Washington Capitals: A TWO point night -- Game 9: Capitals 5 - Jets 4 (OT/Gimmick)

It was a see-saw affair, but the Washington Capitals had one more trick shot in their arsenal than did the Winnipeg Jets, earning them the Bettman Point and a 5-4 win over the Jets at MTS Centre last night.

After a scoreless first period, the scoreboard became something of a pinball machine without the bells as the teams split six goals in the second period.  The Caps broke in front in the fourth minute of the period when Mikhail Grabovski, who had the puck follow him around during the entire sequence – he had three separate touches in the Jets’ zone – took advantage of Zach Bogosian gloving the puck into the slot, backhanding it around a clot of players piled up around goalie Ondrej Pavelec and through for a 1-0 Caps lead.

Winnipeg took the lead with goals 70 seconds apart later in the period when Bryan Little put home a rebound of an Andrew Ladd shot while the Jets were shorthanded, and when Grant Clitsome fired the puck through a Dustin Byfuglien screen and past goalie Braden Holtby. 

Then the game turned into the Alex Ovechkin show.  As the clock closed on the five minute mark of the period Andrew Ladd tried to move the puck up the right wing wall to the point but managed only to put it on the stick of Marcus Johansson.  From there, Johansson found Ovechkin breaking free through the middle of the neutral zone.  It became a race between Ovechkin and Dustin Byfuglien at that point, and Ovechkin won the race, flipping a backhand past Ondrej Pavelec to tie the game.

Less than three minutes later Ovechkin gave the Caps the lead off a faceoff win by Johansson.  Ovechkin collected the puck at the far side of the faceoff circle, stepped around from behind Johansson, and wristed the puck past a startled Pavelec to restore the Caps’ lead.

The 3-2 lead might have been the way the Caps went to the locker room for the second intermission, but Blake Wheeler put an end to that thinking in the last 30 seconds of the period, deflecting an Evander Kane drive over the shoulder of Braden Holtby to knot the game at three apiece.

The teams exchanged goals early in the third period, first with Troy Brouwer getting his third goal of the season on a power play, taking a slick backhand feed from Nicklas Backstrom at the edge of the left wing faceoff circle and snapping the puck past Pavelec.  Bryan Little tied it again barely two minutes later when Andrew Ladd found him with a pass in the slot.  Little wasted no time wristing the puck past Holtby, off the far post and into the back of the net. 

That would be it for the hockey portion of the evening, the clubs unable to add to the goal totals through the last 13 minutes of regulation and five minutes of overtime.  That left it to the Gimmick, which would prove to test the durability of the goal lamps as much as did regulation.  The teams split six successful tries through five rounds of the shootout, but when Evander Kane came up short in the seventh round, it was up to Martin Erat for the Caps.  Erat ended the evening on an up note for the Caps when he wristed the puck through the pads of Pavelec to give the Caps the extra standings point and a good start on the five-game road trip.

Other stuff…

-- Yes, Braden Holtby allowed four goals, which was three more than the combined total he allowed the Jets in all of last season at MTS Centre.  But it was not as if he had a lot of help, either.  Winnipeg had 47 shots on goal (a career high faced by Holtby) and outshot the Caps at even-strength, 37-24.

-- There were simply too many instances of Jets either getting behind Capital defenders, getting inside position, or just being left alone in shooting areas.

--  Getting two goals from Ovechkin and two assists from Johansson made it a good night for the top line, but the second line managed only one shot on goal as a line, that by Troy Brouwer (Brouwer had another – a goal – on a power play). 

-- Every defenseman was on ice for a goal against.  It was a team effort.

-- Grabovski’s goal was his first even-strength point since opening night.

-- It says something that Nate Schmidt and Steve Oleksy were probably the best defensemen on the ice at both ends for the Caps.  We are not sure just what that says, but it isn’t good.

-- We would like to think that Tom Wilson is going to finish the season with more points than fights, but after his scrap with Patrice Cormier that ledger reads: Fights – 3, Points – 0. 

-- The Caps took it in the teeth on offensive zone faceoffs, losing 15 of 26 draws, although the scoring line centers did a good job.  Nicklas Backstrom and Brooks Laich were a combined 9-for-16.

-- The two goals for Ovechkin make it nine in eight games this season, 31 in his last 30 games, and 56 goals in his last 82.

In the end... There are some games you are going to win, no matter what, some you are going to lose no matter what, and then there are the ones that are up in the air.  You get the feeling that this was one that the Caps were going to win, no matter what.  It certainly was not a “winning” performance.  Too many blown coverages in the defensive zone, too many flubbed exits from the defensive zone, too many oddly timed passes, too much chasing the puck.  Sometimes, though, a team’s skill level allows them just enough moments to overcome long stretches of poor play.  That was the case here.  A fine effort by Grabovski to keep after the puck in one case, an excellent pass by Backstrom to Brouwer in another, and a pair of goals from Ovechkin.  It was enough to get to the bonus round and allow the Caps to erase – or maybe “Erat” – what would have been a sour memory of this game.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 9: Capitals at Jets, October 22nd

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals take to the road for what will be their longest non-Olympics absence from Verizon Center this season. The five game trip starts in Winnipeg where the Caps will face the Jets, their former Southeast Division rival, at MTS Centre. It is by no means the only attraction in the crown jewel of Manitoba this week.

There is, for instance, “Big Boom Theory 2: Time Traveling Geeks” at the Celebrations Dinner Theatre, where the cast travel through space and time to prove that nerds really do have more fun. If you want to follow up on the Caps-Jets tilt, you can catch “Abbasolutely Fabbaulous” at the Burton Cummings Theatre on Wednesday. The cast all agree on one thing, “ABBA’s music is fun, the costumes are wacky, they are not something you wear around town, but are ideal to take everybody back to the great musical era of the 70’s”. Hey, we lived in the 70’s…a "great musical era" is open to debate.

Then there is “The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer” at the Park Theatre. It is described as “a sweaty fling between a sack full of harmonicas, a mess of foot percussion, and a very greasy Telecaster.” In other words, the Caps first half dozen or so games this season. Just a few of the things to see and do in Winnipeg if hockey does not satisfy your sense of spirit and adventure.

Oh, but what about the game, you ask? This will be the third season that the Caps have made visits to Winnipeg, and thus far the Caps have a 4-2-0 record on Jets’ ice. This edition of the Jets is, like their two editions that preceded it, stuck in the mud. After beating Edmonton and Los Angeles in their first two games, the Jets have stumbled to a 2-5-0 record in their last seven games despite all but one of those games played on home ice.

