Record: 1-1-0
The Caps had their first non-winning week of the season,
enduring their first loss in regulation time when they lost to the Edmonton
Oilers, 3-2, to start the week. It was
the first time that the Caps lost in regulation time since Game 77 last season,
a 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
Since then the Caps went 7-0-3 before dropping the decision to the
Oilers. The Caps salvaged the week with
a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames that left them in second place, two points
behind the New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division.
Offense: 2.50/game (season: 3.14/game; rank: T-7th)
It was not the most prolific of weeks at the offensive end,
but it was balanced. Of the five goals
of the week, only Joel Ward had more than one (2), John Carlson, Nicklas
Backstrom, and Mike Green getting the others.
Ten different skaters shared in the 12 points that were distributed,
Ward and Backstrom the only ones with as many as two points. The odd part of the week was that Alex
Ovechkin: 1) did not record a point, and 2) recorded only three shots on goal for
the week (often a decent period for the winger). Three straight games with two or fewer shots
made it the first time for Ovechkin since he went four consecutive games
January 15-February 4, 2012. Don’t get
too concerned, though. He still has
almost twice as many shots on goal for the season (29) as the next Capital in
line (Mike Green and John Carlson; 16 apiece).
Defense: 2.00/game (season: 1.86/game; rank: T-3rd)
It says something when a team can allow two goals per game
for a week, and its goals allowed per game goes up. That was the case this week for the Caps, who
allowed four goals in two games. They
still improved their scoring defense ranking from a tie for sixth last week to
a tie (with Chicago) for third, behind only Minnesota (1.00) and Los Angeles
(1.43). Part of this, perhaps a large
part of it, is denying opponents opportunities.
The Caps allowed only 42 shots on goal for the week, their consecutive
games streak allowing fewer than 30 shots reaching seven games (and
counting). Last season the Caps had six
individual games in which they allowed 42 or more shots. The last time the Caps went seven straight
games allowing fewer than 30 shots was October 27 – November 9, 2010
(24.9/game). Oddly enough, that was two
months before the Caps decided to employ a trapping defense after an eight-game
losing streak. The Caps are now
averaging 23.7 shots allowed per game.
Goaltending: 2.00 GAA / .902 SV (season: 1.80 GAA / .922 SV
/ 1 SO)
This is the other side of the “shots matter” argument. The save percentage put up by Braden Holtby,
who played all 120 minutes for the week, was not sterling, but he faced so few
shots in the process that his goals against average was still rather good. The goals were so few that they deserve
individual notice. Justin Schultz scored
for Edmonton when he was allowed to walk down the slot and take a centering
feed from Teddy Purcell with all the Caps looking at the end boards. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored when he took
advantage of an Alex Ovechkin whiff on a wrist shot from the left point, sped
in on a breakaway, and beat Holtby.
Nikita Nikitin scored on a power play through a screen. Dennis Wideman scored when the Caps suffered
a sloppy clear attempt on an Calgary power play, the puck eventually making its
way to Dennis Wideman, who faked Jay Beagle out of position, took a step to his
right and fired the puck past Holtby from long range. It was not a series of poor plays by Holtby
(who might want that Wideman goal back) as much as breakdowns of varying sorts
in front of him. Even those, however,
were few during the week. If anything,
the goals stand out because of their infrequency.
Power Play: 2-5 / 40.0 percent (season: 28.0 percent; rank: 3rd)
The Caps were not especially efficient on the power play in
terms of shots per minute (five shots in 6:24 of power play time for the week),
but they certainly effective with what they had – two goals on those five shots
in a 2-for-5 week with the man advantage.
Your next odd development of the week – Alex Ovechkin had no power play
shots on goal. The shots came from Troy Brouwer (0-for-2), Mike Green
(0-for-1), John Carlson (1-1) and Joel Ward (1-1), Ward’s coming on the only
power play shot on goal the Caps recorded against Calgary in their 3-1 win on
Saturday.
