Caps Host Blues
After swinging a pair of deadline day deals on Monday, the Caps conclude a quick homestand when they host St. Louis on Tuesday
The Caps conclude a brief two-game homestand on Tuesday night when they host the St. Louis Blues at Capital One Arena. The game closes out the season's series between the two teams; the Caps absorbed a 5-1 beating at the hands of the Blues in St. Louis on Jan. 7.
Daniel Sprong scored the game's first goal in the previous meeting between the two teams in the Gateway City two and a half months ago, and the Blues went on to scored five unanswered the rest of the way. On Monday, the Caps sent Sprong and a pair of future draft choices to Seattle in exchange for forward Marcus Johansson, a first-round (24th overall) Washington draft choice in 2009 who spent the first seven seasons of his NHL career with the Capitals.
In addition reacquiring Johansson, the Caps shipped a third-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft to Arizona in exchange for veteran forward Johan Larsson. An effective and dependable bottom six forward over the course of his 10-year NHL career, the 29-year-old Larsson has missed the Coyotes' last 21 games after undergoing sports hernia surgery in late January. He is nearly ready to return to action, and Caps' general manager Brian MacLellan estimates Larsson's return to be a week or so away now.
Both Johansson and Larsson offer lineup flexibility in the form of their ability to play multiple positions and to move up and down the lineup a bit. Johansson is more of a two-way player who can play on the power play unit, while Larsson is more of a shutdown type defensive player who can also kill penalties. Both players are left-handed shots who are capable of playing in the middle of the ice.
"The thing about our lineup is that there are pieces that can move," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette, who addressed the media before the Larsson deal was announced. "Conor Sheary moves and T.J. Oshie moves and [Tom Wilson] moves up and down the lineup, and it's probably the same for [Johansson].
"And I think once we get settled in and we get guys back and healthy, we'll figure out where the line combinations go. It could go anywhere from to playing with [Evgeny Kuznetsov] to playing with [Nicklas Backstrom] to playing with Lars [Eller], or playing in the middle when needed. I think that was important as well, just having another center man in the lineup.
"There's lots of things he brings to the table - the power play, good offensive player, good defensive player, a lot of history with the Caps. He's had some good years offensively as well."
As for the "getting guys back and healthy" part of the equation, the Caps are missing center Nic Dowd (upper body), wingers T.J. Oshie (lower body), Carl Hagelin (eye) and Joe Snively (hand) and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk (upper body) from their mix at the moment, and blueliner John Carlson left Sunday's game in the final minute after a reckless hit from Stars forward Jamie Benn sent him careening into the back wall.
Johansson is in transit and is expected to play on Tuesday against the Blues, sporting his familiar No. 90. Hagelin and Snively both underwent surgery and are out for longer term, while Dowd, Oshie and van Riemsdyk are all day-to-day. Of the group of ailing players, only Dowd and Oshie took part in Monday's optional practice session at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
Washington made another roster move on Monday, sending winger Brett Leason back to AHL Hershey. The Caps recalled Leason to play in Sunday's game against Dallas, and he skated 10 shifts totaling 6:24.
For the first time this month, the Caps will be going into a game on the heels of a regulation loss. Sunday's 3-2 setback at the hands of the Dallas Stars is Washington's first regulation loss in the month of March (7-1-1), and the Caps will be seeking to get back on the winning beam against the Blues. The Caps had been the only team in the NHL without a regulation setback in March.
St. Louis makes its first visit to the District in over three years, since the Blues claimed a 4-1 win over Washington here on Jan. 14, 2019. Tuesday's game is the second of two straight on the road for the Blues, who come to town on the heels of a 5-4 loss to the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Saturday.
Saturday's loss in Columbus was the Blues' third in a row, but they picked up points in the previous two setbacks. St. Louis is 2-4-3 in the month of March, yielding an average of 3.44 goals against per game in those nine contests.
Heading into Monday night's slate of NHL activity, the Blues are in second place in the Central Division, 16 points behind frontrunning Colorado and just a point clear of Minnesota and Nashville, who are tied for third.
