One More Dance – The Caps conclude their eighth set of back-to-back games and finish up a stretch of three games in four nights when they get their first regular season look at the Boston Bruins in Beantown tonight.
When it flies home after tonight’s tilt, Washington will have three full days away from the rink before reconvening for a day of practice and travel on Friday, and then undertaking yet another set of back-to-backs and three games in four nights.
Given that the League goes dark for three days after today and tonight’s slate of NHL activity, expect everyone to empty the tanks tonight, and to do so without looking ahead to the break. But it’s not easy playing three games in four nights twice, sandwiched around four days without a game in the middle of those dozen days.
“It’s just about taking care of yourself, taking care of your body and just preparing right, obviously,” says Caps winger Andrew Mangiapane of his team’s unique schedule challenge between now and the end of calendar 2024. “And we’ve just got to use [the break] wisely; it’s mostly spent with family and friends and just spend it relaxing and recovering, and in the back of your mind, preparing and getting ready to go. Because we have another three in four right after that, right? It’s just getting the rest and the recovery and being ready to go again.”
Find A Way – In forging a 7-2-0 record in October of this season, the Capitals and their opponents averaged a combined 8.1 goals per game in those nine contests. The Caps went 10-4-1 in November; they and their foes averaged 7.07 goals per game in those 15 contests.
As they head into their 10th game of the baker’s dozen they are slated to play in December, the Caps are 6-2-1 for the month, and they and their opponents have kept it close to the vest, averaging just 4.33 goals per game.
That Washington has been able to thrive in high event, high scoring types of games and has also been able to do so in low scoring, tight checking affairs – where the goals and events are essentially cut in half – is the big takeaway here.
“It’s huge,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “And the adversity too, that we’ve been going through a little bit. No one wants to lose games. And you don’t want to go to Chicago and lose a game, and you don’t want to give late goals up. But going through things like this as a team, and working through it and learning how to play in these situations, it only helps you and it builds callouses of understanding that as this gets further along, and as you move into post-Christmas, then post-All-Star break, then post-trade deadline, it ramps up.
“And now you hope that the group grows and that we learn to deal with these situations and adversity, and whatever it might be – a 1-1 game, a 0-0 game a 5-4 game; you just gave back a lead, we were winning 3-0 and now it’s 3-3 in the third period. Being able to handle those situations is nothing new for us. It’s not like we’re dealing with that stuff on the fly; we feel comfortable in all those different scenarios.”
Washington is averaging just 2.56 goals per game this month, but it has yielded just 1.78 goals against per game in December, tied for the lowest in the League. The Caps have surrendered just 11 goals at 5-on-5 in nine games this month, second fewest in the NHL.
Ticket To Rise – Throughout the preseason and in his Caps debut on opening night of the 2024-25 season against New Jersey, Mangiapane skated on Washington’s top line with Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin. But when Washington’s third line – Sonny Milano, Hendrix Lapierre and Aliaksei Protas – struggled in that 5-3 opening night loss to the Devils on Oct. 12, Carbery and staff opted to shake things up, moving Protas to the top line and placing Mangiapane on the third line with Lapierre and Jakub Vrana.
“The third line struggled; it’s as simple as that,” explained Carbery at the time. “I don’t need to go into go into the details of that. We’ve got to make a change on that third line to try to figure out a way to deploy that line.”
Mangiapane skated 18:35 in that opening night game against New Jersey, his highest single-game ice time figure this season. It’s one of just four games this season in which he has exceeded the 15-minute mark for the game. A third of the way into the season, Mangiapane has averaged 13:37 per game in ice time – his lowest nightly average since 2019-20 – ranking ninth among Washington forwards.
Mangiapane wasn’t moved off the top line because he was ineffective there; he was moved because the third line needed shoring up. Throughout his seven-year NHL career, Mangiapane has shown strong possession metrics; he is like yeast in a bread recipe, he makes the dough rise.
And similar to ex-Cap Conor Sheary, Mangiapane’s versatility – manifested in his ability to play either wing, both special teams, and in the top six or bottom six – makes him the kind of player a coach can move from one line to another with the intent of fixing whatever might be ailing the trio in question.
When Mangiapane went to the third line in early October, his presence was able to elevate that line back to respectability in terms of possession. And when the Caps made a deal to add Lars Eller in early November, Mangiapane was placed on a line with Eller and Lapierre, again to excellent results possession wise.
