Sunday, October 23, 2022

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 7: Capitals at Devils, October 24

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

We have an abbreviated preview of Monday’ night’s contest in New Jersey against the Devils, which should not diminish the importance of the Washington Capitals’ first game against a Metropolitan Division rival this season.

For the Devils…

1.  It has been even-steven for the Devils in goals scored and allowed so far with New Jersey scoring 14 goals and allowing 14 goals through five games.

2.  New Jersey’s special teams have been very uneven in the early going.  Their power play (13.3 percent) ranks 23rd in the league, while their 93.3 percent penalty kill ranks fifth.

3.  The Devils have allowed an amazingly low 21.2 shots per game so far.  How amazing is that?  If it was over a full season, it would be the lowest shots allowed per game since the league began recording team shots in 1959-1960.

4.  Maybe the Caps, a notoriously poor faceoff team, will win a faceoff against the Devils, but it might not be many.  New Jersey is fourth in the league on faceoff winning percentage (55.5 percent).

5.  The Devils have struggled to score early in games.  They have two first period goals in five games.  Only Chicago (one in four games) and Arizona (one in five games) have fewer.

6.  Jesper Bratt is one of two players in the league with eight assists but no goals (Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov is the other).

7.  The Devils are just two power play goals in five games to date.  Forwards Alexander Holtz and Dawson Mercer are the goal scorers.  For Holtz it is his first NHL power play goal.

8.  Former Capital Jonas Siegenthaler has become a mainstay on the Devils’ blue line.  His 20:42 in ice time per game is second among defensemen and is a career high to date.

9.  New Jersey has dressed two rookie skaters to date – Holtz, who has appeared in three games (1-0-1, minus-2) and forward Fabian Zetterlund (one game, 0-1-1, plus-1).

10.  Ondrej Palat, in his first seasons with New Jersey after spending his first ten seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, leads the team in goals with three.

For the Caps...

1. Nine Capitals have shared in the 19 goals scored to date, Conor Sheary and Anthony Mantha leading the team with three apiece.

2.  Fifteen Caps have points among the 20 skaters to dress so far.  Five Caps are tied with five points apiece: Evgeny Kuznetsov (0-5-5), Marcus Johansson, John Carlson, T.J. Oshie, and Alex Ovechkin, the last four each with 2-3-5 scoring lines.

3.  John Carlson has skated at least 22 minutes in each of the Caps’ six games so far.  Not that it matters a lot.  The Caps won in his high ice time game of the year (the 4-3 win over Los Angeles when he skated 26:05) and they won in his two lowest ice time games of the year (23:04 in a win over Montreal and 22:04 in a win over Vancouver).

4.  Six games into the season, and the Caps have not yet dressed a rookie.

5.  Nine Capitals have at least ten shots on goal so far, led by Alex Ovechkin with 22.

6.  The Caps have been uneven in their special teams play, posting a 23.8 percent power play and a 66.7 percent penalty kill.

7. The Caps once more struggle with faceoffs, their 41.3 winning percentage being third-worst in the league.

8.  Washington has allowed the most empty net goals in the league so far (three).

9.  The Caps have 14 goals at 5-on-5, tied for fourth-most in the league.

10.  Scoring or giving up the first goal has not mattered to the Caps so far; they are 1-1-0 when scoring first and 2-2-0 when scored upon first.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

New Jersey: Vitek Vanecek

Will Vitek Vanecek find consistency and happiness in New Jersey after an up-and-down year with the Caps in 2021-2022?  Well, not if his first (and to date, only) game with the Devils is an indication.  The Detroit Red Wings lit him up for five goals on 22 shots in a 5-2 loss to the Wings on October 15th.  It was a cold splash of water in the face of the 27-year old netminder after going 4-0-0, 1.58, .928, with one shutout in the preseason.  It was an about face for Vanecek, who started last year 2-0-1, 1.30, .946 in his first three appearances with the Caps.

The Devils presented Vanecek with an opportunity, if not to be the number one netminder, then to provide consistent and perhaps frequent backup work behind MacKenzie Blackwood, who struggled last season (9-10-4, 3.39, .892, with two shutouts) while struggling with a heel injury that caused him to miss 46 games over two separate stretches.  Blackwood posting diminishing save percentages over his four seasons in New Jersey (.918/.915/.902/.892) had to be a concern going into this season, and Vanecek did have the advantage of playing for a playoff contender last season and serving as a number one goalie from time tom time (but not, as it turned out, consistently).  If Vanecek gets the call against his former teammates, it would be his first career appearance against the Caps.

Washington: Marcus Johansson

Through six games so far, Marcus Johansson has played as the veteran professional he is.  Now in his 13th NHL season and his second tour with the Caps (one of six NHL teams for which he played), he is tied for the team lead in points (2-3-5), has a team-high plus-3 rating, has three power play points (all assists), has recorded one of the Caps’ three game-winning goals, and has 13 shots on goal, tied for third-most on the team.  Johansson’s work on the power play has been especially noteworthy, his production being a pleasant surprise as a replacement for Evgeny Kuznetsov on the top power play unit.  He has been very effective in that role, considering that he has a total of just 15:57 in power play ice time to date, fifth among forwards.  Two of his three power play assists have been of the primary variety.  His 7.52 primary power play assists per 60 minutes ranks fourth among 110 forwards with at least 15 minutes of total power play ice time to date.  And, it might be something underestimated, but he has been able to get pucks to the net.  Johansson has only one missed shot in six games so far, fewest of any Caps forward appearing in more than one game.  Johansson is 4-5-9, plus-3, in 29 career games against New Jersey.

In the end…

The Caps were among the best teams on the road last season.  Their 25 road wins tied Calgary for most in the league, while their .683 points percentage on a record of 25-10-6 led the league.  They did it on both sides of the puck, their 3.44 goals per game ranking sixth in road scoring offense and their 2.80 goals allowed per road game being sixth-fewest in the league.  The Caps opened this season with a pair of road losses in Toronto and Ottawa but get a chance to turn things around in their first Metro Matchup of the season.

Capitals 4 – Devils 2

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