A NO-Point Night -- Game 30: Montreal Canadiens 2 - Washington Capitals 1

It is said that all good things come to an end, and for the Washington Capitals and their fans, the goodness of a six-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday night at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1, at Verizon Center.

The Canadiens drew first blood late in the first period when Arturri Lehkonen finished a play on which all the little things went wrong for the Caps.  It started with the Caps “winning” a faceoff to the right of goaltender Braden Holtby.  The “winning” is in quotes because the Caps promptly lost control of the puck in the corner to Lehkonen, who then got position on defenseman Matt Niskanen to take advantage of a skating path along the end wall.  Lehkonen followed that path behind the Caps’ net, then wrapped the puck around the post and off the heel of Holtby’s stick into the back of the net to make it 1-0 14:41 into the contest.

That would be all of the scoring for the next 20 minutes of ice time, but late in the second period, the Caps took advantage of some outside-the-rules play by the visitors.  With Nathan Beaulieu and Alexei Emelin in the penalty box to give the Caps a 5-on-3 power play, an attempted clear by Andrei Markov up the wall was claimed by John Carlson before the puck could exit the zone.  From his knees, Carlson whipped the puck across to Alex Ovechkin, who fed it down to Justin Williams at the bottom of the left wing faceoff circle.  Williams took a moment, then slipped a pass under Markov’s stick to the opposite faceoff circle, from which Nicklas Backstrom one-timed the puck over goalie Carey Price’s left pad, tying the contest at the 14:16 mark.

Barely two minutes later, though, the Canadiens had what would prove to be the game-winner.  Max Pacioretty skated the puck over the Caps’ blue line and left it for Phillip Danault along the left wing wall.  Danualt eased the puck forward, back to Pacioretty, who threw a pass to the low slot where Jeff Petry was closing.  Petry redirected the puck past Holtby, and the Habs had their final 2-1 margin.

Other stuff…

-- Talk about record one doesn’t necessarily want to set.  With the loss, Barry Trotz became the losingest coach in the history of the regular season in the NHL.  The loss was Trotz’ 653^rd in his coaching career (531 in regulation time, 122 in extra time), breaking a tie with Ron Wilson.  Trotz might not hold that spot for long, though.  Dallas’ Lindy Ruff has 651 career losses, and Winnipeg’s Paul Maurice has 647 career losses.  Maurice leads all active coaches in losses in regulation time (550, fourth all time), while Trotz and Ruff are tied with 531, tied for sixth all-time (thanks to Dirk Hoag, formerly a blogger for the Nashville Predators, for unearthing that nugget).

-- Carey Price’s record went to 29-1-1 in his last 31 games played on Saturday for the Canadiens.

-- Justin Williams’ assist on Nicklas Backstrom’s goal made it four straight games with a point and points in six of his last seven contests (5-2-7).

-- Backstrom continued his hot play over the last five weeks.  With his goal, he is 8-10-18 in 16 games since November 15^th.

-- Tom Wilson had marks in only one column of his line of the score sheet.  He had six hits in 10:43 of ice time.

-- Wilson’s line of the score sheet was almost crowded compared to Brooks Orpik’s… one shot attempt blocked in 16:22 of ice time.

-- In the Younger Guns category, Jakub Vrana and the just-recalled Zach Sanford combined for two shots on goal (both by Vrana), eight shot attempts, one hit (Sanford), and two blocked shots.  Unfortunately, no points between them.

-- The Caps out-hit the Canadiens, 43-18.  The Canadiens had the puck a lot…

-- …but they did so little with it.  Montreal finished the game with just 44 shot attempts (the Caps had 58), but…

-- …the Caps went 15:32 without a shot on goal, from 17:23 of the second period to the 12:55 mark of the third period.

In the end…

The Caps never seemed to be in this game, and with the Caps matching their shot of goal total (21) with shot attempts blocked by the Canadiens (21), the game looked hauntingly like the 2010 playoffs.  From the start, it seemed as if Carey Price was just a bit in their heads, the Caps frequently opting for one more pass when a shot might have been a better option.  Neither goalie was called upon often to do much in the way of big saves, and the score reflected that. 

The good part of this loss, to the extent there is one, is that the Caps still held what was the league’s fifth best scoring offense to two goals.  The bad part is that the Caps let a team that hadn’t won a road game in regulation time in almost two months off the hook.  But the bottom line is that on a night when the Caps saw a six-game winning streak come to an end, two of the teams with which the Caps are fighting for position in the Metropolitan Division lost – the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers to Dallas Stars – although another (the New York Rangers) won in a Gimmick.  It was not a good night for the Caps, but it wasn’t a total wash out in the bigger scheme of things.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 30: Canadiens at Capitals, December 17th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals finish up a weekend back-to-back set of game when they host the Montreal Canadiens at Verizon Center on Saturday night.  The Caps, fresh off a 4-3 trick shot win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night, carry a six-game winning streak into the contest.  Montreal , who will be playing their own second game in two nights after a 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Friday night, will be bringing a two-game losing streak into their meeting with the Caps.

Montreal was once 13-1-1 this season, but since that sizzling 15-game start, they are 6-6-3.  Over those 15 games the Canadiens are averaging a reasonably healthy 2.87 goals per game, but that number is somewhat inflated by the 10 goals they pinned on the Colorado Avalanche in a 10-1 win last Saturday.  Take that one away, and the Canadiens are averaging 2.36 goals per game in the other 14 games.  Their goals allowed per game over their last 15 games is a respectable 2.47 per game, and they haven’t allowed more than four goals in any of those 15 games.  It has been a consistently decent scoring defense, but not a stifling one.

