For the Washington Capitals, as it is for just about any
team, how you end the week is generally how you feel about yourself. A good thing, too, because for the Caps, Week
17 might have been a disaster. As it was,
it was merely a frustrating week that ended with a sense of hope that the worst
of the worst stretch of the season was at an end.
Record: 1-3-0
The Capitals came into the week having lost four straight,
three of those by one-goal margins, two of those in the trick shot competition. Then they lost three games to start the week,
scoring only two goals in the process.
The seven-game losing streak became the worst for the club since the
infamous eight-game losing streak in December 2010 in the run-up to the 2011
Winter Classic, a streak lovingly captured by the cameras of HBO in its four-part
24/7 series on the Classic.
More important, when the streak started the Caps were in
second place in the Metropolitan Division.
When Week 17 started, and the Caps had four straight losses, they
dropped to fifth. By Thursday, with two
more losses on the books, they were seventh of eight teams in the
division. Another loss to New Jersey on
Friday followed, but the streak finally came to an end on Saturday night in
Montreal with a 5-0 whitewashing of the Canadiens. Washington remains in seventh place in the Metropolitan
at week’s end, but they are just three points out of second place and a with game
in hand compared to those second-place New York Rangers.
Offense: 1.75/game
(season: 2.69 / rank: 16th)
For the second straight week the Caps averaged less than two
goals per game for the week (1.50 in Week 16).
It was an extension of bad luck shooting the puck that was the critical
element of the losing streak. In the
first three games of Week 17 the Caps shot 2-for-90 (2.2 percent). It was actually worse in the first three
games of Week 17 than their performance for Week 16 (5.0 percent), and extended
a dry spell that left the Caps with a 3.8 percent shooting mark over seven
straight losses.
When the Caps lit up Montreal for five goals on Saturday it
matched their offensive output over their previous 286:51 over four-plus
games. It was their largest single-game
output since beating Tampa Bay, 6-5 in a Gimmick, back on December 10th,
a span of 21 games. Between those
five-goal outbursts (not counting the game-winning trick shot goal against the
Lightning) the Caps averaged just 2.20 goals per game.
For the week Alex Ovechkin, despite missing two of the four
games with a lower body injury, led the team in goals (two) and points
(three). Three Caps had a pair of
assists: Mike Green, Martin Erat, and Tom Wilson. Against Montreal to end the week, three Caps
recorded their first goals of the season: John Erskine, Jay Beagle, and Casey
Wellman.
Defense: 2.00/game (season: 2.85 / rank: 19th)
Lost in the depths of the recent losing streak, the Caps’ defense
has not been bad. In Week 17 they
allowed only eight goals in four games.
It was the product of some generally good efforts on defense. Washington allowed opponents only 25.8 shots
on goal per game for the week. Overall
they were on the good side of Corsi-for (53.2) and Fenwick for percentages
(53.3). They were just as effective in
5-on-5 close score situations, during which the Caps had similar numbers for
Corsi-for (52.2) and Corsi-for (53.5) percentages (numbers from extraskater.com).
As for the nuts and bolts of it, it was an odd week. If we told you last Sunday that John Erskine
would be on ice for only one goal against, would you have believed
it? Erskine was replaced for one game
this past week by Nate Schmidt, but in three games there he was, on ice for
only one goal against, that being a power play goal (what would be the
game-winner) against New Jersey on Friday.
John Carlson also was on ice for only one goal against in four
games. At the other end of the spectrum,
Mike Green and Dmitry Orlov (four apiece), you guys have some work to do. Ditto for you, Nicklas Backstrom (four goals
against).
Still, the lingering thought of the week on defense might be
this number: 3. Over the first 32:44 of
their game on Saturday, the Caps outshot Montreal by a 26-3 margin in building
a 4-0 lead in what would be a 5-0 win on Saturday. They held the Canadiens without a shot on
goal over a 19:57 span crossing the first and second periods of that game.
