The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 73: Kings at Capitals, March 25th

The phrase, “no rest for the wicked,” comes from the Book of Isaiah. The NHL’s version of this is “no rest for the playoff hungry.” And so it is for the Washington Capitals who, despite having won five of six standings points on their trip to California last week, come home to face two stout opponents this week in their hunt for a spot in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.  No rest indeed.

First up for the Caps is the Los Angeles Kings, a team that denied the Caps a sweep in California by winning in a trick shot competition, 2-1, at Staples Center last Thursday. The Kings are coming to Washington from just up I-95, where they battled the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night. That makes it two games for Los Angeles since they played the Caps, so not much has changed from when we took a look at them in some depth for last week’s game in southern California.  Nevertheless, here is how the two teams compare going into Monday night's games:

1. When Jonathan Quick shutout the Florida Panthers, 4-0, on Saturday it was his fifth shutout of the season. That placed him in a tie for second behind Boston’s Tuukka Rask, who has six. It was his 30th career shutout in 327 appearances. He is one of only 23 goalies in NHL history to record 30 or more shutouts in his first seven seasons. In each of his last eight blankings he faced fewer than 30 shots on goal. The shutout also left Quick alone at the top of the win column in Kings’ history with 172, passing Rogie Vachon for the top spot.

2. The four goals that the Kings scored against the Panthers was the first time they scored as many as four goals at home since January 9th in a 4-2 win over Boston, a span of 14 games.

3. Only Buffalo has scored fewer goals on the road (57) than the Kings (77); only Minnesota (2.22), Vancouver (2.11), and the Sabres (1.68) have averaged fewer on the road than Los Angeles (2.26).

4. On the other hand, no team has allowed fewer goals (70) nor averaged fewer allowed on the road (2.06) than the Kings.

5. Going into Monday’s game in Philadelphia the Kings had ten straight games with Corsi-for and Fenwick-for percentages at 5-on-5 over 50 percent. The longest such streak with both measures over 50 percent for the Caps this season: four games, accomplished twice.

1. The Capitals are one of three teams – Calgary and Florida being the others – to have four goalies play more than 400 minutes this season: Braden Holtby, Philipp Grubauer, Jaroslov Halak, and Michal Neuvirth.

2. Evgeny Kuznetsov is already among the top 35 rookie forwards in assists (five). Doubt he will catch Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (31) for the top spot.

3. Ten rookie skaters have dressed for the Caps this season, and eight of them have points. Only Nicolas Deschamps and Cameron Schilling did not register a point in their brief stints with the big club.

4. If Philipp Grubauer does not get another minute with the Caps this season (and frankly, if he does, a figurative meteor will have struck this team) he will have fared well in his rookie season. Among rookie goalies appearing in at least 10 games, Grubauer is second in save percentage (.925) to Los Angeles’ Martin Jones (.932).

5. So far this season, 11 Capitals have skated 500 or more minutes in 5-on-5 close score situations. Who leads the team in Corsi-for relative percentage (their percentage relative to team percentage when they are not on the ice)? Dmitry Orlov (+9.4) and Mike Green (+7.4). Go figure.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Los Angeles: Mike Richards

Seven times in his nine-year career Mike Richards appeared in 70 or more games. The only season among them in which he did not reach the 40-point mark was his rookie season in 2005-2006 when he was 11-23-34 in 79 games for the Flyers. He hit the 40-point mark on Saturday against Florida when he scored late in the first period of a 4-0 win. It is, however, his only point in his last seven contests. He is just 3-2-5 over his last 20 games. This also happens to be his worst shooting season (7.0 percent) since his rookie campaign (6.5 percent). He does not play as prominent a role with Los Angeles as he once did for Philadelphia, but with almost 650 games in his resume, and recognizing that he plays hard, spirited minutes, one starts to wonder if things aren’t beginning to take their toll, at least on his offensive game, even though he is just 29 years old.

Washington: Jay Beagle

Something strange happened in the second period of the Capitals’ game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 16th. It started when Dion Phaneuf scored for Toronto 8:05 into the period to bring the Leafs to within 3-2 of the Caps. Jay Beagle found himself on the ice on the next shift, but came off when Jack Hillen took a penalty 27 seconds after the Phaneuf goal. Then, having seen that penalty killed off, Beagle went off himself on a penalty a minute after the Hillen penalty expired. The Caps killed that penalty, too, but on Beagle’s next shift he, who started the game centering a line with Dustin Penner and Tom Wilson, had new linemates – Alex Ovechkin and Marcus Johansson – 15:33 into the second period.

Except for power plays, that Beagle-Ovechkin-Johansson line would remain intact for the remainder of the game against Toronto, then be left intact almost for the entirety of the Caps’ road trip to California. For Beagle it has no doubt been exciting, but not for his numbers. Consider that over a five-game period ending with that game against Toronto, Beagle had a cumulative Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 of 61.2, while in his three full games centering Ovechkin that number dipped to 40.9. Sure, there are factors to consider such as meshing with an infrequent linemate, facing superior opponents bent on defending Ovechkin, etc. But is this experiment in matching such different players working? One could say that “results matter,” and at this time of year that is as important as it gets. But was the Caps 2-0-1 run through the Golden State a product of anything Ovechkin or Beagle did as linemates, either at the offensive or defensive ends? The answer to that question should probably be answered by wiser hockey minds than ours, but the fact that this line does not have an even strength point in three games, added to the optics and the underlying numbers, suggest that it has not been the case.

Keys:

1. Move the Puck. If the Caps stand around on this team, they are going to be run over. Make the Kings move their feet, make them move, period. That will be especially important against a team playing its second game in two nights and third in four nights, the last two of them three times zones from home.

2. Quicker Picker-Upper. Going into the land of giants is a tough chore on this team, but if the Caps are to be successful, it might not be on first shots taken. They need to follow things up from in close and pick up loose pucks, whether it is in front of Jonathan Quick or Martin Jones.

3. No peeking. It is scoreboard watching time, and one might expect the occasional peek at the out of town scoreboard. This is a team that has focus issues without even adding that nonsense. Eyes front, boys. Focus on the ice.

In the end…

The Caps have five home games remaining starting with this contest against the Kings. None of them can be considered easy, especially with the last three Stanley Cup winning franchises coming to visit, including the Kings. If the Caps are going to make it to the post-season, they are going to earn it. The price of lackadaisical play over their first 72 games, there is little margin for error now, and no mercy to be found from those who come to visit.

Capitals 2 – Kings 1

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

Week 23 was very good to the Washington Capitals.  More precisely, the Capitals were very good to themselves in Week 23.  They hit the hardest part of their road schedule, a three-game swing through California, and came out the other side with an historic performance in the Golden State.