And that brings us to goalie Carey Price, expected to get the start in this contest.  He, like the team in front of him, has had two very different seasons so far.  In his first ten appearances, Price was 10-0-0, 1.40, .957, with two shutouts.  He was the early favorite to win this season’s Vezina Trophy and might have been on a few early Hart Trophy ballots, too.  His last 12 appearances, though, showed him to be a bit more mortal, if a bit unlucky, too.  In those 12 appearances he is 6-4-2, 2.41, .938.  The unlucky part for Price has been that in eight of those 12 appearances he allowed two or fewer goals but is 5-2-1 in those games (he was 9-0-0 when allowing two or fewer goals in his first ten games).  If there is an odd part about his season to date, it is that he has just five appearances in road games, 16 appearances on home ice.  Only two of those road games have been played east of the Mississippi (at Boston and at Detroit, both wins).  Price is 3-2-0, 2.17, .928 in those five road games.  He is 5-9-4, 3.08, .898, with one shutout in his career versus Washington.

Montreal has just one player with more than ten goals so far, and that is Max Pacioretty.  He has been a very consistent scorer in recent years for the Canadiens, posting 30 or more goals in each of his last four full seasons (not including the abbreviated 2012-2013 season) coming into this one.  His 12 goals in 30 games so far puts him on a pace for another 30-plus goal season, although that 12-goal total includes a four-goal outburst in the 10-1 win over Colorado last Saturday.  On the other hand, that four-goal game is part of a run in which Pacioretty has seven goals in six games.  In 23 career games against the Caps, he is 2-8-10, minus-3.

Shea Weber was one-half of one of the biggest player-for-player trades in the NHL in recent years when he was traded to the Canadiens from the Nashville Predators for defenseman P.K. Subban.  Weber, who was coming off his second 20-goal season with the Predators, was seen in some quarters as a risk, given that he still had ten years remaining on a contract with an average annual value of $7,857,143 per year.  That risk aside, Weber has been a valuable commodity this season.  He is second in the league among defensemen in goals (eight, to Brent Burns’ 13) and is tied for 12^th in points (18).  His seven power play goals leads all league defensemen, and his ten power play points is tied for third.  He does not have a goal in his last ten games, though, and has just one point in that span.  Weber is 3-7-10, plus-2, in 12 career games against the Caps.

1.  Shea Weber’s seven power play goals are more than any team’s total complement of defensemen except St. Louis (nine goals).

2.  Weber has a thing for the number “18” at the moment – 18 points, 18 penalty minutes, and plus-18.

3.  Montreal is tied for the second-best third period goal differential in the league (plus-15, with Columbus), trailing only Pittsburgh (plus-24).

4.  The Canadiens lead the league in wins when scoring first (16), one ahead of the Caps.  When opponents score first, though, Montreal is 3-5-2, ranking just 20^th in winning percentage (.300).

5.  Montreal is among the better teams overall in shot attempt dominance, with a 51.97 Corsi-for at 5-on-5 (eighth in the league).  On the road, the Canadiens rank fourth overall (52.60 percent; numbers from Corsica.hockey).

1.  Washington’s trick shot win over Carolina on Friday night was their first such win of the season, becoming the 25^th team this season to win in that phase.  It was their first win in the Gimmick since they beat the Anaheim Ducks, 2-1, last March 7^th.

2.  The Caps are on a six-game winning streak, but that is just the third longest current streak in the division.  The Philadelphia Flyers are on a ten-game winning streak, and the Columbus Blue Jackets extended their streak to eight straight wins with a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Friday night.  Pittsburgh had a seven-game streak ended on Friday night, but their 1-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings extended their points streak to eight games.

3.  The Caps have just one one-goal loss in regulation this season.  Only the Pittsburgh Penguins are without one among the 29 other teams.

4.  Washington has the second-best first period goal differential in the league (plus-13).  Only Columbus’ is better (plus-15).

5.  There is an odd discrepancy in Washington’s possession numbers.  While the Caps rank fifth in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 overall (52.54 percent), they rank just 13^th in Fenwick-for at fives (51.24 percent; numbers from Corsica.hockey).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Montreal: Paul Byron

What is just five-feet, nine-inches tall, weighs 160 pounds, and is second in goal scoring for the Montreal Canadiens.  If you answered, Paul Byron, good for you.  Byron is one of those happy stories of a low draft pick (sixth-round in 2007 by Buffalo) who knocks around from team to team (Buffalo and Calgary) finds a measure of success after a long, slow climb up the professional ladder.  Byron, who has ten goals in 30 games for Montreal this season (second on the club), has never had more than 11 in any of his previous six seasons (that total coming in 67 games with the Canadiens last season).  But if there is an odd statistic Byron has in addition to his goal scoring, it is that he is fifth on the team in hits despite being only 13^th in ice time per game.  Byron is 0-2-2, even, in six career games against Washington.

Washington: Alex Ovechkin

The last time Alex Ovechkin did not lead the league in shots on goal was in 2011-2012, when he finished sixth with 303 shots on goal in 78 games.  Ovechkin currently ranks second in the league with 107 shots (Brent Burns has 133).  Perhaps not coincidentally, that 2001-2012 season is the last one in which Ovechkin did not lead the league in goals; he finished with 38, his second-lowest for a full season in his career.  He scored his 14^th goal on Friday night, placing him in a tie for seventh in the league in goals and putting him on a pace to finish with 40 goals.  The odd thing about Ovechkin’s shooting frequency is that the Caps have done better when his shot total is light.  When he records four or more shots, the Caps are 9-6-3, but when he finishes with three or fewer shots, the team is 10-1-0.  Ovechkin, who averages 4.3 shots per game over his career against Montreal, is 22-18-40, plus-6 in 39 career games against the Canadiens.

In the end…

The Caps might be catching the Canadiens in an ornery mood.  They lost at home on Friday night in a game in which Carey Price was pulled after giving up four goals on 18 shots in 26:44 of ice time, and have not had a win in regulation time on the road in almost two months (a 3-2 win on October 26^th against the New York Islanders).  They are 2-5-1 on the road overall in their last eight road contests.  On the other hand, the Caps have been a model of consistency in their six-game winning streak, scoring three or four goals in each game and allowing two or fewer in four of them.  The oddest part of this game is that if the Caps extend the Canadiens’ frustration on the road, they would jump over the Canadiens in the conference standings, giving the Metropolitan Division the top four spots in the Eastern Conference (and if the Philadelphia Flyers beat Dallas, the Metro will own the top five spots). 

