Caps Reach Journey's End in Philly
Caps finish longest road trip of season on Wednesday night vs. Flyers
Finally, the finale. The Caps have been on the road for nearly two weeks, but the journey comes to an end on Wednesday night in Philadelphia against the Flyers. The Capitals left home immediately after a shutout win at home against Calgary on Black Friday, and a dozen days later, they'll finish a coast-to-coast journey replete with ups and downs.
A loss, a win, an overtime loss, a loss and a win later, the Caps sit at 2-2-1 on the trip, and with a victory over the Flyers on Wednesday, they can head home on the plus side for their longest trip of the season. A win on Wednesday in Philadelphia would also lift Washington back to "NHL .500" for the first time since they sat at 7-7-2 after a 5-1 home ice win over the Lightning on Nov. 11.
After winning one of the first four games of the trip, Washington put together one of its best and most complete overall efforts of the season on Monday in Edmonton, skating off with a 3-2 victory and putting itself in position to have a winning trip.
Midway through the prior game in Calgary on Saturday night, the Caps lost a pair of key performers to upper body injuries. Defenseman Martin Fehervary and goaltender Darcy Kuemper both departed and did not return to the game against the Flames, and neither was available for Monday's game with the Oilers, pushing the Caps' list of injured/unavailable players to eight, matching the team's highest total of the season.
With Fehervary out and with Dmitry Orlov missing a 14th straight game, Trevor van Riemsdyk logged a single-game season high of 22:14 and Erik Gustafsson skated upwards of 20 minutes for the 12th time in the last 15 games in the win over the Oilers. In the season's first dozen games, Gustafsson did not hit the 20-minute mark. Matt Irwin and Alex Alexeyev each turned in a dozen solid minutes on the blueline as well, the latter playing in consecutive games for the first time in his NHL career.
With Kuemper unavailable, the Caps recalled Hunter Shepard from AHL Hershey, that League's Goalie of the Month for November. Charlie Lindgren started and was sharp, defeating the Oilers for the second time in four weeks with a 28-save effort in the Washington nets.
The Caps aided Lindgren by getting to the occasional rebounds first and by spending most of the night pumping pucks at Lindgren's counterpart in the Edmonton crease, Stuart Skinner. Washington poured 22 shots on Skinner in what was a scoreless first period, and they kept firing all night long, finishing with a single-game high of 50 shots on goal.
"It's something that's a big part of [Caps coach Peter Laviolette's] systems, is getting pucks to the net," says Caps right wing T.J. Oshie. "I felt like maybe like 15 of those shots were from right around the crease. That's the resiliency of the guys and determination to get to the net, get some second and third and fourth [chances] - I think one time I had a fifth opportunity and just jammed it in his pads. But that's a part of game that, when we're shooting pucks, they have to turn around and defend. And as long as we get those second and third rebounds and sustain [offensive] zone time, it can be super effective, and I think tonight it was."
On Thursday in Seattle, the Caps had to settle for a point with an overtime loss to the Kraken in a game in which they led by a goal after two periods. Two nights later in Calgary, they couldn't muster a comeback in a game in which they trailed by a goal after 40 minutes of play. All even after 40 on Monday in Edmonton, the Caps finished strong, taking a 3-2 lead on a Nic Dowd goal at 7:13 of the third and protecting it the rest of the way.
"It was huge," says Dowd. "I think our penalty kill was really good in the first. It's a high-octane power play, and we've given up a lot of goals early [in games] on the penalty kill, which has been tough for our team. And then our power play gave one up [a Connor McDavid shorthanded goal] and it was unbelievable that they got it back right there [on the same man advantage] and we tied it up before the end of the [second] period. That was huge.
"Throughout the lineup, everyone played really well and our special teams was great. And then Chuck [Lindgren] was the best player tonight."
The Caps last faced Philly at home on Nov. 23, skating off with a 3-2 overtime victory thanks to an Alex Ovechkin goal in the extra session. The Flyers never trailed in that game, and they were in the midst of what would be a 10-game losing streak (0-8-2) at the time. Since that lengthy slide ended, the Flyers have split a quartet of games, most recently defeating the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche at Wells Fargo Center on Monday night.
For the Flyers, Wednesday's game is the finale of a five-game homestand. And just like the Capitals are seeking to head home a bit better than even in the last game of their six-game trip, Philadelphia is seeking a winning homestand, having split the first four games evenly.
