The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
The Washington Capitals return home for the first time in
ten days when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night at Capital
One Arena. The Caps come home on a hot
streak, winners of six in a row and with the best ten-game record in the league
(8-1-1, tied with Boston). Meanwhile,
the Blue Jackets are sinking in the standings and are on a four-game losing
streak, one short of their season longest.
Then and Now…
This will be the 41st meeting of these division rivals
in the all-time series. Washington has a
24-10-5 (one tie) record against Columbus, 12-3-3 (one tie) on home ice. Since 2005-2006, the Caps are 20-9-5 against
the Blue Jackets overall, 11-3-3 on home ice.
Active Leaders vs. Opponent…
Noteworthy Opponents…
Rick Nash owns most of the meaningful career records in
Columbus Blue Jacket history, but Cam Atkinson is second in many of those
categories and could end up on top of most of them before his years in Columbus
are over. Atkinson is currently second
on the all-time list in games played for the franchise (556), second in goals
(191), fourth in assists (167), second in points (358), tied for fourth in
plus-minus (plus-24, with Brandon Saad), second in power play goals (41),
second in shorthanded goals (12), second in game-winning goals (39), and second
in shots on goal (1,673). Last season he
set a personal best in goals scored (41) and posted his second season of 35 or
more goals in his career (he had 35 in 2016-2017).
This season, perhaps the loss of Artemi Panarin to the New
York Rangers in free agency is weighing on him, creating the pressure to be the
go-to goal scorer. He has only five
goals in 29 games to date, only two on 53 shots (3.8 percent shooting) in his
last 19 games. His goal scoring on the
road has been non-existent. He has yet
to record his first goal outside of Ohio, going 0-for-32 shooting in 12 road
games to date. It is part of a longer
goal-scoring drought on the road that extends back to last season. Atkinson has two goals in his last 22 road
games dating back to last March.
Washington might provide a remedy to his problems. Atkinson is 10-7-17, plus-2, in 25 career
games against the Caps.
Staying healthy on the blue line has been a challenge for
Columbus. Only two defensemen have
dressed for all 29 games to date, Seth Jones and David Savard. Jones, a former fourth overall draft pick (of
Nashville in 2013) has developed into one of the premier defensemen in the
league. Savard is less renowned. Taken in the fourth round (94th
overall) in the 2009 Entry Draft, the 34th defenseman drafted among
70 defensemen taken overall, only four defensemen taken in that draft have dressed
for more than the 518 games on Savard’s resume (Victor Hedman: 721, Oliver
Ekman-Larsson: 688, Nick Leddy: 683, and Dmitry Kulikov: 651). He has not been a big point-getter, but he
has been consistent, posting more than 20 points in four of his six full
seasons before this one. However, like many Blue Jackets it seems, the
off-season changes have left him struggling to contribute. He has only four assists and no goals in 29
games to date and has yet to post a point on the road this season. Savard is 3-1-4, even, in 24 career games
against the Caps.
With the changes in Columbus come opportunities for young
players. The Blue Jackets have dressed
six rookies so far this season, a group led in scoring by forward Emil Bemstrom. Taken in the fourth round of trhe 2017 Entry
Draft (117th overall), Bemstrom might not have received a lot of
attention in the draft, but with 28 games on his resume to date (all of them
this season), he has more NHL games under his belt than any player taken after
the second round of that 2017 draft so far.
He has run into a bit of a wall, though.
Bemstrom was 3-5-8, even, in his first 20 games this season, but he is
just 0-1-1, minus-2 in eight games since.
At least he has points on the road, though, going 2-1-3 in 12
games. This would be Bemstrom’s first
career appearance against the Caps.
1. No Blue Jacket
appearing in more than three games is so much as “even” in the plus-minus
ratings. Four players – Jakob Lilja, Markus Nutivaara, Eric Robinson, and Riley
Nash – are minus-1.
2. The Blue Jacket
power play has had its problems in one respect.
No team has allowed more shorthanded goals than the Blue Jackets, the
five goals tied with Calgary, Buffalo, and Edmonton for most road shorties
allowed.
3. Only three teams
have taken fewer penalties than the 91 charged to Columbus (New York Islanders:
90, Winnipeg: 82, and Florida: 82).
4. No team has taken
fewer leads into the first intermission than Columbus (five), and no team has a
worse record when doing so (2-2-1).