The trio of Lapierre, Eller and Mangiapane has controlled 63.75 of the shot attempts in over 77 minutes together on the ice, all while staying even in goals and expected goals for and against.
When Eller fell ill midway through last week and was placed on injured reserve, Mangiapane was on the move again, back up to the top line with Strome and Tom Wilson. Taylor Raddysh took Mangiapane’s place on the third line with Lapierre and Vrana.
“I felt like we needed a little bit of a different look, and to give Mange an opportunity to play in the top six, and see what that looks like with Stromer,” says Carbery. “He played there early in the season – I think it was game one, though – and in the preseason with [Ovechkin] and Stromer, and it didn’t go great.
“So we want to give him an opportunity to play inside of our top six, with Stromer and Willie and see what that looks like. I thought they were okay [on Friday against Carolina], they had some good sequences and some good shifts together, but it’ll take time; they’ve got to develop a little bit of chemistry.”
Two of those four games with 15-plus minutes for Mangiapane have been the Caps’ last two games since the move up. Carbery moved him to the top line with Strome and Tom Wilson for the Friday game against Carolina, and Mangiapane assisted Aliaksei Protas for the game’s first goal in that contest.
“I just do whatever the coach tells me to do; that’s my job,” says Mangiapane. “For me, I’m just focused on my game and it doesn’t really matter where playing. I think I’m capable of playing left or right, and up or down the lineup, whatever it is. I’ve just got to go out there and play my game, do what makes me successful and earn the coach’s trust and respect in that area.”
Ovechkin’s impending return is looming, and Eller should be back in the lineup before long, too. The return of those players may have him on the move yet again, but having a guy like Mangiapane on the roster is a big plus because of his utility, his skill set and his attitude.
“My game is getting in there [on the forecheck], keeping pucks low, maybe going low to high, and just keep getting pucks back and doing it over again,” says Mangiapane. “The more chances I can help create for my teammates, I’m sure they’re going to be able to score more goals with more opportunities.”
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren gets the second half of this set of back-to-back games; he’ll be in net on Monday night in Boston. In his most recent start Friday night against Carolina, Lindgren made 24 saves to pick up his 10th victory of the season. One of those saves – a spectacular and acrobatic windmill glove save on Carolina’s Tyson Jost – will have a longer shelf life than the other 3,262 saves he has made in his NHL career.
Last Feb. 10 in Boston, Lindgren made 18 saves in a 3-0 shutout win over the Bruins, a game that halted a six-game spiral (0-5-1) for Washington and began the Caps’ late season push to a playoff berth. It was one of two late-season shutout wins for Lindgren over the Bruins; he also blanked them on 16 shots in the District on April 15 in Washington’s penultimate regular season game.
Lifetime against the Bruins, Lindgren is 2-1-1 in four appearances – all starts – with the two shutouts, a 1.30 GAA and a .950 save pct.
For the Bruins, we are expecting to see Jeremy Swayman in net tonight. A contract holdout until just before the start of the regular season, Swayman has started 24 of Boston’s first 35 games in 2024-25, but his 3.13 GAA and .887 save pct. are well shy of his career marks of 2.46 and .914, respectively. In seven December starts, Swayman is 5-1-1, but with a 3.23 GAA and an .872 save pct.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Swayman is 2-4-0 in seven appearances – six starts – with a 1.79 GAA and a .934 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Caps and the Bruins could look when they take to the ice on Monday night in Beantown:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
88-Mangiapane, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 21-Protas
13-Vrana, 29-Lapierre, 16-Raddysh
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 63-Miroshnichenko
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
42-Fehervary, 3-Roy
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Extras
27-Alexeyev
52-McIlrath
58-Rybinski
Out/Injured
8-Ovechkin (fractured fibula)
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
20-Eller (illness)
77-Oshie (back)
BOSTON
Forwards
39-Geekie, 18-Zacha, 88-Pastrnak
63-Marchand, 28-Lindholm, 13-Coyle
71-Wahlstrom, 11-Frederic, 55-Brazeau
19-Beecher, 45-Kastelic, 47-Koepke
Defensemen
91-Zadorov, 73-McAvoy
82-Oesterle, 25-Carlo
6-Lohrei, 52-Peeke
Goaltenders
1-Swayman
70-Korpisalo
Extras
26-McLaughlin
29-Wotherspoon
Out/Injured
27-Lindholm (lower body)