Capitals 3 – Canadiens 2

A TWO-Point Night -- Game 29: Washington Capitals 4 - Carolina Hurricanes 3 (OT/Gimmick)

It took some doing, but the Washington Capitals squeezed out a come-from-behind, 4-3 trick shot win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.  The win was the sixth straight for the Caps, and it ended a seven-game home winning streak for the Hurricanes.

Carolina drew first-blood in the contest early in the first period when Jeff Skinner got inside position on Matt Niskanen and batted in a loose puck lying in the blue paint, giving the ‘Canes a 1-0 lead 5:46 into the game.  That would be how the teams went to the first intermission, but the Caps tied the game on a power play in the second period.  John Carlson fed the puck out of his end to Nicklas Backstrom in the neutral zone.  Skating into the Carolina end, Backstrom left the puck for a trailing Alex Ovechkin, who wristed a shot low on the blocker side past goalie Cam Ward at the 6:25 mark.

The Caps took their first lead of the game five minutes later when Niskanen chipped a loose puck along the left wing wall along the boards and behind the Carolina net.  Evgeny Kuznetsov was on the receiving end and sent the puck back out from the direction it came to Justin Williams skating along the goal line to the Carolina net.  Williams one-timed the puck past Ward on the short side to give the Caps a 2-1 lead 11:13 into the period.

Carolina tied the game two minutes later when Justin Faulk finished a 2-on-1 with Sebastian Aho, beating goalie Philipp Grubauer low, past the toe of his right skate at the 13:31 mark.  That would complete the scoring in the second period.

The Hurricanes took the lead in the first minute of the third period when on a power play, Teuvo Teravainen redirected an Aho drive through the legs of Grubauer to make it 3-2 just 40 second into the period.

The Caps tied the game once more late in the period, returning the favor of a redirected puck.  Matt Nikanen fed Dmitry Orlov at the left point, upon which Orlov dipped in and out looking for a useful purpose with the puck.  He found it by backing off and wristing a shot at the Carolina net that T. J. Oshie got his stick on as it was sailing through, deflecting it down and past Ward’s right pad to make it 3-3 at the 13:56 mark.

That would do it for regulation, and with the teams failing to score in overtime, the decision would go to the freestyle competition.  Oshie and Kuznetsov would score for the Caps, while Grubauer blanked the Hurricanes on two attempts, and the Caps had their sixth straight win, 4-3.

Other stuff…

-- If a December winning streak looks familiar to Caps fans, it should.  The six-game winning streak that began on December 3^rd is the longest since a nine-game winning streak last season from December 12 through December 30^th.

-- It might not signify anything.  Then again, it might be a sign of a hot streak, but Alex Ovechkin’s goal was his second in three games after a seven-game streak without one.

-- Matt Niskanen had his second straight two-point game (two assists), the first time he registered consecutive multi-point games as a Capital and the first time a Capital defenseman did it this season. 

-- Washington had 57 total shot attempts in the contest; Alex Ovechkin had 13 of them (six shots on goal, five shots blocked, two misses).

-- It was odd that it would be Dmitry Orlov’s shot “attempt” that would be redirected by T.J. Oshie for the tying goal in the third period.  Orlov would finish the game without being credited with a shot attempt.

-- Jay Beagle wins faceoffs.  He was 9-for-16, the only Capital to finish above 50 percent for the game.  In all, the Caps, without Beagle, were just 16-for-42 (38.1 percent).

-- Nicklas Backstrom shot in bad luck of a sort.  He had five shot attempts, four of them blocked.

-- John Carlson’s assist on Alex Ovechkin’s power play goal made it four straight games with a point and six of seven in all.

-- The Caps allowed the Hurricanes six power play opportunities, tying the most they allowed an opponent this season, the other instance being November 12^th…against the Hurricanes.

-- The win for Philipp Grubauer was his fifth of the season.  If you don’t think that’s impressive, it is as many as Jaroslav Halak and Jimmy Howard, and more than Michal Neuvirth (4) and Brian Elliott (3), all of whom have appeared in more games than Grubauer.

In the end…

It was not a game one would describe as crisp, but good teams win these kinds of games when they are a little frayed on the edges.  And if you are comparing this team to last year’s, think about this.  Through 29 games last season the Caps earned standings points in 23 of them (21-6-2).  With this win, the Caps have points in 22 of 29 games (19-7-3).  Although the Caps are just third in the Metropolitan Division, they are just three standings points behind last year’s Presidents Trophy pace, and they are just three points out of first place in the division with two games in hand on the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Tomorrow, they play one of those games in hand against Montreal with a chance to keep a good thing going.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 29: Capitals at Hurricanes, December 16th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

In days gone by, the contest between the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night in Raleigh, North Carolina, would be a “Southeast Division Shootout” with playoff implications.  In the 14-year history of the division, either the Capitals or the Hurricanes won the division ten times, and the clubs finished one-two five times.

However, this contest pits two teams with different histories since the Southeast Division gave way to realignment and a new division in 2013-2014.  While the Caps have been competitive, winning the division once and finishing second once, the Hurricanes have finished out of the playoffs in each of their three Metropolitan Division seasons.  While there is hope for a better future in Carolina, this year the teams appear to be headed toward a similar fate that each realized over the past three years, the Caps a contender for the division title, the Hurricanes struggling to compete for a playoff spot.

Washington comes into this game on a five-game winning streak, tying their longest of the season.  Carolina comes into the contest lurching between wins and losses in December, going 3-2-2 for the month so far.  One of those wins does include an eight-goal explosion in an 8-6 win over the Vancouver Canucks in their last game on Tuesday night, the Hurricanes’ first game at home since spending six of their previous seven games on the road.

The month of December has been good to the Hurricanes' Derek Ryan.  In seven games this month, he is 3-6-9, even, to lead the Hurricanes in points.  It has been quite a ride for the second year forward who, before December, recorded only a goal and an assist in nine games.  The odd part of his recent production, at least as far as the goal scoring goes, is that Ryan is not a prolific shooter.  In 16 games this season he has not recorded more than two shots in any of them and has only 15 total shots.  Only three times in those 15 games has he managed as many as two shots on goal.  He also gets little ice time, only twice in 15 games topping the 15-minute mark.  Ryan is without a point in his only career appearance against the Caps, a 5-1 Hurricanes win on November 12^th.

