Jet Fighter – The Caps move into the back half of a four-game homestand tonight when they face the Winnipeg Jets in Washington’s traditional Thanksgiving Eve home game at Capital One Arena. The Caps enter tonight’s game with a 6-4-2 November record, with three games remaining this month.
Washington is 5-2-1 in its last eight games, and it is 4-1-1 in its half dozen home games to date in November. The Caps are 2-1-0 against Central Division opposition this season; their lone loss to a Central foe was a 1-0 setback at the hands of the Stars in Dallas on Oct. 28.
In their last 11 meetings with the Jets, the Caps are 7-2-2, and both of their regulation losses during that span were 3-0 whitewashes with Connor Hellebuyck in net (Feb. 27, 2020 and March 11, 2024, both in Winnipeg).
On Wednesday afternoon ahead of tonight’s contest with the Jets, Washington recalled forward Bogdan Trineyev from AHL Hershey and placed Nic Dowd on injured reserve. Dowd suffered an upper body injury a week ago today and last played in the Caps’ Nov. 17 game against Los Angeles.
The 23-year-old Trineyev was Washington’s fourth-round choice (117th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft, but he was the Caps’ second pick after they chose Hendrix Lapierre in the first round, as Washington didn’t have a second- or third-round pick in that draft.
Now in the final season of his three-year entry level contract, Trineyev has six goals and a dozen points in 15 games with the Bears this season, and he ranks second on the squad in both goals and points. His plus-8 rating is tops among all Hershey skaters.
In 142 career games in the AHL, Trineyey has totaled 29 goals and 21 assists for 50 points, with 47 PIM and a plus-33 plus/minus rating.
The Greatest Thing – Tonight’s the night the Caps celebrate The Great Eight, Alex Ovechkin, for the twin milestones of 1,500 NHL games (achieved on Oct. 25) and 900 NHL goals (on Nov. 5). A special pregame ceremony with Ovechkin’s family members and teammates will take place just prior to tonight’s opening face-off, beginning shortly after 7 pm.
“Obviously it feels pretty special, a special moment,” says Ovechkin. “No one in history has done it, and to be the first guy to score 900, it’s a pretty special moment. And obviously we’re going to celebrate with teammates, but the most important thing is my mom is here, my wife, and kids. It’s going to be a special moment.”
Of which there have been many, and not just lately. Ovechkin has delivered more special moments than any player in franchise history, so it’s only fitting that he is feted on these occasions. Paying homage to The Great Eight doesn’t get old.
“I feel like I’ve had a front row seat the last two-and-a-half years, of getting to witness greatness firsthand,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “I think I’ll appreciate it so much more looking back and just going, ‘I was there for that, that, that, that – all these different moments of being able to have a front row seat, and to be along for the ride.
“I’ve said this a bunch through the chase and through the last two years; you almost take it a little bit for granted. ‘Oh, it’s Alex. Of course, the greatest goal scorer in the history of the game. Of course he is going to play 1,500 games.’ And to be scoring the way he has at this point in his career, it’s hard to wrap your head around.
“And so the appreciation I have and will have – I was actually thinking about this; I ran into him [Tuesday] on the off day at the rink – is I’ve been able to coach the greatest goal scorer in the history of the game for the last two-and-a-half years, and I’m going to be able to look back on that and go, ‘Wow!’ I’m very, very fortunate.”
That sums it up neatly for a lot of us.
Somewhat ironically, tonight’s celebration comes 28 years to the day after another important celebration in franchise history. On this day 28 years ago – Nov. 26, 1997 – the Capitals played their final game ever at USAir Arena in Landover, their original home, against the Montreal Canadiens. And prior to that game, they raised Rod Langway’s No. 5 sweater to the rafters.
Powerful Stuff – We’ve written in this space about the Caps leaving points on the table with their mercurial special teams play early in the season, so it’s only fair to note when one or both of those units does something noteworthy to put Washington in the win column. That was the case on Monday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 5-1 Capitals victory.
With four minutes left in the middle period of that game, Washington was nursing a 1-0 lead on Jakob Chychrun’s goal in the front half of the first frame. Tom Wilson was able to double the Caps’ cushion to 2-0 before Washington finally got its first power play opportunity in the final minute of the middle period.
Chychrun struck for his second goal of the game at 19:45 of the period, adding another goal to the Caps’ lead before intermission. It was an excellent example of what Carbery preaches constantly, the power play doesn’t have to score, but it can’t lose you momentum. That was the case on Monday against Columbus.
