Home Cookin’ – With the Pittsburgh Penguins in town, the Caps finish up a two-game homestay and they take aim at their eighth straight home ice victory. The last time the Caps managed to win as many as eight straight at home was midway through the magical 2017-18 season when they reeled off 10 consecutive victories at home from Dec. 2, 2017 through Jan. 9, 2018. Washington was 28-11-2 on home ice that season.
Thus far in 2024-25, the Caps have won seven of eight at home, falling only in their Oct. 12 opener against the New Jersey Devils.
Left wing Sonny Milano suffered an upper body injury on Wednesday against Nashville; he will not play tonight, so Jakub Vrana returns to the lineup after a two-game absence. On the back end, Jakob Chychrun took the ice this morning in a full contact sweater and was a full participant in the Caps’ morning skate; Washington had a scheduled off day on Thursday. But Chychrun also stayed out somewhat late and skated with the healthy extras, so there were some mixed signals as to his availability for tonight’s game with the Penguins.
“I’ll talk to the training staff,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “We’ll see how it goes. I’ll get an update after he has finished skating, but he is getting very close.”
Stuck In The Middle – With a 9-3-0 mark through their first dozen games of the season, there’s not much to nitpick in the way the Caps have gone about their business this season. Yes, the power play continues to struggle, but having the third-best goal differential in the NHL (plus-13, trailing only Carolina and Minnesota, at plus-14 each) has helped the Capitals mitigate that shortcoming in the early going.
Washington’s average of 4.08 goals per game ranks fourth in the NHL, so its mediocre power play hasn’t been as noticeable. What has been noticeable though, is the Caps’ second-period play, which hasn’t been as good as its team play in the first and third periods. The Capitals are outscoring opponents 19-8 in the first period and 11 -8 in the third. But they’ve yielded more second-period goals (19) than they have in the first and third combined, and they are a collective minus-one in the middle stanza.
“We talked about it this morning,” says Carbery. “I haven't liked our second period stretches; we've had an issue with the long change and being able to get our defensemen off the ice.
“And we have to do a better job of that overall, of recognizing momentum swings in games, of recognizing fatigue levels in games – especially in the second period – and managing those shifts, so that a 40-second shift where now we have the puck doesn't turn into a minute and a half because we just mismanaged that puck and weren't able to get people off. It has been an issue for us, and we're trying to work through it and get better in that area.”
Do It Again – Washington’s November schedule is serving up four sets of back-to-back games, and Friday’s home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins is the front end of the second of those for sets for the Capitals, who will take on the Blues in St. Louis on Saturday. Pittsburgh comes to town on the back half of a set of back-to-backs; the Pens absorbed a 5-1 setback at the hands of the Hurricanes in Carolina on Thursday night.
For Pittsburgh, tonight’s game concludes a stretch of three road games against Metropolitan Division opponents in a span of four nights. The Pens started the trip with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Islanders in New York on Tuesday.
The Caps split a set of back-to-backs last weekend, trouncing Columbus – which was playing for the second time in as many nights – at home on Saturday before falling to the Canes in Carolina a night later.
This weekend – and each of the next two weekends – the Caps will deal with the ramifications of a set of back-to-back games. Those ramifications are vastly different from the front to the back end of the set.
“We felt the same way going into Carolina [last weekend],” says Caps’ center Nic Dowd. “Every back-to-back is challenging, especially with travel. You get in late, you wake up late, and there are so many little things that go into the day that aren’t normal about your normal game day routine.”
Last Saturday, in facing a weary Columbus team that played the previous night, the Caps opened up a 5-0 first period lead on the Jackets, a team that faced a difficult foe (Winnipeg) the night before.
Tonight, the Caps will face a Pittsburgh team that faced a tough foe (Carolina) the previous night. And while Washington’s plus-13 at 5-on-5 is one of the top goal differentials in the League, Pittsburgh’s minus-16 at 5-on-5 is at the opposite end of the spectrum; the Pens are tied with Montreal for the third worst goal differential, trailing only Nashville (minus-22) and Philadelphia (minus-17).
“I think the start is really important in any game,” says Dowd. “But knowing a team is on a back-to-back, you have to try and create an advantage somewhere, and [a fast start] is something you can do.
“But [St. Louis] is going to argue the same thing, right? They’re going to say, ‘Oh, we’ve got to have a great start because we know they’re on a back-to-back.’ So we’ve got to try to catch them sleeping.”
Catching the Blues sleeping is a Saturday project. Tonight, the Caps have a recent blueprint for success at playing a team that has traveled and is playing for the second time in as many nights. It doesn’t have to be about scoring five goals in the first period, or in getting out to a swift start. It’s more about exacting a toll from the weary as the 60 minutes progresses, making them more aware of their fatigue as each of those minutes passes.
“I think if we continue to play the kind of hockey that makes it challenging for them to have ‘easy ice,’” says Dowd, “I think that’s where the attrition comes in, and that’s where – middle to late in the game – you can start seeing guys make mistakes because they’re tired. And that’s every shift. Guys get tired every shift, but if you do things the right way over and over and over and over, I’m convinced that eventually you’re going to have an opportunity. And then, it’s just a matter of taking advantage of it.”
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren gets the net for the Caps against Pittsburgh. Last weekend, he had the back end of a set of back-to-backs in Carolina; this weekend he starts the front-end game at home. Lindgren was excellent against the Hurricanes, keeping the Caps within a goal until the waning seconds of regulation on a night when the group was displaying collective effects of fatigue.
Making his seventh start of the season, Lindgren is seeking his fourth win. Lifetime against Pittsburgh, Lindgren is 1-2-0 with a shutout, a 2.34 GAA and a .928 save pct. in three appearances, all starts.
Tristan Jarry is on a conditioning stint in the AHL, seeking to find his game after a rugged start to the 2024-25 season. Alex Nejdelkovic was between the pipes for the Pens on Thursday night in Raleigh, where he was dented for five goals against on just 18 shots against his former employers. That leaves rookie netminder Joel Blomqvist as the likely Pittsburgh starter tonight against Washington.
Blomqvist was Pittsburgh’s first choice (second round, 52nd overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft; he was the third goaltender chosen in the 2020 Draft. The Pens have had a first-round pick in only two of the last five NHL Drafts, and Blomqvist is the first Pittsburgh draft choice from this decade to suit up in the NHL. The 22-year-old Finnish netminder is in his second season as a North American pro, and he has fashioned a 2-4-0 record in six starts thus far, with a 3.46 GAA and a .909 save pct.
After starting four of Pittsburgh’s first six games this season – and winning two of his first three – Blomqvist has seen action in only two of nine games since. He has dropped each of his last three starts, yielding four goals against in each of the three games.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we expect the Capitals and Penguins to look when they take the ice on Friday night in DC:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
21-Protas, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 29-Lapierre, 88-Mangiapane
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 16-Raddysh
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 3-Roy
27-Alexeyev, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Extras
52-McIlrath
Out/Injured
6-Chychrun (upper body)
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
PITTSBURGH
Forwards
71-Malkin, 87-Crosby, 67-Rakell
10-O’Connor, 20-Eller, 19-Glass
8-Bunting, 55-Acciari, 18-Puljujarvi
72-Beauvillier, 46-Lizzotte, 48-Puustinen
Defensemen
24-Grzelcyk, 58-Letang
28-Pettersson, 65-Karlsson
27-Graves, 5-Shea
Goaltenders
30-Blomqvist
39-Nejdelkovic
Extras
37-St. Ivany
Out/Injured
13-Hayes (upper body)
17-Rust (lower body)
83-Nieto (lower body)
