Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 15

Week 15 seems like a long time ago, the Washington Capitals having been missed from competition since last Tuesday due to Winter Storm Jonah and the several feet of snow it left that postponed Friday night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks (and, as it turned out, Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins).  It was another successful week, nonetheless, another week in the Caps almost uninterrupted winning momentum.

Record: 2-0-0

Week 15 was the sixth perfect week out of 15 this season for the Caps.  It was the seventh in which they did not lose a game in regulation.  The Caps finished the week 16 points clear of the New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division and 14 points ahead of the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference.  In defeating two Metropolitan Division rivals in the New York Rangers and the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Caps reached the 11-win mark against divisional opponents.  They finished the week as the only team in the league with double-digit win totals against two different divisions, 16-3-0 against the Atlantic Division and 11-3-1 against the Metropolitan Division.

Offense:  5.50/game (season: 3.33 /game; rank: 1st)

A two-game week is a light week, workload-wise, but an 11-goal week looked a lot like a full week’s worth of output.  With the Caps lighting up the Rangers for five goals and the Blue Jackets for six, the Caps now have 12 games this season in which they scored five or more goals.  They had 13 all of last season (not including Gimmick results).  The Caps lead the league in games with five or more goals scored. 

Individually, the scoring was a bit clustered, but that might be more a function of the 11 goals coming over just two games.  There were guys who were hot.  Six Capitals shared the 11 goals, Justin Williams leading the way with three goals, all of them recorded in a hat trick against the Rangers to start the week. Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Marcus Johansson each had a pair of goals.  Twelve different Caps recorded points for the week, seven of them with multi-point weeks.  Evgeny Kuznetsov led the team with six points, all of them assists, including four in the 6-3 win over Columbus.  Williams finished the week with five points (3-2-5).

Defense: 2.50/game (season: 2.15 /game; rank:1st)

Another week, another week of not allowing more than three goals in a game.  This despite allowing the Rangers 33 shots on goal and the Blue Jackets35 shots on goal.  What looked like a good start to the new calendar year in that regard – opening January with a pair of sub-30 shots against games – has slipped some.  The two games over 30 shots allowed make it five in their last seven in which the Caps have allowed 30 or more shots to opponents.  It was not really much of a score-effect result, either.  The Caps allowed 24 of the Rangers’ 33 shots over the first two periods, after which they held just a 3-2 lead.  They allowed Columbus double-digit shot totals in each of the three periods of the 6-3 win.

If you’re looking at individuals, the Matt Kiskanen/Karl Alzner defensive pair was on ice for three of the five goals against for the week, two of them at 5-on-5, one while shorthanded.  Taylor Chorney and Ryan Stanton were on ice for two goals, both at even strength against Columbus.  Among the forwards, it was Jason Chimera and Tom Wilson on ice for most goals against, with three apiece.

It was not an especially good week, possession-wise.  The Caps were 84 shot attempts to the good, 97 to the bad at 5-on-5, a Corsi-for of 46.4 percent overall.  That was a disappointment after posting a plus-50 percent Corsi-for in each of their previous three games and 55.9 percent overall.  It was not any better in close score situations, where the Caps were 40.7 over the two games (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

Goaltending: 2.50 /.926 (season: 2.04 / .929 / 2 shutouts)

As Braden Holtby finished Week 14, so did he start Week 15 – relieved by Philipp Grubauer.  Late in the second period of the Caps 5-2 win over the New York Rangers, Holtby took himself out of the contest with what was later described as symptoms of dehydration.  Grubauer slammed the door in his unplanned stint, stopping all 11 shots he faced in 22 minutes and change of work.

Holtby returned to the ice to face Columbus in the second game of the week, and while he was not quite as sharp as fans have come to expect of him this season, he played well enough to keep the game from ever being in much doubt.  It left him in the unaccustomed position of finishing a week with a personal goals against average over 3.00 (3.07 to be exact) and a sub-.920 save percentage (.912).

For Grubauer it was another case of filling in the gaps in expert fashion.  With his 11-for-11 effort against the Rangers, he is 3-1-0, 1.36, .955 over his last six appearances.

Power Play: 4-for-6 / 66.7 percent (season: 27.1 percent; rank: 1st)

“Cool efficiency “ does not describe the Capitals’ power play in Week 15.  “White-hot efficiency” seems a more apt description.  Four power play goals on just six power play chances in two games.  It was quite an eruption for a team that finished Week 14 with their first consecutive games without a power play goal in the 2016 portion of the season. 

Three Caps divided up the four goals, Alex Ovechkin recording a pair, and Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson each recording one.  Evgeny Kuznetsov and Matt Niskanen each finished the week with three power play assists.

It is part of an important change in deployment the Caps have used recently, involving the movement of the forward occupying the goal line extended to the goalie’s left to a position at the top of the crease.  The move appears to have created a headache for defensemen trying to decide whether to cheat and lean toward Ovechkin in the left wing circle, or pay sufficient attention to the man at the top of the crease who is in position to redirect a centering pass, precisely what happened on the power play goals by Johansson against the Rangers and Backstrom against the Blue Jackets.  If you factor in that Ovechkin had the other two power play goals, the Caps seem to have given opponents a whole new scenario to give them fits.

It was not an especially efficient week from a shooting perspective, the Caps managing seven shots on goal in 8:31 of power play time (0.82 shots per minute).  But their shots were of such high-quality that it hardly mattered.  The Caps are still at least a step ahead over their opponents in this regard.

Penalty Killing: 6-for-7 / 85.7 percent (season: 84.9 percent; rank: 6th)

It was a pretty good week for the Caps on the penalty kill, posting a mark over 85 percent after dropping under that threshold in Week 14.  It was a very uneven week, though.  Against the Rangers to open the week the Caps did a fine job a man short, holding the Rangers to four shots on four power plays over 7:40 in power play time.  Against the Blue Jackets, the Caps – Braden Holtby, specifically – found themselves in a shooting gallery.  Columbus recorded ten shots on goal (scoring once) in 4:20 of power play ice time (2.30 shots per minute).  Still, it is results that count, at least in the context of a single week, and one goal in seven chances is a decent result.

