SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Out Right Now - For much of the last three regular seasons - including the current one - the Caps have been filling, patching and spackling holes that keep popping up in their lineup for various reasons. They're still doing that; at least seven players will miss tonight's homestand finale against Tampa Bay for various ailments and maladies.

But when Washington takes to the ice tonight against the Lightning, there will be a new hole to fill, and this one is behind the bench rather than on it. On Friday morning, the Caps announced that coach Peter Laviolette is in COVID-19 protocol and will miss tonight's game against Tampa Bay as well as the rematch in Tampa on Sunday night. In the interim, assistant coach Kevin McCarthy will assume the head coaching duties until Laviolette returns.
Now in his 23rd consecutive season as an assistant or associate coach at the NHL level, McCarthy has worked alongside Laviolette in four different NHL cities. Prior to that, McCarthy had six seasons worth of AHL head coaching experience in two different stints; those two stints were sandwiched around a three-year stretch as an assistant coach for the Hartford Whalers in the early 1900s.
A former NHL defenseman and captain of the Vancouver Canucks during his playing days, McCarthy's playing career ended in Hershey in 1987-88 and his coaching career began in the same location the next season as an assistant with the Bears. Over the last three and a half decades, he has been behind the bench for thousands of games but tonight will mark the first time he will run the bench at the NHL level.
"Lavi is a pretty healthy guy," quips McCarthy, who notes his last head coaching stint was with AHL New Haven in 1998-99.
McCarthy is right though; Laviolette is the only member of Washington's coaching and training staffs who got through the team's entire 82-game schedule last season without missing a single game. Playing a man down behind the bench tonight, the Caps will keep it simple.
"We're keeping it as normal as we can," says McCarthy. "I'll be working with the [defensemen], and [assistant coach Blaine Forsythe] will be working with the forwards, as far as changing. We just want to keep it as simple as we can for players, keep the routines the same, just like we did this morning.
"I think one of Lavi's biggest strengths is the fact that he gives us all a lot of responsibility. We're all in on every decision that is made, so we all feel comfortable in our roles and what we have to do. It's just a matter now of sending that same message."
Back In The Saddle Again - Washington has been playing without a slew of important players for each of its 15 games thus far this season, but the Caps have been hit harder by the injury bug over the last couple weeks, and they've played each of the last two games with more than $40 million worth of payroll missing from their lineup. They're hoping to get a boost from the return of defenseman John Carlson tonight.
Sidelined since suffering a lower body injury in an Oct. 29 game in Nashville, Carlson's presence in tonight's lineup will be a game time decision. He has been skating for several days now, and as long as there are no adverse effects from his participation in today's morning skate, we can expect to see him in the lineup tonight.
"I'm doing a lot better," says Carlson. "I feel really good now, and just trying to make sure I'm doing the right things on the path back."
Carlson has missed the Caps' last six games, and Washington went 1-3-2 in his absence. Since the Caps hoisted the Stanley Cup with Carlson playing all 82 regular season and 24 playoff games in 2017-18, the Caps are 5-8-3 in the 16 regular season games he has missed. He has not missed as many as six consecutive games since January of 2017 when he was out for six straight games with a lower body ailment.
"It's been difficult," he says, of his absence from the lineup. "It's difficult because I have been in the lineup a lot. It doesn't feel normal to me, number one, and certainly when the team's not doing too well either and a lot of guys are out, those are times when the leaders lead. I know that everyone's been doing a good job picking up the slack for the guys that are out, but it's just not a good feeling, knowing that you're not there to help.
"But like I said, I'm trying to do the right thing always in terms of health and I haven't had something like this particular thing before, so I'm trying to listen to the people who know what they're doing."
If Carlson is able to play tonight, rookie defenseman Alex Alexeyev would sit this one out as a healthy scratch. Alexeyev returned from offseason shoulder surgery to play his second NHL game - and first this season - in Wednesday's loss to the Penguins.
In The Nets -Darcy Kuemper gets the net tonight for Washington, making his 12th start of the season. Kuemper was in net for the Caps' 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, and he took responsibility for the first two goals against him. But Kuemper also made a trio of excellent stops when that game was still 0-0, and he has certainly lacked for run support in his recent starts. Over his last six starts, Kuemper has posted a 2.01 GAA and a .931 save pct. Those are sparkling numbers that belie a 1-4-1 record in those four games.
Lifetime against the Lightning, Kuemper is 4-2-0 with a 2.33 GAA and a .920 save pct. in seven career regular season appearances, all starts. In four career playoff starts against the Bolts - all of them in the Stanley Cup Final this past spring - Kuemper was also 4-2 with a 2.45 GAA and a .914 save pct.
For the Lightning, we're expecting to see Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pipes tonight. On the season, he is 4-4-1 with a 2.90 and a .910 save pct. Lifetime against Washington, Vasilevskiy is 6-7-1 with a 3.40 GAA and a .903 save pct. in 14 appearances, all starts.
All Lined Up - Here's how we expect the Caps and the Lightning to look when they take the ice on Friday night at Capital One Arena in the finale of Washington's four-game homestand:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 73-Sheary
15-Milano, 17-Strome, 90-Johansson
39-Mantha, 20-Eller, 96-Aube-Kubel
59-Protas, 26-Dowd, 21-Hathaway
Defensemen
56-Gustafsson, 74-Carlson
42-Fehervary, 3-Jensen
52-Irwin, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
24-McMichael
27-Alexeyev
91-Snively
Injured
9-Orlov (lower body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
28-Brown (lower body)
43-Wilson (knee)
47-Malenstyn (upper body)
62-Hagelin (hip)
77-Oshie (lower body)
TAMPA BAY
Forwards
38-Hagel, 21-Point, 86-Kucherov
91-Stamkos, 20-Paul, 17-Killorn
45-Koepke, 90-Namestnikov, 79-Colton
14-Maroon, 41-Bellemare, 10-Perry
Defensemen
77-Hedman 81-Cernak
98-Sergachev, 48-Perbix
28-Cole, 52-Foote
Goaltenders
88-Vasilevskiy
1-Elliott
Healthy Extras
5-Myers
7-Fleury
Injured
24-Bogosian (shoulder)
71-Cirelli (shoulder)