Caps Seeing Stars in Dallas
Caps seek to put good finish on tough month of January on Friday night in Dallas
For the first time this season, the Caps will go into Friday's game against the Dallas Stars on the heels of consecutive regulation losses. Washington closes out a mediocre month of January in Dallas against the Stars, the opener of two straight road games for the Caps, and the first of three games for them between now and the NHL's All-Star break early next month.
On Wednesday night in Washington, the Caps concluded a three-game homestand with a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks. That setback came two nights after a 1-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, halting the Caps' string of games without consecutive regulation losses at 60 games, the third longest streak of its kind in franchise history. The streak dated back to April 9 of last season, and in between those bookended pairs of regulation losses, the Caps went 34-16-10 for a points percentage of .650.
For much of the early part of this season, Washington was the top team in the League at producing offense at 5-on-5. But over a lengthening stretch of games lately, the Caps' offense has gone cold. As a result of that drought, the Capitals have stagnated in the standings. They were at or near the top of the Eastern Conference standings for most of the first two months of the season, but they have dipped to fourth place in the Metropolitan Division and they currently occupy the first of two wild card playoff berths in the Eastern Conference. Their points pct. for the season is down to .625; they were tied (with Edmonton) for second in the League at .750 on the morning of Nov. 29, with a record of 14-3-5.
Since then, the Caps are 9-9-4 in exactly the same number of games.
In their first 22 games, the Caps averaged 3.55 goals per game to rank fifth in the NHL, and they yielded an average of 2.36 goals against per game to rank fourth in the League. Over the last 22 games, Washington is 15th in the NHL with 3.03 goals per game and it is 12th in the circuit with an average of 2.80 goals against per game.
The past is the past, and the Caps' primary current concern is on putting their ongoing offensive struggles into the rear view. They're getting scoring chances, but they are too often missing the net or passing themselves out of good looks at the opposition cage, which is fairly typical to see as a scoring slump endures.
"I think that's kind of a natural progression when things aren't going your way," says Caps defenseman John Carlson. "To try to make a nicer play, to try to get yourself more net. Those are natural, normal things and plays that we've scored plenty of goals on, too."
When individual goal scorers are in slumps, they'll typically try to simplify a bit by going to the net more, paying the price to operate in the hard areas and try to break the slide with an ugly or greasy goal. They all count the same.
"I would say from a net-front perspective and banging a lot of goals in," says Carlson, "I know a couple of the goals over the last couple of games that were against us, were just kind of floaters in there, and they just kind of banged away. They're tough to react to. I would say that we can get a little grittier in front of the net to find some of that loose change. Maybe that's a good starting point too, just an ugly or gritty goal to open up the floodgates or something."
Midseason slumps are common for the NHL teams, and many have endured slides in January or February in previous campaigns. Last season was just getting started in January and February, and this season stands to be the first full 82-game campaign in the last three.
"When you're going through that, you've kind of got a microfocus on the moment and the stage that you're in," says Caps right wing Tom Wilson. "So I don't know if you can really reflect on other years, but usually every year you end up in a bit of a stale rut. You're just kind of focused on that and you're not thinking too much about the schedule or the year, and you just want to crack it open and get back on track.
"It's one of those things where maybe earlier in the year we got good goaltending in one game, and we stole a game or something. And the last couple of games you played pretty well, and you don't get a win. It's just one of those things where it's almost more frustrating when you're confident in your game, and you don't get a win. Guys are trying pretty hard, battling hard, and you don't get a result. So that can be a little frustrating, but we have an experienced group. We know that if you stick with it and you do the right things and you put your head down and work, it will turn."
Friday night's game starts a six-game homestand for Dallas, and it marks the Stars' first game at home since returning from a triumphant sweep of a four-game road trip. Dallas swept a pair of back-to-backs on the trip, playing the four games in a span of six nights and running the table. After taking a set of 5-4 wins in Buffalo and Detroit, respectively - and with the win over the Wings coming in overtime - the Stars went east and won on consecutive nights over Philadelphia and New Jersey, respectively.
Ex-Caps goalie Braden Holtby picked up three of the four wins for Dallas on the successful trip. Holtby, who could face the team that drafted him in the fourth round (93rd overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft for the first time ever on Friday, is in the midst of a strong season for the Stars. He has played the lion's share of the minutes for Dallas in the crease this season, and he has a 9-8-1 record to go along with a 2.60 GAA and a .917 save pct.
The 32-year-old Holtby ranks second on Washington's all-time wins list with 282, and he won all 16 postseason games during the Caps' fabled run to the Stanley Cup championship in the spring of 2018. Holtby is now two wins shy of becoming the 39th goaltender in NHL history to reach the 300-win plateau.
The Stars are tied with Calgary and San Jose for the second and final wild card playoff berth in the Western Conference. Calgary holds two games in hand on Dallas and five on San Jose, going into Thursday's slate of NHL activity.