Faceoffs: 71-for-134 / 53.0 percent (season: 50.2% / rank: 13th)

It was a good week overall in the circle for the Caps, divided into a very good start and a less than good finish.  The Caps dominated the Rangers in the opening game of the week, winning 42 of 71 draws (59.2 percent).  They went just 29 for 63 against the Blue Jackets in the second game of the week.  The Caps were consistent across the zones for the week, winning 53.5 percent of their offensive zone draws, 52.0 percent of faceoffs in the defensive end, and winning 53.7 percent of faceoffs taken in neutral ice.

On an individual level, it was the new guy who impressed most.  Mike Richards won 22 of 34 faceoffs (64.7 percent), going over 50 percent in all three zones.  The surprise was Evgeny Kuznetsov being the only other Capital taking at least ten draws to finish the week over 50 percent, going 16 for 29 (55.2 percent).

Goals by Period:

The Caps won every period and won the week by period.  By the end of the week they remained the only team in the league with double-digit goal differentials in each of the three periods of games, and they enjoyed better than plus-20 goal differentials in the second (plus-21) and third (plus-21) periods of games.

If there was a smudge on the record in Week 15, it was the manner in which the two goals against were scored in the first periods of games.  In both games for the week the Caps allowed the first goal.  The good part of that was that it was the only goal either the Rangers or the Blue Jackets would score in the opening frame.

In the end…

With two wins in Week 15, the Caps reached the 35-win mark.  That ranks 26^th in wins for a season in team history, which might not sound like much, given that this is the Caps’ 41^st season.   But that is after just 46 games.  Their points percentage (.793) is unmatched in club history, not even by the 2009-2010 Presidents Trophy winners that posted a 54-15-13 mark for 121 points (.738 points percentage.  This club is on a pace to finish with 130 points.

Will they finish with such an impressive total of standings points?  Who knows?  Injuries, slumps, the odd snow storm could pierce the momentum the Caps established and sustained over the first 46 games of the season, but one reason that they have been able to sustain that momentum is that they show no inclination but to take each game – each week – at a time.  Week 15 was an example of that.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Justin Williams (3-2-5, plus-5, eight shot attempts, six shots on goal
• Second Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (0-6-6, 55.2 percent faceoffs)
• Third Star: Matt Niskanen (0-3-3, plus-1, 11 shot attempts, eight shots on goal, almost 27 minutes average ice time)

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 47: Ducks at Capitals, January 22nd

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals have been a perfect storm of offense, defense, and goaltending this season, inflicting blizzard conditions on opponents across North America.  It just seems fitting that the Capitals will host a hockey game as an historic storm winds up literally over their heads.  As Winter Storm Jonas unleashes its fury on the Washington metropolitan area, the Capitals will be looking to unleash their own brand of fury on the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.

The Capitals come into this game as winners in seven of their last eight contests and face an Anaheim team that has won four of their last six games, each of their losses suffered by a single goal.  The Ducks, on many preseason short lists as a bona fide contender to reach the Stanley Cup final out of the Western Conference, has struggled throughout the season.  The source of their problems has been entirely unexpected.  Bruce Boudreau, who was behind the Capitals bench in 2009-2010 when they posted the highest goals per game average for a season (3.82) since the 1995-1996 season, has presided over an offense that is the only one in the NHL to average less than two goals per game (1.98 to be precise).

Anaheim has been a bit more productive lately, outscoring their opponents by a 17-12 margin over their last six games.  It has been a product of better 5-on-5 performance.  The Ducks outscored opponents, 13-9, at fives, quite an improvement over their 43 goals for and 64 against (minus-21) in their first 39 games (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

Individually, Jakob Silfverberg leads the Ducks in scoring over their last six games, recording seven points on three goals and four assists.  He is typical of a team that has struggled over the first 35-40 games but lifted their game a bit recently.  Over his first 39 games this season he was 3-3-6, but over his last six games he more than doubled his offensive production to date.  Silfverberg is still well behind his scoring pace of last season when he was 13-26-39 (all career bests) in 81 games.  In seven career games against Washington, he is 1-2-3, even.

A player who has gone a bit sideways over the last six games, at least in his offensive production, is defenseman Sami Vatanen.  The four year veteran leads the Duck defensemen in goals (6), assists (16), and points (22), but in his last six games he is just 1-1-2.  Vatanen has not exactly lit it up on the road this season.  He is 2-4-6, minus-3, in 19 road games.  He does not have a point in two career games against the Caps.

Corey Perry is the other Duck with three goals over their last six contests.  Perry, a 50-goal scorer in 2010-2011 when he won the Richard and Hart Trophies, has settled into being a goal scorer who can reliably score at a 40-or-so goal rate per 82 games.  Since his 50-goal season he has averaged 38.7 goals per 82 games.  He is a bit off that pace this season with 17 goals in 45 games, and that is a product of low road production.  Perry has just two goals in 19 road games.  He is 5-8-13, even, in 11 career games against Washington.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

1.  Only one Duck having appeared in more than 20 games this season is a “plus” player.  Defenseman Josh Manson is plus-1 in 35 games.  Six Ducks are double-digit minus players, including Carl Hagelin, since traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

2.  As tough as the Ducks have found it to score goals, they do not give opponents many opportunities.  They are allowing the third-fewest shots on goal per game in the league (27.2).  What it not as impressive is how they have turned low shot volumes into low goal totals.  While the Ducks are sixth in the league in scoring defense (2.31 goals/game) they are allowing opponents an 8.5 shooting percentage, 13^th in the league overall.

3.  This will be the first road game for the Ducks in three weeks.  They beat the Canucks in Vancouver on New Year’s Day, 2-1, in a Gimmick.  They have allowed only one goal in their last three road games.  Then again, they have scored only three goals in the hockey portion of those three games, preceding their win in Vancouver with a pair of wins in Alberta, a 1-0 win over Calgary and a 1-0 win over Edmonton.

4.  Anaheim plays with a large chip on its collective shoulder.  The Ducks are tied for the league lead in fighting majors (27, with Columbus), far ahead of the third-place team (Philadelphia: 21).

