Record: 2-1-0
Beating the Pittsburgh Penguins, even at home, had become an
infrequent experience in recent years.
Going into Wednesday night’s game against the Pens, the Caps were 3-8-1
in their last dozen meetings, 1-4-0 at home.
The Caps broke open a scoreless tie early in the third period, but gave
the lead back less than a minute later before dropping a 3-1 decision. The Caps were better about holding leads in
their other two games of the week. They
held on after taking a 2-0 lead against the Columbus Blue Jackets to win , 2-1,
then they just waited until the very last second to take a lead, beating the
Florida Panthers, 2-1, in overtime.
Offense: 1.67/game
(season: 3.40 /game; rank: 4th)
Goals were hard to come by in Week 3. It was not completely unusual to finish a
week with five goals in three games; the last time the Caps scored 5-in-3 was
in Games 68-70 last season (they lost to the New York Rangers and Dallas Stars,
beat the Boston Bruins). However, it was
an unexpected result, given that the Caps finished Week 2 with the top scoring
offense in the league. The Caps got only
one goal – one point, in fact – from a forward not in their top-six, although
that goal by Jay Beagle was scored playing with Alex Ovechkin and Justin
Williams. So, you could say the bottom
six was shut out for the week. There
were no goals from defensemen; the three points for the week being assists –
two from Karl Alzner, one from Dmitry Orlov.
Defense: 1.67/game (season: 2.30/game; rank: 10th)
As much as the offense struggled for the week, the defense
had a pretty good effort. At the top
end, they allowed only 82 shots (including one empty-netter), 27.3 shots per
game. It was actually a bit higher
average than the Caps’ average through two weeks. Nevertheless, Washington finished Week 3
having allowed the fewest shots on goal per game in the league (25.1).
It was every bit as good in the possession numbers. The Caps dominated at 5-on-5, finishing all
three games over 55 percent Corsi-for and going 57.3 percent for the week. Their Fenwick numbers were almost as good,
topping 50 percent in each of the three
games and going 55.2 percent for the week.
It was a similar story in close score situations, 56.0 Corsi-for and
54.2 percent Fenwick-for in close score situations at 5-on-5 (all numbers from
war-on-ice.com).
Goaltending: 1.32 / .951 (season: 2.01 / .919)
Week 2 was not a very good week for the netminders. Week 3 was another matter. Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer combined
to allow only four goals on 81 shots for the week. It might have been a better week if the save
percentages had not been eroded as games went on. The first period save percentage was 1.000
for the week (34-for-34). The second
period was not much worse (.950 on 19-for-20), but the third period save
percentage of .885 (23-for-26) contributed to the lone loss for the week and
some anxious moments against Columbus.
One thing that Caps goaltenders are benefitting from is low shot
volumes. At the end of Week 3, among 33
goalies playing at least 200 5-on-5 minutes, Braden Holtby faced the fewest
shots per 60 minutes (23.04, to St. Louis’ Brian Elliott with 20.41; numbers
from war-on-ice.com).
Power Play: 0-for-7 / 0.0 percent (season: 24.1 percent;
rank: 5th)
Week 3 was an unusual week.
It was the first time that the Caps were blanked on more than five power
play chances for a week since Week 16 of the 2013-2014 season. It was a streak of 39 weeks without going
without a power play goal on more than five chances. It was not so much the efficiency that
affected the result. The Caps recorded
12 shots on the man advantage in 13:59 of power play time (0.86 shots per
minute). Not great, but not all that
bad, either. It was not even so much the
“who” got those shots. Alex Ovechkin had
four power play shots for the week; T.J. Oshie had three. One might point to Ovechkin missing the net
on four power play shots against Columbus, but in the end, perhaps it was just
one of those weeks.
Penalty Killing: 9-for-9 / 100.0 percent (season: 87.9
percent; rank: 6th)
You would think a 9-for-9 week would be cause for
celebration, and at the most important level – no goals – it is. It was the first time since Week 20 last
season that the Caps shut out opponents on five or more power plays. There were, however, a lot of shots – 17 of
them in 16:13 of shorthanded ice time (1.05 per minute). A lot of that was the performance against the
Florida Panthers to close the week.