Record: 3-0-1

The Caps had their best record for a week this season.  It was also just their second three-win week this season and only their fifth week without a regulation loss.  For only the third time this season the Caps posted a streak of at least three games without a loss in regulation on the road (2-0-1), the first time they did it on one road trip.  What set this road trip apart was two things, the “who” and the “where.”  When the schedule was published for this season fans might have looked at March and thought, “oh, this isn’t good.”  Of greatest concern might have been the three-game trip to California, which has been a pit of despair for the Caps in recent years.  However, when it was over, the Caps had something never before achieved in team history, a three-game California trip with five of six standings points in their carry-on baggage.

What made the trip special, what put the cherry on top of the tofu sundae, was a win in San Jose against the Sharks.  The 3-2 trick-shot win was the Caps’ first since Alex Ovechkin was about this age…

It broke an 0-11-1 streak of grief in San Jose for the Caps and pulled the club into a tie with Detroit in points (79) for the last Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Offense:  2.50/game (season: 2.76 / rank: 14th)

There wasn’t much, but what there was certainly was timely.  Offense, that is.  The Caps scored first in three of the four games this week, and at no point did they allow a team to get out to a two goal lead when they did fall behind.  If the Caps’ offense was a menu, the special of the week would be “grinders.”  Joel Ward and Troy Brouwer each had three goals for the Caps.  For Ward, who scored in each of the first three games of the week, the three goals meant hitting the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career, finishing the week with 22 for the season.  Brouwer’s three goals gave him 21 for the season, closing him to within a goal of his career high (22), set with Chicago in 2009-2010.  Nicklas Backstrom had four helpers for the week, giving him 56 for the season and leaving him third in the league in assists behind Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (60) and San Jose’s Joe Thornton (58).

Defense: 1.75/game (season: 2.85 / rank: T-21st)

Four games, seven goals against, on the road.  That is a good week, by any measure.  The seven goals in four games represents the second-best four-game stretch of goals allowed this season for the Caps.  They allowed six goals in a four-game stretch to open November.  Here is what made it better.  They did it playing three teams in the top-ten in scoring offense (Anaheim, San Jose, and Toronto). 

If you are looking for good news here, you can find it where you can find most good news for the Caps lately – the third line.  The trio of Joel Ward, Jason Chimera,  and Eric Fehr was on ice for one goal against this week, and that one was a bit fluky, the product of a Jason Chimera shot attempt that hit San Jose forward James Sheppard’s shin pad and rebounded into the neutral zone where Sheppard could run it down for a breakaway that resulted in a Sharks’ goal.  It was the last goal allowed by the Caps for the week.  At the other end, Nicklas Backstrom was on ice for six of the seven goals allowed this week.  No, that is not a typo.

The Caps still struggled intermittently with shots allowed, giving up 45 to the Ducks and 36 to the Sharks.  Those intermittent struggles were reflected in the possession metrics for the week.  Taken together the Caps were on the wrong side of 50 percent in both Corsi-for and Fenwick-for percentages at 5-on-5 over the four games (48.6/47.0).  The numbers were not appreciably different in 5-on-5 close score situations (48.8/47.7).  However, it bears noting that Washington faced, in Los Angeles and San Jose, two top-five teams in possession metrics this season.

Goaltending: 1.68 / .949 (season: 2.73 / .917 / 3 SO)

With the Caps managing just 110 shots on goal for the week and scoring 10 goals (9.1 percent shooting), then allowing 34.5 shots on goal per game on top of that, it fell to the goaltenders to stand tall.  They did.  Jaroslav Halak got the call for the first three games of the week and stopped 97 of 102 shots he faced (.951 save percentage).  He was better as games went on.  Halak posted a .842 save percentage in the first period of games, allowing goals in each of his three appearances in the opening frame, including a goal on only two shots faced in the first period against Toronto to open the week.  In the second period, though, he stopped 45 of 46 shots (.978) and in the third stopped 33 of 34 shots (.971).  He stifled the Kings on both overtime shots he saw for good measure in the Caps’ 2-1 Gimmick loss to Los Angeles.

Braden Holtby got the call in the last game of the week, his first week since stopping 40 of 42 shots in a 3-0 loss to Boston on March 6^th.  Facing the top shooting team in the league in terms of shot volumes, Holtby was up to the task, allowing only two goals on 36 shots in the Caps’ 3-2 trick shot win over San Jose.  It was the 19^th time this season that Holtby faced more than 35 shots in a game.  He has an 11-6-2 record in those games with a save percentage of .927.

Power play: 4-for-13 / 30.8 percent (season: 23.6 percent / rank: 2nd)

The power play continued to impress in Week 23.  The 4-for-13 effort in four games made it four straight weeks that the Caps’ power play finished at 25 percent or better.  Over the last four weeks it is 14-for-41 (34.2 percent).  Almost as impressive was that eight players shared in the power play point scoring ledger.  Troy Brouwer had two goals, Nicklas Backstrom has three assists.  Alex Ovechkin managed just one goal on the man advantage (his only point of the week).

The power play was efficient as well as effective, converting four of 19 shots (21.1 percent) in 19:21 of power play time.  Ovechkin was shut out on shots on goal in two of the three games, but he did go 1-for-3 against Anaheim.  His power play goal was the game winner against the Ducks and was his 20^th power play goal of the season.  It is the second time in his career Ovechkin hit the 20-power play goal mark the first coming when he had 22 in 2007-2008.

Penalty Killing: 14-for-14 / 100.0 percent (season: 81.6 percent / rank: 18th)

The penalty killers shut out their opponents on 14 tries in Week 23, the third time the Caps were perfect for a week this season and first since Week 4.  That three of the teams (those would be the ones in California) were in the bottom ten in power play efficiency overall, and two of them (San Jose and Los Angeles) were bottom ten in home power play should not detract from the effort.

It was a case, though, of the goalie being the best penalty killer.  The Caps stopped all 14 power plays but yielded 36 shots on goal in 26:10 of power play time.  Jaroslav Halak was a perfect 25-for-25 in three games, while Braden Holtby stopped all 11 shots he saw from the San Jose man advantage.

The Caps are continuing to do a decent job in minimizing chances.  They did face five shorthanded situations against Anaheim, but it was only time in their last ten games that they faced more than three.  Washington faced three opponent power plays in the other three games for the week.  Not bad for a team that had at week’s end the sixth most shorthanded situations faced in the league.

Even Strength Goals Scored For/Against: 6-7 (season 5-on-5 GF/GA ratio: 0.89 / rank:T-22nd)

Facing a three of the top six teams in the league in 5-on-5 goals for/goals against ratio and holding them almost to a draw (four scored, five allowed) was something of a victory for the Caps, especially on the road.  It was more a case of goaltending keeping the even strength score close, though.  Opponents outshot the Caps by a 102-90 margin at even strength, Halak and Holtby stopping 95 of those shots (.931 save percentage).  At the other end, it was the third line of Eric Fehr, Joel Ward, and Jason Chimera accounting for four of the six even strength goals for the week, Ward getting two of them, with Fehr and Chimera getting one apiece.

