The Washington Capitals lost their home opener Saturday night, 5-3, to the New Jersey Devils. With six players making their debut with the Caps, the team faced growing pains against a Devils roster playing their fourth game of the regular season.
However, some of the game’s biggest missteps came not from new players but from the team’s third line, which consisted of Sonny Milano, Hendrix Lapierre, and Aliaksei Protas. The trio were on the ice for three of five goals against — all in the first half of the game — leading head coach Spencer Carbery to cut their ice time and limit their shifts.
When asked about largely benching his third line, Carbery didn’t mince words, framing the choice as a way to stop the bleeding.
“I was trying to help them,” he said. “I mean, their first three shifts, they step on the ice, and it’s in the back of their net. So it’s a tough night. I mean, you can look at the goals that they were on for…you can break little things down that happen — sometimes you have those nights and no matter what you do and no matter how hard you try, it ends up going the other way. And that was what I felt like for that line tonight.
“It didn’t matter how hard they tried, they were just going to end up in the back of their net, being minus-three. I mean, they didn’t play a ton. So one of those nights [they] were rough.”
The third line played just 4:22 at five-on-five, including less than a minute together in the third period. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Devils out-chanced them 6-1 at even strength.
While that trio’s shortcomings stood out, the team as a whole had trouble hitting their stride as they entered into a new season.
“I think our inflicted wounds that that we had were just just a little bit off,” John Carlson said postgame. “Just a little close to maybe having the right reads, but you know, that’s a tough team…I think there was plenty of plays to be made out there that we either didn’t make or misconnected on, and I think we’d like to have a lot of them back.”
“Especially in the second period, [the Devils] were a really fast and skilled team,” noted Carbery. “So, I felt like our guys’ heads were spinning a little bit.”
Saturday night’s performance could prove a consequence of the schedule more than chemistry or talent. The Devils played two games in Prague before hosting their home opener on Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. In comparison, the Capitals began their regular season after playing just two preseason games in the prior 12 days. That lopsided schedule and the deployment of several new players saw the Capitals stumble when trying to find their footing.
“It wasn’t terrible, but there’s definitely some areas to clean up and figuring out how to play. It’s been a while since we’ve played as a group and a lot of new faces,” Tom Wilson said, later adding, “You could tell they were three games in. But we did some good things; we did some bad things, first game. So we’ll take what we can from it and regroup.”
Though the Caps fell short at even strength, their power play and penalty kill put up a strong showing in the loss. John Carlson scored the game’s first goal 10 seconds into a first-period power play, while Washington’s penalty kill held the Devils scoreless on the man advantage in four tries. Particularly after last season saw the Caps’ power play struggle for large parts of the season — at one point failing to score for over a month — the team’s play against New Jersey offered a positive sign.
Carbery praised the special teams postgame, though he noted that the penalty kill’s strong play came despite a lack of discipline that forced them to kill off more than they would have liked.
“I thought our penalty kill was excellent,” he said. “We even draw a penalty on that late one so that it nullifies their power play and puts us on it. Couple good — even some rush chances. I thought we did a really good job there shorthanded. Power play scores a huge goal. Had some good looks on the second one as well.”
After playing so little in the last two weeks, the Capitals won’t have to wait long before their next go. The team will have a day off Sunday and a practice on Monday before the Vegas Golden Knights come to town on Tuesday.
