SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Been Awhile - For the first time in just over two years, the Colorado Avalanche is coming into D.C. to face the Capitals. The Avs last visited Capital One Arena on Oct. 14, 2019, taking a 6-3 decision from the Caps in that contest. Later in the season - about a month before the pandemic abruptly ended the 2019-20 regular season - the Caps visited the Avs in Denver (on Feb. 12, 2020), skating off with a 3-2 victory, their lone triumph in a span of a seven-game stretch (1-5-1).

The Avs departed Denver on Monday without center Nathan MacKinnon, who missed the first two games of the season after testing positive for COVID-19. MacKinnon tested negative after the Avs left for their three-game road trip, and he flew out to D.C. on his own late Monday night. He is expected to play tonight, and the Avs are likely to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for Tuesday's game in the District.
Centerpiece - Caps center Connor McMichael will make his 2021-22 season debut tonight against the Avs, occupying the middle of a line with Conor Sheary and T.J. Oshie, the same slot rookie center Hendrix Lapierre occupied for the season's first two games.
The 20-year-old McMichael will be taking the ice for just the second time as an NHLer; he made his debut here in an empty rink last Jan. 24 against Buffalo. Both McMichael and Lapierre turned in strong preseason and training camp performances and the Caps' youthful duo is attempting to help fill the void left in Washington's lineup by the ongoing absence of Nicklas Backstrom (hip).
"I thought he played well in training camp," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of McMichael. "We made a decision to go [with Lapierre for the first two games]. Going into it, we were planning on utilizing both players. I thought Lappy came off of a really good first game, and I didn't think it was right to pull him out. After somebody does what you want and they have a good game, I didn't think it's the right thing to do, so we let it go another game.
"But now I think it's a good time to make a switch. I thought Lappy did a good job, but we'll get Connor going tonight and see what his game looks like."
McMichael led the NHL Hershey Bears with 14 goals and 27 points in 36 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, and he led the entire League with eight game-winning goals.
Although the McMIchael-Lapierre combo is essentially filling in for Backstrom in the Washington lineup, the Caps have moved pieces around and they've tasked centers Evgeny Kuznetsov, Lars Eller and Nic Dowd with more ice time and responsibility, enabling the two youngsters to take it slow as they transition to the world's best league.
Lapierre averaged 10:02 in ice time in his two games skating with Sheary and Oshie, scoring his first NHL goal in the second period of Washington's season opener against the Rangers last Wednesday.
"I thought they've done a good job," says Laviolette of the kids. "I don't think that we should look for those two guys to replace Nick Backstrom; that would be a tall order at this point in their careers. What we do want them to do is to come in and contribute and be good players. They're playing with a couple of veteran payers and I think that that helps them, and we're just looking for them to be a part of the team.
"Lappy got the nod for the first two games. This is Connor's chance to go in and just play his game. He doesn't have to be Nick. He's just got to go in and play his game, and help our team be successful."
Avalanche Alley - Twenty-one years and two days ago (on Oct. 17, 2000), the Caps hosted the Avalanche here in Washington, and history was made. Only a few games into their third full season at the big barn on F St., the Caps went up against a Colorado team that would go on to win the Stanley Cup that season, the only full season that Hockey Hall of Famer Raymond Bourque spent with the Avs.
The history-making event of 21 years ago involved Bourque, in what turned out to be the only time he ever sported an Avs sweater in Washington. When Colorado came to town on that Tuesday night in mid-October, Avs goaltender Patrick Roy had 447 career victories, tied with legendary Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk for the top spot among all netminders in League history. With a victory over the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets in the Avs' home opener three nights earlier, Roy pulled even with Sawchuk, and he was looking to make history in the District as Colorado opened a two-game trip.
The Avs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on first-period goals from Alex Tanguay and Milan Hejduk, but the Caps answered with a pair of second period goals from Ulf Dahlen and Peter Bondra. Just 25 seconds into the third, Bondra scored his second of the night on a power play, giving the Caps their first lead of the game. Three minutes later, Joe Sakic tied it on a Colorado power play, with Bourque picking up his second assist of the night. In the waning seconds of regulation, Roy denied Caps forward Jan Bulis from in tight, a shot he never saw, he admitted after the game.
The two teams headed to overtime, and midway through the extra session Roy secured victory No. 448. With the Avs on the power play, Peter Forsberg tipped a Bourque point shot past Caps goaltender Olie Kolzig, and one of the hallowed records of its time came tumbling down. Sawchuk earned his 447th win in his 968th game while Roy needed only 847 games to reach 448 career wins.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was in attendance for the occasion, and after being mobbed by his teammates, Roy personally cut the net from the goal to be sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Although the Avs had another game the following night - against the Blue Jackets in Columbus - Roy conducted a lengthy postgame press conference as well.
Roy finished his career with 551 victories, and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur (691) eventually passed him, lapping Sawchuk by nearly 250 wins.
In The Nets - After Vitek Vanecek started and played well in each of Washington's first two games this season, Ilya Samsonov gets his first start of the regular season on Tuesday against the Avalanche.
"Vitek played great," says Laviolette. "Sammy has looked really good in practice, and so we'll get him a start."
Samsonov's lone career appearance against the Avs came in relief, a game in which he was saddled with the loss. He has a 2.46 GAA and a .905 save pct. in 49 career minutes of work against Colorado.
Over the offseason, the Avs lost ex-Caps goaltender Philipp Grubauer, who signed with the expansion Seattle Kraken as an unrestricted free agent. The Avs reacted to that loss by making a deal with Arizona to obtain veteran Darcy Kuemper, giving up a first-rounder in 2022, a conditional third-rounder and defenseman Conor Timmins, who was a second-round choice of the Avs in the 2017 NHL Draft.
Colorado becomes the fourth NHL organization for Kuemper, who was a sixth-round pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2009. Now in his 10th NHL season, Kuemper has played more than 31 games in a season just once in his career. He made 55 appearances - all starts - for Arizona in 2018-19 when he finished fifth in Vezina Trophy balloting.
Lifetime against Washington, Kuemper is 1-1-0 with a 2.03 GAA and a .939 save pct. in two appearances.
All Lined Up - Here's how we believe the Caps and Avalanche will look when they take to the ice on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
39-Mantha, 20-Eller, 10-Sprong
73-Sheary, 24-McMichael, 77-Oshie
62-Hagelin, 26-Dowd, 21-Hathaway
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
57-van Riemsdyk, 2-Schultz
Goaltenders
30-Samsonov
41-Vanecek
Extras
29-Lapierre
38-Cholowski
52-Irwin
Injured
19-Backstrom (hip, week-to-week)
COLORADO
Forwards
95-Burakovsky, 29-MacKinnon, 96-Rantanen
75-Ranta, 91-Kadri, 37-Compher
43-Helm, 17-Yost, 25-O'Connor
11-Maltsev, 61-Kaut
Defensemen
49-Girard, 8-Makar
4-Byram, 6-E. Johnson
28-Murray, 3-J. Johnson
56-MacDermid
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
31-Johansson
Extras
12-Megna
Injured
7-Toews (shoulder)
13-Nichushkin (upper body)
22-Matteau (lower body)
39-Francouz (ankle)
92-Landeskog (suspension)