5.  While Anaheim has been unproductive on offense, it has not been a function of poor possession numbers.  They have been a superior road team in this regard, fourth overall in the league in Corsi-for percentage (52.1), fifth in score-adjusted Corsi (52.7), and second in close score situations (52.4).

1.  The kids like playing in their own back yard.  The leaders this season in 5-on-5 points per 60 minutes at Verizon Center are Evgeny Kuznetsov (2.53), Marcus Johansson (2.14) and Andre Burakovsky (1.95; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

2.  T.J. Oshie has a knack for drawing penalties at home.  At 5-on-5 this season he leads the team with a plus-6 in penalty differential (drawn versus taken; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

3.  The Caps lead the league in PDO at 5-on-5 (102.5, shooting plus save percentages).  Now ask yourself, is the on-ice shooting percentage sustainable (8.9, second in the league), is the on-ice save percentage sustainable (93.6, third in the league), is it both, or is it neither (numbers from war-on-ice.com)?

4.  The Caps have one bench minor penalty this season so far.  Only the New York Rangers are without one.  Little things from which big things might be built.

5.  The Caps are an unremarkable team in their possession numbers at home: 51.9 percent Corsi-for overall at 5-on-5 (15^th), 52.2 percent in score-adjusted Corsi (10^th), and 51.8 percent in close score situations (12^th).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Anaheim: Ryan Getzlaf

So far this season, 797 skaters have dressed for NHL games.  Of that number, 343 of them have more goals than Ryan Getzlaf through Wednesday’s games.  Of that number, 535 skaters have a shooting percentage better than Getzlaf’s 3.6.  Three goals on 84 shots on goal was not likely to be a feature of the Anaheim plan for this season.  He does have two of those three goals on the road, though, but he has yet to light the lamp in the 2016 portion of the season.  This is a player who averaged 24.0 goals per 82 games over his career coming into this season, and he is only 30 years old, just four months older than Alex Ovechkin.  It is hard to think this is a late-career decline on Getzlaf’s part, merely an extended run of poor shooting luck.  One only hopes he does not find a cure in Washington.  In 10 career games against the Caps he is 3-7-10, minus-1.

Washington:  Andre Burakovsky

This has been a season of challenges for Andre Burakovsky, but he is showing signs of emerging from the funk that permeated his game over the first half of the season.  In his last five games he is 1-6-7, plus-5, with three two-assist games (his total of two-assist games for the season).  He has shown himself to be an adept playmaker, which leaves his shooting as an aspect of his game to keep an eye on.  Not so much for the results (even of more would be nice) as the attempts.  Burakovsky has a total of eight shots on goal in his last seven games, and his shooting frequency (1.16 shots on goal per game) is a bit off from last season (1.23).  His next assist, however, would tie the total he has last season in 53 games.  Burakovsky recorded two of his nine goals last season, including the game-winning goal, in the Caps’ 5-3 win in Anaheim over the Ducks.  It was his only two-goal game last season and his only such game thus far in his two-year career.

In the end…

History will be made outside the arena on Friday evening as Washington is slowly buried under a blanket of snow.  It is a metaphor for the Caps’ season, the team being able to slowly and methodically bury opponents with goals from a deep offense and use an oppressive defense and goaltending to silence them at the other end of the ice.  The Ducks are a team for which being on the road will be a bit of a novelty, this being their first road game in three weeks, and there are the travel distractions that will test their focus (they are scheduled to play in Detroit on Saturday).  There is every reason to think that Caps fans braving the elements will be rewarded for their fortitude.

Capitals 3 – Ducks 1

Washington Capitals Recap: A TWO-Point Night: Capitals 6 - Blue Jackets 3

The Washington Capitals went into their contest with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night having demonstrated that they can win close, low scoring games, posting 10 of their 34 wins when scoring two or fewer goals in a game.  At Nationwide Arena the Caps demonstrated that trading scoring chances is not much better a strategy for opponents.  The Caps spotted the Blue Jackets the game’s first goal, then came storming back to post a 6-3 win over Columbus.

The Blue Jackets got that first score on Kerby Rychel’s first NHL goal in the game’s tenth minute, converting a goal-mouth feed from William Karlsson on a 2-on-1 break.  If that gave the home team fans the hope that their charges would make it a hard night on the Caps, that hope was dimmed somewhat less than three minutes later.  The Caps pushed the Blue Jacket defense back with a three-man rush though the neutral zone, Alex Ovechkin carrying the puck down the left side.  Gaining the offensive zone, Ovechkin slid the puck to T.J. Oshie filling in the middle, and Oshie wired it to Nicklas Backstrom cutting in from the right.  Backstrom snapped a shot past goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, and the game was tied.

Less than four minutes later the Caps took the lead for good.  Pressuring the Blue Jackets in their own end, Tom Wilson forced Justin Falk into a turnover from the right wing wall.  Falk sent the puck through the middle, where it was picked off by Marcus Johansson.   As Dalton Prout slid over to disrupt Johansson’s progress, Johansson fed Jason Chimera filling in the space Prout vacated.  Chimera fired a dart past Bobrovsky, and it was 2-1 at the 15:52 mark.

That would be how the teams went to the first intermission, but the score did not stay that way long after.  After Falk was sent off on a double-minor for high sticking Johansson, the Caps scored a pair of power play goals.  Alex Ovechkin got his 28^th goal of the season, converting a splendid cross-ice pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov on a one-timer past Bobrovsky from the left wing circle.  Less than two minutes later, Backstrom recorded his second of the game when he settled at the top of the crease and tipped in a feed from Kuznetsov past Bobrovsky’s right pad to make it 4-1 at the 4:47 mark.

Columbus got back within a pair on a power play of their own, Boone Jenner pounding in a rebound of his own shot from the top of the crease past goalie Braden Holtby.  Less than a minute later the lead was three goals once more, though.  Justin Williams gathered the puck at his own blue line and fed it up to Kuznetsov skating through center ice.  Kuznetsov relayed it to Andre Burakovsky skating down the left side.  With Kuznetsov continuing on toward the net, Burakovsky cut behind him and shot the puck through a maze of bodies past Bobrovsky to make it 5-2 with 10:25 gone in the second period.

