Caps Clash with Oilers
Ailing Caps take on Oilers in Edmonton, finishing the Western Canada portion of their six-game road trip
The Caps finish up the Western Canada portion of their six-game road trip on Monday night in Edmonton when they face the Oilers at Rogers Arena. Washington is 1-2-1 on the trip to date, and it is now 1-5-3 in its last nine road contests.
In addition to losing its most recent game by a 5-2 count to the Flames in Calgary on Saturday night, Washington also lost a pair of pivotal performers in the middle period of that game.
Defenseman Martin Fehervary departed midway through the frame, sustaining an upper body injury after taking a hit from Calgary winger Milan Lucic. Minutes later, goaltender Darcy Kuemper - the League's leader in starts and minutes played heading into Saturday's game - left with an upper body injury. Video showed Calgary winger Tyler Toffoli getting an elbow up high on Kuemper, and the Caps goaltender responded with a hard Billy Smith-type whack at Toffoli's lower body. Kuemper left the game soon afterwards, at the next television timeout.
Neither player returned to the bench over the remainder of the evening, and on Sunday morning Caps coach Peter Laviolette said that Fehervary would not play on Monday in Edmonton while Kuemper is still being evaluated.
"Kuemper, we're evaluating, and we'll make decisions today with what we're doing," says Laviolette. "And then Marty, he's day to day right now.
"He'll be out tomorrow, and then we'll see where he's at."
Meanwhile, the AHL Hershey Bears signed goaltender Justin Kapelmaster to a PTO on Sunday, and he was pressed into service in Sunday's matinee match against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Hershey took a 3-2 lead into the second period of that game, but Kapelmaster came on in relief of Bears starter Zach Fucale, who yielded five goals in the first 7:49 of the second period as the Baby Pens rallied for a 7-3 victory. Hunter Shepard, who shares the goaltending chores with Fucale and was named AHL goalie of the month for November, did not dress for Sunday's game against WBS and may be on his way to Edmonton.
The Caps arrived in Edmonton in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and they held a team meeting at Rogers Arena before a few players took to the ice, but the team did not conduct a formal practice. Among the players who did skate on Sunday were defensemen Alex Alexeyev, Matt Irwin and Dmitry Orlov, and at least two of them figure to be in the lineup on Monday against the Oilers. Orlov has been out for a month now and has missed each of the last 13 games.
"He's still listed as day to day," says Laviolette of Orlov. "I know that 'day to day' [status] has been going for a while. But he's here, and he's out on the ice, and he's competing and practicing in the fold. He's got no limitations or restrictions, so all of that is positive for [Monday]."
The Capitals road struggles and their offensive woes continue. Washington owned the NHL's best road record at 25-10-6 last season, but the Caps' 3-8-3 mark is second worst in the circuit this season, ahead of only Anaheim (2-11-3). The Capitals have scored only 20 goals at 5-on-5 in their 14 road games this season, and Fehervary owns Washington's only 5-on-5 goal on its last two games; he scored in the first period of Thursday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Kraken in Seattle.
"We gave up too much through puck decisions and through forecheck decisions," says Laviolette of Saturday's loss. "There were too many rushes coming back against us the other way; it kept us out of the offensive zone and it put them in the zone that they wanted to be in. Because of our decisions, they were dangerous off the attack because they had numbers, whether it was a breakaway or a 2-on-1 or a 4-on-2. They had numbers because of things that I feel like we could have controlled better or done better."
The trip started in promising fashion from an offensive standpoint. The Caps created and generated a number of excellent chances in a loss in New Jersey and in a victory at Vancouver. But the last two games in Seattle and Calgary have shown the Caps' attack to be inconsistent and fallow.
While Washington had a reasonable number of scoring chances in the first period of Saturday's loss to the Flames, those chances dried up completely in the second period and were few and far between in the third.
"I don't think in Seattle we were as good as we had been in the previous five games," says Laviolette. "And then [Saturday] night, we were weaker than that. I don't think we had any scoring chances in the second period. We had one maybe right off the face-off on the opening draw, and then the rest of the period didn't have anything that connected, and they definitely had the edge in the second period. And so it hasn't been where we want it to be."
Asked what his team needs to do to deliver more offense after the game, Washington winger T.J. Oshie delivered a thoughtful response.
"We've got to find ways to use our minds and our creativity," says Oshie. "It's been a while since summer hockey, but in summer hockey your mind is always thinking of how I can open, how I can get the puck, and how I can help my teammate out. And sometimes when you get through a string of some tough games, you start thinking more about the systems and where you have to be, just working hard just to work hard.
"So I think we need to get a little more of that creativity where you see plays developing and you jump into holes and guys make those plays when they're not there. When you get the puck to the net, protect the puck and limit our turnovers going across their blueline - we had a lot of them [against the Flames]. And our [defensemen] are trying to get up and help us on the offense, and when we turn the puck over it hangs them out to dry and [the opponent] gets breakaways. So it looks bad on the [defense], but typically that starts with what we're doing and where we're putting the puck in those situations."
Washington defeated Edmonton in the previous meeting between the two teams in the District early last month, riding a quartet of power-play goals to a 5-4 victory over the Oilers. The Caps will be seeking just their second win ever at Edmonton's downtown home; Washington is 1-2-2 in its previous five visits since the Oilers moved here from Rexall Place at the outset of the 2016-17 season.
Edmonton opened a four-game homestand on Saturday night with a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens, the Oilers' third straight win at home.
