The Washington Capitals will look to rebound from a rare misstep and extend their home winning streak to six games on Tuesday when they host the Utah Mammoth.
Superstar captain Alex Ovechkin snapped a seven-game goal drought by scoring twice in Washington’s 6-2 setback to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Ovechkin moved past Tom Wilson to regain the team lead in goals (24) and points (50) for the Capitals, who fell for just the second time in the last eight games.
“I didn’t mind some of the things that we did (on Saturday),” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “I thought we created enough offensively, we just made way too many catastrophic mistakes to be able to sustain that.”
Anthony Beauvillier notched two assists and Dylan Strome had one for the Capitals.
“I still think our game is in a good spot, and we’ve just got to keep stacking wins,” Strome said. “Obviously, we’ve played more games than everyone so we’re going to need some help, but we’ve just got to keep stacking wins. … We’ll find a way to bounce back on Tuesday and then go from there.”
Washington would be wise to find a spark for its ailing power play. The Capitals went 0-for-4 with the man advantage on Saturday and are 0-for-10 on the power play in three games since returning from the Olympic break.
“I know they’re frustrated. Guys, they want to score in those spots, especially (Strome), (Ovechkin), (defenseman Jakob Chychrun), they want to produce, because they understand that’s an important part of their identity and their roles, is capitalizing on the power play,” Carbery said. “When they don’t, they get frustrated. I get it.”
Washington’s power play has converted at a paltry 15.5% this season, which is 31st out of 32 teams in the NHL.
Utah isn’t singing a happy tune after it was shut out for the fifth time this season in Sunday’s 4-0 setback to the struggling Chicago Blackhawks.
Karel Vejmelka made 24 saves for the Mammoth, who have lost two of three games since returning from the Olympic break.
“I thought we were just disconnected all over the ice,” Utah’s Mikhail Sergachev said. “With the puck, without the puck, on our breakouts, on our (offensive zone) play, just felt disconnected.”
The Mammoth will look to bring the intensity when they begin a five-game road trip in the nation’s capital. Utah is clinging to the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Seattle Kraken and four points clear of the bubble.
“We need two points every night, and we’re in a hell of a race. That game has to be won,” Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said. “We need to take that game and learn, and that has to hurt big time so we make sure that doesn’t happen again. If that’s the purpose of that game, it is what it is, but there’s no reason for us to play like that.”
Dylan Guenther leads Utah with 27 goals, while captain Clayton Keller has club-best totals in assists (40) and points (58).
