Frozen Frenzy – All 32 NHL teams are in action tonight in what’s being billed as “Frozen Frenzy.” Each of the 16 games on the docket features a different start time, with the Capitals and the Toronto Maple Leafs kicking it all off at the unusual – for a Tuesday – start time of 6 p.m.
“Important hockey game against a really good hockey team,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery, who spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the Maple Leafs. “I’m excited to see some familiar faces, and [I have] a lot of positive memories over the last couple of years, a lot of built relationships over there.
“But I’m sure once the puck drops, it’s business. And obviously they have a real talented team, and we have our hands full. It’s an important time in our season to try and get some momentum. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Old Friends – In addition to Carbery facing his former employer tonight, Caps’ defenseman Rasmus Sandin will be seeking to bite the hand that once fed him. Sandin was originally a first-round pick (29th overall) of the Leafs in the 2018 NHL Draft. Obtained from Toronto on Feb. 28 of this year, Sandin logged the first 140 games of his NHL career with the Maple Leafs and will be facing his former club for the first time tonight.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” says Sandin. “Some old friends on the other side off the ice, but it’s going to be a special one. It’s going to be a lot of fun, too. And hopefully we can come out with the win, too.”
Sandin totaled 10 goals and 48 points in a Toronto sweater, and he forged a tight bond with fellow Swede William Nylander – son of former Caps’ center Michael Nylander – while with the Leafs.
“Of course,” he answers, when asked about bragging rights between himself and his former teammate. “It’s always like that, no matter what we do. So it would be a tough one to lose, but we’re going to do everything we can to come out with a win.”
Queried as to whether he knows how to get under Nylander’s skin, Sandin doesn’t hesitate.
“Yeah, I do,” he says, breaking into a big smile. “No, I’m not going to share that.”
Nylander is off to a swift start this season; he is tied for the team scoring lead with nine points (four goals, five assists) in five games.
Carbery spent a season (2017-18) in the Boston system as an assistant coach at AHL Providence, before taking the head coaching job in AHL Hershey for the next three seasons. He then joined the Leafs as an assistant coach, running the Toronto power play for the last two seasons.
“I learned a ton,” begins Carbery, “from the organization – number one – as a whole. From [former GM Kyle [Dubas], from [president] Brendan [Shanahan], all the different areas there. I took a ton from my experience there. But from [Leafs’ coach] Sheldon [Keefe] specifically, a lot of ways he sees the game, and some stuff from a standpoint of the way you play and certain things you can look for. And I learned a ton – bench management – there are some unique things that he does that are a little bit different than some other coaches, and I picked some of those up.
“I could name 100 different things that I still think about to this day that I’ve incorporated into my coaching style that I learned from him.”
Tonight, Sandin and Carbery will try to take down their former club in the first of three meetings between the Caps and Leafs this season. Toronto returns to town on March 20, and the Caps visit the Big Smoke just over a week later, on March 28.
To The Kill – Although Washington has been dented for at least one power-play goal against in each of its four games to date, the Caps can thank their penalty-killing outfit – and their goaltending – for the three standings points they’ve been able to collect thus far this season.
In the Caps’ lone win of the season against Calgary on Oct. 16, they fell behind 2-0 as they’ve done in each of their first four games. Washington pulled even on a pair of goals in the middle of the second period, and it won on an Evgeny Kuznetsov goal in the shootout. But with the game all even at 2-2 in the third, Caps goaltender Darcy Kuemper stopped Blake Coleman on a penalty shot, and he and the Washington penalty killers snuffed out two Flames power play chances in the third period to keep the game even and set the stage for Kuznetsov.
With the Caps again down 2-0 in the third period on Saturday in Montreal, Kuemper and the Washington penalty killers faced a morass of penalty quicksand in the third period, successfully navigating their way through five minor penalties in a span of just over 10 minutes of playing time. That daunting stretch included some 5-on-3 time and some 4-on-3 time for the Habs, but Kuemper and the penalty kill kept them off the board, and a pair of Dylan Strome goals in the back half of the third forced overtime, enabling the Caps to claim a point before Cole Caufield won it for the home team in the extra session.
Being part of a penalty killing outfit that has to kill so many minors in short succession is tough, especially towards the end of that stretch.
“It’s definitely a physical challenge,” says Washington winger Beck Malenstyn, who logged 5:32 in shorthanded ice time on Saturday, all of it in the third period. “It’s a little bit different between a 5-on-3 and a 5-on-4; obviously, you’re expending a little more energy on that 5-on-4, and the 5-on-3 is a little more about positioning.
“But yeah, you've got to kill every one of them like it’s your last one, absolutely. You don't know another one is coming up just around the corner. It's just a matter of paying attention to your details and trying to recover the best you can. When you step over the boards, you have a pretty clear mindset of the job you’ve got to do, and you get it done.”
Although the Caps were dented for a power-play goal against on Montreal’s first man advantage of the evening, they came up large when it mattered most in the third.
“It's obviously tough,” says Caps’ defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. “You don't want to have to do that. But it was great to see our group respond there after giving one up early in the game. To find a way to get those kills in a pretty meaningful spot and keep us in the game, and to keep it tight, that was huge.”
In The Nets – Kuemper makes his fourth straight start tonight when he settles in between the pipes against the Maple Leafs in the opener of a set of back-to-back games for Washington. With backup goaltender Charlie Lindgren on injured reserve, the Caps recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard from AHL Hershey, and Shepard is slated to make his NHL debut on Wednesday night in New Jersey against the Devils.
In his first season with the Caps in 2022-23, Kuemper was plagued by a lack of goal support. Of the 42 netminders who saw action in at least 30 games last season, Kuemper ranked 34th in offensive support, getting an average of 2.75 goals per game with which to work.
Thus far in this still young season, it’s been more of the same. Of the 53 netminders who have played in at least two games on the young season, Kuemper’s paltry offensive support rate of 1.29 goals per game ranks 51st in the League.
Lifetime against Toronto, Kuemper is 3-3-0 with a shutout, a 2.98 GAA and an .895 save pct. in eight appearances (seven starts).
For Toronto, Joseph Woll gets his second start of the season tonight. He suffered the loss against Chicago in the finale of Toronto’s season-opening homestand on Oct. 16, but came off the bench in relief of former Caps goalie Ilya Samsonov in the Leafs’ most recent game on Saturday night in Tampa. Woll picked up his first win of the season, stopping all 27 shots he faced in just over 50 minutes of relief work.
Woll will be making his first career start against the Capitals tonight.
All Lined Up – Here is how we believe the Capitals and Maple Leafs might line up for Tuesday night’s game in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 45-Phillips
24-McMichael, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
15-Milano, 19-Backstrom, 43-Wilson
47-Malenstyn, 21-Protas, 39-Mantha
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk
27-Alexeyev, 3-Jensen
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
31-Shepard
Injured
6-Edmundson (hand)
26-Dowd (upper body)
67-Pacioretty (torn Achilles’ tendon)
79-Lindgren (upper body)
Scratches
4-Häman Aktell
46-Johansen
TORONTO
Forwards
19-Jarnkrok, 34-Matthews, 16-Marner
59-Bertuzzi, 91-Tavares, 88-Nylander
23-Knies, 64-Kampf, 11-Domi
18-Gregor, 29-Holmberg, 75-Reaves
Defensemen
44-Rielly, 78-Brodie
22-McCabe, 37-Liljegren
55-Giordano, 3-Klingberg
Goaltenders
60-Woll
35-Samsonov
Injured
8-Muzzin (spine)
25-Timmins (lower body)
30-Murray (hip)
Scratches
39-Minten
