Courtesy: Washington Times
WASHINGTON — It wasn’t that long ago — two years in fact — that the Washington Capitals’ bench looked up to their general that was Bruce Boudreau for guidance. Monday night is his first trip back to Verizon Center since the 2011-12 season but this time he will be barking orders from the visitor’s side as the Anaheim Ducks visit Washington D.C. for the final game before the NHL takes a break for the Christmas holiday against the Capitals.
The Ducks enter the game riding an eight-game winning streak as they defeated the New York Islander Saturday night 5-3. The Capitals are coming off of a disappointing home defeat as they fell in the overtime period for the first time this season to the New Jersey Devils 5-4.
As the Capitals look to reverse their fortunes from their last soiree at their friendly confines, they will look to Philipp Grubauer (4-0-1, 2.05 GAA, .940 SV%) to be the stopgap between Braden Holtby and Michal Neuvirth. Grubauer knows he will likely face a lot of shots in front of him once again as the Capitals are facing the third-ranked offense in the NHL — Anaheim averages 3.2 goals per game. In 36 games so far in the 2013-14 season, Washington has allowed 30 or more shots 31 times.
How can this be?
Washington’s defensive pairings have been a revolving door all season long as head coach Adam Oates is yet to find a consistent threesome of pairs that prevent offensive chances from opponents. Even with John Erskine coming back healthy, this defensive group still struggles with slowing the pace down in their own zone, playing controlled and winning 50-50 pucks along the walls and are guilty of puck-watching far too often which allows the opposition to waltz into the slot and attacking zone with relative ease and put the netminder in a bind.
Corey Perry (22 goals, 18 assists) is obviously someone the Capitals will take note of each time he is on the ice as he is the premier goal-scorer on his squad, but like Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom, Anaheim has a guy who makes tape-to-tape passes look easy like Sunday morning. Ryan Getzlaf (19 goals, 24 assists) has been to the Ducks what Backstrom is to the Capitals and what Joe Thorton is to the San Jose Sharks — a play-making center who looks to create and orchestrate the offense like a point guard in basketball rather than taking scoring chances off of his own stick. Getzlaf is much easier to pick out given his size and he isn’t afraid to grind out tough shifts in front of the netminder much like Capitals forward Troy Brouwer. Anaheim features a lot of brawn in their lineup with guys like Getzlaf and traditionally, Washington’s finesse style has struggled matching up with the physicality — watch the 2012-13 postseason series with the New York Rangers.
Luckily for the Capitals, they are getting healthy before the turn of the New Year and the player personnel decisions are coming down to more so who is earning the right to take the ice, rather than forcing inexperience players, or players who are out of position, into tough spots where they are pushing and pressing rather than excelling at their specialties. Forward Brooks Laich will return to the lineup tonight for the first time in 11 games as he will take Aaron Volpatti’s left-wing position on the fourth line as Oates looks to ease him back into the lineup. The 30-year-old has not seen game action since Nov. 27 against the Ottawa Senators when he re-aggravated a groin injury that limited him to just nine games during the 2012-13 abridged campaign. Laich discussed numerous times how it’s not necessarily the physical limitations the injury provided, but rather the mental issues that came along with having the right mindset to prepare to play a professional hockey game. Expect short shifts and roughly seven and a half minutes of ice time from Laich Monday night.
This game will be a battle of one of the most balanced teams in the NHL in Anaheim versus one of the most opportunistic, yet streaky teams in Washington. The Capitals come into the contest second in the NHL on the power play with a 25.9% success rate, but are 20th in man-down situations killing off just 81.3% of the power plays their oppositions partake in. While the Ducks’ special teams index of 96.2 is nothing to get ecstatic about. their ability to keep pucks out of their own net — 2.4 goals allowed per game in 12th in the National Hockey League — as well as light the lamps why they find themselves atop the Western Conference with 57 points overall.
Jonas Hiller will get the call for the Ducks (15-4-4, 2.43 GAA, .914 SV%) as he looks to deliver some coal in the Capitals’ Christmas stocking by virtue of a second consecutive home defeat. With the Capitals facing their former bench boss for the first time as a member of the Ducks Monday night and the Rangers coming into town Friday night, expect a lot of intensity on the Capitals’ end this week as they look to ring in New Year’s with plenty of reasons to celebrate.
Notes: Former Capitals forward Mathieu Perreault will be making his first trip back to Verizon Center as a member of the Anaheim Ducks. Perreault was traded Sept. 29 in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2014 NHL draft and prospect John Mitchell; the trade made room for the Capitals to sign forward Tom Wilson to who commanded $894,200 in salary before contract bonuses as Perreault’s $1.01 million was removed. This is the first meeting between these two clubs since Nov. 1, 2011. Washington is 11-12-1-1 all-time when facing Anaheim and is 6-6-0-1 when playing at home. The next time these two teams meet is March 18, 2014.
