Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 26

The last full week of the season for the Washington Capitals was one in which the team found itself having to play four Eastern Conference teams either trying to get into playoff shape themselves or just trying to reach the playoffs.  And when Week 26 was over, all four contenders were vanquished in what ranks as among the best weeks of the season for the Caps.

Record: 4-0-0

This was the ninth four-game week of the season for the Caps and the fourth time in which the Caps swept the week.  That achievement came against four eastern teams that were arguably of playoff caliber.  The Columbus Blue Jackets were still harboring hopes of overtaking the Caps in the Metropolitan and league standings when they faced the Caps and were beaten, 3-2.  It put the Blue Jackets in a spin; they ended their week on a five-game losing streak.  The Toronto Maple Leafs, using the Caps as a measuring stick in their effort to return to the postseason, fell behind by four goals on their way to a 4-1 loss.  The New York Rangers were looking to settle themselves in advance of the postseason and use a win over the Philadelphia Flyers as a springboard against the Caps three nights later.  They were shutout, 2-0.  Finally, the Boston Bruins were in particular need of a win to avoid having to face the Caps in the first round of the playoffs.  After splitting the first two goals of the game, the Caps pulled away for a 3-1 win and put the Bruins in the crosshairs.  When it was over, the Caps had 55 wins for the season, the second highest total in franchise history with one more chance to tie the franchise record.

Offense: 3.00/game (season: 3.22 /game; rank: 2nd)

The Caps played three of the top dozen scoring defenses in the league in Week 26 – Columbus, the Rangers, and Boston – and scored eight goals.  Frankly, that is not a bad week’s work.  Not extraordinary, just solid.  And consistent; the Caps finished the week with three goals or more in three of the four games.  That made 50 times this season the Caps recorded three or more goals in a game.  Only Pittsburgh (59) and Minnesota (53) have done it more often.

What was remarkable about the scoring for the week was the balance.  Ten different players shared the 12 goals for the week; 15 different players recorded points.  Justin Williams and Kevin Shattenkirk were the multiple goal scorers for the week, each with a pair.  It might be worth noting here that these two players are strong evidence of the effectiveness of Brian MacLellan making personnel decisions and addressing specific needs.  Williams was one of two right wings MacLellan acquiring in 2015 (T.J. Oshie being the other) to plug a hole at right wing.  And, there is Williams’ track record as a clutch performer (“Mr. Game 7”).  Shattenkirk was a trading deadline acquisition this season obtained to beef up the blue line and add a bit more punch from the right side.

Williams led the team in points for the week (five) with five players coming up right behind with three apiece (Andre Burakovsky, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, and Shattenkirk). Every one of the 13 forwards who dressed in Week 26 recorded a point except for Paul Carey, who was held without a point in the only game he played, although he was quite active against the Bruins on Saturday.

Defense: 1.00/game (season: 2.16 /game; rank: 1st)

The Caps faced three of the top six scoring offenses in the league in Week 26 and held the Rangers, Maple Leafs, and Blue Jackets to a total of four goals and 89 shots.  The three games for the week holding teams to one or fewer goals made it 29 times this season they did so, tying Montreal for most in the league.  The Caps held the last three opponents for the week – Toronto, the Rangers, and Boston – to fewer than 30 shots apiece, the Rangers (24) and the Bruins (22) to under 25.  The Caps finished the week having held 27 opponents to under 25 shots in a game this season, tying the Bruins for second most in the league, behind Los Angeles (34).  They recorded eight periods of the 12 played for the week holding opponents under ten shots.  None of the four opponents got off to good starts, shots-wise, all of them failing to hit the ten-shot threshold on the shot meter.

The Caps had a bit of an odd week at 5-on-5.  They lost the shot attempts battle rather badly to Columbus to open the week (41-57/41.8 percent Corsi-for), but then rebounded to win that battle in each of the next three games to finish the week just under 50 percent (49.2; numbers from Corsica.hockey).

Goaltending: 1.00 / .964 / 1 SO (season:  2.06/ .925 / 12 shutouts)

Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer split the week, and their numbers were almost indistinguishable.  Holtby was 2-0-0, 1.00, .964; while Grubauer was 2-0-0, 1.00, .960.  Holtby had the shutout, a 24-save gem against the Rangers.  It was his league-leading ninth shutout this season, giving the Caps a league-leading 12 blankings this season (Ottawa has ten).

Both Holtby and Grubauer pitched perfect first periods, Holtby stopping all 17 first period shots he saw and Grubauer stopping all 11 of the shots he saw in the opening frame.  Holtby was perfect in the second periods of his two games as well, stopping all 21 shots he faced.

With his two fine performances in Week 26, Holtby seems to be righting himself after consecutive sub-par performances against Minnesota and Arizona.  For Grubauer, his two wins make him 3-0-0 (one no-decision), 1.61, .938.  When Grubauer stopped 21 of 22 shots on Saturday, it might have been his last regular season game as a Capital, given the attention he is getting as a possible selection of the Vegas Golden Knights in the upcoming expansion draft.  If it was, it was a fine performance to go out on, closing a fine season and as an important ingredient to the Caps’ success this season.

Power Play: 2-for-13 / 15.4 percent (season:  23.2 percent; rank: 3rd)

The Caps faced three top-ten penalty killing units in Week 26 – Boston (first), Toronto (ninth), and Columbus (tenth) – so going 1-for-9 against that trio, especially with two of the games on the road, was not particularly surprising.  Still, it was just the second time in the last seven weeks in which the Caps had ten or more power plays that they finished the week under 20 percent.

The Caps’ efficiency on the power play reflected the skill of the penalty killers they faced.  They scored two goals on 14 shots in 17:25 of power play time.  The Caps had particular trouble getting their power play unleashed against Boston in the last game of the week.  Against the league’s top penalty killing unit, the Caps managed only two shots on goal in 6:35 of power play time.  Alex Ovechkin and Kevin Shattenkirk led the team with three shots on goal apiece, but it was Shattenkirk getting one of the power play goals for the week.  Justin Williams had the other.

Penalty Killing: 7-for-8/ 87.5 percent (season: 84.2 percent; rank: 6th)

The charm of Week 26 as far as penalty killing goes was the few shorthanded situations faced as much as the efficiency with which the Caps dealt with them.  It was the second time in nine four-game weeks this season in which Washington faced fewer than ten shorthanded situations (they faced eight in Week 20.  They held three of the four opponents to two or fewer power play opportunities.  The Caps finished the week having held opponents to two or fewer power play chances 30 times.  The odd thing is that the Caps are 18-7-5 in those games, 37-11-3 when allowing three or more chances.

It was an efficient as well as an effective penalty kill in Week 26.  The Caps held their four opponents to just seven shots on goal in 12:51 of shorthanded ice time.  They did not allow a power play shot on goal in either of the final two games of the week.  Against the Rangers, that was due to not having to face the Ranger power play; they did not have any chances.  Against Boston, the Caps shutout the Bruins on shots on two power plays and 4:00 of ice time.