Speaking of home ice, the bloom is off the rose for the Jets.  After going 14-6-1 to open their residence in Winnipeg in 2011-2012, the Jets are just 25-23-5 since, including a 3-4-0 record at home this season.

The problem so far this season is that the offense that recorded five goals in each of those two wins to open the season has deserted them of late. In their recent 2-5-0 slump Winnipeg scored a total of 11 goals. Their scoring defense has been reasonably decent, allowing 18 goals over those same seven games (17, if you discount an empty net power play goal scored by Montreal in a 3-0 loss to the Canadiens, an average of 2.43 per game).

Here is how the teams break down, numbers-wise...

1. If you think Evander Kane scores a lot of goals against the Washington Capitals, you are wrong to think it. Know it. Kane has ten goals in 20 career games against the Capitals, more than he has against any other opponent in the league. Here is the odd thing, though. He has gone five straight games without a goal against the Caps on home ice (0-1-1 overall).

2. The Jets are being killed early, outscored by a 12-7 margin in the first period of games and by an 8-3 margin in the second period.

3. Only Buffalo has scored first in game fewer times (once) than Winnipeg (twice).

4. Winnipeg had a power play goal in each of their first five games this season, each scored by a different player. However, they have none in their last 12 power play chances dating back to the third period of a 4-1 loss to Dallas on October 11th.

5. As of Monday, only Ottawa has taken more minor penalties than the 44 taken by Winnipeg. Only the Senators have found themselves shorthanded more often.

1. The Caps have shutout Winnipeg three times in their last five meetings on MTS Centre ice.

2. Despite the fact that the Caps have played only two road games to date, they are still tied for fifth in power play goals scored on the road (four).

3. Only four teams have scored fewer 5-on-5 goals than the ten scored by Washington to date. Those four teams – Buffalo, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, and Minnesota – have a combined record through Sunday games of 7-23-4.

4. The Caps are 3-2-0 in games in which the record at least one power play goal, 0-3-0 (with only three total goals scored) when they do not.

5. The Caps are 4-1-0 in their last five visits to Winnipeg, outscoring the Jets by a 16-4 margin.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Winnipeg: Dustin Byfuglien

From the time Dustin Byfuglien joined the Atlanta Thrashers in 2010-2011 through last season, only Shea Weber scored more goals as a defenseman (44 to 40). Oh, there might have been some goals sprinkled in there by Byfuglien on the power play that were scored from in close, but nevertheless, he demonstrated he can pound the puck from the blue line. So what’s with the zero goals to show for his nine games to date this season? It is not as if he has been shy about shooting. Only Vancouver’s Jason Garrison has more shots on goal (31) among defensemen than does Byfuglien (30). One gets the feeling it is only a matter of time, like Mt. Vesuvius, before he blows. Let’s hope the eruption waits for the Jets’ trip to Nashville.

Washington: Nicklas Backstrom

Nicklas Backstrom has one goal on just 14 shots through eight games, not what one might have expected from the top line center, even if he does have eight assists. If he is going to get one of his own, this might be the team against which he does it. Backstrom has more caerer goals scored against the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets (11) than he does against any other NHL team, except Carolina, against which he also has 11 career goals. He has found MTS Centre to his liking. In four career games there he is 2-3-5.

Keys:

1. Pick your spots. Odd Ondrej Pavelec statistic. In the four games in which the Jets’ goalie faced 32 or more shots, he is 3-1-0. In the four games in which he faced 31 or fewer shots, he is 0-4-0. Maybe the Caps should bore him to death.

2. Hang ‘em with their own rope. Winnipeg has been shorthanded 41 times in nine games so far. Four times on home ice they have found themselves shorthanded five times. If the Jets want to tie the noose by taking that many shorthanded situations, the Caps could hang ‘em with it.

3. Top Line, Top Notch. It’s one thing to “play” well, another to “perform” well. If you look at the 5-on-5/tied numbers from their game against Columbus on Saturday (source: extraskater.com), you would see that the Corsi-For numbers for the top line, expressed as a percent, were off the charts: Alex Ovechkin: 90.0, Nicklas Backstrom: 83.3, Marcus Johansson: 81.8. It is a small sample size of events, but in this instance they dominated possession. That is “playing” well in a tight game. But the trio did not have a point at 5-on-5. That is the “performance” side of things. In his “30 Thoughts” on Monday, Elliotte Friedman wrote the following:

“[In their 2-0 win over the Caps] the Rangers simply outworked the Capitals, who didn't get great reviews. You can see it on television; there is simply not the same energy or intensity from the team's best players when they aren't on the power play.”

The top line cannot just look good out there, they have to bear down and finish.

In the end…

Getting away from home has its charms for sports teams, perhaps more so when the club had a disappointing home stand (2-3-0). Winnipeg presents a familiar foe, and the Caps – particularly goalie Braden Holtby (3-0-0, 0.33, .988, 2 shutouts last season) – have had success on MTS Centre ice recently. This is the Caps’ chance to take advantage of a club that is already having trouble scoring goals of their own, and they might catch the Jets peeking ahead to a four-game road trip of their own that starts in Nashville on Thursday. Add on top of that the fact that Ondrej Pavelec was hardly lights out against the Caps last season at home (0-3-0, 4.13, .818), and this is a chance for the Caps to start their road trip on the right foot.

Capitals 5 – Jets 2

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 3

The Washington Capitals salvaged their five-game home stand with a 2-1-0 week after losing the first two games of the home set.  Not that it was all unicorns and accordions, as we will see in the third edition of “That Was The Week That Was.”

Record: 2-1-0

It was the first winning week for the Capitals this season after a pair of sub-.500 weeks.  After beating the Edmonton Oilers, then losing to the New York Rangers, it was looking as if the Caps could only beat teams from Alberta (their other season win coming against the Calgary Flames in Week 1).  Then, they closed the week with an impressive 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday in the first Metropolitan Division meeting of the two clubs.  The week might look more impressive than it was in this respect.  All three teams the Caps faced were sub-.500 teams when they met, a combined record of 5-11-1.  However, there are no standings points awarded for strength of schedule; two points is two points, and four is better than none, which is what the Caps had in the previous week.

