Record: 2-0-0
Week 20 was the second consecutive winning week for the
Caps, their first consecutive winning weeks since turning the trick in Weeks
11-12. The win over Florida to open the
week had its harrowing moments, the Caps giving up two-goal leads twice before
Alex Ovechkin scored the game-winner with less than five minutes in
regulation. It was a game that served as
an example of playing down to an opponent.
In the other game of the week the Caps served as an example
of playing up to an opponent. Washington
went out to a 3-0 lead on the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins, held off
a charge in the middle period, then won going-away, 4-2. It made the Caps 17-1-2 in games in which
they and not their opponents took “the most dangerous lead in hockey,” a
two-goal lead. Given the nature of the
Caps schedule in March, it was a welcome win and a welcome week.
Offense: 4.50/game
(season: 2.82 / rank: 10th)
Nine goals represented a continuation of improvement in the
Caps’ offensive output. When added to
the two games that closed the pre-Olympic portion of the season, the Caps had
16 goals over their previous four games at the end of Week 20. It was the first time that the Caps scored 16
goals over a four-game period since recording 16 over four games from December
7-13.
Alex Ovechkin led the Caps in goals (3) and points (5) for
the week. Since going four games without
a point to close the 2013 portion of the season Ovechkin is 13-11-24 in 19
games since the calendar flipped to a new year.
Nicklas Backstrom had three helpers for the week and finds himself third
in the league in assists (48) behind Sidney Crosby (51) and Joe Thornton (50).
John Carlson also had three assists for the week, securing
three of the four points registered by defensemen (Dmitry Orlov had an assist).
Carlson is 2-7-9 in his last ten games. No Capitals defenseman recorded a goal
this week.
Defense: 3.00/game (season: 2.85 / rank: T-21st)
The week’s first game of the week was haunted by a demon
that has plagued the Caps all season, dicey play with two-goal leads. The Caps have had at least one two-goal lead
in 22 games this season, including two instances when both they and their
opponent held a two-goal lead. In nine
of those games the Caps surrendered two-goal leads. They did so again this week in their game
against Florida, twice in fact, allowing the Panthers to tie the game after
taking 2-0 and 4-2 leads. Fortunately
for the Caps, they had Ovechkin, and the Panthers did not. Ovechkin scored the game-winner with under
five minutes remaining for the 5-4 win. Still,
the Caps were fortunate to escape with a win after being out-attempted in shots,
63-43, and out-shot, 34-32, against a team that is 28th of 30 teams
in scoring offense.
The Caps were better against Boston, at least in terms of
not surrendering a two-goal lead. Not
that there lacked interesting moments.
After extending a 2-0 lead to 3-0 against the Bruins, Boston scored
twice in the second period of Saturday’s game to make things close. Washington added an insurance goal for the
4-2 win. Still, Boston out-attempted the
Caps in shots, 67-44, and out-shot them, 38-31, including 30-16 at even
strength.
Goaltending: 3.02 GAA / .917 SV (season: 2.76 / .916 / 3 SO)
Braden Holtby got both starts this week and it was, as many
weeks have been for him this season, uneven.
Complicating the issue was persistent chatter that the Capitals were
interested in procuring the services of Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller. Perhaps that was a distraction that had something to do with
Holtby’s recent performance. In his last
14 appearances before the start of Week 20, Holtby was 5-5-1 (three no-decisions),
3.29, .887.
Holtby’s first game of the week suffered from weak support in front of him.
That is a lingering problem as well. Still, the four goals allowed by Holtby
was the seventh time in 14 appearances in which Holtby played the entire game
that he allowed four or more goals, and it does not include a four-goals
allowed performance in 39:57 against Carolina in December.
His second game this week was much better. Holtby had not lost to the Bruins in s three
career appearances and was the goalie of record when the Caps ousted the Bruins
in the first round of the 2012 playoffs.
He continued that mastery in stopping 36 of 38 shots by Boston,
including 16-for-16 in the third period of the Caps’ 4-2 win in Boston on
Saturday. The good part ending the week
as he did was that he finished Week 20 with a personal four-game winning streak
in which he has a goals-against average of 2.00 and a save percentage of
.940. If this is a trend, it comes just
in time.
