Feb. 10 vs. Boston Bruins at TD Garden
Time: 3:30 p.m.
TV: ABC
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (22-20-7)
Boston Bruins (32-10-9)
The Caps finish up a two-game road trip – and their 2023-24 Mentors’ Trip – on Saturday afternoon in Boston against the Bruins. Saturday’s meeting between the Caps and Bruins is the first of three times they’ll clash this season, and it’s also the front end of a set of back-to-back games for Washington. The Caps return home to host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday afternoon in their traditional Super Sunday matinee match.
Coming out of the bye week/All-Star break, the Caps have dropped two straight contests as they prepare to take on the Bruins, and coupled with an 0-3-1 road trip leading up to the bye week, they’re lugging a six-game losing streak into Saturday’s game against Boston, currently the League’s top team. Washington had a pair of six-game losing streaks last season, but it has not lost as many as seven games in succession since 2013-14.
The slide reached six on Thursday night in Florida, in a 4-2 loss to the Panthers. The Caps held their own for the first frame of that game, and they even managed a couple of one-goal leads over the course of the evening, a rarity during their current stretch. But the Caps took five minor penalties in the game’s first 38 minutes; their penalty killing outfit was up to the task on the first four, but the potent Panthers’ power play found the range on the fifth one, tying the game at 2-2.
In the third, Florida’s forecheck – and its fourth line – ultimately wore Washington down. The Panthers’ fourth line put together two lengthy and sustained offensive zone shifts in the back of of the third, and the second of those culminated in Ryan Lomberg’s game-winning goal with 5:32 left in the third.
Florida’s power play has been dominant for the last quarter of the season or so, and giving them so many kicks at the can with the extra man amounted to playing with fire.
“For sure,” says Caps’ winger Anthony Mantha. “Were they all good calls? That’s to argue. It is what it is, and they got one, but I think our PK was solid all night and [goaltender Darcy Kuemper] was also solid.
“Obviously, it kind of slowed our pace down in the second, but it’s no reason to give up, and I think we battled pretty hard in the third.”
That they did, but ultimately, Florida’s offensive zone forays were lengthier and more dangerous than those of the Capitals, who were too often one- or none-and-done when they entered the Panthers’ end of the ice. That’s been an ongoing problem of late, and something the Caps will need to address as they try to steer themselves out of this current slide.
“I think it’s just being a little more connected at 5-on-5,” says Caps’ defenseman John Carlson. “If you look at [the Panthers], their guys are working over to the puck, they move the puck, and they’re out of there; they’re moving somewhere else.
“It’s too much; we fight to make a play and then we wait around to see what that guy’s going to do with it, and then read off of the next play, instead of having that swarm mentality. That’s what everyone does. People want to get guys to the net, but it doesn’t make a difference if you’re not going to get that next puck.
“Sure, you can get a screen goal or a tip or something, but to have sustained pressure, guys need to be swarming the puck when there’s a rebound, when there’s a tip, when there’s an error – whatever it is. We’ve got to be onto the next puck, whatever it is. If we’re just worried about making a play and staying on the outside, or if we’re just happy being in front of the net, we’re not going to get those second chances.”
On the plus side of Washington’s offensive ledger, Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 11th goal of the season in the first period on the power play, marking the third straight game in which he has scored. It’s Ovechkin’s best sustained scoring spree since he struck twine in four straight games from March 19-25, 2023. Ovechkin now has 833 career goals, leaving him 61 shy of matching Wayne Gretzky’s all-time standard.
Boston is coming off an impressive 4-0 home ice victory over Vancouver on Thursday night, a game that pitted the NHL’s top two teams. Boston got shorthanded goals from both Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen in the first period, and it never looked back. Linus Ullmark had a relatively easy night in net, needing to make only 17 stops to record his first shutout of the season and the seventh of his NHL career.
Coming into Saturday’s game against the Capitals, the Bruins are 7-2-0 in their last nine games. Washington is the third team into town on Boston’s current seven-game homestand.
