Marching On – The Caps conclude their season series with the Philadelphia Flyers and the March portion of their schedule tonight at Capital One Arena when the two Metro Division rivals meet for the fourth time in a span of 57 days. The Flyers won both meetings in Philadelphia, and the Caps won the first of the two games played in the District, earning a 3-1 victory here on Feb. 25 in the first game following the Olympic break for both teams.
Going into tonight’s tilt, the Caps trail Philadelphia by three points; the Flyers are one of four teams the Caps need to climb over in a span of eight games across the next 15 days in their longshot bid to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs. As of Tuesday morning, moneypuck.com has Washington with a 6.3 percent chance of achieving that goal.
Beating the Flyers in regulation tonight is all but a must for the Capitals.
“Goaltending, phenomenal,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of the Flyers. “I feel like their balance through their lineup now has just become really solid, where they can come at you with all four lines, all three sets of [defensemen]. [They] work extremely hard; [they’re] defending at a high level. I feel like there's some identity to each of their lines. With [Matvei] Michkov playing on that third line with [Noah] Cates, Cates is playing it at a real high level, the [Trevor] Zegras line.
“And then the one thing I think that jumps out on the film and the times that we've played them, they've been really competitive games in the three games that we've played could go either way. In all three of them, their transition speed has become, and I know when you think the Flyers and even [head coach Rick Tocchet] to a certain extent, the physicality, the competitiveness, yeah, that's there. But there's also this part of their game that they are very quick in transition and can make a bunch of plays.
“And so, you have to be careful of if you lose your F3 or if you put yourself in just the slightest way in a numerical disadvantage, they can make you pay and make a real nice play. They did it to us in their building with a couple of goals, so their transition speed and skill, we're going to need to do a job against that tonight. And then as well, they make it extremely difficult on you to get to the inside to create offense; they're defending at a real high level.”
In the last two games of their just concluded three-game road trip, the Caps erupted for a combined total of 11 goals, this after being limited to two or fewer goals scored in 10 of 11 previous games, empty-net goals notwithstanding. Fourteen of the 18 Washington skaters picked up a point in those two games, so hopefully the confidence gained in those two contests can be useful as the Caps seek to stir up more offense than they’ve been able to manage in previous games against the Flyers.
“I feel like in previous year when you played them, they were more run and gun and willing to trade chances with you,” says Caps forward Connor McMichael. “It wasn’t overly hard to generate [offense]. From the two times we’ve played them since the Olympics, they’ve been really good defensively, getting better goaltending, and you can just tell they’re playing playoff hockey.”
The Caps have scored only six goals in the previous three meetings with the Flyers this season, with only three of those goals coming at 5-on-5 and only one of the three – from Anthony Beauvillier – off the stick of a Washington forward.
“They’ve been low-event games,” says Beauvillier of the previous meetings between the two teams. “We are going to have to be patient and capitalize on our chances, obviously; they don’t give up much. They play pretty tight, and I think patience is going to be key, and capitalizing on our chances is going to be massive for us.”
With a 5-1-2 record in their last eight games and eight games remaining, the Caps would finish with 95 standings points if they can duplicate that mark across the next eight contests. But that may not be enough to get them into the postseason, although they were able to nail down the final Eastern Conference playoff berth with a mere 91 points two seasons ago.
After finishing up the month of March on Tuesday against the Flyers, the Caps will have seven April games remaining. And Tuesday’s game against Philly starts off a tight stretch of four yo-yoing games in six nights; the Caps travel to New Jersey for a Thursday date with the Devils, they return home to host Buffalo on Saturday and then head right back to the New York metro area for a Sunday evening meeting with the Rangers in Manhattan.
Milestone Man – Nearly 12 and a half years to the day after he played in his first regular season NHL game – on Oct. 1, 2013 in Chicago – Caps right wing Tom Wilson suits up for his 900th NHL game tonight against the Flyers, two days after celebrating his 32nd birthday.
Without ever participating in an NHL training camp, a 19-year-old Wilson logged three Stanley Cup Playoff games in the spring of 2013. He was still 19 when he watched the Blackhawk raise the Stanley Cup banner before taking the ice that night at United Center for his regular season debut, and now, two days after he turned 32 and two weeks after seeing another teenaged teammate – defenseman Cole Hutson – make his own NHL debut, Wilson clicks the odometer over to 900 tonight.
“It's funny that way, the way it works,” he says. “When you're a young guy, you never are lucky enough to know at that stage that you're going to be a veteran and around the League for a long time. And at this point in your career, you don't get to talk to your younger self. So, it certainly flies by. And it's been more than a dream come true; it's been an incredible journey.
“And I feel really privileged to be at home in Washington my whole career so far, and I just take a lot of pride in playing every game in this sweater, let alone 900. I feel like in my head, I'm still kind of a young guy, but when you start to hear some of these birth years and teenagers making their debut, it puts you in your place.”
In The Nets – Logan Thompson starts for the Capitals again tonight, making his 15th start in Washington’s last 17 games. It’s also Thompson’s eighth consecutive start, a career high. He had started six straight games on three occasions while playing for Vegas earlier in his career. Across his last 14 starts since he came off injured reserve on Feb. 5, Thompson is 8-4-2 with a 2.35 GAA and a .917 save pct.
Lifetime against the Flyers, he is 3-1-1 in five appearances – all starts – with a 2.61 GAA and a .907 save pct.
For Philly, Dan Vladar gets the start tonight. Like Thompson, Vladar enters tonight’s game on a roll. Vladar has permitted two or fewer goals against in 10 of his last 14 starts, including the one he made against Washington during that span on Feb. 25, a 3-1 Caps win augmented by a late empty-net goal. Vladar will be seeking his 25th victory of the season; he has already doubled last season’s win total (12).
Lifetime against the Caps, Vladar is 4-3-0 in seven appearances – all starts – with a 3.15 GAA and an .888 save pct.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Caps and the Flyers might look on Tuesday night in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
24-McMichael, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
29-Lapierre, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
72-Beauvillier, 34-Sourdif, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 64-Kampf, 63-Miroshnichenko
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 38-Sandin
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
44-Hutson, 3-Roy
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
27-Liljegren
47-Chisholm
52-McIlrath
Injured/Out
21-Protas (upper body)
53-Frank (lower body)
PHILADELPHIA
Forwards
11-Konecny 22-Dvorak, 94-Martone
52-Barkey, 46-Zegras, 74-Tippett
91-Grundstrom, 27-Cates, 39-Michkov
14-Couturier, 41-Glendening, 19-Hathaway
Defensemen
6-Sanheim, 55-Ristolainen
8-York, 9-Drysdale
24-Seeler, 36-Andrae
Goalies
80-Vladar
33-Ersson
Healthy Extras
10-Wilson
20-Bump
47-Juulsen
Injured/Out
18-Abols (lower body)
29-Grebenkin (upper body)
71-Foerster (upper body)