The second period ended that way.  Columbus inched within a pair one more time when Ryan Murray took advantage of Holtby losing track of the puck and stepped up to backhand it past Holtby’s left elbow at the 5:07 mark.  That would be a close as the Blue Jackets would get.  Marcus Johansson scored an empty net goal with 33 seconds left for the final 6-3 margin.

Other stuff…

-- The Caps had trouble getting started in each of the first two periods.  Columbus out-attempted the Caps, 12-1 (six shots, six attempt blocked) in the first 4:48 of the game.  The Blue Jackets out-attempted the Caps by an 8-2 margin to start the second period (four shots, three shots blocked, one miss) before Justin Falk took his double minor on which the Caps scored two goals.

-- This was the 12^th time in 46 games that the Caps recorded five or more goals.  Last season they did it 13 times in 82 games (not including Gimmick goals).

--  With a four-assist night, this was the third game this season that Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded three or more assists (tied for most in the league with Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson) and seventh time he finished a contest with three or more points (tied for most in the league with Patrick Kane and Taylor Hall, pending results of Tuesday night).  Pending results of other games, he is now third in the league in assists (33).

--  Ryan Stanton got his first game as a Capital in this one, and it was not an auspicious debut.  He was on ice for two goals against, and it was after his penalty in the second period that the Blue Jackets scored a power play goal.

-- Alex Ovechkin recorded an assist on the first goal by Nicklas Backstrom.  It broke a 14-game streak without a helper.

-- Marcus Johansson’s empty net goal made it three straight games with a goal and points in ten of his last 14 games (8-7-15).

-- After taking a puck off his left hand that needed some attention, Jason Chimera scored his 13^th goal of the season and broke a five-game streak without one.  He has now alternated points and non-points games over his last nine contests (3-4-7).

-- The Caps had five players finish with multi-point games: Kuznetsov (0-4-4), Backstrom (2-0-2), Johansson (1-1-2), Matt Niskanen (0-2-2), and Alex Ovechkin (1-1-2).

-- This was the Caps’ second straight game with two power play goals and their fourth such game over their last nine contests.   In January, the Caps are 10-for-29 on the power play (34.5 percent).

-- Braden Holtby finished the game in goal.  He had been relieved for performance against Buffalo last Saturday, then left early due to dehydration symptoms on Sunday.  He was not quite as sharp as he has been over the last two months, but he was good enough to earn his 30^th win.  It is the tenth 30-win season for goalies in Caps franchise history and Holtby’s second, tying Jose Theodore for second in 30-win seasons in franchise history.  Olaf Kolzig had five such seasons.  Jim Carey had the other.

In the end…

Well, it was not a one-goal game.  Five of the last six contests between these teams ended in one-goal decisions, including both games this season, and the sixth game was a two-goal win for the Caps punctuated by an empty-net goal.  This contest ended a slippery part of the schedule for the Caps in which the 2016 portion of the season started with a four-game road trip, then largely alternating home and away games.  The Caps now head home for a five-game home stand straddling the All-Star Game break that features four divisional opponents and a game against the Anaheim Ducks and former Caps coach Bruce Boudreau.  Having won seven of nine games to start the new year, the schedule sets up to allow the Caps to put even more distance between themselves and their closest pursuers in the East.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 46: Capitals at Blue Jackets, January 19th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

Having dispatched their closest pursuers in the Metropolitan Division on Sunday night, the Washington Capitals pivot to take on the division's worst team on Tuesday evening.  The Caps spotted the New York Rangers a goal, then came back to win, 5-2, to start Week 15 of the NHL season.  They now head to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets in a Buckeye Blockbuster.

Well, perhaps not a “blockbuster,” the noise of the cannon at Nationwide Arena notwithstanding.  Since the Blue Jackets beat the Caps, 5-4, in a Gimmick on January 7^th, Columbus is 2-3-1.  While those wins have come in their last two games, ending a four game losing streak, those wins also came at the expense of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Colorado Avalanche, teams that find themselves outside the playoff mix.

Colorado has struggled to score in this recent half-dozen game run.  The Blue Jackets recorded only 13 goals over those games , giving up 19 in the process.  Brandon Dubinsky has almost a third of that total, scoring three goals (3-1-4) in his last five games after enduring a seven-game streak without one.  While Dubinsky has been scoring more often of late, what he has really been rolling up is penalty minutes.  Over his last 17 contests Dubinsky has 29 penalty minutes, a total that includes each of his three fighting majors this season.  Dubinsky, a hard-nosed sort of player dating back to his days with the New York Rangers, leads the team in credited hits (114), and he leads the club in faceoff winning percentage (51.7).  In 27 career games against Washington, Dubinsky is 5-12-17, plus-6.

Two other Blue Jackets have more than one goal over their past half-dozen games.  Cam Atkinson has a pair of scores, both coming in losses, a 4-2 loss to Minnesota on January 5^th and a 4-3 overtime loss to Carolina on January 9^th.  The odd part about his recent performance is that his two goals came in the four losses, over which he was a minus-4.  He is without a point in his last two games while going plus-2.  Atkinson has both of the Blue Jackets’ shorthanded goals this season, one of them coming in that loss to Carolina on what was his only shot on goal of that contest.  He is 6-4-10, plus-5, in 11 career games against Washington.

Alexander Wennberg has a pair of goals in his last half-dozen games as well.  One of them was the game-winner in Columbus’ 3-1 win over Toronto last Wednesday, breaking the Blue Jacket’s four-game losing streak.  It was the first game-winning goal of his career in what was his 101^st NHL game.  Wennberg has been reasonably hot lately.  Over his last 19 games he is 4-11-15, this coming after he recorded a single goal (his only point) in his first 15 games of the season.  Wennberg has two assists in five career games against the Caps.

Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was activated off the injured reserve list on Friday after spending more than a month on the shelf, the result of his suffering a groin injury on December 8^th against the Los Angeles Kings.  With Bobrovsky unavailable, Columbus resorted to goaltending by committee.  It has not been successful.  While Bobrovsky’s numbers do not overwhelm (11-12-6, 2.52, .916, with one shutout), the trio of Joonas Korpisalo, Curtis McElhinney, and Anton Forsberg are 6-13-3, 3.17, .898.  With Bobrovsky activated, Anton Forsberg (the winning goalie in the Blue Jackets’ 5-4 trick shot win against the Caps on January 2^nd) was re-assigned to the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL.

