The Washington Capitals hit the ice at UBS Arena on Long Island on Thursday for an afternoon practice before they’re set to take on the New York Islanders on Friday night. The Capitals are coming off a disappointing 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday and head coach Spencer Carbery was highly critical of his team’s offensive capabilities after the defeat.
The rookie bench boss showcased that disappointment by making wholesale changes to the team’s top three forward lines at Thursday’s skate. The new lineup also featured veteran winger Max Pacioretty and defenseman Ethan Bear taking line rushes in the active lineup for the first time as the two prepare to make their respective Capitals debuts this weekend.
Here is how the team lined up at the practice per The Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson.
Ovechkin-McMichael-Wilson
Protas-Strome-Mantha
Pacioretty-Kuznetsov-Phillips
Malenstyn-Dowd-NAK
Fehervary-Carlson
Sandin-Bear
Edmundson-Jensen
The first and perhaps most notable move is Connor McMichael’s promotion to the top line between Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson. McMichael has spent the bulk of this season centering either the team’s second or third lines and has not yet had a run as Ovechkin’s pivot.
The move makes a lot of sense if the Capitals are trying to get Ovechkin’s five-on-five scoring back up to speed. Carbery called out his captain by name in his postgame comments on Wednesday in regard to his lack of offensive production at even strength.
“At the end of the day, we have to start scoring five-on-five if we’re going to be a quality team in this league,” Carbery said. “We can defend, we can check, we’re detailed, we’re organized, but you’ve got to score and you’ve got to find scoring and we just don’t have that right now.
“So Strome’s line five-on-five, Ovi, Kuz, backend we just need some five-on-five production, and we haven’t got that yet this year. So we’ll continue to work at it, we’ll continue to find answers, we’ll continue to dig under every rock, lift up every rock to find different ways to capitalize and produce and create offense. So we’ll get to work on that tomorrow.”
Carbery will try to use McMichael’s recent elite play at five-on-five to try and spark the two big wingers on the top line. McMichael is the team’s most productive center at five-on-five this season, posting 10 points (4g, 6a) primarily playing alongside Aliaksei Protas and Anthony Mantha.
McMichael’s recent connection with Protas and Mantha has produced magic for the team. At five-on-five with those three on the ice, the Capitals are seeing 54.6 percent of the expected goals and 54.8 percent of the high-danger chances. Now, McMichael’s mission will be to translate some of that success to his new pairings with Ovechkin and Wilson.
Splitting up the team’s most successful line could not have been easy for Carbery as he has been very complimentary of the three forwards after recent games. “We just struggle to score five-on-five,” Carbery said Wednesday. “It’s again, other than Anthony Mantha and that line, we just don’t score five-on-five.”
The hot-shooting Mantha will now have the team’s leading goal scorer as his pivot, Dylan Strome. Strome and Mantha have had tremendous success when paired together as Capitals. With the two on the ice in close to 152 five-on-five minutes, the Capitals have seen 53.4 percent of the shot attempts, 55.6 percent of the expected goals, 52.7 percent of the scoring chances, and 51.2 percent of the high-danger chances.
They’ll be joined by Protas who is the Capitals’ top contributor at five-on-five this season with 16 points (3g, 13a). Mantha is not far behind him with 14 five-on-five points and 10 of those are goals.
On the third line, Evgeny Kuznetsov has parted ways with rookie forwards Ivan Miroshnichenko and Hendrix Lapierre in favor of Matthew Phillips and a soon-to-be debuting Pacioretty. Carbery revealed on Wednesday that Pacioretty could make his return to NHL action as soon as Friday and that appears to be the plan.
The six-time, 30-goal scorer has not played in a game since January 19 of last season. Pacioretty’s addition to the lineup will add an instant jolt of five-on-five offense and likely provide stability for someone like Kuznetsov who has gone through a slew of different linemates in recent weeks.
Ethan Bear’s arrival into the fray is the last massive change to the team’s lineup. Bear has yet to even officially sign his rumored two-year contract with the Capitals but looks ready to return from offseason shoulder surgery against the Islanders. He has not played in an NHL game since April 13 of last season with the Vancouver Canucks.
Bear has been matched up with Rasmus Sandin on the team’s second pairing. Sandin and the for now deemed extra to requirements Trevor van Riemsdyk have struggled a bit at five-on-five themselves, seeing opponents score 13 goals with them on the ice compared to the Capitals’ eight.
The Islanders come into Friday night’s contest after getting blown out by the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-0 on Wednesday. The Capitals are currently two points back of them for second place in the Metropolitan Division but also have two games in hand.
The two teams last played just eight days ago with the Capitals taking home a 3-2 overtime win. Strome grabbed the deciding goal in the extra frame.
