Broken Bones And Pocket Change – After returning from a sweep of a three-game Western road trip on Tuesday, the Caps practiced on Wednesday before dropping a 2-1 decision to Colorado on Thursday night in the District. Given the day off on Friday, the Caps reconvened on Saturday morning for a pregame skate ahead of tonight’s Metropolitan Division matchup with the New Jersey Devils at Capital One Arena.
Thursday’s loss to the Avalanche was the first game this season in which Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin did not play; after suffering a broken fibia in Monday’s game in Utah, Ovechkin is expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks of action. The Caps’ offense struggled a bit in Thursday’s game, but Washington’s average of 4.16 goals per game is still second in the NHL, trailing only Winnipeg (4.20).
In the aftermath of Thursday’s loss, the Caps are once again seeking to bounce back from a loss; they’re 5-0-0 following their first five losses of the season, and they’ve outscored the opposition by a combined 25-10 in those five games.
Tonight, Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery will change up his forward lines just a bit. The P-L Dubois and Nic Dowd lines remain the same, but Ivan Miroshnichenko draws in for the first time this season on the right side of a line with Aliaksei Protas on the left and Dylan Strome in the middle. Andrew Mangiapane will rejoin the Lars Eller line along with Hendrix Lapierre, and Jakub Vrana will be a healthy extra tonight.
What does Carbery hope to see from Miroshnichenko in the 20-year-old’s first NHL action this season?
“A lot of energy, tons of pace in his game with his skating, competitiveness on the puck,” says the Caps’ bench boss. “I want him to do his thing, I don’t want him to overthink it, just go out and play as hard as he possibly can, be good with the puck, and hopefully contribute the way that we think he is capable of.”
Four games into his second tour of duty with the Capitals – and his first games under Carbery – Eller is still feeling his way on the ice, but he’s happy to be back with the Caps and back in Arlington.
“Maybe the first game or two, I caught myself thinking about some stuff without the puck a couple of times, because the system is just a little bit different,” says Eller of the ongoing adjustment. “But I think games three and four, I’ve been feeling better on the puck, and it kind of feels normal again. And now you can start playing off your instincts 100 percent with the puck. And I’ve got a couple of games under my belt with some linemates too, so all in all, it feels better and better.”
Max Pacioretty rented Eller’s local residence from him last season, but it was vacant when Eller drove here from Pittsburgh after the trade with the Penguins early last week.
“That’s a big part of feeling comfortable in your profession, is having a home to come home to that feels like you’re home. And that’s certainly true here, a place where I lived since 2018. That’s been really nice to come back to that familiarity, and like I said, it feels like home.”
And that feeling of “home” also extends to the DC half of his twin local workplaces.
“It’s been great to be in Capital One Arena again,” says Eller. “There is still that really good energy from the fans. It’s just an inspiring place to be with the red everywhere, and I truly think it’s one of the best places to play.”
Eller picked up his first point on his second stint with the Caps on Monday in Utah. He joined the team just in time for its Western trip, and he has played the three road games and one at home thus far. His linemates have been shuffled around a bit over that span, too.
“He has been okay,” says Carbery of Eller. “I thought last game was probably the one I didn’t like the most; he was just off on a few touches. But our whole team, we just didn’t do enough with the puck. We were just chasing and having to defend. It wasn’t horrible; we’re defending way too much right now is the bottom line. And it’s hard to win in this League, especially against quality opponents – and it will be no different tonight – if we are spending 65 percent of the game in our own end.”
Leader Of The Pack – After going 7-2-0 in nine October games, the Caps are 6-3-1 with five November games remaining on their slate. Although their record this month has been solid, Carbery hasn’t been happy with everything he has seen of late, and as it turns out, his displeasure extends back to Nov. 2 and the Caps’ first game of the month, an 8-1 victory over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets, a game in which Washington led 5-0 after 20 minutes of play.
“It honestly stretches back to Columbus, if you really look back,” says Carbery. “I know we were up 5-0 in the game, but it’s been a long stretch. And part of it is score effect, when you’re winning games.
“I’ve talked about this a bunch, but part of it is on us. We’ve just we got to do a better job in the offensive zone. We got to be able to do a better job at stressing teams and controlling play, and that that [Eller] line can help us in that department. And we need that from not just them, but all four lines.”
Diving a bit deeper on that dilemma, the Caps have logged 604 minutes and 13 seconds of hockey in their ten November games to date. They’ve held a scoreboard lead for 327 minutes and 26 seconds of the total time, and that’s the third most lead time of any team this month; they trail only Winnipeg (344:42) and Carolina (338:39).
Overall in November, the Caps have controlled only 43.35 percent of all even strength shot attempts this month, which ranks 29th in the League. And when the Capitals have a scoreboard lead, that figure drops to 39.48 percent, ranking 28th in controlling shot attempts with a lead (naturalstattrick.com).
So while the Caps have been winning with regularity this month, they’ve not controlled play nearly as well as they did in October when they controlled 53.65 percent of all even-strength shot attempts to rank fifth in the circuit. Last month, the Caps were able to control an impressive 50.75 percent of all even-strength shot attempts while they were leading, and that was good enough for third in the NHL in October.
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren gets the start for Washington tonight against the Devils; he was in net for the Caps’ 5-3 opening night loss to New Jersey back on Oct. 12. According to moneypuck.com, Lindgren is second among all NHL goaltenders (six games or more) in rebounds per save at 0.031 on the season; he trails only former Washington teammate Darcy Kuemper (0.028) in that department.
Lindgren is aiming for his third straight victory tonight; he was the starter and winner in the opener in Colorado and the finale in Utah on the Capitals’ triumphant Western road trip last weekend, yielding two goals in each of those games. Lifetime against New Jersey, Lindgren is 4-3-0 in seven appearances – all starts – with a 3.71 GAA and an .884 save pct.
For the Devils, we are expecting to see Jake Allen get the starting nod in net tonight. On the season, Allen is 4-2-1 with a couple of shutouts, a 2.30 GAA and a .916 save pct. His most recent start resulted in a 25-save victory over the Panthers in Florida on Nov. 14.
Over the course of his NHL career against Washington, Allen is 4-5-0 in nine appearances – all starts – with a shutout, a 3.70 GAA and an .885 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Capitals and the Devils might look when they take the ice on Saturday night in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
21-Protas, 17-Strome, 63-Miroshnichenko
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
29-Lapierre, 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
13-Vrana
27-Alexeyev
52-McIlrath
Out/Injured
8-Ovechkin (lower body)
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
NEW JERSEY
Forwards
18-Palat, 86-J. Hughes, 63-Bratt
28-Meier, 13-Hischier, 11-Noesen
29-Foote, 56-Haula, 91-Mercer
47-Cotter, 37-Dowling, 90-Tatar
Defensemen
5-Dillon, 7-Hamilton
71-Siegenthaler, 26-Kovacevic
43-L. Hughes, 22-Pesce
Goaltenders
25-Markstrom
34-Allen
Extras
15-Bowers
23-MacDermid
57-DeSimone
Out/Injured
14-Bastian (jaw)
42-Lazar (knee)