Faceoffs: 106-for-215 / 50.7 percent (season: 49.9 percent; rank: 14th)

It was a fair week overall, but not as good in the particulars.  The Caps won 34 of 54 draws against Columbus to open the week (63.0 percent), but then finished under 50 percent in each of the last three games of the week.  It was just one under 50 percent in the middle two games of the week, against Toronto and the Rangers, but the Caps won just 22 of 52 against Boston (42.3 percent) in the last game of the week.

The final numbers were a bit inflated by the success the Caps had in the neutral zone, winning 40 of 60 draws (66.7 percent).  They split 70 draws in the offensive zone, but they won just 34 of 85 defensive zone draws (40.0 percent).

The good part was that each of the big four who took at least ten draws for the week finished over 50 percent – Nicklas Backstrom (51.6), Lars Eller (52.4), Jay Beagle (50.8), and Evgeny Kuznetsov (55.6).

Goals by Period:

The second period has been on in which the Caps struggled from time to time this season.  Not so in Week 26.  They recorded seven goals in the middle frame for the week, scoring at least one in the second period of each game and finishing with a plus-6 goal differential in the period, far better than the plus-2 differential for the season with which they started the week.  The Caps were as impressive in the first period, just in a different way, denying any of their four opponents a goal, scoring two of their own to finish the week with a plus-42 goal differential in the first periods of games.  The Caps did get a third period scare from Columbus, who got a pair to close a 3-0 deficit to 3-2, but they could get no closer.

In the end…

To find fault with a 4-0-0 week, especially against the quality of opponent, would be to pick nits off of nits.  Consider that last season, the Caps went 1-0-2 in week 26, coasting into the postseason, and this club’s Week 26 look reflects a more determined attitude to enter the postseason taking care of business in a businesslike way.

When the Caps wrap up their regular season on Sunday against the Florida Panthers, they will have a chance to tie a franchise record for wins in a season and post more wins on home ice (33) than any team has in more than 20 years, since the Detroit Red Wings posted 36 wins at Joe Louis Arena in 1995-1996.  Week 26 teed it up for them with a superb effort.

Three Stars of the Week:

• First Star: Justin Williams (2-3-5, plus-4, 1 GWG, 1 PPG, nine shots on goal, 12 shot attempts)
• Second Star: Kevin Shattenkirk (2-1-3, plus-2, 2 GWG, 4 hits, 5 takeaways, five blocked shots)
• Third Star: Braden Holtby (2-0-0, 1.00, .967, one shutout)

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 25

Week 25 for the Washington Capitals was one that might be described as a three course meal.  They had a tasty appetizer, followed by a satisfying entrée, and ended it with deflated souffle.  It might be the stale cake that fans remember most, but let’s not complain about the entire meal.

Record: 2-1-0

The schedule for Week 25 called for three games to open a season-long five game road trip. It is a trip that will take the Caps through five cities, four states, one Canadian province, and three time zones.  The leading leg of it took the Caps on a roundabout route from Minnesota to Colorado to Arizona against three teams in various states of distress.  The Caps faced a Minnesota Wild team that was 2-9-1 in their previous 11 games before facing the Caps.  Washington took a two-goal lead into the last five minutes of the game, but needed overtime to subdue the Wild after losing that two goal lead in the last five minutes.  In Colorado they faced an Avalanche team with the worst record in the league, by far, and with a 3-12-0 record in their previous 15 games before facing the Caps.  The Caps had a three-goal lead late in the second period and almost gave it all back before scoring an empty net goal in the last two minutes of a 5-3 win. 

They never got the chance to hold a lead against the Arizona Coyotes, the team with the second-worst record in the league, in the last game of the week.  The Coyotes scored three goals in the first 14 minutes of the contest, held off a challenge by the Caps mid-way through the game, and then dispatched the Caps in a 6-3 decision.

Offense: 4.33/game (season: 3.23 /game; rank: 2nd)

Washington had no problems scoring goals in Week 25.  They did it against struggling teams, but they did do it.  The Wild had allowed 39 goals over their previous 11 games before facing the Caps, and the Avalanche and Coyotes had the two worst scoring defenses in the league.  It was not surprising that an offense as deep and skilled as the Caps averaged more than four goals for the week.  The two games in which the Caps scored five goals to open the week were the first instances of consecutive games with five or more goals since the put together a four-game streak of such games in Games 53-56 in early February.  It was the first time they recorded five or more goals in consecutive games on the road since they scored seven goals in each of Games 44 and 45 against Pittsburgh and St. Louis in mid-January last season.

On an individual level, Alex Ovechkin led the Caps in goal scoring for the week with three, all of them coming in the 5-4 overtime win over Minnesota in the first game of the week.  It was his 17th career hat trick, the most in the NHL since he came into the league in 2005-2006 (Eric Staal has 13).  In your odd Ovechkin fact of the day, those 17 career hat tricks are as many as any NHL player has accumulated since the 1994-1995 season.  Former Cap Peter Bondra had 17 hat tricks from 1994 to 2004.

T.J. Oshie was the other Capital with a multiple goal week (two), and he had both of his goals in that same game against the Wild.  It was Oshie’s sixth multi-goal game of the season for the Caps and second in five games, since recording his only hat trick of the season in a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 18^th. 

Marcus Johansson had himself a whale of a week.  With a goal and seven assists, his eight points led the Caps in scoring, twice as many points as any other player.   The eight points made him a 50-point player for the first time in his seven-year career (23-33-56), and he finished the week on a five-game points streak (1-10-11). He is the 15^th player and the seventh on the current Caps team to have recorded at least one 50-point season since the 2004-2005 lockout.

Defense: 4.33/game (season: 2.22 /game; rank: 1st)

It was an odd week for the Caps on defense, and not in a good way.  There was the 13 goals in three games, which was bad enough.  But there was the odd result for the week of what happened in terms of shots attempts allowed.  The Caps had a very nice week overall with a 53.65 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5, fueled by holding opponents to a combined 51.23 shots per 60 5-on-5 minutes.  But how they got there was bizarre.  The Caps were underwater in both of their wins in Week 25 – 36.67 percent against Minnesota and 49.49 percent against Colorado – both of them wins.  They dominated Arizona at fives in the last game of the week with a 66.09 percent Corsi-for and holding the Coyotes to 41.32 shots per 60 5-on-5 minutes (numbers from Corsica.hockey).   In all three games, the Caps lost the goals for and against at fives, 3-1 to Minnesota, 3-2 to Colorado, and 4-2 to Arizona.

What seems a bit more revealing is the overall shot attempts in close situations.  The Caps were under 50 percent for the week in their win at Minnesota (38.24 percent) and in the loss to Arizona (46.15 percent).  They did manage to get above 50 percent in their win over Colorado (55.0 percent), but it was not enough to save the week (47.00 percent over the three games; numbers from NHL.com).

