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  6. article_body => "<p>Matt Niskanen rejoined his teammates at Kettler Capitals Iceplex on Sunday morning, a day before he was required to so.<\/p>\n<p>Why? The veteran defenseman didn&rsquo;t want to lose the edge he had gained while participating in the World Cup of Hockey. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I spent three weeks getting into game shape and I didn&rsquo;t want to lose it at this point,&rdquo; Niskanen said. &ldquo;Talking to some guys at the World Cup, they&rsquo;re getting a week off. While that sounds nice, you almost kind of start over getting up to game speed. I thought two [days off] was enough, and I think we get another one [Sept. 30th] so we could spread it out a little bit.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><em>RELATED:&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.csnmidatlantic.com\/washington-capitals\/after-bouncing-around-brett-connolly-aims-find-his-game-capitals\" target=\"_blank\">CONNOLLY HOPING TO FIND HIS GAME IN WASHINGTON<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>As disappointing as Team USA&rsquo;s showing in Toronto was, Niskanen said he&#39;ll&nbsp;take some positives from his&nbsp;experience.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Not only starting [summer training] before the other guys, but the really fast pace of hockey was really good,&rdquo; Niskanen said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t see that kind of competition for a while usually, if at all, until probably the postseason [with] that kind of pace and competition.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Niskanen also indicated that he&rsquo;s already put the American&rsquo;s winless performance in the rear view mirror. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It might be different for different people,&rdquo; he said of handling the disappointment. &ldquo;I think everybody that was involved with our team was really disappointed, for sure. But as a hockey player, I just want to get back out there and get going again. I&rsquo;m excited to be here. Disappointed with the results that we had in Toronto, for sure. But overall, it was great experience for me personally to play at that level of competition. &hellip;I think I learned a lot and it&rsquo;s going to help me down the road.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Now that Niskanen has returned, he said he&rsquo;s eager to build on last year&rsquo;s solid performance, which saw the 29-year-old&nbsp;skate a career-high 24:40 a&nbsp;game.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The last two years, I think I&rsquo;ve improved a lot as far as my goal of playing against better players, becoming more comfortable and getting better at defending top-notch forwards,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to continue that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;But,&rdquo;&nbsp;the 10th-year NHL veteran added, &ldquo;I want to also be more involved up the ice offensively. Whether or not that leads to more points, we&rsquo;ll see, but that&rsquo;s my goal&mdash;to be a little bit more aggressive up the ice, involved in the offensive zone, in the rush a little bit more, more shots.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Niskanen led the Capitals&rsquo; defensemen in shots last season with 150. Among all NHL defensemen, he ranked 36th. For comparison&rsquo;s sake, Brent Burns took a league-high&nbsp;353 shots, while&nbsp;Erik Karlsson was second with 248.<\/p>\n<p>In 82 games last season, Niskanen produced&nbsp;five goals and 32 points. In 2013-14 as a member of the Penguins, he had 10 goals and 46 points in 81 games while skating 21:18, or more than three minutes less than he received last season.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Really, as a defenseman, unless you&rsquo;re Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Brent Burns, primarily your offense comes from shooting the puck,&rdquo; he&nbsp;said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s where I fall in, I think. If I can find ways to get open more, get the puck more, I can deliver to the puck net [and] that should lead to more offense.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><em>MORE CAPITALS:&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.csnmidatlantic.com\/washington-capitals\/two-team-usa-capitals-set-hit-earlier-expected\" target=\"_blank\">OSHIE AND NISKANEN BACK EARLY<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n"
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Capitals

Capitals

Matt Niskanen rejoined his teammates at Kettler Capitals Iceplex on Sunday morning, a day before he was required to so.

Why? The veteran defenseman didn’t want to lose the edge he had gained while participating in the World Cup of Hockey.   

“I spent three weeks getting into game shape and I didn’t want to lose it at this point,” Niskanen said. “Talking to some guys at the World Cup, they’re getting a week off. While that sounds nice, you almost kind of start over getting up to game speed. I thought two [days off] was enough, and I think we get another one [Sept. 30th] so we could spread it out a little bit.”

RELATED: CONNOLLY HOPING TO FIND HIS GAME IN WASHINGTON

As disappointing as Team USA’s showing in Toronto was, Niskanen said he'll take some positives from his experience.

“Not only starting [summer training] before the other guys, but the really fast pace of hockey was really good,” Niskanen said. “You don’t see that kind of competition for a while usually, if at all, until probably the postseason [with] that kind of pace and competition.”

Niskanen also indicated that he’s already put the American’s winless performance in the rear view mirror.   

“It might be different for different people,” he said of handling the disappointment. “I think everybody that was involved with our team was really disappointed, for sure. But as a hockey player, I just want to get back out there and get going again. I’m excited to be here. Disappointed with the results that we had in Toronto, for sure. But overall, it was great experience for me personally to play at that level of competition. …I think I learned a lot and it’s going to help me down the road.”

 

Now that Niskanen has returned, he said he’s eager to build on last year’s solid performance, which saw the 29-year-old skate a career-high 24:40 a game.

“The last two years, I think I’ve improved a lot as far as my goal of playing against better players, becoming more comfortable and getting better at defending top-notch forwards,” he said. “I want to continue that.”

“But,” the 10th-year NHL veteran added, “I want to also be more involved up the ice offensively. Whether or not that leads to more points, we’ll see, but that’s my goal—to be a little bit more aggressive up the ice, involved in the offensive zone, in the rush a little bit more, more shots.”

Niskanen led the Capitals’ defensemen in shots last season with 150. Among all NHL defensemen, he ranked 36th. For comparison’s sake, Brent Burns took a league-high 353 shots, while Erik Karlsson was second with 248.

In 82 games last season, Niskanen produced five goals and 32 points. In 2013-14 as a member of the Penguins, he had 10 goals and 46 points in 81 games while skating 21:18, or more than three minutes less than he received last season.   

“Really, as a defenseman, unless you’re Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Brent Burns, primarily your offense comes from shooting the puck,” he said. “That’s where I fall in, I think. If I can find ways to get open more, get the puck more, I can deliver to the puck net [and] that should lead to more offense.”

MORE CAPITALS: OSHIE AND NISKANEN BACK EARLY