Caps Hope to Halt Slide vs. Sabres
Ten days after downing Buffalo in DC, Washington seeks to stem a three-game slide against the Sabres on Monday at Verizon Center.
Ten days ago at Verizon Center, the Capitals nipped the Buffalo Sabres by a 3-1 count to earn their second straight win and to finish off a successful five-game homestand with a 4-1 mark. Since then, the Caps have been unable to find their way back to the win column, losing three straight games (0-2-1). On Monday night, they host the Sabres at Verizon Center once again as they seek to halt their short slide at three games.
After dropping two straight games in regulation in the immediate wake of that Nov. 25 victory over Buffalo, the Capitals lost a 2-1 shootout decision to the Lightning in Tampa Bay on Saturday night. Washington trailed that game 1-0 heading into the final frame, but was able to scrape a point out of the contest when Nicklas Backstrom netted a power play goal to tie the game and force overtime.
The Capitals had another power play in the middle of the third, and also had a four-on-three power play for the final 33.5 seconds of overtime. Neither of those opportunities paid dividends and Washington lost the skills competition, settling for a single point. For the Lightning, the win snapped a four-game losing streak in which the Bolts yielded at least four goals against in each defeat.
"Obviously we got a big one from our power play," says Caps goalie Braden Holtby, saddled with a third straight loss for the first time in more than 21 months. "We had lots of opportunities. It shows character that we were able to come back from 1-0 [down]. [The Bolts] were in the same situation as us; they were desperate as well. A game like that can go either way, really. There is some stuff we'd like to work on, but we played a strong game."
Holtby made 32 saves against the Lightning on Saturday, and the only puck that got behind him was Nikita Kucherov's power-play goal. Holtby made several critical stops to put the Caps in a position to earn that single point.
"I thought he made some really key stops in that game at some really key moments when the game was 0-0 and he had one when it was 1-0 for them," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "He made a few big saves and his effort was real solid. Without his performance, maybe we don't get a point here."
Given that the three Metropolitan Division teams (the New York Rangers, Columbus and Pittsburgh) ahead of the Capitals and the two Metro teams (Philadelphia and New Jersey) immediately behind Washington all picked up two points on Saturday, the Caps can't be too unhappy about getting just one, especially since they scored just one goal.
Mired in the midst of one of their most sustained stretches of pedestrian hockey over the last three seasons, the Caps are 5-5-2 in their last 10 games. That said, there's probably nothing wrong with the Capitals that some consistent scoring wouldn't fix; the Caps are 11-0-0 this season when they score three or more goals. They've done so just three times in the last 10 games.
"I think we need to be a little more gritty and go to the front of the net instead of all three guys trying to cycle the puck all the time," says Backstrom, "we need at least one guy in front of the net. Shots and rebounds, those are the kind of goals that go in these days. We have to be able to go to the front of the net and go to the dirty areas and create second chances."
The Caps have scored just 22 goals in their last 10 games, and seven of those came in a single contest, a 7-1 thumping of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 16. During the life of their current three-game losing streak, the Caps have scored three goals.
"Listen, when you're not scoring goals as we are right now - it's coming hard for us, it's not coming easy - you get greasy, you get dirty, you throw pucks at the net," says Caps right wing Justin Williams. "You just have that mentality where everyone on that line knows where the puck is going and sometimes you can bang in a couple of rebounds. Obviously, I think we need to do that."
Since falling to the Caps in D.C. the day after Thanksgiving, Buffalo has won two of three. Energized by the return of sophomore sensation Jack Eichel to the lineup, the Sabres beat the Sens in Ottawa on Tuesday and then downed the Rangers in Buffalo on Thursday. Eichel, playing in his first two games of the season after missing the first 21 games of the season with a high ankle sprain, scored three goals and had four points in those two contests.
Most recently, the Sabres absorbed a 2-1 home ice loss to the Bruins on Saturday. Evander Kane scored Buffalo's only goal in that game, his first of the season.
Buffalo has scoring woes of its own. In 2013-14 and again in '14-15, Buffalo finished last in the league in goals scored with 1.83 and 1.87, respectively. Those are the lowest and third lowest figures for any team in any season in the league since the start of the 1936-37 season.
With the arrival of Eichel last season, the Sabres improved more than half a goal a game, to 2.43 goals per contest in '15-16. That significant offensive improvement lifted the Sabres from the cellar up to a tie for 25th in the NHL in goals scored last season.
Eichel missed the first quarter of the season, and the Sabres suffered offensively in his absence. They've averaged exactly two goals per game to this point of the season, and they've dropped to the bottom of the league in that regard once again.
