ARLINGTON, Va. - Matt Roy still won’t be in the lineup for the Washington Capitals against the New York Rangers, but the veteran blueliner is at least moving in the right direction.
Roy is day-to-day and skated on his own Friday, a sign that he is making progress. Coach Spencer Carbery called the recovery “coming along slowly,” but the update was enough to keep Roy’s status trending positively heading into the matchup.
With Roy still sidelined, Dylan McIlrath stays in for the Capitals, who are rolling with the same line combinations they’ve used since training camp opened. That said, one unit is under the microscope.
There’s “urgency” around getting the third line going, and Carbery made that clear Friday. The trio of Aliaksei Protas, Ilya Portas and Jordan Kyrou has had a rough start, and Wednesday’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins only sharpened the concern. That line was on the ice for all three goals against and finished with a Corsi-for percentage of just 20 and a shots-for percentage of 16.67 over 7:39 at 5-on-5.
Carbery said he addressed the group directly and sees room for the line to grow into something useful. He pointed to fixes that are more about details than major overhauls.
“There are some things that I saw inside of their line shifts together they could do a better job of,” Carbery said, adding, “There's some things and they're easy fixes. They're not these crazy, outlandish things or, 'They're not here' and, 'They've got to get to here.' There's some subtle things that they can do to help each other out.
"I think a little bit of it's just chemistry stuff, but there's a bit of work stuff in there, there's a little bit of details inside of our structure, there's a little bit of just do the simple thing and support. We're staying with that line, and I think it can be a good line, but definitely there's some urgency there. We've got to get that that line going."
The Capitals’ defensive pairings Friday were Jakob Chychrun with Timothy Liljegren, Martin Fehervary with Vinny Desharnais, and Cole Hutson with McIlrath. Logan Thompson was listed in goal.
On the power play, Washington’s top unit featured Ovechkin, Chychrun, Wilson, Dubois and Strome. The second group included Leonard, Hutson, I. Protas, Tuch and Kyrou.
In Other News...
Capitals Got An Encouraging Sign In A Tighter Win Over Rangers
A tighter-than-it-looked 3-1 win over the Rangers gave Washington more than two points in the standings. Boone Jenner and Timothy Liljegren both found the net for their first goals with the Capitals, while Tom Wilson sealed it with an empty-netter. Logan Thompson also delivered a steady night in goal, turning aside 22 shots and giving the Capitals the kind of backbone they needed in a game that stayed close for most of the night.
The result offered an encouraging snapshot of where Washington can lean when the margins shrink. New scorers are always a bonus, especially when they come in a game with that much pressure attached to every shift, and Thompsons performance helped keep the Rangers from turning the contest into a late scramble. The only lingering question from the night came from the other crease, where New York had to adjust in the middle of the game. [Read more 🡒]