The Washington Capitals went into Sunday afternoon’s game against the Detroit Red Wings with completely new forward lines. After the Caps went through a rough 1-3-1 spell in their last five games, head coach Spencer Carbery decided it was time to switch things up.
“It’s a long season, so I’m not going to say chemistry runs stale,” Carbery said Sunday. “Sometimes you go through spurts where guys need to look at someone different on their left and right side. As simple as that. Usually, it happens when they hit a bit of a dry spell, and that’s what’s going on with a couple of those lines.”
The most notable change of the many made was separating Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin, the Capitals’ most frequent top-line connection since Carbery took control of the team. Ahead of Sunday’s game, Strome had played over 77 percent of his total 448:39 of five-on-five ice time this season with Ovechkin.
Overall, the duo had combined for good results at five-on-five, seeing 52.5 percent of shot attempts, 53 percent of expected goals, 51.8 percent of scoring chances, 50.8 percent of high-danger chances, and most importantly, 69.6 percent of goals. However, that five-on-five effectiveness has dramatically waned over the last 10 games, with the Capitals earning just 45.8 percent of shot attempts, 43.1 percent of expected goals, 41.9 percent of scoring chances, 40.1 percent of high-danger chances, and 34.6 percent of goals with the two on the ice.
The poor play led to Strome lining up with Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson on Sunday, and with Ovechkin taking the ice next to Justin Sourdif and Connor McMichael. Strome’s line was tremendous from a process perspective, with the Capitals posting heavily positive differentials in shot attempts (+6), shots on goal (+5), scoring chances (+3), and high-danger chances (+4) with them over the boards.
While the Capitals ultimately dropped another decision to the Red Wings, 3-2 in overtime, Strome was optimistic about how the new line combinations looked in the loss.
“Yeah, just one of those things where other lines were playing great, and myself, O, and Beau weren’t producing,” Strome said. And then, obviously, I had some horrible plays last night that lead to goals. I think just try to switch it up and get some momentum for us, and I thought it worked pretty well in the first period, and throughout the game. We’ll take the point, but I think we know we can play better. Just got to find a way to produce a little bit more, maybe draw some more penalties, and go from there.”
Carbery echoed some of those same thoughts, specifically highlighting Strome’s line, which played a team-high 13:39 of five-on-five ice time together.
“I just thought they played real well in a lot of different areas,” Carbery said. “I could break down their entire game, but I thought they generated a lot. I thought they read off of one another. They won puck battles. They were able to defend when they had to defend, which was very little tonight. They did a good job with that.”
Strome also got back on the scoresheet, earning assists on both of Ethen Frank’s goals. The two-point game was his first multi-point effort in over a month, the last being when he recorded three assists against the Montreal Canadiens on November 20.
The 28-year-old center now has 26 points (6g, 20a) in 34 games this season, with just five of those points (1g, 4a) coming in December games (10). He also has just one goal in his last 20 games, dating back to November 13. The hope is that the recent line shifting will put him back on the point-per-game pace he finished last year with.
