The Washington Capitals are in desperation mode right now. Points are slipping away and the margin between the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference continues to expand. The Capitals, who are in the mindset of a four-game road trip, are coming off two lifeless losses against the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild and have now dropped their last three road contests.
The Caps were shutout 3-0 against St. Louis and then fell to the Wild, 5-3, on Tuesday. Two games where the Capitals were once again struggling to generate offense at five-on-five.
Now Washington will have to face one of the top teams in the league in the Colorado Avalanche in the second half of a back-to-back. Wednesday’s matchup is one of the biggest tests of the campaign for the Caps.
“I genuinely believe in our leadership and they know we’re in playoff mode right now,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said following Tuesday’s loss. “Our season and how tight and all that stuff, if we are being realistic about playing into April and May, like this is going to be the chunk that decides our season. And they’re challenging games against real good hockey teams and tomorrow is probably as difficult as the test gets but that’s where we have to prove that we belong and we’re capable of playing past the regular season.”
The Capitals are three points out of the second Wild Card spot with two games in hand on the Detroit Red Wings. They are in a dogfight with the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders for that final playoff spot.
Prior to Tuesday’s game, T.J. Oshie mentioned that the Capitals needed to simplify their game, by just simply getting pucks on net and getting bodies in front of the net. Washington outshot Minnesota 33-30 and had 10 high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five, but Filip Gustavsson stood tall in the crease.
“We’re kind of trying to create plays that aren’t really there and creating too many turnovers against and it’s costing us right now,” Anthony Mantha, who had two goals for Washington, said. “I think we knew we had to step up today and unfortunately we didn’t really do it. The good news is we get 20 hours [off] and we’re back at it.”
The Caps have surrendered the game’s first goal in five out of their last seven games and are 9-14-4 when allowing the first goal. Starts have not been the cleanest for the Caps and have failed to set the tone early in games. They succumbed to the Minnesota forecheck throughout the game and struggled to evade the pressure.
“The start puts us in a really really difficult spot as a group and just those top two lines, especially that top line, we got outmatched a little bit there with their skating and their speed with [Kirill Kaprizov’s line],” Carbery said. “They make elite plays and now next thing you know you’re chasing the game… We’ve talked about that all year. It’s really important for us being a low scoring team and a team that doesn’t score a bunch of five-on-five [goals] that puts us in a really difficult spot right out of the gate.”
Scouting Colorado
The Avalanche (30-14-3) are coming off a 7-4 win against the Philadelphia Flyers, which was the final game of a five-game road trip. Colorado is 7-3-0 in its last 10 games and is currently sitting in second in the Central Division.
Nathan MacKinnnon is having an MVP caliber season ranking second in the NHL with 77 points (26 goals, 51 assists) in 47 games and had four points (two goals, two assists) against the Flyers. MacKinnon also has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his last five games and is on an 11-game point streak.
Mikko Rantanen is tied with MacKinnon for the team lead in goals (26) and is also having another terrific season. He leads the team with 10 power-play goals.
Colorado boasts the second-best offense in the NHL, scoring 3.77 goals per game while also having the seventh best power play in the league, operating at 25%.
Player To Watch
Cale Makar is on a four-game point streak with six points, and has 54 points (10 goals, 44 assists) which is second among NHL defensemen.
Puck drop is slated for 9:30 p.m. EST at Ball Arena. The game can be streamed on Monumental Sports Network.
By Jacob Cheris