Faceoffs:  117-267 / 43.8 percent (season: 48.7 percent / rank: 23rd)

It was not a good week for the Caps, which is something we have been saying a lot lately.  The Caps have not been over 50 percent since Week 19 and are winning just 43.9 percent of their draws over the past four weeks.  That includes a 43.8 percent performance in Week 23.   It was especially frustrating in the offensive end where the Caps won 42.5 percent of their faceoffs.  Being just one draw under 50 percent in the defensive zone (44-for-90) helped the week, but it was a consistently poor week overall.

This is one area in which the third line did not stand out in a good way.  More to the point, Eric Fehr was below 40 percent in all three zones for the week, 38.5 percent on 13 offensive zone draws, 38.9 percent on 18 defensive zone faceoffs, and 38.9 percent on 18 neutral zone draws.  Jason Chimera and Joel Ward were a combined 3-for-14 for the week (21.4 percent), making the line 34.9 percent for the week overall.

Nicklas Backstrom took the highest share of total draws for the week and won half of them (46-for-92), but he was just 14-for-33 in the offensive zone (42.4 percent).

Goals For/Against by Period:

It was an inside out week for the Caps on the road.  Six first period goals, four in the third period, none in the second.  Perhaps a bit odd for a club that is tied for fifth in second period goals scored.  The good starts served the Caps well.  They scored first in three of the games and won all of them.  It was the third period performance that was more consequential.  Three of the four goals scored in the third period of games either tied the game (in both cases being the goal that sent the game to overtime) or was the game-winner (Ovechkin’s power play goal against Anaheim).  Even Troy Brouwer’s third period goal against Toronto was an empty-net game clincher.

In the End…

It was a fine week for the Caps, even historic in a sense with those five standings points earned in California.  It sets the Caps up as well – better in fact – as can be expected as they head into their last ten games of the regular season.  Unfortunately, that kind of noble performance comes after a lot of iffy ones in their previous 22 weeks.  One hopes that in the end fans will not look back on Week 23 and sigh, thinking that if more of those previous 22 weeks had been played with the level of effort shown in Week 23, even to the point of just one standings point every other week, they would have been making playoff plans over these last ten games.

Washington Capitals: A TWO-point Night -- Game 72: Capitals 3 - Sharks 2 (OT/Gimmick)

It took 7,449 days, but the Washington Capitals finally won their second game at SAP Center in San Jose.  The Caps parlayed two own-goals off San Jose Sharks and a pair of scores in the trick shot competition into a 3-2 win over the Sharks for their first win in San Jose since October 30, 1993.

The odd proceedings got off and running mid-way through the first period on a goal that the official scorer could not settle on in terms of to whom it would be credited.  The play started in the San Jose end when Eric Fehr stripped Logan Couture of the puck at the right wing wall.  Jason Chimera beat Couture to the loose puck and skated it into the corner where he tried to send a pass in front to Joel Ward.  The puck skidded instead to Eric Fehr who snapped a shot at goalie Antti Niemi.  The shot was muffled in front.  Justin Braun tried to clear the puck back up the left side, but as he was doing so teammate Matt Nieto skated into the path of his clearing attempt.  The puck struck Nieto and found its way into the back of the net to give the Caps a 1-0 lead 11:25 into the game.  The goal was credited to Fehr, then to Joel Ward, and back to Fehr again.

That would have been a great way to go into the first intermission.  It would have been, but then again, these are the Caps.  With 15 seconds left in the period, a lot of things went wrong for the Caps in, well, less than 15 seconds.  It started when Jack Hillen could not settle a bouncing puck outside the Caps’ blue line.  It gave Matt Nieto a chance to get a step on Hillen, but Nieto could not control the puck, either.  He did manage to swat it into the corner to goalie Braden Holtby’s right.  Mike Green went to retrieve the puck having to do nothing more than send an indirect pass off the end boards to Hillen on the other side of the net below the goal line. 

Green’s backhand attempt was weak, though, and it was picked off by Nieto before reaching Hillen.  Nieto skated out from behind the Capitals’ cage and took two whacks at the puck.  Holtby defended both but could not cover the puck.  The puck squirted free, and when Green chose to defend Logan Couture cruising through the slot looking for a rebound, he left Patrick Marleau free at the top of the crease.  The puck found its way to Marleau, and before Troy Brouwer could tie him up, Marleau flipped the puck into the open side of the net to tie the game with 5.9 seconds left in the period.

After a scoreless second period, the Caps conjured up the ghosts of games lost in this building.  Jason Chimera tried to send the puck to the Sharks’ net.  His attempt hit the shin pads of James Sheppard and rebounded out into the neutral zone.  Sheppard collected the puck and steamed in on a breakaway.  Sheppard hinted briefly at a backhand aimed over Holtby’s glove, but when Holtby bit, the ruse was revealed.  Sheppard slid the puck between Holtby’s pads along the ice, and the Sharks had a 2-1 lead five minutes into the period.

Then it was time for the hockey gods to make some restitution for years of misfortune for the Caps.  Twelve minutes into the period Tom Wilson skated the puck down the right wing wall into the Sharks’ zone. He was stood up inside the line by defenseman Scott Hannan, who turned to collect the puck in the corner.  Wilson followed up on the play and caught Hannan behind the net, separating him from the puck.  The puck slid away onto the stick of Dustin Penner, who wasted no time sending the puck in front to Chris Brown.  From the edge of the left wing circle Brown wristed the puck at the San Jose net.  The puck was deflected off the leg of Matt Nieto, then off the jersey of Dan Boyle and past Niemi to knot the score at two apiece.

That would be how regulation ended.  After a scoreless overtime in which the Caps outshot the Sharks, 5-0, it went to the freestyle competition.  Evgeny Kuznetsov led things off for the Caps and beat Niemi on a shot that looked almost identical to the one on which he beat Jonathan Quick on Thursday, low over the right pad.   Patrick Marleau tied it up in the top of the third, leaving it up to Nicklas Backstrom.  Skating toward the Shark’s net in an agonizingly slow manner, Backstrom faked Niemi to his knees, then flipped a backhand over his glove to give the Caps a win more than 20 years in the making, 3-2.

Other stuff…

-- The Caps seem finally to have discovered defense.  The two goals allowed to San Jose made it nine straight games in which the Caps allowed three or fewer goals.  Considering the competition, allowing 2.22 goals per game over that stretch is rather remarkable.