Power Play: 4-for-8 / 50.0 percent (season: 22.7 percent / rank:
2nd)
Week 20 was about as good as it gets as far as the power
play goes. Two games, two power play goals in each. One game was the picture of efficiency, the
Caps scoring power play goals on each of their power play opportunities against
Florida, requiring only 80 seconds of combined ice time to achieve that
result. The other instance was one of
persistent pressure, the Caps recording two power play goals in six opportunities,
peppering Bruin goalie Tuukka Rask with 14 shots in just 8:09 of total power
play time.
As far as the scoring went, the four goals for the week were
split between Troy Brouwer (both against Florida) and Alex Ovechkin (both
against Boston). Eight assists were
distributed among six different players, John Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom
recording a pair apiece.
Interestingly enough, Carlson’s two points lifted him within
a point for the team lead in power play points among Caps defensemen (12, one
fewer than Mike Green). Carlson now
leads all Caps defensemen in power play ice time per game (3:08 to 3:00 for
Green).
Penalty Killing: 9-11 / 81.8 percent (season: 81.3 percent /
rank: 18th)
The problem this week was not so much the two power play
goals allowed, but the 11 opportunities yielded. Compare that total in two games to the 12
opportunities in four games the Caps allowed in Week 19. It was the second most opportunities allowed
on a per-game basis this season and the most since allowing 17 opportunities in
three games in Week 5. The opportunities
problem is reflected in the fact that the shots per minute of penalty killing
time was manageable. In two games the
Caps allowed 16 shots in 15:06. One
might like to see shots per minute being under 1.00, but this was not a serious
problem.
The problem having been stated, the fact is that the penalty
killers might have set a tone – a good one – that provided the foundation for a
tough win in Boston. When Jay Beagle and
Tom Wilson were each shown the penalty box for infractions on the same
sequence, the Boston Bruins had a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play just 6:57
into what was a scoreless game. Boston
managed only four shot attempts and one on goal over that two-minute 5-on-3. If Boston converts either part of that power
play, the result might have been very different.
Even Strength Goals For/Against: 5-4 (season 5-on-5 GF/GA
ratio: 0.92 / rank: T-21st)
That the Caps won the week at even strength, even by the
thin margin of a single goal, is noteworthy in that the Caps were outshot by a
53-39 margin for the week at evens. That
14-shot margin is entirely the product of the Caps being out-shot by a 30-16
margin in their game against Boston, but being held to the same 23
even-strength shots that Florida recorded in the first game of the week should
not be ignored, either.
The possession statistics at even strength were brutal for
Washington. In the two games the Caps
had a Corsi-for and a Fenwick-for percentage under 40 percent combined in the two
games (38.9/39.7). They were better in
5-on-5 close score situations (50.8/53.9), but that kind of disparity is the
sort of thing that reflects a tendency to allow teams back into games, which is
what the Caps did – twice – with two-goal leads in Florida and what the almost
did in Boston when the Bruins cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2.
Faceoffs: 58-124 / 46.8 percent (season: 49.7 percent /
rank: 17th)
It was not the strongest of weeks for the Caps in the
circles. Even finishing at 46.8 percent
is somewhat deceiving. Washington was a
combined 15-for-40 in the offensive end (37.5 percent) and 16-for-39 (41.0
percent) in the defensive end of the ice.
They were especially ineffective against Boston in the second game of the
week, 33.3 percent in the offensive end, 35.0 percent in the defensive end.
Nicklas Backstrom had an especially frustrating week on
draws, going 5-for-17 (29.4 percent) in offensive zone faceoffs and 2-for-7
(28.6 percent) in the defensive end. The
odd part about defensive zone draws was that natural wingers – Eric Fehr
(4-for-8) and Troy Bouwer (4-for-7) took the most defensive end draws.
Goals For/Against by Period:
The word for the week for the Caps in scoring by period was “balance.” And, they won or held even in each of the
three period for the week. The only
period of the six played this week that the Caps lost was the third period in
their 5-4 win over Florida when they allowed the Panthers to erase a 4-2
deficit with a pair of goals before winning the game late on an Ovechkin goal.
In the end…
Two games, two wins.
Whether they were aesthetic masterpieces is irrelevant. The Caps are into the portion of their season
when the words of the late Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis ring loudly… “just
win, baby.” The Caps did just that this
week, extending their winning streak to a season-tying high of four games. It put them in position to reclaim a spot
among the top-eight in Week 21 the race for a playoff spot.
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