The Capitals made some more tweaks to their lines as they look to snap a six-game losing skid.
The Washington Capitals got together for a quick conversation as they took the ice in Boston, with head coach Spencer Carbery stressing to his group the need to stay resilient and strong in times like these.
Carbery said in the midst of a six-game losing streak, it was important for him to address his group and remind the players what's at stake and how to handle the adversity.
"It's easy to point fingers, to blame, to look for excuses," Carbery told reporters in Boston. "That's where we need to be mentally strong."
As the Capitals face the Boston Bruins on Saturday, their lines will look a bit different, with Carbery shaking up the lines once more. He explained how he chose to reward Michael Sgarbossa with the chance to play with Max Pacioretty and Tom Wilson, while also reuniting the "McProMo" line of Aliaksei Protas, Connor McMichael and Anthony Mantha after separating them amid a difficult stretch.
For Carbery, Sgarbossa has been one of his more impressive players since coming up to D.C. to fill in for Evgeny Kuznetsov, who is out indefinitely as he receives care from the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. In turn, he is putting him with Pacioretty and Wilson to try and get more offense going.
"I thought both games have been real strong coming into the lineup, providing a good amount of speed through the middle of the ice, and that's something that is important for us to try and manufacture and for him to be able to come up and give us a little bit jolt through the middle of the rink with his speed," Carbery said. "He's got poise off entries, you see some of the plays he can make... he's been responsible as well in the defensive end for the most part he's done a good job in his coverage reads and coming back in the d zone and communicating and all that stuff. He's had a strong first two games and now the challenge will be to sustain that."
As for putting the "McProMo" trio back together, it was a move that Carbery hopes encourages McMichael and Protas to keep the production going after finally ending lengthy respective point droughts back on Thursday in Florida. Mantha scored his 16th goal of the season against the Panthers.
"Mikey and Pro, their play sort of dipped a little bit, so we're trying to find ways for those two young guys," Carbery said. "You can tell in the second half of the season it's cranking up. you can tell that teams now know that this is the home stretch and now everyone raises it just another level... that's where it gets difficult for younger players. Now it's another level even as fatigue starts to set in and the grind starts to set in. Putting that line together, trying to add a bit of jolt of energy and chemistry to Pro and Mikey."
Per The Washington Post's Bailey Johnson, T.J. Oshie was on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel drew back in for Matthew Phillips on the fourth line. On defense, Ethan Bear went to work with Joel Edmundson, while Nick Jensen was paired with Rasmus Sandin and Trevor van Riemsdyk remained out after missing last game with illness.
The Capitals face the Bruins at 3:30 p.m. ET at TD Garden on Saturday.