-- On the other side, the two goals scored made it seven times in those nine games that the Caps scored three or fewer goals.  Scoring 2.11 goals per game over that span (and being shut out twice) is why the Caps are 5-3-1 in those games.

-- From the official scorer follies file, see if you can figure out what is wrong in this picture (click on it for a larger image)…

-- Chris Brown became the 26^th Capital to record a goal this season.  That is the most to record a goal with the club since they had 28 skaters get goals in the 2010-2011 season.  Brown is the sixth Cap this season to record his first NHL regular season goal.  The others are: Julien Brouillette, Michael Latta, Connor Carrick, Nate Schmidt, and Tom Wilson.

-- The Caps were routed in the faceoff circle, losing 45 of 65 draws (30.8 winning percentage).  They were 5-for-21 in the offensive zone (23.8 percent).  Troy Brouwer was the only Capital to reach the 40 percent winning mark, going 2-for-5 (40 percent).

-- If there was something unusual about this game…ok, if there was something else unusual about this game, it was not that the Sharks out-shot the Caps, 36-25, but rather that the Caps finished virtually even in shot attempts, San Jose registering 61 shot attempts and the Caps finishing with 59.

-- The Caps did allow 11 shots on goal in six minutes of penalty killing time.  Braden Holtby turned all of them away, including all four on a late power play in the third period that could have sealed the deal for the Sharks and kept the Caps’ winless streak in San Jose alive.

-- Speaking of penalty kill, skating off three of three shorthanded situations makes the Caps a perfect 19-for-19 over their last six games.

-- That Ovechkin-Beagle-Johansson line?  It had five shots on goal.  Alex Ovechkin had five shots on goal.  The line had ten shot attempts.  Ovechkin had eight shot attempts.  Does anyone really think this is a good idea?  I mean, other than gentlemen in suits standing behind the Capitals’ bench.

-- Nicklas Backstrom’s star turn in the Gimmick tied him with Alex Ovechkin for the most appearances in the trick shot competition this season (15).  Ovechkin sat this one out, only his second absence from the white carpet in 17 freestyle competitions this season for the Caps and his first when healthy (he was injured in the Caps’ 3-2 Gimmick win against Florida on November 2^nd).

-- Justin Braun had one of the stranger lines on a score sheet you will see for the Sharks.  In almost 20 minutes he had five blocked shots.  That’s it.  No shots, no shot attempts, no penalties, no hits, no turnovers, nothing.  Just five blocked shots.

-- The Caps could almost count this as a win, possession-wise.  In 5-on-5 close score situations the Caps had Corsi-for/Fenwick-for percentages of 49.4/45.3.  In all even strength situations the numbers were 52.0/48.5.

In the end…

Five of six points in California.  Here is how rarely that has happened in Capitals history…

Never.

In no three-game trip to California have the Caps ever won five of six available points.  Chances are that not even the most red-rocked Capitals fan thought this would be the year in which it would happen.  Three of six points, taken on its own merits without the baggage of the Capitals’ precarious playoff situation, would have been viewed as a success. 

Even with the successful western road trip the Caps find themselves jetting back across the country a tiebreaker out of a playoff spot, and the team with which they are tied (Detroit) has two games in hand.  The schedule does not get easier with games against Los Angeles and Boston on the home slate this week, either.

Of immediate concern is Jaroslav Halak’s health (he was a game-day scratch against the Sharks with a lower body injury) and “What’s My Line?” with Alex Ovechkin.  However, what the Caps have done better is win one-goal games, going 4-1-1 in such decisions over their last eight games.  Playing close games and succeeding might serve them well down the stretch. 

It had better.  The schedule will not be kind to them.  Of the eight teams in front of them in the Eastern Conference, four of them within four points of the Caps, Washington plays only Tampa Bay down the stretch, and they do not face the Lightning until the season finale.  The Caps will need help as they head for the season’s finish line, but unless they help themselves to more wins, it won’t matter.  But this win does feel good.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 72: Capitals at Sharks, March 22nd

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals wrap up their California trip with a visit to SAP Center and the San Jose Sharks. Whether called by its original name, the “San Jose Arena,” or by “Compaq Center at San Jose,” or “HP Pavilion at San Jose,” or "SAP Center," the edifice at 525 West Santa Clara Street in San Jose has been nothing less than a house of pain for the Washington Capitals.

The Caps won the first game they ever played in that building, a 4-2 win over the Sharks on October 30, 1993. They must have offended the hockey gods in doing so, for since then the Caps have yet to record their second win in that building. They are 0-11-1 since that lone win and have been outscored, manhandled in fact, by a margin of 46-23.

How long has it been since the Caps won in San Jose? Well, now that you asked…

• Keith Jones and Craig Berube had goals for the Caps in that lone win. They do Flyers things these days.
• Arturs Irbe was the losing goaltender; he would go on to become goaltenders coach for the Caps.
• The video game, “Doom,” was still six weeks from its first release date.
• Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)" was about to become the number one single the following week.
• “The Bridges of Madison County” topped the New York Times best seller list for fiction.
• “Seinfeld” fans had just seen “The Lip Reader” episode for the first time.
• “The Jon Stewart Show” debuted on MTV just five days earlier.
• Stephen Colbert was playing a character named “Chet Davies” in a TV show called “Missing Persons”… you probably remember neither.
• “The Beverly Hillbillies” was the highest grossing film the previous week.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2, after opening the 1993-1994 season with ten straight wins (including a 7-1 win over the Caps).

How bad has it been? Rick Tabaracci was the last netminder to win in San Jose, stopping 25 of 27 shots in a 4-2 win. Since then…

• Jim Carey: 0-2-0, 4.07, .846
• Olaf Kolzig: 0-2-1, 4.92, .839
• Rick Tabaracci: 0-1-0, 2.03, .944
• Craig Billington: 0-1-0, 2.02, .909
• Sebastien Charpentier: 0-1-0, 2.08, .943
• Brent Johnson: 0-1-0, 7.00, .750
• Michal Neuvirth: 0-2-0, 4.01, .869
• Tomas Vokoun: 0-1-0, 4.06, .895

Taken together, that is 0-11-1, 4.02, .868 in 12 games.

Oh, and like the offense has been outstanding? The Caps have 23 goals in 12 games since their last win in San Jose, those goals being spread among 19 different players. Only four Capitals have had as many as two goals scored in that time – Sergei Gonchar, Joe Juneau, Jaromir Jagr, and Alex Ovechkin. Only Jagr among that group has a two-goal game, that coming in a 5-4 loss to the Sharks on March 15, 2002.

