Dec. 27 vs. New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Stream: MonSports.net/Stream
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (17-9-5)
New York Rangers (23-8-1)
After a three-day holiday break, the Caps head right back into the thick of the regular season. They’ll take an early morning flight to New York where they will face the Rangers in Manhattan later in the day, on Wednesday night. It’s the first of two visits to Madison Square Garden this season, and the second of four meetings between the Caps and the Rangers in a span of 37 days.
Washington was last in action on Saturday at Capital One Arena, when it dropped a 2-1 shootout decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Caps have earned at least a point in eight of their last nine games (5-1-3), and the second game in that stretch was Charlie Lindgren’s 31-save shutout of the Blueshirts on Dec. 9 in the District, the first meeting between the Metropolitan Division foes this season.
The Caps have needed to play more than 60 minutes of hockey to settle each of their last four games, five of their last six, and six of their last nine. Washington has needed overtime or a shootout to determine the results of 11 of its 31 games this season.
During their recent successful stretch, the Caps’ power play has awakened somewhat, but the team is fueling its success largely with goaltending, defense and penalty killing. Washington has allowed just 2.68 goals against per game this season, the sixth best rate in the League and the best among the eight Metro Division occupants.
Following Saturday’s shootout loss to the Lightning, Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery was asked his thoughts on his team to this point in the season. With 51 games remaining, there’s a long way to go in 2023-24. But the Caps are a team that has exceeded the expectations of many pundits and prognosticators, despite underwhelming analytics. More than two and a half months into the season, Washington has yet to go more than two consecutive games without collecting standings points.
“I like where we’re at; I told our team that,” says Carbery. “I think we’ve done a lot of really, really positive things in the first, call it half. I know it’s not half, but I usually use the measuring of the half point as Christmas. I think we’ve done a ton of really good things.
“We’ve found ways to win games, and to be honest with you, I think we have another level and another gear. That will be the challenge; it’s not going to be easy. We’ve got a difficult schedule, our division is difficult – all that stuff. But I really like what we’ve done, and we’ve shown some ingredients of winning teams, and teams that can win coming down the stretch. We’ve shown that in games on the road, at home, in tight situations. Our guys should be proud of that, and they should be very optimistic of what we’ll be able to accomplish in the second half.”
Washington has struggled to score goals, its power play hasn’t scored anywhere close to established levels, and its defense hasn’t added much to the attack until the last handful of games. Despite these shortcomings to this point of the season, the Caps have played to a level of consistency that has them in the thick of the chase for playoff berths in the Eastern Conference.
“For us this season, it’s just finding ways to win games,” says Caps’ center Dylan Strome, who leads the team with 13 goals and three game-winners, two of them in overtime. “Whether it’s fourth-line scoring, third-line scoring, maybe the power play scoring, [scoring] shorthanded goals. We’re winning in different ways, which is good. Our sound defense is keeping us in a lot of games, and our good goaltending.
“I guess that’s a good formula to win hockey games. So we’ll keep rolling, and hopefully score some more goals without giving up too much defensively.”
Following Wednesday’s game in Manhattan, the Caps will move on to Long Island, where they’ll conclude their season’s series with the Islanders on Friday night, The Capitals will then return home to host Nashville on Saturday in their final game of calendar 2023.
With a .734 points percentage, the Rangers boast the best record in the NHL as the League returns to action from its annual holiday break. This season marks the fifth time in New York’s franchise history – and the first time since 2016-17 – that the Rangers have had the most wins or have tied for the most wins in the League by Christmas. Since falling by a 4-0 count in Washington on Dec. 9 – a loss that saddled the Blueshirts with consecutive regulation losses for the only time thus far in ’23-24 – the Rangers are 5-2-0.
Special teams have played a significant role in the Rangers’ early season success. New York’s power play unit is tops in the NHL with a 31.1 percent success rate. The Rangers rank fifth in the League in penalty killing with a kill rate of 85.7 percent.