Goaltending: 4.29 / .862 (season:  2.12 / .923 / 11 shutouts)

It was not a good week between the pipes, especially for Braden Holtby.  He got most of two game’ worth of work and struggled with it, going 1-1-0, 5.22, .818 in 115 minutes of work, getting pulled from and then sent back into the nets against Arizona to close the week.  He ended the week with an unenviable recent road record, going 2-3-0, 4.50, .843 in his last five games on the road.  It was a case of having poor first periods and going downhill from there.  His .857 first period save percentage was the only period above .800 for the week, going .789 in the second periods and .786 in the third periods of the two games he played.  He did stop the only shot he faced in the overtime win over Minnesota to open the week.

Philipp Grubauer got the middle game of the week and the last 6:48 of the second period against Arizona in relief of Holtby.  His performance was uneven, but certainly more solid than Holtby’s.  He had healthy save percentages in the first (.929) and third periods (.933) against Colorado, but his second period performance (.833) was off, and he had the odd experience of not having to face a shot on goal in that 6:48 he played against Arizona.

Power Play: 6-for-8 / 75.5 percent (season:  23.6 percent; rank: 3rd)

If there is one thing truly clicking for the Caps these days, it is the power play.  Washington had its best week of the season in goals scored (six) and efficiency (75.0 percent) of any week this season.  Half of those six goals came from Alex Ovechkin in recording his hat trick against Minnesota in the first game of the week.  He managed that feat on the only three power play shots he took in that game.  John Carlson, Marcus Johansson, and Nicklas Backstrom had the other three power play goals for the week.  Eight different players had power play points, Johansson leading that group with five points on the man advantage. 

It was an especially efficient week for the Caps on the power play.  They scored on half of their shots (6-for-12) and recorded 12 shots in just 8:08 of total power play time.  The Caps were successful in both of their power play opportunities this season, the first time they scored two power play goals in any of the 21 instances in which they had two power play opportunities.

Penalty Killing: 8-for-10/ 80.0 percent (season: 84.2 percent; rank: 7th)

It was a fair week on the penalty kill that might have ended superbly, but for an iffy effort against Arizona in the last game of the week.  Washington killed off all five shorthanded situations they faced against Minnesota, then skated off another three against Colorado.  With the chance for a perfect week, the Caps ended up allowing power play goals on both Coyote power plays to end the week, a disappointing outcome against a team that finished the week 26 in the league in power play efficiency overall and 23^rd at home.

Those first two games were almost a clinic in penalty killing, holding the Wild to just four unsuccessful shots on goal in 9:53 of power play time, then holding the Avalanche to just three shots in six minutes of power play time.  Sure, the Avs had the worst home power play in the league to end the week, but the Wild finished the week as the second best home power play in the NHL.  It made it that much more disappointing to allow the Coyotes two goals on two shots in 2:41 with Arizona possessing the league’s eighth-worst home power play.

Faceoffs: 82-for-170 / 48.2 percent (season: 49.9 percent; rank: 14th)

Overall, the Caps had a difficult week in the circle, although they did improve as the week wore on, finishing with a 35.3 percent winning percentage in the first game of the week against Minnesota, then following it up with a 50.0 percent effort against Colorado, and then winning 57.1 percent of their draws against Arizona.  It was a different story by zone.  The Caps won 53.2 percent of their neutral zone draws for the week, but lost at both ends of the ice – 40.8 percent in the offensive zone and 49.2 percent in the defensive zone.

Three of the big four (ten or more faceoffs for the week) were at 50 percent or better for the week – Evgeny Kuznetsov (50.0), Jay Beagle (52.2) and Nicklas Backstrom (54.8).  Only Lars Eller among that group was under 50 percent for the week (43.8 percent).

Goals by Period:

It was tight for the Caps in Week 25 in terms of goals by period, finishing the week with a minus-1 goal differential in the first and third periods, while finishing with a plus-1 differential in the second period and overtime.  That first period differential was positive until allowing three goals to Arizona to put themselves in a deep hole out of which they could not climb in the last game of the week.  And it was the minus-1 that the Caps had against Minnesota in the third period of their game that sent the context to overtime before the Caps won.

Still, the Caps did maintain their positive goal differential in all three periods for the season, and overtime, and they even improved a bit on their comparatively weak second period (plus-2 for the season).

In the end…

Week 25 was the 17^th winning week for the Caps this season and their third in a row, over which they are 7-2-1.  Still, that Arizona game sticks out, for falling behind so deeply and so quickly to start the game, for allowing six goals to a team that had trouble scoring against air in March, and for leaving two points on the table that could have given them a stranglehold on the top spot in the league standings.  It makes for a bit more urgency in the Caps’ Sunday evening contest in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.  That made Week 25 a week that was good, but one that could have been so much better.  Certainly better than the deflated souffle the Caps were left with to finish it.

Three Stars of the Week:

• First Star: Marcus Johansson (1-7-8, even, 1-4-5 on the power play, five-game points streak to end the week)
• Second Star: Alex Ovechkin (3-1-4, minus-1, hat trick, three power play goals on three power play shots, ten shots on goal 16 shot attempts, five hits)
• Third Star: Kevin Shattenkirk (0-3-3, plus-1, seven shots on goal, ten shot attempts, two hits, two takeaways, nine blocked shots)

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 24

The Washington Capitals swept three games in Week 24, each of the games presenting their own challenges.  In winning the week, the Caps returned to a pattern that was missing in recent weeks.  They won for a second straight week, the first time they put together consecutive winning weeks since Weeks 17 and 18.  Let’s look at how they did it.

Record: 3-0-0

Three home games, three wins.  In accomplishing that feat, the Caps set a franchise record for home wins in a season.  When they beat the Arizona Coyotes, 4-1, on Saturday night, it was their 31^st home win of the season.  That snapped a tie with the 1985-1986 and 2009-2010 clubs that had 30 home wins apiece.  It also happened to be their seventh perfect week of the season.

It was by no means an easy week to navigate.  Their first opponent for the week – the Calgary Flames – came to Verizon Center with a 12-1-0 record in the 13 games leading up to that contest.  The Columbus Blue Jackets were the team nipping at the Caps’ heels in the standings for weeks, a team that had a franchise record 47 wins and 100 points when they arrived in Washington.  The Arizona Coyotes were the club with nothing at stake and nothing to lose.  This Caps team finished the week as the fifth-winningest team in club history, their 49^th win to end the week breaking a tie with the 2010-2011 Caps (48-23-11) and the 1983-1984 Caps (48-27-5).  The two points they earned against the Blue Jackets  in the middle game of the week broke their tie with the 1999-2000 team that finished with 102 points.

