Caps Host Habs
Caps look to get in win column on Saturday night against the Canadiens
The Capitals continue a busy early season stretch of hockey on Saturday night when they host the Montreal Canadiens at Capital One Arena. Saturday's contest with the Canadiens is the Caps' third in four nights at season's outset; they dropped a set of back-to-backs at home to Boston and in Toronto on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
In dropping each of their first two games in regulation for the first time since the lockout-abbreviated 2012-13 season, the Caps have showed well at times and have also looked out of synch at times. The penalty kill has yielded a goal on the opposition's first power play in each game, but it has snuffed out each subsequent opportunity on both nights. The Washington power play is 0-for-9 in the two games, but five of those nine opportunities came with the Caps trailing by a goal in the latter half of the game, when a goal might have helped them to earn at least a point.
Slow starts in both games also didn't help; the Caps have been outshot by a combined 36-23 in the first period and have outshot their foes by a combined 38-33 in the final two frames. Finally, the Caps' best players have yet to get on track. Boston stalwarts David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, Taylor Hall and David Krejci each scored in the Bruins' 5-2 opening night win, and Toronto got goals from John Tavares and Auston Matthews (game-winner) in Thursday's 3-2 victory over the Caps.
Washington's top line is the only one of the team's four lines that has yet to score. The Caps had stretches with significant offensive-zone presence in both games, and they outshot the Bruins 21-10 over the final 33 minutes of Wednesday's game, after falling behind 3-0 on the scoreboard.
A night later against the Leafs, the Caps entered the third period all even with Toronto at 2-2, thanks largely to the netminding heroics of Charlie Lindgren, who made 36 saves in his Washington debut. But facing former teammate Ilya Samsonov in the Toronto nets, the Capitals couldn't test him at all in the first seven minutes of the third, by which time the Leafs had taken a 3-2 lead on Matthews' eventual game-winner at 6:55. Down a goal, the Caps managed just six shots on net in the final 13 minutes of the third period, three of them on the power play.
Taking on the Habs on Saturday, the Caps will look to shore up virtually every aspect of their game. Although both the Bruins and the Leafs defended well against them, they know they're capable of playing better in all situations, and for more of the game's 60 minutes.
"It was tight," said Caps coach Peter Laviolette after the loss in Toronto. "The first period, they came out pretty hard, and I thought our goalie did a really good job of giving us a chance to win. And then in the second and third, there wasn't as much. We did a much better job defensively and it was more of an even game, kind of back and forth.
"Offensively, we've got to do more at 5-on-5. Coming off of [Wednesday] night, it's the same thing. There are things that we need to do better; the powerplay has got to be better, the penalty kill has got to be better and discipline has got to be better. You look at the three goals that are scored [against us], there's three direct things - or multiple things - that happen right before each goal. So even if you're playing a decent game in the second and third defensively, and you're starting to shut things down, if there's a mistake, then it's got a chance to go in the back of the net.
"We're doing enough not to win. We've got to clean that up just a little bit. The more you can remove that's wrong with the game - the mistakes that you make - and the more you can clean it up. the better chance you have to be successful. And then to boot, we're not getting the run support to cover something like that. If you make a mistake but you score five goals, then you just talk about the mistake inside of a win. But when it's a 3-2 game and we haven't put the puck in the back of the net the way we want to, then those mistakes become more glaring."
Montreal comes to town on the heels of a 3-0 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit on Friday night. The Habs and Wings were scoreless headed to the third period, and Elmer Soderblom's first NHL goal - in his first NHL game - early in the third proved to be all the offense the Wings would need to win the game. Detroit added a pair of late empty-netters to account for the 3-0 final, but Montreal's Jake Allen was excellent in goal, stopping 37 of 38 shots he faced, including all 25 in the game's first period.
The Caps are likely to see Samuel Montembeault in net for the Habs on Saturday. Montreal won its season opener at home on Wednesday night over Toronto, scoring two goals late in the third period to snap a 2-2 tie in a 4-3 victory over the Leafs.
