{"id":21592,"date":"2024-03-13T01:04:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T01:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/?p=21592"},"modified":"2024-03-13T01:04:21","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T01:04:21","slug":"caps-trip-continues-in-edmonton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/caps-trip-continues-in-edmonton\/","title":{"rendered":"Caps Trip Continues in Edmonton\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 13 vs. Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place<\/strong><\/p>\n

Time:<\/strong> 10:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

TV:<\/strong> TNT<\/p>\n

Radio:<\/strong> 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24\/7<\/p>\n

Washington Capitals (30-24-9)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Edmonton Oilers (39-21-3)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Caps\u2019 five-game western trip continues on Wednesday night in Edmonton when the Caps take on the Oilers at Rogers Place. Washington\u2019s nine-day journey got off to an inauspicious start on Monday night in Winnipeg, where the Jets blanked the Caps by a 3-0 count.<\/p>\n

Even with Monday\u2019s setback, the Caps are 7-2-2 in their last 11 games. For them, it\u2019s important to get their game back in shape for what promises to be another tough tilt against another difficult Western Conference foe with designs on reaching the Stanley Cup Final this spring.<\/p>\n

In Monday\u2019s game against the Jets, the Caps were not the team that had rolled up such a strong record over the course of their previous 10 games. They weren\u2019t connected as a five-man unit, their execution was not crisp, they were rarely able to create and generate strong offensive looks from prime areas of the ice, and they were often under siege in their own end, dealing with a swarm of forechecking Jets.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s lack of execution led to a number of icings, and that issue was then compounded by their woes on the face-off dot, where they won only 24 of the game\u2019s 66 draws (36 percent).<\/p>\n

\u201c[We had] some extended shifts where guys just chuck it,\u201d said Caps\u2019 coach Spencer Carbery in the aftermath of Monday\u2019s loss. \u201cThey\u2019re trying essentially to just not get scored on. When you get swarmed like that, and you feel like that \u2013 and I\u2019m sure the guys will say it \u2013 you just panic. You start to panic, because when they have that much pressure, and they\u2019re on you and they\u2019re skating, and they\u2019re quick to everything, it\u2019s tough for us in those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday was a new day for the Caps, a day to move on from Winnipeg and prepare for Wednesday\u2019s match with the Oilers with a midday practice at Rogers Place. The Caps got T.J. Oshie back in their lineup for Monday\u2019s game with the Jets, and they\u2019re hopeful that either or both of ailing center Nic Dowd (upper body) and injured defenseman Martin Fehervary might be cleared to return for Wednesday\u2019s game in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re continuing to trend in the right direction, so we\u2019ll see [Wednesday],\u201d says Carbery.<\/p>\n

Tom Wilson also missed Monday\u2019s game with an upper body injury; he practiced on Tuesday and was feeling better, but his status for Wednesday should be clearer on the morning of the game.<\/p>\n

As they try to chase their way into the playoff picture with only 19 games remaining in the season, it\u2019s important for the Caps to avoid losing streaks of any length.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the positive thing about [Monday] night was we knew how we wanted to play,\u201d says Caps\u2019 center Connor McMichael after Tuesday\u2019s practice session. \u201cIt was uncharacteristic of how we\u2019ve been playing lately. I feel like ever since the All-Star break, we\u2019ve had an identity, and we\u2019ve been really good at forechecking pucks, and [Monday] we got away from that, and we almost played right into their hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for the most part, it\u2019s going to be a one-off, and I think we all know that. We went over it this morning, and we\u2019re turning the page.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s certainly the right mindset in this situation. It\u2019s crucial for the Caps to avoid losing streaks of any length, and it\u2019s imperative they keep the points coming, and that they make sure Monday\u2019s loss was just a blip on the radar screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor this group \u2013 and we\u2019ve seen it all year \u2013 obviously nights like [Monday] night aren\u2019t characteristic for us,\u201d says Caps\u2019 winger Beck Malenstyn. \u201cWe look at the video, and you look internally, and you realize there\u2019s a lot of things you probably wish you could have done different. I think we\u2019ve taken that challenge on all year, and have really been able to put our best foot forward coming out of these situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd obviously, for us, it\u2019s not [have a] bad game, regroup, have another one, regroup. We really do want to start putting those stretches of wins together, and it starts with [Wednesday] night. It\u2019s going to be a great hockey team that we\u2019re playing, and for us, we go back and we look through what we probably wanted to change [Monday] night in Winnipeg. And there\u2019s a lot of things we could have done better. It was an uncharacteristic game from our group, and I definitely think we\u2019re going to get our best effort. And if we continue to do that, and we build off that, I think we can put a good stretch together.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Black Friday in the District, the Oilers blanked the Caps by a 5-0 count, spurring an eight-game winning streak that lifted them from the doldrums of a 5-12-1 start to the season. Soon after that eight-game winning run ended, they reeled off 16 victories in a row, a streak that was halted on Feb. 6 in Vegas, one game shy of the NHL mark established by the Pittsburgh Penguins more than three decades ago.<\/p>\n

Like the Jets, Edmonton is a team with realistic designs on reaching the Stanley Cup Final this spring. For the Oilers, Wednesday\u2019s game is the first game of a four-game homestand. It comes on the heels of a 2-1-1 road trip for the Oilers, who ended the trip on a high note, blanking the Pens in Pittsburgh by a 4-0 count on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Originally Appeared Here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 13 vs. Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place Time: 10:00 p.m. TV: TNT Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24\/7 Washington Capitals (30-24-9) Edmonton Oilers (39-21-3) The Caps\u2019 five-game western… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,5015],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21593,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21592\/revisions\/21593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}