shavings ducks

The Hurt – For just the second time this season, the Caps will deploy the same starting goaltender in consecutive games tonight. Logan Thompson started and won 4-1 in Nashville on Saturday night, and tonight’s start against the visiting Anaheim Ducks would normally go to Charlie Lindgren. But Lindgren left the Caps’ Friday night home game with Montreal because of an upper body injury, departing early in the second period.

Lindgren didn’t take to the ice on Tuesday, but he did do some off-ice work and is on the mend.

“[He is] trending in the right direction,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of Lindgren. “[He] didn’t skate today, but things are looking positive.”

Left wing Sonny Milano has been sidelined with an upper body injury since early November; he last played on Nov. 6. Milano traveled with the team to Nashville over the weekend, and he took part in Tuesday’s morning skate, albeit in a powder blue non-contact sweater.

“He is progressing as well,” says Carbery. “Now, he is getting involved in some practices and drills, and at the start without any contact. And I think it’s starting to get to that point where maybe in the next week or so, [we] integrate him back into some practice and some live action.

“We’ll see how it goes. I don’t want to speak out of turn, but that’s his next step.”

Possession – For much of the first quarter of the season, the Caps had the luxury of keeping their line combinations more or less intact; their forwards were mostly healthy and productive, and there was little reason to change things up until Alex Ovechkin was sidelined with a fractured fibula in a Nov. 18 game in Utah.

During Ovechkin’s 16-game absence, the Caps’ line combinations were a bit more fluid than fixed, but the team was also successful, and it was scoring “enough,” even if it wasn’t lighting the lamp at its lofty early season rate. The Caps went 10-5-1 (.656, sixth best in NHL) in Ovechkin’s absence, and their average of 2.94 goals per game over that span ranked 16th in the circuit.

Heading into tonight’s game with Anaheim, the Caps are carrying a seven-game point streak (4-0-3), and their overall 28-10-5 mark puts them 18 games over NHL .500, their high-water mark for the season to date. But the Caps aren’t looking or playing like they did early in the season. Specifically, they don’t have the puck nearly as much and they’re spending more time than they’d like defending in their end of the ice.

“Our offensive zone possession time has been missing,” says Caps center Lars Eller. “And the reason for that is all the stuff that leads to that beforehand. In a lot of games, you may not have the room to skate it in with possession into the offensive zone, but then you’ve got to figure out other ways to put pucks in the right spaces to forecheck, and have an effective forecheck. And I think we’ve been missing that element in our game.

“To have an effective forecheck, you almost have to have at least three – but sometimes four or five – guys involved as a unit. And we’ve been spending a lot of time in our own zone, and by the time we get the puck, there’s not a lot of juice left. And I think we can shorten our shifts a little bit as well, because once you’ve been out there for 30 or 40 seconds, you don’t have the juice to out-energize the other team. So I think there are a couple of things we can do a little bit better at the same time.”

In an effort to stimulate the offense, Carbery has moved his two top centers around, putting P-L Dubois with Alex Ovechkin and Aliaksei Protas and placing Dylan Strome between Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson. Ideally, the shift helps Washington generate more offensive zone time and more puck possession at that end of the ice.

“Hopefully [it leads to] more positive play, especially from Dubie’s line,” says Carbery of the top six tweaks. “Whatever line he has played on this year has been pretty solid for the most part. And so when you watch his games and their shifts, usually there’s positive things happening, whether that’s a rush generated, [offensive] zone time, forecheck positive, shot generation, chance generation. That type of stuff, usually it’s in favor of his line.

“Now, it’s getting both of those lines going in that direction and looking like they’re able to carry play, control play, and do productive things for us. What will I look [for] inside of the combinations and that? I don’t think it’s anything that’s out of the realm of what Dylan Strome has been able to do his whole career here – and Dubie and [Ovechkin] – support one another. And those guys have played enough minutes together to know each other really, really well from a power play, 5-on-5 [standpoint]; I usually put those guys out after penalty kill situations, Dubois, Strome and [Ovechkin].

“I don’t think it will be a huge chemistry thing of communication and all that stuff. I think it’ll be more of a standpoint of both of those lines can carry play tonight and do productive things for us as a team.”

