Weathering The Storm – Here in Washington, we hear a lot about Alex Ovechkin, and how prolific he is at scoring from his left dot office on the power play, even when the opposition knows what’s coming.
In some ways, the Carolina Hurricanes are the equivalent version of NHL teams. Year in and year out, the Canes use their swarming forecheck to dominate the League’s puck possession stats, and they've used their forecheck as a weapon that has helped them to seven straight playoff appearances – including this season – tying a franchise record that was established during their original iteration as the Hartford Whalers from 1985-92.
Opponents know what to expect against Carolina, but those teams being able to weather the storm of the Canes’ forecheck is a different matter altogether. Each of Washington’s last four visits to Raleigh has come with the Caps playing for the second time in as many nights, which is always a difficult proposition for any NHL club on any night. But throw in some mental and physical fatigue with a road game against Carolina, and two points is going to be an even taller task.
The Caps won just one of those last four visits to Raleigh, taking a 2-1 shootout decision there in December of 2023. Washington’s last regulation win in Carolina was a 4-2 victory more than three years ago, on Nov. 28, 2021.
Prior to the April 2 game between the Caps and the Canes in Raleigh, Caps coach Spencer Carbery praised the Canes for the connectivity between the franchise’s hockey operations department and its coaching branch; Carbery noted that Carolina tends to add players that fit its system rather than adding players and trying to mold them into players who fit the Carolina way of doing things.
Today, Carbery discussed that Carolina forecheck and the best ways to deal with it.
“It’s what we talk about all the time as a staff when preparing for Carolina,” says Carbery. “And you bring up the really good point of playing a back-to-back; I think it makes it just a little more difficult to play a team like Carolina, that is such a successful forechecking team and applies so much pressure. It just makes it a little harder when you’re not quite there mentally and your legs aren’t quite at 100 percent in the tank.
“There are some things that you can do, and you know what’s coming. They’re not seeing anything that we haven’t shown them in the last – whatever – five years. It’s a matter of executing a bunch of different things inside of what we need to do on each puck touch to break the pressure.
“It’s not just one [player]. You’ll look at some turnovers we had in their building, one player has it on his stick, it doesn’t get out [of the defensive zone], and it turns into a whole whatever, whether it turns into a goal against, or whether it’s a penalty and then they score on the power play. So, that one player has that puck. There are four other players there in that picture, that play a role in that puck. That’s support, that’s speed off the puck, that’s communication, all these little things.
“So, it’s our job as coaches to [vocalize] what are some key things that we can give to our guys to think about tonight, three keys – I’m just using examples – communication, shoulder checks, and support speed, whatever it might be. And hopefully, that cues them to break the pressure that they’re going to apply. We know what’s coming, and it’s our job to execute through that. And it’s our job as coaches to relay the message effectively on some triggers that will help us do that.”
While Washington is 2-4-1 in its last seven visits to Carolina, it is 3-3-0 here in the District against the Canes over a similar time frame. Caps defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk spent three seasons skating on Carolina’s back end before coming to DC, and he was there when Rod Brind’Amour transitioned from assistant coach to head coach in 2018-19.
As a defenseman who has played in that system, he has some perspective on how to break the pressure of that forecheck.
“I think it’s just communication, and being on the same page,” says van Riemsdyk. “You don’t want to get too spread out against a team like that; they can all skate well and their [defensemen] are always crashing the boards.
“So, I think you can make a bunch of small, little plays, and put pucks into areas where we can skate onto it. And I think the most important thing is to match their aggressiveness with aggressiveness of your own. You’re not going to be able to feel or to tip toe your way out of it and slowly flip the game; you’ve got to take the game into your own hands and make them play a style that’s similar to theirs, where you put them under pressure, make them make the plays and see where that leads you.”
Young But Daily Growing – Plenty of pixels and ink have been expended on extolling the virtues of recent Caps draft choices including Ryan Leonard, Andrew Cristall, and much of the team’s Class of the 2024 NHL Draft, many of whom stood out at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship early this year. And those written accolades are well-earned and deserved, all those players still carry the sheen of an NHL prospect with potential to have a fruitful career.
