November 15 vs. Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena
Time: 9 p.m
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (10-4-1)
Colorado Avalanche (9-8-0)
The Caps begin a three-game road trip against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night in Denver. Washington will play three games in four nights on this trip; After Friday’s match in Colorado, the Caps will play their third of four sets of back-to-backs this month. The Caps face Vegas on Sunday and wrap up the trip Monday night with their first-ever visit to Utah.
Through the first fifteen games of the season, Washington played a home-heavy slate, with 10 of those 15 tilts on home ice. As of Friday’s game in Denver, the tables have turned. Washington will play 14 of its next 21 games on the road, spread over eight separate road trips.
In the wake of an ugly loss at home to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, the Caps will look to make amends this weekend when they hit the road. As Caps coach Spencer Carbery noted before the game with the Leafs on Wednesday morning, the Caps’ recent schedule has been littered with opponents coming into Washington after ugly losses, with those teams looking to give their best against the Capitals.
Carbery returned to Nashville and Pittsburgh last week and Toronto this week; All three teams came into town coming off ugly upsets, with the last two teams doing so on the front end of a back-to-back prior to their date with the Capitals. Washington held off the Predators in a hard-fought 3-2 victory, but it fell to the Penguins 4-2.
Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Toronto was more excruciating as the Caps got off to an exemplary start against a team playing for the second time in as many nights; they outscored Toronto 28-8 in a first period played entirely 5-on-5 to take a 2-1 lead. And then Washington let a two-goal lead slip away in the final five minutes of regulation.
Although the Leafs started to make a push in the second, the Caps increased their lead with a 3-1 lead going into the third. A pair of great netminds from Logan Thompson and a pair of putback Toronto goals kept the Leafs at bay for most of the final frame, but unforced errors on Washington’s part led to a pair of Toronto goals in the final five minutes, forcing overtime were necessary. John Tavares won it for the visitors in the final minute of the extra session.
“We were back in the third; I just couldn’t get any pucks in there,” Caps center Dylan Strome said. “It wasn’t our brand of hockey in the third, that’s for sure. Obviously it wasn’t good enough… (If you) lean back too much, that’s what happens.”
And now the Capitals are the team they’re facing. They are the team going out looking to bounce back from a bad beat against their next opponent.
“We started making some unacceptable plays that we don’t normally make, and it started to fall apart,” Caps forward Aliaksei Protas said. “And we had the chances to close this game, but we didn’t. So it’s definitely up to us. We have to move forward, learn from that, and we have a big road trip ahead of us, so we have to be ready for that.
“Another experience, another lesson for us moving forward, and we just have to learn from that, see what we can do better and move on.”
The Caps still have a strong record of 10-4-1. But since the calendar turned to November, they’ve alternated wins and losses (3-2-1) and haven’t been able to pile up wins.
“We’ll look at some videos and learn from this game what actually went wrong,” Caps defenseman Rasmus Sandin said. “It’s hard to say right now, but we have to control the puck better. Why we didn’t manage the puck better is something we have to figure out today, and then just move on and prepare yourself for the road trip coming here.
Caps coach Spencer Carbery was visibly dissatisfied with his team’s performance in the minutes after the match, and the Thursday morning light did little to diminish those feelings.
“Probably probably a little bit worse than I originally thought at the time,” Carbery said after the team’s practice on Thursday before heading to Denver. “Sometimes you hesitate to make bold statements after games because sometimes you’re in the heat of the moment. But last night I was pretty sure this is what it would look like from the couch. And it wasn’t good on film either.”
Washington bounced back to win the game immediately after each of its first four losses this season, and it has outscored its opponents by a combined 20-8 in those four games. But that won’t be an easy feat to repeat against the Avalanche on Friday.
“We have a great locker room with guys who care and want to do the right thing, play the right way and are desperate to win,” Carbery said. “It’s not about winning; it’s about what it looks like and whether we meet that level (of urgency). You are going to lose games in this competition; that’s how it works. It’s a competitive league, the teams are good, the rebounds aren’t going your way. We only meet the level of urgency that it should look like.
“And the other part is, it’s not going to get any easier. Now you go out and look at Colorado and Vegas – and we’re just focusing on Colorado. But these are tough, tough teams and tough environments to play in. So you better make sure that your desperation level is at least equal to that of your opponent, but we want to exceed that on a regular basis.”
Since opening the season with an 0-4-0 loss, the Avs have gone 9-4-0, and will carry a three-game winning streak into Friday’s game. Colorado also expects some personnel reinforcements ahead of the game against Washington; top six forward Valeri Nichushkin is expected to appear in Colorado’s lineup if he receives full clearance from the NHL and NHLPA following his stint in the player assistance program. And veteran forwards Miles Wood and Jonathan Drouin also appear set to return to game action.
Most recently, the Avs came back from a 2-1 deficit in the second period to take a 4-2 decision over the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Mikko Rantanen’s natural hat-trick made the difference; he tied the game late in the second period, scored again to put the Avs ahead midway through the third, and put the game away early in the penultimate minute of regulation with an empty-net goal.
Friday’s game is the finale of a four-game homestand for the Avalanche, who leave for a four-game road trip this weekend. Washington is the second stop on Colorado’s journey east; the Caps and Avs will intertwine again in DC on November 21st.