Offense: 3.00/game (season: 3.19 /game; rank: 2nd)

Even slipping a bit relative to their season average, the Caps finished the week with only the Pittsburgh Penguins averaging more goals per game than Washington.  They did it in different ways.  Against Calgary, the Caps beat a goaltender – Brian Elliott – who won 11 straight decisions and had not lost a game in regulation time in more than a month.  In beating Sergei Bobrovsky and the Columbus Blue Jackets, it came down to T.J. Oshie reprising his role as trick shot artist extraordinaire from his Sochi Olympics days.  Then, the Caps overcame their frustration in dominating the Arizona Coyotes in shot attempts, but finding themselves unable to solve goalie Mike Smith but once until late in the Saturday game.

Individually, seven players shared the nine goals, Alex Ovechkin and Daniel Winnik each getting a pair.  For Ovechkin, the two goals allowed him to finish the week with 30 goals for the 12^th consecutive season, one of three players (Mike Gartner and Wayne Gretzky being the others) to start their careers with 12 consecutive seasons with at least 30 goals.  For Winnik, it was the second time this season and third as a Capital that he had a two-goal game (his first of the game being the game-winner), that coming against the Coyotes to end the week.  He scored his goals three minutes apart late in the third period, the shortest amount of time to score two goals in any of the six games he did it in his career.

Twelve different players recorded points with Nicklas Backstrom (1-3-4) and Kevin Shattenkirk (0-4-4) leading the way.  Brooks Orpik had an assist to break an eight-game streak without a point.  T.J. Oshie’s goal against Calgary in the first game of the week made it 30 on the season, the first time in his career he reached the 30-goal mark.  Among players appearing in 30 or more games this season, Oshie is seventh in goals per game (0.49).  Jay Beagle had an assist in the third win of the week, against the Coyotes.  In 82 career games in which Beagle recorded a point for the Caps, the team’s record is 67-8-7, and they are 31-2-5 in the 38 games he recorded a point on home ice.

Defense: 1.33/game (season: 2.14 /game; rank: 1st)

The Caps faced the good, the bad, and the “meh” in terms of opponents’ offenses for the week.  Calgary is a middle of the road team (ended the week 16^th in scoring offense), Columbus is a very good offensive team (fifth), while Arizona is challenged in the offensive end (27^th).  Still, holding three opponents to a total of four goals speaks to good defense from the net out.  The skaters limited chances for opponents, finishing the week by allowing just 51.52 shot attempts per 60 5-on-5 minutes, fewer than their fifth-ranked figure for the season (53.24; numbers from Corsica.hockey). 

It was a case of the Caps taking advantage of possession-challenged teams, Calgary ranking 19^th at week’s end in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 on the road, Columbus ranking 21^st, and Arizona ranking last in Corsi-for on the road.  For the week, the Caps won the 5-on-5 battle with a 59.60 Corsi-for percentage at fives and a shots for share of 59.15 percent (numbers from Corsica.hockey), largely by limiting opponents’ opportunities to generate any offense.

Goaltending: 1.30 / .956 (season:  2.03 / .926 / 11 shutouts)

Braden Holtby got all the minutes in Week 24, and he was more than up to the task.  He stopped 86 of 90 shots over the three games and by the end of the week was second among all goalies in wins (39, Sergei Bobrovsky has 40), third in goals against average (2.01, behind Jimmy Howard and Bobrovsky), seventh in save percentage (.927), and first in shutouts (eight).  By period, he was excellent in the first periods of games (25-for-26/.962), sublime in the second period (23-for-23/1.000), and very good in the third (35-for-38/.921).  He also stopped all three shots he saw in overtime against Columbus and denied the Blue Jackets on all three shot attempts he faced in the Gimmick.  When he beat Columbus in the middle game of the week, it extended an amazing streak.  He has not lost in regulation to an Eastern Conference team in the 2017 portion of the season, not since dropping a 4-3 decision to the New York Islanders on December 27^th.  Since then, Holtby is 17-0-2, 1.63, .939, with four shutouts against Eastern Conference teams.

Power Play: 3-for-10 / 30.0 percent (season:  21.8 percent; rank: 7th)

It was a good, solid week on the power play for the Caps.  The were 2-for-3 against the Calgary Flames, the first time the Caps recorded two power play goals in a game in six weeks, since doing it in a 5-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on February 7^th.  When they went 1-for-4 against Arizona to end the week, it was the first time since Week 18 that they had a week of 30 percent or better on the power play.

The Caps certainly felt the presence of Kevin Shattenkirk on the man advantage.  He did not have a goal, but he did have four shots on goal and had the primary assist on both power play goals against Calgary.  Alex Ovechkin led the Caps in shots on goal on the power play for the week (six) and scored a pair of goals. T.J. Oshie was the player shooting in a bit of bad luck, getting four shots on goal without anything to show for it.  He did have a power play assist for the week, though, getting the secondary helper on Nicklas Backstrom’s power play goal (on his only power play shot on goal for the week) against Calgary.

Penalty Killing: 7-for-7 / 100.0 percent (season: 84.2 percent; rank: 7th)

Few chances, no goals.  That’s the way you draw it up.  When the Caps allowed the Flames a single power play chance, it was the third straight game that Washington limited an opponent to a single power play chance.  As it was, the seven shorthanded situations faced were the fewest faced by the Caps in 19 weeks with three or more games played this season.  It was the second time in four weeks and the fifth time this season that the Caps killed all the shorthanded situations they faced in a week.   It was also an efficient penalty kill, allowing only ten shots on goal in 14:00 of shorthanded ice time.  It was a particularly efficient penalty kill against Columbus, who managed a single shot on goal in four power play minutes.

Faceoffs: 81-173 / 46.8 percent (season: 50.0 percent; rank: 13th)

It was not a good week in the faceoff circle for the Caps.  They were below 50 percent in all three games and under 50 percent in both the offensive and defensive zones for the week.  It was not as if they were facing the best of the best in that particular skill, either.  None of the three teams they faced outranked them in the team faceoff rankings.

Individually, it was a good week for Jay Beagle, who outperformed his already highly-ranked faceoff winning percentage, winning 61.8 percent of his draws to finish the week ranked seventh among 145 skaters taking at least 250 draws this season (57.1 percent).  Evgeny Kuznetsov took the most draws this week (42) but won only 13 (31.0 percent).  He finished the week ranked 135^th among that same group of 145 skatrers with 43.2 percent.  T.J. Oshie was the other Caps taking more than ten draws finishing over 50 percent (7-for-143/53.8 percent), while Lars Eller finished under 50 percent in that group for the Caps (16-for-34/47.2 percent).

Goals by Period:

The week had a certain common quality about it.  Slow starts and busy finishes.  Only three goals were scored in first periods for the week (two by the Caps, against Calgary and Arizona), while the Caps and their opponents combined for eight of the 13 total goals for the week in the third period, the Caps holding a 5-3 edge.  The Caps did maintain a positive goal differential in each period for the week.  It allowed the Caps to finish the week with the best goal differential in first periods this season (plus-41 to plus-32 for Columbus) and finish in a tie with Pittsburgh for the best goal differential in third periods (plus-32).  Washington finished the week as one of four teams with positive goal differentials in all three regulation periods and overtime (Columbus, the New York Rangers, and the Edmonton Oilers are the others).

