Jan. 24 vs. Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena
Time: 9:30 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Stream: MonSports.net/Stream
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (22-17-6)
Colorado Avalanche (30-14-3)
The Caps move into the back half of their four-game road trip and the back half of a set of back-to-back games on Wednesday night in Denver when they take on the Colorado Avalanche for the first time this season.
On Tuesday night in Minnesota, the Caps fell 5-3 to the Wild at Xcel Energy Center, suffering a third straight road loss for the first time this season. Washington has dropped each of the first two games of the trip, falling behind early in both games, and never leading in either contest. The journey began with a 3-0 loss to the Blues in St. Louis on Saturday night.
Ex-Caps forward Marcus Johansson had two goals in Tuesday’s Minnesota victory, spoiling a two-goal effort from Washington’s Anthony Mantha, whose 14 goals are second on the team to Dylan Strome (16). T.J. Oshie scored Washington’s other goal on a power play late in the third period, and Oshie’s four power-play goals this season are one off of Strome’s team-leading total of five.
In each of the first two games of the trip, the Caps have yielded a goal against to an opposing defenseman inside of the game’s first three minutes, and they haven’t been able to dig themselves out of that early hole. On Tuesday in Minnesota, rookie blueliner Brock Faber gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 1:37 of the first, and by the time the opening period was five minutes old, the Wild was up by a pair of goals.
“Obviously, it’s frustrating,” says Caps’ defenseman Rasmus Sandin, back in the lineup Tuesday after an eight-game absence because of an upper body injury. “But it’s what good teams do, too. Even when you’re under, you can’t stop battling. I think we had some good moments in the game, too; we just let it go away a little bit too early. It’s tough to catch up when you’re down three or four goals, so we can’t let that happen.”
In falling behind early and failing to pull points out of each of the first two games of the trip, the Caps have also failed to build upon a modest two-game winning streak they built before going out on the road. The Capitals have been getting a fair share of scoreboard help from around the circuit – only two of the eight Metropolitan Division clubs have won more than half of their last 10 games – but they’ve been unable to take advantage.
After returning from a lengthy western road trip in early December, the Caps put together a prosperous run – from a point collecting standpoint – of 5-1-3 over a nine-game stretch. But since then, they’ve managed only five victories in their last 13 games (5-7-1).
“I genuinely believe in our leadership,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “They know we’re in playoff mode right now, and this is our season, and how tight [the standings are], and all that stuff. If we are being realistic about playing into April and May, this is going to be the chunk [of the schedule] that decides our season.
“They’re challenging games against real good hockey teams, and [Wednesday’s game in Denver] is certainly as difficult as the test gets. But that’s where we have to prove that we belong and we’re capable of playing past the regular season.”
Tonight’s game marks the first time Carbery and Colorado coach Jared Bednar will face off against each other as NHL head coaches. Both bench bosses started their respective coaching careers with Washington’s ECHL South Carolina affiliate about a decade and a half ago. Bednar is the only coach in the game’s history to win the ECHL’s Kelly Cup, the AHL’s Calder Cup and the NHL’s Stanley Cup.
Colorado last played on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia, and it has been cooling its heels since while the Caps have played two full games over the same span. Like the Caps, the Avs are one of the few NHL clubs that has yet to lose as many as three straight games in regulation this season.
The Avalanche is 14-5-1 in its last 20 games, and it has scored five or more goals in nine of its victories during that span. With a lusty average of 3.77 goals per game, the Avalanche ranks second in the League in that department to only Vancouver (3.79).
