The Metropolitan is currently the most competitive division in the NHL. The first-place and seventh-place teams are separated by 11 points. The Washington Capitals, currently in fifth, are one of three teams with 48 standings points. The young and talented New Jersey Devils sit seventh.
Head coach Spencer Carbery has been touting the month of January and the beginning of February as vital for the team’s postseason ambitions. The Capitals will spend the entirety of their next 11 games, during that stretch, trying to work their way up the divisional ladder but without actually taking on a single team from the Metro.
After their matchup with the St. Louis Blues at home on Thursday, the team will head out on a four-game road trip that will take them into the All-Star break. All four of those games come against unfamiliar Western Conference competition. Carbery spoke with 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies on Wednesday about the challenges that may arise from that.
“This is the stretch that I’m most concerned with, us playing against these West teams and going on the road,” Carbery said. “Some teams that we don’t see a ton of so we need to be real diligent and detailed with our preparation for the differences in the style of play and what we’re going to be up against in some hostile environments. There are just some things that we have to be aware of.”
The Capitals will start by completing their home-and-home against the Blues in St. Louis, Saturday. They’ll then travel to meet the Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche, and Dallas Stars in a span of just five days. The Blues, Avalanche, and Stars are all well above .500 at home this season. The Avalanche lead the league in home wins with 18.
The Avalanche, who the Capitals play twice in seven games, will be the toughest of the tests. Their roster is led by Nathan Mackinnon, who is currently tied for the league lead in scoring with 72 points (23g, 49a) in 45 games. He is joined by the league’s sixth-ranked scorer, Mikko Rantanen (58), and the top defense scorer in the league, Cale Makar (52).
Add Nathan MacKinnon's name to the record books! 📚
He's tied Joe Sakic's record which was set in 2000-01. pic.twitter.com/gmZom10eaJ
— NHL (@NHL) January 11, 2024
“We know what we’re up against and it’s going to be a battle right to the finish,” Carbery said. “I usually stay pretty focused short term but all these games, if you look at our schedule, there are no off nights. There are no easy nights. There’s no, ‘Okay, we can let off the gas. We don’t need our best here. We can just cruise through this.’ It’s just not the way it’s going to be.”
Through 42 games last season, the Capitals had a 22-14-6 record. This season, they’re sitting at a remarkably similar 21-15-6. This year’s team will try to avoid the fate of last year’s team that faded down the stretch and ended up clinching the franchise’s worst full, 82-game season in 16 years.
Carbery says that he and his players are fully aware of the fight ahead of them.
“We know where we’re at,” he said. “We know the importance of each and every game from here on in. That’s the challenge that our group is embracing and hopefully, we can accumulate some wins here before the break, sort of reset, and then get ready for the final push for where we really go in February and March.”
As things currently stand, the Capitals are one point out of a Wild Card playoff spot in the East and have two games in hand on the team they’re trailing, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Exclusively in the Metro, they are five points back of the Carolina Hurricanes for the last guaranteed, divisional playoff spot with a game in hand.
The team should get a boost by at least Saturday as their captain and leading scorer, Alex Ovechkin, is expected to jump back into the lineup. Ovechkin was a full participant through practice on Wednesday.
