Jan. 5 vs. Anaheim Ducks at Capital One Arena
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Anaheim Ducks (21-17-3)
Washington Capitals (21-15-6)
The Capitals’ three-game homestand continues on Monday night when the Anaheim Ducks come to town for their lone visit of the season. The Caps and Ducks played the first game of their season series exactly a month ago in Anaheim, with the Ducks claiming a 4-3 shootout victory.
Washington has yet to win in a shootout this season, and the Caps’ skills slide stretched to five straight on Saturday night when they fell 3-2 to Chicago in a six-round shootout.
The Caps also lost right wing Tom Wilson to a lower body injury late in the first period of Saturday night’s game with the Blackhawks. Wilson got tangled up with Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy and fell somewhat awkwardly. He got up slowly, limped off the ice, and did not return.
In Washington’s previous game in Ottawa on New Year’s Day, Caps winger Aliaksei Protas went into the boards awkwardly while being taken down by Sens defenseman Artem Zub. Protas got up even slower than Wilson did, and he only took one shift in the remainder of the first, though he did return for the second and third periods, and scored a game-tying goal late in the game’s final frame. But Protas did not suit up for Saturday’s game with Chicago; he missed the contest with a lower body injury.
Neither Wilson nor Protas was a participant in the Caps’ Sunday practice session at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. According to the team, Wilson is undergoing further evaluation today, and a better indication of his status is expected on Monday. Protas is day-to-day with a lower body injury.
Both Jakob Chychrun and Justin Sourdif were given maintenance days on Sunday; neither player took the ice for the brief session.
Without both Wilson and Protas, the Caps scuffled against Chicago, but they were able to mount a comeback from a 2-1 third-period deficit thanks to a Ryan Leonard net front goal with 8:42 left in the third, a tally that – along with some timely stops from Logan Thompson – ultimately provided them with a crucial standings point.
Across the first third of the season, the Caps were clicking at both ends of the ice. As they prepared to play the Ducks in Anaheim exactly a month ago, the Capitals were second in the NHL with an average of 3.50 goals per game, and they also featured the League’s second-best goals against rate, at 2.46 goals per game; they trailed only the juggernaut that is the Colorado Avalanche in both categories.
In their last 14 games – beginning with that shootout loss in Anaheim – the Caps are 4-6-4, and they’ve averaged 2.64 goals per game (tied with Los Angeles for 24th) and they’ve yielded an average of 3.36 goals against per game (tied with Columbus for 25th) in the NHL.
“There’s a lot that goes into it,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of shoring up the team’s game in its own end of the ice. “Some of it is structure and some of it is stuff that we need to reteach or re-emphasize, some of it is individual based, that you’ve got to pay attention to and work with some young players, some veteran players, some guys that are new to the organization and just continue to work with them on what’s to be expected in certain scenarios defensively – reads. Some of it is work-based, some of it is a little bit up here [mental], of being able to think your way through a game in the best League in the world. So, there’s a lot and we just chip away at it with all of those things.
“Sometimes we show it to the team, sometimes we show it to individuals, and sometimes we do both. Sometimes we work on it in practice, like you saw today. But at the end of the day, we focused a lot on our offensive game and how we’re going to be able to score and create.”
In the final two periods of Thursday’s 4-3 loss to the Senators in Ottawa – the only game all season the Caps lost after leading by multiple goals – the Caps were continuously under siege in their end; all they could do was punt pucks to neutral ice, change personnel, and weather the next wave of the Sens’ storm.
Saturday’s game was different; the Caps weren’t as crisp as they were consistently at breaking pucks out earlier in the season, but they also hurt themselves with some flawed execution and decisions. Too often, those failed zone exits extended Chicago shifts in the attack zone. And while it didn’t specifically bite them on the scoreboard, it did prevent the Caps from getting to their game at the opposite end of the ice.
Creating offense in the absence of Dubois, Protas and Wilson was going to be difficult enough without that speed bump. As they navigate their way into the second half and try to tighten up their game in their own end, the Caps will try to re-instill the defensive mindset that served them well through the first third of the campaign.
“First off, we did a better job of sorting their entries out, picking up our guy and staying with him for the whole shift, as well as breaking pucks out of the [defensive] zone,” says Caps defenseman Rasmus Sandin. “I think we did a great job as a unit, and getting open and wanting the puck. And I think that’s gotten away from us here in the last few games especially, and something we need to get back to.”
Ironically, the Ducks find themselves in similar straits of late. Beginning with their win over Washington a month ago, the Ducks’ .429 points percentage (5-7-2) is tied with the Caps, Los Angeles and Utah for 27th in the NHL, ahead of that of only Chicago (.367) and Winnipeg (.250).
And like the Caps, the Ducks are hanging tough in a tightly packed division – the Pacific – in which all eight teams had a negative goal differential heading into Sunday’s slate of NHL activity.
Anaheim’s Dec. 5 victory over the Caps was the start of a modest three-game winning streak. But since that short streak was halted, the Ducks have won just two of their last 11 games (2-7-2).
As they hit town on Monday, the Ducks are lugging a five-game losing streak (0-4-1). Anaheim has yielded an average of 3.93 goals against across its last 14 contests, a figure better only than that of the San Jose Sharks (4.00) over the last month of the season.
Most recently, the Ducks dropped a 5-2 decision to Minnesota on Friday in the finale of a three-game homestand. As they embark upon a four-game road trip Monday in DC, the Ducks are seeking their first win since Dec. 20, when they overcame Columbus by a 4-3 count on home ice.