And now, the Caps get to try again. This San Jose team is every bit as formidable as those of recent vintage that have wreaked havoc on the Caps. In this game the Sharks will have a chance to reach the 100-point mark for seventh time in the last nine full 82-game seasons. Their .697 standings points percentage ranks second in franchise history to the .713 mark set with the 53-18-11 team that finished with 117 points in 2008-2009. They would seem a lock, having 46 wins with 11 games remaining, to reach the 50-win mark for the fourth time in franchise history.

As if they needed any help against the Caps, the Sharks come into this game on a roll. San Jose has won seven of their last eight games and are 11-2-1 over their last 13 contests. They have the best home record (26-5-4) in the Western Conference, and only Boston (28-7-2) has a earned more points at home in the league.

In winning seven of their last eight games, San Jose outscored their opponents by a 28-16 margin. Their special teams have been uneven in their run, the power play going just 3-for-28 (10.7 percent) over those games, while the penalty kill has been 18-for-21 (85.7 percent) and just had a string of 16 straight kills broken by Anaheim on Thursday.

San Jose features what is now a scary trio of forwards. Of the 28 goals scored by the Sharks over their last eight games, three of them were scored by a line of Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, and Brent Burns. At least two of those three figured together in six other goals. Thornton is 3-7-10 over those eight games, Pavelski is 2-6-8, and Burns is 5-3-8. Thornton (69) and Pavelski (67) each have more than 60 points this season. Add in Patrick Marleau (61 points), and the Sharks are one of just three teams (Chicago and Pittsburgh being the others) featuring three 60-point players.

The Sharks might have a fourth player in that 60-point club, but Logan Couture has missed 16 games with a hand injury that required surgery. As it is, Couture has 46 points in 55 games, a pace that would put him at 59 points had he dressed for all of the Sharks’ games to date.

This quintet has done quite well against the Caps.  Thornton, Pavelski, Burns, Marleau, and Couture have a combined 75 man-games of experience against the Caps and have a scoring line of 27-44-71.

Here is how the teams’ numbers stack up against one another…

1.  Los Angeles squeezes the life out of teams.  San Jose electrocutes them.  They are fourth in the league in 5-on-5 goals scored; they lead the league in goals scored in the first period; only three teams have more wins when scoring first in games than the 33 held by the Sharks.

2.  If the Caps are going to allow shots, the Sharks will be thrilled to accept the gift.  San Jose leads the league in shots on goal per game (34.9) and has the second-best record in the league when outshooting teams.  The Sharks have 33 wins when outshooting opponents; the Caps have outshot opponents a total of 22 times (winning 11 times).

3.  And don’t think about getting the jump on the Sharks.  Only St. Louis (10) and Chicago (7) have fewer multiple goal losses this season than the Sharks (11).

4.  San Jose is a very disciplined team when it comes to the rule book.  No team has taken fewer minor penalties.  Consider that the Sharks have taken 207 minors in 71 games, while the Caps have taken 281 (25^th in the league).  No team has found itself shorthanded less frequently than the Sharks. Again, consider that the Sharks are first with just 187 times shorthanded, while the Caps are 25^th with 253.

5.  From the frying pan into the fire.  The Caps just left the top possession team in the league in the Los Angeles Kings.  On Saturday they face another top-five team in possession metrics.  San Jose sports a Corsi-for percentage that is: fifth overall at even strength (53.5), fifth at 5-on-5 (53.7), and fifth at 5-on-5 close score situations (54.1).  Their Fenwick-for percentages are even better: third at even strength (54.5), third at 5-on-5 (54.7), and third at 5-on-5 close score situations (54.9).

1.  The Caps were 0-for-3 on the power play against Los Angeles on Thursday, making them 11-16-8 in games in which they do not score a power play.  Washington is 0-3-2 in their last five such games.

2.  Jaroslav Halak has allowed two or fewer goals in five of his seven appearances with the Caps and in nine of his last 12 appearances dating back to January 28^th when he pitched a 3-0 shutout at the New Jersey Devils for the St. Louis Blues.

3.  Evgeny Kuznetsov is the tenth Capitals rookie since the 2004-2005 lockout to reach five assists in his rookie season.  Yes, it sounds like a modest number, five assists.  Still, compare it to Mathieu Perreault (five assists in 21 games), Tom Wilson (six in 71 games), or even Marcus Johansson (14 in 69 games) in their rookie seasons, and Kuznetsov is out of the gate pretty fast, having five assists in his first six games.

4.  Washington has allowed 135 goals at 5-on-5 this season.  Of the nine teams having allowed more, only Toronto (139) is currently in the top-eight in in their conference, and the Maple Leafs are looking shaky.

5.  The Caps are going the wrong way on possession.  After finishing with a respectable Corsi-for percentage of 53.7 in 5-on-5 close score situations and a Fenwick-for of 55.7 against the Maple Leafs las Sunday, the Caps have a Corsi-for percentage of 41.0 and a Fenwick-for of 40.9 on their California trip so far and have been outshot in those situations by a margin of 73-52.  That .956 save percentage in those situations has come in handy.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

San Jose: Antti Niemi

He is not spectacular, but he wins.  Since he dropped three in a row back in early December, Antti Niemi is 19-9-0 in 29 appearances in goal and has not lost so much as consecutive games, let alone had a losing streak.  Over those 29 games he has a 2.57 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. Again, not spectacular.  But Niemi has been consistent.  Only five times in those 29 appearances did he allow more than three goals, only once as many as five.  He does not often wow the crowd (two shutouts in those 29 games), but neither does he often disappoint.  He wins, more often than any goalie in the league in fact (35).  He is 4-0-1, 1.75, .938 with one shutout against the Caps in his career.

Washington:  Mike Green

In back-to-back games against Philadelphia earlier this month Mike Green had a goal and four assists.  Since then… crickets.  Green has one goal in his last eight games and is a minus two and has been on ice for five of the 18 goals scored against Washington.  The Caps are 4-3-1 over those eight games, but more of a contribution from Green  the Caps might have another win or so under their belt and would be on the good side of the playoff divide.  Green is 0-1-1 in four games against the Sharks over his career.

Keys:

1.  An Ounce of Prevention.  Given the recent history of these clubs in this building, the first order of business is not to let San Jose get away.  Stay with them, prove you can compete. Keep them out of your net early.

2.  Average Joe.  Joe Thornton is one of the most accomplished set-up men in the recent history of the NHL.  Only one player since the 2005-2006 lockout has played in at least 200 games and has more assists per game than Thornton.  Sidney Crosby has averaged 0.90 assists per game to Thornton’s 0.85.  Hold him below his average, and the Caps have a chance.

3.  When Opportunity Knocks.  San Jose does not spend much time killing penalties.  Plainly put, when they do have to go shorthanded, the Caps have to convert.  This might have to be a 1-for-2 or 2-for-3 power play sort of game for the Caps.

