Dec. 13 vs. Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Stream: MonSports.net/Stream
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (14-8-3)
Philadelphia Flyers (15-10-3)
The Caps swing back into action on Thursday night in Philadelphia, facing the Flyers for the first time this season in the continuation of a stretch of four consecutive road games. Thursday’s game starts off a busy weekend on the road for Washington, which will play back-to-back games in Nashville on Saturday and Carolina on Sunday, after it departs the City of Brotherly Love.
Coming off a sweep of back-to-back games last weekend, the Caps are aiming to stretch their winning streak to three and their point streak to four straight games (2-0-1) when they face the Flyers in Philly on Thursday.
Moving into the second week of a five-week stretch in which they will play three games in four nights in each of the five weeks, the Caps are coming off a gap of three days between games, while the Flyers are returning home from a successful three-game trip out west, a journey in which they claimed at least a point in each game (2-0-1).
The Capitals enjoyed an off day on Monday, conducted an optional practice on Tuesday, and then held a full practice on Wednesday in preparation for this weekend’s grind of three games in four nights, all of them on the road.
Winger Max Pacioretty participated in Wednesday’s session, but in a light blue non-contact sweater. Nevertheless, Pacioretty’s return is imminent, even if a fixed date has not been established.
“We’re starting to think about him lineup wise, lines, some special teams stuff,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery of Pacioretty. “Watching him more closely in practice and in skill sessions. We still don’t have a definitive date, but two to three weeks. We’re looking at the [holiday] break coming up, we’ve got six games before the break, in essentially 12 days. I would be surprised if it was before the Christmas break. But there is still quite a bit of runway there. He will come with us on the road.”
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew has 25 games behind it, and it has defeated some really good teams while avoiding lengthy lulls between picking up points. Unfortunately for the Caps, the rest of the denizens of the Metropolitan Division have largely done the same. Going into Wednesday night’s slate of NHL activity – a night on which three Metro teams are in action – a mere six points is all that separates the six teams in second through seventh place in the division.
Washington is in the midst of a heavy divisional stretch in which it plays the largest chunk of its Metro games this season between now and Jan. 14, facing every other club in the division at least once during that span. The Caps actually play their entire season’s series of four games against the frontrunning New York Rangers over that span; Washington blanked the Rangers in D.C. this past Saturday night in the first of those four contests.
“Those games are the most fun; they’re the ones that really, really matter,” says Caps’ defenseman Rasmus Sandin. “Every game matters, but these are just a little bit extra important. We’re looking forward to it. It’s tiring, but it’s also fun to play important games on those tight schedules. It’s also good to be on the road, and to be hanging out with your teammates for a time. I’m looking forward to it.”
Ever the contrarian, Caps’ center Evgeny Kuznetsov attaches no additional importance to the divisional tilts.
“I personally don’t care if it’s division or not division,” shrugs Kuznetsov. “As a team, you just want to collect the points every game. That’s for the coaches to keep us in the loop, that division or not division stuff. We, as the players, we just want to go play hockey every night, and try to win every night.”
And so far, the Caps have won on more nights than they have not.
Philadelphia poses a significant challenge to the Caps, as the Flyers have done to every team they’ve faced this season. One of the surprise teams in the division – and the League – to this point of the season, the Flyers were seen by many as a rebuilding team when the season got underway. But the Flyers certainly don’t see themselves that way, and they’ve been in the thick of the Metro chase for most of the two months since opening night.
Following a 4-2-1 start to the season, the Philly faltered a bit, dropping five of its next six games. But the Flyers have reeled off winning streaks of five and four games since, and they’ve held their place among the top two or three teams in the division for the last couple of weeks.
Although Philly’s aforementioned four-game winning streak came to a halt on Tuesday in Nashville, the Flyers managed to scrape a point from a game in which they trailed the Predators by two goals with less than a minute remaining in the second period. Philadelphia finished its trip with a 3-2 overtime loss in Music City, but the formidable Flyers are still 10-3-2 in their last 15 contests.
