Caps Close Homestand vs. Sharks
Caps host San Jose on Wednesday in rubber match of three-game homestand
The Caps finish up a three-game homestand on Wednesday night against the San Jose Sharks. The finale is also the rubber match of the homestand; after eking out a 3-2 overtime win over Ottawa on Saturday, the Caps dropped a 1-0 decision to Vegas on Monday, the first time they've been blanked in 43 games this season.
With two games left this month, the Caps need to win both in order to reach the break-even point for the month of January. They enter Wednesday's game with a 3-5-2 record for the month, and they're still seeking their first set of consecutive victories since Dec. 29-31 when they defeated Nashville in D.C. and the Red Wings in Detroit, respectively.
The Caps have yet to own a lead on the homestand, and they've held a scoreboard lead for only 40 minutes and 54 seconds of the 364 minutes and 35 seconds of hockey they've played on home ice this month.
Three years ago at this time, the Caps were mired in a deep slump, one of the worst they've endured in the Alex Ovechkin/Nicklas Backstrom era. From Jan. 12-23, 2019, the Caps lost seven straight games (0-5-2), and they had a "bye week" from Jan. 24-31 in which to stew over that prolonged slide. They were doubled up 36-18 on the scoreboard and were lit up for four or more goals against in five of the seven losses, which included setbacks of 7-2, 8-5, 7-6 (in overtime) and 6-3.
This season's slump isn't nearly as damning or damaging, and it's much more subtle. The Caps aren't playing poorly, but they're also not getting timely scoring, they're not getting much secondary scoring, and their power play hasn't been producing consistently for two months now. In the wake of Monday's 1-0 loss to Vegas, Caps coach Peter Laviolette dismissed the idea that his team is in a lull.
"The last game [a 3-2 overtime win vs. Ottawa] wasn't sexy," says Laviolette. "We won it in overtime in the end, but it was sleepy for a little bit. Tonight, we didn't get the win.
"I think lulls are when you're not playing well and you're not doing the right things to be successful. There's been a couple of games; I didn't like the St. Louis game [on Jan. 7]. I didn't think we played very well. I don't like the Boston game [on Jan. 10]. But I think our guys are working, they're competing, and it will come.
"Defensively, for the last two games we haven't given up hardly anything. And we're finding ourselves winning a game in overtime or losing 1-0, and I think it's easy to get frustrating. And I focus more on the process, and how we're playing the game. For me, there's things that we're doing that I think will lead to success.
"If we were getting outplayed, if we were playing poorly, or if we weren't ready, those are things that you worry about maybe a lull, or things that you're concerned about. I think if the guys stay with it on the power play and if they stay with it 5-on-5, eventually goals will drop."
Washington is 2-2 in its last four games. Both wins came in overtime, one loss came in the 60th minute of a game and the other loss was 1-0. The Caps know they're capable of playing better, and they believe they will do so. They also know they're in the midst of an important stretch of hockey ahead.
"We've just got to keep in our heads that we've got like whatever [four] games left until the [All-Star] break," says Caps center Evgeny Kuznetsov. "And you know that's probably the points that are going to matter at the end of the year, because now everybody's tired and the things are maybe not going well for everybody. But after a break, everybody is going to be fresh and it's going to start over again. And these are the most important games in the whole stretch probably right now."
As the Vegas Golden Knights did two nights earlier, the Sharks are opening up a four-game East Coast road trip in Washington. San Jose is visiting the same four cities on its trip, but in a different order.
San Jose was last in action on Saturday night when it suffered a 7-1 shelling on home ice to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Sharks have lost four of their last five games (1-3-1) overall, and they're 3-5-0 in their last eight on the road. All three road wins over that span have come in overtime; San Jose's last regulation win on the road came nearly two months ago, a 5-2 victory over the Devils in New Jersey on Nov. 30.
For the first time in its three-decade NHL history, San Jose entered this season on the heels of three straight playoff misses. Heading into Tuesday night's slate of NHL activity, the Sharks were tied with Calgary and Dallas for the second wild card playoff berth in the Western Conference. But the Sharks have also played five more games than the Flames, and three more than the Stars.
