In sports, you are only as good as the last game you
played. In hockey, you are only as good
as the last period you played. By those
criteria, the Washington Capitals are a fine team that had a great week. Unfortunately, Week 4 had two games and six
periods. The Caps were not a fine team
over that span, and was a banged-up team, to boot.
Record: 1-1-0
This was Western Canada Week for the Caps, and the 2017
version had a spooky resemblance to the trip the Caps made to the provinces
last year. You might recall that the Caps dropped the opener of their trip last
year to the Edmonton Oilers, 4-1.
Compare that to the 6-2 drubbing the Vancouver Canucks laid on
Washington in the first game of this year’s trip. In the second game of last year’s trip the
Caps made use of a two-goal third period to pull away from the Canucks in a 5-2
win. In the second game of this year’s
trip, Washington scored five unanswered goals on the Edmonton Oilers after
falling behind, 2-0, three of them in the third period, to take a 5-2 decision.
Splitting the two games for the week left the Caps in sixth
place in the Metropolitan Division, five points behind the surprising New
Jersey Devils in first place. Of more
concern is that they are outside the playoff mix at the moment, one point
behind the second wild-card team, the Philadelphia Flyers (12 points).
Offense: 3.50 /game (season:3.09 /game, T-14th)
The Caps suffered from a lack of balance in goal scoring
over the first three weeks of the season, and if there was a sliver of silver
of the lining of the cloud that was Week 4, it was getting some more
balance. Chandler Stephenson scored his
first NHL goal in the Caps’ loss in Vancouver.
Jay Beagle recorded his second goal of the season, and Devante
Smith-Pelly scored his first as a Capital in the 5-2 win over Edmonton. Lars Eller got his first of the season on a
one-timer in that win over the Oilers.
Then there was the top line and an odd switch in roles. Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded his first three
goals of the season in Week 4, one against Vancouver and two against
Edmonton. It was Kuznetsov’s fifth
career multi-goal game and second in Edmonton. He had a hat trick on Oilers’
ice in a 7-4 win on October 23, 2015. Meanwhile,
Alex Ovechkin had a four-assist week, three of them coming against the Oilers
in the 5-2 win. For Ovechkin it was his
12th career game with three or more assists and his first since he
had three in a 6-5 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on November 2, 2014.
Defense: 4.00 /game (season:3.55 /game, 26th)
The Caps started the week as if they had a team case of jet
lag, allowing 15 shots on goal and three tallies to the Vancouver Canucks in
the first period of the game that opened the week. Or perhaps it was the rust that accumulated
from having no game action from Saturday (a 4-1 loss to Florida at home) to
Thursday against the Canucks. In that
respect it was also similar to last season' trip to the west when the Caps dropped a decision to
the New York Rangers at home, and then having no game action until the
following Wednesday in Edmonton, where the Caps allowed a pair of goals on ten
shots in what would be a 4-1 loss.
Shots allowed continue to be a problem. The Canucks didn’t need many after their
15-shot first period but still finished with 30, the eighth time in ten games
that the Caps allowed 30 or more shots. Edmonton recorded 40 shots on goal in
the 5-2 Caps win, and it was not score effects.
The Oilers had 16 shots on goal (and both goals) in the first period, 14
more in the second period. It was the
second time this season that the Caps allowed 40 shots to an opponent, the
other being when Tampa Bay recorded 40 in a 4-3 overtime win for the Lightning
on October 9th.
If there was a bright spot, it was the job that the Caps did
on Connor McDavid in the win over the Oilers.
McDavid went into that contest having recorded a point in each of the
Oilers’ first five home games this season (4-3-7, plus-2) with 22 shots on goal
(4.4 per game). Washington did not shut
him out (he did have an assist), but did hold him to two shots after the first
period and rendered him irrelevant in the outcome. For that, Caps fans might thank Nicklas
Backstrom, whose shifts often overlapped significantly with those of McDavid
(shift chart from nhl.com; click for a larger image):
Goaltending: 4.01 / .886 (season: 3.35 / .889)
This is where that whole, “you are only as good as your last
game” idea comes into play, because for the first four periods of the week, the
goaltending for the Caps was gruesome – 6.00, .826. But then there were the last 40 minutes of
the week in which Braden Holtby stopped all 24 shots he faced and looked more
like the confident and aggressive goalie he has been over the last few years.
