Caps Start trip in Denver vs. Abs

Nov. 15 against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena

Time: 21:00

TV: MNMT

Radio: 106.7 Fanen, Kasketter Radio 24/7

Washington Capitals (10-4-1)

Colorado Avalanche (9-8-0)

The Caps open up a three-game road trip Friday night in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche. Washington will play three games in four nights on this trip; after Friday’s game in Colorado, the Caps will play their third of four sets of back-to-backs this month. The Caps face Vegas on Sunday, and they wrap up the trip Monday night with their first-ever visit to Utah.

Through the first 15 games of the season, Washington played a home-heavy court, with 10 of those 15 tilts on home ice. As of Friday’s game in Denver, those tables are turning. Washington will play 14 of its next 21 games on the road, spread over eight separate road trips.

Coming off a nasty home ice loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, the Caps will look to get things right when they hit the road this weekend. As Caps coach Spencer Carbery pointed out Wednesday morning before the game with the Leafs, the Caps’ recent schedule has been littered with opponents coming to Washington on the heels of ugly losses, with those teams looking to make amends against the Capitals.

Carbery pointed to Nashville and Pittsburgh last week and Toronto this week; all three teams came to town on the heels of ugly setbacks, with the latter two teams doing so on the front end of a back-to-back, prior to their date with the Capitals. Washington was able to hold off the Predators in a hard-fought 3-2 victory, but fell 4-2 to the Penguins.

Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Toronto was more excruciating because the Caps got off to an exemplary start against a team playing for the second time in as many nights; they outscored Toronto 28-8 in a first period played entirely on 5-on-5 and grabbed a 2-1 lead. And then Washington let a two-goal lead slip away in the final five minutes of regulation.

Although the Leafs began to make a push in the second, the Caps added to their advantage with a 3-1 lead heading into the third. Some great netminding by Logan Thompson and a pair of Toronto turnovers kept the Leafs at bay for most of the final frame, but unforced errors by Washington led to a pair of Toronto goals in the final five minutes, forcing overtime. John Tavares won it for the visitors in the final minute of the extra session.

“We sat back in the third; just couldn’t get the puck in,” says Caps’ center Dylan Strome. “It wasn’t our brand of hockey in the third, that’s for sure. It obviously wasn’t good enough … (When you) sit back too much, that’s what happens.”

And now the Capitals are the team they’ve faced. They are the team heading out on the road looking to bounce back from a bad beat against their next opponent.

“We started making some unacceptable plays that we don’t normally make and it started to fall apart,” Caps forward Aliaksei Protas said. “And we had the chances to close this game out and we didn’t. So it’s definitely on us. We’ve got to move on, learn from it, and we’ve got a big road trip coming up, so it we must be ready for.

“Another experience, another lesson for us going forward and we just have to learn from it, see what we can do better and move forward.”

The Caps still sit with a strong 10-4-1 record. But since the calendar turned to November, they’ve alternated wins and losses (3-2-1) and haven’t been able to start piling up wins.

“We’ll look at some and video and learn from this game what actually went wrong,” says Caps defenseman Rasmus Sandin. “It’s hard to say right now, but we have to control the puck better. Why we didn’t manage the puck better is something we have to figure out today, and then just move on and prepare for the road trip up here.”

Caps coach Spencer Carbery was visibly unhappy with his team’s performance in the minutes following the game, and Thursday morning’s light did not diminish those feelings.

“Probably honestly a little bit worse than I originally thought at the time,” Carbery said after the team’s Thursday practice, ahead of its departure for Denver. “Sometimes you hesitate to make bold statements after matches, because sometimes you are in the heat of the moment. But I felt pretty confident last night that it would look like it did when I watched from the bench. And it wasn’t good on film either.”

Washington has bounced back to win the game immediately after each of its first four losses this season, and it has outscored the opposition by a combined total of 20-8 in those four games. But it won’t be an easy feat to repeat on the road against the Avalanche on Friday.

“We’ve got a great dressing room of guys who care and want to do the right thing and want to play the right way and desperately want to win,” says Carbery. “It’s not about winning; it’s about what that looks like and whether we meet that level (of urgency). You are going to lose games in this league; that’s how it works. It’s a competitive league, the teams are good, bounces won’t go your way. It’s just us meeting the level of urgency that it needs to look like.

“And the other part is it’s not going to get any easier. Now you’re going on the road and you’re looking at Colorado and Vegas – and we’re just focusing on Colorado. But these are tough, tough teams and tough environments to play in. So you better make sure your desperation level at least matches your opponent’s, but we like to surpass that on a regular occasion.”

Since opening the season with an 0-4-0 slide, the Avs have gone 9-4-0 and will carry a three-game winning streak into Friday’s game. Colorado also expects some personnel reinforcements ahead of the game against Washington; top six forward Valeri Nichushkin is expected to be in the Colorado lineup if he earns full clearance from the NHL and NHLPA following his stint in the players’ assistance program. And veteran forwards Miles Wood and Jonathan Drouin also appear to be on the verge of returning to game action.

Most recently, the Avs rallied from a 2-1 second period deficit to take a 4-2 decision from the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Mikko Rantanen’s natural hat-trick was the difference; he tied the game late in the second period, scored again to give the Avs the lead midway through the third, and salted the game away with an empty net goal early in the penultimate minute of regulation.

Friday’s game is the finale of a four-game homestand for the Avalanche, who embark on a four-game road trip this weekend. Washington is the second stop on Colorado’s trip east; The Caps and Avs will square off again in DC on November 21st.