SKATE SHAVINGS – News and notes from Caps' Morning Skate

Shorty Wanna Ride – One night after their first of four meetings this season, the Caps and Flyers meet again on Wednesday night in Washington. The Caps went 4-1 in the first set of back-to-back home games on Tuesday to earn their fourth straight victory. Philadelphia was eliminated for the fifth time in a row (0-4-1).

For the first time in their franchise history, the Caps opened the game with two shorthanded goals – from Nic Dowd and Andrew Mangiapane – and that was the offense they needed.

According to naturalstattrick.com, Washington ranks second in the NHL in the number of short-handed possessions and has created eight short-handed scoring opportunities, which is the second-most in the league (Philadelphia leads with 10). The Caps are not known as a team that pushes to the limit despite being outnumbered; They have had three seasons this century where they scored two shorthanded goals all season.

“Our (penalty kick) forecheck did a really good job of denying submissions as we talked about at various points in preseason and early in the season,” Caps coach Spencer Carbery said. “And I also think some of the speed there, like (Aliaksei) Protas, caused quite a stir there and it was nice to capitalize on that.” Both penalties generated a little (more) – probably too a lot – than either team would have liked, but we were able to capitalize in two of those situations, big goals from Dowder and Mange.”

Those goals helped extend the Caps' winning streak to four. On the other side of the coin, the Flyers are trying to halt an early season slide, as early season slides are often magnified. Philadelphia played well for most of Tuesday's game, but the Flyers definitely lacked finishing; Some of their best performances online fell short.

“I think the biggest key is that there is a level of frustration,” Flyers coach Jon Tortorella said afterward. “They want to play well; They want to win a hockey game. You want to score a goal in the home game.

“You can’t allow frustration to turn into betrayal. You have to remember your structure as we go through this. Since it is the beginning of the year and we are in a bind, the number has doubled so the pressure is greater. But we just have to play the way we're supposed to play within our structure. Hopefully some good things happen to us and we gradually gain confidence.”

Carry on – In the first 15 games last season, Washington's defensemen combined to score just one goal and collect 20 assists for a total of 21 points, a paltry average of just 1.4 points per night from defense.

Things got better by the end of the season, but the Caps' defense was still subpar offensively last season compared to the team's recent history. The 2023-24 Caps finished the season with 20 goals and 135 points, a total they surpassed in both pandemic-shortened seasons. Last season's average of 1.65 points per game from the back end was the team's lowest since 2010-11 (1.48), John Carlson's first full NHL season.

John Carlson and Jakob Chychrun both scored goals for Washington in Tuesday's game against the Flyers, and Martin Fehervary added an assist. In five games so far this season, the Caps blueline has scored four goals and 13 points, an average of 2.6 points per game.

Even before Tuesday night's offensive outburst, it was obvious that the Caps' defensemen were more assertive offensively.

“I think (defense) has been a big part of our offense's – whatever you want to call it – resurgence or ability to score or create more quality scoring chances at a higher rate this year,” Carbery said. “And it happens in a lot of different ways, whether it's moving the puck out of our zone and moving through the neutral zone or into the attack zone, or adding a rush element into the zone as the fourth and fifth player.

“I feel like all of those elements have checked the box to help us become a more threatening offensive team. And then there's our ability to get shots through; I noticed that we find the shooting lanes much better. If we don’t have a lead, you’re making a good decision.”

Carbery also points out the importance of making good decisions and placement on the high-low pucks, as Philadelphia is a top shot-blocking team.

“We can’t put pucks in shin pads,” the Caps coach said. “And that will come up tonight because Philly is one of the best shot-blocking teams in the National Hockey League. It consists of two parts; You're ruining your shift and driving up their transition if you knock off a guy's shin pads. And so I feel like our (defense) has done a really good job here of being selective and finding shooting lanes when they're there and when they're not there, we just reset them and go again get to work.”

My rival – Many of the Caps' new faces got their first taste of the Caps-Flyers rivalry last night in Philadelphia, as Washington defeated the Flyers for the 100th time in franchise history (100-112-19-12), and some of them I discussed the experience afterwards.

Chychrun's father Jeff was a second-round pick of the Flyers in 1984 and debuted in the black and orange on December 2, 1986 in Philly against St. Louis. The elder Chychrun played 199 of his 262 career NHL games with the Flyers; He led all NHL rookie defensemen with a plus-11 rating in 1988-89, but his career was shortened due to injuries. He also collected 742 PIM in his NHL career.

“It’s great,” Jakob Chychrun said of the Caps-Flyers rivalry. “It's obviously a very passionate city here and it's fun to come and play here. My dad always raved about his time here, so it's nice to come here and score some points. I spent a little time there in the penalty box and everyone said they were having flashbacks because my dads spent a lot of time there too.”

Before joining the Caps this season, Andrew Mangiapane had only played for the Calgary Flames, where he was very familiar with the “Battle of Alberta” rivalry between the Flames and the Edmonton Oilers.

“You can see that there is a certain tension; It’s a rivalry, a divisional rivalry,” Mangiapane said. “And I’m sure it will increase (Wednesday); That's what happens in these successive events. So we have to be ready to play because they will give everything.”

In the networks – Logan Thompson scores tonight for Washington as the Caps continue their early-season rotation of Thompson and Charlie Lindgren, who stopped 17 shots and improved to 4-0-2 against Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

Thompson made his Caps debut just over a week ago, beating Vegas last Tuesday night in DC. He won his second start Saturday in New Jersey and will try to make it third in a row tonight against Philadelphia. This season, Thompson is 2-0-0 with a 3.41 GAA and .877 save percentage.

Lifetime against the Flyers, Thompson is 1-0-1 in two appearances – both starts – with a 2.98 GAA and .909 save percentage.

Ivan Fedotov is the starter in Philadelphia tonight. The 27-year-old was Philly's seventh-round pick (188th overall) in the 2015 NHL Draft, and he made his NHL debut late last season, appearing in three games and starting one of them.

Tonight Fedotov starts for the third time in the young season. He is 0-2-0 with a 6.09 GAA and .818 save percentage. in an obviously small sample size. He is 0-3-1 lifetime in the NHL with a 5.46 GAA and .815 save percentage.

Everything lined up – Here's how the Capitals and Flyers lined up for Tuesday night's game in Philly. The Caps are playing with the same lineup – except for the goal – while Philadelphia will bring Tyson Foerster into the lineup tonight for Bobby Brink and will also bring another goaltender into the starting lineup.

WASHINGTON

Forward

21-Protas, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin

24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson

88-Mangiapane, 29-Lapierre, 13-Vrana

22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 16-Raddysh

defender

6-Chychrun, 74-Carlson

42-Fehervary, 52-McIlrath

38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk

goalkeeper

48-Thompson

79-Lindgren

Extras

15-Milan

27-Alexeyev

Lost/injured

3-Roy (lower body)

19-Backstrom (Hip)

77-Oshie (back)

PHILADELPHIA

Forward

21-Laughton, 48-Frost, 11-Konecny

74-Tippett, 14-Couturier, 39-Michkov

86-Farabee, 25-Poehling, 10-Brink

44-Deslauriers, 27-Cates, 19-Hathaway

defender

8-York, 6-Sanheim

5-Zamula, 55-Ristolainen

24-Soul, 9-Drysdale

goalkeeper

33-Ersson

82-Fedotov

Extras

17-Luchanko

71-Foerster

77-Johnson

Lost/injured

94-Ellis (back)