The Capitals have seen their fourth-liners take on a limited role in the last couple of games, and there's a reason why.
WASHINGTON — Over the last couple of games, the Washington Capitals have seen two players spend the majority of their time on the bench as they've played a limited role in games, with Matthew Phillips and Aliaksei Protas both seeing their shifts cut back. There's a reason for it, and it's not a negative.
Phillips, who was the team's first goal scorer this season and was on the top line earlier in the week, skated just 3:18 minutes and got six shifts in Friday's win over the Minnesota Wild and seven and had just 5:38 minutes in New Jersey. Protas, who has been taking on a penalty kill role, logged just three minutes of ice time at even strength on Friday and also skated only 5:22 minutes on Wednesday in Newark.
"Just a product and what I've told the certain guys that were really in limited roles is product of game flows mostly," head coach Spencer Carbery explained of the limited ice time. "It's the way the last two games have gone because they've been so tight."
Washington went up 3-0 over the Devils in the first period on Wednesday but collapsed in the second period and surrendered four goals. After that, ice time was limited to the top producers and special teams players, and the Capitals would score three more times in the third for a 6-4 win.
As for the Minnesota game, which resulted in a 3-2 shootout win, it was a game filled with power-play opportunities and penalty kills for both sides, and that, as well as the tight score throughout the night, led to a lack of ice time for the fourth line at 5-on-5, which is comprised of Phillips, Protas and Beck Malenstyn, the team's No. 1 penalty killer with Nic Dowd out.
"I just didn't see it playing out that way, and then the special teams going out as well. So a guy like Phillips for example, both his linemates are penalty kill and he doesn't kill, so now it reduces a couple rotations there," Carbery explained.
The plan is to get those players back in the rhythm of a solid rotation, and that will likely present itself against the last-place Sharks on Sunday as Carbery wants to get back to a normal flow sooner rather than later.
"It will not stay like that. I'm very cognizant of those numbers," Carbery said, adding, "I don't want anybody playing those low minutes, so I will just say the last two games have been a product of game flow, and it won't be like that."