In the end…

It was a good week.  Any week with three wins in three tries qualifies.  The Caps had superior possession numbers, but their offense did not track cleanly with that level of dominance, especially given they held a slim 5-4 edge in 5-on-5 goals despite a Corsi-for north of 55 percent.  But looking at the particulars, there were those dominant underlying numbers at 5-on-5, there were the good special teams results, there was the excellent goaltending from Braden Holtby, there was the find secondary scoring from the likes of Daniel Winnik, and there was the record-setting home win on Saturday.  There was not a lot not to like for Week 24. 

The three game sweep at home for the week was an especially welcome result, given that the Caps now embark on a five-game road trip over eight days, taking them through three time zones.  It might be just the sort of change in routine that the Caps need to keep their focus fresh as they head into the last few games of the regular season. 

Three Stars of the Week:

• First Star: Braden Holtby (3-0-0, 1.30, .956)
• Second Star: Kevin Shattenkirk (0-4-4, plus-3, 12 shots, 20 shot attempts, four hits, four blocked shots, 20:35 ice time per game)
• Third Star: Nicklas Backstrom (1-3-4, even, 1-2-3 on power plays, one game-winning goal)

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 23

Week 23 had it all, a sad end to a road trip, a solid win over a team they might meet down the road, a tough loss after giving up a lead, and finally a good win after a second straight game surrendering a lead.  For the Washington Capitals, it was a busy week indeed.

Record: 2-1-1

Week 23 was the eighth four-game week of the season for the Capitals and the sixth in which they posted a winning record.  When they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the last game of the week, the Caps hit the 100-point mark for the tenth time in team history and for the third season in a row, the third time in franchise history that the Caps posted three consecutive 100-point seasons.  The closed the week with points earned in their last three games after opening the week with a 5-2 loss in Anaheim against the Ducks to close their annual California trip.  The three consecutive games with points was the first time the Caps did that since Games 62-64 to close February and open March.  When they beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-2, last Tuesday, it was their 45^th win of the season, the 11^th time in team history that the Caps hit that win mark.

Offense: 3.00/game (season: 3.20 /game; rank: 3rd)

It was an uneven week in the offensive end with the Caps alternating poor outcomes and good ones.  On average it was a pretty good week, although still a bit below the season scoring average to date.  The Caps still finished the week as one of six teams averaging more than three goals per game, and they did finish the week with a pair of games with four or more goals after going six straight games with two or fewer.

T.J. Oshie led the Caps in goal scoring for the week, getting all of them in the 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning to finish the week.  It was the second hat trick of the season for the Caps and the first on the road this season (Alex Ovechkin had a hat trick on November 23^rd in a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues).  Oshie added an assist against the Lightning to make it five games this season in which a Capital recorded four or more points.  Oshie joined Nicklas Backstrom in having done it twice.  Evgeny Kuznetsov has the other instance. 

Backstrom had a three-assist game against Minnesota and a four-assist night against Tampa Bay on his way to an eight-point week (all assists).  He became the 11th player in the league to record four or more assists in a game this season and became just the second player in the league this season with four games with three or more assists (Tyler Seguin is the other).  John Carlson was the other multiple goal scorer for the Caps in Week 23 (two) and led the defense with four points.

The best news on offense might have been from a player who registered only a single point.  Andre Burakovsky returned to the lineup after missing 15 games with a hand injury, over which the Caps went just 7-6-2.  He had an assist and seven shots on goal in 15 minutes of ice time against the Lightning.

Defense: 3.00/game (season: 2.17 /game; rank: 1st)

The Caps had a good week holding down shot attempts.  In each of the four games they held their opponent to less than one shot attempt per 5-on-5 minute.  Overall they held the four opponents to 50.16 shot attempts per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 (numbers from Corsica.hockey).  It helped hold the shots down, none of the four opponents managing to get as many as 25 shots on goal at 5-on-5, although two opponents did outshoot the Caps at fives.  It just so happened that those two opponents were Anaheim and Nashville, the sources of the losses this week.  As it is, this team is still in a position to record the lowest average shots allowed per game in franchise history since the 2004-2005 lockout.  This club is allowing 27.7 shots per game; the 2007-2008 squad allowed 27.5 shots per game.

Goaltending: 2.99 / .897 (season:  2.06 / .925 / 11 shutouts)

Braden Holtby played all the minutes in goal in Week 23.  It was not an especially good one for him, and it is part of a longer run of sluggish play from Holtby.  In his last six appearances, he is 2-3-1, 3.51, .875.  This week, Holtby strugged at even strength with a save percentage of just .904, 18^th among 26 goalies facing at least 50 even strength shots. 

It was a case of declining save percentages as games went on for Holtby.  His first period save percentage for the week was an excellent .947 (36-for-38).  That dropped to .909 in the second periods of games (40-for-44) and to .848 in the third period (28-for-33).  He allowed one goal on two shots faced in the overtime loss to Nashville. 

As it is, Holtby allowed more goals in his last six games (19) than he did over his previous 11 contests (18).  Still, the Caps remain the only team in the league with two goalies having faced at least 400 shots with a save percentage of .925 or better.  Both Holtby and Philipp Grubauer have save percentages of .925 for the season.

Power Play: 3-for-13 / 23.1 percent (season:  21.4 percent; rank: 8th)

Consistency is a good thing, and the power play is no exception.  The Caps recorded three power play goals for the week, one in each game.  Now, if the opportunities were as consistent.  The Caps had five power play chances in each of the first two games of the week, at Anaheim and at home against Minnesota.  They were successful once in each game, John Carlson against the Ducks and Evgeny Kuznetsov against the Wild.

In the second half of the week, Washington was held to a total of three chances in two games, failing to connect on their only opportunity in their 2-1 overtime loss to Nashville and getting a pair of chances against Tampa Bay to close the week, T.J. Oshie finding the back of the net on the Caps’ first opportunity on Saturday night. 

Getting five chances in a game is a comparative rarity for the Caps this season, Week 23 seeing the 12^th and 13^th times this season the Caps had as many or more.  Getting volume such as that is no guarantee of success, though.  Washington is 7-4-2 in games this season in which they had five or more power play chances.  Their chances came with a fair amount of pressure, getting 22 shots on goal in 19:40 of power play time, but that included a failure to get any shots on goal in their 2:00 of power play time against the Predators.

Penalty Killing: 12-for-15 / 80.0 percent (season: 83.7 percent; rank: 8th)

A less-than-typical effort killing penalties held the Caps to barely 80 percent on the other side of special teams and only allowed them to break even on special teams goals for the week.  The seven shorthanded situations they faced against the Wild in the second game of the week was the second-most situations faced this season (they were shorthanded nine times in a 6-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on New Year’s Eve).  They were almost as frequent in shorthanded situations in the opening game of the week, skating five times a man short and once two men short, the Ducks converting just after their 5-on-3 power play expired.

