November 15 vs. Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena
Time: 9:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (10-4-1)
Colorado Avalanche (9-8-0)
The Caps open up a three-game road trip on Friday night in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche. Washington will play three games in four nights on this journey; following the Friday game in Colorado, the Caps will play their third of four sets of back-to-backs this month. The Caps face Vegas on Sunday, and they’ll conclude the trip on Monday night with their first ever visit to Utah.
Over the season’s first 15 games, Washington played a home-heavy slate, with 10 of those 15 tilts on home ice. Starting with Friday’s game in Denver, those tables turn. Washington will play 14 of its next 21 games on the road, scattered over eight separate road journeys.
In the aftermath of an ugly home ice loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, the Caps will be looking to get right as they take to the road this weekend. As Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery pointed out on Wednesday morning before the game with the Leafs, the Caps’ recent schedule has been dotted with opponents coming into Washington on the heels of ugly losses, with those teams looking to straighten up against the Capitals.
Carbery pointed to Nashville and Pittsburgh last week and Toronto this week; all three teams came into town on the heels of ugly setbacks, with the latter two teams doing so on the front end of a back-to-back, ahead of their date with the Capitals. Washington was able to fend off the Predators in a hard fought 3-2 victory, but it fell 4-2 to the Penguins.
Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Toronto was more excruciating because the Caps had an exemplary start against a team playing for the second time in as many nights; they out-attempted Toronto 28-8 in a first period that was played entirely at 5-on-5 and grabbed a 2-1 lead. And then Washington let a two-goal lead slip away in the final five minutes of regulation.
Although the Leafs began to make a push in the second, the Caps added to their advantage carrying a 3-1 lead to the third. Some stellar netminding from Logan Thompson and a pair of overturned Toronto goals kept the Leafs at bay for most of the final frame, but unforced errors on Washington’s part led to a pair of Toronto goals in the final five minutes, forcing overtime. John Tavares won it for the visitors in the final minute of the extra session.
“We sat back in the third; just didn’t get pucks in,” says Caps’ center Dylan Strome. “It wasn’t our brand of hockey in the third, that’s for sure. It wasn’t good enough, obviously … [When you] sit back too much, that’s what happens.”
And now, the Capitals are that team they’ve been facing. They’re the team headed out on the road that’s looking to bounce back from a bad beat against their next opponent.
“We started to make some unacceptable plays we usually don’t make, and it started to fall apart,” says Caps’ forward Aliaksei Protas. “And we had the chances to close this game out, and we didn’t. So it’s for sure on us. We’ve got to move forward, learn from that, and we’ve got a big road trip coming up, so we’ve got to be ready for that.
“Another experience, another lesson for us moving forward, and we’ve just got to learn from that, see what we can do better and move forward.”
The Caps are still sitting with a strong 10-4-1 record. But since the calendar flipped to November, they’ve alternated wins and losses (3-2-1) and have been unable to start stacking victories.
“We’ll look at some and video and learn from this game what actually went wrong,” says Caps’ defenseman Rasmus Sandin. “It’s tough to say right now, but we need to manage the puck better. Why we didn’t manage the puck better is something we’ve got to figure out today, and then just move on and prepare yourself for the road trip coming up here.”
Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery was visibly displeased with his team’s performance in the minutes after the game, and the Thursday morning light did not diminish those feelings.
“Probably honestly a little bit worse than I originally thought at the time,” said Carbery following the team’s Thursday practice, ahead of its departure for Denver. “Sometimes you’re hesitant to make bold statements after games, because sometimes you’re in the heat of the moment. But I felt pretty confident last night that it was going to look the way it looked watching from the bench. And it was not good on film as well.”
Washington has rebounded to win the game immediately following each of its first four losses this season, and it has outscored the opposition by a combined total of 20-8 in those four games. But that won’t be an easy feat to repeat on the road against the Avalanche on Friday.
“We have a great locker room of guys that care and want to do the right thing and want to play the right way, and desperately want to win,” says Carbery. “It’s not about the winning; it’s about how it looks and whether we meet that level [of urgency]. You’re going to lose games in this League; that’s the way it works. It’s a competitive League, teams are good, the bounces aren’t going to go your way. It’s just us meeting that urgency level that it has to look like.
“And the other part is, it’s not going to get any easier. Now you’re going on the road and you’re looking at Colorado and Vegas – and we’re just focusing on Colorado. But these are tough, tough teams, and tough environments to play in. So you better make sure that your desperation level is at least meeting your opponent’s, but we like to exceed that on a regular occasion.”
Since opening the season with an 0-4-0 slide, the Avs have gone 9-4-0, and they’ll carry a three-game winning streak into Friday’s game. Colorado is also expecting some personnel reinforcements ahead of the game against Washington; top six forward Valeri Nichushkin is expected to be in the Colorado lineup if he gains full approval from the NHL and NHLPA after his stint in the players’ assistance program. And veteran forwards Miles Wood and Jonathan Drouin also appear to be on the verge of returning to game action.
Most recently, the Avs rallied back from a 2-1 second-period deficit to take a 4-2 decision from the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Mikko Rantanen’s natural hat trick was the difference; he tied the game late in the second period, scored again to give the Avs the lead midway through the third, and salted the game away with an empty-net goal early in the penultimate minute of regulation.
Friday’s game is the finale of a four-game homestand for the Avalanche, which departs on a four-game road trip this weekend. Washington is the second stop on Colorado’s trip east; the Caps and Avs will tangle again in DC on Nov. 21.
