The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
If Wednesday is “Hump Day” of the work week, then Friday
night in Glendale, Arizona, the Washington Capitals will play “Hump Game” of
their five-game road trip. The Caps will
face the Arizona Coyotes, a team they faced and defeated just six days ago, so
we’re not going to spend much time rehashing the prognosto we wrote for that game. But let’s just meander around the barn and
see what interesting nuggets we can dig up about this contest…
-- Washington comes into this game having recorded three
straight games on the road scoring five or more goals, beating the Lightning in
Tampa Bay on March 18th (5-3), the Wild in Minnesota (5-4 in overtime), on
March 28th, and the Avalanche in Colorado on Wednesday (5-3). It might be the first time the Caps beat
three teams with singular versions of their mascot names on the road in team
history. But more to our point here, it was
the first time the Caps scored five or more goals in three straight road games
in more than seven years, not since February 2010. Oddly enough, they did so and still managed
to lose two of the games. The opened the
trio of road contests with a 6-5 win over Rangers in New York, then lost in
Montreal, 6-5 in overtime, and lost 6-5 in Ottawa. The last time they scored five goals in each
of four consecutive road games? December
1992, when they did it against the Islanders (5-3), the Senators (6-5), the Devils
(6-2), and the Flyers (5-2). And just to
top that off, two months later they scored 10 goals in consecutive road games,
in St. Louis (10-6) and in Los Angeles (10-3).
-- Having lost both ends of a home-and-home since facing the
Caps, Arizona is now 1-6-1 in their last eight games. In six of those games they scored one or no
goals.
-- Nicklas Backstrom is the leading point-getter for the
Caps in March (3-15-18) and is tied for fourth in the league in scoring for the
month. T.J. Oshie has eight goals in
March to lead the club; he’s tied for ninth in the league.
-- Twenty four times this season the Coyotes have been held
to one or no goals, ten times in 38 games on home ice.
-- The Caps are second in the league in March on the power
play (27.4 percent). How many guesses
would you have needed to come up with “Buffalo” as the league leader for the
month (41.7 percent, and no, that is not a typo).
-- Washington has multiple power play goal games in
consecutive contests for the first time this season (three against Minnesota on
Tuesday, two against Colorado on Wednesday).
It is the first time they did it since scoring two power play goals in
Games 45 and 46 in January of last season, against the Rangers and the Blue
Jackets. It is the first time they did
it in consecutive road games since they did it three times in a row to end
February and open March in 2014, doing it in Florida, in Boston, and in
Philadelphia.
-- Alex Ovechkin has goals in three of his last five games,
a total of five goals in that span. If
he gets two against Arizona, he will tie Guy Lafleur for 25th place in league
history (560 goals). With a hat trick he
would tie Mike Modano for 24th place (561).
If he gets a power play goal, he breaks a tie with Keith Tkachuk for
13th place all-time (currently with 212).
He is second among active players in power play goals, four behind
Jaromir Jagr, who played his first game in the NHL during the reign of Augustus
Caesar. If he gets the game-winning
goal, he will tie Mats Sundin for ninth place all-time (96).
-- No Coyote has ten points this month (Tobias Rieder has
nine). Ho Coyote has five goals (Alex
Goligoski has four). No Coyote playing
in at least ten of the team’s 15 games so far this month is a “plus” player
(Anthony Duclair and Christian Dvorak are “even”).
-- Nicklas Backstrom is currently second among active
players in assists per game (0.738), wedged between the centers in Pittsburgh,
Sidney Crosby (0.824) and Evgeni Malkin (0.714).
-- Washington has five players with at least ten points in
March: Nicklas Backstrom (18), Alex Ovechkin (12), Marcus Johansson (11), Kevin
Shattenkirk (11), and T. J. Oshie (11).
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
Arizona: Max Domi
After a fine rookie season that left him tied for sixth in
goals (18), second in assists (34), and third in points (52) among rookies, Max
Domi has not had so much a “sophomore slump” as he has had a “second season
slide.” His numbers have not fallen
precipitously form his rookie campaign (9-24-33 in 54 games), but neither do
they constitute an improvement. He has
struggled with goal scoring all season compared to last, but thinks took a turn
since he came back at the beginning of February after missing 23 games with an
upper-body injury. In 28 games since his
return, Domi has just four goals, none in his last eight contests. Head coach Dave Tippett appears inclined to
let Domi work through things, though.
For example, in March to date, Domi skated fewer than 16 minutes in a
game just twice in 15 contests. He is 0-2-2,
plus-2, in three career games against the Caps.
Washington: Evgeny Kuznetsov
Evgeny Kuznetsov might be a player who is happy to get out
on the road. He had a goal and an assist
in Colorado against the Avalanche on Wednesday to lift his scoring line on the
road to 11-19-30 in 37 road games this season, third on the team in road
scoring, behind Nicklas Backstrom (33 points) and Marcus Johansson (31). He had been in a bit of a road slump after
recording points in four straight road games in February, posting one assist
over five games before his two point game against the Avs. His road performance this season is a bit of
a departure from his career totals, which are a bit behind on the road
(29-54-83 in 126 games) versus his home record (23-73-96 in 129 home
games). What he does not have is much of
a record against Arizona, against whom he is 1-2-3, minus-1, in five career
games against the Coyotes.
In the end…
As road trips go, this one sure has the California trip from
three weeks ago beat all to hell. Two
wins in two tries, admittedly against teams not at the top of their respective
games, but two points are two points, and they all count in the end. That said, the Caps might not be at the top
of their game, either, especially at even strength. Half of their ten goals are on power plays,
leaving them outscored, 7-4 (not including an empty netter) at 5-on-5 in the
two games. They have been outshot
overall, 65-55 in the two games, and they are just 45.5 percent on
faceoffs. They have gotten away with
sloppy third periods, the one against Colorado perhaps a case of a second game
in two days and having to play it at altitude.
Still, there is room for improvement in the Caps’ game, and if they are
to extend their winning ways on the road and rack up a seventh straight win,
they will have to do just that.
Capitals 5 – Coyotes 2
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