Caps Back to Work in Manhattan

February 24 vs. New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden
Time:7:00 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7, 106.7 FAN
Washington Capitals (28-15-9)
New York Rangers (32-13-5)

At this time last year, the Caps were several games past an unscheduled week off and were only a third of the way through a truncated 56-game campaign. On Thursday night in New York, they'll again bounce back from a week off as they open up a two-game road trip against a pair of Metropolitan Division opponents. First up are the Rangers, a team the Caps haven't seen since they handed the Blueshirts a 5-1 setback in Washington on Oct. 13, opening night of the 2021-22 season for both teams.
Playing a full 82-game schedule for the first time in the last three seasons, the Caps are heading into the final third of their '21-22 slate as they return from their break. They've got 30 games remaining - with a dozen of them coming between now and the March 21 trade deadline - and they'll play them in a span of 65 nights beginning on Thursday at Madison Square Garden and finishing up against the Rangers at the same venue on April 29.
After three days completely away from the game, they returned for three days of practice leading up to Thursday's game in Manhattan. It wasn't the 22-day gap between games that the Caps' original schedule served up; the midseason COVID-19 surge killed NHL participation in the Olympics and forced a number of postponements that were made up around the League during that gap in the schedule. But the Caps only had four postponements to deal with, so they still had the general equivalent of a "bye week."
"I think it's good, especially with a veteran team," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of the midseason down time. "Coming back from it, we still had the three days of practice. And so it was not like we were coming back from three or four days off and we only got one day [of practice].

"When we were planning the schedule, it was just a good time to get away. It was more the Olympic break and making up games during the Olympic break, and at that point back then we were probably highest in the League in games played. And even before we left here, we were at a really high amount of games played. Our guys have been through a lot of competition in that period of time where others maybe had games pushed off, and so the rest is important when it comes to our group."
Heading into Wednesday night's slate of NHL activity, the Caps and Pittsburgh have each played 52 games, the most among all Eastern Conference clubs.
As they take the ice on Thursday in Manhattan, the Caps will be seeking a sixth straight road win, and if they're able to do it, they'll match the franchise record for consecutive road wins, a standard that was established in 1983-84 and matched in 2010-11. Since that mark was matched just over a decade ago, the Caps have won five straight road games on five different occasions. Most recently, they authored two such streaks in 2019-20.
Just prior to their week away from the rigors of the rink, the Capitals put themselves in position to tie franchise road record by sweeping a two-game tour of Nashville and Philadelphia, respectively. They downed the Preds by a 4-1 count on Feb. 15 and followed up with a thrilling late victory over the Flyers, 5-3 in Philadelphia on Feb. 17.
In the win over the Flyers, the Caps fell behind for the first time in the game with just under four minutes remaining. But Garnet Hathaway struck for a pair of late goals - the game-tying and game-winning tallies - and John Carlson added an empty-netter to seal the deal. After falling behind Philly, the Caps scored three times in a span of just 2:08.

With only three postponements to make up during the stretch of February formerly known as the Olympic break, the Rangers had two weeks off between games on Feb. 1 and Feb. 15. Since returning, the Blueshirts have played three tight, low-scoring contests, two of which required a shootout to determine the winner. New York took a 2-1 shootout win over Boston and dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to Detroit on home ice before edging the Senators by a 2-1 count in Ottawa on Sunday.
New York holds a four-point lead over Washington in the Metropolitan Division standings, and the Rangers also have two games in hand. The Blueshirts are 13-5-1 in their last 19 games, and they are 16-4-3 on home ice this season. The Rangers' total of four regulation losses at time is tied for the second fewest in the NHL; only Colorado (21-3-2) has fewer.