Record: 2-0-0
The Caps wrapped up a very successful road trip with a 4-3
overtime win in Toronto to open the week.
That was a see-saw affair in which the Maple Leafs opened the scoring,
followed by the Caps scoring a pair of goals by John Carlson to take the lead,
falling behind on a pair of goals by Auston Matthews, and tying the game in the
third period on an Alex Ovechkin goal before Ovechkin won the contest four
minutes into the extra period. The win
gave the Caps a 4-0-1 record on what will be their longest road trip of the
season.
There was no such suspense in the game to end the week. The Caps scored four goals in a span of 4:27
in the first period to end the competitive portion of the game against Buffalo,
skating off with a 6-1 win to give them ten wins on the season, the first team
in the NHL to reach double digits in victories.
In an odd scheduling quirk, November 1st is the earliest date
on the calendar by which the Caps completed 15 games on the schedule. The previous earliest date was November 2nd,
1990, when the Caps completed 15 games with an 8-7-0 record. The nine wins tied a team record for October,
originally set in 1991-1992 when the Caps got off to a 9-3-0 October start.
Offense: 5.00/game (season: 3.93/1st)
The Caps are on a roll in the offensive end of the ice. They scored five goals in both games in Week 5,
bringing their total of five-goal games to five in their most recent seven
contests and six for the season, tied with Nashville and Vancouver
(coincidentally teams that have both scored and allowed five goals in a game against
the Caps this season).
Seven different Caps recorded goals in Week 5, John Carlson,
Jakub Vrana, and Alex Ovechkin each with a pair. When Carlson scored his pair of goals in the
overtime win in Toronto to start the week, he ended the month with one of the
best Octobers by a defenseman in league history. His seven goals was one short of the league
record for defensemen in October, held jointly by Al McInnis (1991), Phil
Housley (1988), and Al Sims (1981). His
16 assists were two short of the record set by Paul Coffey in 1989. And, he 23 points were two short of McInnis’
record of 25 in 1991.
Ovechkin’s two goals gave him 669 for his career, passing
Luc Robitaille for 12th place all-time. Next in his sights will be Teemu Selanne in
11th place with 684 goals.
Ovechkin finished October with 11 goals, tied for third in the league
and the fourth time he recorded 10 or more goals in October. It was the most he recorded for the month
since he started the 2010-2011 season with 14 goals in October.
Ovechkin also led the team in points for the week (five),
but it was Michal Kempny that set a personal record with his first career
three-point game, all assists, in the 6-1 win over Buffalo to close the week. Jakub Vrana (2-1-3), Tom Wilson (1-2-3), and
Nicklas Backstrom (0-3-3) also had three-point weeks.
Defense: 2.00/game (season: 3.13/18th)
It was an unremarkable week in the defensive end of the ice
for the Caps. They allowed Toronto 31
shots on goal in the 4-3 overtime win and 30 to Buffalo in the 6-1 win. Those totals were squarely in line with the
Caps’ average of 30.9 shots on goal allowed at the end of Week 5. The spread between opponents in shot attempts
allowed at 5-on-5 was bigger – 31 to Toronto and 41 to the Sabres, but these
were wrapped around the average of 37.1 the Caps compiled through Week 5, and
the 41 allowed to the Sabres might reflect score effects as much as
anything. But those 41 shot attempts
allowed at 5-on-5 to the Sabres does point to an odd feature about this
statistic on home ice. The Caps have
been either very stingy or very gracious in this category. In six home games through Week 5, the Caps
allowed 41 or more shot attempts at fives three times (twice in wins), and they
allowed 30 or fewer three times (twice in losses, both in overtime).
Goaltending: 1.94 / .934 (season: 3.03 / .901)
A superb week from Braden Holtby brought the Caps’ overall
goaltending over the .900 save percentage mark for the season. Holtby started and won both games in Week 5,
stopping 57 of 61 shots (.934). It
brought his personal streak to 5-0-1, 2.63, .923 since he gave up three goals
on three shots in a 6-3 loss to Colorado on October 14th.
Holtby’s week featured games that were mirror images of
themselves in terms of shots faced.
Against Toronto he faced only seven first period shots, stopping six of
them, while he was challenged with 14 third period shots, stopping 13 of
them. Against Buffalo, he was pounded
for 16 first period shots as his teammates were building a 4-0 lead, and he
stopped all of them. He would face only
five shots in the third period of a game long decided, again stopping all of
them. For the week he had excellent
first (22-for-23/.957 save percentage) and third (18-for-19/.947) periods,
while he was off this pace in the middle period (17-for-19/.895).
As a result of his sparkling week, Holtby is now roughly on
last year’s opening pace. Through the
Caps’ first 15 games he is 6-1-3, 3.30, .895 in 11 starts. After 15 games last season, he was 5-4-2,
3.26, .903 with one shutout in 12 starts.
Power Play: 2-for-8/25.0 percent (season: 25.0 percent/4th)
The Caps are nothing if not consistent on the power play
recently. They were 2-for-8 last week,
and they duplicated that performance in Week 5.