The Caps did better in the second half of the week, facing a total of two power plays (one each) against Nashville and Tampa Bay, although they did allow the Lightning to convert on their only chance in the 5-3 Caps win.  For the week, the Caps allowed three goals on 21 shots in 20:16 of shorthanded ice time.  Not a poor week, but not a great one, either.

Faceoffs: 118-249 / 47.4 percent (season: 50.1 percent; rank: 13th)

It was not an especially good week in the faceoff circle.  The Caps were over 50 percent only against Tampa Bay, although that game was not without incident as a result of a lapse in one faceoff moment.  Jay Beagle lost a faceoff to Brayden Point with under two minutes left in a 4-2 game, and the draw went back to Nikita Kucherov, who slammed home a shot to make it 4-3. 

The Beagle lost draw late against the Lightning was part of a week in which the Caps were under 50 percent in the defensive end (40-86/46.5 percent).  They were equally weak in the neutral zone (30-68/44.1 percent), where they were under 50 percent in all four games.  Washington did manage to finish one over 50 percent in the offensive end (48-95/50.5 percent) but almost gave that up with a 7-for-21 performance in the offensive end against Nashville.

The big four – Nicklas Backstrom, Lars Eller, Jay Beagle, and Evgeny Kuznetsov – were a combined under 50 percent in all three zones for the week and overall (46.1 percent).  Of the four, only Beagle finished the week over 50 percent (32-58/55.2 percent).

Goals by Period:

In a week with a total goal differential of even, the fact that the Caps were mostly that by period is no surprise.  Also no surprise, the Caps won the first periods overall by a 4-2 margin.  That made them plus-40 for the season in first period goal differential.  It would have been better but for an uncharacteristic two goals allowed – after taking a 2-0 lead, to boot – against Tampa Bay in the last game of the week.  Those two goals left the Caps with 33 goals allowed in the first periods of games this season, fewest in the league.

They held their own in the third period with five goals scored and five allowed to finish the week plus-30 in third period goal differential.   Those five goals allowed were a problem, the difference between finishing the week with the second-fewest number of third period goals allowed and finishing tied for fifth.

The second period continues to be a problem.  Washington finished just minus-1 for the week, but that is also where they are for the season.  Teams have been able to erode first period advantages for the Caps in the middle period, a matter that needs to be addressed in the last few weeks of the season.

In the end…

There are two good things that can be said about Week 23.  One, the California trip is in the rear-view mirror.  The Caps were outscored on the trip by a 13-6 margin, including the 5-2 loss to Anaheim in the first game of the week to end the trip.  The second thing is that the Caps managed to start and end the week atop the league standings.  However,  their margin was shaved by a point down to two points over the Columbus Blue Jackets, a team that just doesn’t want to go away.  Pittsburgh and Chicago lurk just one point behind Columbus, three points behind the Caps.

Nevertheless, the Caps became the first team to clinch a spot in the playoffs with their win over Tampa Bay to close the week, the 27^th time in 43 seasons of team history the Caps will head to the postseason.  That might be the best news to come out of Week 23.

Three Stars of the Week:

• First Star: Nicklas Backstrom (0-8-8, plus-2, three power play assists, nine shots on goal, 18 shot attempts)
• Second Star: T.J. Oshie (3-1-4, plus-3, hat trick (first in regular season as a Capital), seven shots on goal, 16 shot attempts, 6-for-9 on faceoffs)
• Third Star: John Carlson (2-2-4, minus-1, 13 shots on goal, 28 shot attempts, 22:56 average ice time)

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 22

It took 22 weeks, but it finally happened.  The Washington Capitals had a bad week.  Not awful, as we will see in a moment, but there is only so much sugar available to coat an 0-3-0 week, the first time the Caps went without a point in a week of more than one game since week 23 of the 2014-2015 season and the first time they went three games in a week without a point since Week 4 of the 2014-2015 season, breaking a streak of 70 straight weeks of hockey without losing all three games in regulation in a week.

Record: 0-3-0

It is a good thing the Caps banked standings points over their first 21 weeks, because in Week 22 they faced two storm fronts.  One, the Dallas Stars, represented a team that certainly had the Caps’ number on Verizon Center ice.  Going into their contest last Monday, the Caps had not beaten the Stars on home ice since a 4-3 win on November 30, 2006.  The five-game losing streak (0-4-1) became six with the 4-2- loss.  Then there was the annual late-winter trip to the west coast.  The Caps had not beaten the San Jose Sharks in regulation time in San Jose since a 4-2 win on October 30, 1993, and they had just two wins (both in extra time) in 15 tries since then.  The 4-2 loss to the Sharks on Thursday made it 2-13-0, with one tie, since that last regulation win.  Then there were the Los Angeles Kings.  The Caps had not won in Tinsel Town since a 3-2 win over the Kings on December 14, 2005.  Their 0-4-2 record in the six games following that win became 0-5-2 when they lost to the Kings, 4-2 to close the week.

Offense: 2.00/game (season: 3.21 /game; rank: 3rd)

Two, two, and two.  The three games with two goals in each extended the streak of two-goal games to four and to five the streak of games with two or fewer goals scored.  In Week 22 the Caps had just one multiple-goal scorer (T.J. Oshie) and one player with three points (Kevin Shattenkirk).  Nicklas Backstrom was the only player to record a goal and an assist (1-1-2). Conspicuous by his absence from the points record was Alex Ovechkin, who is just 0-1-1 over his last eight games and has not scored a goal in nine contests.  He does not have an even strength goal in 17 consecutive games.  This qualifies among the driest spells of his career.

As a whole, the Caps did not lack for launching shots on net.  They averaged 57.74 shots per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, more than their season average (56.09; numbers from Corsica.hockey).  Getting those shot attempts to the net was the problem.  Washington averaged 27.04 shots on goal per 60 5-on-5 minutes, compared to their season average of 29.39.  It was no so much the 8.4 percent shooting percentage for the week that did the Caps in at 5-on-5, it was the lack of shots on goal on which that percentage was based.

Defense: 4.00/game (season: 2.12 /game; rank: 1st)

The Caps give up two goals in three games in Week 21 and won three games.  In Week 22 they allowed 12 goals in three games – four in each contest – and lost three games.   It was not as bad as all that on defense, though.  The Caps held the three opponents to a total of 68 shots on goal, the first time they held opponents to fewer than 25 shots on goal in a month (they held four straight opponents to fewer than 25 shots, February 7-18).