Offense: 2.67/game (season: 2.50 / T-18^th)

It was “deuces are wild” for the Caps this week.  Of the eight goals scored by the club in three games, four players scored two apiece: Joel Ward, Brooks Laich, Troy Brouwer, and Alex Ovechkin.  For Ward, Laich, and Brouwer those goals were their first of the season.  For Ovechkin is was the continuation of a hot run that saw him finish the week with seven goals in his first eight games of the season and 29 goals in his last 29 regular season games dating back to last season. 

On the helper side, the news was that Nicklas Backstrom had four assists, giving him eight for the season (tied for fifth in the league) and giving him 29 in his last 29 regular season games.  Then there was Martin Erat.  The erstwhile fourth liner was moved up to the second line on the left side with Laich and Brouwer in Saturday’s game against Columbus.  He made the move look good with three assists that left him tied for fourth on the club.

Defense: 1.67/game (season: 3.12 / 25^th)

It’s hard what to make of this week as far as the defense is concerned.  The Caps allowed teams to fire 91 even strength shots on goal.  That is a lot of rubber finding its way to the Capitals’ net.  On the other hand, of the five goals scored against the Caps for the week, two were scored in the last five minutes when the decision was no longer in doubt. 

And that is where we get to the goals scored against by player.  It might seem disturbing on one level that John Carlson was victimized more than any defender, on ice for three of the five goals against for the week.  But Carlson was on ice for those two goals in the last five minutes.  He got caught once covering Jeff Petry while his partner, Steve Oleksy, was defending behind the Caps net.  Carlson could not get back to cover Will Acton, left alone at the doorstep for a tap-in.  The other certainly was not his fault, covering Columbus’ Cam Atkinson driving the net while Artem Anisimov was filling a late lane to bury a drive past goalie Braden Holtby. Circumstance seemed to be Carlson's problem this week.

Goaltending: 1.69 GAA / .952 save percentage (season: 3.00 / .908)

What a difference a week makes.  Actually, it has been something in the making for Braden Holtby.  Coming into this week Holtby was 1-3-0, 4.03, .873 for the season.  For the week he was 2-1-0, 1.69, .952.  What is more amazing is his early game netminding.  He had a save percentage in the first period of games of .969 for the week and .956 in the second period (allowing both goals for the week to the New York Rangers that did him in).  He had a save percentage of .926 in the third period, but again, both goals allowed were scored in the last five minutes when the decision was no longer in doubt.  Another week like this, and he will climb off the second page of the NHL.com goalie statistics.

Power Play: 4-11 / 36.4 percent (season: 33.3 percent / 1^st)

Half of the Caps’ eight goals for the week were scored on the power play.  That is a recurring theme this year; half of the 20 goals they scored so far are power play goals.  The Caps spread things around, scoring-wise.  Three different players shared the four goals, and it was the unexpected contribution of Joel Ward accounting for two goals (Troy Brouwer and Alex Ovechkin had the others).  Eight different players had power play points, six of them contributing assists.  Nicklas Backstrom recorded assists on three of the four goals for the week.  Washington was quite efficient for the week, scoring four goals on 14 power play shots in 11:22 of power play time.  It would have been more so but for the fact that the Caps drew a blank on six power play shots (their high for the week) against the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist.  The goalie was the team’s best penalty killer in that one.

Penalty Killing: 9-9 / 100.0 percent (season: 85.7 percent / 6^th)

All of a sudden the team that can’t kill penalties is sixth in the league in penalty killing.  That is what going 9-for-9 for the week will do.  The Caps are now ten for their last ten in killing penalties, dating back to the third period of their 5-1 loss to Colorado on October 12^th.  It was an efficient as well as an effective week.  The Caps allowed only 12 shots on goal in 14:37 in penalty killing time, Braden Holtby turning all of them aside.  His shorthanded save percentage jumped from .813 to .893 for the season.

Even Strength Goals For/Goals Against: 4-5 (season: 10-20; 5-on-5 GF/GA ratio rank: 0.59 / 27^th)

This is where the Caps continue to struggle.  Two games in which they score power play goals, two wins.  The game in which they do not score a power play goal, a loss.  The Caps have not yet found a way to cobble together enough even-strength effectiveness to make up for the nights when the power play is not clicking (or they are playing against Henrik Lundqvist).  They “won” only the game against Columbus on Saturday when they outscored the Blue Jackets, 2-1.  Those 91 shots against at even strength put a lot of pressure on goaltending.  Worse was that the Caps were outshot, 91-67, at even strength with more than half of the Caps’ even strength shots for the week (34) coming against Columbus.

Faceoffs: 91-181 / 50.3 percent (season: 52.5 percent / 10^th)

It was a tightly fought battle in the circle this week.  It was, though, the third straight week in which the Capitals came out above the 50 percent mark.  It might have been a better week had not the Caps fallen down against the Blue Jackets.  They could manage only seven wins in 21 tries in the offensive end and seven in 16 tries in the defensive end against Columbus.  If there was a soft spot here it was Nicklas Backstrom and Eric Fehr in the offensive zone.  Combined, Backstrom (7-for-19) and Fehr (3-for-10) went 10-for-29 on offensive zone faceoffs (34.5 percent).

Goals For/Against by Period:

It was the second period – good and bad – that was critical for the Caps this week.  Against Edmonton on Monday the Caps lit up the Oilers for three goals on four shots in a span of 3:55 to end the competitive portion of a 4-2 Caps win.  Then it was the New York Rangers’ turn to victimize the Caps, scoring both of their goals in the second period – less than two minutes apart – in a 2-0 win.  The Caps returned to the positive side of the second period ledger against Columbus with a pair of goals that set them up nicely with a 2-0 lead that would become a 4-1 win.  As the week ended, only five teams had more second period goals scored than the Caps in the second period of games.  However, the Caps are also in the top half of the league in second period goals allowed (tied for 11^th most), making for a thin second period advantage (10-8).

In the end…

Consider Week 3 progress.  Last season the Caps did not realize their first winning week until Week 4.  And even though the five-game home stand was disappointing (2-3), the Caps did salvage two of the last three contests.  The biggest thing to come out of the week, other than the two wins, might be the lineup juggling that head coach Adam Oates performed for the Columbus game to end the week.  As noted in the post-game review, Oates made nine distinct lineup switches:

• Martin Erat from 4L to 2L
• Brooks Laich from 2L to 2C
• Mikhail Grabovski from 2C to 3C
• Eric Fehr from 3C to 4C
• Jay Beagle from 4C to the bench
• Aaron Volpatti from the bench to 4L
• Nate Schmidt from 3LD to 1LD
• Karl Alzner from 1LD to 2LD
• Alexander Urbom from 2LD to 3LD

It had the intended effect.  Erat had three assists.  Laich had a goal and won 13 of 25 draws from the center position.  The second line finally looked like a scoring line.  The object now will be to take this on the road and see how it plays over the next two weeks.

