Jan. 7 vs. Los Angeles Kings at Capital One Arena
Time: 3:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Stream: MonSports.net/Stream
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Los Angeles Kings (20-9-6)
Washington Capitals (18-13-6)
Washington’s season long homestand rolls forward when the Los Angeles Kings drop into the District for a Sunday matinee match with the Capitals. Sunday’s contest concludes the season’s series between the two long ago Norris Division rivals. The Caps and Kings were both denizens of the Norris from 1974-75 through 1978-79.
The Caps are seeking to shake themselves out of some midseason doldrums; they’ve dropped six of their last seven games (1-4-2), and they have tumbled down to a tie – with Pittsburgh – for sixth place in the Metropolitan Division standings, through the end of Friday’s NHL activity. Washington has been doubled up on the scoreboard over those last seven games, getting outscored by a combined 28-14.
Sunday’s game is the middle match of the five-game homestand, which matches the Caps’ longest of the season. But the Caps have dropped each of the first two games of the homestand, falling to Metro Division rivals New Jersey and Carolina, respectively. Sunday’s game marks the fourth time this season the Caps have entered a contest on the heels of consecutive regulation losses; they have yet to go as many as three straight games without pulling at least a point.
In Friday’s game against Carolina, the Caps cashed in on a pair of first period scoring opportunities, getting a Nic Dowd goal on the forecheck and a Dylan Strome power-play goal to take a 2-0 lead to the room after 20 minutes of play. But despite that lead, the Caps’ game never looked or felt right against a hot Hurricanes club that ultimately erupted for six unanswered goals – five of them in the third period – en route to a 6-2 victory.
“It's kind of the way it goes sometimes,” says Strome. “Unless we get a lead early in the first, for the most part we've been pretty good with the lead. Obviously, not tonight. So we’ve got to get back to work, and we’ve got to stop letting these points drift away from us, especially against division opponents. Obviously, it's important, so next game is big.”
Until Friday night’s loss to the Hurricanes, the Caps had been perfect in games in which they led after the first period; they entered the game with a 10-0-0 mark in such instances, one of only two NHL clubs – along with Detroit – that could make that claim.
In the wake of Friday’s bad beat, the Caps conducted a spirited practice on Saturday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, but Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin took what was termed a “maintenance day.” He didn’t take the ice on Saturday, and neither did defenseman Rasmus Sandin, who missed Friday’s game because of illness.
The availability of both of those players for Sunday’s game will be determined over the next 24 hours.
“I would say he would be a game time decision for [Sunday],” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery of Ovechkin. “We’re going to have to see [Sunday] afternoon.”
“He’s still day-to-day with illness,” says Carbery of Sandin. “Didn’t skate [Saturday].”
Ailing goaltender Charlie Lindgren (upper body) practiced for a second straight day, but his status is also still unclear for Sunday’s contest against the Kings.
“We’ll get an update on him post-practice, and see how he looks for [Sunday],” says Carbery of Lindgren. “I’d still call him day-to-day.”
When Washington downed the Kings by a 2-1 count in Los Angeles on Nov. 29, Lindgren was one of the main reasons the Caps were able to get out of town with a pair of points. Washington was outshot 39-15 in that game. Lindgren made 38 saves and his teammates combined to block 18 shots to stymie the Kings’ attack.
“That was one of those games that I felt like we had a bunch of early in the season,” says Carbery. “A hostile environment, a really good hockey team that had us on the ropes, but we found a way to navigate that game.
“Chucky obviously was fantastic, and we hung on. We just did little things down the stretch – just enough – to keep pucks from crossing that line, and advancing pucks in certain situations, and blocking a bunch of huge shots in that game. Guys were laying it on the line. It was one of those games that I remember distinctly as one of those character wins that we had, where maybe if you looked at the analytics and the underlying numbers of that game, we get heavily out-attempted and heavily out-chanced, but we grinded out a win on the road.
“We’ve got to find ways to do that right now. The numbers are the same underlying, but as opposed to the beginning of the year where we’re finding ways to win games that maybe you could argue we shouldn’t have won, now it’s not playing out that way. And that’s where we’re going to have to find a few of those character wins where it’s tight, where we keep a team to one [goal], and we get two, and we hang on. Not a bad time for one of those [Sunday] afternoon.”
Los Angeles is one of the elite teams of the Western Conference, but the Kings too, have scuffled of late. As they prepare to embark upon a six-game road trip that begins in the District on Sunday afternoon, Los Angeles has won only four of its last 12 games (4-5-3).
The Kings have dipped beneath both Vancouver and Vegas in the top-heavy Pacific Division standings. With four straight losses (0-2-2), Los Angeles may soon be hearing footsteps behind it in the Pacific; both Seattle and Edmonton – the two teams directly behind the Kings in the divisional standings – are both currently carrying six-game winning streaks.
