The Washington Capitals have struggled to find consistency in their five-on-five play since returning from the holiday break. Head coach Spencer Carbery threw his lines into a blender to start January, but things have not changed 10 days later, so he went back to the drawing board at Monday morning’s practice.
Carbery’s changes this go-around center solely within the Capitals’ top-six forward group. The biggest news is that Alex Ovechkin has been placed on a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois as his center for the first time since Washington acquired Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings this past summer.
“Just looking to change that top-six and try to find a spark there,” Carbery said. “We haven’t used it all year, so we’ll see if that helps balance out our top-six.”
Lines from Monday’s practice
Ovechkin has dressed on the team’s top line with Dylan Strome for 27 games this season, and the Capitals have seen good results with the pair on the ice at five-on-five, outscoring their opponents 23-9. However, the connection between two of the team’s top guns has faded since Ovechkin returned from his broken leg on December 28.
In the nine games since Ovechkin’s comeback, the Capitals have seen just 42.1 percent of shot attempts, 32.3 percent of expected goals, 35.2 percent of scoring chances, and 27.3 percent of high-danger chances with him and Strome on the ice at five-on-five. Their offense has completely dried up, being outscored 4-2 during those minutes.
Meanwhile, Dubois has remained Washington’s most consistent five-on-five performer despite the rest of the team’s struggles and Carbery trying different combinations of wingers on his line. In Dubois’s 139:48 of five-on-five ice time since the break, the Capitals have seen 54.5 percent of shot attempts, 51.8 percent of expected goals, 53.6 percent of scoring chances, and 51.3 percent of high-danger chances.
Dubois (51.3%) and Andrew Mangiapane (53.9%) are the only regular forwards on the team seeing more than 50 percent of the expected goals when they hit the ice at five-on-five over the last nine games. Putting Ovechkin with the play-driving Dubois could help reignite the big Russian’s scoring, as the only goal he’s potted in his previous four games was into an empty net against the Predators on Saturday night.
The 26-year-old Dubois expressed excitement about playing with Ovechkin on multiple occasions during the preseason. He specifically spoke about wanting to help Ovechkin break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record and how he idolized the legendary winger as a young hockey player.
“I was on the ice when he scored 802,” Dubois said then. “That was pretty cool to be a part of, and I was on the other team. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be on the ice, maybe. To be able to play with the best goal scorer of my generation and, hopefully, one day soon, the best goal scorer in NHL history is pretty crazy to think of.”
Ovechkin is just 21 goals shy of tying Gretzky and is still on pace to set the new record with his 20 goals through 27 games this season. Dubois has been the team’s top point scorer and assist man since December 1, recording 17 points (4g, 13a) in 19 games.