Youth is also served in the Hurricanes’ second leading scorer in December.  Twenty-three year old Victor Rask, in his third season with Carolina, is 2-5-7 in seven games this month, including a three-point performance (1-2-3) in the 8-6 win over Vancouver on Tuesday.  It was Rask’s second straight multi-point game, coming on the heels of a two-assist game in a 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks last Saturday, and it was his fifth multi-point game of the season, one behind Jeff Skinner for the team lead.  Rask, 9-12-21 through 28 games in his third NHL season, is on a pace to set personal bests in goals (26), assists (35), and points (61).  He is 1-3-4, even, in nine career games against the Capitals.

Since he came into the league with such a splash in the 2005-2006 season, backstopping the Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup, only four goalies have appeared in more games than Cam Ward (Henrik Lundqvist, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Miller, and Marc-Andre Fleury). Those same four goalies are the only active goaltenders with more wins than Ward (278), but Ward has not been in the upper echelon of goaltenders for a few years now.  Since leading the NHL in appearances (74) and posting a career best .923 save percentage in 2010-2011, Ward ranks 29^th among the 50 goalies having appeared in at least 100 games in goals against average (2.59) and 36^th in save percentage (.911).   One explanation for this might be high shot volumes that place undue pressure on the goalie, but among that same group of goaltenders Ward ranks just 28^th in shots faced per 60 minutes (28.99).  In December, Ward is 2-1-2, 2.51, .914, with one shutout in six appearances, but his one no-decision came in Tuesday’s 8-6 win over Vancouver when he allowed three goals on 18 shots in 25:24 before giving way to Michael Leighton, who took the win.  Ward is 17-15-4, 2.58, .918, with four shutouts in 37 career appearances against the Caps.

1.  Carolina struggles putting teams away.  One aspect of this is their record when scoring three or more goals.  The Hurricanes are just 8-2-3 when scoring more than two goals.  Playoff contenders might be expected to do better than lose five of every 13 games when scoring three or more goals.

2.  Another aspect of those struggles deals with the Carolina power play.  Their record when recording at least one power play goal is 7-2-5.

3.  Carolina, the top penalty killing team in the league, has allowed power play goals in just six games this season, never allowing more than one man-advantage goal in any of them.   They are 2-3-1 in those games.  Of particular importance fort this game, no club has faced fewer shorthanded situations on home ice than the Hurricanes (28), and only the Arizona Coyotes have allowed as few power play goals on home ice as Carolina (three).

4.  Wins have come hard for Carolina, and not even scoring first – one of the best indicators of who wins and who loses in the NHL – helps the Hurricanes.  Their six wins in 13 games when scoring first is the fourth-worst winning percentage (.462) in the league.

5.  Carolina is among the better teams in possession.  Their overall Corsi-for at 5-on-5 ranks seventh in the league (52.38 percent), and their number on home ice is better (53.12/fourth in the league; numbers from Corsica.hockey).

1.  Since the New York Islanders shut out the Caps, 3-0, on December 1^st, the Caps have earned points in six straight games (5-0-1), including a five-game (and counting) winning streak.  Over that span, the Caps have outscored opponents by a 19-9 margin, have gone 7-for-21 on the power play (33.3 percent), and have killed 18 of 21 shorthanded situations (85.7 percent penalty killing).

2.  Justin Williams, who spent much of his first 24 games in a futile search for his scoring touch (two goals on 49 shots), might have been giving signs in that 24^th game, the3-0 shutout at the hands of the Islanders.  Williams had seven shots on goal in that game, and although he came up empty, like the rest of the team, he has four goals on ten shots in the Caps’ 5-0-1 run over their last six games.

3.  Evgeny Kuznetsov might claim his teammates as dependents on his 2016 income tax filing, if his last five games are an indicator.  He doesn’t have a goal, but he has seven assists in the five-game Caps winning streak, posting at least one in each contest.

4.  Marcus Johansson has matched Kuznetsov point for point with seven points (3-4-7) in the 5-0-1 run and nine points in his last nine games (5-4-9). 

5.  Braden Holtby is not too far off the performance pace he set last season in winning the Vezina Trophy.  Through 22 appearances in 2015-2016 he was 17-4-1, 1.95, .928, with one shutout.  Through 22 appearances this season, Holtby is 16-6-2, 2.08, .925, with two shutouts.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Carolina: Teuvo Teravainen

He was the 18^th overall draft pick in the 2012 entry draft by the Chicago Blackhawks.  After another year spent in Finland as an amateur, he started making his way up the development ladder, playing the 2013-2014 season in Finland, then getting three games worth of experience with the Blackhawks in the regular season.   He played in 34 games the following season with the Blackhawks and 18 games in the postseason, where he had four goals and ten points.  Then it was a 78-game season in 2015-2016 that was his breakout year, going 13-22-35 for the Blackhawks. However, he recorded just one assist in the postseason for Chicago, and a couple of months later he was trading deep-dish pizza for barbecue, traded to the Hurricanes with Bryan Bickell for a second and a third round draft pick. 

It seemed a bit odd that a player drafted as highly as Teravainen would be traded for what looked like meager returns, and with another player to boot.  It might be Chicago’s version of the Caps’ Filip Forsberg adventure.  In his first year in Carolina, Teravainen has put up decent numbers (7-6-13), but not an improvement on the pace he set in his last year in Chicago.  He’s been streaky this season, posting points in three of his first five games, then going seven games without a point, posting points in four of five games a second time, then going eight games without a point.  He comes into this game with points in two of his last four contests (2-1-3), although oddly enough, he was one of the few players (one of six skaters) not to record a point in the 8-6 win over Vancouver on Tuesday.  In three career games against the Caps, Teravainen is 1-4-5, plus-1.

