Oh, Canada – The Caps start a string of four straight games against Canadian foes when they host the Calgary Flames on Monday night at Capital One Arena. Alex Alexeyev is expected to make his 2023-24 season debut for the Caps, slotting in for Lucas Johansen on the third Washington blueline pairing.
Anthony Mantha appears to be the other healthy scratch for the Caps tonight.
“We’ve been working a lot with Anthony and his game and getting it up to a level that we feel like he is capable of,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “I think the biggest thing is just offensively. There’s no secret; he’s an offensive player. He’s not a penalty killer, and he’s not a real defensive specialist. He’s an offensive player that needs to create, and needs to score.
“That’s the area that we’ve dialed in and tried to really focus on, is to try to get his confidence level and try to get his touches back to the level that he has been capable of in his career.”
(Not) The Only Flame In Town – Caps winger Matt Phillips spent the first five seasons of his pro career with the Flames, getting into three NHL games along the way. Phillips, a Calgary native who was the Flames’ sixth-round choice (166th overall) in the 2016 NHL Draft, signed with Washington as a free agent in July, and he is now set to face his former organization for the first time tonight.
Washington also has a pair of new coaches who were in the Calgary organization last season. Veteran NHL coach Kirk Muller spent the last two seasons as an associate coach with the Flames, and Washington assistant coach Mitch Love was the head coach of Calgary’s AHL affiliate for those same two seasons.
Phillips, the lone player on the Washington roster who did not play for the team last season, made his debut in a Caps’ sweater on opening night against Pittsburgh, skating 11:21 and recording one shot on net. Tonight, he gets a chance to bite the hand that once fed him.
“He is obviously going to be highly motivated; that goes without saying,” says Carbery of Phillips. “But as I sort of said, I would go the same way that you would for a first game of the season or opening night, and just don’t try to do things or to press because you want to be successful, because you so badly want to perform well.
“Do the things and go through the routine, and go through your process on the ice, and through your shifts and on the bench – or try to, as you normally would any other night. Let the game come to you; focus on your wall touches, focus on being in good position, stopping on pucks – all those little things that I feel like when you add those up, that will look after itself, and the results will take care of itself.”
Phillips’ father will be in attendance tonight as he suits up against his hometown team and former employer.
“It’s been great,” says Phillips of his short tenure with the Caps to date. “They’ve given me a good opportunity throughout training camp and shown a lot of confidence in me. I’ve just tried to roll with that and keep playing well. To get in [on opening night] was great, because you’re kind of nervous thinking about the first game, and you want to get it out of the way. I’m very happy to be back in the lineup.”
Phillips has played mostly with Dylan Strome and Sonny Milano, both throughout camp and on opening night. Having stable linemates has been a plus for the 25-year-old, who has totaled 67 goals and 144 points in 131 regular season games in his last two AHL campaigns.
“It’s been great, and they’re both awesome players,” says Phillips. “They’re super easy to communicate with and talk about plays, and they’ve made me feel really comfortable. It’s been awesome and it helps a lot in these settings, when you can have some consistency somewhere. It’s been good, and I think we’ve had a lot of good games and good moments together, and we’ll try to keep that rolling tonight.”
Red October – For many years, the Caps traveled to Western Canada in October of virtually every season, heading to that part of the continent when an annual horse show was held at Capital One Arena. The Flames have spent more than a few nights in D.C. at this time of year, too, as the Caps and Flames have had a rather remarkable total of 22 of their last 66 meetings in the month of October.
Those October games between the Caps and Flames have stirred up a few wild, weird, and random occurrences over the years, and we note a highlight of them below:
Oct. 14, 1989 at USAir Arena – Caps defenseman Bill Houlder scores an unassisted goal at 19:54 of the third period, enabling Washington to skate away with a point in a 4-4 tie. It was the last of Houlder’s two goals in 79 games with the team that drafted him in the fourth round (82nd overall) of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft.