Here  is how the teams compare overall:

1.  Columbus nicked the Caps for a pair of power play goals on three chances in that 5-4 freestyle win earlier this month.  They have two power play goals in 19 chances (10.5 percent) over six games since then.

2.  Columbus’ penalty kill is decent enough at 81.5 percent for the season (12^th in the league).  But they are shooting themselves in the foot lately giving opponents so many opportunities.  Since December 21^st, the Blue Jackets have faced 51 shorthanded situations in 11 games, allowing 10 goals (80.4 percent).  Four times over that span the Blue Jackets faced six or more shorthanded situations.

3.  Allowing the first goal has been a gri predictor of outcomes for Columbus.  The Blue Jackets rank last in the league in winning percentage when allowing the game’s first goal (.115/3-20-3).

4.  It is not as if the Blue Jackets end games well, either.  The 57 goals allowed in the third periods of games this season is most in the league, as is the 48 goals allowed in the second periods of games (tied with Edmonton and Anaheim).

5.  There are 13 teams with negative possession numbers on home ice.  Columbus is one of them, ranking 19^th in Corsi-for overall at 5-on-5 (49.4 percent).  Their score-adjusted value is worse (47.7/21^st).  While their close score Corsi-for is over 50 percent (50.4), they still rank just 20^th in that category (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  Justin Williams’ hat trick against the Rangers on Sunday night was the 37^th in the league this season and the Caps’ second.  Evgeny Kuznetsov has the other one, in a 7-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers on October 23^rd. 

2.  Evgeny Kuznetsov had a three-assist game against the Rangers, his second game of three or more assists this season.  He joined Nicklas Backstrom and Jason Chimera with two such games this season.  John Carlson also has a three-assist game.

3.  Only the Dallas Stars (97) have more goals scored at 5-on-5 this season than Washington (94).  Only Tampa Bay (63), Philadelphia (63), and Los Angeles (62) have allowed fewer goals at 5-on-5 than the Caps (64).

4.  Good things happen when Justin Williams records a point.  The Caps are 21-1-0 when he gets a mark on his line of the score sheet.

5.  The Caps were over 50 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5 in their 4-1 loss to Buffalo last week.  That puts them in position to finish with Corsi-for over 50 percent in consecutive road games for the first time since they did it on October 31/November 3 against the Florida Panthers (a 2-1 win) and the New York Rangers (a 5-2 loss; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Columbus: Seth Jones

Sometimes, you have to trade value to get value.  That seemed to be the rationale behind the trade executed between Columbus and Nashville when the Blue Jackets sent forward Ryan Johansen to the Predators for defenseman Seth Jones.  It was the kind of trade you do not see much in the NHL these days, a couple of under-25 stars in waiting, each of them a fourth-overall draft pick (Johansen in 2010, Jones in 2013).  Jones, who is still just 21 years old, is in his fourth NHL season and now has more than 200 games on his resume.  The big change for Jones, in addition to discarding those hideous yellow jerseys, is the ice time he is getting.  In the five games he has dressed so far for the Blue Jackets he is averaging 24 minutes a game.  Of the seven top ice time game logs he has this season, five are with Columbus.  Part of that is the fact that three of the games in which he has played went to extra time, but he is still getting a steady, heavy load of minutes.  He is 1-1-2, plus-1, in three career games against the Caps.

Washington: Marcus Johansson

No team in the NHL has more wins than do the Washington Capitals, and no Capital has more game-winning goals than Marcus Johansson.  His six game-winning goals in 42 games so far this season equals his total for his previous four seasons combined, covering 276 games.  Since December 1^st he has been on a roll.  In 22 games since then he is 9-10-19, plus-6, and he is on an overall pace to finish with his first 50-point season.  Drafted as a center, he seems to have found a comfort level in that position on the Caps’ third line, where he has points in five of six games (4-2-6).  He is even improved on faceoffs.  Last year he rarely took draws, just 26 in 82 games.  This season he has nearly tripled that number (67) and has won roughly half of them (34 for a 50.7 winning percentage).  In 13 career games against Columbus, Johansson is 4-6-10, plus-3

In the end…

If Columbus does not have the Caps’ full and undivided attention, they should.  Washington has a 2-1 win and a 5-4 trick shot loss in two games against the Blue Jackets this season.  It is not as if the Caps have dominated this season series to date.  There is a bit of uncertainty about who the Caps will start in goal, what with Braden Holtby having to leave Sunday’s game early suffering from dehydration (it is not thought to be serious), but this is a team that has been able to set aside those sorts of issues over the last month.  The Caps have alternated wins and losses over their last five games in Columbus, and if that pattern holds, they will win this game.  As if we needed a reason to pick the Caps.

Capitals 3 – Blue Jackets 1

Washington Capitals Recap: A TWO-Point Night: Capitals 5 - Rangers 2

The Washington Capitals got back on the winning path on Sunday night when they defeated the New York Rangers, 5-2, at Verizon Center.  The win gave the Caps 71 standings points for the season, the first team in the NHL to reach that mark.

It was the Rangers starting the scoring in this one, getting a goal from Cap Killer Chris Kreider in the 11^th minute of the first period, a re-direction of a shot from the left point by Ryan McDonagh.  The Caps tied it with just under two minutes left in the period on a power play.  A cross-ice pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov to Alex Ovechkin was deadened by Marc Staal Jesper Fast, but not enough to keep the puck from getting to its intended recipient.  It prevented Ovechkin from firing a one-timer from the left wing circle, but he still had time to settle the puck, step around Dylan McIlrath, and fire a wrist shot through the pads of goalie Antti Raanta.

The Caps opened up a lead in the second period with a pair of goals just 62 seconds apart.  Marcus Johansson got the first one on another power play.  It was the product of a subtle change in the Caps’ deployment on the man advantage.  With teams cheating a defender to Ovechkin’s side of the ice to prevent a pass for a one-timer, the Caps moved Johansson from the goal line extended from the goalie’s left to the top of the crease, forcing defenders to play honest to prevent a feed in front.  The Rangers could not prevent that, though, as Nicklas Backstrom threaded a fine pass to the top of the Rangers’ crease where Johansson redirected it past Raanta to make it 2-1.