Washington Capitals: A TWO point night -- Game 8: Capitals 4 - Blue Jackets 1

It took eight games, but the Washington Capitals finally put together a complete performance, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-1, at Verizon Center.

Four different Capitals – Joel Ward, Brooks Laich, Troy Brouwer, and Alex Ovechkin – scored goals, nine different Capitals had points, Braden Holtby turned away 37 of the 38 shots he faced, and the club looked solid in all three zones for most of the game.

The first period suggested that this would be a game with pace, but with two teams struggling to score, it ended without a goal for either team despite 25 combined shots on goal.  That ended abruptly in the second minute of the second period.  With Brandon Dubinsky sent off on a tripping call 1:26 into the period, the Capitals worked the triangle play on the man advantage – Nicklas Backstrrom from the side wall to Marcus Johansson at the goal line extended to Joel Ward in the slot.  Ward one-timed the puck past goalie Sergei Bobrovsky at the 1:58 mark before the netminder could flinch.

Almost six minutes later it was Brooks Laich batting in a rebound from the doorstep to Bobrovsky’s right, but it was Steve Oleksy who made the play.  Oleksy collected the puck off the right wing wall and slid in, leaving Cam Atkinson flat-footed with a fine curl-and-drag, opening himself up for a shot that Bobrovsky stopped.  He could not control the rebound, though, and Laich was right there to finish the play.  That would be how the teams went to the second intermission, the Caps leading, 2-0.

Early in the third period Troy Brouwer extended the lead when he helped dig out a loose puck from behind the Columbus net to start the scoring sequence.  The puck squirted out to Columbus defenseman Nikita Nikitin, but Nikitin put the puck on the stick of Martin Erat as he was trying to move it up the wall.  Erat found Brouwer circling out from behind the net, and Brouwer had nothing but clear ice.  With Nikitin late getting to the front of the net and the other defenseman – Jack Johnson – not doing much of anything by way of defending, Brouwer had time and space to take two whacks at the puck  Bobrovsky stopped one, but he could not stop the other, Brouwer swatting the puck lying at the top of the crease into the open cage.

Two minutes later, with Dubinsky off on another penalty, the Caps made the Blue Jackets pay when Mike Green slid the puck from the top of the offensive zone to Alex Ovechkin in the left wing circle.  Ovechkin settled the puck and using defenseman David Savard as a screen, wristed the puck through Bobrovsky’s pads to end the Caps’ scoring for the night.  Artem Anisimov added a window dressing goal for the Blue Jackets with under five minutes left to end the scoring for the evening.

Other Stuff…

-- The reassemble second line of Martin Erat, Brooks Laich, and Troy Brouwer finished 2-2-4 (Erat added another assist on a power play), plus-6 combined, with seven shots on goal (Brouwer had six of them).

-- Speaking of Brouwer, he had 11 shot attempts and five hits, both numbers leading the Caps for the evening.

-- Adam Oates really mixed things up.  There were nine distinct changes among the skaters:

• Erat from 4L to 2L
• Laich from 2L to 2C
• Grabovski from 2C to 3C
• Fehr from 3C to 4C
• Beagle from 4C to the bench
• Volpatti from the bench to 4L
• Schmidt from 3LD to 1LD
• Alzner from 1LD to 2LD
• Urbom from 2LD to 3LD

Only the top line was left unchanged.  If folks were anxious about head coach Adam Oates and a seeming timidity about shuffling the deck, well, he shuffled the deck.

-- Perhaps lost in all the changes and the distributed scoring was the effort by Joel Ward on the penalty kill.  Ward led all Caps forwards in shorthanded ice time and was extremely effective in pinning the Blue Jackets deep on the forecheck, denying them clean breakouts and even tying up the puck along the boards to kill critical seconds. 

-- Tom Wilson skated 8:44.  It might not seem like a lot, but it is a season high for him.  It might have been more but for skating only 1:41 in the second period while the teams were exchanging power play chances, the Caps with two and the Jackets with one.

-- That was Martin Erat’s first three-assist game since December 4, 2010, against Carolina.  It was the sixth time in his career he had three or more assists in a game.  And yes, he did earn a star for the game.

-- The 77 shots on goal for the two teams was the most combined shots in a regulation time game for the Caps since they and the San Jose Sharks combined for 77 shots in a 5-3 Sharks win on February 13, 2012.

-- Braden Holtby’s game save percentage progression over his last six games… .727 (in 16 minutes), .905, .917, .933, .944, .974.  Since being pulled after those 16 minutes against Calgary, Holtby is 2-3-0, 2.03, .938.

-- The Caps have had the problem, if it can be called that, of so much of the offense (at least so far as it is reflected in shots on goal) going through Alex Ovechkin.  Tonight, 13 of the 18 skaters recorded at least one even-strength shot on goal (34 total).  The odd part of it, though, is that it was all six defensemen who had at least one.

-- Coming into this game Marcus Johansson had three shots on goal for the season.  He matched that total in the first period and recorded his fourth of the game in the second period.  It was his first four-shot game since last St. Patrick’s Day in a 5-3 win over Buffalo.

-- Does Tom Wilson get credit for three hits for toppling three Blue Jackets on one play?  No, but he did have four hits, anyway.

-- The Caps struggled with faceoffs in the offensive zone, going only 7-for-21 (33 percent), and Laich had five of the wins.  Take him out of the mix and the Caps were 2-for-11.

In the end… It was the Caps’ best game of the year to date, and it came at a welcome time, just as they are about to embark on a five-game road trip.  Scoring was balanced, special teams were effective at both ends, Braden Holtby was sharp.  If there was one hiccup it was the 38 shots on goal the Caps gave up.  It was not entirely scoring effect as the Blue Jackets recorded 21 of those shots before the Caps gained a 2-0 lead in the second period.  What the Caps did not do was give up much in the way of second chances.

Now they go on the road to Winnipeg, followed by a swing through Alberta and British Columbia before hitting Philadelphia to open November.  The goaltending issues appear to be sorting themselves out, and the balanced scoring is something to build on.  Maybe when the Caps come home against Florida on November 2^nd, the talk will be more optimistic than it has been the past week.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 8: Blue Jackets at Capitals, October 19th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals wrap up their five-game home stand on Saturday night when their newest divisional rival, the Columbus Blue Jackets, pay a visit to Verizon Center. 

