Three Is A Crowd – For the first time this season, Washington goes into tonight’s game with the Ottawa Senators lugging a three-game losing streak. And for the first time in almost exactly five years, the Caps have permitted three or more goals against in 10 straight games.
With the Ottawa Senators in town to provide the opposition, the Caps conclude their longest homestand of the season, a five-game run in the District that hasn’t been as fruitful as Washington would have hoped. After trouncing Edmonton 7-3 in the homestand opener on Feb. 23, the Caps have dropped each of their last three games since, losing all three in regulation.
The aforementioned win over Edmonton concluded a weekend in which Washington scored 15 goals in a span of 24 hours in a set of back-to-back games, but the Caps have managed to light the lamp just four times while losing three straight games since.
The difference between scoring and not scoring three goals in a game and yielding and not yielding as many as three goals in a game is significant in the NHL. That third goal – either for or against – so often is the difference between winning and losing, or between scraping a point or going home empty-handed.
Last season, Washington was 29-5-4 in games in which it scored three or more goals, and it was 11-26-7 in games in which it scored two or fewer goals. The Caps were 11-29-8 when allowing three or more goals last season, and they were 29-2-3 when permitting two or fewer goals against in a game.
This season, Washington is 35-1-6 when it scores three or more goals, and it is 3-13-2 when it scores two or fewer. On the goals against side of the equation, the Caps are 26-2-1 when yielding two or fewer goals against this season, and they’re 12-12-7 when surrendering three or more goals against in a game.
“I really liked our game against Tampa,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery, referring to a 3-1 loss to the Lightning here on Saturday afternoon. “I thought it was a step in the right direction even though the result wasn’t there. I thought we played really well against as hot a team as there is in the NHL. I think – for my money – they’re as good a team as we’ve faced this year; I think their team is extremely formidable.
“We’re trying to carry some of that – even though we didn’t win the game – momentum in, but we’ve got to start to get this thing going, because you can feel what’s going on in the League and you can feel what’s going on in the opponents we’re playing, and we’re going to have to get to that level as well, where we feel like there is something significant on the line if we don’t perform, if we don’t execute in this situation. Because that’s coming really, really quick for our team, and it’s already come for a majority of the League right now. It needs to come for us.”
4 + 20 – On Saturday afternoon against Tampa Bay, Caps defenseman Matt Roy picked up an assist on Alex Ovechkin’s 31st goal of the season and the 884th of his illustrious NHL career. For Roy, that helper was his ninth in the last 10 games, and it pushed him to the 20-point mark (two goals, 18 assists) for the season.
Roy becomes the fourth Washington defenseman to reach the 20-point level this season, joining John Carlson, Jakob Chychrun and Rasmus Sandin in that distinction. This season marks the first since 2022-23 that the Caps have had four blueliners with 20 or more points.
Both Trevor van Riemsdyk (16 points) and Martin Fehervary (15) are within shouting distance of reaching 20 points this season, and if either or both are able to get there, it will be historic. The Caps have never had six defensemen reach the 20-point plateau in the same season, and only twice in their 50-year history have they had five defensemen do so. It’s been four full decades since five Caps rearguards have piled up 20 points in the same campaign.
Back in 1984-85, Scott Stevens (65), Larry Murphy (56), Mike McEwen (38), Rod Langway (26) and Darren Veitch (21) all cracked the double sawbuck in points.
Back to Roy for just a second here, Roy reached the 20- point level on Saturday – his 30th birthday – hitting 20 points for the fourth straight season. Tonight, in an eerie numerological coincidence – two nights after recording his fourth straight season with 20 or more points – Roy plays career game No. 420.
In The Nets – Logan Thompson gets the net tonight for Washington, making a second straight start after stopping 16 of the 18 shots he faced in a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon. Saddled with consecutive setbacks for the first time this season, Thompson still carries a sparkling 24-4-5 mark for the season. Those 24 wins are fourth-most in the NHL, and each of the three goalies with more victories than Thompson has started at least 11 more games than him this season.
“It’s an important game for our team at home,” says Carbery. “And Logan, with the way that he has played this year, has earned the opportunity to play in a game like this. And that’s really it. It’s not anything to do with Chucky, it’s just a really important game for our team. And now as we’re starting to get into the short strokes – it’s game 61 – we’ve got to get things going here.”
Lifetime against the Senators, Thompson is 4-0-1 with a shutout (recorded on Jan. 16 in Ottawa), a 2.00 GAA and a .939 save pct. in five appearances – all starts.
For Ottawa, Linus Ullmark gets the start tonight against the Capitals. Sidelined with an injury for several weeks earlier in the season, Ullmark will be making his first start against Washington this season. Since coming off injured reserve in early February, Ullmark is 1-4-0 in five starts, with a 4.05 GAA and a .902 save pct.
Lifetime against Washington, Ullmark is 6-5-1 in a dozen appearances (all starts) with a 2.84 GAA and an .898 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Capitals and the Senators might look on Monday night 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)
OTTAWA
Forwards
7-Tkachuk, 18-Stützle, 28-Giroux
57-Perron, 9-Norris, 19-Batherson
71-Greig, 12-Pinto, 22-Amadio
73-Gregor, 81-Gaudette, 15-Highmore
Defensemen
85-Sanderson, 2-Zub
72-Chabot, 3-Jensen
23-Hamonic, 33-Matinpalo
Goaltenders
35-Ullmark
31-Forsberg
Extras
24-Bernard-Docker
Out/Injured
21-Cousins (lower body)
43-Kleven (lower body)
