Jan. 2 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN+, Hulu
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (17-11-6)
Pittsburgh Penguins (18-13-4)
Back on Oct. 13 in Washington, the Capitals opened their 2023-24 season against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Two and a half months later, the Caps are in Pittsburgh for the first time this season, and they’re opening up the calendar 2024 portion of the ’23-24 schedule against the Penguins, currently one of the League’s hottest teams.
Tuesday’s tilt is also the front end of a set of back-to-backs for the Capitals, who are playing their fifth set of back-to-backs in a span of just 26 days. The Caps return to the District immediately after Tuesday’s game with the Pens; they will head home to host the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday in the opener of a five-game homestand.
The Caps are lugging a four-game slide (0-2-2) with them to western Pennsylvania, their longest winless run of the season. Washington’s last victory was a 3-2 overtime triumph over the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Dec. 21.
After returning from their longest road trip of the season early last month, the Caps scored exactly four goals in three straight games from Dec. 7-10, the only time all season they’ve scored at least four goals in three consecutive contests. But Washington has not been able to reach the four-goal level in nine games since, and it has managed as many as three goals in only three of nine games since. In two of those three games, the Caps needed a 4-on-3 power play in overtime with which to achieve that third goal.
Eleven of the dozen goals Washington scored from Dec. 7-10 came at even strength. They’ve needed nine games to net their next 11 even-strength goals. During the life of their current four-game losing run, the Caps have managed five goals. Two of those came in their most recent outing, Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Nashville Predators at Capital One Arena.
In that Saturday game against the Preds, Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin appeared to have snapped a 2-2 tie, scoring the go-ahead goal with 59.5 seconds remaining in regulation. But for the eighth time this season, the Capitals had a video review go against them, and Ovechkin’s goal was taken off the board.
After taking a second look – at the urging of the NHL’s Hockey Operations outfit, the only entity capable of spurring a review in the final minute of regulation or at any time in overtime – the refs decided the “goal” they awarded on the ice minutes earlier actually wasn’t one. Caps’ center Nic Dowd was ruled to have interfered with Nashville netminder Yaroslav Askarov, the score stayed 2-2, and the Preds prevailed in the skills competition.
While the call and the result were not what the Capitals were seeking, they did manage to show a bit more offensive-zone wherewithal in Saturday’s loss. After being held to a single goal in each of three straight previous games, the Caps were able to get three pucks into the net, even if the third one was overruled. And they did manage to get more bodies and pucks to the net front as well; their first goal of the game came when Beck Malenstyn banged home a rebound of a point shot midway through the opening frame.
“Before the game, we were just talking about getting the pucks down deep, down low,” says Caps’ center Connor McMichael. “And getting it from down low to back up high, and just funneling it down low. Beck’s was a perfect example. I think we’re looking for a lot more goals like that – I guess you can call them greasy goals – where there are guys in front battling, and you just find a puck sitting there and jam it home. I don’t think we’ve had too many of those this year, so that’s an area we’re looking to work on for sure.”
As the Caps and Pens prepare to battle for the second of four times this season, the Metropolitan Division standings are as tight as they’ve been at any point this season. The New York Rangers remain atop the division where they’ve been virtually all season, and they hold a comfortable seven-point bulge over second-place Carolina. But a mere four points separates the six teams from Carolina through Pittsburgh, which is officially the seventh-place team in the Metro on New Year’s Day.
“The focus for us as a staff and for our group – and what we’re drawing their attention to – is the Pittsburgh Penguins [Tuesday] night,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. And anything after that, whether you’re looking at the month, the [13] games that we have until the [All-Star] break, you’re losing focus on what’s important.
“[Tuesday] night is the most important game we’ve got on the schedule, and it’s a really important game for our team overall. And to play well – and I’m not talking about results – we need to be really focused and really diligent with our preparation for Pittsburgh.”
With a stellar 7-1-1 mark in their last nine games, the Penguins own the NHL’s best record – from a points percentage standpoint – over that span. From mid-November to early December, the Pens won only three of a dozen games (3-6-3), a stretch that sent them spiraling down the Metro Division standings ladder. But the Pens have pulled themselves back into the chase when their recent hot spell.
Since suffering a 7-0 setback at the hands of the Leafs in Toronto on Dec. 16 – their lone regulation loss since Dec. 8 – the Pens have collected points in each of their last six games (5-0-1). Most recently, they got two goals from ex-Caps center Lars Eller and 37 saves from goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic in a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders on New Year’s Eve in Pittsburgh.