Just 1:02 later it was 3-1.  Justin Williams took a pass at the Ranger blue line and skated into the offensive zone.  He left the puck for Andre Burakovsky in the right wing circle, and Burakovsky kicked it out to Taylor Chorney.  From the top of the zone Chorney fired a wrist shot that hit Justin Williams on the way through and eluded Raanta to put the Rangers in a two-goal hole.

The Rangers got back within a goal late in the second period when Kreider scored his second of the game, picking up a loose puck between the hash marks, spinning, and wristing it past goalie Braden Holtby.

The Rangers would get no closer.  Justin Williams scored his second goal of the game less than five minutes into the third period to restore the Caps’ two-goal lead.  The Rangers’ J.T. Miller coughed up the puck on a ghastly turnover in his own end, throwing the puck from the wall at the players’ bench through the middle of the ice to no one in particular.  Andre Burakovsky collected the puck and fed Evgeny Kuznetsov skating into the left wing circle.  Kuznetsov passed it in front, and Williams redirected it past Raanta’s left pad at the 4:51 mark to make it 4-2.

Williams ended the scoring with an empty-net hat-trick goal with 1:51 left.  Settling a loose puck at the red line, Williams turned and fired, the puck sliding past the stick of Dan Boyle, off the toe of Derick Brassard, and into the net to give the Caps their final 5-2 margin.

Other stuff…

-- In the last eight periods of hockey between these teams, the Caps have outscored the Rangers, 15-5.

-- Alex Ovechkin’s goal made it nine straight games with a goal against the Rangers, 11 overall.  The odd part of that is…no assists in any of those nine games.

-- Just 14 seconds after Chris Kreider’s second goal for the Rangers, Braden Holtby took himself out of the game.  He was reported to be suffering from symptoms of dehydration.

-- With the hat trick, his first as a Capital and second of his career (October 16, 2006 with Carolina in a 5-1 win over Tampa Bay), Williams took over the number two spot in goal scoring for the Caps (16) behind Alex Ovechkin (27).

-- Andre Burakovsky had two assists…again.  That makes three games in his last four that he recorded two assists.

-- Depending on which official source you look at, Evgeny Kuznetsov had either two assists (on the league’s event summary for this game) or three in this game (on his player page).  If it was three, that makes two games in his last three that Kuznetsov had three points.  And, he tied Nicklas Backstrom for the team lead in helpers with 29.

-- With two power plays in four chances, the Caps bounced back after consecutive games without a power play goal.  They are 8-for-27 since January 1^st (29.6 percent).

-- Philipp Grubauer came in to spell Braden Holtby late in the second period and played the final 32:18 of the game, stopping all 11 shots he faced.  In his last six appearances, three of which involved his replacing Holtby in-game, he stopped 126 of 132 shots, a .955 save percentage.  He did not get the win, but if hockey had “saves” as they do in baseball, he would have one for this game.

-- Anybody have Tom Wilson leading the team with six shot attempts (three on goal, two blocked, one miss)?  No, I didn’t either.

-- The Caps dominated the faceoff circle, winning 42 of 71 draws (59.2 percent).  Over their last four games the Caps have won 56.7 percent of their faceoffs (143-for-252).

In the end…

What can you say about this team at the moment?  Their top defensive pair out, missing a regular forward, their goalie going out mid-game in distress, and they still win going away.  Sure, that was Antti Raanta in net for the Rangers, not Henrik Lundqvist, but the Caps did not let up in facing the Rangers’ back-up.  For the 11^th time in 45 games the Caps scored five or more goals (tied for first in the league); for the 29^th time they allowed two or fewer (tops in the league).  In doing both they recorded their 14^th win by three or more goals, tops in the league, and they are now 55-21-6 in their last 82 games.  You have to like the way this team is playing.

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 14

Week 14 might be described in terms of wine-tasting… a fine bouquet, full-bodied, impressive depth…but a disappointing finish…

Record: 2-1-0

Week 14 was the ninth consecutive winning week for the Caps and their 13^th winning week overall for the season.  They finished the week with a league-leading 33 wins, three more than the Chicago Blackhawks (the Caps holding three games in hand), and 31 wins in regulation and overtime, two more than the Blackhawks.  With the two wins for the week coming on home ice, the Caps finished Week 14 with the league’s best record on a standings points-per-game basis (1.67), ahead of the Blackhawks (1.56) and the Dallas Stars (1.55).

When the Caps beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1, in the middle game of the week, it extended Washington’s most recent winning streak to five games, the fourth time this season that the Caps have had a winning streak of five games or more.  The strange thing about the week, though, was the loss.  Of the Caps’ five losses since December 1^st (three in regulation, two in extra time), four of them were suffered against teams that today would not be in the playoffs: Winnipeg (2-1 in overtime on December 5^th), Carolina (4-2 on December 31^st), Columbus (5-4 in a Gimmick on January 2^nd), and Buffalo (4-1 on January 16^th).

Offense:  4.00/game (season: 3.23 /game; rank: 2nd)

The Capitals faced two teams to start the week – Ottawa and Vancouver – who were in the bottom five in the league in shots on goal allowed per game.  Against a team like the Caps that has considerable depth on offense, that can be a problem.  It was for the Senators, who allowed seven goals to the Caps, and the Canucks, who allowed four goals to Washington.

Against the Sabres to end the week, the Caps just couldn’t find a way to get started.  They were out-attempted (8-6) and out-chanced (4-2) by Buffalo at 5-on-5 in the first period when they fell behind, 2-0.  It did not get any better in the second period in terms of attempts, but the Caps could not convert their scoring chance advantage (5-3, numbers from war-on-ice.com).  By that time it was 4-0, Sabres, and the goose, as they say, was cooked.

The Caps got two-goal weeks from Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Tom Wilson.  Ovechkin scored his pair – his 500^th and 501^st career goals – in the win over Ottawa to start the week, and Kuznetsov got his pair in the win over Vancouver on Thursday.  Wilson had one against each of the Senators and Canucks.