Goaltending: 2.03 GAA / .922 SV / 1 SO (season: 2.74 / .917
/ 2 SO)
It was a week of transition in goal for the Caps. It started with Philipp Grubauer allowing
three goals on eight shots in 17:49 of work this week, after which he was
reassigned to the Hershey Bears. Not
that it was all his fault (or, perhaps, even mostly). The reassignment will give Grubauer a chance
to get regular work, because by week’s end, one had the feeling it was once
more Braden Holtby’s cage.
Holtby had a fine week overall. In addition to relieving Grubauer in the week’s
first game of the week, stopping 17 of 18 shots in a 4-1 loss to the Rangers,
he was 24-for-26 in a 2-0 loss to Ottawa on Tuesday and stopped all 21 shots he
faced in the Caps’ 5-0 win over Montreal to end the week. Overall, Holtby’s 1.12 goals-against average,
.952 save percentage, and shutout to end the week set him up once more as the
number one netminder.
Lost in the comings and goings, and it should not be, was
Michal Neuvirth’s solid outing against New Jersey on Friday. Neuvirth stopped 28 of 30 shots in a 2-1
loss. Lately it has been shot volumes
that have done in Neuvirth more than his own inefficiency. In his last three appearances he has what
looks like a not-so-special 2.71 goals against average, but his save percentage
of .921 is solid.
Power Play: 1-for-19 / 5.3 percent (season: 22.2 percent / 5th)
What a dismal week for the power play. The Caps had 34:32 in total power play time
over four games, 19 chances in all, 26 shots… and one goal. The 19 chances for the week is a season high
for a one-week period (16 opportunities in Week 6), and the eight opportunities
they had against Montreal was their high for the season.
One could explain away a piece of this week’s output by
saying that in the last power play of the week for the Caps the fivesome to
start the man advantage would be: Casey Wellman, Jay Beagle, Jason Chimera,
Mike Green, and Dmitry Orlov. No
Ovechkin, no Backstrom, no Brouwer or Johansson. Reward for their effort in helping the Caps
build a 5-0 lead against the Canadiens.
Still, the Caps were 1-for-18 for the week before those
substitutions were made. It is part of a
longer stretch of futility in which Washington is 1-for-33 dating back to the
third period of their 4-3 win over Tampa Bay back on January 9th. It might surprise no one that the Caps are
2-5-2 since then, including Saturday’s win over Montreal.
Part of it might have been Alex Ovechkin missing two games
this week. He is, after all, the primary
trigger man on the power play. Even with
missing those two games he led the team in power play shots on goal with six,
and he had the only goal. Joel Ward was
next with four shots for the week.
Penalty Killing: 14-for-17 / 82.4 percent (season: 80.3
percent / 20th)
Only once in the past 12 weeks did the Caps finish a week
with a more efficient penalty kill than what they produced in Week 17 (85.7
percent in Week 13, but that was on only seven situations faced). That’s the good part. The bad is that the 82.4 percent for the week
matches the 14th-place team in the league this season in penalty
killing (Boston). “Better” does not
necessarily mean “good.”
The Caps allowed power play goals in each of the first three
games of the week, all of them losses. It could have been worse. First, opportunities were high. Facing 14 shorthanded situations in those
first three games was the most over a three-game span since they faced 15 over
a three-game span from December 15-20.
Second, the Caps allowed 22 shots in 23:28 of penalty killing time in
those three games. The .864 save
percentage by Caps goalies in those three games was not extraordinary, but
given the time burden faced, it was not all that bad, either.
The Caps finished up the week killing off all three (three,
not four, not five) shorthanded situations on their way to their only win of
the week. There is a lesson to be
learned there, one that perhaps should have been by now. Stay out of the box.
Even Strength Goals For/Against: 6-4 (season 5-on-5 GF/GA
ratio: 0.93 / rank: 18th)
Looks can be deceiving here.
While the Caps finished a plus-2 for the week at even strength, that
included a plus-5 in their lone win of the week, the 5-0 shutout of
Montreal. Otherwise, Washington had one
even strength goal scored in three games.
