Record: 2-1-0
The Caps posted their tenth winning week of the season in
Week 12. Last season, the Caps did not
post their tenth winning week until Week 15.
They have yet to experience a losing week, by percentage of standings
points earned. Compare that to last
season, when they Caps had two losing weeks among their first dozen of the
season.
Washington extended a couple of odd streaks in Week 12. On the minus side, they lost to Columbus
again, and that makes four straight regular season losses to the Blue Jackets
(0-3-1). Of course, the Caps still have
that four-game playoff winning streak against Columbus, so there is that. In beating the New Jersey Devils in the
middle game of the week, the Caps extended their winning streak in the regular
season to four games over the Devils, and they are 17-1-2 in their last 20
regular season meeting against New Jersey.
Beating the struggling Devils is one thing, but the win over
Tampa Bay to end the week is a horse of a different color. The 3-1 win over Tampa Bay on Saturday made
it four in a row over the Lightning and gave the Caps a 12-2-3 record over the
Bolts in their last 17 regular season meetings.
Offense: 3.00/game (season: 3.54/1st)
Balance was the keyword for the Caps in Week 12 more than
volume. Eight players shared in the nine
goals scored, Nicklas Backstrom being the only Capitals with a two-goal
week. The week also featured
contributions from the defense, four defensemen posting goals – John Carlson,
Jonas Siegenthaler, Dmitry Orlov, and Radko Gudas. For Orlov, it was his second goal in his last
36 games, since Opening Night. The odd
part of that is that both goals, including this week’s in the last game of the
week, came against Tampa Bay, the first two goals he has in his career against
the Lightning. Siegenthaler got his
first goal on the road in his career with his tally against New Jersey. For Gudas, his goal against the Lightning was
his first as a Capital.
Backstrom also led the team in points for the week (four),
one of 14 skaters to record points in Week 12.
Even an interruption in his appearances due to injury has not slowed
Backstrom down. With the four points in
three games this week, he is 4-8-12, plus-1, in his last nine games dating back
to November 15th.
It would surprise no one that Alex Ovechkin led the team in
shots on goal. He did (18), but it was the runners-up that surprised. Lars Eller, Jakub Vrana, and Michal Kempny
tied for second-most with eight shots on goal apiece.
The blemish on the week was being shut out by Columbus in
the first game of the week. It was the
first time this season that the Caps were shut out and the first time that the
Caps were blanked on the road since dropping an identical 3-0 decision to the
Blue Jackets in Columbus last February.
Defense: 2.33/game (season: 2.76/8th)
Shot suppression was the feature of Week 12 for the
Caps. They allowed a total of 75 shots
on goal to the three opponents and allowed none of them more than 27. The distinctive part of the total was the
detail. The Caps opened the week allowing 14 shots to Columbus in the first
period and ended it by allowing 14 shots in the third period to Tampa Bay. That left a total of 47 shots spread over
seven periods of hockey the rest of the week.
It was a suffocating effort.
Unsurprisingly, the Caps dominated the shot attempts at
5-on-5. At plus-45 for the week in shot attempt differential, they were
fourth-best in the league, and their 59.4 percent in this category was
third-best in the league for the week.
Only three teams allowed fewer shot attempts at 5-on-5 than the Caps
(96), and all of them – San Jose, Arizona, and the New York Rangers – played
only two games this week.
Goaltending: 2.40 / .908 (season: 2.65 / .912)
It was an effective week in goaltending, for the most
part. That first-minute goal in the
third period against Columbus to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead, one of two
goals Braden Holtby allowed on only five shots in that period, was the low
point of the week. But he rebounded with
a solid 26-save performance against Tampa Bay to close the week in what might
have been his best performance so far since Thanksgiving.
Ilya Samsonov got the middle game of the week and continued
to impress in his rookie campaign. The
6-3 win might not have been his best effort of the season (only the second time
in seven road games he allowed more than two goals), but he won for the seventh
time in seven road decisions, the first Capitals rookie goalie to win his first
seven road decisions with the club.
Taken overall, one had to like the netminding of the pair
over the first 40 minutes of games, where they combined to stop 43 of 46 shots
(.935 save percentage). The third
periods could have been better, the pair stopping 26 of 30 shots (.867).