In the end…

Everything that has a beginning has an end.  I see the end coming, I see the darkness spreading.  I see death.

OK, you “Matrix” fans will recognize that quote from The Oracle,” but tonight it applies to the San Jose winning streak against the Caps.  It’s time.

Capitals 3 – Sharks 2

Washington Capitals: A ONE-point Night -- Game 71: Kings 2 - Capitals 1 (OT/Gimmick)

Well, they got one.

There have been games this season in which it could be said, if the Caps miss the playoffs, these will be the points they will regret leaving on the table.  Last night in Los Angeles, though, the Caps erased a 1-0 deficit in the third period to force extra time, thus earning a valuable standings point.  The Caps could not complete the comeback, though, and fell in the freestyle competition to the Kings, 2-1.

The Kings scored first on an odd play.  Justin Williams floated a long pass from inside his own blue line toward Marian Gaborik skating to the Capitals’ blue line.  The puck was too far for Gaborik, but since he had a step on John Carlson, icing was waved off, and Gaborik collected the puck below the Caps goal line.  With Carlson tending to Gaborik, Anze Kopitar filled in behind, and Gaborik found him to goalie Jaroslav Halak’s right.  Kopitar’s shot was a weak one, but Halak was caught somewhere between paying attention to Gaborik and contemplating the magnificence of his new goalie mask.  The puck slithered between his pads, and the Kings had a 1-0 lead 14:09 into the first period.

Given the nature of the Kings’ style of play, this goal very well might have been enough.  It held up through the remainder of the first period and through the second period.  It held up over 12 minutes of the third period.  That is when perseverance paid off for the Caps.  Nicklas Backstrom fed the puck out from the right wing corner to the right point where Evgeny Kuznetsov held it in the zone.  Kuznetsov skated back down the right wing and behind the Kings’ net, popping out on the other side where he found Joel Ward at the edge of the left wing circle.  Ward took one whack at the puck, but that was blocked by Drew Doughty.  The puck came right back to Ward, and his second whack found the back of the net past goalie Jonathan Quick to tie the game. 

Neither team could find the means to break the tie in regulation or overtime, the Caps failing to convert a power play in the extra session on three shots.  That left it to the trick shot competition where, after Kuznetsov and Jeff Carter exchanged goals, Gaborik provided the final margin when he found the back of the net over Halak’s glove.  When Quick gloved down Nicklas Backstrom’s try at the other end, it was the Kings earning the bonus point for the evening.

Other stuff…

-- Alex Ovechkin came into the game having failed to score a goal in Los Angeles in four tries.  He left the building with no goals in five visits to the City of Angels.  He has two goals in his last eight games, picking an unfortunate time to hit a skid.

-- Kuznetsov recorded his fifth assist in six games.  He now ranks 17^th on the club in helpers.  Next up in front of him, Tom Wilson and Dmitry Orlov, with six.

-- The Caps have participated in a league-high 16 trick shot competitions and with this loss are now 8-8 in that phase.  They started the season with four straight wins in the freestyle competition and seven wins in their first nine berths.  However, the Caps have now lost five straight Bettman Follies.  Four of those five losses have been by what are officially recorded as 2-1 scores.

-- You could fault Halak on the Kopitar goal, but it might have been nice if Karl Alzner was quicker to jump up and keep up with Kopitar heading to the net on that one.

-- Chicken and egg time, Caps fans.  Patrick Wey dressed for his fifth game with the club last night.  The Caps are now 4-0-1 in games in which Wey dressed.  More to the point, the Caps have allowed only seven goals in those five games and never more than two.  He skated for 18:31 last night, a career high, if just in five games.  It is a small (to the point of minuscule) sample size, but don’t forget that he comes from four years in one of the highest pedigree of NCAA programs, too.  Whether he can keep it up or not, at least enjoy it in the moment.

-- The challenge for the Caps was to try to hold their own at even strength against one of the elite possession teams so that they could let their power play perhaps make a difference.  Things did not work out that way.  The Kings dominated the Corsi-for and Fenwick-for percentages at even strength (57.8/42.2), 5-on-5 (58.8/41.3), and 5-on-5 close score (55.6/44.4).  The Caps were held to 16 shots on goal at even strength.

-- We don’t think that Staples Center employs an official scorer so much as they use a pinball machine, at least to record hits.  The official score sheet has the Kings out-hitting the Caps, 50-22.  Every King was credited with at least one (well, except goalie Jonathan Quick), the defense being gifted with almost as many (20) as the entire Caps team.

-- With a goal in his fourth straight game, Joel Ward has set a career high for consecutive games with at least one goal.  He accomplished a three-game streak five times previously, one with the Caps earlier this year and four with Nashville.

-- It was a good thing that Ward came through when he did.  He and his usual running mates on what was the third line (we use that syntax because lines were all over the place at times last night) had a quiet night to that point.  Ward’s goal came on his only shot on goal for the game, while Jason Chimera had one shot, and Eric Fehr was shut out.

-- Nicklas Backstrom recorded an assist for his fourth straight game.  Since January 31^st, Backstrom is 2-17-19 in 17 games.  He is also minus-8, so there is that (he was “even” last night).

-- The Caps are now 0-22-5 when scoring two or fewer goals.  All five extra-time losses have come via the Gimmick.

In the end…

If the Caps squeak into the playoffs by a point, this might be the point upon which they will gaze and think, “yup, this was the one.”  The Kings pretty much had the Caps were they might have wanted them, down a goal and struggling to sustain any offensive momentum.  It would have been easy to counter punch, let the Caps start taking chances late, and take advantage of opportunities or perhaps pot an empty netter late. 

Some teams can play that way, and the Kings are one of them.  But Joel Ward put an end to that.  He might not be the Caps’ MVP this season, but he is in the room for the discussion.  He has been particularly strong of late.  The Caps will need that as they head to their own House of Doom in San Jose, where they have not won since October 1993.  Ward will not be enough, though.  Now, the big guns have to be heard from, too.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 71: Capitals at Kings, March 20th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

It is one down and two to go for the Washington Capitals on their California road trip, and that means a visit to Staples Center in Los Angeles to visit the Kings.  The Kings have been a nuisance to the Caps for quite some time.  Since the Caps won four in a row against this franchise back in the early 1990’s, they are 5-15-3 in their last 23 meetings dating back to October 1995.  All of the wins were of the one-goal variety, while seven of the losses came by three or more goals.  This is a team against which the Caps have a long recent history of struggle.

This more recent vintage of the Kings was riding quite high just a week or so ago with an eight game winning streak.  However, the Toronto Maple Leafs ended that streak a week ago, and the Kings are now on a three-game losing streak since, dropping one-goal decisions to the Maple Leafs, the Anaheim Ducks, and the Phoenix Coyotes. 

