The Montreal Canadiens go into Washington tonight as one of the few NHL teams that have witnessed what appears to be a defensive revolution in D.C., as the Habs visit a Capitals team suddenly committed to playing defence under new coach Barry Trotz.
Habs backup netminder Dustin Tokarski gets the nod against a team that has long confounded the Canadiens. Tokarski, a 25-year-old from Saskatchewan, wrestled the supporting role from veteran Peter Budaj after shining in last season's playoffs. Tokarski went 4-3 in regular season and playoff action for the Canadiens last season.
First-stringer Carey Price impressed with 24 stops in a 4-3 win in Toronto Wednesday evening.
Price and the Habs came up empty in a preseason tilt against the Caps in Montreal nine days ago, as both teams went into the final two minutes scoreless before Joel Ward’s goal broke the deadlock in what turned out to be a 2-0 Washington victory.
The Capitals scored minutes after Nate Schmidt was laid out by a thunderous bodycheck from Habs' defenceman Jarred Tinordi. Neither player is assured to suit up tonight.
Coach Barry Trotz's teams are known to overachieve, and Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals have a reputation for doing the complete opposite. Trotz begins his tenure behind the Capitals' bench tonight and he'll have the three-time NHL MVP at his disposal in Washington's season opener against the visiting Montreal Canadiens.
Trotz is Washington's fifth coach in 10 seasons, but the first with NHL experience. He spent 15 seasons guiding Nashville, turning the Predators from an expansion team to a consistent playoff threat despite rosters more akin to carrying a lunch pail than garnering the spotlight.
Now, though, Trotz can finally rely on a true franchise player in Ovechkin, who led the league with 51 goals last season and has scored at least 46 in six of his nine seasons.
Trotz's Predators, meanwhile, never had anyone score more than 33, and that was Jason Arnott in 2008-09. However, Nashville reached the playoffs seven times, advancing to the second round twice before failing to qualify the past two seasons.
Washington hasn't managed to get past that round with Ovechkin despite winning five division titles and one Presidents' Trophy while topping 100 points three times. The Capitals (38-30-14) fell three points shy of the playoffs last season, leading to Adam Oates' dismissal and Trotz's hiring.
"Barry's teams have always played with structure, discipline and intensity, and I look forward to him leading us to success for many years to come," general manager Brian MacLellan said at Trotz's hiring after he was promoted to replace George McPhee, who spent 17 seasons as Capitals GM.
A strong relationship between Ovechkin and Trotz could get Washington back to the postseason - and perhaps lead to a deep run.
"If Ovi is willing to listen," Trotz said, "he's going to have a chance to do some great team things. And he is willing to listen."
The Capitals will also need to improve defensively after four goaltenders combined to compile a 2.73 goals-against average, which ranked 21st in the NHL. Only Braden Holtby returns, and he's expected to get the bulk of the work after going 23-15-4 with a 2.85 GAA last season.
He'll have a rebuilt defensive corps in front of him after the Capitals poached Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik from Metropolitan Division rival Pittsburgh on the first day of free agency.
They'll join John Carlson, Karl Alzner and Mike Green for a formidable blue line that shouldn't see as much shuffling as it did under Oates.
"It's important to have chemistry with your partner," Green said. "And it was very tough to develop that (last year) when you have a new partner every other night.
"I think that sometimes the new coaches are always trying to find themselves, and that can be confusing for the players. That's the great thing about Barry. Barry's been around forever."
The Capitals have lost their last two season openers, but they've won 10 of 12 meetings with Montreal while Ovechkin has six goals and two assists in the past five.
Having Holtby in net may also help since he owns a 0.99 GAA while winning all five of his matchups - two shutouts - against the Canadiens.
Capitals Jay Beagle, Tom Wilson, Dmitry Orlov, Aaron Volpatti are out with injuries while Liam O’Brien, Jack Hillen, John Erskine and Nate Schmidt are all possible starters.
The Capitals are expected to ice a lineup of Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Eric Fehr, Marcus Johansson-Andre Burakovsky-Troy Brouwer, Jason Chimera-Brooks Laich-Joel Ward, Liam O’Brien or Michael Latta-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Latta or Chris Brown, John Carlson-Brooks Orpik, Karl Alzner-Matt Niskanen, with the last defensive pair to be made up of a pool of Mike Green, Nate Schmidt, Jack Hillen and John Erskine, with Braden Holtby to be backed up by Justin Peters.
Habs hope to stay perfect
Montreal is looking to open with back-to-back wins for the first time since 2009-10. The Canadiens got off to a strong start with Wednesday's 4-3 victory at Toronto, as Tomas Plekanec scored his second goal with 43 seconds to play after the Maple Leafs tied it 1:36 earlier.
"It's even better to win these games when you play the right way, and I thought we did a lot of things well," defenseman P.K. Subban said. "Still some areas we have to clean up, but I thought executing some new things in our game plan, I thought we did that very, very well. ... We had everybody involved.
"Our forwards definitely should feel confident right now with the way they're putting the puck in the net."
Subban and Max Pacioretty had a goal each Wednesday, but they've totaled one goal and seven assists in 30 combined games against Washington.
The Habs play Saturday in Philadelphia and Monday in Tampa before playing their first home game of the season, against the Boston Bruins next Thursday.
-With a file from The Associated Press
