Florida, Man – The Caps start a two-game Florida trip on Thursday night in Tampa, where they will face the Lightning for the second of three meetings between the two former Southeast Division rivals. The trip concludes on Saturday when the Caps finish up their season’s slate with the Panthers in South Florida.
With the trade deadline two weeks away now and with much ground still to be made up in the standings, the Caps are seeking to string together a modest three-game winning streak, a feat they last managed in mid-December. For Washington, it’s playoff time right now. The Florida weather on Thursday in Tampa is a warm reminder of that.
“Ever since after the [All-Star] break, we’ve been playing a lot better,” says Caps’ center Connor McMichael. We’re a little more connected on the ice, and we’re making easy reads off each other, which is helping.
“We know this isn’t going to be an easy road trip against two really good teams in this League. We’re just looking to bring that momentum that we got in those last two games, and to carry it into tonight.”
Meet Me In The Middle – At this time five years ago, both McMichael and Aliaksei Protas were playing junior hockey, McMichael with London of the OHL and Protas with Prince Albert of the WHL. Months later, McMichael became the Caps’ first-round (25th overall) pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and Protas was Washington’s third-round (91st overall) choice in the third round of that draft.
Five years down the road, both players are Calder Cup champions, and both have surpassed the 125-game threshold in the NHL. And tonight, both will be centering lines for Washington, the first time this season that both players are slated to man the middle of one of the Caps’ forward trios. They’ll be going up against the likes of Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Nick Paul and Luke Glendening, a group that boasts a combined 2,112 career NHL games among them, a surreal coincidence for all of you Rush fans out there in reader land.
“You could argue it’s as challenging a match-up for that specific position – in these two situations [on this trip] – as there is,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “So I think it’s a great opportunity and a great test for them to play the middle against Anthony Cirelli, Brayden Point, Nick Paul – the guys that not only are dangerous offensively, and you’ve got to be aware of what they can do with the puck, but they’re heavy, hard guys. So whether that’s face-offs or whether that’s net front battles, those situations for center men is what makes the position unique and why you need players that are strong and can box out, and can snap a draw back, and win a ton of those low 50/50 pucks.
“Like I said, there’s no bigger test than Tampa Bay with the center men they have, and then they’re going get a good taste of that as well, replicated against Florida.”
Both players have played primarily on the wing to this point in their career, and the one notable night where both manned the middle came a little over two years ago in Winnipeg, and under the most trying of circumstances. With Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov both unavailable for duty because of COVID, the Caps iced a lineup with then-rookies McMichael and Protas in the middle, along with Mike Sgarbossa and Lars Eller.
To make matters worse, the Caps took the rare step of flying to Winnipeg on the day of the game, and the game took on more meaning for the home team when Paul Maurice stepped aside as head coach that morning, handing over the reins to Dave Lowry.
In the wake of all that adversity, the Caps rode goals from Brett Leason (drafted between McMichael and Protas in the second round of the 2019 Draft), Daniel Sprong, Conor Sheary (now with the Lightning) and empty-netters from Sgarbossa and Alex Ovechkin to an improbably 5-2 victory over the Jets, with Vitek Vanecek making half of his 40 saves in the first period.
“It’s pretty cool,” says McMichael of the opportunity at hand in Tampa tonight. “Me and Pro, we were in the same draft, so it’s cool that we came up together through Hershey, and now we’re here in this moment. We’re just looking to take advantage of it, show what we can do, and help the team win. I think it’s pretty cool and I think Pro is going to do a pretty good job up the middle.”
Washington has been without Kuznetsov for the last seven games. McMichael has played center in each of the seven games, totaling three goals and five points. Although he has played wing in each of the seven games, Protas has a goal and four points during that stretch, so both have been making offensive contributions.
“It’s a chance for me to show what I can do as a center man, another opportunity for me,” says Protas. “I’ll try to get the most out of it. I have a little bit different responsibilities playing there, so I just have to play my game.
“For sure it’s a more defensive situation. It’s a lot down low, and it’s a situation where I will have to communicate with the [defensemen] even more now. But in our system, I don’t think it’s a really big difference.”
For Protas, this move to the middle of the ice comes in the same building where he made his NHL debut with Washington on Nov. 1, 2021.
“Yeah, it was here in Tampa,” he says. “So that’s pretty cool. I’m way more experienced now, even though it’s not that many games. But also, it’s a lot of shifts. And every shift is experience. I just have to keep playing my game and keep learning, and Carbs helps me a lot with that. I’m a different player now than I was my first game here, and I have to show that.”
Until McMichael potted a pair of goals on Tuesday against New Jersey, the Caps did not have two centers with 20 points on the season. Playing the position effectively does not require offensive production, but good teams typically have a couple pivots with at least 45-50 points each by season’s end. Washington’s scoring woes have been well chronicled this season, and so have its inordinate numbers of one-goal wins and multi-goal losses.
Tonight in Tampa, if the Caps’ two youthful pivots can merely hold their own against one of the League’s elite teams with an elite group of centers, it should be a win for Washington going forward.
In The Nets – In its seven games since the midseason break, Washington has alternated starting goaltenders for each game. That pattern stops tonight in Tampa when Charlie Lindgren gets the nod in net, two nights after stopping 37 of 39 shots in a 6-2 victory over New Jersey. Lindgren is seeking his first set of consecutive triumphs since he won four straight starts from Nov. 4-18 of this season.
Lifetime against the Lightning, Lindgren is 0-0-1 with a 1.11 GAA and a .956 save pct. in two appearances, one of which was a start. Lindgren was the goaltender of record in the first meeting between Washington and Tampa Bay this season, a 2-1 Lightning victory in the shootout in D.C. on Dec. 23. Lindgren stopped 19 of 20 shots in that game.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is the likely starter for the Lightning tonight. Although he has yet to celebrate his 30th birthday, Vasilevsky is a two-time Stanley Cup winner, a four-time Vezina Trophy finalist, and a Vezina winner (in 2019). He also led the NHL in wins for five straight seasons starting in 2017-18.
After starting this season on injured reserve – he missed the first 20 games after undergoing a microdiscectomy to address a lumbar disc herniation – Vasilevskiy returned to action on Nov. 24, and he has the second most wins (18) in the NHL since Dec. 1.
Lifetime against Washington, he is 9-8-1 with a 3.18 GAA and a .904 save pct. in 18 appearances, all starts.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Caps and the Lightning might look on Thursday night at Amalie Arena:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 77-Oshie
39-Mantha, 24-McMichael, 43-Wilson
67-Pacioretty, 23-Sgarbossa, 15-Milano
47-Malenstyn, 21-Protas, 96-Aubé-Kubel
Defensemen
57-van Riemsdyk, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 3-Jensen
6-Edmundson, 25-Bear
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
35-Kuemper
Injured/Out
19-Backstrom (lower body)
26-Dowd (upper body)
42-Fehervary (lower body)
92-Kuznetsov (NHL/NHLPA player assistance program)
Scratches
27-Alexeyev
72-Dubé
TAMPA BAY
Forwards
91-Stamkos, 71-Cirelli, 86-Kucherov
38-Hagel, 21-Point, 41-Chaffee
23-Eyssimont, 20-Paul, 73-Sheary
64-Motte, 11-Glendening, 51-Watson
Defensemen
77-Hedman, 43-Raddysh
7-Fleury, 81-Cernak
68-Lilleberg, 48-Perbix
Goaltenders
88-Vasilevskiy
31-Johansson
Injured/Out
84-Jeannot (lower body)
98-Sergachev (lower body)
Scratches
12-Barré-Boulet
44-de Haan
