The Washington Capitals have had trouble finding any consistency with their lineup for a couple of months now. Whether due to injuries or a general lack of chemistry, Caps head coach Spencer Carbery has been forced to use several line combinations that would have shocked fans at the start of the season.
Carbery’s latest eyebrow-raising combo, used Monday night against the Colorado Avalanche, paired franchise legend Alex Ovechkin with typical bottom-six center Nic Dowd and the emerging Ethen Frank. While the Capitals couldn’t put together a complete enough performance to down the Avs, Carbery did like what he saw from his newest trio.
“I liked Dowd’s line,” Carbery said postgame. “I thought O and Frankie, and that line was really, really effective.”
Capitals forward lines in 1/19 game against Avalanche
With Ovechkin’s line on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals posted positive differentials in shot attempts (+7), shots on goal (+5), goals (+1), scoring chances (+3), and high-danger chances (+3). They did not give up a single high-danger chance to Colorado during those minutes and scored the lone goal.
Frank scored the Capitals’ second goal of the game, finishing off a great feed from Ovechkin. Ovechkin also had five shots on goal in the loss, the most he has had in any January game.
While Carbery did like the results from that new trio, he was less convinced by the team’s other lines. None of the other three groups produced an even-strength goal and were on the ice for three against.
“[Justin Sourdif], coming back, I felt like that line was a little bit off tonight,” Carbery said. “But, again, Sourdi coming back from the injury, has missed the last whatever it’s been, four games. Stromer and that, we’ll see where we go with it. I definitely liked Dowd’s line. I thought they did a real good job tonight.”
The Capitals should be getting Tom Wilson back from injury within the next few days, so Carbery will get the chance to reconfigure a couple of those lines. The team needs to figure something out quickly as they continue to fall down the standings in an ultra-competitive Eastern Conference.
The club’s next test comes against the NHL’s current worst team, the Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver is the lone team in the league with a longer losing streak than the Capitals (three games), having not won once in their last eight tries.