Really, 1-for-64 in even-strength shooting in those three games?
One-point-six percent shooting?
The lack of even strength punch on offense more than negated
a decent performance at the other end in those first three games of Week
17. Caps goalies stopped 53 of 57 even
strength shots in those games (.930 save percentage). The trick in Game 4 of the week was, in part,
shots. The Caps had 23 even strength
shots on goal in the first two periods against Montreal, hitting on four of
them in building a 4-0 lead. At the
other end they held the Habs to eight even-strength shots over those same 40
minutes (16 for the game), shutting them out on the way.
Faceoffs: 107-229 / 46.7 percent (season: 49.3 percent /
rank: 18th)
It was another week of the total looking better than the
detail. The Caps were just 37-for-86 on
faceoffs in the offensive end (43.0 percent) and just 34-for-76 in the
defensive end (44.7 percent). Nicklas
Backstrom and Mikhail Grabovski (before missing the Montreal game with an
injury) had pretty good weeks. Backstrom
was over 50 percent in all three zones on his way to a 59.0 percent week in the
circle. It was the same for Grabovski,
albeit in fewer opportunities, in his 56.5 percent week. After that, though, it went south. Brooks Laich, Troy Brower, and Jay Beagle all
took more than 20 draws and all of them finished the week on the south side of
50 percent.
Goals For/Against by Period:
It is a good thing the Caps had that four-goal period
against Montreal, because to that point the first period was killing them in
games. Well, perhaps in one game. The Caps allowed three goals in the first period
of their game against the Rangers to open the week, all of them coming against
Philipp Grubauer in his last appearance with the Caps before reassignment to
Hershey. After that, it wasn’t bad as
first periods go. In three-plus opening
frames after that disappointing start to the week the Caps allowed just one
goal on 21 shots in 62:11 of ice time.
As for that second period, as much as the first might not
have been as bad as it looked overall, neither was the second as good as it
looked overall. The Caps finished the
week with five second period goals in four games, but they had just one in the
middle frame of their first three games on 34 shots on goal. They made up for it by lighting up Carey
Price for four goals on 14 shots in 10:31 of the second period of their 5-0 win
over Montreal.
The third period was calm in comparison, the Caps scoring
twice, one of them a goal to halve a New Jersey lead that the Caps could not
erase, and the last goal (Casey Wellman’s first of the season) capping the 5-0 win
over Montreal on Saturday.
In the end…
The end might matter most, but only if the Caps can parlay
their convincing win over Montreal into a streak of better luck in the win
column. It was not as if the Caps played
badly to start the week any more than it has been the case over their
seven-game losing streak overall. High
shooting percentages are generally unsustainable over large populations of
games. So, too, is it with low shooting
percentages. After all, these are
NHL-level players we are describing.
That the Caps could go 2-for-90 in their first three games
of the week (8-for-210 in their seven-game losing streak) is
unsustainable. However, a five-goal
night does not sponge away the problems, either. This is a team that lacks finishers. Alex Ovechkin missed two games this week,
scoring goals in the other two. He has
goals in four of his last five games, five of his last seven. He is on a pace to finish with 59 goals,
despite having missed four games to injury.
After that, the capacity to finish on a consistent basis
drops off a lot. And that is what makes
dry spells such as that the Caps experienced to open January unsustainable, but
not unrepeatable. Joel Ward is second on
the club with 13 goals. First, Ward is
not who one would expect to occupy that ranking on this club (or maybe one
would, given the possibilities). Second, Ward has not had a goal
in his last eight games and has only one in his last dozen contests. No one has stepped up to overtake him in the
club goal-scoring rankings.
The Caps have three road games coming up in Week 18, leading
off against the Buffalo Sabres, who have two 2-1 trick shot wins in the last
two meetings of the clubs. That probably
means facing Ryan Miller, who stopped 77 of 79 shots in those two Sabre
wins. We will see if the gusher of goals
against Montreal is reduced once more to a trickle.
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