Goin’ To Chicago – The Caps spend a few hours in the Windy City on Sunday, facing the Blackhawks at United Center and getting their first live look at teenaged Chicago phenom Connor Bedard, the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, and one of just two 18-year-olds who have played in the NHL this season (Buffalo’s Zach Benson is the other).
Bedard leads the Hawks with 11 goals and 21 points, and he is tied with Seth Jones for the team lead in assists (10). He has yet to go more than two games without collecting a point.
“We dove into that heavily this morning,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery, referring to Bedard. “The thing that I notice is the release. I'm not telling you anything everybody doesn't already know, but his ability to change his shot angle is as good as anybody in the world, that I've seen thus far this year and over the last couple years. It's just that he changes shot angles when a lot of [defensemen] go stick on a puck, and he's able to do it so quickly that now, all of a sudden a spot that with most players is a non-dangerous shot, his is coming off quick.
“And watching a few of his shifts, and some of the productive ones, it's not even if it goes in the net. It's off quick, and then there's something happening after that. And so you see that, and the creativity, his ability to get himself into good spots to use his shot. But no question that has release and changing his shot angle is this as good as I've seen.”
Chicago visits Washington in March, giving local District fans their first chance to see the League’s next big thing.
Back-To-Back – Having halted a short three-game slide (0-2-1) with a convincing 4-0 win over the New York Rangers on home ice last night, the Caps are seeking to start up another winning run on Sunday in Chicago. A week and a half ago in Southern California, the Caps swept a set of back-to-backs from Los Angeles and Anaheim, respectively, and Washington is aiming to continue its perfect 3-0-0 mark in the back end of back-to-backs this season.
“I just think our group – for the most part – has understood the importance of these games,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery of his team’s success in the back half of back-to-backs. “and the physical part obviously plays a major factor, but to me – and I think the guys and our veteran guys do a real good job of permeating the message to the group – it’s mental. That’s where you’re able to have success in these games. You’re going to have the limits physically, no question. But if you can make good decisions, if you can be mentally engaged through the 60 minutes, you can have success. And we’ve done a real good job thus far in these back-to-backs of being really mentally engaged.”
Washington’s staff has also done a good job of keeping the minutes of its top players at a manageable level on the front end of those back-to-backs, minimizing the physical toll. The Caps were able to stay disciplined on Saturday night too; they took only one minor penalty all night, so their penalty killing outfit wasn’t overtaxed.
Saturday night’s 4-0 win over the Rangers was the largest margin of victory on the season to date for the Caps, so they were able to limit
“Yeah, that’s helped a lot in the games,” says Carbery. “[Saturday] night is a bit of luxury for us to be able to ease back on some guys that would probably play three, four more minutes in that third period there, and spread that out to keep everybody around that 13-, 14-, 15-[minute mark] up front, and around the 20-minute mark on the back end, so that’s an important part of it as well, especially with a veteran group with our veteran guys that need to be careful with minutes.”
In The Nets – Darcy Kuemper will be in net for Washington tonight against the Hawks. He will be trying to shake off consecutive regulation losses for the first time this season; he was pulled in the first period of his most recent start, Dec. 4 in Arizona in the finale of Washington’s five-game western road trip.
Lifetime against the Blackhawks, Kuemper is 7-2-1 with a shutout, a 2.26 GAA and a .923 save pct. in 11 appearances (nine starts).
For the Hawks, we are expecting to see Arvid Soderblom in net tonight. On the season, Soderblom is 2-8-1 with a 3.62 GAA and an .884 save pct. in a dozen appearances (11 starts). He is making his first career appearance against Washington.
All Lined Up – Here is how we believe the Capitals and Blackhawks might look when they take the ice on Sunday night at United Center:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
15-Milano, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
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
35-Kuemper
79-Lindgren
Injured
19-Backstrom (lower body)
67-Pacioretty (torn Achilles’ tendon)
77-Oshie (upper body)
Scratches
27-Alexeyev
45-Phillips
46-Johansen
CHICAGO
Forwards
91-Beauvillier, 98-Bedard, 23-Kurashev
90-T. Johnson, 70-Guttman, 11-Raddysh
17-N. Foligno, 16-Dickinson, 15-Anderson
27-Reichel, 8-Donato, 58-Entwistle
Defensemen
41-I. Phillips, 4-S. Jones
5-Murphy, 22-Zaitsev
72-Vlasic, 46-Crevier
Goaltenders
40-Soderblom
34-Mrazek
Injured
25-Tinordi (concussion)
43-Blackwell (groin)
55-Korchinski (personal leave)
71-Hall (knee)
89-Athansiou (groin)
Scratches
14-Katchouk
52-R. Johnson