In Eichel's first two games back in the lineup, the Sabres scored a total of nine goals. That's the best two-game total they've managed at any point this season. Like everyone else on every other team in the league, Eichel is just one guy. But his presence in the lineup makes the Sabres a more dynamic team than they were late last month on their last trip through town.
The Goal Is Goals - After a quick and ultimately unsuccessful trip to Tampa over the weekend, the Capitals return home for a brief two-game homestand. The Caps host the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night in the Sabres' second and final visit to Verizon Center this season.
Following an impressive 8-2-1 start to the season, the Caps have slipped to a mediocre 5-5-2 mark over their last dozen games. While the Caps continue to play well defensively - they're fifth in the league with an average of 2.22 goals against per game - Washington has netted just three goals in its last three games, and only 22 tallies in its last 10.
The Caps are currently mired in the midst of a stretch of 93 minutes and 45 seconds of even strength time without lighting the red lamp.
"If we can get a couple to pop, we can score a bunch of goals over the next week to 10 days, I think," says Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen. "It's coming. Our game is coming. The last two games, we've been on the attack and we've had the puck a lot, doing pretty good things defensively.
"Our game is coming. Sometimes your game starts to turn around before the wins come. Hopefully, we're in that position right now."
The Caps downed the Sabres 10 days ago at Verizon Center, 3-1. But since then, the Sabres have added sophomore sensation Jack Eichel back to their lineup. The Sabres are last in the league with an average of two goals per game, but they've scored 10 goals in the three games since Eichel's return. He has netted three of those, and has had a hand in four of them.
"I think his skating is exception, and that's no secret," says Niskanen of Eichel. "But the ability to make high end, skilled plays while moving fast and moving quickly [is there]. I think he's got a good release. He's a pretty smart player. He finds open ice and finds ways to get open. Because he skates really well, it seems like he's always around the puck if he doesn't have it. And he's not afraid to try things too, like most young and talented players nowadays. They'll make things happen in traffic. Where other players maybe will just chip the puck, they're going to try to make things happen. He's a special player already, at his young age."
Power Shift - In this space a few days back, we wondered when the Caps might get around to implementing a long talked about second power play "look" that differs in alignment and personnel (and perhaps, even philosophy) from the team's first unit. Washington's power play has dipped to 22nd in the league this season at 14.5%, and some personnel alterations have not had the desired effect.
At Monday's morning skate, Caps center Jay Beagle was parked in the diamond spot at the top of the paint, the spot where Brett Connolly has recently been on that second unit. But with Connolly sitting out tonight, Beagle gets a rare shot at some power play time.
"[Assistant coach Blaine Forsythe] came to me this morning and said I was going to get a chance on the power play," says Beagle. "So that's exciting. I was working on it out there today with him a little bit and also a little bit with the [power play] unit. It was good to get some reps in before the game."
Of the more than 4,000 minutes of ice time Beagle has logged over his nine seasons in the league, he has skated a grand total of exactly 24 power play minutes. Most of those minutes came in the waning seconds of Washington man advantages, when coaches put the players on the ice they want out there for when the sides return to five-on-five play.
"I'm on the other side of it now," says Beagle. "It's a good chance to try to play a different role. I was put on the second unit, and it's going to be a lot of fun. We were just talking with a couple of guys who are with me on that unit about where I need to be, and they've been helping me out.
"I have killed penalties for probably my whole life. I played some power play when I was younger, and in Hershey I played power play. So I'll draw on those experiences, and it's going to be fun."
Beagle collected the first shorthanded goal of his NHL career earlier this season, and he recorded his second career shorthanded assist as well. But his next power play point in the NHL will be his first. On a team that's teeming with players in prolonged scoring slumps, Beagle's total of four goals this season ranks fifth on the team.
"He deserves it based on his point total," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "We could use a right shot there. Net front, I think he can do that, and puck retrievals and those type of things. Give him a shot - we've got nothing to lose."
Getting Their Chances -Washington has had at least four power play opportunities in each of its last five games, but the Capitals are just 3-for-24 (12.5%) with the extra man over that span. It's been almost two years since the Caps had four or more power play chances in each of five straight games, and ironically, it coincides with the last time the Caps lost as many as four games in a row during the regular season.
From Jan. 16-28, 2015, the Caps had four or more power play chances in five straight games. They were also 3-for-24 with the extra man during that run, and they went 0-3-1 in the first four games of that stretch. That's the last time the Caps have lost as many as four straight games, a fate they're seeking to avoid on Monday night at the hands of the Sabres.
Ten Top Ten - Of the more than 40 rostered players for Buffalo and Washington, 10 were chosen in the top 10 of the NHL draft.
