Caps Host Anaheim
Ovechkin returns to D.C., Caps could have him in lineup when Ducks visit Thursday
The Caps' three-game homestand continues on Thursday night when they face the Anaheim Ducks for the first time this season. Anaheim is the final team the Caps are seeing for the first time in 2022-23, and it's the first of two meetings between the two clubs in less than a week's time. The Capitals will take on the Ducks in Anaheim next Wednesday in their first game in the month of March.
For the first time in just over nine years, the Caps will carry a five-game regulation losing streak into Thursday's game. They also hope to be buoyed by the return of captain Alex Ovechkin, who missed each of the team's last four games following the passing of his father last week in Moscow.
Ovechkin returned from Russia early on Wednesday, and he was one of a handful of Capitals to take the ice for an optional practice at noon on Wednesday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
"We just landed a couple of hours ago, and I tried to come back on the ice as soon as I can," says Ovechkin. "I skate only one time [while I was away]. It is what it is; it's life. Obviously, it was a hard week, mentally, physically.
"But thanks for everybody's support, for fans and the organization. Obviously, I saw what [the Caps' organization] put on the Jumbotron; it means a lot, it's special. All my teammates, I have full support."
The Caps wobbled in Ovechkin's absence, and the team is happy to have him back. And he is equally as happy to be back around his teammates after an extremely difficult and taxing week of grief, emotions and travel.
"It definitely provides a lift," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "He's the captain of the team and he's our leading scorer. He helps in a lot of different areas - offensively, power play, leadership, size, physicality, presence. There are a lot of things that Alex brings to the table. I'm glad that he was able to get home and be with his family, and we're certainly glad to have him back."
"It was probably the toughest situation I've been through in my whole NHL career," says Ovechkin. "But like I said, that's life and we move on. Thanks to everybody for support back home and here, obviously."
Getting back on the ice after a lengthy absence isn't easy, either. Ovechkin returned from the All-Star break and played two games before departing for Russia, and now he faces another return after a prolonged midseason absence from the rigors of the rink.
"Obviously it was tough," says Ovechkin of Wednesday's optional skate. "It feels like a training camp out there. I skated only once, and it was not that kind of intense and with drills. It was not that kind of practice. You can say it was a practice, but I just wanted to skate and feel the puck and feel the ice."
Whether or not Ovechkin is able and ready to roll right back into action on Thursday against the Ducks remains to be seen. But the Caps' offensive difficulties and struggles date back to before Ovechkin's departure, and they're in a rather desperate situation and a critical juncture of the season right now. If he's ready to go, he will almost certainly play, because the Caps don't have time to wait.
"I didn't talk to Lavi yet," says Ovechkin. "But we'll see. I just wanted to come back right away and put my mind in a different position. We're struggling right now, so I'm going to try my best to bring energy and bring something to the team."
February started out on a high note for Washington, which defeated the Bruins in Boston on Feb. 11 in its first game in the year's shortest month. After handing the Bruins just their second regulation setback on home ice all season, the Caps returned home to play six of their next seven games at home, hoping to solidify their hold on a wild card playoff berth.
Instead, the Caps have absorbed five straight defeats, dropping them four slots down in the Eastern Conference standings, to 11th place with 23 games remaining in the season, and with just four games between now and the March 3 trade deadline.
Mathematics are starting to prove tricky for Washington. The Caps have been stuck on 62 points for more than 10 days now, and a quartet of teams has passed them in the standings. It's easy to fall four standings slots in five games if you're not collecting any points at all, but it's much more difficult to climb back up to your previous position in the standings, even if you win the next five or seven games.
"I think that the guys realize it was an important game [Tuesday] night," says Laviolette of the 3-1 loss to Detroit. "And the two games before the [Stadium Series on Saturday in Raleigh], they were important games. You don't have to be that smart to see the standings and where everything sits, and that was the same four games ago. And so we haven't improved ourselves at all, and so that still holds true. [Tuesday] night was important. [Thursday] night is important. I think everybody understands that. We've got to win hockey games."
Anaheim comes to town as the cellar dweller of the Western Conference standings, sitting two points south of 15th place Chicago. The Ducks are even with Columbus for the fewest points in the NHL, but the Blue Jackets have played one fewer game. As they reach the District on the third stop of a four-game road trip, the Ducks are dragging a six-game slide (0-5-1) of their own, and they've yielded an average of six goals against per game during the life of that skid.
The Ducks have won only a quarter of their road games (8-18-6) to date this season, but they've earned regulation road victories in Edmonton and Colorado, so taking them lightly is not advised.
In the midst of a lengthy rebuild, Anaheim will miss the playoffs for the fifth straight season in 2022-23, the longest dry spell in franchise history. With a .353 points percentage this season, the Ducks are on track for the worst season in their history, which would erase their sophomore season of 1994-95 from the books. That lockout-shortened '94-95 season currently stands as the Ducks' worst ever; they went 16-27-5 for a .385 points percentage.
