Oct. 16 vs. Calgary Flames at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Calgary Flames (1-1-0)
Washington Capitals (0-1-0)
Washington concludes a two-game season-opening homestand on Monday night when the Calgary Flames come into the District for the only time this season. Monday’s match with the Flames is the first of four straight against Canadian foes for the Caps; Washington visits Ottawa and Montreal later this week and the Caps host Toronto upon returning home.
The Caps drew a blank against Pittsburgh in their season opener in D.C. on Friday night, falling 4-0. After a scoreless first, the Pens took over in the second, putting the game away with three goals – two of them on the power play – in less than eight minutes. Washington managed 19 shots on net for the night, with eight of those coming in the first period.
Special teams contributed to Friday’s setback; the Pens were 2-for-3 with the extra man while the Capitals went 0-for-3 with one shot on goal in nearly five and a half minutes on the power play.
Although their shot volume was low in the loss to Pittsburgh, the Caps had a reasonable amount of puck possession, at least in the game’s first two periods. Washington simply wasn’t able to get enough of its shot attempts on net, nor was it able to generate enough quality looks from high percentage scoring areas.
Immediately after the Pens’ second goal, the Caps authored a dominant offensive zone stretch in which they held and maintained possession in the Pittsburgh end long enough to get a wholesale personnel change. For more than two minutes, the same five Penguins were pinned in their own end, but the Caps weren’t able to convert their possession to pressure. It was a promising shift in many ways, especially in its timeliness, but the Caps weren't able cut into a two-goal deficit.
“That is something that we will continue to work on and to address,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “You can have as much sustained [offensive] zone time as you want, but unless you’re threatening and in the attack mode in the appropriate times, there’s teams in this League that will let you sit there and do whatever you want on the perimeter.
“That’s going to be our challenge. As a puck possession team, we’re able to gain possession and have some movement. Now, how do we turn that into quality opportunities? How do we turn that into interior presence? Deliver, get it back, do it again. Interior presence, deliver, get it back, and do it again. And that’s the line that we’re walking, as opposed to just throwing everything at the net. That’s not going to be our team, and it’s not going to be how we play. But we have to find the sweet spot of that.”
By night’s end, the Caps put 19 of their 54 shot attempts (35.2%) on Pens’ goalie Tristan Jarry while Pittsburgh was much more precise. The Penguins put 35 of their 68 shot attempts (51.5%) on Washington netminder Charlie Lindgren.
“To be honest,” says Caps’ center Dylan Strome, “Halfway through the game, I looked up [at the scoreboard] and I couldn’t believe we only had nine shots, because it felt like we had the puck for a lot more of the game. Shots on goal are important, but I felt like we played a pretty good game up until halfway through the game. We had some good chances to score.
“You saw some clips of us out there, having some good [offensive] zone time, but not really creating a lot on the inside. I think just getting bodies to the net and maybe having a bit more of that ‘shoot first’ mentality, and not being afraid to get it back to the middle – to the point – and then firing a shot.
“It all comes down to execution, and we had lots of chances to score last game. But when you get shutout, there’s obviously something wrong, so we’ve got to clean that up.”
The Caps will get a chance to clean it up against a Calgary team that is stopping by the District two nights after opening a five-game road trip against the same Penguins team on Saturday night in Pittsburgh. For the first 40 minutes of that game, the Flames were in good shape. They kept the Pens’ offense in check and scratched out a 1-0 lead on Matthew Coronato’s first NHL goal, a one-timer from a tough angle, down low on the left side on the Calgary power play.
On the strength of that Coronato goal, the Flames nursed a 1-0 lead into the third, but they weren’t able to hold it for long. Pittsburgh struck for a pair of goals in the first minute of the final frame, instantly erasing the Calgary advantage. The Pens found the back of the net five times in the third, rolling to a 5-2 victory over the Flames.
Prior to departing for its current trip, Calgary won its season opener on home ice, a 5-3 triumph over Winnipeg last Wednesday. After Monday’s game in Washington, the Flames move on to Buffalo, Columbus and Detroit, respectively, before returning home for an extended stay in Calgary.
