When Lightning Starts – The Bolts are coming in hot. This afternoon’s tilt between the Capitals and the Tampa Bay Lightning pits the hottest team in the NHL – the Lightning, winners of seven straight games – and the League’s most consistent club this season, the Capitals.
Today, in game No. 60 of the regular season, the Caps are aiming to avoid a third straight setback, a fate that they’ve managed to avoid to this point of the campaign. Coming off consecutive regulation losses – to a pair of Western Conference clubs fighting for playoff positioning – for the first time in over two months, the Caps now face the stiff challenge of taking on the Lightning in a midday affair as they aim to steer out of this tiny tailspin.
Going up against the Lightning should get their attention.
“I’m hopeful of that,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “A team in our conference, a team that we’re really familiar with. Hopefully that brings the best out of us; they’re playing as good as any team in the National Hockey League right now. And we’re trying to fix some of the things that have caused us to lose our swagger a little bit; some of the details inside of our game, some things that have gone on in the last couple of games. It hasn’t been terrible, but it just hasn’t been up to our standard. So that’s part of it, and then hopefully we can answer the challenge of Tampa and all of the things that they bring, and how well they’re playing right now.”
One of the features of how well Tampa is playing right now is the Lightning’s plus-21 goal differential in the first period this season, one of the best in the NHL. The Caps have been a strong first period team for much of this season, but they’ve delivered consecutive somnambulant first periods in these consecutive losses to Calgary and St. Louis, respectively, and they’ve not been able to play with a lead at all in those two games.
Washington ranks third in the NHL in total time playing with a lead this season; Tampa Bay is second.
“For sure,” says Carbery. “Starts lay the foundation for what the game is going to look like. We’ve been very fortunate this year to be able to come back in games, even when we do fall behind, but as I’ve said many times, even after being successful in those situations and winning games in those situations, you are playing with fire in the National Hockey League if you are playing from behind.
“And you saw that the last two games. Yeah, we’re trying to fight back, and claw our way back, but it’s tough when teams are desperate for points and you spot them two or one goal. It’s not easy to come back, and so it’s not a recipe for success in this League. So our start is going to be real important tonight.”
Call It A Loan – Weeks after winning the Stanley Cup in June of 2018, the Caps made the final pick of the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft in Dallas, selecting defenseman Alex Alexeyev with what was the 31st overall selection in that draft.
Nearly seven years later, Alexeyev is one of just a dozen first-rounders from that draft – including six of the 14 blueliners taken in the first round – who is still in North American and playing in the organization that drafted him. But a combination of early career injuries and – more recently – remarkable depth in front of him has limited the 6-foot-4, 213-pound defenseman to just 77 career NHL games scattered over four seasons, including this one.
Now 25 years old, Alexeyev has played well when he has been able to get into the Washington lineup, but the supremely good health (knocks wood) of the Caps’ top six defensemen this season has limited Alexeyev to just five games this season. Those games were played consecutively from Oct. 31-Nov. 8 of this season, meaning Alexeyev has been a healthy scratch for 46 straight games over a span of almost four months now.
With that in mind – and with the player’s permission, as mandated by the collective bargaining agreement – the Caps announced Saturday morning that they’ve assigned Alexeyev to AHL Hershey on a conditioning loan.
“Just with the length of time that he has not played a game, we felt like it was a good opportunity to get him into some game action, and just make sure that he is staying ready for when his number is called,” says Carbery. “When you sit for a long time, you get a little bit worried as coaches of him not seeing game action for such a long time. So it will get him some good game action.”
In The Nets – Logan Thompson is in the net for Washington this afternoon. Thompson is coming off his first regulation loss in over two months and just his third of the season, a 3-1 loss to Calgary here on Tuesday. The Caps have scored a combined total of four goals in Thompson’s three regulation setbacks this season.
In his last 23 games, Thompson is 17-2-4 with two shutouts, a 2.15 GAA and a .922 save pct. He will be making his first career appearance against the Lightning this afternoon.
For the Lightning, we are expecting to see the venerable Andrej Vasilevskiy in goal this afternoon. Leading the NHL with 46 appearances this season and two victories shy of notching what will be his eighth consecutive season with 30 or more wins, Vasilevskiy is coming into today’s game as hot as the team in front of him.
In his last nine games, Vasilevskiy is 8-0-1 with a shutout, a 1.67 GAA and a .946 save pct. Over the course of his 11-year NHL career, he is 10-11-1 with a shutout – a 3-0 whitewash in Tampa this past Oct. 26 – in 22 career appearances (all starts) against the Capitals, with a 3.21 GAA and a .902 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Capitals and the Lightning might look on Saturday afternoon in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
21-Protas, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
88-Mangiapane, 20-Eller, 53-Frank
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 16-Raddysh
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
42-Fehervary, 3-Roy
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Extras
13-Vrana
52-McIlrath
Out/Injured
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
TAMPA BAY
Forwards
59-Guentzel, 21-Point, 86-Kucherov
38-Hagel, 71-Cirelli, 28-Girgensons
41-Chaffee, 20-Paul, 93-Goncalves
23-Eyssimont, 11-Glendening
Defensemen
77-Hedman, 90-Moser
27-McDonagh, 81-Cernak
78-Lilleberg, 43-D. Raddysh
48-Perbix
Goaltenders
88-Vasilevskiy
31-Johansson
Extras
13-Atkinson
Out/Injured
None
