Capitals have to ‘chip away’ offensively without injured Ovechkin

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Washington Capitals' first two games without Alex Ovechkin have not gone as they've hoped.

Still, despite scoring only three total goals in losing consecutive games for the first time this season against the Colorado Avalanche (2-1 on Thursday) and New Jersey Devils (3-2 on Saturday), the Capitals remain confident they can figure out how to produce enough to win without their captain, who is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a fractured left fibula.

"Obviously, it's just two games, but it's two games without, 'Ovi,' and we're not going to have him for however long it is," Capitals center Dylan Strome said Sunday. "So, we've got to find a way to generate some more chances."

That will be a priority for Washington (13-6-1) against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers (12-8-1) at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Monday (7 p.m. ET; SCRIPPS, MNMT). Ovechkin traveled with the Capitals, bringing his father-in-law on their annual mentors' trip, and is walking without crutches (the fibula is minimal weight-bearing bone), but those aren't indications he's coming back sooner than projected (though he'd undoubtedly would like to).

So, Washington will have to get by without the 39-year-old left wing, who was leading the NHL with 15 goals in 18 games before being injured in a leg-on-leg collision with Utah Hockey Club forward Jack McBain on Nov. 18. It's always been a challenge to play without Ovechkin, who is second in NHL history with 868 goals, 27 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's record of 894.

The Capitals are 26-30-5 in the 61 games he's missed during his 20 NHL seasons, including 3-14-0 in their past 17. Washington went 2-1-0 without Ovechkin last season, though, when he missed three games with a lower-body injury from Jan. 13-16. The Capitals scored only seven goals in those three games, but was offensively challenged throughout last season, when it was 28th in the League in averaging 2.63 goals per game. They were leading the NHL in scoring 4.33 goals per game this season, including a League-high 59 goals 5-on-5, before Ovechkin was injured.

Washington produced only one 5-on-5 goal in each of its first two games without Ovechkin and has struggled at times getting shots on net. It went 15:44 without a shot on goal during one stretch against Colorado and had just three shots in the first period -- none from forwards -- in the first period against New Jersey.

The Capitals finished with 25 shots on goal against the Devils but had 28 attempts blocked.

"We're not getting as many shots through as we were before, forwards and D, so we've got to try to find a way to get it to the net," Strome said. "We did a good job of holding the puck last night, but obviously they outshoot us until the third when we find a way to get some more shots. But I feel like if we play like we did in the third with a little more desperation and a little bit more willingness to get to the net and the inside, we're going to be fine."

Part of practice Sunday focused on getting to the inside. Washington coach Spencer Carbery also shuffled the line combinations, moving right wing Tom Wilson up into Ovechkin's usual spot on the top line with Aliaksei Protas and Strome and elevating Taylor Raddysh from the fourth line to replace Wilson at right wing on the second line with Connor McMichael and Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Carbery didn't commit to using those combinations against the Panthers, but seemed hopeful that Raddysh, who scored an NHL career-high 20 goals with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2022-23, can help give the Capitals more of a presence on the interior.

"Well, that's what we're hoping," Carbery said. "He's not the biggest guy (6-foot-3, 198 pounds), but, yeah, he's got to find a way if he's going to get back to that scoring level of being able to score 15-20 goals."

Raddysh is excited about potentially playing with Dubois and McMichael but knows he can't change how he plays.

"I've just got to keep doing what I've been doing; just work hard and try to create ice for them," said Raddysh, who has eight points (three goals, five assists) in 20 games this season. "With 'Willy' going possibly to that top line and me there, hopefully I can kind of carry on what he did and play not exactly the same way he plays, but just keep grinding down their D and open up ice for 'Mikes' and 'Dubie.'"

Playing without Ovechkin was never going to be easy, but Carbery maintains the Capitals' scoring issues the past two games aren't all about his absence.

"I get how you could draw to conclusions to that," Carbery said. "Yeah, he's out of the lineup and he's a player that can help us score. But if you look at the numbers and watch the film of what was going on even when he was in the lineup, you can still see that we were relying on transition mistakes."

Carbery pointed to transition goals scored by Strome, Protas and Brandon Duhaime in Washington's 6-2 victory against Utah as examples. The Capitals haven't had as many of those chances the past two games, particularly against the Devils, who Carbery said yielded only one odd-man rush chance Saturday, a 2-on-1 in the third period. New Jersey also got solid goaltending from Jake Allen, who made 24 saves, after Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev frustrated the Capitals with 28.

"So, that's where I feel like we've got to take a step and we've worked really, really hard," Carbery said. "And it's not our strong suit, but we'll continue to chip away at being able to create 5-on-5 on the interior of the rink and not just rely on transition."