“It was important,” says Carbery. “I appreciated the fact that we were recovered a few pucks there and forced [Ivan] Provorov into a turnover on his backhand and get rewarded for it.
“We'll see where it goes. Look, I’m happy for both special teams, right? I haven't done the numbers, but we win the special teams battle 1-0, right? Out of the 23 games we've played, I think you can count on one hand how many times that's happened in 23 games.
“So anytime that we get out of there, I'm happy for the penalty kill. We did a great job. That early kill was big, right? You need to keep them off the board, and then the power play steps up and starts the momentum of really grabbing a hold of that game. So yeah, we'll continue to work on it. But tonight was a real positive step.”
Carbery was close, but it’s two hands. But here’s the breakdown. When the Caps win the special teams battle (in terms of GF/GA), they are 7-1-0 this season. When special teams are even, they are 2-1-1. And when they lose the special teams battle, the Caps are 3-7-1.
Washington is even more dominant when it wins the 5-on-5 battle on the scoreboard. When that happens, the Caps are 11-1-1. When the 5-on-5 lamplighters are even, Washington is 1-5-1. And it doesn’t happen very often, but when the Caps fall short of their opponent at 5-on-5, they’re winless at 0-3-0.
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren is between the pipes tonight for the Capitals, aiming for his third straight victory. He earned victories over Los Angeles at home and Montreal on the road, and then played more than 40 minutes on Saturday night in relief of Logan Thompson in a 5-3 loss to the Lightning. On the season, he is 3-3-1 in eight appearances (seven starts) with a 3.14 GAA and an .889 save pct.
Lifetime against Winnipeg, Lindgren is 3-1-0 in four appearances – all starts – with a shutout, a 1.51 GAA and a .947 save pct.
Over the last eight NHL seasons, Winnipeg netminder Connor Hellebuyck has been one of the best, the most durable and the most consistent goaltenders in the NHL. He leads the NHL appearances (500) and games started (493) by wide margins over that span, and has won three Vezina Trophies while being a Vezina finalist on two other occasions.
Last weekend, Hellebuyck underwent surgery on his knee, and he is out for the next four to six weeks.
With Hellebuyck on injured reserve, the Jets are rolling with longtime backup Eric Comrie, and they’ve summoned 22-year-old Thomas Milic – like Hellebuyck, a fifth-round pick, but pulled as an over-ager from the 2023 NHL Draft – to support him. Milic has yet to make his NHL debut, but he is a rare goalie in that he turned pro the same year he was drafted and managed to log more AHL game (33) than ECHL games (18) as a first-year, 20-year-old pro.
Now in his third pro season, Milic earned the opportunity with a 5-2-2 start to go along with a shutout, a 2.14 GAA and a .921 save pct. in nine starts with AHL Manitoba this season. He has logged 99 pro games already, far more than Comrie (41) over the same span, and more than Comrie has logged (84) while appearing in NHL games in each of the last 10 seasons.
All that said, tonight is Comrie’s night between the pipes, though the Caps will face the Jets in Winnipeg on Dec. 15, well before Hellebuyck’s expected return date. Thus far this season, Comrie is 4-3-0 in seven appearances with a 2.89 GAA and an .899 save pct.
Comrie is making his fourth consecutive start tonight. Now in his 10th NHL season, Comrie will be facing Washington for the first time in his career in the League.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Capitals and the Jets might look on Wednesday night in DC:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
72-Beauvillier, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
21-Protas, 34-Sourdif, 43-Wilson
22-Duhaime, 24-McMichael, 9-Leonard
15-Milano, 29-Lapierre, 53-Frank
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
38-Sandin, 52-McIlrath
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Healthy Extras
47-Chisholm
57-van Riemsdyk
87-Trineyev
Injured/Out
26-Dowd (upper body)
80-Dubois (lower body)
WINNIPEG
Forwards
81-Connor, 55-Scheifele, 13-Vilardi
36-Barron 19-Toews, 14-Nyquist
62-Neiderreiter, 17-Lowry, 9-Iafallo
70-Pearson, 7-Namestnikov, 91-Perfetti
Defensemen
44-Morrissey, 2-DeMelo
54-Samberg, 57-Salomonsson
64-Stanley, 6-Miller
Goalies
1-Comrie
32-Milic
Healthy Extras
45-Koepke
Injured/Out
4-Pionk (lower body)
24-Fleury (concussion)
37-Hellebuyck (knee)
