The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
On Sunday evening, the Washington Capitals head off to where
it all ended – in two of their last three postseasons, that is. Washington heads to New York to take on the
Rangers at Madison Square Garden where their seasons ended in 2012 and 2015
with identical 2-1 scores, and where the Caps were whipped by the Rangers, 5-2,
in their first meeting this season on November 3rd.
Since that meeting in early November, the Caps have been on
a sustained run of success, going 15-3-2, and are now on a four-game winning
streak. The four-game streak is the
third time this season Washington put together a winning streak of four or more
games.
On the other hand, the Rangers are in a lengthy slide. Their victory over the Caps on November 3rd
was part of a nine-game winning streak and a stretch of 13 straight games in
which they earned a point 11-0-2. Since
that run came to an end on November 19th in Tampa against the
Lightning, the Rangers are 5-8-2 and have dropped from the top spot in the Metropolitan
Division and the Eastern Conference to second in the division and third in the
conference.
The Rangers will be returning home to Madison Square Garden after
spending five of their last six games on the road, all of which they lost (they
defeated the Edmonton Oilers at home, 4-2, last Tuesday).
The biggest problem the Rangers have had is that the one
player they cannot afford to have slip into a slump has done precisely that. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist shut out the
Nashville Predators on 33 shots back on November 23rd in a 3-0
win. It left his record at the time at
12-3-2, 1.74, .946, with two shutouts. Since
then, however, he is 3-5-1, 3.33, .896.
The Caps might be the tonic for his game, though. Including playoff games, Lundqvist is 8-3-1,
1.54, .948, with one shutout in his last 12 appearances against the Capitals.
In Game 32 last season, Rick Nash recorded a hat trick
against the Capitals in a 4-2 win at Madison Square Garden, giving him a total
of 23 goals for the season to that date on his way to a career-best 42-goal
season. Through 32 games this season,
Nash has ten goals, two in his last 11 contests, and he is on a pace to finish
with 25 goals, which would be his lowest for a full season since his rookie
year in Columbus when he had 17 in 74 games with the Blue Jackets. Nash is 12-8-20, plus-2, in 19 career games
against Washington.
If Rick Nash has been a disappointment to date this season,
Oscar Lindberg has been a surprise. A
second round draft pick of the Phoenix Coyotes in 2010, Lindberg was traded to
the Rangers for Ethan Werek in May 2011.
While Werek is now toiling for the Florida Everblades of the ECHL,
Lindberg is tied for second among NHL rookies in goals (10) and is fifth in
points (17). Like the rest of the team,
though, Lindberg is in the midst of a slump.
He is without a point and is a minus-3 over his last six games. He had a goal and an assist in the Rangers’
5-2 win over the Capitals on November 3rd, his only career appearance
to date against Washington.
Here is how the teams stack up against one another overall:
1. Since that 3-0
shutout over Nashville back on November 3rd, the Rangers have had
difficulty finding the back of the net. They
have averaged 2.46 goals per game in the 13 games since then, but nine of them
came, oddly enough, in back to back losses – to Edmonton (7-5) and Calgary (5-4
in overtime) earlier this month.
2. The Rangers and
the Montreal Canadiens are the only two teams in the Eastern Conference having
four defensemen with ten or more points.
For the Rangers that group includes: Keith Yandle (17), Ryan McDonagh
(11), Marc Staal (10), and Dan Boyle (10).
If Dan Girardi records a point, it will make five defensemen in this
group.
3. Only four teams
have had fewer power play opportunities on home ice than the Rangers (48):
Philadelphia (47), Tampa Bay (47), Boston (46), and San Jose (41).
4. New York has
committed the fifth highest number of minor penalties in the league (129),
exceeded only by: Vancouver (130), St. Louis (132), Columbus (137), and
Winnipeg (143).
5. As you might
expect from a team in a prolonged slump, the Rangers are having possession
issues. It has been an issue all season
for this club. Overall, they rank 28th
in the league in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 (46.5 percent). They are 24th in score-adjusted
Corsi (47.3) and 21st in close score situations (48.7). They have yet to record consecutive games
this season with more shot attempts than their opponents.
1. When Alex Ovechkin
and T.J. Oshie each recorded four points against the Tampa Bay Lightning on
Friday night, it was the first time two Capitals turned the trick since
December 10, 2013, against the Lightning.
Ovechkin had four points (all goals) and Nicklas Backstrom had five
points (1-4-5) in a 6-5 Gimmick win.
2. When Oshie
finished the night with four points, it gave the Caps six skaters with 20 or
more points this season. No team in the
league has more (Ottawa also has six).
3. When Braden Holtby
was relieved by Philipp Grubauer in the Caps’ 5-3 win over Tampa Bay on Friday
night, it was the first time a Capitals goaltender did not finish a game he
started this season. It was the first
time Holtby was pulled from a game since allowing three goals on 13 shots in
14:47 in a 4-3 loss to the Nashville Predators last March 28th.
4. From the “shots
matter” file… The Capitals lead the league in wins when outshooting the opposition
(14). Their total of 18 games
outshooting opponents is tied for third most in the league.
5. The last time the
Caps had consecutive games with more shot attempts than opponents was November
12-13 against Philadelphia and Calgary.
Since then, Washington’s Corsi-for at 5-on-5 is 46.6 percent and has
been under 50 percent in 11 of 15 games.
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
New York: Mats Zuccarello
As Mats goes, so go the Rangers. In 15 games in which Mats Zuccarello has a
point this season, the Rangers are 12-2-1; they are 6-9-3 in games where he is
held off the score sheet. He looked to
be coming out of a slump recently, following a nine-game stretch in which he
recorded a single point with a three-game points streak against the teams from
Alberta (four points in two games against Edmonton and a point against
Calgary). He was blanked in his last two
games, though, both of them losses, to Minnesota and to Winnipeg. He was a minus-6 in those two games to add to
his, and the Rangers’ misery. Zuccarello
is 0-5-5, plus-4, in 11 career games against Washington.
Washington: Nicklas Backstrom
When Nicklas Backstrom recorded his 600th career
point on Friday night in the Caps’ 5-3 win over Tampa Bay, he became the eighth
active player to record 600 points since 2007-2008, when he entered the
league. It is an impressive list.
And he is adding to that list in as quiet a way imaginable. Backstrom is 6-14-20, plus-7, over his last 20
games and has not gone consecutive games without a point over that
stretch. He has not had a “minus” game
in his last 14 games. If there is an odd
number on his resume, it is his power play scoring. Backstrom is tied for the team lead in power
play points (12, with John Carlson), but ranks only tied for 14th in
the league. He was tied for third in
power play scoring last season (33 points) and led the league in 2013-2014 (44
points). Backstrom is 6-19-25, minus-5,
in 31 career games against the Rangers.
In the end…
Despite similar records, the Capitals are what the Rangers
are not in one important respect. Only
four teams have more one-goal wins than the Caps (10), while the Rangers have
more wins by three or more goals (10, leading the league) than they have one-
and two-goal wins combined (9). Almost half
of the Rangers’ 34 games (16) have been settled by three or more goals, while
almost half of the Caps’ 31 games (14) have been settled by a single goal. To the extent this game remains close, it
would seem to favor the Capitals.
Capitals 3 – Rangers 2
