Record: 1-2-0
Week 22 was the second straight below-.500 week for the Caps
and the fourth in the last seven weeks.
The two losses came to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a home-and-home
back-to-back set that opened the week.
The losses made the Caps 0-7-0 against the Penguins under head coach Adam
Oates and 0-8-0 overall since January 2012.
The eight consecutive regular season wins is a record for the Penguins
in the history of this series. Once upon
a time, the Caps won nine in a row in this series, but Alex Ovechkin was two
months old when the Caps won the last of those nine games in November 1985.
Washington salvaged a measure of the week with a 4-3 win
over the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. It
was the first time the Caps beat the Canucks since winning a 5-2 decision at
Verizon Center on October 13, 2008. The
Caps had dropped four straight decisions to Vancouver. All in all, the Caps started the week in 5th
place in the Metropolitan Division and 10th place in the Eastern
Conference. They ended the week in those
same positions, three points behind Philadelphia for the last playoff spot in
the Eastern Conference.
Offense: 2.00/game (season: 2.78 / rank: 14th)
It was an uneven week for the Caps in the offensive end of
the ice, and what offense they could muster was generally weak. The Caps managed only two goals on 65 shots
in two games against the Penguins, potting both against Pittsburgh backup Jeff
Zatkoff in the game at Verizon Center to open the week, then getting shutout by
Marc-Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh in the second of the back-to-back games.
One thing the Penguins were able to do that most teams could
not was hold down Alex Ovechkin’s shot totals.
Ovechkin went into the week averaging 5.35 shots per game, his 332 shots
being tops in the league by 86 shots over Toronto’s Phil Kessel. Ovechkin was held to a total of five shots
over the two games against the Penguins.
Goals from Eric Fehr and Nicklas Backstrom in the first of the games and
none in the second was not enough to make up the difference.
The Caps got well, to a point, against Vancouver. Washington scored three goals in less than 33
minutes with eight different Caps sharing in the points. Evgeny Kunzetsov, playing in his third NHL
game had assists on the last two of those three goals. The Caps would need a third assist from
Kuznetsov after the Canucks tied the game in the third period. They got it when he and Nicklas Backstrom set
up Mike Green for the game-winner to close the week.
Defense: 2.67/game (season: 2.91 / rank: 23rd)
It was a strange week in the defensive end of the ice. The Caps out-shot the Penguins badly (33-20)
in the first game of the week and lost, 3-2.
They held their own in shots in the second game of the Penguins,
Pittsburgh holding a two-shot margin (34-32) at the end and beating the Caps,
2-0. Then, in the last game of the week,
Vancouver rang up 41 shots to 21 for the Caps, yet the Caps won, 4-3.
It was an equal opportunity week for being present for goals
against, too. Sixteen different skaters
were on ice for opponents’ goals. Dmitry
Orlov was on ice for five goals against for the week, most of any Capital. Orlov’s difficulties might have contributed
to his being moved to the third defensive pair with Connor Carrick off the
second pair with Mike Green. Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom were
on ice for four apiece to lead, so to speak, the forwards. Only Dustin Penner and Tom Wilson escaped
having a goal-against on ice marked in their ledger.
It was an odd possession week for the Caps. Both their Corsi-for and Fenwick-for percentages were on the good side of 50 percent in 5-on-5 close score
situations for the week (52.3 percent and 54.7 percent, respectively), and yet
their record was 1-2-0. The Caps dominated
Pittsburgh in the first game of the week (58.6 percent and 64.3 percent) in
close score situations and lost. That
was the game that ran against expectations, given the underlying possession
numbers. In the rematch against the Pens
the Caps lost the possession battle (43.3 percent/42.6 percent) and lost the game. In the last game of the week the Caps won the
close score possession matchup (55.6 percent and 59.0 percent) and won.
Goaltending: 2.71 / .916 (season: 2.80 / .915 / 3 SO)
Week 22 belonged to the new guy, Jaroslav Halak, who got all
the minutes. While he played well in
spots, he did not move the needle this week in terms of the goaltending numbers
overall, his goals against average and save percentage for the week being
almost identical to the season numbers so far.
What he lacked was consistency by period. Halak allowed at least one first period goal
in each game, stopping 29 of 33 shots overall (.879 save percentage). He allowed goals in the third period twice
for the week, once in the second game against Pittsburgh, twice against
Vancouver to finish the week with 29 third period saves on 32 shots
(.906). It was in the second period in
which Halak shined, stopping 29 of 30 shots (.967 save percentage).
Power Play: 2-for-8 / 25.0 percent (season: 23.3 percent /
rank: 2nd)
This week, the power play was the product of
persistence. It was the fourth week in the
last five in which the Caps finished with a power play conversion rate of 25
percent or better, but it did not come easy.
Washington had two power play goals on 21 shots (9.5 percent shooting)
over 12:56 of total power play time. For
shots on goal the Caps did not lack.