And since the recent conclusion of the NCAA season for some Washington prospects, some – like Leonard – have inked their entry level contracts with the club while others have opted to sign ATO agreements to join AHL Hershey for the remainder of the season. Defensemen Ryan Chesley (a 2022 second-rounder), David Gucciardi (seventh-rounder from 2022) and Leon Muggli (third-rounder from 2024) and forward Ludwig Persson (third-rounder from 2022) all fall into that latter group.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the Caps added another intriguing name – that of Patrick Thomas – to the list of those signed to an entry-level deal in Washington. The contract begins with next season, and it carries a salary cap hit of $878,333 at the NHL level and a salary of $82,500 in the AHL.
Although Brantford got through its first-round playoff series with North Bay and will now face Oshawa in the second round, Thomas took time to sign on the line which is dotted on Wednesday. Thomas was Washington’s fourth-round pick (104th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft, and he recently wrapped up his OHL junior career with the Brantford (formerly Hamilton) Bulldogs.
In his draft season of 2022-23, Thomas put up respectable numbers for the Bulldogs; he notched 17 goals and 56 points in 66 games with a youthful squad. A season later, Thomas managed an uptick of 21 goals and 66 points in just 57 games with the team in its first season in Brantford.
As a 20-year-old this season, Thomas captained the Bulldogs. And he broke out with a monster season, too. Thomas’ teammate Nick Lardis – a fellow Oakville, Ont. native – led the OHL with a whopping 71 goals, and as his linemate, Thomas did a lot of the table-setting. Thomas led the OHL with 77 assists, three more than fellow Washington prospect Ilya Protas (74) of Windsor for the League lead. With 104 points (27 goals, 77 assists), Thomas finished sixth in the OHL’s scoring race, well behind second-place Protas (50-74-124).
Keep an eye on Thomas as the OHL playoffs progress. He had a goal and seven points in five first-round games, giving him 20 points (two goals, 18 assists) in his last 17 OHL playoff contests over the last three seasons. This is the first time in that span Thomas and the Bulldogs have been able to move past round one.
Thomas turns 21 later this month and will be here for this summer’s development camp in July and will return for NHL training camp in September as he prepares to embark upon his pro career. He’s another of many offensively gifted Washington prospects trying to push their way up the organizational chart and into the NHL.
In The Nets – With Logan Thompson still sidelined with an upper body injury suffered in the previous meeting between these two teams – on April 2 in Raleigh – Charlie Lindgren makes his third straight start for Washington and his fifth straight appearance; both are season highs for the Minnesota native.
Last season, Lindgren was the primary netminder for the Capitals in the stretch drive to the team’s improbable playoff berth; beginning on the weekend of Jan. 13-14 when he started both ends of a home-and-home set of games with the New York Rangers, Lindgren was in net for 35 of Washington’s final 43 regular season games, and he started and went the distance in all four of the Caps’ postseason contests last spring.
From Jan. 13 to season’s end, Lindgren led all NHL goaltenders with 35 appearances and he tied Buffalo’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (34) for the most starts in the League over that span.
Tonight, Lindgren seeks his 19th victory of the season as the Caps seek their 50th victory of the campaign in their 50th anniversary season. Lifetime against Carolina, Lindgren is 4-2-0 in seven appearances – five starts – with a 2.48 GAA and a .921 save pct.
For Carolina, we will see Frederik Andersen in net tonight; he’ll be seeking his 14th win in just 20 starts for the Canes this season. Lifetime against Washington, Andersen is 10-4-2 in 16 appearances – all starts – with a couple of shutouts, a 2.51 GAA and a .915 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Capitals and the Hurricanes might look Thursday night in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 16-Raddysh
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
88-Mangiapane, 20-Eller, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 72-Beauvillier
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
42-Fehervary, 3-Roy
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
31-Shepard
Extras
27-Alexeyev
52-McIlrath
53-Frank
Out/Injured
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
21-Protas (lower body)
48-Thompson (upper body)
77-Oshie (back)
CAROLINA
Forwards
24-Jarvis, 20-Aho, 53-Blake
71-Hall, 96-Roslovic, 37-Svechnikov
48-Martinook, 11-Staal, 22-Stankoven
50-Robinson, 77-Jankowski, 27-Jost
Defensemen
74-Slavin, 8-Burns
4-Gostisbehere, 26-Walker
7-Orlov, 5-Chatfield
Goaltenders
31-Andersen
52-Kochetkov
Extras
56-Morrow
Out/Injured
28-Carrier (lower body)
71-Fast (upper body)
82-Kotkanemi (undisclosed)
