From A Whisper To A Scream – The Caps have had a goofy schedule in the early going of the 2023-24 season. Along with Ottawa, the Caps are one of just two teams in the NHL that have played only 15 games to this point of the season; thirteen of the other 31 teams have played at least 18 games to this juncture. Seattle is the only team in the League that has already reached the 20-game mark.
The season is not yet two months old, and the Capitals have already had nine multi-day breaks between games to this point, and that’s one more than they’ll have over the entire second half of the season.
Coming into Wednesday’s game against Buffalo, Washington has played exactly one game in the previous seven days. The Caps have made the most of what the schedule has served up; they’ve gotten rest and they’ve had practice days as they get ready for the busy stretch just ahead. Beginning on Monday in San Jose, they’ll play five road games in eight nights.
“I try not to look at the second half of the season to see the congested games [in] March,” Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery recently stated. “It is a little odd – the schedule – the way it sets up to start for sure. It's been odd, even from the start of the season, us starting later, and now with these odd breaks in between games. But I also have felt like it's potentially a benefit for us.
“We've been able to put a lot of work in, from a practice standpoint and a preparation standpoint as a staff, and getting some of our structure really, really tightened up, and talk about it and show it, and have discussions, whether that's as a staff or whether it's including the players into it. So I think there's some benefit there.”
Evgeny Kuznetsov (illness) skated this morning, but will not play tonight. That gives Hendrix Lapierre an opportunity to follow up on his three-point game (one goal, two assists) in Saturday’s win over Columbus. Martin Fehverary (lower body) skated this morning as well, but he also will not play tonight. There is a possibility that Fehervary could return on Friday against Edmonton, depending on how he feels after today’s skate, and how he does with Thursday’s practice.
Take Five – The Caps bring a four-game winning streak into Wednesday night’s game with the Buffalo Sabres. Since recovering from a wobbly start in the first five games (1-3-1) of the season, the Caps are 8-1-1 since, and they’ve been playing better hockey for sure over the last 10 games. But to a man, the Caps realize they can be better, and they must be better in order to sustain their current pace.
The first three games of the Caps’ current winning run were achieved with a patchwork blueline; the Caps lost Fehervary to injury midway through the first of the four games, and they were already playing without Joel Edmundson (hand) and Trevor van Riemsdyk (lower body). The latter two blueliners returned to the Caps’ lineup for Saturday’s victory over Columbus, but Fehervary remains on injured reserve.
“We had an extremely young blueline over a handful of games,” says Caps’ right wing Tom Wilson. “Just breaking out pucks and regrouping pucks, I think the big thing is on a 50/50 puck, just having the confidence to go in there and assert yourself, be on the right side of pucks, and to be aggressive. When you’re playing in your first couple of games, you may not be as aggressive on those pucks, and then the ice starts tilting the other way, and you’re on your heels a little bit.
“As a group, I think we’re still growing. Those guys have done an amazing job of coming in and doing a job for us, and hopefully as we continue to get healthier here, it only gets better.”
Washington has not yet had its nominal top six defense corps on the ice this season. The Caps have deployed 10 different defensemen to get through the season’s first 15 games.
The Closers – During the life of the Caps’ current four-game winning streak, Washington has carried a lead into the third period of all four games. And in all four instances, the Caps have collected the two points without losing that lead at any point in the final frame. After a nine-game absence because of an upper body injury, Caps’ center Nic Dowd returned to the lineup in the first game of the current streak – a 4-2 victory over the Devils in New Jersey on Nov. 10 – and he and linemate Beck Malenstyn have been pivotal in the Caps’ ability to close out each of those victories without incident.
In the third period of Saturday’s 4-3 victory over Columbus, Dowd skated 8:30 minutes and Malenstyn came in just behind him at 8:20. Over the entire 60 minutes of the win over the Blue Jackets, Malenstyn’s total of 19:58 in ice time was tops among all Washington forwards, and it also represented a single-game career high for Malenstyn’s 39-game NHL career. Dowd logged 19:36, which was second among all Washington forwards.
The pattern was similar in the previous three games of the streak, as both Dowd and Malenstyn typically get the lion’s share of their ice time for the night in the final frame when the game is on the line. Conversely, some of the team’s more offense-oriented forwards such as Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome and others see most of their ice time in the front half or first two periods of the game over the same period.
It’s a small and highly skewed sample size, and special team situations skews it a bit more on some nights, but there’s no denying that Dowd and Malenstyn are helping the Caps close out these tight victories in the third period.
“There’s no shying away from what our line is used for,” says Dowd. “I’ve had linemates move in and out, but what I’ve done over the last three or four years of my career, it’s given me a lot of responsibility, and I’ve really leaned into it. I think the best part about being a role player on a good team is that you have a good role.
