Team look to solve woes outside of the District The Capitals finish up their longest homestand of the season Tuesday night. Win or lose, their real work begins following that game against the New York Islanders at Verizon Center.
Washington has won seven games in a row at home. With a 17-5-1 record in the District, the Caps have posted the third-best home points percentage (.761) of the 30 NHL teams. But away from the friendly confines, things turn in a hurry with a 7-12-1 mark (.375). Only four teams are worse on the road, where Washington plays six of its next seven games after Tuesday. If it is going to build on its recent run of success, that must be done elsewhere.
Theories abound on the Caps’ road struggles. The power play away from home ranks 24th (13.6 percent) while the penalty kill is 27th (76 percent), so special teams are an issue. But they aren’t the only one.
| Surgery for Green |
| Capitals defenseman Mike Green will miss four to six weeks after a scheduled abdominal surgery, the team announced Monday. Green reinjured his right groin in a 5-2 loss at San Jose on Jan. 7. He has missed 33 of the team’s last 36 games, six of those with an ankle injury and 27 thanks to the groin issue. Green returned to play in a full game against Calgary on Jan. 3 but made it only into the second period of the next game at San Jose. He is already on long-term injured reserve as of Jan. 12 and couldn’t return until Feb. 1 anyway. The Caps’ timeline would indicate a return in the last week of February or the first week of March. |
“If people are thinking we’re preparing a different way or there’s different game plans, there’s not,” center Jeff Halpern said. “We have a really good building to play in. And whether guys feed off that energy and play more aggressive — to go on the road you probably have to find a way to play that same style and with that same aggression and that same energy.”
Washington’s .386 points percentage disparity between home and road is the second biggest in the NHL. Only the Detroit Red Wings, who have taken 87.5 percent of their points at home and 45.8 percent of their points on the road (41.7 percent difference), have shown a larger split.
But first things first. The Caps (24-17-2, 50 points) can finish a perfect week at Verizon Center against the Islanders (16-21-6, 38 points) — they already have beaten Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Carolina — and then worry about fixing those travel woes.
“I’d like to think it’s just a lull,” winger Mike Knuble said. “Just kind of getting the right feel going, the right thoughts and playing a boring road game. We’ve played boring home games, so we need to play some boring road games and do the same thing on the road.”
