The Washington Capitals got thoroughly trounced by the Arizona Coyotes in the final game of their western road trip on Monday. After a day off on Tuesday, they got right back to work at practice on Wednesday before a home matchup with the Dallas Stars.
Head coach Spencer Carbery notably healthy scratched Evgeny Kuznetsov for that game against the Coyotes, but Kuznetsov will be back in business against the Stars. With Kuznetsov back in, Sonny Milano seems likely to be the odd man out Thursday night.
Here is how the team lined up at Wednesday’s skate.
Ovechkin-Strome-Wilson
Lapierre-Kuznetsov-Phillips
Protas-McMichael-Mantha
Malenstyn-Dowd-NAK
Fehervary-Carlson
Edmundson-Jensen
Sandin-TVR
Alexeyev-Johansen
Milano has not recorded a point in his last seven games and played just 5:10 of ice time in the Capitals’ 5-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks last Thursday.
Matthew Phillips, who stepped into the lineup when Kuznetsov was scratched, appears set to dress again against the Stars: this time on a line with Kuznetsov. Phillips got into the 6-0 loss to Arizona and played a career-high 15:32 of ice time in the loss. Phillips has just one point in his last 13 games.
Despite Kuznetsov’s return, Connor McMichael looks like he will be staying on the team’s first power play unit. McMichael practiced with John Carlson, Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, and Tom Wilson on that unit at Wednesday’s skate.
Kuznetsov led the second unit alongside Rasmus Sandin, Aliaksei Protas, Anthony Mantha, and Phillips. Carbery hopes his veteran centerman comes back on Thursday against the Stars with a vengeance.
“Hoping we see what I saw today in practice, a highly motivated player that was competing at a high level, looked like he was moving his feet, trying to attack,” Carbery said. “Hopefully, we see that tomorrow. I’m looking forward to watching him. I know the player that’s in there and I’m excited to watch him.”
The rest of the team’s forward lines and defense pairings remain the same despite the big loss in their last game. Carbery explained how he thinks his team can bounce back and why their play from the game in Arizona can’t really be used as a real barometer for future lineups.
“Not to oversimplify, but we need to play better. We need to play up to our capability and our standard,” Carbery said. “We showed a little bit of that through the road trip. Last game is a little bit of an outlier because I liked our start and the game gets away from us in a six-minute span that essentially decides the 60 minutes to where the second and third period are irrelevant from a film standpoint and really breaking down. We carried the play and out-chanced them but is that really indicative of the game or how it would have gone if it was a 1-1 game? No.”
The rookie bench boss then emphasized the same issues his team has been battling the whole season to this point: simply putting the puck in the net. The Capitals are still just above the San Jose Sharks this year in goals per game in the entire NHL and even that lead is dwindling. The Capitals are scoring just 2.27 goals per game while the Sharks sit at an even 2 goals per game.
“There are some things that we see on the trip that we’re just still trying to work through and still trying to improve offensively and finishing,” Carbery said. “We’ve been shutout three of our last six games, right? We’ve gotta find ways to score and spend more time in the offensive zone and create secondary chances. I know you’ve heard me say this a lot this year but that’s an area that we need to continue to grow in if we’re going to be able to play with the elite teams in the league.”
They’ll get another chance against Dallas on Thursday night, but it will not be easy. The Stars are a stingy team, sitting 10th best in the league in goals against per game at just 2.83. They have, however, stumbled a bit recently, losing four of their last six outings.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
