Feb. 22 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena
Time: 3 p.m.
TV: ABC/ESPN+
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN, Caps Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (36-11-8)
Pittsburgh Penguins (23-25-9)
Following a break of nearly two full weeks from the rigors of the rink, the Caps climb back into action on Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh when they face the Penguins in the third of four meetings between the two Metro Division rivals this season. Saturday’s game also starts a set of back-to-back games for the Capitals; they’ll return home immediately afterwards for a Sunday afternoon date with the Edmonton Oilers.
The NHL’s 2024-25 midseason break was vastly different from years past. Instead of the empty calories of an all-star game, the League concocted a four-team midseason tournament – 4 Nations Face-Off – that produced compelling, entertaining and competitive hockey. Maybe more importantly, the tournament surpassed the expectations of most players and fans, and it also drew a lot of eyeballs and attention to the sport and the NHL over the last week.
Even some of the players without any emotional or national investment in the tournament tuned in to watch the USA-Canada contests, the first of which was last Saturday in Montreal, and the second of which was Thursday night’s title tilt.
“You could tell in the first game, there’s a lot of emotions built up,” says Caps center Lars Eller, the NHL’s all-time leader in games played by natives of Denmark. “And both teams knew that game wasn’t going to decide the outcome of the tournament, so I think they were more disciplined [Thursday]; nobody wants to take a bad penalty to put their team in a tough spot.
“You could tell that was the difference between the first game and the second game, but I think the pace of the games was very similar. You could see that even the good players were falling and had a hard time executing, and that’s when you know the pace is extremely high, when even the best guys who can execute every other pass are falling over and stuff like that.
“I just think it was a good display of hockey. It’s been so long since you’ve seen the best players play against the best players. It was about time. I think everyone was curious to see what the outcome was going to be, so I think it was good for hockey. I think it caught the attention of maybe some non-hockey people who are interested in different sports, but certainly the hockey community as well.”
With the Caps now set to return to action on Saturday in Pittsburgh under a national television spotlight, coach Spencer Carbery wants his team to embrace that spotlight. Asked about whether he is beginning to feel a difference in the attention level on his team because of Alex Ovechkin’s ongoing chase of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record, Carbery concurred, but he notes that the attention can be good for the entire team.
“I definitely feel it,” he says. “I also feel it, though, because of the way our guys have played this year, which I think is great. They deserve the attention from the outside media, not just our local media, for what they're doing this year. I listened to the [4 Nations] broadcast [Thursday] night on ESPN, and we were brought up in [the context of] not having any players [in the tournament] in the season that that our guys are having, and they deserve that [spotlight].
“And I'm excited for [Saturday], and it's what I told our guys, is the positive attention that the Four Nations tournament just brought on, and it was all eyes on, a great tournament, a phenomenal 10 days, and it just culminated [Thursday] night. Well, [Saturday] the national attention is going to focus a lot on the Washington Capitals, and what these guys have done, and the story of where we've come [from]. And we want to stay on that, and to continue to press forward and pick up right where we left off before the break.
“I think our guys are excited about that. We've accomplished a lot this year, and it's nowhere near done. And we don't feel that way, and we want to continue to garner that positive attention because of the way that we're playing. And that'll start tomorrow coming out of the break on national television in Pittsburgh.”
Washington is the only team in the NHL that had no representation at the 4 Nations Face-Off, so the Caps were able to get more than a week away from the rink before practices resumed with an optional Tuesday afternoon skate. Following full and grueling sessions on Wednesday and Thursday and a shorter and lighter session on Friday, the Caps expect to be ready to roll as they head into a set of back-to-backs this weekend, the first of just three remaining sets of games on consecutive days for Washington this season.
Beginning with Saturday’s game against the Pens, the Caps have 27 games remaining across a span of 55 days.
“We’ve got a couple of different things going on,” says Carbery of his team’s upcoming stretch drive. “We’re trying to stay in the moment – short-term focused here, and not get too big picture – because there are some goals and objectives of the last 27 games that we want to hone in on. We don’t look too much standings wise and points wise – it’s more short-term stuff – but we do want to get our game in a really good spot and be playing well for these last 27 games.
“Chemistry, individual guys playing at a real high level, feeling good about their game, and win as many games as we possibly can and gain as many standings points as we possibly can. So we’re right now short term. We’re going to play every second night [until mid-March] after this back-to-back, for [10] straight games. So I think we’ll short-term focus this coming out of the break, and then we’ll get more specific with the guys on what we want to accomplish in this last portion [of the season], although the trade deadline is coming [March 7] as well. That will give us some clarity as well; there’s usually a little bit of movement there.”