It was even better in limiting attempts.  The Caps allowed the three opponents just 47.20 shot attempts per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, far below their 53.46 per 60 minute average for the season.  Shots on goal followed the same pattern, allowing just 22.91 shots per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 compared to the 27.90 shot attempts per 60 5-on-5 minutes for the season (numbers from Corsica.hockey). It ended up being a bit of a wasted effort, though, with the Caps allowing eight 5-on-5 goals for the week and finishing minus-three in goals for and against at fives.

Goaltending: 3.41 / .848 (season:  2.01 / .927 / 11 shutouts)

It was not a good week overall for the Caps in net.  Twelve goals allowed on 68 shots on goal makes for a difficult path for wins.  Braden Holtby had a particularly difficult week.  He was pulled after allowing three goals on 11 shots in 25 minutes of work against Dallas to open the week, and then he allowed four on 24 shots in the 4-2 loss to San Jose in the middle game of the week.  It was quite a slip on Holtby’s part, who in his previous six appearances before Week 22 was 5-0-1, 0.98, .963, with one shutout.

Philipp Grubauer had a better time of it in less than ideal circumstances, stopping all ten shots he faced in relief of Holtby against Dallas, but allowing three goals on 21 shots in the 4-2 loss to the Kings to end the week.  He had a respectable 1.96 goals against average in the limited duty, but the .903 save percentage was not especially impressive.  Grubauer is in a bit of a lull, too.  In his last two full-game appearances he stopped just 39 of 46 shots (.848 save percentage).

Power Play: 1-for-12 / 8.3 percent (season:  21.3 percent; rank: 8th)

The lackluster week did not spare the power play.  The 8.3 percent week was the worst for a week with more than one game played since Week 12, when the Caps went 0-for-12.  And even with that it was an uneven week.  The Caps shot in some bad luck against Dallas on the man advantage, recording 14 shots on goal in 7:34 of power play time without a goal to show for it.  They went 0-for-7 against the Sharks in the middle game of the week in 10 minutes, against without anything to show for it.  Then, against Los Angeles, they scored a goal on their only power play shot, courtesy of Jakub Vrana.  It was Vrana’s second power play goal in five games, more than Alex Ovechkin has had in his last 13 contests.

Speaking of Ovechkin, he was 0-for-5 shooting on the man advantage for the week, but he had four of those shots in the first game of the week, against Dallas.  Overall, the Caps had one goal on 22 shots in 21:39 of power play ice time.  They managed shots on goal and had next to nothing to show for it.

Penalty Killing: 9-for-13 / 69.2 percent (season: 84.0 percent; rank: 6th)

The power play struggles carried over to the other side of special teams.  Not that the Caps have been air tight killing penalties lately, but the 69.2 percent week was their worst in a multi-game week since Week 17, their second-worst week of the season in a multi-game week since Week 1.  It is part of a longer slide in penalty killing that has extended over the past seven weeks, over which the Caps are 53-for-67 (79.3 percent).

The Caps did shutout the Stars on the power play to open the week, but they allowed San Jose and Los Angeles to score two goals apiece on the man advantage.  It made it three times in four games that the Caps allowed an opponent two power play goals on the road.  Overall, the Caps allowed the three opponents four power play goals on 17 shots in 19:08 of shorthanded ice time.

Faceoffs: 106-181 / 58.6 percent (season: 50.3 percent; rank: 12th)

If there was one area in which the Caps did well in Week 22, it was in the faceoff circle.  Small victories.  The Caps won all three games and all three zones for the week.  In fact, the only “losing” point of the week was being below 50 percent in the defensive zone against San Jose (6-for-14). 

Five Caps took ten or more draws for the week, and all of them finished at 50 percent or better.  T.J. Oshie topped the five at 68.8 percent (11-for-16).  Jay Beagle (18-for-30/60.0 percent), Nicklas Backstrom (31-for-52/59.6 percent), and Lars Eller (24-for-43/55.8 percent) were over the 50 percent mark for the week, and even Evgeny Kuznetsov hit the 50 percent mark (15-for-30).

Goals by Period:

Nine periods for the week, and the Caps didn’t win any of them.  They split goals in four of the nine periods and lost the other five.  Overall they did not so much as break even in any period, finishing with the rare minus in goal differential over all three periods for an entire week.  The Caps did manage to maintain their plus-30 or better goal differential in the first (plus-38) and third (plus-30) periods, but the second period (even for the season) remains something of a mystery.

In the end…

By the standards this club has set for it over the past two seasons, Week 22 was about as bad as it gets, even with the annual death march through California and they mysterious inability to beat Dallas on their own ice sheet.  But there was a ray of sunshine in it in that the Caps had decent possession statistics.  They had the better of 5-on-5 shot attempts, and maintaining that going forward should yield better results than what they saw this week. 

All that aside, the Caps had better find a way to translate good underlying production numbers into better performance numbers like goals scored and goals prevented.  They are embarking on a four-game week against teams that pose a formidable challenge, from the last game in the California trip against Anaheim to a pair of Central Division powerhouses in Minnesota and Nashville, to a week-ending contest against a Tampa Bay team struggling to reach the postseason.  Week 21 saw the Caps’ lead in the league standings dwindle to a single point over the Pittsburgh Penguins, and if the Caps are to keep from dropping out of that top spot in the standings for the first time in two months, they will have to put Week 21 behind them quickly.

Three Stars of the Week:

• First Star: T.J. Oshie (2-0-2, minus-2, 11-for-16 on faceoffs, six hits, three blocked shots)
• Second Star: Kevin Shattenkirk (0-3-3, even, points in all three games, four hits, three blocked shots)
• Third Star: Nicklas Backstrom (1-1-2, minus-1, 31-for-52 on faceoffs)

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 21

The title of the story for Week 21 for the Washington Capitals might read, “A Return to Normalcy.”    If by normalcy one means winning a week’s worth of games.  But it was also a big week off the ice as the Caps won the big trading deadline prize – St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk – to fill what might be the last remaining hole in the lineup.  Given the week’s results, early returns look good indeed.

Record: 3-0-0

After a pair of .500 weeks, the Caps won all three games on their schedule this week to go 31 games over .500 for the season.  Only two other teams in club history have finished a regular season 30 or more games over .500, the 2009-2001 club (54-15-13) and the 2015-2016 squad (56-18-8).  It was the sixth time in 21 weeks that the Caps cobbled together a win-only week, the first since Week 18.

Washington has now spent 45 consecutive days at the top of the league standings in pursuit of becoming the seventh team to win consecutive Presidents’ Trophies as the team with the most standings points earned in the regular season.  And with 18 games remaining at the end of Week 21, six more wins would make the Caps the first team post consecutive 50-win seasons twice since the 2004-2005 lockout.   They did it in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, and they did it last season.