Washington:  Nate Schmidt

When John Carlson scored his first goal of the season in the Caps’ 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres last Thursday, and Matt Niskanen scored his first two goals of the season in the 4-2 win over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night, it left Nate Schmidt and Brooks Orpik as the only Capital defensemen playing in at least ten games without having scored a goal.  That Orpik would be without a goal is not surprising; he has only 16 goals in 850 career regular season games.  Schmidt, however, does have more in the way of offensive potential, and one might think that from a Caps’ fan perspective it is just a matter of time before Schmidt puts a crooked number on his line of the score sheet.  But he is really in a rut in the offensive end.  Schmidt has one point in his last ten games (an assist).  Over that span of games he has only ten shots on goal, half of them coming in the Caps’ 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 26^th.  In seven career games against the Hurricanes, Schmidt is without a point and is minus-4.

In the end…

Three times this season the Caps have had a chance to avenge a loss in their next meeting with that opponent.  They lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Opening Night in a Gimmick, then pounded the Penguins into seal meal in the follow-up, a 7-1 win in mid-November.  They lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime on November 15^th, but the lost that follow-up, a 3-2 loss in regulation five days later.  Then there was the 3-0 shutout the New York Islanders pinned on the Caps on December 1^st, followed up with a 4-2 win in Brooklyn on Tuesday.  Now, the Caps get to do it again, looking to even the score after losing to the Hurricanes, 5-1, on November 12^th.

The Hurricanes might have their problems, but in two important respects they pose a challenge to the Caps, particularly in North Carolina.  They do not take very many penalties to put themselves down a man, and they are very efficient at killing the shorthanded situations they do face.  The Caps are among the better 5-on-5 teams in the league, and it might be here where the Caps are going to have to find answers to extend their winning streak to the longest one of the season.

Capitals 4 – Hurricanes 2

A TWO-Point Night -- Game 28: Washington Capitals 4 - New York Islanders 2

The Washington Capitals made it five wins in a row on Tuesday night with a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.  The win allowed the Caps to vault all the way to third place in the Metropolitan Division, pending the results of the Columbus/Edmonton game in Edmonton.  The win also matched the Caps’ longest winning streak of the season.

It was the Islanders opening the scoring in the first period, taking advantage of an aborted line change by John Carlson to allow Brock Nelson to skate into the Caps’ zone and unleash a shot that appeared to ever so slightly tick off Carlson’s stick and sail over goalie Braden Holtby’s left shoulder to make it 1-0, 9:32 into the contest.

The Islanders carried that lead into the first intermission, but the Caps struck early in the second.   Lars Eller outfought Johnny Boychuk to a loose puck at the New York blue line and skated in down the left side.  Brett Connolly charged down the middle to the net, calling for the puck.  Eller put it on his tape, and Connolly did the rest, beating goalie Jaroslav Halak at the 2:09 mark to tie the game.

Washington took the lead five minutes later when Justin Williams was credited with a goal from a pile-up in front of Halak (goal originally credited to Jakub Vrana).  A shot by Evgeny Kuznetsov from in close slithered through a clot of bodies and somehow made it to Vrana, who guided the puck to the net where it appeared to hit a body part of Williams for the goal 7:37 into the period.

New York tied the game mid-way through the period when the caught the Caps chasing things in their own end.  A loose puck pinballed its way out to Nick Leddy at the left point, and his shot was redirected by Nikolai Kulemin through the pads of Holtby to make it 2-2, 10:41 into the period.

The third period belonged to the Caps.  More precisely, it was The Matt Niskanen Show.  Niskanen gave the Caps the lead for good in the second minute of the period when, with the Islanders overloading the left side of the ice, Dmitry Orlov took a feed at the left point and relayed it to Niskanen on the right side.  Niskanen stepped up to the top of the faceoff circle and ripped a shot that clanged off the post and behind Halak to make it 3-2 just 1:34 into the third period.

Niskanen closed the scoring late in the period on a power play.  It was a set play with crisp passing, John Carlson at the right point sending the puck down the wall to Kuznetsov who sent it cross-ice to Niskanen at the left point.  Niskanen’s shot handcuffed Halak and lieaked through on the left side to trickle over the goal line at the 18:02 mark, and the Caps had their fifth straight win, 4-2.

Other stuff…

-- Matt Niskanen’s two goals marked the first time a Capital defenseman scored two goals in a game since John Carlson did it in a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on December 2, 2014.  It was the first two-goal game for Niskanen since March 4, 2014 when he was skating for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

-- Nine different skaters had points for the Caps.  Niskanen, Jakub Vrana (two assists), and Evgeny Kuznetsov (two assists) had multi-point games.

-- Justin Williams had two goals on 52 shots over his first 24 games.  With his goal tonight, he has four goals on seven shots in his last four games.

-- Jay Beagle and Nate Schmidt were the only Caps not recording a shot on goal.  Niskanen led the team with six shots on goal.

-- The Caps held a 67-52 overall shot attempt advantage and 56-44 advantage (56.0 percent) at 5-on-5.  T.J. Oshie had an amazing Corsi-for/on ice differential, plus-13 in his 19 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time (numbers from Corsica.hockey).  Three other Caps were at plus-10: Dmitry Orlov, Nate Schmidt, and Marcus Johansson.

-- The Caps were 2-for-3 on the power play, giving them power play goals in five of their last six games, over which they are 7-for-21 (33.3 percent).

-- Washington held the Islanders without a shot on goal for the first 10:37 of the second period, part of a stretch in which the Islanders went 11:22 without a shot on goal going back to late in the first period.

-- With 26 saves on 28 shots faced, Braden Holtby is now 4-0-1, 1.56, .946, with one shutout in his last five appearances.

-- Jay Beagle was the only Capitals taking more than one faceoff who finished the night over 50 percent (13-for-19/68.4 percent).

-- Brett Connolly scored a goal on the only shot on goal he recorded.  That’s the second time this season he did that, scoring on his only shot on goal in a 3-1 win over the Csalgsary Flames on October 20^th.

