Three From The Road – Through the first month – and then some – of the season, the Caps have had a lot of home cooking. They’ve played 10 of their first 15 games at Capital One Arena, but they’ll open a three-game Western road trip tonight in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche. Washington’s first two road games this season were part of the same trip, but the next three were all one-game jaunts, so the current trip is their longest to date in 2024-25. Starting tonight, Washington will play 14 of its next 21 games on the road.
The Caps are coming into Friday’s game on the heels of an agonizing 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday in Washington, a game in which he Caps held a 3-1 lead with less than five minutes remaining in regulation. They’ve bounced back from each of their first four losses with a win in their next game, and they’ll be seeking to do that for the fifth time this season.
“I think that’s a great mindset to have,” says Washington winger Andrew Mangiapane of his team’s bounce back ability in the early going of the 2024-25 season. “You’re going to have maybe bad games, but you can't be doing that every game and going on losing streaks and everything like that.
“I think that's a great attitude by our team. It’s just, if you have a bad game, let's bounce back and let's get back to what has made us successful, right? So that's what we're looking to do here tonight, and obviously against a good Colorado team. We’ve got to be prepared and ready to work and ready to skate with these guys.”
They’ll be facing a Colorado team that has bounced back from a 0-4-0 start to win nine of 13 since. The Avs enter tonight’s game on a three-game heater and seeking to complete the sweep of a four-game homestand. They will also mark the return of three regular forwards to their lineup tonight.
Playing for the first time this season is the supremely talented Valeri Nichushkin, who was just released from the NHL/NHLPA players’ assistance program. Returning from a 16-game absence with an upper body injury is Jonathan Drouin, and lastly, coming back from a seven-game spell on the sidelines with an upper body ailment is Miles Wood.
“It’s going to change a lot,” says Avs coach Jared Bednar. “Because everything changes; power play, penalty kill, and 5-on-5 for the most part. It’s exciting because we get a lot of the firepower and guys that are difference makers at 5-on-5 and special teams back in the lineup. So it’s going to change a lot of things.”
The Avs have won nine of 13 without that trio, and now they’ve reunited them with the rest of their assortment of dynamic offensive talents, so the Caps are aware that their work is cut out for them tonight.
“It’s difficult from a standpoint of those are three really good players that come into the lineup,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “So it’s going to just elevate their team game as a whole. But in terms of what they do as a team, I don't think those guys are going to all of a sudden change our pre-scout, or change what they want to do.
“They've been together for a long time. We've seen them a bunch, whether it's players or staff, and so we know how talented they are, the things they do really well, and how they stress you as a group of five. So we're well aware of the strengths of the Colorado Avalanche.”
Fulfillment Center – Twenty and a half months after he was traded to the Avalanche for a second-round pick on March 1, 2023, center Lars Eller is back in a Washington uniform and sporting his familiar No. 20 sweater. Reacquired from Pittsburgh in exchange for a pair of draft choices on Tuesday, Eller steps into the middle of Washington’s third line between Jakub Vrana and Mangiapane.
“We’ll ease him in,” says Carbery of Eller. “He's going to start in that third line hole at the center position. [As for] special teams, we'll see how it goes. But like I said yesterday, I think just him and the stability he brings, the veteran experience, the presence, to give us a reliable guy in the middle there that can make all the reads, all the decisions. He's strong on the puck, he's great on the face-off dots. We'll ease him into the mix and get him as acclimated as we can as we move along.”
Although Eller has been away from the Caps for less than two years, the team has had a decent amount of turnover since his departure, too.
“I think it's a bit of both,” said Eller, when he spoke to media on Wednesday night. “It's still some of the guys that were successful during I think the best days of the Caps if you look back, but there's some new, young energy too, and quality. And I think to have a successful team, you need the right mix of both, and right now, so far they're on the path and I just hope to be able to contribute to that."
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren is back in the nets for Washington tonight, making his first start in a week, since a 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh last Friday in the District. Lindgren stopped 28 of 31 shots he faced that night.
Seeking his fourth victory of the season, Lindgren is also aiming for his first career win against the Avalanche. In two previous starts against Colorado in his career, Lindgren is 0-2-0 with a 5.09 GAA and an .848 save pct.
Alexandar Georgiev has started 12 of Colorado’s first 17 games this season, but he is day-to-day with an upper body injury tonight. The Avs recalled Trent Miner from AHL Colorado, and Miner will serve as the backup for starter Justus Annunen tonight.
Annunen is 5-2-0 in eight appearances this season with a 2.64 GAA and an .894 save pct. The 24-year-old Finnish netminder was Colorado’s third-round choice (64th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft. He carries a 15-7-2 lifetime mark – with a pair of shutouts – scattered over parts of four NHL seasons, and he will be facing Washington for the first time tonight.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Capitals and Avalanche might look when they take the ice on Friday night in Denver:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin 17-Strome, 21-Protas
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 20-Eller, 88-Mangiapane
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 16-Raddysh
Defensemen
6-Chychrun, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 3-Roy
42-Fehervary, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Extras
27-Alexeyev
29-Lapierre
52-McIlrath
Out/Injured
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
COLORADO
Forwards
62-Lehkonen, 29-MacKinnon, 96-Rantanen
27-Drouin, 37-Mittelstadt, 13-Nicushkin
28-Wood, 17-Kelly, 25-O’Connor
94-Kiviranta, 82-Ivan, 51-Kovalenko
Defensemen
7-Toews, 8-Makar
49-Girard, 42-Manson
44-de Haan, 70-Malinski
Goaltenders
60-Annunen
50-Miner
Extras
3-Ludvig
58-Kylington
Out/Injured
5-Poolman (head)
20-Colton (foot)
40-Georgiev (upper body)
92-Landeskog (knee)
