL as well, Carbery replaced him in Charleston. All three are now in the NHL – MacLean is an assistant with Calgary – as is Ryan Warsofsky, who ran the South Carolina bench after Carbery moved up a level. Warsofsky is a San Jose assistant coach.
“It’s a pretty cool night,” says Carbery, “to look back on our relationship and friendship, and how it started many years ago, in 2008 in South Carolina. And he is a large reason why I’m standing here today, coaching the Washington Capitals. He’s a good friend of mine, but also a mentor that has done a lot for me in my coaching career, and who I’ve leaned on a lot and learned a lot from. I just value his friendship and that, so it will be a good night.”
Late last summer, we had an opportunity to talk to Bednar about his relationship with Carbery and the South Carolina coaching tree.
“With that South Carolina coaching tree, I got a chance to be an assistant for Fitzy, and then taking over [as head coach],” says Bednar. “And then Cail MacLean after me and Carbs after him. It started a progression of the player to assistant coach to head coach, and with all quality people there. All those coaches are doing well, and now Carbs is getting the chance to coach in the NHL. I think it’s fantastic.”
Having had Carbery as a player, Bednar saw the same characteristics that MacLean saw in him.
“To me, it was pretty obvious,” says Bednar. “You get a handful of those guys that come in over three, four or five years that you think, if their playing career doesn't take off and they don't move – because lots do – and play at a higher level, that these guys could be potential Stingrays that could move into coaching and could have real strong coaching careers. It’s hard to explain, but those intangibles that you think would help make a real good coach and you can see it in the leadership in veteran players, and Carbs certainly had that.”
In The Nets – After Darcy Kuemper was dented for five goals – all at 5-on-5 – in 30 shots in a 5-3 loss to the Wild in Minnesota on Tuesday night, Charlie Lindgren gets the net for Washington tonight in Denver.
Prior to Tuesday’s game against the Wild, Carbery was asked about Lindgren, a native of nearby Lakeville, Minn.
“He’s having a tremendous year and deserves a lot of credit for where we sit right now, standings wise,” says Carbery. “He has stolen a bunch of games for us. I’ve watched him and followed his career previously, but this is the best he’s played in his career – hands down – and credit to him, because he has bounced around.
“He’s been in a few different organizations, and now it feels like to me he has taken a step in his career where he’s trying to prove that he’s a guy that can play every night, and that he can be a number one guy in the National Hockey League. And that is not only the mindset that he has, but the work that he puts in and the commitment he has to his craft.
“That’s been impressive to watch since talking to him in the summer, and he talked about that this [past] summer, of wanting to take the next step of now he is an everyday NHL player. And [he said], ‘Now, I want to take that next step to be able to show that I can be an elite goalie in the National Hockey League,’ and he’s done exactly what he said.”
Lindgren is 4-3-2 in his last 10 games with a shutout, a 1.94 GAA and a .929 save pct. He will be making his first career appearance against Colorado tonight.
Alexandar Georgiev gets the net for the Avs tonight. He leads the NHL with 39 appearances and 38 starts, and his 25 victories ties him with Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko for the League lead.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Georgiev is 4-5-1 with a shutout, a 3.05 GAA and a .904 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we expect the Caps and the Avs might look on Wednesday night when they take the ice at Denver’s Ball Arena:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 67-Pacioretty
21-Protas, 24-McMichael, 77-Oshie
39-Mantha, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
47-Malenstyn, 26-Dowd, 96-Aube-Kubel
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
42-Fehervary, 25-Bear
6-Edmundson, 3-Jensen
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
35-Kuemper
Injured
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (lower body)
Scratches
27-Alexeyev
45-Phillips
57-van Riemsdyk
COLORADO
Forwards
27-Drouin, 29-MacKinnon, 96-Rantanen
28-Wood, 20-Colton, 25-O’Connor
62-Lehkonen, 12-Johansen, 11-Cogliano
56-MacDermid, 22-Olofsson, 94-Kiviranta
Defensemen
7-Toews, 8-Makar
49-Girard, 42-Manson
4-Byram, 70-Malinski
Goaltenders
40-Georgiev
50-Prosvetov
Injured
3-J. Johnson (lower body)
39-Francouz (groin)
92-Landeskog (knee)
Scratches
82-C. Jones