“Productive” is the key word there. For the first time in nearly 21 years, the Caps have been limited to fewer than 20 shots on net in three straight games. They’ve managed to earn points in all three games, but they know it’s not sustainable, and they need to actively generate more quality time – and productive time – in the offensive zone while spending significantly less time in their own end.

“At this time of year, I think everyone’s defense really tightens up,” says Strome. “So it’s probably more of the clichés about getting to the net. When we get it low to high, if we have one guy in front and one guy just somewhere around the net, I feel like it benefits our offense really well. I also feel like we’ve got to hold onto the puck more. I feel like our possession time hasn’t been what it was at the beginning of the year. If we can hold the puck in their end, it’s going to make them tired, force them to cause penalties or chances, whatever it may be, and that’s going to benefit us as well.”

Strome has just one point – an assist – at 5-on-5 in the Caps' last nine games, since the NHL's holiday break. But to his credit, Strome has remained productive. He has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in those nine games, tied for 25th in the NHL with a slew of others (including brother Ryan) over that span. Dylan Strome's seven power-play points in the last nine games is tied for most in the NHL across that stretch.

Getting and staying out of their own end more often would certainly benefit the Caps, although, to be fair, they’ve defended extremely well despite dealing with more volume than usual, and more volume than they’d like.

“I feel like that, too,” says Caps defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. “Even though we’ve been in our zone a lot, I feel like you come back to the bench and you’re like, ‘It sucks spending your whole shift in the [defensive] zone.’ But then you think back and you’re like, ‘Well, they really didn’t get anything. They’re shooting from the outside, we’ve got guys blocking shots, and our goalies can see them.’

“The numbers are lopsided that way, and Nashville probably had the better of the offensive chances [on Saturday], just based on how much zone time they had. But as far as how much time we spend in our zone, yes, we do a good job of defending. It’s just that if you’re in your zone that much, you’re leaving a little bit more up to chance than you’d like.”

In The Nets – Thompson started consecutive games earlier this season, getting the starting nod in St. Louis on Nov. 9 and again on Nov. 13 against Toronto. When he steps between the pipes tonight, he’ll be the first Caps goalie to appear in three straight games this season; he took over from Lindgren on Friday against Montreal.

Thompson has yielded two or fewer goals against in 14 of his last 18 starts, going 14-2-2 in those outings. In his last seven games – which includes Friday’s overtime loss in relief -- Thompson is 6-0-1 with a 1.94 GAA and a .938 save pct. He’ll be seeking to win his seventh straight starting assignment tonight against Anaheim.

Lifetime against the Ducks, Thompson is 1-2-1 in four appearances – all starts – with a shutout, a 2.10 GAA and a .919 save pct.

For Anaheim, we are expecting to see veteran John Gibson between the pipes. The 31-year-old Pittsburgh native experienced a couple of injury absences earlier in the season, but he picked up his 200th career victory (200-212-63) just over a week ago, stopping 36 of 37 shots in a Jan. 5 home game against Tampa Bay. Gibson is six games shy of reaching 500 for his NHL career.

Lifetime against the Capitals, Gibson is 3-5-4 in 13 appearances – all starts – with a shutout, a 2.99 GAA and a .907 save pct.

All Lined Up – Here’s how we expect the Capitals and the Ducks to look on Tuesday night in DC:

WASHINGTON

Forwards

21-Protas, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin

24-McMichael, 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

48-Thompson

31-Shepard

Extras

13-Vrana

27-Alexeyev

52-McIlrath

Out/Injured

15-Milano (upper body)

19-Backstrom (hip)

77-Oshie (back)

79-Lindgren (upper body)

ANAHEIM

Forwards

77-Vatrano, 16-R. Strome, 19-Terry

17-Killorn, 91-Carlsson, 64-Colangelo

61-Gauthier, 23-McTavish, 13-Fabbri

38-Harkins, 21-Lundestrom, 20-Leason

Defensemen

2-Lacombe, 7-Gudas

6-Dumoulin, 43-Helleson

34-Mintyukov, 65-Trouba

Goaltenders

36-Gibson

1-Dostal

Extras

44-Johnston

51-Zellweger

62-Nesterenko

Out/Injured

11-Zegras (lower body)

26-McGinn (lower body)