Caps Open Homestand vs. Leafs
Caps seek to halt five-game slide at home on Monday against Toronto
On the final day of February, the Caps face the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time this season. The Leafs are the only Eastern Conference club the Caps have yet to face this season, and Monday's game at Capital One Arena is the first of three meetings between the two clubs in just under two months' time.
Monday's game against the Maple Leafs opens a three-game homestand for Washington, which will be seeking to break a couple of losing slides. The Caps have lost five straight home games - their longest home losing streak since 2007 - and they've lost two straight games in regulation for the third time in just over a month. Washington has yet to lose three straight in regulation this season and has not done so in more than a year, since dropping four straight in regulation from Feb. 1-14, 2021.
After a fruitless two-game road trip against Metropolitan Division opponents, the Capitals are back at home for their longest homestand in nearly three months. Washington opened the month of December with a four-game homestand, and it entered that homestand with a 7-1-3 record at Capital One Arena. Since then, the Caps have won only five of 16 home games (5-9-2). Among the five teams to defeat the Caps in the District during the life of their current losing streak here, only one - the Vegas Golden Knights - is occupying a playoff spot going into Monday's slate of NHL activity.
Most recently, the Caps dropped a 2-1 decision to the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon. That loss came on the heels of a 4-1 setback to the Rangers in New York on Thursday. In Saturday's loss, a sluggish first period cost the Caps. They were down 2-0 after 20 minutes of play, and could manage only a T.J. Oshie power-play goal in the 40 minutes to follow.
"Last game [against New York] I thought the numbers were doubled up heavy in our favor," said Caps coach Peter Laviolette after Saturday's setback. "Today in the first period, no. They pretty much owned the period; they owned possession and the period. The last two periods were much better defensively and much better offensively. To speak about today's game, the first period was an issue."
Philly held a lopsided 26-9 advantage in shot attempts in the first, and although Washington limited the Flyers to a total of eight shots on net in the final 40 minutes, the Caps' attack was quelled at 5-on-5, the fifth time in the last dozen games that they've been limited to one or no goals at evens.
"It is unacceptable for us; I think we expect a lot better," says Caps defenseman John Carlson. "I think our wins against a few teams are actually some of our worst games, to be honest. From that sense, I think there is no panic, but we all owe it to each other and go on a run. I think we know how tight things are and how things can change quickly. So we feel that urgency, but I wouldn't call it panic."
The Caps will try to get back on the beam against a Toronto team that is averaging 3.65 goals per game, the fourth best rate in the League. The Maple Leafs also bring the NHL's most lethal power play to town with them; they're clicking at a rate of exactly 30 percent with the extra man.
Where the Leafs may be somewhat vulnerable is at the other end of the ice, where they've yielded 2.85 goals per game to rank 14th in the circuit. Since Dec. 1, Toronto has permitted an average of 3.41 goals per game to rank 22nd in the League over that span, last among all teams currently holding down a playoff spot in the standings.
Most recently, the Leafs won a 10-7 decision from the Red Wings in Detroit on Saturday in the opener of a two-game trip that concludes here on Monday. Mitch Marner had a career best four goals and six points as the two Original Six rivals combined to score the most goals in any NHL game in 11 years. Marner had a natural hat trick in the second period.
The Leafs carried a seemingly safe 7-2 lead into the third period of Saturday's game, only to watch the Wings score five goals in a span of 7:10 to make the game more than interesting. Prior to Saturday's Leafs-Wings game, the last time an NHL game featured as many as 17 goals was an Oct. 27, 2011 game in which Winnipeg eked out a 9-8 win over the Flyers in Philadelphia.