This will be the first meeting of the clubs as divisional rivals – as conference rivals for that matter.  For 12 seasons the Jackets competed – if that is the right word – in the Central Division of the Western Conference.  Only once in 11 tries in an 82-game season did Columbus finish the season with averaging more than one standings point per game.  In 2008-2009 they finished with 92 points, good for fourth place in the Central Division and seventh in the Western Conference.  That remains their lone playoff appearance, and they are still waiting for their first playoff game win.  They were swept in the first round in 2009 by the Detroit Red Wings.

Last year, they were close, but no cigar.  They closed with a rush, going 8-1-0 in their last nine games and finishing in a tie with Minnesota with 55 standings points.  The Wild took that last playoff spot, though, by virtue of having more wins than Columbus, 26 to 24.

The Jackets are off on familiar ways to start the 2013-2014 season, which is to say that they are struggling.  In six games they have two wins, a trick shot win against the New York Islanders and a 4-1 win in Buffalo against the hapless Sabres.  They have lost three straight, the silver lining being that they did so to Boston, Detroit, and Montreal (the latter two on the road), all teams that are playoff contenders.

Columbus is a team played only infrequently by the Caps.  Since coming into the league in the 2000-2001 season the clubs have met only 14 times, the Caps holding a 9-3-1-1 edge that includes wins in their last three meetings.  The last time the clubs met was New Year’s Eve 2011 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, a 4-2 Capitals win in which the Caps wiped out a 2-0 Blue Jackets lead with four goals in the third period.  Only ten of the 20 Caps who dress that night (nine skaters and backup goalie Michal Neuvirth) are still with the club.  It’s a good thing they wear name plates on the backs of their jerseys, or the teams might not recognize one another.

The numbers so far for these clubs look like this…

1.  The Caps have a powerful power play, but the Jackets take advantages of advantages more consistently.  Columbus has power play goals in five of the six games played so far.  Four players share in the six power play goals scored to date: Jack Johnson (2), Boone Jenner (2), Cam Atkinson (1), and Mark Letestu (1).  Caps fans will be forgiven if they think we are making these names up.

2.  For a team that has trouble scoring (2.33 goals per game) the Blue Jackets do spread things around. Nine players have split 14 goals; 16 players have points through six games.

3.  Columbus has one multi-goal game by a player this season.  Marian Gaborik?...no.  Brandon Dubinsky?...no.  R.J. Umberger?...no.  Does the name “Boone Jenner” ring a bell?  Jenner potted a pair against Montreal on Thursday in a 5-3 loss, both goals coming on power plays.  They were the first goals in the NHL for the rookie.

4.  Speaking of rookies, in “First NHL Goal” watch, Ryan Murray is up for the Blue Jackets. The second overall pick in the 2012 draft would seem an unlikely candidate to notch one in this game.  In six games so far he has only one shot on goal.

5. Columbus has allowed 14 even strength goals so far this season.  Defenseman Jack Johnson has been on the ice for nine of them. 

1.  Only Florida (0.30) and Buffalo (0.09) have worse goals scored to goals allowed ratios in the first period than the Capitals (0.44).

2.  The Caps have outshot opponents only twice in seven games so far.  Not that it mattered much; they lost both games.

3.  That Alex Ovechkin is off to a good start scoring goals is not a surprise.  However, he is on a pace to shatter a personal career high in another statistical category.  He is on a pace to finish the season with 141 penalty minutes.  His career high so far is 89 PIMs in 2009-2010.

4.  No team has more players above 50 percent in faceoff wins than the Caps (Mikhail Grabovski, Eric Fehr, Nicklas Backstrom).

5.  The Caps lead the league in power play efficiency, and part of that is that only one team in the league has spent less time on the power play than the Caps (Ottawa).  No team has spent less time at 5-on-4, and it’s not close.  Washington has spent 4:10 less time at 5-on-4 (25:48) than the next lowest team (Ottawa – 29:58).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Columbus: Sergei Bobrovsky

The defending Vezina Trophy winner is off to a decent, if unspectacular start – 21^st in both goals against average and save percentage.  However, it is a better start than he had last season.  His GAA is better through his first six games (2.49 to 3.15), and his save percentage is better (.921 to .900).  In his six games to date the key has been to get him early.  He has a save percentage of only .898 in the first period, followed by .924 in the second period and .933 in the third.  If there is an odd stat about him, it comes from last season.  Bobrovsky did not lose in regulation time in any game last season in which he faced 30 or more shots. He was 14-0-6 in 20 decisions.  So far this season he has regressed, going 1-4-0 in games in which he faced 30 or more shots.  In three career appearances against the Caps he is 1-0-1, 3.36, .890.

Washington:  Martin Erat

Maybe now he will get his chance.  It would probably be welcome.  Of 22 skaters having dressed for the Caps so far, only three have logged less even strength ice time per game than Erat (7:09).  He skated more than ten minutes in total ice time only once in seven games, but at Friday’s practice he skated with the second line with Troy Brouwer and Brooks Laich.  The timing might suit Erat just fine.  Erat has scored more goals (16) and more points (53) against Columbus – all while playing with the Nashville Predators – than he has against any other NHL team.  He is plus-19 over his career against the Blue Jackets and minus-15 against everyone else.  And in one of the truly odd career stats you will find, Erat is a plus-39 in 200 career games played on Saturdays.  He is even or worse on every other day of the week over his career (minus-35 overall).  He’s going to be one of the game’s three stars…book it.

Keys:

1.  Shoot early, shoot often.  In the three games so far in which Bobrovsky faced more than ten shots in the first period he allowed five goals on 36 shots (.861 save percentage).

2.  Muscle memory.  We imagine there are few Caps fans out there who would have thought that only once in their last five games would the Caps score more than two goals.  They have only five even strength goals in those last five games.  They have been outshot, 147-119, at even strength in those five games.  And, if one takes out Alex Ovechkin’s 22 shots at even strength, it means the other 17 skaters have split the remaining 97 shots, which works out to barely one per game per skater.  It is not as if the Caps have had a recent history of being a spare offensive team.  They have been here before.

3.  No peeking.  This is the getaway game before a five-game road trip that will start by taking the Caps to western Canada.  No letting the mind wander.

