Nov. 17 vs. Los Angeles Kings at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Los Angeles Kings (10-5-4)
Washington Capitals (8-8-2)
The Caps continue their three-game homestand on Monday night when they host the Los Angeles Kings. Washington’s homestand – and a stretch in which it plays seven of eight games at home – got underway on Saturday night with a 3-2 shootout setback to the New Jersey Devils.
Half of Washington’s total of eight wins were accrued during a four-game winning streak that ended nearly a month ago; the Caps haven’t been able to string together consecutive victories since Oct. 21-24, and they’ve won just two of their last 10 games since (2-6-2).
In all but one of their 18 games to date, the Caps have played well enough to win; they’ve either been even or within a goal in the third period of nine of their 10 losses. Saturday’s loss to the Devils marked the second time in the young season the Caps outscored the opposition at 5-on-5 but didn’t win the game; they’re now 7-1-1 in such situations.
Back home after an eight-day road trip, the Caps fell into early peril on Saturday night against New Jersey, taking three minor penalties before the midway mark of the first period, and yielding the game’s opening goal on the second of those New Jersey power plays.
Those three early power plays were all the visitors had in Saturday’s game; Washington’s only kick at the extra-man can came midway through the middle period. And while the Caps have a sparkling record when they outscore the opposition at 5-on-5, that was usurped by their decidedly mediocre mark when losing the special team battle, which dipped to 1-6-1 with Saturday’s loss.
Analytically, the Capitals have been playing the kind of hockey they want to play for the most part. But their margin for error is rather tight on a night-to-night basis, too tight to be giving up three consecutive power plays in the front half of the first period to a team of New Jersey’s caliber, or really against any NHL team.
“It’s never easy starting the game with three penalties in a row,” says Caps center Dylan Strome, who registered his 400th career point in the NHL with an assist on Alex Ovechkin’s game-tying goal in the third period. “It is what it is; it seems like we’re on the short end of the stick on those sometimes. [It’s] another game with one power play. But we’ve got to keep working, got to keep getting to the middle and getting to the danger areas and we’re going to draw penalties and get power plays for us. We’ve just got to keep working, but overall, not bad.”
Down 2-0 heading into the third period of Saturday’s game, the Caps got third-period goals from Connor McMichael and Ovechkin to scrape a point from the game, so overall, not bad, as Strome says. But as they near the quarter mark of the season later this week, the Caps also find themselves occupying the cellar of the Metropolitan Division standings, and they know they’ve got to find a way to start stacking up wins before the season slips away from them.
So, what to do when the wins – and often, the goals – aren’t coming? The Caps are going to stay the course. Their 5-on-5 game – particularly in their own end – has been solid and consistent enough to give them a chance to win virtually every night. The Capitals plan to keep on keeping on, and to hope their finishing rate – and their “bounce ratio” – improves along with their special team performances.
“Since I got to Washington,” begins Caps coach Spencer Carbery, “our process, whether we're 17-0, or 0-17, from a standpoint of us coming in and getting to work, and working as a staff – I'll speak to the staff, and I'll speak to the players – is I'm going to do everything I possibly can tonight, tomorrow morning, to take what we did tonight, good, bad, and try to get better with it, and we're going to get to work on that tomorrow.
“It's the same thing for the players. So I think when we look at and when we talk as a staff and with our group, is whether we go on a 10-game heater and win 10 games in a row, we're still going to come back to the rink and be motivated and hungry to get better that next day and find ways that we can improve and push each other so that we can win 11 in a row. And if we don't, okay, we're going to do the exact same [thing].
“If you're talking process from an X's and O's standpoint, though, that's different; we're looking at adjustments all the time. Are we going to revamp our entire neutral zone forecheck, and forecheck or [offensive] zone play to try to score more goals? Probably not, because it's worked in the past. Can we tweak some things and look at ways to score more or defend better? Absolutely, and we do that every day.
“But from an overall mindset of what our group is and what we're going to be about, the culture here, whether we're 25-0 or 0-25, that ain't changing. We're coming to work, and we're going to get better every single day, and that's our mindset.”
Los Angeles hits town as the top dog in the Pacific Division standings, and it carries a four-game winning streak into the District. The Kings are the Western Conference version of the New York Rangers thus far this season; they’ve been mediocre at home (1-4-2) and they’ve been world beaters on the road (9-1-2).
For the Kings, Monday’s game is the fifth game of a six-game road journey, and they’ve run the table on the first two-thirds of the trip with victories in Pittsburgh, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. The typically stingy Kings have permitted only six goals against on the trip to date, and they’re coming off a 1-0 whitewash of the Senators in Ottawa on Saturday night.
After Monday’s game in Washington, the Kings conclude the trip on Thursday in San Jose, and then they’ll play six of their next seven at home, including a Dec. 2 date with the Caps in Los Angeles.
