North By North – Five games in eight nights is a daunting task in the NHL, and when all those games are on the road, when they’re played in three different time zones, and when they involve four crossings of the United States/Canada border, it’s an even more difficult proposition.
With just 20 games remaining on their regular season slate, the Caps will knock off one quarter of those contests in the next eight nights, starting with Monday night’s matchup against the Jets in Winnipeg. This trip is crucial to Washington’s playoff hopes, which have been buoyed by the team’s 7-2-1 performance in its last 10 games, but the Caps know they can only get two points in Winnipeg tonight – not 10 – so their focus is lasered in on the Jets, the last team the Caps are facing for the first time this season.
“In the backs of our minds, this is a big mountain of a road trip,” acknowledges Caps’ defenseman Nick Jensen. “But our focus tonight has been and will continue to be on one single game, and we’ve got to play our best game. That’s got to be our focus from here to the end of the season.
“I think we’re just trying to take it one game at a time,” says Caps’ center Dylan Strome. “If you look that far ahead, it never does any good. Obviously, we know we’re on a big road trip, and we know what the playoff race looks like. But at the same time, we’re just dialed into the one game, and not worried about anything else. Obviously, we’re playing a good team and we haven’t played them yet this year, so we’re going to get dialed in on them, and see what happens from there.”
Last season, the Caps faced the Jets twice in the season’s first half, visiting Winnipeg on Dec. 11 in a 5-2 Washington win, and defeating them in the District a dozen days later, the night Alex Ovechkin surpassed Gordie Howe (801) for sole possession of second place on the NHL’s all-time goals ledger.
“It is really unique seeing a team for the first time in March,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “With so many games under your belt, identities of teams by this point in the season usually are pretty concrete, and you know exactly what strengths and weaknesses [your opponent possesses.] Obviously, with their group, there’s a lot of strengths with the record that they have and the season that they’ve had thus far.
“So there’s a little bit more that goes into figuring out why they’ve had so much success, identifying those key areas, and then being able to articulate to our group so they get a real good grasp early in this game, and they’re not caught off guard by the style of play, and what Winnipeg does at a high level. So that’s what we spent this morning focusing on, making sure that our guys understand what we’re up against tonight.”
The Caps might even have some recent experience to help them understand what they’re up against tonight.
Just over a week ago in Washington, the Caps played what was probably their worst game of the season in a 5-2 loss to Arizona. Following that debacle, they won their next two games, scoring 10 straight goals in a 6-0 victory over the Pens in Pittsburgh on Thursday, and a 4-1 win over Chicago on Saturday.
Tonight, the Caps take on a Jets team that is 10-4-0 in their last 14 games, but which likely played their worst game of the season on Saturday night in Vancouver, in a 5-0 setback. As Winnipeg prepares to open a three-game homestand here tonight, the Caps know that they should expect an energized buzzsaw on the opposing bench.
“You just have to expect that our guys know the type of fire that their team is going to come out with tonight, in their building,” says Carbery. “These guys are pros. They understand this is a real high quality team that’s added some players here, that’s in a good playoff position and is trying to win a Stanley Cup.
“We know what we’re up against. But their last time out, it didn’t sound like it went great. So you’re going to get a highly, highly competitive team in their home building tonight.”
The Ills – When the Caps departed from the District on Sunday, they brought the 20 healthy players who have suited up for each of the last two games – both Washington victories – and they brought along a trio of injured players whom they believe could return to action at some point on this road trip.
T.J. Oshie – out since suffering an upper body injury in Tampa on Feb. 22 – was a full participant in Monday’s morning skate, and he appears ready to return, perhaps as soon as tonight. Nic Dowd – out since suffering an upper body injury on Feb. 20 against New Jersey – stayed out late for extra work, as did defenseman Martin Fehervary, absent since sustaining a lower body injury in a Feb. 17 game in Montreal. Neither Dowd nor Fehervary is expected to play tonight.
Goaltender Charlie Lindgren – starter of eight of Washington’s last nine games – and right wing Tom Wilson both did not take part in Monday’s morning skate in Winnipeg. “Maintenance,” was the one-word reason offered for their absence. Following Monday’s skate at Canada Life Center, there still wasn’t much clarity on what to expect tonight for Washington, lineup wise.
“Maintenance for both of them,” says Carbery of Lindgren and Wilson. “We’re working through some lineup things on all fronts, so I can give you much [related to the] lineup; it will be determined in the next few hours as it leads up to game time.”
Carbery is almost always forthcoming as to the identity of his goaltender for a given game, but he didn’t want to misinform on Monday morning.
“I just don’t want to give you misinformation, and then it to change,” he says. “So we’re just going to hold off on lineup; we’re working through some things, and we’ll find out tonight at 6:30 [local time].”
In The Nets – Because Lindgren did not partake in Monday’s morning skate, Carbery wasn’t comfortable naming a starting netminder for tonight’s game. We aren’t likely to learn the identity of tonight’s Washington goaltender until that player leads the team onto the ice for warmups early this evening.
Lindgren has lugged most of the mail of late; he has started five straight games and eight of the last nine. With a 31-save effort on Saturday against Chicago, Lindgren claimed his team-leading 15th victory of the season. Since the midseason break, Lindgren is 6-4-1 with two shutouts, a 2.94 GAA and a .904 save pct. in 11 starts.
Lifetime against Winnipeg, Lindgren is 2-0-0 with a 1.51 GAA and a .947 save pct. in two appearances, both starts.
Connor Hellebuyck is expected to be in net for the Jets tonight, aiming for his 30th victory of the season. He has dropped each of his last two starts, yielding a total of nine goals against in the process. Among all NHL netminders with 20 or more appearances, Hellebuyck’s .921 save pct. and 2.35 GAA both rank third in the League.
Lifetime against Washington, Hellebuyck is 4-4-2 with a shutout, a 2.38 GAA and a .924 save pct. in 10 appearances, all starts.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Caps and Jets might look on Monday night in Winnipeg:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 29-Lapierre, 21-Protas
15-Milano, 17-Strome, 63-Miroshnichenko
67-Pacioretty, 24-McMichael, 77-Oshie
47-Malenstyn, 23-Sgarbossa, 96-Aubé-Kubel
Defensemen
57-van Riemsdyk, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 3-Jensen
27-Alexeyev, 25-Bear
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
35-Kuemper
Injured/Out
19-Backstrom (lower body)
26-Dowd (upper body)
42-Fehervary (lower body)
43-Wilson (upper body)
Scratches
None
WINNIPEG
Forwards
81-Connor, 55-Scheifele, 27-Ehlers
9-Iafallo, 23-Monahan, 73-Toffoli
62-Niederreiter, 17-Lowry, 22-Appleton
36-Barron, 7-Namestnikov, 91-Perfetti
Defensemen
44-Morrissey, 2-DeMelo
5-Dillon, 4-Pionk
54-Samberg, 6-C. Miller
Goaltenders
37-Hellebuyck
39-Brossoit
Injured/Out
13-Vilardi (upper body)
Scratches
15-Kupari
19-Gustafsson
64-Stanley
88-Schmidt