Assists were something of an unexpected matter. Andre Burakovsky might contribute four assists over three games on a more regular basis when he has a few more years under his belt, but four in Week 14 he had, getting a pair in each of the games against Ottawa and Vancouver.  Jason Chimera also had a four-assist week, getting his second three-assist game of the season against Ottawa.

Defense: 2.00/game (season: 2.14 /game; rank:1st)

It is nice to see consecutive weeks allowing 2.00 goals per game, but allowing two-thirds of the week’s goals to the league’s 27^th-ranked offense made for some funky aftertaste to what was otherwise a good week.  What made it stranger was the fact that the Caps allowed the Sabres only 45 shot attempts (only 25 at 5-on-5) for the game in their 4-1 loss.  The 29 shots on goal allowed was the lowest of the three games, too.  The problem was in allowing Buffalo too many good looks at the net in the opportunities they had, recording 11 scoring chances to go with their 25 shot attempts at 5-on-5 (numbers from war-on-ice.com). 

It made for an odd week in terms of the underlying numbers.  The Buffalo loss was the difference between a good week overall, which it was, and a really good week.  As it was, the Caps had an overall Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 of 55.9 and a close score Corsi of 58.0.  Take away that Buffalo loss, and the numbers would have been 54.7 and 61.8, respectively.

At an individual level it was a bit odd, too.  Justin Williams (best Corsi-for and best Corsi-relative at 5-on-5 among the forwards, ten games minimum) had an uncharacteristic three-goals against on ice for the week, two at even strength.  Three other Caps were on-ice for three goals against for the week: Dmitry Orlov, Nate Schmidt, and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Goaltending: 2.00 /.935 (season: 2.02 / .929 / 2 shutouts)

It is not common for Philipp Grubauer to get more minutes for a week than Braden Holtby, but such was the case in Week 14.  Grubauer had 93 minutes for the week, stopping 44 of the 46 shots he faced (1.29/.957).  Holtby finished the week with 87 minutes, stopping 42 of 46 shots (2.75/.913), and he was relieved after giving up three goals on 16 shots in 27 minutes of work.

Grubauer has pieced together an impressive body of work over the last month.  He does not get a lot of calls with Holtby at or near the top of the rankings in most goaltender statistics, but in his last five appearances he is 3-1-0 (one no-decision), 1.48, .950.

Holtby saw his incredible string of appearances without a regulation loss come to an end in the 4-1 loss at Buffalo on Saturday.  For the week he was 1-1-0.  In the 23-appearance stretch over which he was 20-0-2, he posted a 1.85 goals against average and a .939 save percentage with two shutouts.

Power Play: 2-for-9 / 22.2 percent (season: 25.4 percent; rank: 2nd)

The Caps slipped just a bit on the power play in Week 14, the first time since Week 9 that they did not finish a week at 25 percent or better.  The week started as if the Caps would continue that string, going 2-for-3 in the 71 win over Ottawa last Sunday.  Drawing blanks against Vancouver on two chances and again against Buffalo on four opportunities dropped them under 25 percent for the week.  The consecutive games without a power play goal was the first time that happened since Games 34-35 back on December 26-28 (the last of three straight without a power play goal).

It was a case of sometimes the shots just not going in.  Washington pummeled opposing goalies for 26 shots in just 15:46 of power play time (1.65 shots per minute).  And the shots came from the players they need to have getting them.  Alex Ovechkin had seven power play shots on goal to lead the club (one goal).  Justin Williams had four.  Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov split six shots from their perch on the right wing of the power play.  T.J. Oshie had a goal on the two shots he recorded.

The disappointment, in addition to the finish of the week, was yielding a shorthanded goal to Buffalo when a goal on that power play would have tied the game.  It was just the second shorthanded goal allowed by the Caps this season and jut the second scored by the Sabres, but it might have been the turning point that turned a potential perfect week into something that was not.

Penalty Killing: 10-for-12 / 83.3 percent (season: 84.8 percent; rank: 4th)

There have been some cracks in the armor of the Caps’ penalty kill lately.  After finishing the 2015 portion of the season with five straight games allowing no power play goals (15-for-15), the Caps are just 19-for-24 (79.2 percent) in the new year.  They started the year allowing power play goals in consecutive games, then ran off three in a row in which they did not.  They finished this week allowing power play goals in each of the last two games. 

It was not an especially efficient penalty kill, especially as the week wore on.  Washington allowed only seven shots on goal (no scores) in eight minutes of shorthanded ice time against Ottawa.  It was five shots (one goal) in 4:45 against Vancouver, and a whopping 15 shots (one goal) in 9:07 of shorthanded ice time against Buffalo.

Faceoffs: 101-for-181 / 55.8 percent (season: 50.1% / rank: 14th)

The Caps had a good week overall and their specifics.  In that sense it resembles Week 13.  They were over 50 percent in all three games and in all three zones for the week.  Better still, they dominated in the ends, going 41-for-69 in the offensive zone (59.4 percent) and 30-for-54 in the defensive zone (55.6 percent). 

Evgeny Kuznetsov (26-for-37) and Marcus Johansson (11-for-17), two players you would not think to be dominant in the faceoff circle, combined to win 72.2 percent of their draws for the week.  Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie were especially successful in the offensive end, combining to go 17-for-24 (70.8 percent).  In the defensive end, it was Nicklas Backstrom going 10-for-15 (66.7 percent).  A bit of an odd week all around the circle.

Goals by Period:

Again, the Buffalo game bit into what was a week that looked very good, this time in goals by period.  Going into the game against the Sabres, the Caps held Ottawa and Vancouver without a first period goal, and they pounded them for a 5-1 advantage in the second period and a 4-1 advantage in the third.  Allowing two goals in each of the first and second periods spelled doom for the Caps in their effort to make it a perfect week.  As it is, they still hold a plus-10 or better goal differential in each of the three periods this season, the only club who can say that.