In the end…

It was a solid road game for the Caps, who took a clinical approach to deconstructing the Islanders and dominating possession.  They got balanced scoring, displayed a solid defense, limited the Islanders in terms of both even strength and power play chances (two power plays, both of which where extinguished).  Now, having evened the score against the Islanders after the Isles shut out the Caps to open December, the Caps will get a chance to even another score when they visit Carolina on Thursday, looking to get even for a 5-1 licking the Hurricanes put on the Caps back on November 15^th.  All it "The Revenge Tour," and the Caps are 1-for-1 so far in one of their better-played games of the season.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 28: Capitals at Islanders, December 13th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

If it’s Tuesday, it must mean the Washington Capitals are playing.  Since the first of December, the Caps have played a game every other day, like clockwork, and the pattern continues on Tuesday night when they head to Brooklyn to face the New York Islanders.  The Caps, in the midst of a four-game winning streak, are 4-2-1 in December and take a 6-3-3 road record into the contest.  Their win in Buffalo last Friday night against the Sabres broke a four game losing streak away from Verizon Center (0-2-2).

The Islanders come into this contest with a nice record of their own over the past couple of weeks.  After going 6-10-4 over their first 20 games, New York is 5-1-1 over their last seven contests, including a 3-0 white-washing of the Caps on December 1st.  Those seven games have been, by current standards, almost fire wagon affairs, the Islanders averaging 3.24 goals per game and giving up 2.57 goals per game.   Special teams have run hot (penalty kill: 95.0 percent) and cold (power play: 10.5 percent) over that same span of contests.

If, over those seven games, you thought John Tavares would be the leading goal scorer and point getter, you would be right (4-3-7), but right there with him in goal scoring is Anders Lee (4-2-6).  After a slow start in which he recorded only one goal in his first 18 games of the season, Lee has seven goals over his last nine contests.  Two of those goals came on power plays, and he has two game-winning goals in that collection.  If there is an odd things about the eight goals that Lee has scored overall, it is that they are not a regular accompaniment to Islander wins.  New York is just 2-3-1 in the six games in which Lee recorded a goal this season.  In 11 career games against Washington, Lee is 4-1-5, plus-1.

Another name that shows up among the goal scoring leaders for the Islanders in this recent run is Jason Chimera.  He is another Islander shaking off a sluggish start.  After posting just one goal in his first 21 games this season, he scored goals in three of four games, including a goal against the Caps in the 3-0 win on December 1st.  Unlike Lee, however, all four of Chimera’s goals have come in Islander wins.  Perhaps fortunately for the Caps, he is without a point in his last two games.  He is 2-2-4, plus-3, in seven career games against the Caps.

Jaroslav Halak might have reclaimed his spot as the Islanders’ number one goaltender for the time being, but he is still searching for some consistency.  Halak, who has alternated wins and losses in his last five appearances, has yet to win consecutive decisions this season.  He does, however, have a four-game and a five-game losing streak on his record.  Only six times in 18 appearances this season has he allowed fewer than three goals, and he was lit up for six goals on 38 shots in his last appearance, a 6-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets last Saturday, when he was finally relieved with a little over five minutes left in the contest in favor of Jean-Francois Berube.  Halak is 7-6-0, 2.51, .908, with one shutout in his career against the Caps, the shutout coming in the 3-0 win on December 1st.

--The Islanders certainly have enjoyed a lot of home cooking in the first third of their season. Of the 27 games played so far, the Isles have skated 17 of them on home ice.

--  Not that home cooking has helped the Islanders in one respect. Their home power play (10.9 percent) is dead last in the league.  And while their penalty kill is respectable (83.0 percent), only three teams have been shorthanded more times on home ice than the Islanders (53 times) – the Winnipeg Jets (54 times), the St. Louis Blues, and the Montreal Canadiens (60 times apiece).

--  The Islanders are the only team in the league that has yet to win a game when trailing at the first intermission and when trailing at the second intermission of games. If the Isles trail at either, they lose, or so their history this season has unfolded.

--  And, if you outshoot the Islanders, chance are you will win. Only the Los Angeles Kings have fewer wins when outshot by opponents (three) than the Islanders (four).

--  The Islanders are a possession-challenged team on home ice. They rank 28th in the league in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 (46.86 percent; numbers from Corsica.hockey), the worst number in the Eastern Conference.

--  The Capitals will be looking for their fifth straight win, which would tie them with their season-best, a five-game winning streak in Games 7-11.

--  The Caps are 10-for-46 on the power play in their last 12 games (21.7 percent). This could be a good sign; the Caps are 10-1-1 in the 12 games in which they scored a power play goal this season.

--  On the other hand, the penalty kill has seen some cracks. It is 31-for-38 (81.6 percent ) over the last ten games.  Washington is 10-2-1 this season when shutting out opponents on their power play.

--  Washington has not lost a game this season when scoring more than two goals. They are 15-0-0 in those games.  Conversely, they have not lost a game in regulation when allowing two or fewer goals (not counting Gimmick goals), posting a record of 14-0-3 in those games.  First to three wins.

--  The Caps rank eighth in the league in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 in road games (51.98 percent; numbers form Corsica.hockey). Take the blocked shots out, and things are different.  Washington ranks 14th in Fenwick-for at fives (49.94 percent).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

New York: Josh Bailey

Josh Bailey is one of those players who isn’t going to get a basket full of accolades, but he is a consistent and dependable player.  In six career seasons in which he appeared in at least 70 games, he failed to reach the 30-point mark once (28 points in 70 games in 2010-2011).  He doesn’t really shoot that much (1.48 shots per game in his career), but he has a respectable 11.3 percent career shooting percentage, although he is somewhat below that so far this season (9.3 percent).  He has been productive of late, going 2-4-6 in the Islanders’ recent 5-1-1 run.  If he scored more, he might be in the running for the Lady Byng Trophy.  Bailey has just two penalty minutes in 27 games and more than 500 minutes of ice time this season.  He has not taken a penalty minute on home ice in 24 contests dating back to last season and has just two penalty minutes in his last 43 home games.  Bailey is 4-8-12, minus-8, in 33 career games against Washington.

