The Washington Capitals made exciting news on Tuesday morning as they announced they had recalled 2022 first-round draft pick Ivan Miroshnichenko from the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Miroshnichenko got straight on the ice for the team’s practice and it appears he’ll be thrust directly into NHL fire this week.
Head coach Spencer Carbery has the young Russian skating with countryman Evgeny Kuznetsov and fellow recall Hendrix Lapierre on the Capitals’ third line. The Capitals will host the New York Islanders inside Capital One Arena on Wednesday night which would be Miroshnichenko’s NHL debut.
Here is how the team lined up at Tuesday’s skate.
Ovechkin-Strome-Wilson
Protas-McMichael-Mantha
Lapierre-Kuznetsov-Miroshnichenko
Malenstyn-Dowd-NAK
Fehervary-Carlson
Sandin-TVR
Edmundson-Jensen
Miroshnichenko did not play with Kuznetsov during his two games of NHL preseason experience this past fall but the two speak the same language which will be important as Miro is learning English. The two Russians will be joined by Lapierre, who Miroshnichenko has many games of experience playing with this season in Hershey. Miro tallied his first AHL point and first AHL goal while playing on Lapierre’s wing.
Kuznetsov and Lapierre have not combined well five-on-five at the NHL level this season. The team sees just 42.6 percent of the expected goals with them paired up on the ice so Carbery is betting on the youthful, offensive jolt that Miroshnichenko will provide to help turn that line in the right direction.
Miroshnichenko also looks primed to join the team’s power-play group. With both TJ Oshie and Sonny Milano out of action, a spot has opened up on the second unit that Miroshnichenko has filled. He got in some work at Tuesday’s skate with that group which also included Matthew Phillips, Rasmus Sandin, Connor McMichael, and Anthony Mantha. Miroshnichenko plays in Ovi’s office — the left circle — with Hershey’s power play.
Ivan Miroshnichenko here at practice this morning pic.twitter.com/lYg5CdfmC4
— Katie Adler (@katieEadler) December 19, 2023
The rest of the team’s forward group remains the same from the past few games. Dylan Strome continues his great partnership with Alex Ovechkin as Ovi seeks to crack the goal-scoring column for the first time in 13 games on Wednesday.
Strome has been far and away the best pivot for The Great Eight this season as when the two are on the ice together, the Capitals get 54.8 percent of the shot attempts 58.5 percent of the expected goals, 56.8 percent of the scoring chances, and 59.4 percent of the high-danger chances. Strome (12) and Tom Wilson (10), who completes the top line, are the team’s leaders in goal scoring.
Carbery has clearly found some magic with the Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, and Anthony Mantha connection. The rookie bench boss is sticking with his most consistent line over the past month after they’ve seen 58 percent of the expected goals and 59.5 percent of the high-danger chances at five-on-five together.
That impressive unit has out-scored their opposition 9-6 and features three of the team’s top four five-on-five point scorers. Protas (12) leads the line there while both McMichael (10) and Mantha (10) are tied with Wilson (10) for second place.
The Capitals’ fourth line remains led by Nic Dowd with Beck Malenstyn and Nicolas Aube-Kubel flanking him. That line has taken just eight offensive zone faceoffs this season compared to 177 combined faceoffs in the neutral (55) and defensive (122) zones. That shows in their five-on-five statistics as they are majorly underwater in shot attempts (-63), scoring chances (-20), and high-danger chances (-7).
On defense, the pairings are led by the successfully reignited duo of Martin Fehervary and John Carlson. The two are excelling again as a duo after some serious struggles last season. With them on the ice in some tough five-on-five minutes, the Capitals have gotten 51.1 percent of the shot attempts and 54.4 percent of the scoring chances.
The other two pairings also remain the same but that could be changing in not so distant future. The Capitals have reportedly signed free agent defenseman Ethan Bear to a two-year contract and if he jumps right into the team’s lineup when he arrives, it will likely be one of Nick Jensen, Joel Edmundson, or Trevor van Riemsdyk that come out for him.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