In the end…

Florida has a 12-game winning streak this season, yet they are 12 standings points behind the Capitals.  Chicago has a ten-game winning streak that is still alive, but they are five points behind the Caps, and Washington holds three games in hand.  The Caps do not have a double-digit game winning streak this season, but it is their ability to put together consistent stretches of fine play – four streaks of five wins or more – that has enabled to take and hold the top spot in the league standings.  In that sense, a 2-1-0 week is somewhat typical of the season to date.  Put another way, if they win two of every three games over the remainder of the season, they would finish with 120 standings points.  It would be a season that ages well with a good finish.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Alex Ovechkin (2-0-2, even, 15 SOG, 32 shot attempts, 500^th and 501^st career goals)
• Second Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (2-2-4, plus-2, 26-for-37 on faceoffs (70.3 percent))
• Third Star: Philipp Grubauer (1-0-0, 1.29, .957)

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 45: Rangers at Capitals, January 17th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals return home from their 4-1 loss in Buffalo on Saturday night to host the New York Rangers in a 5:00 match-up at Verizon Center.  The contest will kick off a ten-day stretch leading up to the All-Star break in which the Caps will face Metropolitan Division opponents four times in five contests.

Both the Caps and the Rangers will be skating the back-half of a back-to-back set of games, the Rangers having bested the Philadelphia Flyers in a Gimmick, 3-2, on Saturday afternoon.   It was one more in a pattern of alternating wins and losses (5-4-1) that goes back to the 7-3 loss the Caps pinned on them on December 20^th at Madison Square Garden.  This will be their first visit to Washington this season.

Two of those losses over the Rangers’ past ten games came at the hands of the Caps.  In addition to the 7-3 loss on December 20th, the Caps took a lead, gave it up, tied the game in the dying seconds of regulation on a goal by Nicklas Backstrom, then grabbed a 4-3 win in overtime on what was Alex Ovechkin’s 499^th career goal.

Since that game, the Rangers sandwiched a pair of wins – 2-1 over the Boston Bruins and the trick shot win over the Flyers yesterday – around a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders.  Meanwhile, the Caps scored a pair of wins, beating the Ottawa Senators, 7-1, and the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1, before dropping a decision to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

There isn’t a lot new since we wrote about the January 9th meeting of these teams… 

• The Caps were first in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference then, and they are now.
• The Rangers were second in the Metropolitan Division then, and they are now.

• The Caps were second in the NHL in scoring offense then, and they are now.  They were second in scoring defense then, they are first now.
• The Rangers were fourth in scoring offense then, they are fifth now.  They were 14^th in scoring defense then, they are 14^th now.

• The Caps’ power play…second then, second now.  Penalty kil…sixth then, fourth now.
• The Rangers’ power play…12^th then, 14^th now.  Penalty kill… 15^th then, 20^th now.

Here is where they stand going into this game…

1.  Mats Zuccarello leads the team in goals (16), but he is without one in his last six games.

2.  Rick Nash, he of the 42 goals last season, has just 12 on the season, and he is without one in his last six games, too.

3.  Derick Brassard has not scored a goal on the road in more than a month, since he had a pair in Edmonton against the Oilers in a 7-5 loss on December 11^th.  He has three goals in 21 road games this season.

4.  Oscar Lindberg is tied for seventh in goal scoring among rookies this season (11).

5.  The Rangers, a team that has struggled most of the season in their possession numbers (47.4 percent in Corsi-for at 5-on-5/25^th), has been decent in that regard over their last ten games.  Their overall Corsi-for (50.2), score adjusted (50.5), and close score (49.2; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  Nicklas Backstrom has four points (1-3-4) in his last two games against the Rangers.

2.  Alex Ovechkin has four goals against the Rangers this season, recording at least one in each of the three games at Madison Squarer Garden.  He has both game-winning goals in the Caps’ wins against the Blueshirts this season.

3.  Justin Williams was a minus-2 against the Sabres on Saturday night, the first time he was a minus-2 or worse since he recorded a minus-2 in a 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on November 19^th (26 games).

4.  Marcus Johansson scored the Caps’ only goal in the 4-1 loss to the Sabres on Saturday night.  He is 6-6-12 in his last 12 games.

5.  The Caps have had strange possession numbers against the Rangers in three games this season.  Their overall Corsi-for at 5-on-5 is 52.1 percent, but in close score situations it is 39.8 percent (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

New York: Henrik Lundqvist

Henrik Lundqvist might get this night off for the Rangers.  That might not be a bad thing for the visitors.   In three games against the Caps this season he is 1-1-1, 4.09, .876.  It is part of a larger uncharacteristic season for the 11-year veteran.  Among 39 goalies recording at least 1,000 minutes of ice time, Lundqvist ranks 23^rd in goals against average (2.46) and 17^th in save percentage (.921).  The season numbers are by no means bad, and he allowed two or fewer goals in four of his last five appearances.  Still, it has been less of a “King”-like season for Lundqvist.

Washington: Braden Holtby

Braden Holtby lost last night.  The last time we could say he lost a game in regulation, we had not yet celebrated Veterans Day, had not yet stuffed the turkey or put the marshmallows on the sweet potato casserole, had not yet wrapped the presents for Christmas, had not yet rung in the new year, and had not yet had a bowl of strawberry ice cream on National Strawberry Ice Cream Day.  The loss to the Sabres on Saturday night ended Holtby’s streak of games earning at least on standings point at 22 games (20-0-2).  Over those 23 appearances (one no-decision), he posted a 1.85 goals against average and a .939 save percentage with two shutouts.  There is another streak he can extend, though.  Holtby has not lost consecutive games over his last 48 appearances, going 37-7-3, 2.00, .930, with four shutouts over that span of games.  However, among the 21 teams he has faced this season, his save percentage of .869 in three games against the Rangers is his worst.

In the end…

It doesn’t happen often this season, just ten times through 44 games, but here we are again seeing if the Caps can keep from losing consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season (their lone instance of losing consecutive games included a loss in extra time).  The Caps have won 11 straight at home dating back to their 3-2 loss to Dallas on November 19^th.  Eight of those victories were by multi-goal margins, five of them featured the Caps scoring five or more goals.  If the Rangers’ recent pattern of wins and losses holds, this will go into the loss column for the Blueshirts.  Sounds okay to us.

Capitals 5 – Rangers 2