The Washington Capitals have lost three in a row and, if they don’t get anything from Saturday’s matinee matchup with the Dallas Stars, will go pointless on a four-game road trip that takes them into their bye week and the All-Star break. The team’s recent drop in form in January comes at a very inopportune time.
Back at the beginning of the month, head coach Spencer Carbery said that he could not “overstate the importance” of the next couple of weeks on the team’s schedule. He later added that this road trip against all Western Conference opposition was the stretch that he was most worried about and noted that the Capitals needed to be in “playoff mode” to be successful.
Since those initial comments, the Capitals have lost four straight on the road and amassed a 4-6 record. The team is teetering on the edge of dropping to seventh in the Metropolitan Division.
To combat that fall and to right the ship, Carbery believes the Capitals leadership group needs to step up. That includes captain Alex Ovechkin and regular alternates John Carlson, TJ Oshie, and Tom Wilson.
Ovechkin does not have a goal in his last eight games. Wilson has just three points in his last 17. Oshie and Carlson have been more productive in January but the team has still been outscored in their combined five-on-five minutes.
“We need them desperately,” Carbery said on Friday. “Not just from a standpoint of setting the tone, delivering messages, and the overall demeanor, energy, all that stuff. We need them on the ice. We need them to be the best four, five, six players on the ice tomorrow for both teams. In these moments, when you face adversity and when you’re struggling to find it as a team, good teams [have] their leaders step up in big moments. Score big goals or make big plays. It doesn’t always have to be a goal. It can be a huge defensive play.
“I always want to walk away from those games where there’s so much at stake and it’s so important and go, ‘Wow, best players on the ice. Those three guys. I can think of ten different things that they did on the ice that stick out like a sore thumb to me in a positive way for our group.’ So, that’s what we’re looking for from them.”
Outside of better performances from his star players, Carbery described some of what else is ailing his squad during his post-practice media availability.
“It’s so challenging for our group against these real quality teams,” Carbery said. “I think a good way to put it is, you just can’t crack at any moment. You can’t crack and you can’t have those moments where there’s a big hiccup or you take a bad penalty and now next thing you know you’re down and chasing the game. The start is important but we need to sustain it and we can’t crack.
“We can’t have these instances where we’re playing real well and things look good but then all of a sudden, ‘Uh oh,’ turnover, two-on-one, back of the net. Because that’s what these elite teams are waiting for. That’s where it seems like it happens more than just the start. It’s being able to stay with it.”
Both of the main instances that Carbery highlighted as central issues occurred against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night. First, with the Capitals on a power play at the end of the first period, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin combined on a lazy turnover that was scooped up by one of the best players in the league, Cale Makar.
Makar took on a group of Capitals by himself and fired an unstoppable wrist shot by Charlie Lindgren.
Later in the second period, with the game still in reach at 2-0, defenseman Ethan Bear took a bad, delay of game penalty. Bear, with no resistance, flipped the puck into the stands and put Colorado on a second consecutive power play. Nathan MacKinnon would score his second of the night just 38 seconds later.
Now, as the Capitals move on to face Dallas, Carbery knows his team has to empty their gas tanks to try and earn two points. The Capitals won’t play again after Saturday until February 6 at home against the Montreal Canadiens.
“It’s a very significant game for our group,” Carbery said. “Closing out the road trip, last game before the break, and just with the way that we’ve been going. Need to find a way to have a real strong performance tomorrow afternoon.”
Here in the Lone Star State#ALLCAPS | @MedStarHealth pic.twitter.com/NCqXaIGnXw
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 26, 2024
Dallas is another very tough test. In the Western Conference standings, they are just one point behind the Avalanche team that handed the Capitals a 6-2 beatdown earlier in the week.
The seventh-leading scorer on the Stars, Wyatt Johnston, would be the Capitals’ leading scorer this season with 31 points. That sort of depth is what Carbery has to prepare his team for.
“Dallas, to me, is three lines deep of guys that try to attack middle ice, can delay off entries, and find trailers,” Carbery said. “Their ability to attack middle through the neutral zone and turn up ice and find options is as good as anybody in the league.”
The Stars come into Saturday’s contest winners of two in a row and seven of their last 10. The Capitals fell to the Stars 5-4 in a shootout back on December 7 at Capital One Arena.