Power Play: 0-for-8/0.0 percent (season: 21.8 percent/11th)
One of these was bound to sneak in sooner or later. It just was not a good week for the power
play. No goals on eight chances were
most chances in a week without a power play goal since the Caps went 0-for-12
in Week 12 last season. It was the first
time in 12 weeks this season that the Caps failed to record a power play
goal. They were getting shots from the
right people, well, Alex Ovechkin (seven shots), but not enough of them – 12 shots
on goal in 15:48 in ice time. The week
extends a more lengthy dry spell for the power play unit, which is now just
2-for-23 (8.7 percent) over the last nine games spanning three weeks.
Penalty Killing: 11-for-12/91.7 percent (season: 85.7 percent/2nd)
If the power play has lacked power of late, the penalty kill
has been lethal. That the 91.7 percent
penalty kill in Week 12 was the worst in the last three weeks says
something. Most impressive was holding
what was the league’s second-best power play of the Tampa Bay Lightning to no
goals in seven man advantages, including 1:26 of a 5-on-3 advantage. Overall, the Caps held the three opponents to
just 15 shots on goal in 20:41 of shorthanded ice time. And, with 11 kills in 12 tries, the Caps are
now 31-for-33 over the last three weeks, the best penalty kill in the league in
December and the only one at over 90 percent (93.9 percent).
Faceoffs: 88-for-184/47.8 percent (season: 49.5 percent/21st)
It was a uniformly mediocre week in the circle. The Caps did not win more than 50 percent of
their draws in any of the three games (they split 54 faceoffs down the middle
with New Jersey), and they were under 50 percent in all three zones, albeit
only one faceoff loss under 50 percent in both the offensive and defensive
ends.
Nicklas Backstrom held up his end – both ends, actually – in
the faceoff circle, leading the team with 59 draws taken and finishing 50
percent or better in all three zones, 52.5 percent overall. At the other end of Caps taking at least ten
draws was Evgeny Kuznetsov, who finished 17-for-42 (40.5 percent), but he was
over 50 percent in the defensive end in limited chances (4-for-7).
Goals by Period:
The fireworks were largely contained to the third periods of
games for the Caps in Week 12, nine of the 16 goals scored overall being
registered in the third period, five by the Caps and four for opponents. The Caps have slowly become a dominating team
late in games. They finished Week 12 as
one of only two teams with 50 or more third period goals, their 50 goals
trailing only the Nashville Predators (51).
The Caps have been an odd sort of team of late in this
category. On the defensive side, the
only teams to allow fewer goals over the first 40 minutes of games than the
Caps (13) since Thanksgiving are Toronto (11), and Carolina (12). On the offensive end, though, no team has
scored more goals in the third periods and overtimes of games (20).
Year-over-Year:
The Caps have settled into a profile that resembles last
year’s at a similar point in the schedule.
There are important differences, though.
There are of course, the wins (two more than last year through 37 games)
and losses (four fewer regulation losses this season). But underneath that are the shots differential
the Caps going from a minus-81 through 37 games last season to a plus-30 this
season a net change of plus-111, 3.0 shots per game or one shot on goal per
period. Then there is the penalty kill,
which has allowed 11 fewer goals and is more than eight percentage points
better in penalty killing efficiency than last season. Finally, and this might be the most
significant change, is the shot attempts allowed at 5-on-5, which have been cut
by more than nine percent from this point last year.
In the end…
That the Caps have been as dominant as they have been over
as long as they have in regular season games is a temptation to take what they
have done, and what they are doing, for granted. Since 2008-2009, when the Caps had their
first 50-win season in the “Rock the Red” era, they have had four 50-win
seasons, more than any team in the league in that span. They have 538 wins in all over that span,
more than any in the league. They are on
a pace to continue leading the league in wins over the last dozen season and to
post their fifth 50-win season in that period.
It makes a 2-1-0 week seem a bit commonplace, perhaps even
disappointing to some Caps fans, especially when the loss came to a struggling team
that beat the Caps in consecutive meetings, the Columbus Blue Jackets the only
team in 37 games so far to beat the Caps more than once.
But this team has been consistent and entertaining, while
piling up wins. These things should
never be taken for granted and should be appreciated as we prepare for the
holiday week ahead.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Nicklas Backstrom (2-2-4, even, 52.5 percent faceoff wins, 900th career point)
- Second Star: Dmitry Orlov (1-2-3, plus-3, 1 GWG, 1 shorthanded point, 22:24 average ice time)
- Third Star: Radko Gudas (1-1-2, even, first goal as a Capital, eight hits, three blocked shots)
Captain rates the week…
Three puppers
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