In the end…

This has the chance to be the most boring game on the 13-game slate for Saturday.  Why?  What a pathetic pair of teams.  The Caps are 1-4-0 in their last five games and have scored a total of eight goals in the process (1.60 goals per game).  Columbus has only one win in regulation this season and is 1-5-1 in their last seven games, scoring a total of 11 goals (1.57/game).  It could come down to Alex Ovechkin and Mikhail Grabovski for the Caps, Cam Atkinson and Mark Letestu for the Blue Jackets.  Why?  These are the successful shooters in the trick shot phase so far this season.  We hope it does not come down to that.

Capitals 3 – Blue Jackets 2

Washington Capitals: A NO point night -- Game 7: Rangers 2 - Capitals 0

If there was a team ripe for the taking on Wednesday night, it was the New York Rangers.  It was a team that couldn’t score (1.80 goals per game), couldn’t keep other teams from scoring (5.00 goals against per game), had traveled more than 5,000 miles for five games and had not yet played a game at home this season.

Yeah, that worked.  The Washington Capitals looked for all the world like a team set on playing golf in April, going meekly into the night with a 2-0 loss to the Rangers.  The game was not nearly as close as the final score indicated.  The Rangers fought the Caps to a draw in the first period, overwhelmed them in the second (a 21-6 edge in shots, a 2-0 edge in goals), and strangled them in the third. 

The Rangers got all they needed in the second period.  At 4-on-4, John Moore had time and space, using all of the latter and taking precious little of the former to snap a quick release shot over the left shoulder of goalie Braden Holtby, off the crossbar, and into the net to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 12:05. 

Less than two minutes later, Ryan Callahan provided what insurance the Rangers would need with the help of sloppy defense from the Caps.  Ryan McDonagh started the play by taking a shot that went wide to Holtby’s right.  Callahan skated into the corner to retrieve the puck and send it along the end boards to Derick Brassard.  While Brassard was moving the puck along to Brad Richards in the other corner, Callahan took advantage of some lackadaisical defense from John Carlson, who turned away from Callahan and left him with a clear line to the front of the net.  Richards found Callahan who took the puck, skated through the crease, and then flicked the puck past Holtby uncontested. 

Henrik Lundqvist made it all stand up, turning away all 22 shots he faced to shutout the Capitals for the third straight time going back to last spring’s opening round playoff series.

Other stuff…

-- For the record, the last goal the Caps scored against Lundqvist came off the stick of Mike Ribeiro at the 9:24 mark of overtime in Game 5 of last spring’s playoff series against the Rangers.  Among current Capitals, Joel Ward has the last goal against Lundqvist, a power play goal earlier in that same game.  

-- The Caps were outshot 31-16 at even strength.  The top line had five ES shots on goal, Alex Ovechkin recording four of them.  Does anyone even bother defending Nicklas Backstrom or Marcus Johansson at this point?

-- Ovechkin had eight shots on goal.  The rest of the forwards combined?  Nine.

-- Six power play shots on goal…Ovechkin had four of them.  See a pattern here?  Think that pattern is working?

-- Well, at least the Caps ended a streak of three straight games in which a player got his first NHL goal.  Jesper Fast had one shot on goal.

-- Martin Erat had 6:20 in ice time.  Ten shifts.  I made more trips to the refrigerator in this game to refresh my carbonated adult beverages.

-- Hey second line… three shots on goal?  Really?

-- But give Brooks Laich of that second line some credit.  He might have been the only Capital not wearing goalie pads and not named “Ovechkin” giving an honest effort out there.  He had all three of those shots on goal for the second line, drew two penalties, had six shot attempts, had two hits, and blocked two shots.

-- The Caps are the only team in the Metro Division without a point against Metro Division teams (0-2-0).

-- Coming into this game the Rangers had been outscored at even strength, 20-5…yes, 20-5.  Last in the league in 5-on-5 goals scored to goals allowed ratio.  They outscored the Caps, 2-0.  The Caps have now been outscored at evens by an 18-8 margin.

-- 22 shots on goal, 22 shots blocked.  Maybe it’s just a Caps thing against this team.  The Rangers averaged 16.4 blocks per game in five games coming into this one. 

-- Coming into this game the Rangers allowed more goals in the second period than any other team (it’s still true), and the Caps had the sixth highest number of second period goals, yet the Rangers outscored the Caps, 2-0 in the middle frame.

-- The NHL awards three stars for each game.  The Rangers had all three in this one (Lundqvist, Richards, and Callahan).  Truth be told, if the game had five stars awarded would any of the Caps have earned any of them?  Eight?  Ten?

In the end… Don’t let the score fool you.  The Rangers are not an explosive team.  They are opportunistic, and when they get an advantage leave the details to Henrik Lundqvist.  That makes the final score seem closer than it was.  A couple of wide open chances for Joel Ward aside, were the Caps really all that close to scoring a goal in this game?  From our chair, no.  Some of that is Lundqvist, but the Caps didn’t make it all that hard on him, either. 

The Caps are 2-0-0 against the province of Alberta, 0-5-0 against the rest of North America.   As far as this game was concerned, watching the House vote on C-SPAN to reopen the Federal government was more thrilling.  Going forward with this team, it is nothing but questions.  Are they trying too hard to force the offense through Ovechkin?  Does the second line work?  Will Marcus Johansson ever take another shot on goal?  Would anyone notice if Martin Erat ducked out and went to Ben’s Chili Bowl for a half smoke?  Can the Caps schedule more games against teams from Alberta? 

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 7: Rangers at Capitals, October 16th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

One in a row!  The Washington Capitals became the 27^th team in the NHL this season to win a hockey game without the benefit of trick shots when they defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2, on Monday night.  Now, they get a chance to face another team with only one win in the hockey portion of hockey games when the New York Rangers come to town to face the Caps in the third game of Washington’s five-game home stand on Wednesday. 

As the legendary former manager of the Toledo Mud Hens and the Cleveland Indians might have put it, “OK, you won a game yesterday. If you win today, it's called "two in a row". And if you win again on Saturday, it's called a "winning streak"... It has happened before!”

Well, before you win three for that “winning streak,” you have to win two, and that means besting the Rangers, who have found the adjustment from John Tortorella to Alain Vigneault behind the Ranger bench difficult, to say the least.

The adjustment has been most difficult, it seems, in a place most unexpected – in goal.  Then again, that might not be a function of the coach.  Maybe it is just coincidence, but the changes in goaltender equipment (shaving length off their leg pads, for example) and the reduction in the footprint of the goal has coincided with some fluffy numbers for Henrik Lundqvist. 

