Caps Start Western Canada Trip on Monday in Vancouver
Washington embarks upon its first extended road foray of the season, a three-game excursion through Western Canada
If it's late October, the Caps must be in Western Canada. With the horse show taking over Capital One Arena as is customary at this time of year, the Caps are finally off on their first actual road trip of the 2018-19 regular season. They'll start their first extended road trip of the season - a weeklong, three-game excursion - on Monday in Vancouver against the Canucks.
"It will be good for us to be on the road as a group here and to continue to build our bond," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "We've got some new players and some guys with some different roles and continuing to grow as a team. Obviously it's always tough going out west, but it will be good for our team I think, because we've had a little bit of an erratic schedule to start with here."
The schedule was erratic early to be sure. For the first time in franchise history, the Caps opened the season with consecutive sets of back-to-back games, with a five-day break in between. Worse, the second half of each of those sets was played on the road against division foes that were playing their respective home openers the same night.
Washington's early season performance has been as erratic as the schedule. The Caps have looked like world-beaters at times, and they've looked like also-rans at times, sometimes within the same game. The Caps are still seeking their level and looking to get some traction in the standings. They've had games in which they've permitted four, five, six and seven goals in the first seven contests of the campaign. Twice, they've scored five or more goals and lost the game, though they did earn a point in each of those games.
"It hasn't been disastrous," says Caps winger Brett Connolly. "We're still getting points and we're still above .500 right now, and we had a tough couple of back-to-backs to start the year. So it's not the worst start, but we obviously have another level."
For the Caps, the good news is that the schedule is much more favorable for the next month and a half. Now they just need to find a way to develop some consistency and string some wins together.
"I think as you go on, you gain more confidence," says Connolly. "Individually, guys get more confidence at probably the 10-game or 15-game mark. If guys start playing a little better, line combinations start to form and you get that good feeling.
"But we'll be fine. We've got the same team, we've got good leaders in here and there's no panic. We've just got to correct a few little, minor details that we're just a little bit slow on, I guess. It's little details more than anything. But we're on the right track. We've just got to find a different gear here, moving forward."
Secondary scoring had gone missing from Washington's repertoire for a few games, but the Caps were able to get three goals from secondary sources in their most recent outing, a 6-5 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers in Washington on Friday night. Connolly and Devante Smith-Pelly each scored their first goal of the season in that contest, and four of the Caps' five goals in the game were scored at five-on-five.
Vancouver opened the 2018-19 season with a 5-2 win over Calgary on Oct. 3. The Canucks then embarked upon a six-game, 12-day road trip that started in Calgary on Oct. 6 and ended in Winnipeg on Oct. 18, with four Eastern seaboard stops in between. The Canucks started a two-game homestand with a 2-1 overtime win over Boston on Saturday, and they'll head back on the road after hosting the Capitals on Monday.
Canucks center Bo Horvat supplied the overtime game-winner in Saturday's win over the Bruins, his team-leading fifth goal of the season. Vancouver rookie Elias Pettersson also has five goals this season, and he shares the team lead in goals and leads the Canucks in points (eight) despite playing in only five of his team's eight games to date. Pettersson suffered a head injury after a hit from Florida defenseman Mike Matheson in an Oct. 13 game against the Panthers in Sunrise, a hit that resulted in a two-game league suspension for Matheson.
Vancouver is off to a decent start this season as it vies for its first playoff berth since the 2014-15 season. The Canucks have been ousted in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in each of their last three trips to the postseason, posting a 3-12 record in those playoff contests. The last time the Canucks won a playoff round was in 2011 when they defeated the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference final. Vancouver fell to Boston in a seven-game Stanley Cup Final series that spring.
