Caps Take on Penguins
Caps open set of back-to-backs on Tuesday in their first visit to Pittsburgh in nearly a year
The Caps close out a two-game road swing and open up the February portion of their schedule on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh when they take on the Penguins. The two longtime rivals met twice in Washington earlier this season, splitting a pair of regulation decisions. Tuesday's game is also the front end of a set of back-to-back games for the Capitals, who will return home to host Edmonton on Wednesday night.
On Sunday, the Caps learned that center Evgeny Kuznetsov would be joining Alex Ovechkin at the 2022 NHL All-Star Game in Las Vegas this weekend. Ovechkin will captain the Metropolitan Division team, and Kuznetsov was named to the team as an injury replacement for New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox. With 43 points (13 goals, 30 assists) in 42 games on the season, Kuznetsov is tied for 25th in the NHL's scoring race.
This year marks Kuznetsov's second trip to the All-Star Game; he skated in the 2016 NHL All-Star Game in Nashville along with Caps center Nicklas Backstrom.
"Every time you get selected there, it's pretty fantastic," exudes Kuznetsov. "I believe it's going to be a good couple of days to get to know some people and be around some good players. It's always nice to spend a couple of days like that."
First though, the Caps have a midweek set of back-to-backs in which they're hoping to build off one of their stronger overall efforts of the season. And Kuznetsov admits he is more excited to play this upcoming back-to-back set against star-studded opponents Pittsburgh and Edmonton, respectively, than he is to play in the All-Star Game.
Washington concluded a difficult month of January on a high note in Dallas on Friday, shutting out the Stars 5-0 behind five different goal scorers and a 29-save whitewash from Vitek Vanecek. Vanecek earned all four of the Caps' wins last month - they went 4-6-2 - including two via the shutout route.
Beginning with a 3-2 shootout win over the Sabres in Buffalo on Dec. 11, Vanecek is 6-3-0 in his last 10 appearances (nine starts), with a pair of shutouts, a 2.09 GAA and a .929 save pct. He has allowed two or fewer goals in six of those nine starts, and he gave the Caps a chance to win or earn points in all nine of those starting assignments. Only once in the nine games did he permit as many as four goals, and that was in a 4-3 loss to the Bruins in Boston on Jan. 20. In that game, Vanecek yielded the fourth goal on a B's power play in the final minute of regulation.
"I said it from the beginning of the year that I'd like to get to a point where somebody grabs it," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of his team's goaltending situation. "We have two good young goaltenders, and both with opportunity this year. It's not that anything is set in stone, but we're looking to push that needle and have somebody step up and earn those starts and put them back in there and have them do it again. Sammy had a spot early in the year, but right now Vitek has been on a real steady run with his game."
Vanecek has started six of Washington's last eight games, his busiest stretch since he had the net for seven of nine starts from Oct. 21-Nov. 8. As an NHL rookie at this time last year, Vanecek was in the midst of a run in which he started 17 of Washington's first 20 games of the truncated '20-21 NHL season, his first taste of NHL action. He went 5-0-2 in January of 2021, helping the Caps to earn at least a point in each of his first seven starts in the NHL.
A year later, Vanecek has 60 games worth of NHL experience to call back on, and he credits his improved mental approach for his continued success.
"I feel good from lots of experience," says Vanecek. "But the most important thing is the mental thing. I feel really, really strong in the mental part of the game. In your head when you give up a bad goal, sometimes you're thinking about it. But I don't have that time right now and I'm focused on keep going, keep going and being strong."
With Vanecek in the crease, the Caps downed a weary and banged up Pittsburgh team by a 6-1 count in Washington on Nov. 14. The Pens got even with a 4-2 win over the Caps on their second and final trip into town on Dec. 10. Tuesday's game marks the first in which both teams will have their top two centers available; neither Backstrom nor Evgeni Malkin played in either of the first two meetings between the two teams this season.
Pittsburgh's Dec. 10 win in Washington was its third in a string of 10 straight victories that propelled the Pens up the Metro standings ladder. Since Dec. 4, the Pens are 17-3-2 in a span of 22 games, and they'll actually enter Tuesday's game with a three-game losing streak (0-1-2). The Penguins have won five straight games against Metropolitan Division opponents, and they have not suffered a regulation loss to an Eastern Conference foe since a 6-3 home-ice humbling at the hands of the Habs on Nov. 27.
Most recently, the Pens suffered a 4-3 home ice loss to Los Angeles on Sunday, their first regulation loss at home since the aforementioned game against Montreal in late November. Pittsburgh went 10-3-2 in a busy month of January, and the Kings handed the Pens two of those three regulation losses.
"They were playing well before they got a couple of guys back," says Laviolette of the Penguins. "They've been one of the top teams in the League for probably two months now, just by their record and their winning percentage. It will be a good challenge for us to be ready to play and see if we can't move up in the division."
