Caps Clash with Canes in Carolina
A night after cooling the Hawks in Chicago, the Capitals continue on to Raleigh where they'll face the Hurricanes on Saturday night.
By
Mike Vogel
WashingtonCaps.com
Washington finishes off its second set of back-to-back games on Saturday night in Raleigh when it faces the Carolina Hurricanes for the first time this season. The Caps come into town on the heels of a 3-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Friday night, a win that cooled the league's hottest team.
Taking a feed from Dmitry Orlov at the 2:20 mark of the extra frame, Marcus Johansson drove a high, hard one-timer from the slot past Chicago goalie Corey Crawford. The victory put the brakes on the Hawks' seven-game winning streak, and started the Capitals' three-game road stretch off on a strong note.
Jay Beagle scored twice and Caps goalie Braden Holtby made 32 saves to earn his seventh win (7-3-1) of the season. Holtby was especially excellent in the first period, making a dozen stops that included dazzling denials of Artemi Panarin and Marian Hossa. Hossa scored the tying tally in the final half-minute of regulation, forcing overtime.
"I think both goaltenders stole the show [Friday night]," says Caps right wing T.J. Oshie. "Both teams had their different shifts in momentum. [There were] a lot of shots and I think there was a pretty balanced amount of scoring chances for each team. You never want to give up one with a couple of seconds left, but we found a way to get it done."
Johansson's overtime game-winner was the first such strike of his NHL career, and it stopped the Hawks' seven-game winning streak.
"I think it's always good for us when we play hard games," says Oshie. "We played a championship team over there. I think any time you play tough games and you've got to grind through it a little bit and your defensive game has got to be on point, I think it really gets you into gear and really engages you mentally for how hard it's going to be. Hopefully we can bring that mentality into [Saturday] night against Carolina there."
After playing eight of their first 13 games of the season against Western Conference foes, the Caps now move into an Eastern Conference-heavy portion of the schedule. Starting with Saturday's skirmish with the Canes, Washington will play its next five games against fellow Eastern Conference clubs, and each of the next three will be against fellow Metropolitan Division opponents.
"Coming into Chicago and winning on a weekend - or anytime, really - is a chore," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "They are very good in this building, they feed off the crowd, they've got a very good team and it's a hard place to win games. We'll take a win in this building anytime."
Not only does the victory send the Caps to Carolina on a winning note, but it also killed the possibility of a losing run for Washington. Prior to Friday's win in Chicago, the Caps suffered a 3-0 shutout loss to San Jose in D.C. on Tuesday. It's the lone blemish on Washington's record in the last seven games.
"I think it sets us up a little bit better for the weekend, obviously," says Trotz of the win over Chicago. "And the most important game right after a loss is that next game you play. That's probably what pleases me the most, that we're not extending anything in a negative way."
Carolina has won three of its first 13 games, and a string of multiple losses has followed each of those victories. For the Hurricanes, the silver lining is they've managed to pull a point out of four of those defeats, falling three times in overtime and once in the shootout. One of Carolina's victories was also achieved via the shootout.
The Hurricanes opened the season on a six-game road trip; they went 1-3-2 over that span, and then defeated the New York Rangers in their home opener on Oct. 28. Carolina hasn't won in regulation since that night, putting together another 1-3-2 stretch over the last two weeks. The Canes opened a five-game homestand Thursday night, taking a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks.
On Friday, the Canes announced forward Bryan Bickell, obtained in an offseason deal with the Blackhawks, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Bickell remains hopeful of returning to the ice to continue his NHL career.
"He will need to take some time to rest, in the immediate future," Carolina GM Ron Francis said, in a team press release, "and we will support him as he takes the necessary steps for his health."
Bickell, 30, was the Blackhawks' second-round choice (45th overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He spent the first nine seasons of his NHL career in Chicago, where he was a bottom six fixture for much of that time. Bickell has had his name etched on the Stanley Cup twice with the Hawks, and he played briefly with the 2009-10 Cup champ Hawks team as well.
The Blackhawks were also thinking of Bickell, who was second on the team in playoff scoring (nine goals and 17 points in 23 games) when Chicago won the Cup in 2013.
"Tough news today on [Bickell]," said Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. "He's a special guy. It's tough to hear something like that. We're thinking about him and our thoughts and prayers are with him. He has a tough road ahead of him, but we're thinking of [Bickell] as he was special for us, and instrumental in us having a lot of success here. We wish him well."
The Hurricanes also placed defenseman Justin Faulk (upper body injury) on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 7 - and sent forward Phil Di Giuseppe to the AHL Charlotte Checkers.
On Friday, Carolina recalled forwards Derek Ryan and Brock McGinn from the AHL Charlotte Checkers. Both players made their debuts in the league with Carolina last season, and each scored his first NHL goal in his first game.
