Caps Continue Trip in Calgary
Caps take on Flames in a Saturday night tilt from north of the border
The Caps move into the back half of their season-long six-game road trip on Saturday night when they visit the Flames in Calgary under the Hockey Night in Canada spotlight. Saturday's contest concludes the season's series between the two teams; the Caps dealt the Flames a 3-0 shutout setback in Washington on Nov. 25.
Washington comes into Saturday's game with a 1-1-1 mark for the trip to date. Most recently, the Capitals squandered an early 2-0 lead on Thursday night in Seattle, settling for a point in a 3-2 overtime loss.
In Thursday's game against the Kraken, the Caps scored on consecutive shots in the middle of the first period to forge an early 2-0 lead. But Washington seemed to be stuck in neutral gear all night; it was unable to generate much in the way of possession or offensive zone time at 5-on-5, and a steady stream of turnovers and poor puck decisions enabled the Kraken to claw its way back. Seattle tied the game with 2:27 remaining in regulation and won it on a Matty Beniers goal just seven seconds into overtime.
"Well, we started all right," says Caps defenseman Martin Fehervary, who scored his second goal in as many games in Thursday's loss. "And then like the game went, we just slowed down everything and we turned pucks [over] a lot. I don't think we deserved to win today. We were just getting worse I think, and [the Kraken] played pretty hard, and we just didn't do our job."
The Kraken scored on a power play in the back half of the second period to cut the Caps' lead in half, and Washington was unable to restore that two-goal cushion with a pair of man advantages of its own in the third. The Caps were out-attempted 63-30 at 5-on-5, but high danger chances were virtually even on the night. Eventually, Seattle's sheer volume won out.
"It's tough to say one specific thing," says Caps winger Conor Sheary. "I think they came at us hard, trying to push and get back in the game. And we kind of played on our heels a little bit, and for most of the second and third they controlled possession, and probably controlled the chances, too. It was just one of those things where it started to snowball once we lost our footing."
With Thursday's loss, the Caps are now 0-10-3 when they score two or fewer goals this season. They are 10-1-1 when they strike for three or more. Thursday's game marked the fourth time this season the Caps have put a crooked number on the board in the first period, and the second time in as many games. All four instances have come on the road, but the Caps are now just 1-2-1 in games in which they score multiple goals in the first period.
Although the Caps were lackluster offensively on Thursday, they were fully committed in their own end of the ice. Seattle had as many shots on net (25) as the Caps had blocked shots at night's end. Washington has permitted fewer than 30 shots on its net in 10 of its last 14 games.
"We are talking about it all the time before we go out there," says Caps defenseman Erik Gustafsson, a former Flame. "We've got to defend first, and then everything else is coming with it."
Now, as they head into the back half of their six-game journey, they'll take on a Flames team they blanked at home just over a week ago.
"I thought as a team it was one of our best games of the year, as far as a complete 60-minute effort." says Caps goaltender Darcy Kuemper. "We got off to a good start and we played hard, and that's kind of our recipe for success."
Kuemper made 32 saves in that Nov. 25 whitewash of the Flames, his second shutout of the season and the 27th of his NHL career. It was also his fourth career shutout against Calgary, the most he has against any opponent.
"Whenever you can get a shutout, obviously it feels great," he says. "And more importantly, it was a big win for us. "We're trying to climb up the standings right now, so every point's real important, and that's the focus right now."
Kuemper has helped the Caps to at least a point in each of his last four starts, going 3-0-1 over that stretch.
While the Caps were claiming a point in Seattle on Thursday, the Flames absorbed a 2-1 home ice loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Saturday's game against Washington is the middle match of a five-game homestand for the Flames, who opened the homestand with a 6-2 smacking of the Florida Panthers before falling to the Habs on Thursday.
Calgary has been streaky through the first quarter of the campaign. The Flames opened the season by winning five of their first six games, but then dropped their next seven in a row (0-5-2). Calgary snapped out of that spell by winning four of its next five, but it has now lost four of its last five (1-3-1) as it enters Saturday's game, including the aforementioned shutout loss to the Caps in Washington eight nights ago.
While the Flames erupted for six goals against the Panthers in their only win in the last five games, they've managed a total of just four goals in the four losses over that span.
