October 5 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena
Time: 7 p.m.
Stream: washingtoncaps.com
Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (2-1-1)
Columbus Blue Jackets (2-2-1)
The Caps take the last of three consecutive preseason road journeys on Thursday when they visit the Blue Jackets in Columbus in the front end of a set of home-and-home games with the Jackets. Columbus will be in the District on Saturday night, providing the opposition for the final preseason tune-up for both teams this fall.
Washington split its first two road games, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Red Wings in Detroit on Saturday and downing the Bruins in Boston on Tuesday. Seeking to secure a roster berth among Washington’s forward group, Matthew Phillips struck for the game-winner in overtime on Tuesday, giving the Caps a 5-4 victory over Boston in an entertaining exhibition contest.
For lengthy swaths of Tuesday’s game, the Caps dominated Boston offensively, generating sustained shifts and numerous scoring chances in the Bruins’ zone. Connor McMichael turned in a terrific performance, scoring the game’s first goal just 26 seconds in, and leading the team with 10 shots on net.
Evgeny Kuznetsov’s line – with McMichael and Tom Wilson – led the territorial charge, and Washington generated three special team goals in the victory, scoring twice on the power play and getting Phillips’ game-winner to put the coda on a dominant overtime performance as well.
“I’m just making a lot more plays than I would have been making a couple of years ago,” says McMichael. “And like I always say, it’s a credit to my confidence right now. I just think that playing with Kuzy and Willy has helped me a lot.”
Washington’s offense came from five different sticks in Tuesday’s win. Kuznetsov had two primary assists in the game – both on the power play – and John Carlson logged a midseason level ice time total of 26:31 while chipping in with three points (one goal, two assists).
Caps coach Spencer Carbery has been preaching and urging his charges to play at a higher pace and tempo during this training camp, and Washington was able to do so in the game at Boston, more so than in any of its previous preseason outings.
“I thought we integrated a lot of what we’ve stressed early in training camp,” says Carbery, “with pace of play – especially with our transition speed, going from defense to offense –whether that’s out of the defensive zone, whether that’s in the neutral zone quickly, and getting to spots, and getting the puck moving quickly and getting on the attack really quickly, and then the puck moves quick out of our [defensive] zone or through the neutral zone.
“That’s something we worked a lot on, and it’s something in our game that we’re going to need to continue to stress and focus on, because you saw what it can do for our group [Tuesday] night against a good team on the road, that had quite a few veterans – not the whole team, but quite a few veterans in the lineup – and I thought we did a lot of those good things with our puck movement and our transmission speed, and we were able to create a lot off the rush.”
Not only were the Caps able to create off the rush, they were able to cobble together some lengthy and oppressive offensive zone shifts that had the Bruins on their heels in their own end as well. These sustained shifts were most evident in the third period, and the Caps seemed to push that pace right into the overtime, where they essentially held onto the puck and created for the first half of overtime.
“I think that’s a little bit of a product of the process,” says Carbery. “When the puck changes hands and you have to defend, we’re stressing some things where you have to get it back quickly with puck pressure, with our structure, with different things. And then we get on the attack, and if you do that over time, what ends up happening is that you get some more sustained shifts. And now you’ve got [an opponent] that’s potentially a little bit tired, and they can’t get off [the ice] because you keep quick upping them [in the neutral zone].
“And that’s where I felt like we did a really good job, especially late in that third period in the last 10 minutes when the game was tied, of having those sustained [offensive] zone shifts, and then following it up with the next line doing the same thing, or trying to pin a line for two rotations, and trying to get an [offensive] zone change.
“All the stuff we’ve talked about, I think that pays off for you at times as the game moves along and as you wear a team down. And we did a real good job of that late in that game.”
Thursday’s game should give one last long look at a few of Washington’s bubble players both in the forward and in the blueline ranks. The Caps are expected to use Saturday night’s preseason finale as a dress rehearsal for their Oct. 13 season opener against Pittsburgh at Capital One Arena.
