SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Callin' All Cats -The Florida Panthers are in town tonight for a big tilt for both clubs. As they take the ice tonight at Capital One Arena, only two points separate Washington and Florida in the Eastern Conference standings, and both clubs are among several now in a heated chase for the two wild card playoff berths in the East.

With the NHL's trade deadline now just over two weeks away, the next several games will be critical in determining the fate of some of these bubble teams and whether or not they ultimately opt to be buyers or sellers in the days leading up to the deadline. Tonight, both the Caps and the Panthers will be vying to get back into the win column following losses in their previous games.
As the calendar grows shorter between now and the April 13 conclusion of the regular season, the importance of each game is magnified, as is the need to keep a steady stream of standings points flowing. Six times this season the Caps have dropped consecutive games in regulation, and in each of those instances they've been able to squeeze at least a point out of the next game. Three of those six instances have occurred since the calendar flipped to 2023, and Washington enters tonight's game on the heels of successive setbacks.
"I think we need to bring that same emotion that we had against Carolina [in a 3-2 loss on Tuesday]," says Caps right wing T.J. Oshie. "Playing against Florida, they're the team that ended our season last year so there should be - at least among the returning guys - a little bit of fire to keep these guys from getting points in the standings."
Washington will once again be playing without captain and leading scorer Alex Ovechkin who is away from the team after the passing of his father, Mikhail.
"We want to get a win for Ovi and the whole Ovechkin family," says Oshie. "I think we need to find that game that we had in December. There was a little bit more of a playoff-style game that you saw a couple of nights ago against Carolina. There is a little bit more chip and chase, and not just to do it, but to do it to a guy with speed, and I think it created a lot of momentum for us as a team. A lot of emotion, a little playoff mentality and I think we will be all right."
Even with Ovechkin in the lineup, the Caps have had difficulty generating offense. They've been limited to two or fewer goals in seven of their last eight games, and in each of their last seven home games, the second longest streak in franchise history and the longest streak in nearly a quarter of a century.
Ovechkin has missed two games this season, and Washington is 0-for-6 on the power play without its most potent extra man weapon in those games.
"Well, we've got to score," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "Five-on-five or on the power play, we've got to score goals," "You think about the last three games, specialty teams have factored into it. In Boston, we won that battle, and we end up winning a tight game. And in the other two games we didn't win that battle, and we end up losing tighter games.
"We've got to make sure we're ready to go. The power play can help make a difference, the penalty kill can, as well as 5-on-5 play. A bunch of different areas factor into it, and the power play is certainly one of them."
The Capitals are just 4-for-40 (10%) with the extra man in their last 15 games overall, and at home, they are just 1-for-21 (4.8%) on the power play over their last eight games. Without the righthanded trio of Ovechkin, John Carlson and Tom Wilson in the lineup, the Caps have had to fill those spots with southpaw shooters, and with less than sterling results.
"There's not another Alex Ovechkin; he's a special player," says Laviolette. "Everybody's got to chip in here, we talked about it last game going out there. Other guys have got to step up and we've got to produce. We've got to find a way to score goals on the power play. It's different without him there. For me, there is not one person who is going to emerge. But as a group and as a team, we've got to cover for him when he's out of the lineup."
"It's obviously different without the big man there," echoes Oshie. "And without having Tom in or John so that we can supplement another righty over there, we're keeping somebody in the middle that's righthanded. So last game was a little bit of an experiment for us in working with lefties on both half-walls. We got some good [video] footage of what was going to work and what could have worked if we made one or two plays, and [also] what definitely didn't work.
"[Assistant coach Blaine Forsythe] put on a great meeting this morning and I think the guys in there are very understanding of what our game plan is, and we're confident that we'll have success with that game plan."
Bring It On Back - Some three-plus years after seeing his most recent NHL action, defenseman Dylan McIlrath is back in The Show, and he is set to make his Capital debut tonight against Florida. McIlrath last played in the NHL in his hometown of Winnipeg on Dec. 10, 2019 while he was a member of the Detroit Red Wings.
A first-round (10th overall) choice of the New York Rangers in the 2010 NHL Draft, McIlrath first ascended to the NHL on Dec. 12, 2013 with the Blueshirts. Coming into tonight's game, McIlrath has 66 games worth of NHL experience scattered over six seasons with three different teams, including a five-game stint with Florida in 2016-17. McIlrath is a big man (6-foot-4, 235 pounds) who plays a heavier game, and he will occupy the right side of the Caps' third pairing alongside Martin Fehervary.
"[He's a] right shot defenseman, he's playing really well [at Hershey], top minutes, top pair, first penalty killer out the door, and playing really well," says Lavolette of McIlrath. "So a right shot defenseman brings a different element to the back end, just in general. He's a bigger guy and he plays a bit of a different game."
