The Washington Capitals jumped onto the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Tuesday after picking up their first standings points of the season the night prior. The team wasn’t in love with their overall performance in their 3-2 shootout win over the Calgary Flames which came off the back of a very disappointing 4-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Opening Night.
“It wasn’t comfortable for 65 minutes plus the shootout,” head coach Spencer Carbery said postgame. “We’re trying to find it. We’re just off a little bit.”
Given his team’s uneven start to the season, Carbery put his forward lines into a blender and came up with four new units before the Capitals get right back to game action on Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators.
This is how the team lined up via Monumental Sports Network’s Matt Weyrich.
Ovechkin-Strome-Wilson
McMichael-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Milano-Backstrom-Phillips
Malenstyn-Protas-Mantha
“Just trying to find a little bit more from essentially the top nine,” Carbery said Tuesday. “Get a different look. Two games in, we have a decent sample size now. There’s some specific things that we’re looking for from each individual guy so we’re just looking to get a little bit of a different look going into Ottawa.”
The new top line was a rarely tested one last season and when they were put together the Capitals had already fallen off a cliff as a team. Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome, as a duo, got far more of a look, skating almost 520 five-on-five minutes together. With the two on ice in those minutes, the Capitals saw 51.1 percent of the shot attempts, 54.1 percent of the expected goals, 53.6 percent of the scoring chances, and 53.3 percent of the high-danger chances.
The second line sees Connor McMichael join an experienced and familiar pair of Evgeny Kuznetsov and TJ Oshie. Carbery will be hoping that McMichael’s newfound confidence carrying the puck and making plays will help reignite a connection between Kuznetsov and Oshie that has heavily dimmed in recent seasons. Over the past three years, the two veterans have skated over 430 five-on-five minutes together and the Capitals have only seen 43.9 percent of the expected goals in those minutes.
On the third line, Carbery has kept Sonny Milano and Matthew Phillips as the wingers after they’ve shown great chemistry through the preseason and first two games of the regular season. The rookie bench boss talked about separating the two from Strome after the trio had such a good game together.
“I’ve thought our best line has been Strome’s line through the first two games analytically, production wise, sustained pressure wise, and offensive chances wise.” Carbery said. “So we talked a lot about breaking that up and potentially you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul a little bit but we think we just need to change that mix.”
Nicklas Backstrom drops down two lines to center the two wingers and has prior good connection with Milano from last year in 165 five-on-five minutes. Despite an unlucky minus-eight goal differential in those minutes, the Capitals have garnered 59.1 percent of the expected goals and 58.5 percent of the high-danger chances.
Phillips is currently pacing the team in scoring after notching both his first career NHL goal and assist in Monday’s win.
BIG mood#EasyToCelebrate | @budlight pic.twitter.com/gXgp9kYJaO
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 17, 2023
The fourth line’s setup was impacted by regular center Nic Dowd taking a maintenance day and missing practice. Dowd joined John Carlson and Charlie Lindgren as the three main absences from Tuesday’s skate. In his stead, Aliaksei Protas has swapped over to the center spot and Anthony Mantha moved from 13th forward into the line rushes.
Darcy Kuemper and Clay Stevenson were the two goaltenders on the ice. The Capitals announced Tuesday that Lindgren is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will not be traveling with the team to its next two games in Ottawa and Montreal.
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