Middle Match -The Caps arrived in Raleigh at 3 a.m. local time, getting into town hours after a 3-2 overtime victory over the Blackhawks in Chicago. Tonight, the Capitals play their second game in as many nights, facing a more rested Hurricanes team. It's also the middle match of Washington's current three-game road swing. The Caps will return home tonight after facing the Hurricanes. They'll take Sunday off, they'll practice on Monday, and they'll head right back out on the road, taking on the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Tuesday.
The win in Chicago ended the Blackhawks' seven-game winning streak, and it was a strong bounce-back game from the Capitals' 3-0 home ice loss on Tuesday at the hands of the San Jose Sharks, a setback that ended Washington's own five-game winning streak.
Asked after the game whether the Caps considered it a feather in their proverbial cap to have halted the Hawks' winning streak, Caps goalie Braden Holtby didn't waver.
"We don't put too much emphasis on that," says Holtby. "We try to focus on our game-planning against every team. I think we have the type of lineup where we can focus on us; we don't have to worry about the other teams because we have every area of our game that we can shut down any team in the league."
Keeping It Even - It took 62 minutes and 20 seconds of hockey to determine the winner of Friday's game in Chicago and almost 57 of those minutes were played at even strength. In a set of back-to-back games involving travel and the loss of an hour via time zone, is it more optimal to have so much even strength ice in the front end of that pair of contests?
"I think so," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "I think you can get more people involved; there is more rhythm. The penalty kill is a little more taxing, and the power play is a little more 'fluff' minutes because you outnumber [the opposition] and you've got the puck a little bit more, usually. I think it's more optimal with five-on-five, absolutely."
The Caps went shorthanded twice on Friday night on Chicago and did not have benefit of a power play of their own at any point during the contest.
Trending Up -Caps defenseman Dmitry Orlov logged 22:05 in ice time on Friday against Chicago, his highest ice time total this season and the most he has skated in a regular season game since last Jan. 19, when he skated 22:07 in a game against the Blue Jackets in Columbus.
Washington right wing Tom Wilson logged 18:26 on Friday against the Hawks, his highest ice time figure this season and the most he has skated in nearly two years, since he played 18:43 in a Dec. 2, 2014 game against Vancouver.
The 22-year-old Wilson has played 244 regular season games in the NHL, and his ice time total from Friday night is the third highest of his NHL career. Recently, he has seen more time in Washington's top six, skating the right side of a line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson. That line played a lot of hard minutes in Friday's game, frequently going up against Jonathan Toews' line for Chicago.
"They are both guys that we feel can have a bigger impact and can play a higher role," says Trotz. "They're developing players. Last night, I felt that [Kuznetsov's] line had some jump to it. [The Blackhawks] ended up using Toews against Kuzy. That was an indication they thought that line had some jump as well.
"To me, it helped me get some of the match-ups I wanted at certain times as well. I think Tom Wilson has done a real good job. He has grown into a pretty good penalty killer, and now we're trying to get his five-on-five game to get some more production."
Youth Will Be Served - Eleven of the 18 skaters expected to suit up for the Hurricanes tonight have fewer than 200 games worth of NHL experience under their belts, and five of those 11 are on the Carolina blueline. Each of Carolina's two healthy scratches also comes in below the 200-game level for his NHL career, as does goaltender Eddie Lack, giving the Canes a total of 14 of 22 rostered players with fewer than 200 games in the league.
Veteran rearguard Ron Hainsey heads up the Canes' blueline corps; he has skated in 848 career contests in the league. Carolina's other five defenders - Klas Dahlbeck, Noah Hanifin, Ryan Murphy, Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin - have combined for a total of 480 games in the league or just over half of Hainsey's total.
All Lined Up - Without benefit of a morning skate in Raleigh on Saturday, we're not positive as to how Washington's lines and pairs will look tonight against the Hurricanes. We do know Philipp Grubauer will get the start in goal for Washington, and he'll go up against Carolina's Cam Ward.
With that in mind, here's a look at how the Caps lined up against the Blackhawks in Chicago last night, and a glance at what be believe Carolina may look like based on their Saturday morning skate:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie
90-Johansson, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
65-Burakovsky, 20-Eller, 14-Williams
82-Sanford, 83-Beagle, 26-Winnik
Defensemen
9-Orlov, 74-Carlson
27-Alzner, 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik, 4-Chorney
Goaltenders
70-Holtby
31-Grubauer
Scratches
10-Connolly
88-Schmidt
CAROLINA
Forwards
53-Skinner, 49-Rask, 21-Stempniak
86-Teravainen, 11-Staal, 20-Aho
23-McGinn, 33-Ryan, 16-Lindholm
42-Nordtsrom, 18-McClement, 25-Stalberg
Defensemen
74-Slavin, 22-Pesce
5-Hanifin, 65-Hainsey
6-Dahlbeck, 7-Murphy
Goaltenders
30-Ward
31-Lack
Injured
27-Faulk (upper body)
33-Bickell (multiple sclerosis)
Scratches
15-Nestrasil
26-Tennyson