Washington: Brooks Orpik

Remember when Brooks Orpik was one of the big boppers among defensemen?  Well, this season he seems to be taking on, if not a more sedate role, then one of overseer of the defensive end as his partner – Dmitry Orlov, Nate Schmidt, or someone else – jumps up into the play.  Among defensemen appearing in at least 15 games, Orpik ranks just 25th in hits per game.  Some of that is, no doubt, a product of the Caps’ good possession numbers, but it might reflect something of a changing role, too.  On the other side, Orpik does not have a goal yet, which is not unusual given his history, but he is on pace to finish with 18 assists, which would be within striking distance of his best total as a Capital (19 assists in 2014-2015) and the second highest total of his career (he had 23 helpers in 2009-2010).  Orpik is 3-11-14, plus-6, in 67 career games against the Islanders.  The goals, assists, and points are the most Orpik has against any opponent in his career.

In the end…

The Islanders are hardly a pushover at the moment, but the Capitals should have motivation for the way they were handled by the Islanders on home ice not two weeks ago.  One would think returning the favor would be on their minds.  As was the case in that game, the Caps will face a team with a very uncertain and unsettled goaltending situation.  It did not stop Jaroslav Halak from posting a shutout, and it goes to show that there are no gimmies in the NHL.  If the Caps want to keep pace with a Metropolitan Division that is showing itself to be the strongest division in the league, they will have to do far more “taking” than “giving” to make up for that disappointing performance on December 1st.

Capitals 3 – Islanders 1

A TWO-Point Night -- Game 27: Washington Capitals 3 - Vancouver Canucks 0

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…ok, a couple of hours ago, the Washington Capitals defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 3-0, on “Star Wars Night” at Verizon Center.  There was a lot of skating, not much scoring, and little (if any) in the way of physical play.  But the Caps did enough to subdue the Canucks for their fourth straight win.

Alex Ovechkin started the scoring mid-way through the first period when, on a power play, he took a pass from John Carlson, cradled it in the curve of his stick, and rifled a shot past goalie Jacob Markstrom on the short side at the 13:46 mark.

The Caps could not expand on that lead through the rest of the first period and the entirety of the second period, but Justin Williams got the Caps some insurance in the final frame.  It started with Williams scooping up a loose puck along the left wing wall in the Vancouver end and chipping it to Dmitry Orlov at the left point.  Orlov fired a shot that Markstrom blockered away to his right where Ovechkin picked it up.  Ovechkin centered the puck to Evgeny Kuznetsov, who one-timed a pass back to the weak side where Williams was closing toward the net.  From low in the left wing circle, Williams snapped a shot high over Markstrom’s blocker, and it was 2-0, 5:06 into the period.

That would be all for the competitive portion of the contest, Tom Wilson getting an empty net goal with 51.1 seconds left to give the Caps their final 3-0 margin.

Other stuff…

“Now, witness the power of this fully operational battle station.”  The Ovechkin power play goal was the Caps’ fifth power play goal in five games, over which they are 5-for-18 (27.8 percent).  It extends a productive run in which the Caps are 10-for-46 over their last 12 games (21.7 percent), eight of those games featuring power play goals.

“Hmm! Adventure. Hmmpf! Excitement. A Jedi craves not these things.”  Well, maybe not too much adventure.  This was Vancouver’s third game in four days and the fourth game in a five-game road trip.  It was a team that might have been ripe for the taking, but the game devolved into a tepid affair that suited the Canucks more than it did the Caps.  Give credit to the Caps for not succumbing to that situation.

“It’s not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home, they’re not much bigger than two meters.”  Good for Tom Wilson getting the empty netter at the end.  It was a nice reward for a solid game killing penalties.  It is a part of his game that has developed remarkably over the last season, far more than one might have envisioned for him. 

“Stay on target…STAY ON TARGET…”  The Caps had 29 shots on goal, 29 shots attempts that did not make it to the net (15 blocked, 14 misses).  Vancouver had 20 shots on goal, 21 that did not make it to the net (10 blocked, 11 misses).

“I find your lack of faith…disturbing.”  A week ago, the Caps were nursing the wounds of a three-game losing streak, and there were grumblings in Capitals Nation.  With this win, they are on a four-game winning streak, their third streak of three wins or more this season.

“Traveling through hyperspace ain’t like dustin’ crops, boy!”  Jakub Vrana had a couple of excellent chances to add to his goal total after scoring his first NHL in his last outing.  He was unable to connect, but his four shots on goal and seven attempts brought to mind visions of a young sniper like Peter Bondra of 25 years ago.

"Master Kenobi, you disappoint me. Yoda holds you in such high esteem. Surely you can do better!” Lars Eller… 1-for-11 in the faceoff circle.  Tough night.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”  Five shorthanded situations, 10 minutes of shorthanded ice time, one shot allowed, and that one came on the last power play.  The Caps held the Canucks without a shot on goal over their first 9:23 of shorthanded ice time.

“Somebody has to save our skins.”  After a four-game slump in which he allowed at least three goals in each game, goalie Braden Holtby is 3-0-1, 1.45, .950 over his last four games after the 20-save shutout over the Canucks.  It was his 25^th career shutout.  He is one of ten goalies with 25 or more shutouts since the 2010-2011 season, Holtby’s first.

“Remember: Your focus determines your reality.”   The Caps did dominate the 5-on-5 possession numbers, recording 41 total shot attempts to 30 for the Canucks (57.75 percent Corsi-for; numbers from Corsica.hockey).

In the end…

“The force is strong with this one...”  For one night, anyway, the Caps were a team that were in control of the game throughout, especially on defense, where they seemed not to anticipate as much as know what the Canucks were trying to do (letting the Force flo-o-o-ow through them, as Yoda might say...getting tired of the Srar Wars references?).  In that respect they did take advantage of the Canucks having played three games in four nights, not making the big, galactically stupid mistake that would give the opponent life and let them back in the game.  If the offense isn’t blowing up opponents like the Death Star blowing up Alderaan, then the defense was frustrating the Canucks like a tribe of Ewoks frustrating a brigade of Imperial Stormtroopers.  And that is a formula for the Rebels celebrating a victory over the Empire.

