Jan. 23 vs. Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center
Time: 8:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Stream: MonSports.net/Stream
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (22-16-6)
Minnesota Wild (20-21-5)
Washington’s four-game road trip continues on Tuesday night in St. Paul when the Caps take on the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The journey started on Saturday night in St. Louis with a 3-0 setback at the hands of the Blues.
Once again, the Caps are seeking to spark their sleepy offensive attack. Saturday’s game marked the Caps’ fifth shutout loss this season, the most they’ve suffered in a single season since 2018-19 (five). Washington has been limited to one or fewer goals against in more than a third (16 of 44) of its games this season.
“We’re going to get to work,” said Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery, in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s loss. “We’ll look at all this, we’ll learn from it, and we’ve got to put a lot of work in, in terms of individual stuff to get better offensively, collectively as a team. We’ve got to simplify, we’ve got to do a lot of different things because our 5-on-5 [offense] has been a problem all year and it continues to be a problem.
“We have to find ways to generate simply a shot. And I know that sounds pretty elementary, but that’s the point of our 5-on-5 scoring. We have to change it from trying to score, to just trying to register a shot, try to get some activity towards the net, because it’s a serious issue.”
Washington was limited to just 18 shots on net in Saturday’s game, and it was held without a shot on goal for a stretch of 11 minutes in the first, seven minutes in the second and 10 minutes in the third. On Thursday night in Washington, the Caps limited the Blues to just a dozen shots on net at 5-on-5 and 20 total shots. Two nights later in St. Louis, the Blues essentially returned the favor, limiting the Caps to just 13 shots on net at 5-on-5 among their total of 18 on the night.
The Caps actually had more shots blocked (19) than they had shots on net in Saturday’s game, and strikingly, nine of those blocked shots occurred in the first 5:05 of the game, a stretch in which the Caps were on the power play for two minutes and were in the St. Louis end for much of the time.
“I think you have to – in those situations – tip your cap to the job they did defensively,” says Carbery. “I tend to look at the stuff we didn’t do. But having said that, you always have to take into account two things, what the opposition does, and sometimes you don’t have your best. That’s the reality of 82 games in the National Hockey League. Is that a default and something you can just say, ‘It’s acceptable?’ Absolutely not. But you have to understand there’s things at play with your own individual players and what the opposition is doing.”
After an off day in Minneapolis on Sunday, the Caps reconvened for a midday Monday practice session, essentially a dress rehearsal for the next two games. Tuesday’s tilt is also the front end of another set of back-to-backs for the Caps; they’ll roll into Denver after Tuesday’s game for a Wednesday night date with the Colorado Avalanche.
“There’s a lot of things that we failed to do in that St. Louis game that we need to do a way better job of offensively,” asserts Carbery. “And so we addressed those, we talked about them, and hopefully we’ll implement those and see those come to life [Tuesday].”
“It’s going to come to working for each other when we have the puck,” says Caps’ right wing T.J. Oshie. “Scoring goals in this League is hard. And sometimes when you get a couple of wins, or when it looks like you’re scoring on the scoreboard – even though there's some power play goals in there the game before, and stuff like that – you can think that maybe the offense is going to come easier. Maybe it isn't hard to get to the inside.
“I think it really just comes down to working for each other when we have the puck. We're a phenomenal team when we don't have the puck – for the most part – at playing our systems, playing hard. You know guys on this team are going to block shots, and they're going to put their body on the line.
“We need that same mentality on offense now, and starts with simplicity, getting pucks to the net, getting bodies there. And then the higher end, more highlight reel plays that everyone likes to see on social media, those come after the work.”
Minnesota won just five of its first 19 games (5-10-4) this season, a start that led to the dismissal of coach Dean Evason, formerly a Caps’ assistant coach. Since John Hynes replaced Evason behind the Wild bench, Minnesota is a more respectable 15-11-1.
The Wild did recently steer themselves out of a 1-7-1 stretch that was wrapped around the turn of the calendar; they’ll enter Tuesday’s game with a 3-1-0 record in their last four games.
For Minnesota, Tuesday’s game is the opener of a three-game homestand. The Wild went 2-1-0 on a recently completed road trip. Most recently, they did the Caps a solid by beating the Hurricanes by a 5-2 count in the trip finale on Sunday afternoon in rally. Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov notched a hat trick in that victory.
