It’s a Carb-Load Wednesday, and there may have been a lot of stress eating since Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery last joined the guys, as the Caps had lost two in a row – allowing six goals in each – before beating the Kings Sunday to get back in the win column.
It’s Day 3 of a nice break for the team, who doesn’t play again until Thursday night, but John Carlson, who potted the game-winner Sunday and leads the team in helpers, is still on the mind of the head coach.
“It’s been good to see him get rewarded production-wise, because he's been a rock for us all year, playing huge minutes in every situation,” Carbery said. “For a long stretch there, it just wasn't falling his way – and sometimes that happens, especially for defenseman, for a certain period of time – but now to see him being rewarded offensively…it helps those guys when they get rewarded, because it's no secret they wanna do well offensively and put up some decent numbers, so it’s good to see him get rewarded.”
Carbs shuffled his lines in the middle of the Kings game and it paid off, so a lot of things got working as they rolled to that win, and it earned a speech from a grateful Max Pacioretty in the locker room afterwards.
“You know when you go through injuries and your rehab, and you know it's probably long, but when you actually think about what he's gone through from a rehab standpoint and the thousands of hours that he's put in every day?” Carbery said. “The hard thing about injuries, especially when you have a back-to-back like Patch, it's the light at the end of the tunnel. Those are significant injuries where you miss so much time, so you're just sitting there rehabbing and saying, okay, I'm gonna play in six months. The end goal is so far, and he’s had a lot of time to reflect and think about his career as a 35-year-old…and you could see the emotion and how much it meant him back playing and in the NHL, and not taking a second of it for granted.”
Take a listen to Carbs’ entire weekly visit, which also includes thoughts on Dylan Strome’s All-Star candidacy, Charlie Lindgren coming off IR and performing well, prospect thoughts, and more!