The Washington Capitals got back onto the ice on Friday after having a day off post their humbling defeat to the Ottawa Senators. Through three games to start the season, the Capitals have been out-scored by their opponents 12 to 4 and have trailed 122:42 of 185 possible minutes.
“We’re really struggling from a standpoint of we’ve got a lot of guys looking to find their games early in the season and aren’t there,” head coach Spencer Carbery said Wednesday. “So, okay. That’s fine. Usually it’s a few (guys), but we have more than you would call normal. So trying to find our game.”
Carbery is doing his part by mixed up the line combinations and defense pairings at practice before Saturday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens.
This is how the squad looked via The Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson.
Ovechkin-Strome-Phillips
McMichael-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Milano-Backstrom-Wilson
Malenstyn-Protas-Mantha
Sandin-Carlson
Fehervary-Jensen
Haman Aktell-TVR
Extras: Alexeyev-Johansen
The Capitals’ early-season points leader up front, Matthew Phillips, has earned a promotion to the top line alongside the recently shotless Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome. Carbery is betting on Phillips’ hot start to try and jumpstart a top-six forward group that has been relatively ineffective from a production standpoint to start the season. Ovechkin has yet to score a goal and Strome has yet to record a point.
The second line is one of two lines to stay intact after the 6-1 loss to the Senators. Despite the lopsided overall scoreline, that trio had a ton of success from a process stats perspective. With them on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals saw positive differentials in shot attempts (+8), scoring chances (+6), and high-danger chances (+6). They were not on the ice for a single Ottawa high-danger chance.
Early on in the campaign, veteran winger TJ Oshie leads the team, at a five-on-five per 60 minutes basis, in individual shot attempts (16.6), scoring chances (13.3), and high-danger chances (8.3). However, he has yet to find the scoresheet for the first time.
Nicklas Backstrom still leads the third line with Sonny Milano to his left but they have now been joined by Tom Wilson due to Phillips’ promotion. Against Ottawa, Backstrom’s group struggled mightily and were the unit most caved in by Ottawa offensive-zone pressure. The Swedish pivot saw just 22.2 percent of the five-on-five shot attempts go the Capitals way when he took the ice.
On the fourth line, Aliaksei Protas takes the center spot again as Nic Dowd did not practice after missing the game in Ottawa with an upper-body injury. Carbery gave a short update on Dowd after the skate.
“We’ll find out tomorrow more so if he’ll be in the lineup or not,” Carbery told Johnson. “Another maintenance day, so we’ll see.”
The blueline has also undergone some changes. Martin Fehervary has been slid back on a pairing with his partner for large swaths of last season, Nick Jensen. In over 519 five-on-five minutes together during the 2022-23 campaign, the Capitals saw 47.2 percent of the shot attempts, 48.7 percent of the expected goals, 47.7 percent of the scoring chances, and 48.2 percent of the high-danger chances with the duo on the ice.
Jensen’s move up to the second pairing has made way for recent recall Hardy Haman Aktell to enter the fray next to Trevor van Riemsdyk. Haman Aktell has skated with Dylan McIlrath in both of Hershey’s first games, recording his first career AHL goal in his second outing. If Haman Aktell does indeed get the start against Montreal on Saturday, it’ll be his second North American professional debut in a week.
Haman Aktell’s recall on Thursday was preceded by the Capitals placing goaltender Charlie Lindgren on injured reserve. Clay Stevenson still remains the team’s backup to Darcy Kuemper.
The Capitals will try and bounce back and get back into the win column against the Canadiens. Montreal is 1-1-1 to start the year and are coming off of a 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday at Bell Centre.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
