The Washington Capitals have lost four games in a row and in those four losses have scored just five goals. The lack of offense has left head coach Spencer Carbery searching again for an optimal forward lineup.
“At the end of the day, we have to start scoring five-on-five if we’re going to be a quality team in this league,” Carbery said last Wednesday. “We can defend, we can check, we’re detailed, we’re organized, but you’ve got to score and you’ve got to find scoring and we just don’t have that right now.”
The rookie bench boss showcased his latest attempt at finding more goals with some new lines at Monday’s practice and it looks like he’s going down a well-trodden path. After a game spent on the wing, Evgeny Kuznetsov has returned to center ice between a familiar pairing of Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson.
Here’s what the full lineup looked like at the skate.
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Protas-McMichael-Mantha
Lapierre-Strome-Phillips
Malenstyn-Dowd-NAK
Fehervary-Carlson
Edmundson-Bear
Sandin-TVR
Kuznetsov moves back to the first-line center spot after a nine-game stretch without a point; Wilson has seen six games since he last recorded a point. Ovechkin, the most productive of the three, has still had detailed struggles finding the back of the net for the first time in his storied NHL career.
“We’re still trying to find some consistency from that line,” Carbery said Monday. “Just trying to find something that can get rolling. I felt like we went on a good little run there with O, Stromer, and Willy. It wasn’t a lot of production, but I thought they played solid. And we were winning games and it was sort of that stretch where we were grinding games out. And now as we’ve started to struggle to score and to be able to win those tight games or keep the games tight, we need to find something in that top six.
“And so we’re looking at all different options from Kuz going back to the middle playing with O. They have not had a good run when they were together earlier this year, so it’s a little bit of a leap of faith.”
Carbery is exactly right to identify the Ovechkin-Kuznetsov pairing’s past struggles. In over 122 five-on-five minutes with those two on the ice, the Capitals have seen just 41.9 percent of the shot attempts, 34.6 percent of the expected goals, 40 percent of the scoring chances, and 32.9 percent of the high-danger chances.
The rookie bench boss is also correct when he characterizes his move as a “leap of faith:” the entire unit, including Wilson, has not worked well together for multiple years now. Since the start of the 2021-22 campaign, with the three over the boards, the Capitals have seen entirely poor results. They’ve gotten just 43.4 percent of the expected goals and this season no longer have Ovechkin’s elite scoring to help them stay above water despite the ineffective process.
While seemingly everything else continues to be a struggle around them, Connor McMichael’s line just continues to chug along. They’re still operating successfully at five-on-five, seeing above 55.5 percent of both the expected goals and high-danger chances. When you combine McMichael’s (10), Anthony Mantha’s (14), and Aliaksei Protas’ (17) points at five-on-five, they’ve contributed 36 percent of the offense among all of the team’s forwards combined.
The other line staying completely intact is the fourth line. Carbery defaults to his checking line frequently in games, showcased by the fact that Nicolas Aube-Kubel is one of only five forwards on the team this season to average 13 or more minutes of five-on-five ice time. NAK has just 19 offensive zone starts in 22 games, starting in a more advantageous position less than 10 percent of the time the puck is being dropped with him out there.
On the backend, all three pairs are “new” when compared to Saturday night’s loss to the Nashville Predators. Martin Fehervary is back with John Carlson after missing that game against Nashville, Ethan Bear looks like he will get his second Capitals outing next to veteran blueliner Joel Edmundson, and Rasmus Sandin has been moved down to share the ice with Trevor van Riemsdyk.
Both the top pairing and third pairing have had past success this year. Fehervary and Carlson have seen 51.1 percent of the expected goals while Sandin and TVR have seen 50.2 percent.
Nick Jensen was the newest defender deemed extra after TVR spent time in that role last week. Jensen and Alex Alexeyev were paired up on a fourth pairing, indicating that Jensen might sit in the Capitals’ next game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Capitals will look to snap their four-game losing streak in a big rivalry matchup with the Pens on Tuesday. While Pittsburgh has struggled to find consistency almost the entire season, they are on a 7-2-1 run in their last 10 games and have won three in a row.
Both teams currently sit at 40 total standings points with the Capitals holding one game in hand.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins and Katie Adler/RMNB