Oct. 23, 1989 at Saddledome – Another tie, this one 3-3. But this game was noteworthy in that it featured the only power-play goal of Alan May’s 393-game NHL career. The goal came at 7:42 of the second period, from Dale Hunter and Scott Stevens. May’s recollection is that he was on the Caps’ first power play unit in his early days on the team. “It was a shot from a little closer than [Alex Ovechkin’s] spot, I believe,” he recalls. May netted another goal in the back half of the third, one that might have won it for Washington, but referee Rob Schick waved it off. According to May, “The linesman argued it wasn’t over the [goal] line; it went in and out of the top mesh, and back into the goalie.” May would have a two-goal game – and a scrap with Tony Horacek – just over a month later against the Flyers at The Spectrum.
Oct. 27, 1990 at Saddledome – The Caps ended up on the business end of a 9-4 thrashing in this one, but Washington president and GM Brian MacLellan scored the lone “birthday goal” of his NHL career, on his 32nd birthday. Caps radio analyst Ken Sabourin contributed the primary helper on the goal. Washington’s final goal of the game came from a rookie late-round draft pick named Peter Bondra, who netted the second of his 503 career NHL goals in that game.
Oct. 30, 1992 at Saddledome – Kevin Hatcher scored twice and Sylvain Cote once as the Caps skated to a 3-1 win, getting all their offense from the defense. It was a portend of things to come; at season’s end the Caps were the only team in NHL history to have three defenseman finish the season with 20 or more goals: Hatcher (34), Al Iafrate (25) and Cote (21).
Oct. 30, 1998 at Saddledome – A festive Friday night crowd sat through a 65-minute scoreless tie, one of only three such occurrences in Washington’s franchise history. Calgary’s Ken Wreggett stopped all 27 shots he faced and Caps’ goaltender Rick Tabaracci was perfect on 20 shots sent his way.
Oct. 30, 2006 at Saddledome – Ovechkin makes his first road appearance in Calgary, picking up a pair of assists in a 4-2 Washington win. All the Caps’ scoring in the game came from the end of the alphabet, with Dainius Zubrus and Richard Zednik scoring twice each. Most notably, though, Caps’ goalie Olie Kolzig recorded his 258th career victory to move ahead of Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden (257) on the NHL’s all-time wins ledger.
Oct. 21, 2008 at Saddledome – At the age of 27, Calgary native Tyler Sloan makes his NHL debut for the Caps in his hometown. In the first period, Sloan delivered a hard but clean hit on Flames’ forward Daymond Langkow, an occurrence which resulted in an ultra-rare nine-minute power play opportunity for the Caps, who weren’t able to cash in. Worse, Washington was whistled for the next eight minor penalties of the game, and it spent more than 14 minutes playing shorthanded in the second period of that game, a 3-2 Flames victory.
Oct. 30, 2010 at Saddledome – All four of Washington’s “Young Guns” – Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Green – scored and had multiple-point games as the Caps blazed their way to a 7-2 win over the Flames. All four Young Guns managed at least three points on the night. After falling behind 2-0 in the first, the Caps erupted for seven unanswered the rest of the way. Washington scored its first three goals on the power play, and Dave Steckel scored the last one on a shorthanded penalty shot late in the second, the last of a half dozen goals for the Caps in the middle frame.
Oct. 3, 2013 at Capital One Arena – Hosting the Flames in their home opener, the Caps rallied from a 4-1 mid-game deficit to eke out a 5-4 shootout win over the Flames. Connor Carrick’s first NHL goal (and his only one as a member of the Caps) got Washington started, and Ovechkin scored twice in the second to pull the Caps within a goal. Backstrom’s power-play goal in the third tied it, and the Caps claimed victory on Ovechkin’s decisive shootout strike.
Oct. 20, 2015 at Saddledome – Ovechkin notched his 900th career point in a 6-2 Caps victory over Calgary. All six Washington goals were scored at even-strength, marking the first time the Caps scored as many as six at evens since Feb. 16, 2011.
