Let’s Take A Trip Together – The Caps are in Ottawa for their first road game of the 2023-24 NHL season, the front end of a two-game journey. After tonight’s game at Canadian Tire Center, the Caps will board a train for Montreal where they’ll conclude the initial trip of the season on Saturday night.
“I think that first road trip, you get excited about it,” says Caps’ right wing Tom Wilson. “It’s fun to go out with the guys and on the road. There are some new faces; you know Nicky and I weren’t around too much, [Connor McMichael] wasn't around much last year, and [Matthew Phillips], so you’ve got one guy per line or whatever.
“Each group – depending on how many guys are returning each group – forms its own identity and I’m excited about this group. I think we’re meshing really well off the ice, and the road can only help that grow as you spend more time with each other, and I think that contributes to the product on the ice. When guys are feeling good around each other and getting closer, and then you go out there and you compete for each other, that’s super important. And this group has a really good feeling of guys buying in, and selflessness going around, and everyone is pulling for the guy next to you. I hope that continues, and I think the road trip can only help build that.”
This One Goes To Eleven (Hundred) – Caps’ center Nicklas Backstrom will skate in his 1,100th career NHL game tonight in Ottawa. Backstrom made his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2007 against the Thrashers in Atlanta, two years to the day after Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin did the same. Just over a month after making his debut, Backstrom scored his first NHL against the Sens in Ottawa, beating the late Ray Emery for what would prove to be the game-winning goal in a 4-1 Caps victory.
“Looking back at it, first of all, it took a while to get that first one,” Backstrom recalls. “But yeah, it was here – a fluky one, I think, in front of the net, and I think I batted it out of the air. Obviously, it was a good feeling back then, scoring your first NHL goal. And it’s been a couple games after that.”
Backstrom is one of just eight active players with at least 1,000 games played in the League and 1,000 or more points, and he is one of just 92 such players in NHL history.
“I've been in the League a long time, that's for sure," says Backstrom. "I'm very honored to be representing the Caps for this many years, and playing all of them with the same team is very fortunate."
Cycle Of Hurt – It’s early in the season, but one thing that stands out for its similarity to every single game of the last two plus seasons is the Caps “working through some things in the room,” a recent euphemism for “we have guys who are ailing and who may or may not be able to play tonight.”
Defenseman John Carlson and center Nic Dowd each took maintenance days on Tuesday prior to the Caps’ departure from Dulles. Asked on Wednesday morning whether those two would be expected to suit up tonight against the Sens, Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery was decidedly noncommittal.
“We’re working through it right now,” says Carbery. “We’ve got a couple of lineup decisions to make, based on some injury stuff and that. So we’ll work through that, and [we’ll] know this afternoon.”
At Tuesday’s practice, Carbery changed up his forward lines. Through 125 minutes of hockey thus far in this young season, the Caps have scored just two goals, both of which came from the Sonny Milano/Dylan Strome/Matthew Phillips trio.
“We’re just trying to find a little bit more from, essentially, the top nine, to get a different look,” said Carbery, following Tuesday’s practice. “Two games in, we have a decent sample size now. There are some specific things that I won’t get into that we’re looking for from each individual guy, so we’re just looking to get a little bit of a different look going into Ottawa.”
Following Wednesday’s morning skate, Carbery was asked what he needs to more of over a full 60 minutes from his top nine tonight in Ottawa.
“Two things,” comes the reply. “Details inside of our game, and we need to manage the puck so that we can play a puck possession game. And there’s a lot that goes into that, but that’s the stuff that we have to do a way better job of, the details inside of our structure, and managing the puck so that we can control play. Whether that’s turnovers, whether that’s decision-making, whether that’s off entries into the offensive zone, we need to a way better job of managing the puck so that we can control play, and to play on our opponent’s half of the rink.”
Coming off a 3-2 shootout win over the Flames on Monday, the Caps are seeking to string together consecutive wins for the first time in ’23-24, but they’re also looking to put together a more consistent and even performance over the full 60 minutes, and to spend more of the game playing the quickly paced game that Carbery wants to see from them.
"I think we've got to be a little smarter with the puck," says Backstrom. "We've been giving teams too many odd man rushes and we've got to control our game a little bit better. And another thing too, we have to shoot the puck a little bit more and maybe create more chances at 5-on-5."
As is often the case, it mostly comes down to execution for the Caps. They need to make some plays, but they have to be the right plays.
“I think it’s just experience, communicating, and talking with your linemates,” says Caps’ defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. “There’s no secret formula that is going to make you all of a sudden look like you know what you’re doing. It’s just being in different situations and knowing what you want to do in different situations, obviously.
“We’re trying to make some more plays and stuff, but also recognizing that we don’t have to try to make the play every time, and sometimes the play is dump, or whatever it may be. We are figuring that out a little more. I thought we had a slow start [Monday], but I thought we got better as the game went on, and we traded a lot of chances. It’s definitely trending in the right direction.”
In The Nets – Two nights after he delivered a stellar performance in his first start of the season, Caps netminder Darcy Kuemper gets the net again in Ottawa against the Senators. Kuemper stopped 38 of the 40 shots he faced on Monday against Calgary, and he stopped each of the last 24 shots he faced in regulation and all three shootout tries as well.
Lifetime against Ottawa, Kuemper is 6-2-1 in nine career appearances, all starts, with a 2.73 GAA and a .916 save pct.
Ottawa is backstopped by a pair of former Blue Jackets, Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg, with the latter being the likely starter tonight. Forsberg won his only previous start this season, stopping 19 of 21 shots in a 5-2 win over Philadelphia here on Saturday.
Lifetime against Washington, Forsberg is 4-1-0 with a 3.07 GAA and a .900 save pct. in six appearances, five of them starts.
All Lined Up – Here is how we believe the Capitals and Senators might line up for Wednesday night’s game:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
24-McMichael, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
15-Milano, 19-Backstrom, 45-Phillips
47-Malenstyn, 26-Dowd, 21-Protas – OR – 47-Malenstyn, 21-Protas, 39-Mantha
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
42-Fehervary, 57-van Riemsdyk
46-Johansen, 3-Jensen
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
33-Stevenson
Injured
6-Edmundson (hand)
67-Pacioretty (torn Achilles’ tendon)
79-Lindgren (upper body)
Scratches
27-Alexeyev
OTTAWA
Forwards
7-Tkachuk, 18-Stützle, 28-Giroux
81-Kubalik, 9-Norris, 19-Batherson
21-Joseph, 71-Greig, 91-Tarasenko
27-Kelly, 49-Chartier, 12-Kastelic
Defensemen
6-Chychrun, 72-Chabot
85-Sanderson, 2-Zub
26-Brannstrom, 23-Hamonic
Goaltenders
70-Korpisalo
31-Forsberg
Injured
None
Scratches
17-MacEwen