Nine different Caps had power play shots on goal, four of
them – Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Jason Chimera, and Troy Brouwer –
getting three apiece. Ovechkin and
Backstrom were the only ones to convert during the week. It was perhaps the frustration the power play
had against the Penguins, the number-one penalty killing team in the league when
they faced the Caps, that tipped the week into the red. The Caps were 1-for-6 against the Penguins,
registering their only goal on a total of 16 shots on goal (6.25 percent
shooting).
Penalty Killing: 7-for-8 / 87.5 percent (season: 80.6
percent / rank: T-24th)
We have said it before, but with this team the key is more
controlling opportunities for the opposition on the power play more than
stopping them once they have to kill a penalty.
A suspect penalty killing squad limits its exposure and marshals its
effort when the chances are few. Such
was the case this week, with opponents getting only eight power play
opportunities. Three games with three or
fewer made it six straight contests in which the Caps held opponents to that
threshold. Going 7-for-8 on the penalty
kill made it 10-for-13 over that same span.
A 76.9 percent penalty kill over the last six games is hardly the
picture of efficiency, hence the need to keep chances down.
It seemed to be more a case of the goaltender being the best
penalty killer in Week 22. Jaroslav
Halak stopped 17 of 18 power play shots in 13:19 of ice time, a .944 save
percentage that is far better than his .883 save percentage in shorthanded
situations overall. There is a lingering
problem with the Caps and penalty killing.
Their shutdown guys are not doing much shutting down.. John Carlson (32)
and Karl Alzner (28) rank first and fourth on the list of defensemen having
power play goals scored against on-ice this season.
Even Strength Goals Scored For/Against: 4-7 (season 5-on-5
GF/GA ratio: 0.90 / rank: 21st)
The Caps seem stuck at that 0.90 ratio of 5-on-5 goals
scored to goals against ratio. The Caps
have traded in a very narrow band, between 0.90 and 0.93 for the last three
months. They have not been as high as
0.94 since Week 9.
This week the Caps had a disturbing deficit in third period
even strength goals scored. They managed
one for the week – the game winner against Vancouver to end the week – but
allowed three. One of them was the
insurance goal in the Penguins’ 2-0 win over the Caps on Tuesday, and two of
them allowed Vancouver to tie their game against the Caps on Friday.
The Caps were out-shot for the week at evens, 77-65. That was largely a product of being lapped by
the Canucks in Friday’s game. Vancouver
out-shot the Caps by a 34-16 margin at even strength. Couple that with the shooting efficiency –
the Caps shot to a 6.2 percent mark, while opponents finished at 11.1 percent –
and it made for a difficult week for the Caps.
Faceoffs: 72-157 / 45.9 percent (season: 49.1 percent /
rank: 21st)
Week 22 was more two different weeks for the Caps in the
faceoff circle, the one they played against the Penguins and the one they
played against the Canucks. The Caps
were abused by the Penguins on faceoffs over their back-to-back set,
winning only 37 of 99 draws (37.4 percent).
It was probably not quite as bad as it seems, though. A lot of that was piled up in the neutral
zone where the Caps were just 4-for-30 over the two games (13.3 percent). In the offensive end they were 18-for-40 (45.0
percent) and 15-for-29 in the defensive zone (51.7 percent).
Against Vancouver it was a different story, mostly – but not
entirely – good. The Caps were 35-for-58
against the Canucks overall (60.3 percent), but they took 24 of 58
total draws in their own end (18 in the offensive end). Winning 18
of them (75.0 percent) lessened the pain of taking so many defensive zone
draws, but that was more time spent starting plays in the Caps’ end
of the ice than one might like to see.
Goals for/Against by Period:
The Caps started and ended games poorly, if the goal
differential by period means much.
Outscored 4-2 in the opening period of games and by a 3-1 margin in the
third, it was a recipe for a 1-2-0 week. If not for a Mike Green laser in the
third period – the Caps' only third period goal of the week – the Caps might
have lost the lead entirely against Vancouver after building a two-goal lead
and making it an 0-3-0 or 0-2-1 wek, the last think this club needs at this
time of year.
In the End…
It could have been better.
The optimist might say that the Caps outplayed the Penguins in the first
game of the week and shot in bad luck.
That makes for interesting bar discussion or blog narrative, but the
fact is that the Caps earned no points while looking better is no consolation. Week 22 ended up being the fifth losing week in
the last nine for the Capitals, and if you are keeping score on their tough
14-game stretch to open March, the Caps are 3-4-1 in their first eight games
with a west coast trip yet to come.
The Caps have four games coming up in Week 23, including that
trip to California to face Anaheim, San Jose, and Los Angeles after their
contest against Toronto on Sunday afternoon.
Splitting these four games is about the least the club can afford at
this stage. Anything less, and the Caps
are going to find themselves fading out of the playoff conversation.
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