Record: 2-0-1
Not only did the Caps gain standings points in each of the
three games for the week, they did it entirely on the road. They are now 5-0-1 in their last six road
games dating back to a 6-2 loss in Toronto on November 29th, and
their ten road wins for the season are tied for the top spot in the Eastern
Conference (with the New York Islanders).
Their 10-5-2 road record is the best in the Conference in standings
points earned.
“Uh, cuz?”
Well, if it isn’t Cheerless…it’s been a while. You have something to say?
“Yeah…the Caps are six games over .500 for the first time
this season, in Game 32. Last year they
reached six games over .500 in Game 33 (18-12-3) by winning their fourth game
in five contests. It’s not as if we haven’t
seen this before.”
Offense: 3.33/game
(season: 2.94/game; rank: 8th)
It was a good week in the offensive end, especially given
that two of the three teams the Caps played were division rivals looking to
jump up in the standings at the Caps’ expense.
Eight players shared in the ten goals scored for the week, two apiece
from Nicklas Backstrom and Troy Brouwer.
There were 13 players sharing in the points overall, Backstrom going
1-2-3 against the Devils in the last game of the week to give him four points
and the team lead in Week 11. What was noteworthy were the multi-point
games. Eric Fehr, Jason Chimera, Karl
Alzner, and Michael Latta all recorded their first multi-point games of the
season in the 5-4 overtime win over Columbus.
For Latta it was his first career multi-point game. Jay Beagle recorded
his first multi-point game of the season (two assists) in the 4-0 win over New
Jersey to end the week.
“Hey, are you forgetting something, cuz?”
We were getting to that, Cheerless. What the Caps could not do this week was
solve Roberto Lunogo at even strength.
In the Caps’ 2-1 Gimmick loss to the Florida Panthers to start the week,
Washington managed only a power play goal (Brouwer) before heading to the trick
shot competition. And a historic on it
was. Twenty rounds, a league record. The Caps doubled their shootout goal total
for the season (from five to ten). And
still, they came up one short, having gone through the entire roster and around
again (Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin had two bites of the apple, Ovechkin
getting the only goal on four shots). If
there were highlights (and there were), they would include Brooks Orpik scoring
on his first career shootout attempt in 733 career games. John Carlson scored on his first shot attempt
in 346 career games. Joel Ward scored
his first career shootout goal. It was a
historic night.
Defense: 1.67/game (season: 2.56/game; rank: 13th)
Caps fans would have to like the week the defense had
overall. Washington allowed only 128
shot attempts for the week, and the progression from start to finish was:
51-41-36. Only twice in nine regulation
periods did the Caps allow more than ten shots on goal. Granted, the three opponents the Caps faced
are bottom-third teams in scoring offense, but this still had to be the way you
would draw it up. This might have been
the best part; the Caps showed they could play a grinding game and come out
well. In all three games the Caps and
their opponents combined for Corsi events per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 below 100.0
(numbers from war-on-ice.com). For the
season, there are only two teams averaging fewer than 100 combined events at
5-on-5: New Jersey (98.1) and Detroit (98.0).
Goaltending: 1.62 GAA / .934 SV / 1 shutout (season: 2.49 /
.908 / 2 SO)
Once more, Braden Holtby got every minute of goaltending
time for the week, the three starts he took bringing his consecutive starts
streak to nine and his consecutive appearances streak to 15 (he played 20
minutes in relief of Justin Peters in a 6-2 loss to Toronto on November 29th). Holtby was especially effective in the first
period (.947 save percentage) and second period (.941) of games, although he
was nicked for two goals on 15 shots against Columbus, the only period for the
week in which he allowed as many as two goals.
Both of those goals came on power plays, and…
“cough, cough”
What is it, Cheerless?
“Those two power play goals, cuz. It was the first time in seven games that he
allowed more than one power play goal, but it was the third time in 11 games
that he did so after not allowing more than one in his first 15 appearances.”
Still, Holtby continues to climb in the goaltender rankings.
He is now 15th in goals against average (2.29) and 19th
in save percentage (.917). Among
goaltenders appearing in at least 15 games, Holtby is now 14th in
save percentage at even strength.
“Yeah, and he is 22nd in that same group of
goaltenders in save percentage when facing an opponent’s power play.”
You’re on a roll this morning, aren’t you, Cheerless?
“It’s a gift.”
Beat the after-Christmas rush, and return it now.
