The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
The Washington Capitals head north on Wednesday night to
visit the Philadelphia Flyers in a Metropolitan Matchup featuring teams that
will be playing the back half of back-to-back games. The Caps will head on the road one night
after hosting the Ottawa Senators, while the Flyers return home to host the
Caps after a visit to Carolina to face the Hurricanes.
Then and Now…
The Capitals and Flyers will meet for the 221st
time in their regular season series. Washington
has an 87-103-11 (19 ties) record against the Flyers, 38-62-7 (six ties) in
Philadelphia. Since 2005-2006, the Caps
are 30-16-11 against the Flyers, 14-9-7 on the road. The Caps won the first meeting in the
four-game season series against the Flyers, winning a 2-1 Gimmick decision in
Philadelphia on November 13th.
Active Leaders vs. Opponent…
Noteworthy Opponents…
Sean Couturier once had the reputation as a defense-first
forward whose offensive contributions, while welcome, were not the centerpiece
of his game. Then, two years ago, he
exploded, more than doubling his previous year’s point total, going 31-45-76 in
2017-2018 after going 14-20-34 in 2016-2017.
It was the first time in his career he topped 40 points. And, to prove that was not a fluke, he poste
76 points again last season (33-43-76).
This season, though, his scoring pace has lagged a bit. Through 42 games he is 12-22-34, putting him
on a pace to finish 23-43-63 – good by his early career standards, but not as
impressive as the last two seasons. He
has been very consistent of late, though.
Since he posted consecutive games without a point in late November, he
has not had consecutive games without a point hi his last 20 games and is
6-13-19 over that span. In 30 career
games against the Caps, Couturier is 6-13-19, plus-7.
Most analysts reviewing the Matt Niskanen-for-Radko Gudas that
sent Niskanen to Philadelphia thought the Caps might have gotten the better
part of the deal, Gudas’ underlying numbers being better recently, and Niskanen’s
performance last season perhaps signaling a decline. However, while the jury remains out on who
might have won that trade, Niskanen has contributed some pop from the blue line
for the Flyers that was not there for the Caps last season. His five goals is tied with Shayne Gostisbehere
for second on the club among defensemen, and his 12 assists and 17 points place
him alone in second behind Ivan Provorov.
Niskanen’s goals-assists-points per game (0.12-0.29-0.41) resemble more
Niskanen’s production two years ago in Washington (0.10-0.32-0.43) than is does
last year’s (0.10-0.21-0.31). He has hit
a bit of a dry spell lately. After
posting a two-point game against Buffalo on December 19th, Niskanen
is 0-1-1, minus-6, in his last six games.
He is 1-5-6, plus-8, in 13 career games against Washington.
If you are going to beat Carter Hart in Philadelphia, bring
a lunch. It’s going to be a long
day. Hart has started 14 games in goal
for the Flyers in Philadelphia this season and boasts an 11-1-2 record. He has hardly been a passenger in the
effort. Nine times in 14 games he posted
save percentages over .940. Only once in
those 14 games did he post a save percentage under .900, stopping 12 of 15
shots (.800) in a 4-1 loss to Dallas on October 19th, his only
regulation loss on home ice this season.
The question for this game is whether it his home record or his most
recent performance that will emerge. In
his last four appearances, all on the road, he is 0-3-0 (one no-decision),
5.23, .830. Hart is 0-1-1, 2.43, .925 in
two career appearances against the Caps.
1. The Flyers have
employed 39 goaltenders against the Caps in the all-time series. None, save one, has as many as ten wins. The exception is Ron Hextall, who was 25-13
(six ties) against the Caps in 44 games.
2. Still on goalies…
No Flyer netminder has ever posted more than one career shutout against the
Caps while a Flyer. Nine have done it
once: Hextall, Dominic Roussel, Ilya Bryzgalov, Darren Jensen, Joh
Vanbiesbrouck, Bernie Parent, Brian Buocher, Tommy Soderstrom, and Bob Froese.
3. Hextall was the
epitome of the “Broad Street Bully: Goalie Edition.” In 44 career regular season games against the
Caps, he had 44 penalty minutes.
4. The Flyers have
been successful at home this season in no small part to their scoring
balance. Eight different skaters have at
least 12 points, but none of them have as many as 20 (Sean Couturier and Travis
Konecny have 19).
5. The defense has
been especially valuable to the Flyers on home ice. As a group, they have combined for 17 goals
in 19 home games (seven on power plays), and none of the defensemen carry a
minus rating.
