The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
The Washington Capitals play the middle game of their
three-game road trip on Saturday when they visit the New Jersey Devils in
Newark. The Caps and Devils find
themselves separated by just two standings points with the Capitals holding the
slim advantage in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division and a game in hand.
Neither team has been on fire of late. Washington put aside a two-game losing streak
in beating the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1, on Thursday night but are still just
7-9-2 since October 25th. That record,
however, is almost radiant compared to that of the Devils over the past
month. Since winning their first game of
November, 3-2, over the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Devils are 4-9-2, having
just broken a five-game losing streak (0-3-2) with a 5-3 win in Toronto over
the Maple Leafs on Thursday.
These are two different teams in another respect. Washington has the second-best intra-division
winning percentage (.714) in the Metropolitan Division going into Friday’s
games. The Devils are at 3-4-1 and have
lost two in a row since beating the Caps, 1-0, on November 14th.
The Devils come into this game accompanied by Doctors
Pierce, McIntyre, Hunnicutt, and Burns.
It is a M*A*S*H unit of injuries.
Eight players are listed on the injury report, including: Ryane Clowe,
Bryce Salvador, Travis Zajac, Martin Havlat (all on injured reserve), Patrik
Elias, Stephen Gionta, Adam Larsson, and Jaromir Jagr (all listed as
day-to-day). Those eight players represent
15 of the 62 goals scored by the Devils so far this season.
The injuries will put more pressure on leading goal scorers
Mike Cammalleri (11) and Adam Henrique (7).
Cammalleri has been reasonably consistent in his goal scoring thus far,
a four game drought being his longest of the season. He has four tallies in his last six games,
and he had the lone goal in the Devils’ 1-0 win over the Caps on November 14th. Henrique has been a bit more spotty in his
goal scoring, also with a four-game streak without a goal being his longest,
but he has three in his last six games.
Here is how the teams compare in their overall numbers:
1. Getting good
starts against New Jersey is tough. Only
St. Louis and Minnesota have allowed fewer first period goals than the Devils,
and they have trailed after one period only six times in 26 games (record:
2-4-0).
2. The Devils are not
prolific, but they are balanced. Five
players have 14 or 15 points at the top of their scoring list: Mike Cammalleri
(11-4-15), Adam Henrique (7-8-15), Jaromir Jagr (4-11-15), Michael Ryder
(4-10-14), and Marek Zidlicky (3-11-14).
3. In the first
meeting of the season between these clubs, our prognosto featured defenseman
Damon Severson as a “player to ponder.”
http://peerlessprognosticator.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-peerless-prognosticator-is-on-air_16.html
Severson had two goals in the 6-2 Caps win.
This time we might think about Jon Merrill. After playing in ten games for the Devils to
start the season, Merrill suffered an arm injury in Game 11 against Columbus
that kept him out of action until he returned Thursday night against
Toronto. He had two assists, giving him
six points in 12 games this season.
Attention might be paid.
4. Jersey doesn’t do
blowouts. Only three times this season
have the Devils played to a decision of three or more goals. They won one of them, a 5-1 decision over
Florida back in Game 2; and they lost twice, a 6-2 loss to the Caps in Game 4
and an 8-3 shellacking at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 9.
5. Perhaps it is odd,
but outshooting the Devils does not seem to be a path to success against that
team. New Jersey is 1-5-1 when
outshooting their opponent, the second worst winning percentage in the
league. Their only win in these
circumstances was a 2-1 Gimmick win over Winnipeg in Game 10. The Devils have been outshot in nine of their
last 11 games and are 4-3-2. It might be
best for Caps fans to shout, “DON’T SHOOOOOOOT!”
1. When the Caps beat
Carolina on Thursday without the benefit of a power play goal, it was the
second straight game in which they did not score a power play goal that they
won (they beat Colorado, 3-2, in Game 19 on November 20th). They are 5-4-1 when scoring a power play
goal, 6-6-3 when they do not.
2. The Caps did not
allow a power play opportunity to the Hurricanes on Thursday, so they did not
give up a power play goal. That broke a
run of three games in four in which the Caps allowed power play goals (5-for-13
on the penalty kill; 38.5 percent).
3. The Caps are one
of only five NHL teams without a game-winning goal from a defenseman this
season. Buffalo, Nashville, St. Louis,
and Winnipeg are the others.
4. On the other hand,
the Caps are one of just six NHL teams with at least three defensemen with ten
or more points (John Carlson – 18; Mike Green – 12; Matt Niskanen – 10). Tampa Bay, Nashville, Anaheim, and the New
York Islanders have three; Calgary has four.
5. When Brooks Orpik
records his first hit of the night in this game, he will become the first
player in the NHL this season to reach 100 hits and 20 blocked shots. He is currently tied for fourth in the former
category, third in the latter.
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
New Jersey: Scott Gomez
Hey, remember this guy? Had a fine early career with the
Devils (450 points in 548 games over his first seven seasons), then almost
disappeared from the hockey planet by last season (ok, he played 46 games with
the Florida Panthers…same thing). In 203
games over four seasons prior to this one, Gomez recorded only 13 goals and
famously went more than a year without one.
With Travis Zajac going on injured reserve, the Devils signed Gomez to a free
agent deal last Monday. With Patrik
Elias and Jaromir Jagr in uncertain health, his presence takes on an added
importance. He has yet to record a point
for the Devils in two games, but he is 10-22-32, minus-7 in 45 career regular
season games against the Capitals.
Washington: Marcus Johansson
When the Caps beat the Devils, 6-2, back on October 16th,
Marcus Johansson scored the game-winning goal and recorded a pair of shots on
goal, part of a start in which he had eight goals and 41 shots on goal in his
first 16 games. It looked like a new, assertive, aggressive Johansson. In his last nine games he has one goal and 10
shots on goal, and he looks like the old Johansson that often looked too much
like a sidecar on the motorcycle of a scoring line. The Caps could use some secondary scoring,
but Johansson is a scoring line winger.
The new Johansson needs to step up more often. In 15 career games against the Devils he is
2-2-4, minus-3.
In the end…
The Devils are a club that the Capitals are likely to be
fighting all season long for a playoff spot.
They have split two games so far with New Jersey with three meetings
left, starting with tonight’s contest.
Challenges are opportunities (we read that somewhere). Playing a team on the road that employs a
difficult system is certainly a challenge.
But it is an opportunity to put two more points between themselves and
the Devils. Given the teams’ rather “special”
special teams – the Devils rank last in home penalty killing while the Caps are
29th in road penalty killing, both under 70 percent – it could turn
on man advantages. And we know who has
the better man advantage.
Capitals 2 – Devils 1
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