Power Play: 1-for-8 / 12.5 percent (season: 25.3 percent;
rank: 2nd)
It was a quiet week for the Caps on the man advantage. The 12.5 percent conversion rate is the
lowest for the club since Week 6 (11.1 percent on 1-for-9) and the second
lowest of the season. It was an
efficient power play in one respect, recording 16 shots on goal in 14:49 of
power play time. Alex Ovechkin recorded
six of those shots in 13:06 of power play time, but he failed to connect on any
of them. As it was eight players shared
the 16 shots on goal, Troy Brouwer the only one to light the lamp on the first
of two power play shots on goal for the week.
The Caps scored their power play goal against Florida on
just two opportunities, the 15th time this season that the Caps had
two or fewer power play opportunities (they are 29th in total
opportunities: 91). The Caps had three
opportunities in each of the last two games of the week, the first time this
season that the Caps had three or more opportunities in consecutive games
without scoring a power play goal.
Penalty Killing: 7-for-9 / 77.8 percent (season: 77.1
percent; rank: 27th)
This was the third week in the last four in which the Caps
allowed two or more power play goals.
They did this despite limiting their three opponents to just 11 shots on
goal in 14:51 of power play ice time.
One might use the “bad dream” defense here, that the Caps suffered both
goal in a 3:09 span of the second period of their 5-4 overtime win over the
Columbus Blue Jackets (it was a bad dream in an otherwise happy ending of a
game).
Still, this is not a particularly good trend for the
Caps. Since going a perfect 5-for-5 in
penalty killing in Week 7, Washington is just 23-for-34 in the four weeks since
(67.6 percent). The fact that the Caps
have a shorthanded save percentage of .825 overall might be a cause for some
concern. So might the fact that the Caps
are about to play four more Eastern Conference teams, three of which are in the
top half of the league power play rankings.
Even Strength Goals For/Goals Against: 9-3 / plus-6 (season,
5-on-5 goals for/goals against ratio: 1.03; rank: 15th)
The Caps won the even strength goal battle in two games in
Week 11, and they won both games. In
those two games they had a whopping 20.9 percent shooting percentage (9-for-43)
while holding Columbus and New Jersey to 2-for-37 shooting (5.4 percent). It was not even that bad against Florida in
the game to open the week, the Caps outshot by a 26-21 margin at evens but
being outscored by just a 1-0 margin. In
a sense, it was the club’s effectiveness in limiting the Panthers at evens that
allowed the Caps to get to extra time and keep the standings points streak
going.
Faceoffs: 80-for-170 / 47.1 percent (season: 50.7 percent; rank: 12th)
It was not the best of weeks for the Caps in the
circle. They lost two of three games,
and they lost all three zones in Week 11 (offensive: 47.1 percent; defensive:
48.1 percent; neutral: 46.3 percent).
Nicklas Backstrom had an uncharacteristically weak week, so to speak, in
the offensive and defensive zones, going 6-for-16 in each (37.5 percent). On the other hand, Eric Fehr was 14-for-24 in
the ends for the week (58.3 percent) on his way to a 53.5 percent week overall.
With the revolving door at second wing center (Evgeny
Kuznetsov is playing there in place of Andre Burakovsky, who is skating for the
Hershey Bears for the time being), Troy Brouwer has been getting a lot of
chances in the circle (fourth on the team in faceoffs taken). He was 12-for-19 for the week (63.2 percent),
best of all Caps taking more than one faceoff.
Goals by Period:
The Caps won each period overall, and they had a 5-2-2 “record” by regulation period for the week. That hiccup in the second period against Columbus – the two power play goals allowed – made the week look a bit worse than it was. The Caps did well enough on a period-by-period basis to climb into a tie for sixth overall in first period goals scored and seventh in second period goals scored. The best part of this, however, might be the four third period goals scored (one an empty netter). This has been an issue for the Caps this season, but those four third period goals increased their season output by more than 17 percent (from 23 to 27 goals) and lifted them into 18th place in the league.
In the end…
It is hard to argue with success. No doubt there are things one might pick at
as “problems” (penalty killing) or unsustainable (even strength shooting
percentage), but looking at things holistically the Caps are competing on a
consistent basis. They are not allowing
the occasional misstep (the second period against Columbus) or the bit of bad
luck (Ovechkin’s near goals against New Jersey) put them in a rut. One might not expect the team to sustain an 8-0-2
run over every ten games they play, but three weeks of success, all of it
coming at the expense of Eastern Conference teams, is something on which to
build as the calendar year winds down. Anything to add, Cheerless?
"nope...we're good."
"nope...we're good."
Three Stars:
- First Star: Nicklas Backstrom (2-2-4, plus-2, 20:21/game ice time)
- Second Star: Mike Green (1-2-3, plus-2, setup game-tying and game-winning goals against Columbus)
- Third Star: Braden Holtby (2-0-1, 1.62, .934, 1 shutout)
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