Offense: 2.33/game (season: 3.27/game; rank: 3rd)

It was a light week in the offensive end of the ice, especially for a week featuring three wins in three games.  Five players recorded the seven goals for the week, Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson the only Caps with as many as two.  Johansson (2-1-3) shared the points lead for the week with Matt Niskanen and Evgeny KLuznetsov, each with three assists.  Backstrom and Kuznetsov continue their assault on the league scoring rankings since January 1^st.  Backstrom is tied for the league lead in points in 2017 (36, with Boston’ Brad Marchand) and leads overall in assists (24), while Kuznetsov is tied for fifth in points (32, with San Jose’s Brent Burns). 

The odd part about the Caps’ offense since New Year’s is that despite an overwhelming lead in goals scored (113 to 95 for the Winnipeg Jets), they have just one player in the top ten in goals scored (T.J. Oshie, tied for eighth with 13 goals).  What they do have is five players in double digits in goals: Oshie (13), Kuznetsov (12), Backstrom (11), Alex Ovechkin (10), and Justin Williams (10).  Only Backstrom among that group scored goals in Week 21.

Defense: 0.67/game (season: 2.03/game; rank: 1st)

What a week for the defense.  Except, well…perhaps not.   The Caps allowed 55.92 shot attempts per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, a respectable number, higher than the 53.75 mark over the full season.  Even in the middle games of the week, one in which they held the New Jersey Devils to 15 shots, the Devils out-attempted the Caps at 5-on-5 (38-35).  The 38 attempts allowed was the best for the week, but not a lot better than the 42 5-on-5 attempts the Caps allowed the New York Rangers (in more than five more 5-on-5 minutes) or the 41 attempts the Caps allowed the Philadelphia Flyers (numbers from Corsica.hockey).  As it was, the Caps did allow the Rangers and Flyers 30 or more shots on goal overall, making it five times in the last seven games that opponents hit that threshold.

Goaltending: 0.67 / .974 / 1 shutout (season: 1.94 / .930 / 11 shutouts)

Braden Holtby had an amazing week.  One could argue that the collection of opponents in Week 21 were either in an offensive slump or were just poor offensive teams, but the fact is that he was next to impenetrable, stopping 74 of 76 shots in three games.  He recorded his eighth shutout of the season (most in the league), his fifth in his last 20 appearances. 

Holtby is continuing one of the most amazing runs of a goaltender in the post-2004-2005 lockout era.  Since January 1^st, he is 19-0-1 (tops in wins, four more than Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk), has a 1.71 goals against average (best in the league, five points better than Anaheim’s John Gibson), has a .935 save percentage (second to Gibson’s .941), and has five shutouts (one more than Gibson), all of that despite ranking just eighth in minutes (1,261).  It gets better.  In his last 100 appearances dating back to November 2015, Holtby is 71-13-12 (tops in wins, 15 more than San Jose’s Martin Jones), 2.07 (best, eight points better than Dubnyk), .926 (3^rd, one point behind Dubnyk and Matt Murray), and has 11 shutouts (tops, two more than Gibson).  This arguably qualifies as the best sustained effort in goaltending in the history of the franchise.

Power Play: 3-for-11 / 27.3 percent (season: 22.1 percent; rank: 5th)

Three games, a power play goal in each.  That qualifies as a good week.  The 11 power play chances was the highest number of opportunities since they went 3-for-12 in Week 16.  As with much of what has taken place for the Caps since January 1^st, it kept them on top of the league power play rankings in the 2017 portion of the season (29.5 percent; Minnesota is second at 27.8 percent). 

If there was an odd quality about the power play success in Week 21, it was that all three power play goals came after two periods, one of them a game-winner in overtime.  If you subscribe to the notion that teams don’t get many chances in the third period or overtime of games, the Caps made the most of what opportunities they had. 

On an individual level, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin represented ends of the spectrum of fortune.  Backstrom scored on both of the power play shots he took for the week, each coming on almost identical plays, curling into the right wing circle and ripping a shot off as the defense backed off looking for a pass.  He did it in the third period against the Rangers and in overtime against the Flyers.

On the other hand, Ovechkin drew a blank on four power play shots for the week (tied with John Carlson for most on the club).  Each of Ovechkin’s last three goals recorded have come on the power play, but he has just those three goals in his last 14 games.

As a team, the Caps were reasonably efficient, recording 17 shots on goal in 18:40 in total power play time.

Penalty Killing: 14-for-14 / 100.0 percent (season: 84.9 percent; rank: 5th)

Again, there is good and bad in the penalty killing.  The bad, of course, has to be facing 14 shorthanded situations in three games.  It was the most shorthanded situations faced since the Caps killed 16 of 18 such situations in a four-game Week 13.

The good was in the efficiency and the effectiveness in the penalty killing itself.  In killing off all 14 shorthanded situations, the Caps limited their three opponents to just 13 shots on goal in 28 shorthanded minutes. 

Over their last seven games, the Caps are 20-for-22 killing penalties (90.9 percent).

Faceoffs: 94-for-180 / 52.2 percent (season: 49.9 percent; rank: 16th)

Not a bad week, but not a great one, either, in the circle.  The Caps won two of three games (they were under 50 percent against New Jersey) and won two of the three zones for the week (under 50 percent in the offensive zone).

It was a good week for the “big four,” though.  Nicklas Backstrom, Lars Eller, Jay Beagle, and Evgeny Kuznetsov went a combined 92-for-169 (54.4 percent), although that was primarily a product of good weeks from Backstrom (62.5 percent) and Beagle (56.3 percent). And those tow starred in the zones in which they do their best work, Backstrom going 17-for-24 in offensive zone draws (70.8 percent), while Beagle was 15-for-24 in the defensive end (62.5 percent).

Goals by Period:

Slow starts, big finishes.  That was Week 21 for the Caps, by period.  They did allow a first period goal to the Rangers to start the week, but then shut teams out over the last 54:52 of first period time for the week.  They kept teams off the scoreboard for the first 41:19 of third period ice time before allowing a goal to the Flyers in the last game of the week.  Defensively, it was quite a week by period.

On offense, the Caps couldn’t seem to get started in games, drawing a blank in the first period of each game.  They did managed to improve in each succeeding period and had the week’s only overtime goal, pushing their overtime record to 7-2 this season (compare that to 1-5 in the Gimmick).

In the end…

A few weeks ago, the Caps were steamrolling opponents with unrelenting offense, scoring more than five goals per game at a furious pace.  Lately, and especially in Week 21, they are still winning, but they have done it with decent defense and sparkling goaltending.  This was a week in which the Caps shook off a couple of lackluster weeks, perhaps in the early excitement of adding a new piece to the mix that might finally be just that piece the team needs for a long playoff run.  For the time being though, this is a team that just keeps brushing opponents to the side as they continue building to the league’s best record.

Three Stars of the Week:

• First Star: Braden Holtby (3-0-0, 0.67, .974, one shutout)
• Second Star: Nicklas Backstrom (2-0-2, minus-1, 2 PPG, 1 GWG, 62.5 percent faceoff winning percentage)
• Third Star: Matt Niskanen (0-3-3, plus-4, eight shots on goal, four hits, two blocked shots)