Nov. 3, 2019 at Capital One Arena – Sharp-eyed readers will note that this game actually took place in November. This is true, but we felt compelled to include it here because it was the night the 2019 World Series champion Washington Nationals were honored at the game for their glorious achievement, one of the most fun regular season games in recent memory at the big barn on F St. The Nats hung out with the Caps before the game, read off the starting lineups, partied with the Caps after, posed for an epic pregame photo of the two teams together on the ice, rode the Olympia ice-resurfacer – sans shirts – between the second and third period, and generally lived the grand and celebratory life of world champs who are less than a week into their reign. The Caps held up their end with a 4-2 win.
Stay tuned to see what the Caps and Flames have in store for us on this October night.
In The Nets – Darcy Kuemper’s scheduled opening night start was postponed for the best of reasons; his wife gave birth to their first child – a son – less than 24 hours ahead of Friday’s opening night puck drop against Pittsburgh. Charlie Lindgren stepped in on short notice and played extremely well in a 4-0 loss. Lindgren stopped 31 of 35 shots in his first career opening night start.
Washington had to perform some roster gymnastics in order to get Clay Stevenson up from AHL Hershey as Lindgren’s backup for the opener, and the Caps may find themselves in similar straits for tonight’s game with the Flames. Lindgren departed Monday’s optional morning skate with an injury, and his status for tonight is unclear at this time.
“He left early,” says Carbery of Lindgren. “I do not have an update, but we’ll be speaking with the training staff shortly to find out where we’re at.”
As to what the Caps might do for a backup if Lindgren is unable to suit up, Carbery was unsure.
“We’ll have to talk about it; I don’t know,” says the Caps’ bench boss. “I think there’s a few options in cases like this, so we’ll talk about it.”
The Caps could send down a waiver-exempt player on an entry-level deal to bring Stevenson back up as their backup, as they did for Friday's season opener, or they could move defenseman Joel Edmundson to long-term injured reserve. The second scenario would enable them to get Stevenson here without sending a player to Hershey, but would keep Edmundson on the sidelines through games of Nov. 4.
Kuemper will make his first start of the season tonight, and he is facing a Calgary club that he has dominated over the course of his NHL career. In his first start against the Flames as a member of the Capitals last Nov. 25, Kuemper authored a 32-save shutout here in D.C. Lifetime against the Flames, he is 7-2-1 with a 1.71 GAA and a gaudy .951 save pct. in a dozen appearances, 11 of which were starts.
Jacob Markstrom started and went the distance in each of Calgary’s first two games this year, splitting the decisions. Markstrom is the likely starter tonight, but his lifetime numbers against Washington aren’t stellar. In 10 career appearances – all starts – against the Caps, Markstrom is 1-8-1 with a 3.20 GAA and an .896 save pct.
Dan Vladar is Calgary’s backup, and if he doesn’t start tonight, he figures to get one of the Flames’ next couple of games. After departing the District, the Flames head west where they’ll have their first set of back-to-backs later this week, at Columbus on Thursday and at Detroit on Friday.
All Lined Up – Here is how we believe the Capitals and Flames might line up for Monday night’s game:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie
24-McMichael, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
15-Milano, 17-Strome, 45-Phillips
47-Malenstyn, 26-Dowd, 21-Protas
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
42-Fehervary, 57-van Riemsdyk
27-Alexeyev, 3-Jensen
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
79-Lindgren
Injured
6-Edmundson (hand)
67-Pacioretty (torn Achilles’ tendon)
Scratches
39-Mantha
46-Johansen
CALGARY
Forwards
10-Huberdeau, 28-Lindholm, 88-Mangiapane
63-Ruzicka, 91-Kadri, 28-Dube
20-Coleman, 11-Backlund, 27-Coronato
18-Greer, 17-Sharangovich, 71-Duehr
Defensemen
55-Hanifin, 4-Andersson
16-Zadorov, 52-Weegar
48-Gilbert, 8-Tanev
Goaltenders
25-Markstrom
80-Vladar
Injured
21-Rooney (shoulder)
22-Pelletier (shoulder)
58-Kylington (personal)
Scratches
15-Hunt
82-Oesterle