Where the consistency fell apart, though, was in the game-by-game
opportunities. There were the seven
chances the Caps had in the opening game of the week against the Maple Leafs,
converting twice, including the game-winning goal from Alex Ovechkin (his 251st
career power play goal, four short of Teemu Selanne for third place all-time). The seven opportunities is the Caps’ high for
the season to date and the most they had in a single game since they had eight
(converting three) in a 6-3 win over the New York Islanders on March 16, 2018.
At the other end, the Caps had a single man advantage
against Buffalo to end the week. It was
the fewest chances they had through six games of their home schedule (they had
one in Chicago against the Blackhawks on October 20th) and the
fewest they had in a home game since they had a single chance in last season’s
regular season penultimate home game, a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
The Caps had a reasonably efficient power play for the week,
recording 14 shots on goal in 14:29 of power play ice time. Alex Ovechkin finished with half of the 14
shots, scoring once. John Carlson and
Jakub Vrana finished with two power play shots apiece, Carlson getting the
other goal.
Penalty Killing: 9-for-10/90.0 percent (season: 85.7 percent/T-6th)
The Caps had a fine week, efficiency-wise, in penalty
killing with nine kills in ten shorthanded situations. On the other hand, there were those ten
shorthanded situations faced. But here
too, the Caps had an odd week in the next level of detail. They surrendered eight power play chances to
Toronto to open the week, the most they gave up in a single game since New Year’s
Eve 2016, when they went shorthanded nine times (killing all of them) in a 6-2
win over the Devils in New Jersey.
The Caps were taking it from all angles against
Toronto. In the eight Maple Leaf power
plays, eight different players recorded a total of 11 shots on goal in 13:28 of
ice time. Auston Matthews led the Leafs
with three and had the only goal with the man advantage. It was the reverse against Buffalo, who could
manage only a single shot on goal in two minutes of power play ice time.
Faceoffs: 72-for-151 / 47.7 percent (season: 49.7 percent/17th)
The Caps dropped under 50 percent for the season in faceoff
winning percentage in Week 5. They split
the week, finishing 40.0 percent against Toronto (32-for-80) and 56.3 percent
against Buffalo (40-for-71). As it is,
the Caps have not posted consecutive games over 50 percent in their last eight
games, finishing over 50 percent only twice in that span.
At the top end level, the Caps were consistent by zone for
the week, finishing 23-for-47 in the offensive end (48.9 percent), 27-for-60 in
the defensive end (45.0), and 22-for-44 (50.0) in the neutral zone. But as was the case last week, that tilt
toward the defensive end (60 draws versus 47 in the offensive end) was
noticeable, if not as pronounced.
At the individual level, Lars Eller was the only Cap taking
at least ten faceoffs who finished the week over 50 percent (58.5). Nicklas Backstrom (43.2) and Evgeny Kuznetsov
(43.8) finished under 45 percent for the week.
Goals by Period:
Washington did not dominate the second periods of games as
they have over much of the early season.
The broke even in the middle frame over the two games, but still
maintained a plus-13 goal second period goal differential for the season,
second best in the league (Buffalo is plus-12).
The four-goal explosion against the Sabres on Friday allowed the Caps to
win the first period for the week (pulling the Caps into positive
goal-differential territory for the season), and the three goals they scored in
the third period and overtime, while allowing only one, made for the successful
week.
Year-over-Year:
The Caps are off to a much better start than last season’s
7-5-3 record through 15 games. There is
little mystery why – goal scoring is up (plus-7 over last season), and goals
allowed are down by four (a plus-11 year over year change in goal
differential). It is the defensive
change that is most noteworthy here.
Shots allowed are down by 37 (7.4 percent), and shot attempts at 5-on-5
are down a whopping 181 from last year’s 15-game total (24.6 percent). The total shot attempts at fives are down considerably
(from 1,406 through 15 games last season to 1,129 this season), which might be
a reflection of the nature of the changes the Caps made to balance their game,
sacrificing some offense in departed players for better defense at the other
end.
Both categories of special team scoring are down. Power play goals are down four from last
season at this point, but the seven-goal reduction in power play goals allowed
more than offsets that reduction.
In the end…
It was a big week in Washington, with the Nationals winning
their first World Series and the District’s first in 95 years, and the Caps
won both games on their schedule. The
Caps wins were not as big, but you have to have weeks like this in the regular
season to have celebrations of the sort the Nationals had at the end of
it. In that respect, the players the
Caps count on produced, they played good team defense, for the most part, and
they have a goaltender who seems to have found his game once more. It would be hard to find a lot wrong with
where the Caps find themselves at the moment.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Braden Holtby (2-0-0, 1.94, .934)
- Second Star: Alex Ovechkin (2-3-5, plus-2, 1 power play/overtime/game-winning goal, 12 shots on goal, 22:03 average ice time, passed Luc Robitaille for 12th place all-time in career goals scored)
- Third Star: Michal Kempny (0-3-3, plus-4, six shots on goal, 19:42 in average ice time, recorded first career three-point game)
Captain rates the week…
Four puppers
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