shavings seattle

Cats On The Coast – The Caps are in Seattle tonight, taking on the Kraken for the first of their two meetings this season. This is the Capitals’ fourth trip ever to the state of Washington, and they earned their first victory here last March 14, a 2-1 win that sparked them to a 3-2-0 western trip after they’d fallen by a combined total of 10-2 in the first two games of the trip in Winnipeg and Edmonton, respectively.

This time into town, the Caps are coming in hot, with a five-game winning streak and a point streak that goes – in the Spinal Tap vernacular – to eleven (8-0-3).

They’re facing a Kraken club that has won the first two games of a four-game homestand and is seeking to keep those vibes going for Saturday’s homestand finale against Pittsburgh.

Six Blade Knife – Washington’s group of top six defensemen has played together continuously for several weeks now, a stretch of 34 games in which the Caps have delivered a 23-6-5 record. Washington has yielded just 2.21 goals against per game over that stretch, second only to Los Angeles (2.20).

Washington’s balanced, diverse and deep blueline corps has played well at both ends of the ice, and most possible left/right combinations have been deployed together for reasonable amounts of time, with the current tandems of Rasmus Sandin with John Carlson, Marty Fehervary with Matt Roy and Jakob Chychrun with Trevor van Riemsdyk sticking together for probably the longest stretch.

Since the object of the game is to score more goals than the other team, today we shine the spotlight on the Chychrun/van Riemsdyk pairing, which has outscored the opposition 14-7 in just under 300 minutes on the ice together at 5-on-5. According to naturalstattrick.com, only three other defensive pairings – with as much time together – in the NHL have a higher goals for percentage than Chychrun/van Riemsdyk, who have overperformed their expected goals for (10.61) and their expected goals against (13.54) in their time together.

“Obviously, he’s a high-end skill, dynamic guy,” says the 33-year-old van Riemsdyk of the 26-year-old Chychrun. “He breaks the puck out really well on his own, and he's a great communicator, which I think helps us a lot. We don't spend a lot of time in our own end, and we're breaking pucks out well, and I think that's the key. I think if you look at the guys who probably have the best of those analytics, it’s probably because they're in their zone the least, so there's the least amount of shots, and that's kind of how it goes.”

Communicating may not be as much a part of Chychrun’s game as his lethal shot or his ability to walk the line and find shot lanes, but it’s right up there.

“I’ve always been a big a big talker, a big communicator,” says Chychrun. “I don't know why, I’ve just always found it makes the game a lot easier, for not only myself but for my teammates. I want to always be a voice for my teammates if they're in trouble or they don't have an opportunity to get their eyes up the ice.

“Sometimes I have to be their eyes and help them with a read or with a play, or to help get them out of a situation. So that's just something I've always felt has gone a very long way. And we talk about it all the time. You never talk enough. You can't really talk too much. It's just something that we're always preaching to help each other out in situations, and be as loud as you can, and talk from the bench, talk to your partner on the ice, and it goes a long way.”

Coaches often pair defensive-minded players such as van Riemsdyk with blueliners like Chychrun, who favor a more offensive bent. But van Riemsdyk is capable of making some good plays in the offensive zone as well, and Chychrun has been better than advertised in his own end in his time in Washington.

“I’ve found that when we have gotten stuck in our end, he's an excellent defender for a guy who's scored 15 goals – or close to it – this year already,” says van Riemsdyk of Chychrun. “He's really strong – and obviously you can tell that by his shot – but he takes pride in defending too. He's got a good stick and that high-end skill comes into play when you're out there, you're a little tired, and you still need to make a play to get it out of the zone, and he generally does that. I think we've done a good job of complementing each other and if it’s showing up in the analytics, that's great.”

Now in his 11th NHL season, van Riemsdyk’s 13 assists this season are just three shy of matching his single-season career best (16), and one shy of matching his total from last season (14).

“Riems is an easy guy to play with,” says Chychrun. “He is good with the puck. He wants to make plays, but he knows when the opportunity is there. He knows when to be simple; if we’re in trouble, he knows to advance the puck and make the right read. I think we’ve got good communication together, and he has been a fun guy to play with. We talk about a lot of situations throughout the game, we try to clean up a few things in the moment, and I’ve really enjoyed playing with him.”

The van Riemsdyk/Chychrun duo gets a lot of offensive zone starts and deployment, largely because of Chychrun’s value as an offensive weapon; with 13 goals and 31 points this season, he is five goals and 10 points shy of matching his single-season career bests in those categories.

“Overall, big-picture wise, they’ve been solid,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of the tandem. Riemer gives a little bit of security to Chychy, and he’s gotten better as they’ve played together, and has developed a little more chemistry of reading off of when Chychy is going to make a play – whether that’s through the neutral zone or at the offensive blueline – and Riemer being able to pick his spots and read off of him.

“I think it’s a good complement pair for us of a guy like Riemer, who is a really, really smart and intelligent defender who uses his feet, and then letting Chychy use his skill set to be aggressive, get up in the rush, and make a play at the offensive blueline. So it’s been solid.”

In The Nets – For the first time in nearly two weeks – since Jan. 10 – Charlie Lindgren will be in net for Washington tonight. Lindgren was injured early in the second period of that Jan. 10 home game against Montreal; he departed with an upper body injury and was placed on injured reserve the following day.

Logan Thompson has been magnificent in Lindgren’s absence, keeping a steady stream of standings points coming the Caps’ way. Lindgren will be seeking his 11th win of the season tonight in Seattle, and he is looking to even up his career totals as well; he enters tonight’s tilt with 32 career home victories and 31 on the road.

Lindgren won here in Seattle last March 14 for the Caps, and he is 2-0-0 lifetime against the Kraken with a 1.00 GAA and a .960 save pct. in two appearances, both starts.

Joey Daccord starts for Seattle tonight. Daccord has won four of his last five starts, and he has yielded two or fewer goals against in four of the five as well. Lifetime against Washington, he is 1-1-0 with a 1.52 GAA and a .939 save pct. in two career starts and appearances.

All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Capitals and the Kraken might look on Thursday night in Seattle:

WASHINGTON

Forwards

24-MicMichael, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin

21-Protas, 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

79-Lindgren

48-Thompson

Extras

13-Vrana

27-Alexeyev

52-McIlrath

Out/Injured

15-Milano (upper body)

19-Backstrom (hip)

77-Oshie (back)

SEATTLE

Forwards

17-Schwartz, 10-Beniers, 84-Kakko

65-Burakovsky, 9-Stephenson, 22-Bjorkstrand

19-McCann, 51-Wright, 20-Tolvanen

13-Tanev, 67-Stephens, 15-Hayden

Defensemen

29-Dunn, 6-Larsson

41-Evans, 62-Montour

24-Oleksiak, 28-Mahura

Goaltenders

35-Daccord

31-Grubauer

Extras

12-Kartye

Out/Injured

7-Eberle (lower body)

37-Gourde (lower body)