The Kings are a club that lives and dies by their goals allowed.  When allowing two or fewer goals they are 34-5-3.  However, when allowing more than two goals in a game they are 4-20-3.  It really is a thin margin.  In seven of the eight games of their recent winning streak they held teams to two or fewer goals, while in two of the three games of their losing streak since they allowed more than two goals.

Goals allowed being such a prominent factor in the Kings’ success, that brings us to defense.  It starts with Jonathan Quick in goal.  Quick is fourth in the league in goals against average (2.10) but just tied for 20^th in save percentage (.914).  Why the disparity?  No goalie among all those qualifying among the goals against average leaders has faced fewer shots per 60 minutes than Jonathan Quick (24.5).  Only twice this season had Quick faced more than 30 shots in a game, only once in his last 32 appearances.  He performed well in those games, winning one and losing in a shootout in the other (.957 aggregate save percentage), but he does not as a rule get a heavy workload.  Quick is 2-0-0, 2.50, .931 in two career appearances against the Capitals.

Offense has been something of an issue for the Kings, well managed because of their impressive defense and goaltending.  The fact remains that Los Angeles scored more than three goals in a game only once in their last nine games, only twice in their last 21 games.  It is not a team that displays a lot of offensive firepower.  Only six players have reached the double digit mark in goals. 

An odd part about the Kings’ offense is that of the 13 players having hit the double digit mark in points this season, five of them are defensemen.  Three of them – Drew Doughty, Slava Voynov, and Jake Muzzin – have 20 or more points.  Voynov has been having an especially noteworthy year in the context of his career development.  In this, his third year in the NHL he has set career highs in games played (69), assists (24), and points (27).  He has four assists in his last six games, although what he has been lacking in lately is goals.  He has not scored a goal of his own since November 14^th against the New York Islanders, a streak of 50 games.

At forward, Anze Kopitar might be among the top five forwards in the league.  On an offensively challenged team he still has more than 20 goals (21), more than 50 points (57), and a plus-minus above 20 (plus-24).  No player has a higher Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5  (61.1) than Kopitar, and he is second in Fenwick-for percentage at 5-on-5 among all skaters.  He has a knack of tilting the ice so that the Kings have more shots on goal than opponents, reflected in his shots-for percentage of 59.8 percent, tops in the league.  Put another way, the Kings have almost 200 more shots on goal when he is on the ice than opponents at 5-on-5 (579 to 390). 

Here is how the teams compare overall…

1.  The Kings are possession maniacs.  Kopitar is not the only Kings player who dominates the shots for/against percentages.  He, Justin Williams, Jake Muzzin, Dwight King, and Dustin Brown rank in the top-12 in shots-for percentage at 5-on-5.  That is a product of the Kings leading the league in Corsi-for and Fenwick-for percentages. 

2.  The Kings are the only team in the league to have allowed fewer than 50 goals in each of the first (45), second (48), and third (49) periods of games this season.

3.  Scoring at 5-on-5 against this team is no mean feat.  The Kings are allowing just 1.28 goals per game at 5-on-5, best in the league.  On the other hand, the Kings are scoring 1.52 goals per game at 5-on-5, second worst in the league.

4.  Something that seems unexpected for a team that depends so much on defense and low scoring games is that the Kings have had the third highest number of shorthanded situations faced this season, and their penalty killers are good (83.0 percent; 11^th in the league), but not extraordinary.  Only six teams have allowed more power play goals than the Kings.

5.  For what it is worth, here is an odd juxtaposition of real time statistics.  The Kings are second in the league in hits credited at home.  They are next to last in blocked shots in home games.  And, they have a staggering (to the point of stretching credulity) ratio of giveaways-to-takeaways of 4.30:1 at home, not what one would expect for a team that keeps the barn doors closed in their end of the ice.

1.  The Caps have enjoyed the third highest number of power play opportunities on the road this season (120).  Only Pittsburgh (127) and Florida (128)…Florida?!...have more.

2.  Only five teams have allowed more first period goals than the Caps (62).  Not that it seems to matter a lot.  The Caps do not do so well when leading after one period, relatively speaking.  They have the sixth worst record in the league when leading after 20 minutes.

3.  Only Toronto (56) and Buffalo (54) have been out-shot in games more than the Caps (46) this season.  That the Caps are 21^st in winning percentage when out-shot says something about why they are on the outside looking in at a playoff spot.

4.  Three teams this season have more bench penalties than the eight the Caps have, twice as many as the Caps had in 48 games last season.  Only nine had fewer bench minors last season.

5.  So, the Caps have played one more game than the Kings.  However, despite skating more than 100 more minutes at 5-on-5 this season, the Caps have more than 100 fewer shots on goal at 5-on-5 than the offensively challenged Kings (1,536 to 1,651).  They have allowed almost 400 more shots on goal at fives (1,719 to 1,341). 

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Los Angeles: Tyler Toffoli

Who?  OK, so you might not get to see the late games from the west coast that often, but the second-year center from Scarborough, Ontario, has 25 points in 49 games this season for the Kings, a respectable number given this team’s overall offensive production.  He has been providing some production from down the roster with his 2-6-7 over his last 12 games.  It might not sound like a lot, but it is more than the 2-2-4 of Mike Richards over 12 games, and it looks a lot like the 3-4-7 of Justin Williams over his last 12 games.  He has never faced Washington.

Washington:  Dustin Penner

Dustin Penner heads into Game Two of his “Former Team Road Show” still looking for his first goal with the Caps in what will be his ninth game with the club.  Penner is still in search of a consistent role other than just “left wing.”  Is he a top-six contributor or a bottom-six grinder?  Does he get power play time, or is he expected to contribute at even strength?  He is averaging two fewer minutes of ice time with the Caps (13:13) than he did with Anaheim (15:15) before his trade to Washington.  He has spent most of his 5-on-5 time so far with Troy Brouwer (52:30) and Marcus Johansson (40:04), suggesting that the preferred fit is as a second line contributor.  However, he has just nine shots on goal in eight games with the Caps so far, a hint that he just has not found a way to mesh with his new teammates/linemates yet.  It needs to happen soon.

Keys:

1.  Get to 30.  Jonathan Quick is not the best manager of high shot volumes.  Over the last two seasons, Quick is 2-7-3 when facing 30 or more shots with a goals against average of 2.79 and a save percentage of .916.  Compare that to his 2.16 goals against average when facing fewer than 30 shots over the past two seasons.  Is save percentage in those low-shot games is actually lower (.906), but the point is that he is more or less a consistent puck-stopper regardless of shot volumes.  Find a way to put more shots on goal, he does not generally ramp up his game in terms of save percentage that much.