“There’s no question that certain guys play more early [in games]. And then when we do get a lead, then it’s more about protecting that lead. And it’s actually kind of nice, because as you play more in the third, you feel better about your game. And then as the game winds down, you’re feeling generally good about your legs and how you’re playing, because you’ve had that time to build up your momentum throughout that period, as opposed to having your ice time spread out, and then having to jump into a tough position of having to make plays.”
Malenstyn has played each of Washington’s first 15 games this season, the longest stretch of consecutive games in his still young NHL career. His ice time has ranged from just over seven minutes to just under 20, but he clearly has the trust of the coaching staff to be deployed in such high leverage situations late in tight games with the outcome still up in the air.
“That’s obviously a huge part of my game,” says Malenstyn. “And being able to have that looked on and valued this early has been great. It’s been a big confidence booster for me, and something that I just need to continue to grasp onto, and to roll with and grow with.
“It’s understanding those moments where you’re going to out there against their best and what that means. When we get opportunities to advance pucks and get them into the offensive zone, it’s the best way to kill time. It’s easy to just flip it out into the neutral zone, but they’re coming right back down your throat. It’s about understanding that there are going to be moments where that’s the best read; just advance it, get it out there and live to fight another day. And know that there are also going to be times where you need to take that breath, make that play, and go attack in the offensive zone.”
For Carbery, it’s not so black and white. Sure, there are going to be nights when you’re chasing the scoreboard, so you’re riding your offensive players hard and the Dowds and Malenstyns of the world will see their ice time limited. And there are going to be nights where you lean harder on defensive-minded players to usher a slim, late lead into the win column. But mostly, it’s a feel for who is and who may not be “going” on a given night.
“Who is going is who is going to play,” states Carbery. “I felt like Stromer’s line wasn’t great [Saturday] night. They were okay; they score a goal 4-on-4; [Ovechkin] scores, but overall, I thought they were just okay.
“So to me, in those spots, [Lapierre’s] line is going well, they’re playing well. So give them an opportunity to play late in a game and get a shift. Now we get scored one, so it sort of bites me there, but I would say it’s more of a hot hand. When players are going, when lines are going, when [defense] pairs going, I feel like those are the night that you’ve got to get them out there as much as you can, and in spots to have success.
“[Saturday] night, protecting a lead, I didn’t feel very comfortable with our game the whole night. Early in the game, it felt good, and then it just erratic. And so I felt like I needed to lean on [Dowd and Malenstyn] more, because I feel like that game could have gotten away from us, could have all of a sudden been trending to us blowing that lead, or them coming back in the game, which it almost did.”
In The Nets – Darcy Kuemper is back between the pipes for the Capitals tonight against the Sabres, making his first start since Nov. 8 against Florida. Kuemper is making his ninth start of the season tonight; he has yielded two or fewer goals against in the first 60 minutes of half of those starting assignments.
Lifetime against Buffalo, Kuemper is 3-2-1 in seven appearances – all starts – with a 3.69 GAA and an .878 save pct.
For the Sabres, Devon Levi is the likely starter tonight. Originally a seventh-round (212th overall) draft choice of the Florida Panthers in the 2020 NHL Draft, Levi came to Buffalo as part of the package in the July, 2021 deal that sent Sam Reinhart to Florida. After completing his sophomore season at Northeastern, Levi signed with the Sabres and turned pro at the NHL level, going 5-2-0 in a seven-game trial with Buffalo late last season.
Thus far in 2023-24, Levi has appeared in seven games, going 3-4-0 with a 3.65 GAA and an .881 save pct. He will be making his first career appearance against Washington.
All Lined Up – Here is how we believe the Capitals and Sabres might look when they take the ice at Capital One Arena on Wednesday night:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
39-Mantha, 24-McMichael, 77-Oshie
15-Milano, 29-Lapierre, 21-Protas
47-Malenstyn, 26-Dowd, 96-Aube-Kubel
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
6-Edmundson, 3-Jensen
27-Alexeyev, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
79-Lindgren
Injured
19-Backstrom (upper body)
42-Fehervary (lower body)
67-Pacioretty (torn Achilles’ tendon)
92-Kuznetsov (illness)
Scratches
45-Phillips
46-Johansen
BUFFALO
Forwards
53-Skinner, 24-Cozens, 89-Tuch
9-Benson, 37-Mittelstadt, 77-Peterka
12-Greenway, 17-Jost, 71-Olofsson
28-Girgensons, 21-Okposo
Defensemen
26-Dahlin, 33-R. Johnson
25-Power, 10-Jokiharju
75-Clifton, 6-E. Johnson
23-Samuelsson
Goaltenders
27-Levi
1-Luukkonen
Injured
22-Quinn (Achilles’ tendon)
72-Thompson (upper body)
Scratches
19-Krebs
78-Bryson