He has been pulled from one game, gave up four or more goals in two others, and that’s just in four starts (he has five appearances).  Overall he is 1-3-0, but worse is his goals against average (4.21, 44^th among 46 qualifying goaltenders) and save percentage (.887, 36^th among those same goalies).  He has been worse early in games, sporting a .875 save percentage in the first period of games, .851 in the second period.  In 12 periods of play Lundqvist has allowed goals in nine of them.

What it means is that the Rangers are, uncharacteristically, dead last in the NHL in scoring defense (5.00 goals/game).  Not that their offense has been much, if any, better.  Only two teams – Philadelphia and Buffalo – have a worse scoring offense than the Rangers (1.80/game).

Making it worse is that the Rangers have had to do this living out of suitcases, so to speak.  New York will be visiting Washington for the sixth game of a nine-game road trip to start the season.  New York to Phoenix to Los Angeles to San Jose to Anaheim (what, they couldn’t at least schedule Los Angeles and Anaheim next to one another?) to St. Louis to Washington.  That is a shade over 5,400 miles.  They ARE their own spin off of “Airport 24/7: Miami” on Travel Channel.  

Here is how the teams compare in their respective numbers to date:

1.  You think the Caps have even-strength issues?  The Rangers have four even-strength goals in five games, and Brad Richards has three of them.  You would probably go through a lot of names until you guessed that Derek Dorsett has the other one.

2.  Another point, so to speak, about the Rangers at even strength.  Their defensemen have combined for one even strength point – an assist for Anton Stralman.  Marc Staal has a power play goal, Ryan McDonagh has a shorthanded goal.

3.  The Rangers have yet to play a one-goal game.  All four of their losses have been by at least two goals, and no team has more losses by three or more goals (three).

4.  If the Rangers are trailing, they are losing.  Three times they trailed at the end of 20 minutes, three times they lost.  Four times they trailed at the second intermission, four times they lost.

5.  The Rangers tend to lose discipline late.  Only two teams – Los Angeles and Philadelphia – have spent more times shorthanded in the third period than the ten times the Rangers have found themselves short in five games.

1.  Mike Green does not have a goal through six games.  This might not sound like much, he being a defenseman and all, but it is the first time he has gone this long without a goal to start the season since the 2010-2011 season, a seven-game streak that is the longest of his career.

2.  In the “you do what you have to do” file, you might expect that Troy Brouwer, Alex Ovechkin, and Tom Wilson would lead the Caps’ forwards in hits.  Would you have expected Martin Erat to be fourth?

3.  The Caps have been awarded as many power play opportunities in the third period of games (11) as they have in the first and second periods combined.  They are 2-for-5 in the first period, 3-for-6 in the second, and 3-for-11 in the third.  On the other side, the Caps are 7-for-8 killing penalties in the first period of games, 6-for-9 in the second period, and 5-for-5 in the third.

4.  It is one thing to lead your team in shots, but Alex Ovechkin has almost as many shots on goal (42) as the next four Capitals combined (47, divided among Brooks Laich, Mike Green, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mikhail Grabovski).

5.  Braden Holtby has a post-season history against the Rangers well known to Caps fans: 6-8, 2.05, .925, and one shutout in two seven-game series.  His career regular season record against New York looks a lot the same: 2-2-1, 1.93, .942.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

New York:  Jesper Fast

Elias Lindholm, Nathan MacKinnon, Will Acton.  Three games, three players getting their first NHL goal against the Capitals.  Tell us who is up next, Peerless?  Well, it’s Jesper Fast.  With Rick Nash on the shelf with a concussion suffered last week against San Jose, the 2010 sixth round pick has had an opportunity to make an impression with the big club.  It has been something of a whirlwind tour for the 21-year old.  A year ago at this time he was skating for HV71-Jönköping in the Swedish Elite League (now the Swedish Hockey League) where he led the club in goals with 18.  It was the culmination of progressively higher goal totals over his four years at the elite league level, a feat he also achieved when he played for HV71-Jönköping/Junior, finishing with 23 goals in 37 games in 2009-2010.  That Fast might score a goal in this game would not necessarily be surprising, just annoying.

Washington: Nate Schmidt

The Capitals are not especially deep on the left side of their defense.  After Karl Alzner, it’s something of a crap shoot.  Jack Hillen…injured.  John Erskine..hurt.  Alexander Urbom…new.  Dmitry Orlov…pink eye.  Of such things opportunities are born, and one has presented itself for Nate Schmidt. At this time last season Schmidt was starting his last season as a defenseman with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, one in which he would be named a second-team All-American after going 9-23-32 in 40 games.  Schmidt then skated five games for the Hershey Bears in the AHL playoffs and skated in the opener of the 2013-2014 season for the Bears (notching a goal in a 4-3 loss) before being called up to the Caps.  In two games he has averaged a little more than 17 minutes a game and leads the team in shots per game from the blue line. He has not looked out of place.  Yes, small sample size, but one has to start somewhere.

Keys:

1.  Early savers pay late dividends.  Through six games, Braden Holtby and Michal Neuvirth have a combined save percentage of .848 in the first period.  That number speaks for itself.  The Caps are spending too much time behind the eight-ball.  Against a team that has a total of three first period goals (only Buffalo has fewer), here is the chance for one of them to lift that number.

2.  Rhythm. Neither the first nor second line have established any rhythm at even strength.  Alex Ovechkin (42) has three times as many shots on goal as Nicklas Backstrom (11) and Marcus Johanson (3), suggesting that too much of the offense is being funneled through Ovechkin.  The second line, well, they just have not established anything.  Only Florida has allowed more goals at 5-on-5 than the Rangers.  Here is a chance for these scoring line guys to establish more rhythm.

3.  The early bird catches the WORM in goal.  If by “WORM” you mean “wobbly, oddly rickety man” in goal.  Yes, that would be Henrik Lundqvist, the five-time Vezina Trophy finalist (winner in 2012) and bane of the Caps’ existence in the last two playoffs years.  As noted above, in five appearances he has a save percentage of .875 in the first period of games and a .851 save percentage in the second period of games.  One can wait until the third period to capitalize on his iffy play at one’s peril; he has a .974 save percentage in the last three third periods in which he appeared.

In the end…

Elliotte Friedman said this in his “30 Thoughts” for this week…

“From 2005-06 through 2011-12, just three of 32 teams who were four points out of a playoff position on November 1 recovered to make it.”  

