Feb. 8 vs. Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Stream: MonSports.net/Stream
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (22-19-7)
Florida Panthers (31-15-4)
The Caps are back on the road on Thursday night, taking on the Florida Panthers for the second time this season and the first time since Nov. 8. The Panthers prevailed in a 4-3 overtime decision in the first meeting of the season at Capital One Arena, a game in which Washington carried a 3-2 lead into the third period.
Thursday’s game is also the opener of a two-game trip, which makes up the 2023-24 Caps’ Mentors’ trip. Most players and staff members will have a mentor on the trip, whether it’s a father, brother, stepfather, father-in-law or future father-in-law. The trip concludes with a Saturday matinee match against the Bruins in Boston, and when the Caps return to the District for their annual Super Bowl Sunday matinee – against the Vancouver Canucks – many of the mentors will stick around for that one as well.
Saddled with a five-game losing streak (0-4-1) as they take to the road, the Caps are hoping the presence of the mentors can help them break the skid. Washington’s Mentors’ trips started 16 years ago this month, and the team has forged a combined record of 17-8-0 on its previous Mentors’ journeys.
“That’s what we’re looking for, some positive vibes coming into our locker room and building,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery, who is the first Washington head coach to bring his father along on the trip. “And I’ve found this over the limited amount of mentors’ trips that I’ve been on: you always want to impress your dad, brother, father-in-law, at least with effort and compete. And that’s what we can bank on seeing on the road trip, and just being around them as well, too.
“And it’s a special time for us as coaches, and the players and the staff, to not only share and show what we do on a daily basis, but also to let them know during the trip how much we appreciate all the things that they’ve done for us that have enabled us to get to this point in our lives. It’s just a cool thing, and I think players can draw off that, and coaches obviously and staff can draw off that, going into the games on the road.”
Carbery’s dad Bryan will be accompanying his son and the team on this trip, and it’s the first time that the younger Carbery has had the opportunity to bring his father on a mentor’s trip. During his time in Toronto, the mentors/dads trip was limited to players only.
“It’s going to be phenomenal to be able to share the trip and see [what we do],” says the Caps’ bench boss. “Because you can say all you want about what you do, but until you really experience it, see the day-to-day, and all the meetings and stuff that goes on behind the scenes from a coaching perspective [you don’t know it]. And then, just to show an appreciation for all the things he has done for me as a child, adolescent, and teenager, and even into playing professionally for a little bit and into the coaching ranks, I’m really, really excited to share the weekend with him.”
On the players’ side of things, Caps’ center Connor McMichael and his father Murray will also be joining Washington’s Mentors’ Trip for the first time on the journey to Florida and Boston.
“Yeah, it’s going to be fun,” says the Caps’ pivot. “I don’t know who is more excited, him or me. For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been texting back and forth and talking about it, and he’s really excited. He’s been asking me all the questions on how it’s going to go, and I can’t really answer them because it’s my first time as well. But it’s going to be fun just to be able to show him what we do every single day. And for him to be able to experience the NHL a little bit will be a really cool experience.”
As one of the few teams in the League that has yet to suffer more than two consecutive losses in regulation this season, the Panthers are in solid positioning in the chase for the NHL’s 16 Stanley Cup playoff berths. Although they squeaked into the playoffs last season and went all the way to the Cup Final before bowing to Vegas, the Panthers are only two years removed from icing a dominant, Presidents’ Trophy team in 2021-22, the team that bounced the Caps out of the postseason in Washington’s most recent playoff appearance.
Florida sits in second place in the Atlantic Division, five points behind the Caps’ next opponent on the trip, the Bruins. Despite falling to Philadelphia on home ice on Tuesday night in its most recent outing, Florida is 13-3-2 in its last 18 games. The Panthers are just 1-3-2 in their last six home games, however.
