Caps Host Cats
Caps open two-game homestand and busy final week on Saturday night against Florida
The Caps head into a busy final week of the regular season on Saturday night when they host the Florida Panthers in the opener of a two-game homestand at Capital One Arena. Saturday's game starts a season-ending stretch in which the Capitals will play four games in six nights with three of those games being played at home.
Washington is playing out the string on the '22-23 season, having been eliminated from playoff contention in the middle of the week. The last four games don't mean anything to the Caps, who are licking their wounds and looking to halt a five-game slide (0-4-1) in the wake of a 6-2 loss to the Canadiens in Montreal on Thursday. But Washington's next two games are against two of the four teams that remain mathematically alive in the chase for the two Eastern Conference wild card berths, so the Caps do have the opportunity to play spoiler on the homestand.
"We're all proud guys in here," said Caps' center Dylan Strome after the Montreal loss. "And to go out there and do that tonight doesn't reflect each of us. That was not our best game; we've got to be a lot better than that. I don't think it was anywhere near good enough, and we've got to find a way to be better these last four games.
"It's a privilege to play in the NHL, and lots of people would want to be where we are right now, so you've got to go out there and give your all every shift, and every time you're out there, and let the results take care of itself. But we can't be leaving each other out to dry, giving up that many chances and not competing hard enough. We've got to go out there and play spoiler the last four games, and to try to end on a better note than tonight."
Strome scored his 20th goal of the season in Thursday's loss, the first goal of the contest. The Caps have scored the game's first goal only eight times in their last two dozen games, fewest in the League during that stretch.
Washington's recent woes encompass the entire second half of the season, but are particularly acute going back to Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 12. After an uplifting 2-1 win over the Bruins in Boston the previous day - in their first game back from the bye week/All-Star break - the Caps fell to San Jose at home, setting them off a six-game spiral that ultimately led the team to trade away five regular players from Feb. 23 to March 1.
The Caps are 6-15-3 since that victory over Boston less than two months ago, and they rank at the bottom of the NHL in points pct. (.313) and scoreboard lead time (253:55) over that 24-game span. Washington has been dented for an average of 3.92 goals against per game over those two dozen contests, tied with Philadelphia for 28th in the League. Nine of the 94 goals Washington has yielded in its last 24 games have been scored with the Caps' goaltender pulled for an extra attacker, an accurate reflection of how much time the team has spent chasing the scoreboard late in games.
"As much as they don't mean anything to us personally in the standings, I think as individuals and collectively as a group, it's a pride thing," said Caps' defenseman Matt Irwin following Thursday's loss to the Canadiens. "You want to put your best foot forward and compete. We're fortunate to be able to lace them up and play in this League, so we've got to expect a lot more out of ourselves.
"But we're playing some teams coming up that have something to play for. So for us, that's great. That's a challenge. You might as well get geared up for it and play spoiler."
When Anthony Mantha was unable to play Thursday's game because of a lower body injury, the Caps played Thursday's game with 17 skaters, one short of the maximum. Friday was an off day for the Caps, but hockey operations announced a trio of transactions a day ahead of the Caps' meeting with the Cats.
Most significant in the short term, the Caps recalled winger Beck Malenstyn from AHL Hershey and he is virtually certain to in the lineup on Saturday for a depleted Washington team as it limps through the season's final week.
A fifth-round pick (145th overall) in the 2016 NHL Draft, Malenstyn appeared in five consecutive games early this season for the Caps, playing well before being felled by a broken finger suffered when blocking a shot in a Nov. 1 game against Vegas. He had a goal and two points in those five games from Oct. 24-Nov. 1.
The Caps also announced that they've signed goaltender Mitchel Gibson to a one-year entry level contract for 2023-24, and that they've re-assigned forward Ludwig Persson from BIK Karlskoga in Sweden to AHL Hershey. Gibson is also expected to report to Hershey after signing an amateur tryout agreement later this week.
Gibson was the Caps' fourth-round pick (124th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft while Persson was a third-rounder (83rd overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft.
Florida comes into the District hot, carrying a five-game winning streak. The Cats have fattened up at home this season, playing to a 23-12-4 mark in Sunrise while skating to an ordinary 18-19-3 record elsewhere.
The Panthers come to town on the heels of a two-game homestand sweep, but they've won each of their last three on the road as well. Over the life of their current five-game winning streak, the Cats have outscored their opponents by a combined total of 24-7.
