Feb. 26 vs. Ottawa Senators at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Stream: MonSports.net/Stream
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Ottawa Senators (25-27-3)
Washington Capitals (26-21-9)
Following a successful two-game tour of Florida in which they pulled three of a possible four points, the Caps make a quick stop at home to host the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. Monday’s game continues Washington’s parade of games against Atlantic Division foes, and it’s the start of a set of back-to-backs; the Caps will depart for a Tuesday game against the Red Wings in Detroit immediately following the match with the Sens.
After taking their third straight win – a 5-3 victory over the Lightning in Tampa Bay on Thursday – to start the trip, the Caps lost hold of a late lead on Saturday night in Florida, settling for a single point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Cats. Saturday’s loss ended Washington’s modest winning streak, but the Caps have picked up points in six of their last seven games (4-1-2) to reassert themselves in the chase for playoff berths in the Eastern Conference.
With just five games remaining between now and the March 8 trade deadline, the Caps have no time to rest on their recent laurels. They’ve got to keep the pedal to the floor and scoop up as many of these next 10 points as possible.
“I feel like our game overall – just take the results completely out of it – is in a pretty good spot,” said Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery, a day before Washington’s overtime setback to the Panthers. “It’s consistent line to line, [defense] pair to [defense] pair; we’re very predictable to one another, and everybody is on the same page with the things that we need to do to be successful – not big picture, big game wise, but shift to shift.
“And as that has become more consistent throughout our lineup – and from shift to shift – you’re seeing these games now where weeks ago you’d see a period here or there that would look good, and then a little bit sloppy for two or three periods, and our puck touches were off, and we’d turn the puck over from night to night. One night it would be okay, and the next night we’d be turning it over left, right and center.
“Now, I just feel like it’s more consistent with what we need to do on a shift-by-shift basis, and everybody be on the same page with that.”
The Caps’ recently found connectedness and cohesiveness has shown in virtually every aspect of their game in the last two weeks, a stretch that has included them getting points in games against some of the League’s top teams. Over a 15-day stretch in which they played seven games (4-1-2) from Feb. 10-24, the Caps’ 58.62 percent share of high danger scoring chances ranks third in the NHL, only to Edmonton’s 62.94 percent and Carolina’s 58.68 percent (stats from naturalstattrick.com).
Washington’s breakouts and play in its own zone have also been solid and efficient, leading to the Caps controlling 51.53 percent of 5-on-5 shot attempts over those last seven games, too. While the Caps still have much heavy lifting to do – and not much time in which to do it – they’ve at least temporarily pulled their season out of the fire.
Although the Caps still trail Detroit by seven points for the second wild card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, they hold a game in hand on the Wings, and they have three games remaining against them, starting with Tuesday’s trip to Motown. In the Metro Division, the Caps trail Philadelphia by six points in the chase for third place in the division, and they hold two games in hand on the Flyers with two games remaining against them, the first of which is coming up this Friday night in the District.
With 26 games remaining, the Caps can see a path into the chase for playoff berths. Earlier this season, they cobbled together an impressive 26-game stretch in which they went 16-6-4, a 113-point pace over a full season. If they are able to match that stretch over the final 26 games – no small feat given the caliber of opposition and the difficulty of scheduling and travel they face over the next seven weeks – they would finish with 97 points, which may or may not be enough to sneak in.
Detroit is currently playing at a 98-point pace for the season, and the Flyers are playing at a 93-point pace.
“We feel good,” says Carbery. “It’s a positive, and we’re trying to emphasize every day the things – the little things – that are going into the results, to make sure that we stay on those things. And why? Because we communicate so well in the defensive zone. Because all these little details inside of our game – our puck play, making sure that we’re very predictable for one another – all these little things we’re trying to highlight and continue to emphasize. And then just that short term focus of [the next game].
“We know where we’re at. We don’t talk about the standings. We don’t talk about, ‘Hey, we need to win this and this;’ it’s not even on our mind. We’re doing everything we can. We know we’re in a very, very difficult situation, and the upcoming schedule and all that stuff, but we’re going to keep fighting here.”
Monday marks the first time the Caps and Senators have tangled since Oct. 18, when Washington played its first road game – and its third game overall – of the season in Ottawa. That one went poorly for the Caps, who struggled out of the starting gate. The Sens walloped Washington by a 6-1 count that night, but Ottawa is in last place in the Atlantic Division as it hits town for the first of two late season visits to the District.
Facing a seventh straight season outside of the playoffs, the Sens made their third in-season coaching change in the last decade earlier this season when they replaced D.J. Smith with veteran NHL bench boss Jacques Martin, who is in his second stint as Sens’ head coach. Martin first served in that role from 1995-2004; he was the third coach in franchise history, following Rick Bowness and Dave Allison.
Ottawa comes to town on a bit of a roll; the Sens are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games. The Sens are fresh from sweeping a two-game homestand over a pair of Western Conference heavyweights. They defeated Dallas 4-1 on Thursday, and they prevailed 4-3 over Vegas in a shootout on Saturday.
Monday’s game starts a set of road back-to-backs for Ottawa, which faces the Predators in Nashville on Tuesday night.