Penalty Killing: 3-5 / 60.0 percent (season: 84.0 percent;
rank: 11th)
It was not the shots per minute that was odd about the
penalty killing for the week (seven shots allowed in 7:18 of shorthanded ice
time), it was the scoring. Both goals
allowed for the week came from defensemen – Nikita Nikitin for Edmonton and Dennis
Wideman for Calgary. Both were scored from long range, both more or less from the
middle of the offensive zone. Both
represented lapses, the Nikitin goal scored when the Caps could not prevent
either Teddy Purcell or Nail Yakupov from setting up in Holtby’s line of sight,
Wideman’s goal when Jay Beagle took himself out of the play, biting on Wideman’s
fake of a shot, allowing Wideman to reset his shooting angle. On the other hand, the best penalty killer is
not necessarily your goaltender but not taking penalties in the first
place. Five shorthanded situations faced
for the week is a pattern one would hope for.
Even Strength Goals For/Goals Against: 3-2 / plus-1 (season,
5-on-5 goals for/goals against ratio:1.67; rank: 3rd)
Last season, if the Caps scored three even strength goals
for the week, even if it was only over two games, they might have allowed four
or five. That they were still a “plus”
for the week is another of those good signs.
Credit that in large part to a dominating week in possession
numbers. At 5-on-5 the Caps were a Corsi
plus-30 (95-65) and had a Cors-for percentage of 59.4. They were plus-25 in Fenwick at 5-on-5
(73-48) with a Fenwick-for percentage of 60.3 (numbers from war-on-ice.com). It helped the Caps hold Edmonton and Calgary
to a combined 6.3 percent shooting at even strength for the week. Overall, the Caps have outscored opponents by
a 15-9 margin at 5-on-5 this season, almost a goal per game (0.86).
Faceoffs: 57-for-114 / 50.0 percent (season: 49.2 percent; rank: 19th)
In a week in which the record was split down the middle, the
goals scored/allowed were almost split down the middle, the faceoffs were more
of the same. The Caps split 114 faceoffs down the middle with 57 wins and 57
losses. Nicklas Backstrom took more than
a third of the draws and more than twice as many as any other Capitals for the
week. His was largely a
split-down-the-middle week, too.
Although he was 25-for-42, he was at 50. 0 percent in both the offensive
zone (4-for-8) and the defensive zone (8-for-16). He was 13-for-18 in the neutral zone. Jay Beagle saw his first action of the season
this week and did a good job in the faceoff circle, winning nine of 13
draws. After that, none of the other
four Capitals – Andre Burakovsky (45.5), Eric Fehr (31.3), Evgeny Kuznetsov
(28.6), or Michael Latta (50.0) – taking ten or more draws were better than 50
percent.
Goals by Period:
Nothing surprising here.
In a close-fought week the Caps battle Edmonton and Calgary to a
combined draw over the first two periods of games. The takeaway here is that having allowed no
third period goals for the week, there are only three teams – Florida, Los
Angeles, and Chicago – having allowed fewer third period goals for the season than
the three allowed by the Caps.
In the end…
Not every week is a winning week. The Caps certainly played well enough to beat
the Oilers in the first game of the week; their possession numbers dominated
(64.7 percent Corsi-for, 64.1 percent Fenwick for at 5-on-5; numbers from
war-on-ice.com). It was the infrequent
exception to the general rule that with possession dominance goes winning. Over a season’s worth of games, if the Caps
can continue something approaching that level of performance (fifth in the
league in Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5, fourth in Fenwick-for percentages,
according to war-on-ice.com), they will win a lot of games.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Mike Green. Plus-19 Corsi at 5-on-5, plus-15 Fenwick, one goal, 39 minutes of ice time.
- Second Star: Joel Ward. Two goals (including game-winner) against Calgary.
- Third Star: Nicklas Backstrom. One goal, one assist, 25-for-42 in faceoffs, 500th career point recorded.
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