That is a rather stark way of saying, “you can’t win the Stanley Cup in October, but you can lose it.”  The Caps stopped the bleeding when they beat Edmonton on Monday.  Now, they have to bloody some other folks.  The Rangers are swimming in quicksand at the moment. They can’t score, they can’t stop anyone from scoring, and that road trip is looking mighty long at this point.

Capitals 5 – Rangers 3

Washington Capitals: A TWO-point night -- Game 6: Capitals 4 - Oilers 2

For almost 30 minutes the Washington Capitals might have considered themselves to be lucky to be tied with the Edmonton Oilers, 1-1.  To that point Edmonton outshot the Caps, 14-6.  It could have been worse, given that the Oilers seemed to be gaining the Capitals’ zone almost at will.

Then, Ladislav Smid took a tripping penalty.  That was the crack the Capitals needed.  In a span of 3:55, starting with a Joel Ward goal on the power play following Smid’s penalty, the Caps put the competitive portion of the evening to bed with a three-goal burst.  Edmonton added a goal late to provide the final margin, 4-2, giving the Caps their first win in regulation time this season.

The gaining the zone almost without challenge burned the Caps in the tenth minute of the first period when Justin Schultz collected a loose puck at his own blue line, then circled out and down the right wing boards.  As he was crossing into the Caps’ end, David Perron headed for the net and backed off Mike Green.  Boyd Gordon jumped into the void, took a pass from Schultz, and buried a wrist shot past goalie Braden Holtby’s blocker to give the Oilers the first lead.

Brooks Laich tied the game four minutes later when the Oilers got caught jumping the zone en masse while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was failing to complete a clearing pass to Ales Hemsky.  Steve Oleksy settled the puck at the blue line and found Laich behind the entire Oiler defense.  Laich slipped the puck through goalie Jason LaBarbera, and the game was tied, the result the teams would take to the first intermission.

Then came the three goal burst in the second period.  The first goal came in a somewhat odd fashion, not for who started it, but for who finished it and how.  The Caps were skating four-on-three with Nicklas Backstrom along the goal line extended to LaBarbera’s left.  Looking for a cross-ice opening, he eschewed a pass to Alex Ovechkin at the point and instead slipped the puck under the stick of defenseman Nick Schultz and onto the tape of Joel Ward low in the left wing circle.  Ward buried the one timer behind LaBarbera to give the Caps a 2-1 lead.

Barely three minutes later it was Alex Ovechkin finding a hole in, of all places, the inside edge of the right wing circle.  Marcus Johansson found him, and another one-timer later, it was Caps in front, 3-1. 

Troy Brouwer ended the Caps scoring 43 seconds after the Ovechkin goal when the Caps worked the strong-side triangle of their power play to perfection.  Backstrom held the puck along the right wing wall until Mikhail Grabovski gave him a passing lane.  Backstrom slid it down to Grabovski along the goal line extended, Grabovski sent a touch pass to Troy Brouwer in the slot, and Brouwer one-timed the puck past LaBarbera for the pizza goal.

Edmonton got a window-dressing score late when Will Acton netted his first NHL goal (of course he did) with just over 100 seconds left in the game.

Other stuff…

-- The Laich goal was the first point by the second line as a group this season.  That is nice…really, it is.  But then again, the trio combined for only two even strength shots on goal.

-- The best defensive pair on the ice was the Steve Oleksy/Nate Schmidt pair.  It was like watching a couple of Jack Russell terriers out there, Oleksy being frisky with his stepping up in the play and hitting people, and Schmidt by keeping things simple and keeping the play in front of him.  They had a lot of energy and were not bashful about directing pucks to the net (four shot attempts apiece).

-- It is hard to believe that Martin Erat is going to be spending the rest of his year getting ten minutes a night on the fourth line (he had a season high 11:50 tonight).  He was solid in all three zones; he just looked like a guy who knows how to play the game.  Still, he is now averaging 7:30 in even strength ice time per game.  That is between Ryan White and Joe Colborne in your NHL rankings (573^rd of 623 players).

-- That was the seventh time since the 2004-2005 lockout that the Caps scored four or more goals on 20 or fewer shots.  The last time they did it was April 2, 2013, in a 5-3 win over Carolina.

-- Last season Alex Ovechkin scored his sixth goal of the season in his 17^th game (part of a hat trick night against New Jersey).  He now has six goals in six games this season, his fastest to six goals of his career,  and he has 29 goals in his last 29 games.

-- With three assists, Nickas Backstrom had his third multi-point game this season.  His seven assists in six games is not his best six-game start for helpers (eight in three games to start the 2009-2010 season), but in his last 29 games, he has…yes, 29 assists.  Synergy.

-- Tom Wilson is going to get a goal someday.  It will probably be the ugliest thing you ever saw.  How do we know this?  Because he keeps getting robbed on doorstep opportunities.  It happened against Colorado on Saturday, and it happened again tonight when he had two bang-bang chances 9:50 into the third period.  He did finish second on the team in even-strength shots on goal (three; Alex Ovechkin had four)

-- Mike Green…if you’re going to try hip checks, go watch some Dmitry Orlov video.

-- How bad is Edmonton’s defense?  They tied a season best for fewest goals allowed in a game (four).

-- Just wondering, can you get a five-minute major for interference (answer: yes, Rule 56.4)?  That love tap Alex Ovechkin planted between the numbers on the back of Mike Brown flirted with it.

-- The Caps didn’t win the even strength game in this one, either.  Caps 2 – Oilers 2.  The Caps were outshot, 26-17, at even strength.

-- Where did Boyd “Muffins” Gordon find that wrist shot.  If you squinted, you might have thought it was Joe Sakic coming out of retirement (well, yeah…certainly not Sakic in his prime).

-- Marcus Johansson recorded his 100^th NHL point, credited with the primary assist on the Ovechkin goal. 

-- Baby steps.  In his last three games Braden Holtby has recorded save percentages of .905, .917, and .933.  Overall, it’s .920.  He’s getting there.

In the end…

Yeah, Edmonton’s defense stinks on toast, and Jason LaBarbera is a diligent journeyman goaltender.  But when you have such a team in front of you, then you take advantage of it.  The Caps did just that.  The scorers scored (all of the top line getting points), the second line showed signs of life (or at least opportunism), the third defense pair looked solid, and Braden Holtby made the saves he needed to make when he needed to make them.  It is something on which they can build with the New York Rangers coming to town on Wednesday.