Four Capitals were top 10 picks and six Sabres hold that distinction. Caps captain Alex Ovechkin was the first player chosen overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Washington pivot Nicklas Backstrom was the fourth player chosen in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and defenseman Karl Alzner was fifth overall a year later. Caps forward Brett Connolly was the sixth overall choice of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
Buffalo's second line for tonight's game is comprised entirely of top four picks in the NHL draft. Evander Kane was the fourth overall choice (by Atlanta) in 2009 while Eichel (2015) and Sam Reinhart (2014) were both the second players chosen in their respective drafts.
The Sabres also have third overall choice Zach Bogosian (Atlanta in 2008), seventh overall pick Kyle Okposo (New York Islanders in 2006) and eighth overall choice Risto Ristolainen (Buffalo in 2013).
In The Nets - Braden Holtby has lost three straight starts (0-2-1) for the first time since February of 2015. Holtby has won only one of his last five starts, and has surrendered three or more goals in four of those five starts. The lone exception was his last start, a 2-1 shootout loss to the Lightning in Tampa Bay on Saturday night. Holtby made 32 saves in that game and was beaten only by Nikita Kucherov's shot on a Lightning power play in the second period.
Holtby takes his fourth crack at his 11th win of the season tonight against the Sabres. He is 7-3-1 lifetime with a shutout, a 2.69 GAA and a .902 save pct. against Buffalo.
When the Caps and Sabres met here 10 days ago, Philipp Grubauer started for Washington and Anders Nilsson went for Buffalo. The match-up has flipped on both sides, with Holtby starting for the Capitals and Robin Lehner getting the net for the Sabres.
Lehner has won only one of his last eight starts (1-5-2). But in his last four appearances (three starts), Lehner is 1-1-1 with a 1.78 GAA and a .936 save pct.
Finally Made It - Buffalo has recalled defenseman Erik Burgdoerfer from AHL Rochester, and it's likely that the ex-Hershey blueliner - days shy of his 28th birthday - will make his NHL debut tonight for the Sabres.
Partnered primarily with Caps defense prospect Christian Djoos, Burgdoerfer was a regular on the Hershey blueline last season, and he played in all 21 of the Bears' postseason contests en route to the Calder Cup final.
After four seasons on the RPI blueline, Burgdoerfer graduated without being drafted and turned pro with the ECHL Bakersfield Condors at the tail end of the 2009-10 season. Four full seasons with the Condors followed, the last of which came with Troy Mann behind the Bakersfield bench.
Hired to head the Bears' bench in 2014-15, Mann believed enough in Burgdoerfer that he brought him along to Hershey and gave him a shot at regular AHL duty after he had notched career highs in goals (11) and points (22) in his final season with the Condors in 2013-14.
Burgdoerfer led all Bears blueliners in games played (74) last season.
"It definitely shows that I haven't been working for nothing," Burgdoerfer told me one day in Toronto last May. "You've just got to keep believing in yourself. Troy was gracious enough to give me the opportunity here after playing for him in [Bakersfield]. I think I've ran with it, and he has shown a lot of confidence in me and that really helps."
Burgdoerfer signed with Buffalo last summer, and after 22 more minor league games - and a total of 429 minor league games spread out over eight seasons - a slew of injuries on the Sabres blueline has him set to skate in his first NHL game tonight at Verizon Center.
"It's great to see Burgy get up there," says Caps winger Paul Carey, a teammate of Burgdoerfer's in Hershey last season. "He has truly worked for it; no shortcuts. He really took the long route, and I'm glad it has paid off for him."
All Lined Up - Here's how we expect the Caps and Sabres to look for tonight's tilt at Verizon Center:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 90-Johansson
65-Burakovsky, 92-Kuznetsov, 13-Vrana
28-Carey, 20-Eller, 14-Williams
26-Winnik, 83-Beagle, 43-Wilson
Defensemen
9-Orlov, 74-Carlson
27-Alzner, 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik, 4-Chorney
Goaltenders
70-Holtby
31-Grubauer
Injuries
77-Oshie (upper body, week-to-week)
Scratches
10-Connolly
88-Schmidt
BUFFALO
Forwards
48-Carrier, 90-R. O'Reilly, 21-Okposo
9-Kane, 15-Eichel, 23-Reinhart
82-Foligno, 22-Larsson, 12-Gionta
26-Moulson, 27-Grant, 28-Girgensons
Defensemen
29-McCabe, 55-Ristolainen
45-Guhle, 6-Franson
41-Falk, 46-Burgdoerfer
Goaltenders
40-Lehner
31-Nilsson
Injuries
4-Gorges (foot)
8-McCormick (blood clots)
38-Fedun (shoulder)
44-DesLauriers (knee)
47-Bogosian (sprained MCL)
63-Ennis (groin)
77-Kulikov (lower back)
Scratches
None
Stick tap to Carter Myers for some of the statistical data contained herein.