1. An illustration of
how much turnover and how frequent it occurs in the NHL… The current roster of
Caps skaters has a total of 79 goals against the Flyers as members of the
Caps. Of that total, 52 of them are
shared by Alex Ovechkin (34) and Nicklas Backstrom (18). No other Capital has more than five goals
against the Flyers with the club (T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson, and Dmitry Orlov).
2. The Caps have
scored multiple power play goals 22 times in Philadelphia. They have not been especially successful in
doing it, going 10-9-1 (two ties).
3. Washington will
want to avoid allowing two or more power play goals to the Flyers. In 27 games in which they allowed two or more
power play goals in Philadelphia, the Caps are 3-22-1 (1 tie).
4. Keeping the Flyers from getting off quickly could be
important. Since 2005-2006, the Caps are
10-2-4 in 16 games in Philadelphia when blanking the Flyers in the first
period.
5. In 220 games
between these teams and all the animosity and orneriness displayed over more
than 40 years battling one another, only one player for either team has ever
been assessed a match penalty. The Caps’
Craig Berube was tagged with an intent-to-injure penalty in the waning moments
of a 5-3 loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia on February 13, 1995.
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
Philadelphia: Travis Konecny
There are names among the Flyers that Caps fans will
instantly recognize – veteran Claude Giroux, former Cap Matt Niskanen, the
latest Great Masked Hope in goal, Carter Hart.
But how many, when they hear the name “Travis Konecny,” think…”oh yeah,
he’s a Flyer, too?” But there he is, a
22-year old with his Flyer future spread out before him, but already in his
fourth NHL season. What he has become,
in his young career to date, is a player of almost spooky consistency. He followed up a solid rookie season
(11-17-28 in 70 games) by going 24-23-47 in 81 games in his sophomore season,
and they going 24-25-49 in 82 games last season. In 39 games played this season he is 12-24-36
(team leader in points), his goal scoring on pace to finish with, yes, 24 goals
once more.
Konecny has been potent on home ice thus far for the Flyers
this season, his 8-11-19 scoring line matching that of Sean Couturier to tie for
the team lead in goals and points on home ice for the orange and black. As a player on whom the club depends for
scoring punch, his contributions matter.
The Flayers are 11-1-0 on home ice in games in which he recorded at
least one point, and they are 2-1-4 in those games he did not. What he is also getting this season is more
power play responsibility. After averaging
a little over a minute and a half per game in his first three seasons, he is
averaging 2:47 per game on the power play so far this season. Konecny is 2-0-2, minus-1, in 12 career games
against the Caps.
Washington: Nicklas Backstrom
It would be fair to say that the NHL party started for
Nicklas Backstrom on the Wells Fargo Center ice sheet. Backstrom was a rookie learning the ropes in
the NHL in the fall of 2007, and he was putting together some decent numbers. In his first 21 games he was 1-8-9, earning
single points in nine games, and averaging a little under 16 minutes a game,
but playing as much wing as center.
Then, the Caps made a coaching change at Thanksgiving, replacing Glen
Hanlon with Bruce Boudreau.
The first game under the new coach was against the Flyers in
Philadelphia. It did not take long for
Backstrom to show the new coach what he had in the rookie center. Backstrom got the primary assist on a Mike
Green power play goal in the third minute of the first period to open the
scoring. After Chris Clark gave the Caps
a 2-0 lead early in the second period, the Caps struck again in the 15th
minute, Donald Brashear getting the goal and Backstrom contributing the
secondary assist to give him his first career multi-point game. The Flyers came back, though, with three
unanswered goals to tie the game late in regulation. With just under two minutes gone in the
overtime session, it was Backstrom who would end it with an assist from Alex
Ovechkin, a pair that would define – and continue to define – Caps hockey for
more than a decade. For Backstrom, it
was his first three-point game of a total that has reached 80 in his career,
fifth-most among all players since he entered the league. And starting with that rookie season, only
one player in the league has scored more points against the Flyers in
Philadelphia than the 33 posted by Backstrom.
Sidney Crosby has 34. Backstrom
is 18-35-53, plus-14, in 46 games overall in his career against the Flyers.
In the end…
Do not let the Flyers’ recent sluggishness distract; there
is no more formidable team in the league on home ice than the Flyers this
season. Even when they lose, they make
it difficult. Among their six losses at
Wells Fargo Center, four were in extra time, and another was a two-goal loss
that featured a late empty net power play goal in Arizona’s 3-1 win over the
Flyers in early December. It would not
be a surprise to see these teams go once more to extra time to settle this one,
but in the end, the result will be the same.
Capitals 2 – Flyers 1
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