April 15 vs. New York Islanders at UBS Arena
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: The Team 980, Caps Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (50-21-9)
New York Islanders (35-33-12)
When Washington last visited Long Island a week ago Sunday, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin scored his team’s only goal of the game on a power play in the second period. The goal – No. 895 of Ovechkin’s career – pushed him past Wayne Gretzky (894) for the top spot on the NHL’s goal scoring ledger.
On Tuesday night, the Caps return to UBS Arena to open their final road trip of the 2024-25 regular season, a two-game journey that takes them to Long Island on Tuesday and Pittsburgh on Thursday. The Capitals are 1-4-1 in their last six road games.
With two games against two teams eliminated from playoff contention, this trip amounts to a two-game preseason for the postseason – if you will – for Washington, which has stumbled somewhat down the stretch after a consistently strong first 70 games.
As they prepare to take on the Islanders on Tuesday, the Caps are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games, and they’re coming off a weekend in which they were outscored 11-1 in a home-and-home set of back-to-back games with the desperate Columbus Blue Jackets. In Sunday’s 4-1 loss, the Caps were more pleased with their overall compete level and performance.
“We were concerned over the last little stretch, just because we hadn’t played very well,” said Caps coach Spencer Carbery after Sunday’s loss. “Tonight, we played well. Now, we don’t come out on the right side of it again but tonight was a positive step. I know we lose 4-1, so it’s difficult to take positives out of that, but we have our eyes set on playing well.
“We have two games to go, but we understand what we’re trying to set ourselves up for, and that’s the real objective. And I’m not selling the regular season short right now, and I’m not selling short the way that Columbus competed today, and our urgency to meet that, because I thought we did. So ,we’ve got our eyes set on being ready for Game 1.”
In Sunday’s setback at Capital One Arena, Ovechkin netted goal No. 896, a week after his record-breaking lamplighter at UBS Arena. As was the case in the record-breaking game, Ovechkin’s goal was the only one Washington could muster in a 4-1 loss.
In three of the Caps’ last four regulation losses, Ovechkin has scored the team’s only goal. In the other, he was given the day off, a game in which Washington was shutout 7-0 in Columbus.
In the aftermath of Ovechkin’s remarkable 20-year chase to catch and pass Gretzky’s mark, one of the many incredible stats to come out of the chase is the Caps’ captain’s share of the team’s scoring over the years.
Since the day he debuted in the NHL on Oct. 5, 2005, the Caps have amassed 4,811 goals in 1,565 regular season games. Ovechkin has scored 18.6 percent of all Washington goals over that span, netting nearly one of every five goals his team has scored over a period of two decades.
In the shorter term, that scoring share is even higher. Despite sitting out one of Washington’s last 10 games, Ovechkin has scored eight of the team’s 25 goals (32 percent) during that span; he has scored eight goals in his last nine games.
Across their last 10 games, the Caps have been outscored by a combined 45-25. Of those 45 goals against, 34 have come at 5-on-5, the most yielded by any team in the League over that span. On the season, the Caps have slipped to 15th in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals allowed, and the 34 they’ve yielded in the last 10 games represents 22 percent of their total for the season.
The Caps have also stalled offensively at 5-on-5, scoring just 14 such goals in their last 10 games.
“It’s good we’re going through this right now, and playing a team [for which] it’s essentially a playoff game,” says Carbery.. “Okay, so you go through it. You’re struggling to score, [they’re getting] great goaltending; it’s almost a guarantee in every playoff series.
“What happens is, games are determined by a couple of plays either way. And that’s what we failed to do. They capitalize on [our mistakes]; we make two or three mistakes, and it ends up in the back of our net. They made a few mistakes; they made a bunch. We just didn’t take advantage. Those decide games; we give them a couple of opportunities and they capitalize, and we don’t.
“It’s a fine line, and we’re going to have to come out on the right side of those, and we will. We will. And you’re going to make mistakes, so the reality is, let’s just say you make 10 mistakes. Can you get it in Game 1 [of the playoffs] to make six, instead of 10? That’s what we’ll look to do.”
The Caps need not look too far back in the rear view to find games in which they played like they did in the first 70 games of the season, and they’ve dealt with some mitigating circumstances over those last 10 games too, losing key performers Aliaksei Protas and Logan Thompson and dealing with the attention of the Ovechkin chase.
Tuesday’s game will be the first time this season the Caps go into a game having scored just once in their previous two games, but they’ve also scored as many as four goals four times in the last 10 games, so they know they’re capable.
“I think we’re doing a good job of – when we have possession – of going low to high and getting guys in front, and traffic and all that,” says Caps winger Andrew Mangiapane. “And we can always do better in those situations. But I think us coming through the neutral zone with speed, and forechecking pucks, and winning those puck battles in the corner, I think that will help us generate more time in the offensive zone. That’s when you go low to high and you get it on net, and it’s usually the second and third opportunities where you start to get some grade A [opportunities].
“Teams are good defensively, and they all come back to protect the house. And it’s a hard League, so I think when you get more reps and you do the little things and win those little puck battles in the corner and keep doing it over, and over, and over again, it wears teams down. And that’s when you’re going to start getting good looks, after that.”
Before departing for New York on Monday, the Caps recalled goaltender Clay Stevenson from AHL Hershey and loaned goaltender Hunter Shepard to the same club. Signed as a free agent on March 28, 2022, Stevenson is 18-8-4 in 33 games with Hershey this season, with two shutouts, a 2.94 GAA and an .888 save pct.
