Caps' Trip Continues with Wednesday Date vs. Ducks
A day after a flurry of personnel transactions, Caps get back in action in Anaheim
The Capitals' four-game road trip continues on Wednesday night when the caps take on the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. Wednesday's game is the second meeting between the two teams in a week; the Ducks handed the Capitals a 4-2 setback in Washington on Thursday, Washington's sixth loss in succession.
Washington shook off that losing slide with a 6-3 home ice win over the New York Rangers on Saturday in D.C., but as has been the case for most of the last two months, the Caps weren't able to build off that uplifting victory. They started their current four-game road trip with a 7-4 loss to the Sabres in Buffalo on Sunday afternoon.
Following a day off in rainy Southern California on Monday, the Caps reconvened on Tuesday for a practice session at Honda Center. Conor Sheary and Evgeny Kuznetsov did not take the ice on Tuesday in Anaheim; Sheary returned to Washington after Sunday's game in Buffalo to join his wife, who gave birth to the couple's second child early Monday morning back home. Sheary is expected to rejoin the team later on Tuesday and should be available to play Wednesday's game here in Anaheim. Kuznetsov is day-to-day with a non-COVID illness.
"We had the same practice a few days ago, before Rangers game," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "I just liked the fact that we just get back on point about what we're trying to do out there. It's just competitive against each other, it just sets the right tone for the game [Wednesday]. It's coming off a long trip and a day off, and it just gets the guys back on point.
"But certainly there's some forechecking things in there, there's some breakout things and taking care of the puck, there's some defensive zone coverage in there. It's a good mix of everything that we can be better at, inside of a competitive environment."
As the Caps were boarding the bus from the arena to the hotel following Tuesday's practice came word of a pair of rapid-fire trades from Washington's war room back at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, where Caps' general manager Brian MacLellan is hunkered down with the rest of the hockey operations staff, taking and making calls.
First, the Caps sent forward Marcus Johansson to Minnesota - where he previously played in 2020-21 - in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Minutes later came word that blueliner Erik Gustafsson was sent to Toronto along with Boston's first-round pick in 2023 - a choice obtained last week in the trade that sent Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to the Bruins - in exchange for 22-year-old defenseman Rasmus Sandin.
Later in the evening, the Caps announced another deal, this one of the contract extension variety. Defenseman Nick Jensen has been signed to a three-year contract extension with an average annual value of $4.05 million.
Prior to the news of those transactions breaking, Laviolette talked about the uneasiness of the days leading up to the trade deadline.
"That's the deadline, I think everybody probably feels a little bit of that [anxiety]," says Laviolette. "The message for our team is just to focus on the practice today and focus on the game tomorrow, execute some things better than we did in Buffalo, good enough to win a hockey game."
Heading into Tuesday night's slate of NHL activity, the Capitals are part of a three-team cluster at 64 points, and they have the most games played (62) of that trio of teams. With 67 points, Pittsburgh is the current occupant of the second and final wild card playoff berth, and each of the five teams directly ahead of Washington and the one immediately behind it (Ottawa) are in action tonight. Among that group of clubs, only the New York Islanders - occupants of the first wild card slot - has more games played (63) than the Capitals.
Anaheim rolls into Wednesday's game with a three-game winning streak, matching its longest winning run of the season. After downing the Caps in D.C. last Thursday., the Ducks finished their four-game Eastern road trip with a flourish, edging the Hurricanes in Carolina by a 3-2 count on Saturday. That win enabled the Ducks to return home with a 2-1-1 record for the journey, and they opened a three-game homestand with a 4-2 win over Chicago on Monday night.
The Ducks' sudden - they were 0-5-1 before the streak started - and modest winning run has pulled them to within a point of San Jose for seventh place in the Pacific Division standings. Monday's victory over the Blackhawks pulled Anaheim even with Chicago for the bottom spot in the overall Western Conference standings.
