Record (2-1-0)
The Caps returned to winning ways in Week 26 after a pair of non-winning weeks. The 2-1-0 week made it 15 winning weeks, six losing weeks, and five break-even weeks so far this season. The two wins at the end of the week served multiple purposes. First, they were achieved against teams ahead of them in the standings and against teams it is possible they might see in the postseason. Second, the win to finish the week came at the expense of the Pittsburgh Penguins, giving the Caps a 3-1 season series edge. Third, the win over Pittsburgh allowed the Caps to close to within four points of the Penguins with two games in hand, giving the Caps a legitimate shot at finishing third in the Metropolitan Division.
Offense: 3.67 / game (season: 3.25 / 11th)
It was a good week in the offensive end of the rink for the Caps with eight players sharing in the 11 goals scored over three games. Alex Ovechkin and a pair of defensemen – John Carlson and Martin Fehervary – led the team with a pair of goals apiece. Marcus Johansson recorded his first goal with the Caps after coming over in trade from Seattle at the trading deadline. Tom Wilson continued his blistering production of late with his fourth goal in his last seven games. Carlson and Wilson recorded the game-winning goals for the week.
The Caps had 13 players record points in Week 26, led by John Carlson (2-4-6). Ovechkin (2-2-4) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (1-3-4) added four apiece. Wilson, Fehervary, and Nicklas Backstrom were the other multi-point players for the week, each posting a pair of points.
Defense: 3.67 / game (season: 2.90 / 13th)
What the offense delivered, the defense gave back. Minnesota, Tampa Bay, and Pittsburgh all finished the week among the top dozen teams in scoring offense – they are not pushovers. The Caps did, however, perform better than the top-end numbers in one respect. They allowed only 136 shot attempts at 5-on-5 over the three games, eighth fewest in the league for the week and sixth fewest among teams playing three games.
Connor McMichael was the only Capital not to be on ice for an even strength goal against for the week, although he dressed for only two of the three games. Backstrom and Wilson were on ice for five even strength goals apiece, most on the team for the week. Kuznetsov’s plus-2 goal differential at evens was the team’s best, while at the other end, Backstrom was a minus-5.
Goaltending: 3.37 / .872 (season: 2.74 / .905 / 7 shutouts)
The goaltending carousel is on again. Vitek Vanecek who seemed for a while to be staking a claim to be the number one goalie as the season winds down, allowed four goals on 18 shots in the 5-1 loss to Minnesota to start the week. If capped a difficult run of late for Vanecek, who over his last nine appearances stopped only 242 of 273 shots, a .886 save percentage.
Ilya Samsonov got the two starts to complete the week, and while his numbers were better than Vanecek’s, he did not exactly inspire confidence that he could assert himself as the clear choice as number one goalie. His problem was starting games poorly. He allowed two goals on 11 shots in the first period against Tampa Bay and allowed three goals on 14 shots against Pittsburgh for a .800 first period save percentage for the week. He finished well, particularly in the third periods of the two games, in which he stopped a combined 14 of 15 shots for a .933 save percentage, but consistency – game to game and period to period – remains an issue.
Power Play: 3-for-10 / 30.0 percent (season: 20.0 percent / 20th).
Week 26 was the fifth week in six that the Caps finished with a power play of 30.0 percent or better, and in the one week they did not – last week – they played only one game. Over that span they are 17-for-52 (32.1 percent). John Carlson had a pair of power play strikes for the week with Ovechkin getting the other power play goal. Carlson ended up having a hand in all three power plays for the week, adding an assist to his goal total. Ovechkin (1-1-2) and Backstrom (0-2-2) were the other players with multi-point weeks on the power play.
Penalty Killing: 8-for-9 / 88.9 percent (season: 81.1 percent / 11th)
It was a good week on the PK, even if, with 3.0 chances allowed per game, the opportunities tended a bit to the high side. It was the sixth time over the last eight weeks that the Caps finished over 85.0 percent, going a combined 56-for-64 (87.5 percent). What made it even better was a shorthanded empty net goal, courtesy of Kuznetsov. Trevor van Riemsdyk led the team with 11:08 in shorthanded ice time and was not on ice for a power play goal against. Nick Jensen was the other Capital with more than ten minutes of shorthanded ice time (10:01).
Faceoffs: 104-for-191 / 54.5 percent (47.5 percent / 28th)
Week 26 was one of the better weeks in the faceoff circle for the Caps, both collectively and individually. Not than any of their opponents are particularly expert in this area (Pittsburgh finished the week as the highest-ranked of the three teams the Caps played – 13th overall). Nevertheless, the Caps were over 50 percent in all three games and were over 50 percent collectively in all three zones for the week.
Individually, the Caps spread things around with six skaters recording at least ten draws taken, an unusually high number. Five of them finished over 50 percent for the week with Connor McMichael leading the team at 75.0 percent (9-for-12). Backstrom had a fine week in the offensive end, winning 17 of 25 draws (68.0 percent). In the odd fact category, Kuznetsov was the only Capital taking more than ten draws overall to finish over 50 percent in the defensive end (7-for-11/63.6 percent).
Goals by Period
First periods were high event periods for the week, the Caps allowing seven of the 11 total goals allowed in the opening 20 minutes and scoring five of their 11 goals in the first periods of games. The Caps scored first only once in the three games, opening the scoring against Tampa Bay, and they led at the first intermission only once (3-2 against the Lightning).
In the end…
The Caps are slowly, but clearly, reversing the path they are taking of late. While their week to week records might not leap off the page, they are 13-8-1 over the last eight weeks, a healthy 101-point pace per 82 games. The remaining schedule is unkind to the Caps, who will play seven of their last 11 games on the road, so banking what points they could, assembling a series of winning weeks, have been a welcome development.
Three Stars
- First Star: John Carlson (2-4-6, plus-1, two power play goals, one game-winning goal, eight shots on goal, 16 shot attempts, seven blocked shots, six credited hits)
- Second Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (1-3-4, plus-3, 11 shots on goal, 15 shot attempts, 18-for-36 on faceoffs (50.0 percent))
- Third Star: Alex Ovechkin (2-2-4, even, one power play goal, ten shots on goal, 17 shot attempts, eight credited hits)
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