It's been 1,165 days since McIlrath last saw NHL duty. Over the entire history of the NHL, only 23 players have gaps of 3,000 or more days between appearances in the League, and currently there are six players on NHL rosters who have had gaps greater than McIlrath's, including ex-Caps winger Liam O'Brien (1,239 days).
"Just consistency," says McIlrath. "That's been my biggest thing throughout my career. I've shown in spurts that I can play in the NHL, and I've played well, but there's times when I can struggle, too. So I just really tried to hone in on my game and not stray away from that too much, and just try to be consistent every night."
Top Of The Hill - Caps center Lars Eller is slated to skate in his 925th career game in the NHL tonight, and that will tie him with former NHLer Frans Nielsen for the all-time lead among all players from Denmark.
On Oct. 24, 1965, Danish defenseman Paul Popeil suited up for the Boston Bruins, becoming the first player from Denmark to play in the NHL. It would be more than 41 years before the next Danish player would come along, and that was Nielsen, who debuted with the New York Islanders on Jan. 6, 2007. Including Eller, who made his NHL debut with St. Louis on Nov. 5, 2009, a total of 18 Danish players have now played in the League, with Nielsen and now Eller atop that list in games played.
"It definitely means something," says Eller. "It tells you that very few players get to play this long and I'm proud of it, and I hope I can keep it going. My body feels good, I still love the game as much as I did when I first started, and it's been a fun ride. I look forward to whatever's coming next, and it's a big milestone."
Danish players have become more prominent over the years since Popeil and later Nielsen helped blaze the trail. Now 33 years old, Eller was the sixth Danish-born player to enter the League when he debuted. Eller hails from Rodovre, Denmark, a town of about 40,000 inhabitants that is situated just outside of Copenhagen.
The brotherhood of Danish players in the NHL is still relatively small, but it's a rightfully proud group.
"There are certainly some players you talk to more than others," says Eller. "But we all keep in touch and see each other now and then. But Jannik Hansen, we grew up down the same street from each other, so that's one of the guys I keep in touch with a little more.
"It is a relatively small brotherhood and a small country. I think we are all happy for each other's accomplishments and I'm proud. It's just special to look back on. I'm still standing."
Ovechkin is the all-time leader in games played among Russian-born players, a distinction he achieved just last month. Now Eller joins the Caps' captain atop the list of games played in players from his own country.
In The Nets - Darcy Kuemper gets the net tonight for Washington against the Panthers, and he comes into the contest on the heels of a strong 27-save outing against Carolina on Tuesday, a 3-2 Capitals loss.
Kuemper seeks his 17th win of the season tonight, and he has been plagued by a lack of offensive support this season. Among the 52 NHL netminders with at least 18 appearances to this point of the season, Kuemper ranks 44th win an average of 2.59 goals per game in offensive support. Washington has won only three of the 26 games (3-20-3) in which it has scored two or fewer goals this season, and Kuemper has been in net for all three of those victories, including a 2-1 win over the Bruins in Boston last Saturday.
Lifetime against Florida, Kuemper is 3-4-0 with a shutout, a 2.62 GAA and a .918 save pct. in eight appearances, all starts.
For Florida, Sergei Bobrovsky will be in the crease tonight. The veteran netminder is seeking his 16th win of the season against the Caps. In three of his last four and in four of his last six starts, Bobrovsky has yielded exactly one goal against, and he is 7-2-1 in his last 11 appearances, with a 2.47 GAA and a .927 save pct. over that span.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Bobrovsky is 11-13-5 with a shutout, a 3.01 GAA and a .900 save pct. in 31 appearances, all of them starts.
All Lined Up - Here's how we believe the Caps and the Panthers might look on Thursday night at Capital One Arena:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
73-Sheary, 92-Kuznetsov, 39-Mantha
15-Milano, 19-Backstrom, 90-Johansson
91-Snively, 17-Strome, 77-Oshie
96-Aube-Kubel, 20-Eller, 21-Hathaway
Defensemen
56-Gustafsson, 57-van Riemsdyk
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
42-Fehervary, 25-McIlrath
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
27-Alexeyev
52-Irwin
59-Protas
Injured/out
8-Ovechkin (personal)
26-Dowd (lower body)
28-Brown (lower body)
43-Wilson (lower body)
62-Hagelin (hip)
74-Carlson (upper body)
FLORIDA
Forwards
13-Reinhart 16-Barkov, 15-Lundell,
23-Verhaeghe, 27-Luostarinen, 19-Tkachuk
94-Lomberg, 11-E. Staal, 21-Cousins
14-Denisenko, 6-White, 54-Smith
Defensemen
42-Forsling, 5-Ekblad
18-M. Staal, 62-Montour
28-Mahura, 7-Gudas
Goaltenders
72-Bobrovsky
30-Knight
Healthy Extras
4-Fitzgerald
71-Tierney
Injured
9-Bennett (undisclosed)
10-Duclair (torn Achilles)
70-Hornqvist (concussion)