Feb. 6 vs. Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN, Caps Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals (35-11-7)
Philadelphia Flyers (23-25-7)
At this time last week, the Caps were working their way back east for the final stop of their five-game, 12-day road trip, their longest journey of the season. Thursday night in Philly, the Caps head back out on the road to play the first of just two February road games. Thursday’s game against the Flyers is the Caps’ final road game ahead of the NHL’s impending hiatus for the 4 Nations Face-off.
Each of the Caps’ next three road journeys are a single game in length and against a Metro Division rival; the Caps come out of the Four Nations break with a Feb. 22 game in Pittsburgh, and they make their only visit to Manhattan this season to face the Rangers on March 5.
Since just before Thanksgiving, home cooking has been kind to the Capitals. With Tuesday night’s 6-3 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, the Caps extended their home point streak to 14 straight games (10-0-4), three games shy of matching the franchise mark.
Tuesday’s win also lifted Washington’s record to 15-2-1 in games immediately following a loss; the Caps entered Tuesday’s game on the heels of successive 5-4 overtime losses. In each of those overtime defeats – at Ottawa last Thursday and home vs. Winnipeg on Saturday – the Caps gave up the game’s first goal, never led, and needed to dig their way out of a two-goal ditch in the third period merely to force overtime.
Against the Panthers on Tuesday, they flipped the script. The Caps scored first and never trailed.
“They’re a really good team, and you never want to spot a good team any lead,” says Caps winger Tom Wilson. “Obviously, they’re a momentum team, and they’ve got a lot of skill throughout their lineup that can make things happen. So you want to try to control the game as best as you can; play our game, stick to our system, and just kind of wait them out. We found a way to get a lead and play with it, and I thought that was big tonight.”
As was the case with their first meeting with the Panthers in Florida in late November, the game was all even after 20 minutes of play, and it was all even after 40 minutes of play. Washington was able to finish with a flourish on both occasions, rolling up a three-goal victory over the Panthers with the aid of a pair of empty-net goals in each contest.
Lars Eller scored early in the third to snap a 2-2 tie, and Nic Dowd’s goal off a fine Andrew Mangiapane feed on a delayed penalty was the game-winner.
“Tight the whole way through,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of Tuesday’s tilt. “We get a lead, which was important, to play from in front. We sort of gave it back a couple of times on a couple of miscues, but we stay with it, stay with it.
“In the third period, a couple of big plays enabled us to play from in front. Lars’ goal is a huge play to get us in front there, and then we can protect that lead.”
Protecting the lead late is what Caps’ goaltenders have done virtually every night this season, and Logan Thompson locked it down again on Tuesday. He made 30 saves on the night – including 13 on 14 shots in the third – to improve his gaudy record to 24-2-4 on the season. Thompson’s point streak of 14 games (12-0-2) ties Braden Holtby (2015-16) for second on the Caps’ all-time ledger; only Jose Theodore (19 games in 2009-10) had a longer point streak in a Washington sweater.
Thursday’s game is one of only two remaining for Washington before the 4 Nations break. The Caps are 12-2-5 in their last 19 games, since coming out of the NHL’s three-day holiday break in late December. Washington is 22-5-6 in its last 33 games, dating back to its last regulation loss at home, a 3-2 setback to New Jersey on Nov. 23.
Philadelphia has been scuffling of late; the Flyers are 1-5-1 in their last seven games, and they were shutout in three consecutive games before breaking that spell in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. The Flyers have scored eight goals in those seven games.
Last week, the Flyers traded away a pair of homegrown former first-round draft choices – Joel Farabee (14th overall in 2019) and Morgan Frost (27th overall in 2017) – in a deal with the Calgary Flames. Both Farabee and Frost were averaging over 15 minutes per night this season, putting them in the team’s top seven in terms of usage among forwards. The return on the deal for Philly was a pair of forwards: Andrei Kuzmenko and Jacob Pelletier.
Kuzmenko burst onto the NHL scene with Vancouver in 2022-23, scoring 39 goals as a 26-year-old in his first NHL season, though he was too old for Calder Trophy consideration. But since scoring those 39 goals in 81 games in his first season, Kuzmenko has totaled 26 goals in 109 games with Vancouver and Calgary; he has four goals and 15 points in 37 games this season. Philly will become his third NHL employer in as many seasons.
Pelletier was Calgary’s first-round pick (26th overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft); he has totaled eight goals and 21 points in 61 games scattered over the last three seasons, including this one.
The problem for the Flyers stems from the fact that neither Kuzmenko nor Pelletier has suited up for the Flyers as of yet; they’re both still working through visa issues. Their inability to play – coupled with the departures of Farabee and Frost – has left Philly with a bit of a patchwork lineup. In Farabee and Frost’s final game with the Flyers on Jan. 30, Philly fell 3-0 to the Islanders on home ice, the second of those three straight shutout setbacks. The Flyers then went on the road for a two-game trip; they were blanked for a third straight game in Colorado before falling 3-2 to the UHC on Dylan Guenther’s overtime buzzer-beater on Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