2.  Demonic Possession.  Those shot volumes are not going to generate themselves.  The Caps will be facing an elite possession team.  They have to battle here…hard.  If this ends up being another passive game where the Caps are the ones allowing high shot volumes, this is not going to end well.

3.  First Line First.  The Caps have gotten away with some less-than-elite performances from their top line lately, especially at even strength, and specifically from Alex Ovechkin.  Going into the last dozen games of the season, he needs to be at the top of his game.

In the end...

This is the game that could make for a successful road trip, and not just because a lot of folks think the Caps have next to no chance to win in San Jose on Saturday, given their history there.  A win here, over a team with the sort of defense-first, grind-you-down style of the Kings, a team with a Stanley Cup pedigree that is built for the post-season, and the Caps look like a team that might have a fighting chance for a playoff spot after all.  Add to that the fact that the Caps could be among the playoff qualifiers if they win this game, and Columbus loses to Montreal earlier in the evening, and it should be motivation enough.

Capitals 3 – Kings 2

Washington Capitals: A TWO-point Night -- Game 70: Capitals 3 - Ducks 2

One thing the Caps have had little experience in this season is a goaltender stealing a game for them.  One could say that is what the Washington Capitals got last night as the Caps, behind Jaroslav Halak’s 43 saves and Alex Ovechkin’s third period power play goal, defeated the Anaheim Ducks, 3-2, at Honda Center.

The game started good – and bad – for the Caps early on.  Joel Ward scored just 2:11 into the game.  Ward put on a clinic on absorbing abuse to make a play.  As the Capitals were moving the puck deep along the perimeter Ward was fighting through defenseman Bryan Allen to set up in front of goalie Jonas Hiller, where he then took several cross-checks to the back by defenseman Stephane Robidas.  The puck went out to Mike Green, who threw it at the net.  The shot was blocked by Nick Bonino, but not recovered by the Ducks.  Jason Chimera got a whack at it, but his shot hit Ward.  When Chimera took another swipe at it, the puck squirted to the side of the net to Hiller’s left.  By this time Ward was left alone, Robidas having drifted to the other side to cover Eric Fehr moving to the net.  Ward pulled the loose puck away from Hiller and wristed it into the net behind him to give the Caps a 1-0 lead.

That lead lasted 59 seconds.  Ben Lovejoy evened the scored when the Caps got caught up in some confusion at the players’ benches.  The Caps got caught in both a slow line change and in paying a little too much attention to what they thought was a slower one by the Ducks that resulted in too many men on the ice.  While that penalty was not being called, Lovejoy took a pass and moved the puck to Andrew Cogliano at the Capitals’ blue line. Cogliano taook a stride into the zone and dropped the puck for Lovejoy who ripped a one timer under the left arm of Halak to tie the game.

That might have been how the game went into the first intermission, but Saku Koivu took an interference penalty just 31 seconds before the break.  It was enough to give the Caps an opening.  The Caps worked the puck around the Ducks’ box – Carlson at the line to Backstrom on the half wall, back to Carlson, then over to Alex Ovechkin in the left wing circle.  Ovechkin moved it all the way through to Backstrom on the other side, who stepped in and wristed a shot from the right wing faceoff dot.  Hiller made the save, but did not control the rebound.  The puck came out to his right where Troy Brouwer was all alone to backhand it past Hiller and give the Caps a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.

That score stood up until the third period, largely due to Halak’s stopping all 15 shots he saw in the second period.  But less than two minutes into the third period an old Cap struck. As a power play was expiring, the Ducks moved the puck around the top of their power play formation, eventually finding Mathieu Perreault circling around the top of the right wing circle. Perreault moved up and wristed the puck past Halak, who was screened by Patrick Maroon.

The Caps then turned the tables on the Ducks, taking the lead back just 1:12 later on a power play.  With Matt Beleskey off for slashing, the Caps took care of business off the next faceoff.  Troy Brouwer won the draw back to John Carlson, who did a good job keeping the puck in the zone.  Carlson slid the puck to Nicklas Backstrom at the right wing wall, and Backstrom returned it to Carlson.  At the top of the zone Carlson showed slap shot but sent a slap pass to Alex Ovechkin low in the left wing circle.  Ovechkin fired the one timer before Jonas Hiller had a chance to get across, and the Caps had their lead back.

After that it was in the hands of Halak.  The Ducks managed 16 shots after the Ovechkin goal, but Halak stopped them all, and the Caps had their 3-2 win to open their California trip.

Other stuff…

-- The win was the Caps’ fourth straight at Honda Center, three of them one-goal decisions.

-- The power play goal by Ovechkin was his 20^th, the third time in his career he hit the 20 power play goal mark and first since he had 22 in 2007-2008.

-- Brouwer’s power play goal was his 11^th making it more than the combined total of his previous two years with the Caps (10).

--  The 15:30 skated by Ovechkin was his low for the season and his lightest skating load since he took 15:03 in ice time on December 20, 2011 against Nashville in the early Dale Hunter coaching days.  That was a product of his getting only 13:01 in even strength ice time, less than his new linemate Jay Beagle, who had 13:33.

-- Halak has faced more than 40 shots twice this season, both with the Caps, both wins, saving 81 of 86 shots against Vancouver and last night against the Ducks.

-- With two assists, Nicklas Backstrom had his 13^th multi-assist game of the season, just his fifth on the road.

-- The two power play goals made it two games in a row with two power play goals, power play goals in three straight games and five of their last six.  Over their last 11 games the Caps are 14-for-35 on the power play (40.0 percent).

-- Halak was 12-for-12 stopping shots on the power play, although the Perreault goal might as well have been one as it was scored just as a penalty was expiring.

-- Jay Beagle celebrated his elevation to the Ovechkin line with three minor penalties, a season high in minor penalties and penalty minutes (six), and the first time he has taken three minors in a game since he did it in a March 13, 2012 game against the New York Islanders.

-- Joel Ward has goals in three straight games, matching his longest streak of the season, three games from January 30^th through February 2^nd.

-- Jason Chimera picked up an assist.  He has seven helpers in his last ten games.

-- Patrick Wey recorded an assist, too.  That makes three straight games in which he has one, although more than a month passed since his last assist, that coming in a 3-0 win over New Jersey on February 8^th.

-- The loss was Anaheim’s fourth straight at home ((0-2-2).

In the end…

A great start to the California portion of this brutal March schedule.  The Caps played the Ducks hard, although the shot totals were not what one might have liked to see.  That being the case, Jaroslav Halak was up to the challenge, which left the Caps to play to their strength at the other end – the power play.  It was enough for the win.  However, now it gets tougher.  Los Angeles and San Jose have not been as accommodating as Anaheim as hosts.  But getting a good start before those tests can’t hurt.