Perhaps it was a product of playing on back-to-back nights, but eight
shots against in 5:58 of shorthanded ice time.
It made Philipp Grubauer the best penalty killer of the night for the
Caps. But these things are team efforts,
and at the end of Week 3, having the league’s sixth-ranked penalty kill cannot
be considered a bad thing.
Even Strength 5-on-5 Goals for/Goals Against: 3-4 / minus-1
(season, 5-on-5 goals for/goals against ratio: 1.53; rank: 5th)
It was a very quiet week, for and against, at
five-on-five. If there was a concern, it
was the Caps inability to score early at full strength. They did not score a five-on-five goal in the
first half of any game for the week. It
would be nice if that was balanced by dominating five-on-five play late, but
that was not the case, either. It was a
woeful week shooting the puck at fives.
The Caps were 3-for-73 over the three games (4.1 percent). Consider it the pendulum swinging back in the
other direction after a couple of weeks of very good five-on-five play; the
Caps finished the week still ranked fifth in their goals-for/goals-against
ratio.
Faceoffs: 87-for-176 /49.4 percent (season: 49.3% / rank: 18th)
The Caps finished the week one draw under 50 percent, but it
masked the differences at the ends of the rink.
As one might expect with such a low-scoring week, the Caps struggled a
bit in the offensive zone and did better in the defensive end. That was certainly true, Washington managing
only 45.0 percent wins in the offensive end for the week. Jay Beagle going 9-for-16 could not offset
Nicklas Backsttrom going 6-for-16 and Evgeny Kuznetsov going 7-for-15 in the
offensive zone. In the defensive end,
the Caps were 55.9 percent, Backstrom (60.9 percent) and Kuznetsov (70.0
percent) having good weeks to offset Beagle’s struggles (46.7 percent).
Goals by Period:
It was a case of battling close early, giving little in the
middle, and holding on at the end as far as the goals by period are
concerned. The Caps failed to score in
any first period in Week 3, but they held opponents off the score sheet,
too. It was even again in the second
period, the Caps scoring a goal against Columbus in the middle game of the
week, allowing one to Florida in the last game of the week. As it is, the Caps finished the week having
scored more third period goals for the season (16) than every other team in the
league except Montreal (17), and they had a positive goal differential in all
three periods. Their plus-6 goal
differential in the third period is better than all but the New York Islanders
and St. Louis Blues (both plus-7).
In the end…
The Caps closed Week 3 with an 8-2-0 record, matching their best ten-game start in
franchise history, set in 1991-1992 and tied in 2011-2012. They finished the week on top of the
Metropolitan Division, holding a game in hand on each of the four teams behind
them in the standings. They finished the
week in second place in the Eastern Conference, four points behind the Montreal
Canadiens, but holding two games in hand on the Habs. They are currently fourth in the league
standings, holding at least a game in hand on each of the three teams in front of them –
Montreal, Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues.
You don’t have to put a blanket over the top seven teams in the league
standings at the moment; you might be able to fit them on a postage stamp. Four points separate those seven teams, and the
Caps are firmly in that group (the Caps and Nashville Predators have played the
fewest games in that group: 10).
It will not get easier in Week 4, though. The Caps start the week visiting the New York
Rangers, currently a tie-breaker behind the Caps for the Metro Division
lead. Then they host the Boston Bruins,
a club that has been surprisingly good thus far (6-3-1), leading the league
in scoring offense (3.90 goals/game).
They might catch a break finishing the week against the Toronto Maple
Leafs (1-7-2), but that might be a team past being fed up with the level of
their play. That’s why they play the
games.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (2-0-2, plus-1, game-winning goal, 52.3 percent faceoffs)
- Second Star: Philipp Grubauer (1-0-0, 0.94, .963)
- Third Star: Alex Ovechkin (0-3-3, plus-1, 9 shots on goal, 21:28.game ice time)
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