SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes from Caps' Morning Skate 1/4

Two Down In A Tough Town - The Caps are in Dallas on Friday night, finishing off a set of back-to-back games and in a bit of a situation. With two games left in the first half of the 2018-19 season, the Caps have yet to lose as many as three straight games in any fashion this season.

But as they prepare to face the Stars, the Caps have dropped two straight. If they're to avoid a third straight loss, they'll have to do it in a building that's been tough for them over the years. Washington is 5-13-0 in its 18 previous visits to Dallas, with only one of those victories coming in regulation, and that one came more than two decades ago, on Oct. 17, 1995.
From Dec. 6-29, the Caps won nine of 10 games, and they did so largely because one of the foundations of their game - their five-on-five play - was virtually impeccable. Washington allowed only 11 goals at five-on-five during that stretch, five fewer than any other team in the league. The Caps scored 27 goals of their own at five-on-five, tied for fourth most in the league during that span.
In losing each of their last two games, the Caps have been outscored 9-5 at even strength. Washington allowed five unanswered goals in a 6-3 loss to Nashville on Monday, and it allowed four unanswered goals in a 5-2 loss to St. Louis on Thursday. Washington has won 16 of its last 21 games (16-5-0), and it led in all five of those losses. The Caps led by two or more goals in two of the five setbacks.
Forecheck, Please - The Caps have been spending too much time in their own end of the ice in these last two contests, and they haven't had much in the way of puck possession. They won only 15 of 47 face-offs (32 percent) in Thursday's loss to the Blues.
"Tonight we didn't have the puck enough," said Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen after the St. Louis game. "So that means a couple of things. We are not doing good enough things with it. We're not pressuring quick enough all over the ice to put some heat on them to get it back. We're just spending too much time in our zone; we're not defending quick enough to get pucks back. Tonight they won a lot of races and were just bombs away from all over the zone, and they won races to the net and they cashed in on a couple."

Too often, Washington's own offensive-zone forays are one-and-done or none-and-done, and they're right back to defending in their end. When the Caps were winning nine of 10, they were scoring goals in a variety of different ways - on the rush, on the forecheck and via extended stays in the offensive zone.
The Caps averaged 4.43 goals per night in scoring three or more goals for 14 straight games from Nov. 16-Dec. 15. That figure is clearly unsustainable, but the 2.57 goals they've averaged in seven games since isn't enough in the modern NHL. A team averaging that figure for the season to date would rank 28th in the 31-tearm league.
The Caps need to get their forechecking game back, and they need to establish an offensive zone presence. Washington was out-attempted by a lopsided 45-18 over the final 40 minutes of Thursday's loss to the Blues.
"I think with the forecheck," says Caps center Lars Eller, "we actually talked about it before the game. We've just got to be in synch, all five players. And the F1 - the first guy - really has to dictate. What side are we closing off? To which side are we trying to push this puck? And right now, I think the other four guys are not necessarily sure where the puck [should be head]. So that's one thing we can be better at, also."
Is that a matter of making better reads?
"It's a little bit of reads," says Eller, "and the F1 really dictating, saying, 'Okay, I'm going to show the other four guys, this is where I'm going to try to push the play.' And knowing what is going to happen next and anticipation is big. And right now, it's hard to anticipate what's going to happen next."

In The Nets - Pheonix Copley gets the net for Washington on Friday as the Caps finish off a set of back-to-back games. Copley carries a six-game winning streak into Friday's contest; his last loss came in Winnipeg on Nov. 14. In seven of his last 10 starts, Copley has permitted two or fewer goals.
Over the offseason, the Caps dealt away backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer because of salary cap concerns, and Copley took over that role despite having just two games worth of NHL experience. Copley's strong play this season has been one of the most pleasant developments of the first half of the season.
"The other thing that I've been most pleased about is Copley, just in terms of him stepping in here," said Reirden after the Caps' Thursday morning skate in St. Louis. "I still remember the preseason game he played [in St. Louis] and we were going back and forth on who to play [against the Blues] with our back-to-back games. I came back oftentimes to how well he played here in the preseason.
"I think that was a big reason why he has been able to get off to the start that he has had this year and to me it started [in St. Louis] with a large number of saves, and he has been a great surprise for our team."
On the season, Copley is 9-2-1 with a shutout, a 2.61 GAA and a .914 save pct.
Ben Bishop is the expected starter for Dallas. Now in his second season with the Stars, Bishop has a .923 save pct. this season, the second best single-season mark of his career. Lifetime against the Capitals, he is 3-6-2 in a dozen appearances with a 3.41 GAA and an .890 save pct.
All Lined Up -This is how we expect the Caps and the Stars to look when they meet on Friday night at American Airlines Center:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie
65-Burakovsky, 20-Eller, 10-Connolly
18-Stephenson, 72-Boyd, 25-Smith-Pelly
Defensemen
6-Kempny, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik, 34-Siegenthaler
Goaltenders
1-Copley
70-Holtby
Injuries
29-Djoos (lower body)
Scratches
22-Bowey
23-Jaskin
26-Dowd
DALLAS
Forwards
14-Benn, 91-Seguin, 47-Radulov
17-Shore, 90-Spezza, 25-Ritchie
18-Pitlick, 12-Faksa, 15-Comeau
13-Janmark, 24-Hintz, 27-Condra
Defensemen
23-Lindell, 3-Klingberg
4-Heiskanen, 45-Polak
6-Honka, 42-Fedun
Goaltenders
30-Bishop
35-Khudobin
Injuries
11-Hanzal (back)
16-Dickinson (back)
28-Johns (upper body)
33-Methot (lower body)
Scratches
5-Carrick
43-Nichushkin