Ditto with leads taken into the second intermission – four (fewest in
the league) with a 2-1-1 record (.500 winning percentage).
5. Columbus doesn’t
blow other teams out. Their two wins by
three or more goals is second-fewest in the league. Only Detroit, who has yet to record such a
win, has fewer.
1. The Caps don’t get
blown out. Only Boston and Arizona, with
one loss by three or more goals apiece, have fewer than the Caps (three, tied
with Montreal and Tampa Bay).
2. The Caps and the
New York Rangers are the only teams in the league without a two-goal loss this
season.
3. Washington is tied
with Winnipeg for the most one-goal wins so far this season (11).
4. If the Caps get
shots, they win. No team has more wins
when out-shooting an opponent (13), and no team has fewer losses in regulation
(one, tied with the Bruins and Islanders).
5. The Caps are a
top-ten team in scoring in every period this season – tied for sixth in first
period goals (32), tied for second in second period goals (38), tied for fourth
in third period goals (38), and tied for third in overtime goals (four). They are also fourth in total Gimmick goals
scored (six).
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
Columbus: Joonas Korpisalo
With Sergei Bobrovsky now working on his tan in south
Florida, the goaltending duties for the time being fall to Joonas
Korpisalo. He is not a goaltender with a
long resume. Taken in the third round
(62nd overall) in the 2012 Entry Draft by the Blue Jackets, he is in
his fifth NHL season. However, his 22
starts this season have already surpassed last year’s 21 starts, and his 11
wins top last year’s ten victories. Only
in his 2015-2016 rookie season did he have more starts (30) and wins (16). That rookie season (16-11-4, 2.60, .920) gave
him a long leash, it appears, to prove himself, and this season he has clear control
of the number one spot for the first time in his career.
What Korpisalo has not done since that rookie year, and what
he has not done this season, is approach the level of performance that rookie
season appeared to foretell. In 81 games
since that rookie season (73 starts), he is 36-30-6, 3.00, .899, with two
shutouts. That includes an 11-10-1, 2.85,
.900 record this season with one shutout.
He has been better of late, though.
After going 6-7-1, 3.13, .895 in his first 14 appearances this season,
Korpisalo is 5-3-0, 2.38, .909, with the one shutout. What is ominous about that record is the he
lost his last two appearances, despite facing low shot volumes, stopping only
40 of 46 shots in losses to Arizona and the Rangers. He has had his troubles in limited road
action, going 3-2-0, 3.42, .903. In two
career appearances against the Caps, Korpisalo is 1-0-0, 1.16, .958.
Washington: Alex Ovechkin
Three games. It does
not sound like a lot, but that is the streak of game without a goal that Alex
Ovechkin brings into Monday night’s game, tying his longest of the season. But no need to panic. He did have goals in each of the three games
before this mini-slump. It is a case of
sometimes the shots going in (five goals on 16 shots in three games) and
sometimes the shots not going in (no goals on 12 shots in his last three games). What Ovechkin has been doing, regardless of
being hot or cold, is ramping up his shots.
The 4.74 shots per game he is averaging so far this season is his
highest average since the 5.04 shots per game he posted in 2015-2016, although
that average still does not rank it the top half of season averages in his
career (it is ninth-highest in 15 seasons to date).
Even with the increase in shot frequency this season,
Ovechkin is continuing his late career improvements in shooting
efficiency. At 13.6 percent shooting
this year, three of his highest six shooting percentage seasons have come in
the last three years, including the career best 15.1 percent he had last season
(this season’s 13.6 percent is sixth best in his career). But shots have hardly mattered much, an
indicator of the depth of this team. The
Caps are 11-2-5 in the 18 games in which Ovechkin recorded five or more shots
on goal, 11-2-0 in the 13 games in which he had fewer than five shots on goal. In 34 career games against Columbus, Ovechkin
is 17-8-25, minus-13.
In the end…
Columbus doesn’t score much on the road (second fewest goals
scored on the road this season: 29), and they don’t defend well (44 goals on
the road). And here is another nugget to
chew on. In each of the last five
seasons in the Caps’ first home game following a road trip that included the
California trip, they won, twice against Winnipeg, once each against Carolina,
Minnesota, and the Islanders. Time to
add the Blue Jackets to that list.
Capitals 5 – Blue Jackets 2
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