The odd part of the goaltending situation is how different
the two goaltenders have been. Holtby,
despite a 2.75 goals against average, has the 15th best save
percentage among 42 goalies with at least 200 minutes of ice time (.919). Not quite up to his recent standard, but not
bad, all things considered. Philipp
Grubauer has just not found a comfort zone yet.
Among those same 42 goalies with at least 200 minutes he is 41st
in goal against average (4.67) and dead last in save percentage (.850). With seven saves on eight shots in 25 minutes
of work in Week 4, he actually improved that save percentage.
Power Play: 0-for-3 / 0.0 percent (season: 22.9 percent / 8th)
In Week 4, it was all about the opportunities. The Caps had three, all of them in the loss
to Vancouver, two of them coming in the third period of that game, after the
competitive portion of the contest was settled.
The Caps could only draw what was a coincidental delay-of-game penalty
against Edmonton and did not have a power play in that contest.
The Caps did have their chances against Vancouver, recording
six shots in 4:31 of power play ice time, and they got the shots from players
they want to take them – two from Alex Ovechkin, two from Evgeny Kuznetsov, and
one from John Carlson (Alex Chiasson had the other). But the opportunities were spare and the
timing of them was not particularly relevant to the outcome.
Penalty Killing: 7-for-10 / 70.0 percent (season: 75.5
percent / 28th)
Week 4 was the bad and the good. Going 3-for-6 on the penalty kill against the
Canucks in the first game of the week was, if not the difference in its entirety
in the decision, then the largest part of it.
It was a case of taking too many penalties (eight that resulted in six
power plays) and allowing too many chances (11 shots on goal in 7:28 of ice
time).
Things improved, to a degree, against the Oilers. The Caps still allowed Edmonton four man advantage
opportunities (two of them in the odd occurrence of Lars Eller being whistled
twice for shooting the puck over the glass; combine that with his goal in that
game and “shooting” was his theme for the night), but they allowed only six
shots on goal in eight minutes of shorthanded ice time, none of them from
Connor McDavid.
Faceoffs: 54-for-129 / 41.9 percent (season: 49.5 percent / 21st)
There is no sugar coating that it was a bad week for the
Caps in the circle. They were under 50
percent in both games and managed only as much as 50 percent for the week in
the defensive zone (22-for-44). On an
individual level it was, for the most part, just as bad as one would expect. Of the four skaters taking ten or more draws,
three of them were under 40 percent – Nicklas Backstrom (3-for-13/23.1
percent), Lars Eller (11-for-29/37.9 percent), and Evgeny Kuznetsov
(14-for-39/35.9 percent). Only Jay
Beagle was over 50 percent (17-for-28/60.7 percent). But, in a nod to the “faceoffs don’t matter”
school, the Caps are 3-2-1 in games in which they were 50 percent or better,
2-3-0 in games in which they were under 50 percent, and both of those wins came
in games in which the Caps were under 41 percent (40.9 percent in a 5-2 win
over New Jersey and 39.3 percent on Saturday against Edmonton).
Goals by Period:
Allowing multiple goals in the first period in both games
for the week is not a recipe for success.
It brought the Caps’ string of games allowing multiple goals in the
first period to three, two of those games ending in losses. They did manage to
stop the bleeding against Edmonton, shutting out the Oilers over the last 40
minutes of that game, but early porousness on defense is putting the Caps in
too deep a hole to be able to win consistently.
In a way it is a bit odd, though.
Even with the five goals allowed in the first period in Week 4 (seven
over their last three games), they have allowed only 11 goals in the first
period in 11 games. Only seven teams
have allowed more, but this might be a correctable element in the Caps’
game. It had better be.
In the end…
The Caps were without arguably their top defenseman (Matt
Niskanen) and a top-six forward (Andre Burakovsky) for both games. Nicklas Backstrom missed the Vancouver game
due to illness, while Brett Connolly left the Vancouver game early under a
concussion protocol after being checked into the glass and missed the Edmonton
game. That is a lot of offense
missing. But the Caps are still allowing
far too many shots on goal to anyone’s liking (more than 33 per game). They still have to demonstrate they can
achieve a measure of balance in scoring.
They need more consistent goaltending.
These are the problems of a team that might be bouncing along the margin
of playoff eligibility all season unless they can make progress in finding
solutions.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (3-0-3, plus-2, GWG, 11 shots on goal, 16 shot attempts)
- Second Star: Alex Ovechkin (0-4-4, plus-3, eight shots on goal, 13 shot attempts, first three-assist game in almost three years)
- Third Star: Chandler Stephenson (1-0-1, plus-2, first NHL goal)
