ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals have liked what they've seen from Rasmus Sandin of late.
Coming out of the break, Sandin has three points in three games, along with a plus/minus rating of plus-2 while averaging roughly 20 minutes per game.
With John Carlson out, Sandin's slotted into his spot on the right side on the top pairing with Martin Fehervary , and for coach Spencer Carbery, it's one of the ways the team is getting him more playing time.
"He's been really good. Really good lately," Carbery said. "His last three games have been as good as he's played all season long. You may even be able to go higher than that, just playing at an extremely high level."
For Sandin, it was mainly about the next-man up mentality and him doing what he could to help fill Carlson's void.
"(Me and) the rest of the D-corps had to show up and fill those shoes a little bit," Sandin pointed out after scoring the game-winning goal over the Flyers. "Because those are big shoes."
Sandin playing on his off side allows Washington more flexibility up front, too, something they may need come spring if Cole Hutson decides to make the NHL jump sooner rather than later.
For right now, though, him switching to that side is primarily to get him on the ice as much as possible, as Carbery poined out.
"Putting him on a pair playing his off side and getting him more opportunity, more minutes when he's playing so well is the thought behind that," Carbery said. "Is he strictly going to play with Marty, two left sticks? No. He's going to move around... why he slots there is to get him out on the ice as much as we possibly can."
