ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Cruising to the top of the NHL standings by winning 36 of their first 54 games and losing just 11 in regulation, the Washington Capitals solidified themselves as a team to watch this spring.
For much of the next two weeks, they'll be watching everyone else.
The Capitals are the only team in the league not to have international tournament between the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland, and one of just two without representation after last week. Perhaps that turns out to be a benefit for them, while other contenders in the Eastern Conference have plenty of players involved.
“I’m sure everyone that was kind of on the bubble there probably would have liked to have been a part of it,†Washington winger Andrew Mangiapane said. “But I think internally and selfishly, I guess, for us, it gives everyone a two-week break, almost, to recover. We’ve played a lot of games here so just to recover the body, little bumps and bruises, get the energy levels back up, and maybe that little extra rest maybe helps us down the stretch here and even in playoffs.â€
That's the silver lining Spencer Carbery — the overwhelming favorite to be coach of the year — sees in this development. While defending Stanley Cup champion Florida has an NHL-high eight players at 4 Nations, division-rival Carolina four and the still-dangerous New York Rangers six, the Caps have the only true break with no games between Feb. 9-22.
“It comes at a good time with where we are in the schedule,†Carbery said. “And I think it just sets us up to give our entire group a good mental and physical reset. ... We’re going to need every ounce of energy mentally and physically that we can find.â€
Mangiapane is right: Players like defenseman John Carlson for the U.S. and and winger Tom Wilson for Canada would have welcomed the honor. Carlson played for his country at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and skated more than any other player in the league last season, while Thompson has better numbers than all three goalies Canada chose over him, and Wilson has a blend of size and skill that is exceedingly rare in the sport.
Perhaps management and coaches for USA Hockey and Hockey Canada will regret not picking them, and all three are candidates to a year from now, but the current circumstances have their minds set on the remainder of this season.
“We're focused on what we can control and get us best prepared, whether it’s rest or some work or whatever over the break and everybody’s going to be different in terms of that and get ready for the rest of the year,†Carlson said. “We’re going pretty good right now, and the last thing we want to do is take our foot off the gas.â€
Just about everything has worked out for Washington, from Alex Ovechkin scoring 26 goals in 38 games around a broken left leg in , to newcomers like Thompson, Mangiapane, and defenseman Jakob Chychrun fitting in perfectly.Â
Only the have scored more goals, and the Capitals have allowed the second-fewest on average. They have the No. 1 ranked offense at even strength and have won games by scores that run the gamut from 1-0 to 7-4.
"Our depth really plays a role in it,†Mangiapane said. “It’s not just one guy kind of doing it every game. I feel like it’s coming from all four lines, all D pairings and the goalies have been playing great. That’s what winning teams have.â€
Some winning teams have a lot of players going to Montreal and then Boston for 4 Nations, most notably the Panthers. They've collectively played a lot of hockey after back-to-back trips to the final, but coach Paul Maurice wants his players in the tournament to “play as hard as they can and take the entire experience in,†seeing in the past how making a national team is an injection of pride to those not accustomed to it.Â
“When a guy went up and got to walk into that room with all the great players from his country, he came back and he viewed himself differently,†Maurice said. “We’re not going to see any fatigue from these players. I think it’s a huge boost to the confidence, speed. They view themselves differently. Now, they’re part of the best in the league.â€
The Capitals don't have a player in the top 30 in scoring, and a couple of their better players are from countries not involved in the tournament: Ovechkin from Russia and 22-goal scorer Aliaksei Protas from Belarus. Defenseman Martin Fehervary, if healthy, will almost certainly play for Slovakia in Milan.
With that goal a long ways off, the immediate priority is navigating a stretch without hockey, something Carlson knows there's no perfect formula for.
“Just take care of yourself,†the 35-year-old veteran said. “Mentally, it’s a nice break. I think it’s most useful, probably, for that, unless you’re going through an injury or something like that and that time would be huge. But just the day-to-day mental load that we all have in here, it’s nice to get away from it, get away from the meetings and the constant pressure of it all.â€
When the season resumes, the Caps will play 27 games in 55 days, looking to best position themselves for the playoffs. They have not won a series since their Stanley Cup run in 2018 and are aiming to end that drought.
“It’s going to be a grind coming down the stretch,†Carbery said. “We know that, and the way that we have to play, it’s going to be taxing and it’s going to be one of the hardest things these guys do is playing and hopefully playing for a long, long time into the spring.â€
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This story has been corrected to update that the Capitals are no longer the only team without a player in the tournament after San Jose traded Mikael Granlund to Dallas on Feb. 1.
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