To Beat The Devil – After a nomadic few weeks of traveling for a dozen straight games, the Caps are finally back home for an extended stay. In the wake of Tuesday night’s 4-3 victory over the Penguins in Pittsburgh, the Caps returned home to open a five-game homestand, starting with tonight’s visit from the New Jersey Devils.
Tuesday night’s triumph ended a four-game slide (0-2-2) for the Capitals – their longest drought between victories this season – and it ended a two-game skid (0-2-0) against Metropolitan Division opponents. Washington is now 10-4-1 against Metro foes this season, and Philadelphia is the only division opponent the Caps have yet to defeat. The Caps have played the Flyers just once to date, and they’ll face them twice more later in the season.
Washington has won each of its first two meetings with the Devils this season, taking both of its meetings in Newark. The Caps won 6-4 in New Jersey on Oct. 25 in the back half of a set of back-to-backs, and they won there by a 4-2 count on Nov. 10 in the front end of games on consecutive nights.
Viva Max – Just over six months ago, on July 1 of last year, the Caps announced the signing of veteran unrestricted free agent Max Pacioretty. At the time, Pacioretty was in the midst of rehabbing from a second torn Achilles’ tendon, and Washington was well aware that it would not have Pacioretty’s services available until sometime around midseason.
Over the last few weeks, Pacioretty has begun participating in practices and morning skates with his teammates, at first in a light blue non-contact sweater, and then as a full contact participant. The Caps spent much of December on the road, and Pacioretty accompanied them on some of the trips, getting some extra work in after practices and morning skates.
Finally, tonight against New Jersey, Pacioretty will step onto the ice sporting his No. 67 Caps’ sweater for the first time. Last season, Pacioretty was limited to just five games with Carolina before tearing his Achilles’ tendon; he suited up for the first time last season on Jan. 5, 2023, and for the last time two weeks later on Jan. 19.
Tonight, he will occupy the left side of a line with Dylan Strome in the middle and Matthew Phillips on the right side.
“Just for him to get comfortable, to be honest with you,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery, asked what he is hoping to see from the left winger tonight. “Not that he’s not a great player who can contribute a lot, it’s just been a long time for him, and the process.
“And to that point, I think the medical staff deserves a lot of credit. [Assistant coach, skills] Kenny McCudden and that staff, and obviously Max himself have put a lot of work in to him getting to this day, and a lot of people have put a lot of hours in to help Max get back. I’m excited for him to just get back out and play in an NHL hockey game, to be honest with you. And his game I know – being out this long – will just continue to build and get better and get better.
“So tonight is about him getting back into an NHL game, and trying to get him to feel as comfortable as possible.”
Pacioretty celebrated his 35th birthday in November. Injuries limited him to just 92 games over the previous three seasons, but he scored 46 goals over that span, proving there is nothing wrong with his shot, which has always been lethal.
“I would say probably the pace of it, so the strength of it,” begins Carbery, describing what makes Pacioretty’s shot special. “But also his release is really deceptive, and he can get it off in different ways. And the puck, I find shooters like him where it just comes off their stick a little bit differently when they release – whether it's changing their shot angle or just the snap that it comes off with – he can get it up in a hurry and can score and a lot of different areas that that come off really hot.”
Pacioretty isn’t going to be a cure all for Washington’s ongoing scoring woes, but adding a dangerous scoring winger to the mix should help.
In The Nets – Hunter Shepard gets the net for Washington tonight, and he will face the Devils for the second time this season, and the second time in his NHL career. Shepard made his NHL debut against the Devils in New Jersey on Oct. 25, coming away with a 6-4 victory at night’s end. He also started and won against the Islanders in New York on Nov. 11, and he helped the Caps earn a point on Dec. 30 in his first home start, a 3-2 shootout setback to Nashville. Each of Shepard’s starts has come in the second half of a back-to-back situation, and he has helped the team to five of a possible six points.
Shepard stopped 18 of 22 shots in his only previous appearance against New Jersey, picking up his first NHL victory in the process. In his three NHL starts on the season, Shepard is 2-0-1 with a 2.27 GAA and a .926 save pct.
Nico Daws is the expected starter for the Devils tonight. The German goaltender was New Jersey’s third-round pick (84th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft, and he debuted with the Devils back in the 2021-22 season, seeing action in 25 games, including 23 as a starter. Daws spent all of last season at AHL Utica. Injured in training camp prior to the start of this season, Daws was activated and sent to Utica about a month ago.
After going 1-2-0 with a 2.39 GAA and a .929 save pct. in three starts with the Comets, Daws was summoned to Newark last week, swapping organizational slots with Akira Schmid. He stopped 25 of 27 shots to earn his first win of the season in his first and only NHL start to date, a 6-2 victory over the Sens in Ottawa on Dec. 29.
Daws lost his lone career start against the Caps, a March 26, 2022 start here in the District. He stopped 18 of 22 shots that night in a 4-3 Washington victory. In net for Washington on that night just under two years ago was Vitek Vanecek, who is currently Daws’ netminding partner with New Jersey.
All Lined Up – Here is how we believe the Capitals and Devils might look when they take the ice on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
21-Protas, 24-McMichael, 39-Mantha
67-Pacioretty, 17-Strome, 45-Phillips
47-Malenstyn, 26-Dowd, 96-Aube-Kubel
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 25-Bear
57-van Riemsdyk, 3-Jensen
Goaltenders
31-Hunter
35-Kuemper
Injured
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (lower body)
77-Oshie (lower body)
79-Lindgren (upper body)
Scratches
6-Edmundson
27-Alexeyev
NEW JERSEY
Forwards
73-Toffoli, 86-J. Hughes, 63-Bratt
18-Palat, 13-Hischier, 56-Haula
42-Lazar, 20-McLeod, 91-Mercer
10-Holtz, 11-Tierney, 14-Bastian
Defensemen
71-Siegenthaler, 17-Nemec
43-L. Hughes, 6-Marino
88-Bahl, 2-Smith
Goaltenders
50-Daws
41-Vanecek
Injured
7-Hamilton (torn pectoral)
25-N. Foote (upper body)
28-Meier (undisclosed)
92-Nosek (upper body)
Scratches
24-Miller
95-Clarke
