The Washington Capitals held their first full practice on Saturday in preparation of their second round series against the Carolina Hurricanes. The two teams received news shortly after midnight the previous night that their series is set to begin on Tuesday at Capital One Arena.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery ran his team through line rushes at the skate, showcasing that he’s sticking with what worked against the Montreal Canadiens in the first round. The Caps eliminated the Habs in just five games, winning 4-1 in Game 5 last Wednesday night.
Anthony Beauvillier was a point-per-game player in the first round with five points (1g, 4a) in five games and appears set to keep his spot on the team’s top line with Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin. The three were good together against the Canadiens at five-on-five, seeing 53.8 percent of shot attempts, 56 percent of scoring chances, and 59.3 percent of high-danger chances during their combined ice time.
Strome led the team with nine points (2g, 7a) in the series, while Ovechkin (4g, 1a) and Beauvillier tied for second with five apiece. Carbery deployed the three almost exclusively in the offensive zone, as they took just one defensive-zone faceoff combined in all five games.
Pierre-Luc Dubois sticks with Tom Wilson and Connor McMichael on what became Carbery’s first option over the boards against Montreal’s deadly top line in the first round. The second-year bench boss trusted the trio with similar assignments throughout the regular season, and with them on the ice in the playoffs, the Capitals have collected 55.1 percent of the expected goals and 51.1 percent of the high-danger chances. Dubois lagged scoring-wise in the first round (2a), but both Wilson (2g, 3a) and McMichael (3g, 2a) chipped in five points each.
Ryan Leonard stayed in the team’s lineup for all five games against the Habs, recording his first career playoff point on Strome’s game-winning goal in Game 2. He is still lined up with Lars Eller and Game 4 hero Andrew Mangiapane on the third line. Mangiapane created the fourth-most individual expected goals (1.22) at five-on-five on the Capitals in the series, trailed closely by Leonard in sixth (0.76).
The fourth line is the newest for the Capitals after Aliaksei Protas returned from injury for Game 5 against the Canadiens. Protas played just 16:12 of combined five-on-five ice time with Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime during the regular season. Duhaime finished the first round tied for second in goal-scoring with McMichael, each potting three goals.
On defense, Carbery stuck with Jakub Chychrun and John Carlson as his top pairing despite them posting poor numbers together. At five-on-five with the two on the ice, the Capitals were out-attempted 85-66 and out-chanced 43-32. The Canadiens owned 53.8 percent of the expected goals during their minutes.
Rasmus Sandin and Matt Roy, as well as Alex Alexeyev and Trevor van Riemsdyk, also stayed together at Saturday’s skate. Alexeyev is just three playoff games away from matching his entire regular-season output in games played (8). The Capitals created 13 high-danger chances and only allowed five with the Alexeyev-TVR pairing on the ice at five-on-five.
Logan Thompson is positioned to make his sixth straight start of the playoffs in Game 1. Despite an injury scare in the first round, Thompson helped eliminate the Canadiens with a 4-1 record, a 2.23 goals-against average, and a .923 save percentage. Per MoneyPuck, he saved 5.6 more goals than expected, which was second-best in the playoffs coming into Saturday.
The Capitals and Hurricanes split their four games during the regular season, winning two games apiece. The NHL has not yet revealed when Game 1 will begin on Tuesday night.