May The Force be with you...

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 9

After a disappointing Week 8, the Washington Capitals rebounded with a perfect week in the win-loss record in Week 9.  It was not obtained easily, nor did it come without a price that, hopefully, will not exact too much of a toll in the days to come.

Record: 3-0-0

For the second time this season and first time since Week 4, the Capitals recorded a perfect week.  Not that it was accompanied by any significant movement in the standings.  The Caps finished Week 8 in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division, four points behind the New York Rangers with three games in hand, and sixth in the Eastern Conference.  At the end of Week 9 they are in fifth place in the Metropolitan Division, trailing the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Philadelphia Flyers, although the Caps have at least two games in hand on all except Columbus (both played 26 games so far).  Not playing against a divisional opponent hurt the Caps’ chances to advance, but their 2-4-2 record against the division does not inspire a lot of confidence, either.  They did face two Atlantic Division opponents (Buffalo twice, and Boston), and with the wins in all three games have a record of 7-1-1 against that division through Week 9.

Offense:  3.67/game (season: 2.65 /game; rank: 13th)

Balance and volume.  That was certainly missing in Week 8, when Nicklas Backstrom recorded the only goal of the week.  In Week 9, eight Caps shared in the 11 goals, and 13 skaters recorded points.  Marcus Johansson had three goals and a pair of assists, one of the goals an overtime game-winner in the first game of the week, a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres.  One of his assists came on the overtime game-winning goal scored by Nicklas Backstrom in the Caps’ 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins in the middle game of the week.

Evgeny Kuznetsov gave signs that he is coming out of the slump that he has been in for most of the season.  He had four assists in the three games, posting at least one in each game of Week 9.  It is the first time he had points in three consecutive games since he had single points (1-2-0) in Games 3-5 of the season back in October.

There were a couple of noteworthy firsts for the Caps in the offensive end for the week.  John Carlson scored his first goal of the season in the game to end the week against the Buffalo Sabres, ending a 26-game streak without a goal to open the season, and Jakub Vrana recorded his first NHL goal in the 4-1 win over the Sabres to end the week, the goal also being credited as the game-winner in that contest.

Defense: 2.00/game (season: 2.19 /game; rank: 5th)

Minimizing shots has been a hallmark of the Caps’ season thus far, but they have fallen off a bit in that regard in recent games.  Only six times in 23 games over the first eight weeks did the Caps allow an opponent more than 30 shots.  The sixth time was in tbe second and last game of Week 8.  The Caps followed that up by allowing the Sabres and Bruins 33 and 34 shots, respectively, in the first two games of the week.  That made it five times in six games that the Caps allowed an opponent more than 30 shots, and they averaged  33 shots allowed per game in that span.  Washington got things under more control in the game to end the week, allowing the Sabres only 28 shots in their second meeting of Week 9, in Buffalo.

The Caps had an iffy possession week.  While they finished just under 50 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5 (48.9 percent), it was a case of two good games (51.9 percent and 55.9 percent in the two games against Buffalo) against a poor game against Boston (41.2 percent).

The price that the Caps paid for a good week in the defensive end was losing defenseman Matt Niskanen to an upper body injury when he was run into the end boards by Boston's Patrice Bergeron late in the first period of the Caps' 4-3 overtime win in the middle game of the week (Bergeron was assessed a penalty on the play).  The game he missed against the Sabres to close Week 9 was the first game he missed as a Capital, snapping a streak of 107 games played.  Niskanen is officially listed as "day-to-day," but no timetable has been offered for his return.

Goaltending:   1.97/ .937 (season: 2.07 / .927 / 2 SO)

The depth of the Capitals’ goaltending was on full display in Week 9.  Braden Holtby won both of the games played to overtime, and Philipp Grubauer wrapped up the week with a solid win in Buffalo.  The save percentages were solid across the periods for the week - .962 in the first period, .919 in the second period, and .935 in the third frame.  Holtby stopped 60 of 64 shots for the week for a .938 save percentage, while Grubauer turned away 29 of 31 shots against the Sabres to finish at .935.  That kind of consistency, especially in getting consistent and reliable relief from Grubauer, had been an important ingredient to the Caps’s success so far this season.  Through nine weeks, Holtby has a save percentage of .923, and Grubauer is at .940.  The Caps and the Chicago Blackhawks (with Corey Crawford and Scott Darling) are the only teams in the league with two goalies having played at least 250 minutes and with save percentages over .920.  Grubauer is eighth in the league among goalies with at least 150 5-on-5 minutes in save percentage (.944), while Holtby is 11^th (.941; numbers from Corsica.hockey).

Power Play: 3-for-8 / 37.5 percent (season: 16.7 percent; rank: 16th)

Three power play goals for the week ties the season high for power play goals in a week, and the 37.5 percent success rate is the best through nine weeks for the Caps.  Not that the Caps were especially efficient in achieving this outcome.  They had just nine shots on goal in 11:34 of total power play time.  Six players had as many as two shots – Marcus Johansson, John Carlson, and Jakub Vrana.  It might not be coincidence that these three players were the goal scorers for the week on the man advantage.  The odd part of the outcome was the week for Alex Ovechkin.  Despite playing 9:33 of the 11:34 of power play time for the week, Ovechkin managed only one power play shot on goal.  He has now gone seven games without a power play goal and, with just four power play goals on the season, is on a pace to finish with 13 man advantage goals, which would be the fewest he had in a regular season since he finished with 13 power play goals in 2011-2012, the last season he did not lead the league in power play goals (including the abbreviated 2012-2013 season, when he had 16 in 48 games).

It might be important to keep in mind, too, that the Caps built their power play success this week on a team with a poor penalty killing record.  They played the Buffalo Sabres twice, a team that came into the week with the 29^th-ranked penalty kill in the league.  The Caps were 3-for-6 against the Sabres, with eight shots on goal in 8:44 of power play ice time.  Against the Boston Bruins, the third-ranked penalty kill when they took the ice against the Caps, Washington was 0-for-2 and had just one shot on goal in 2:50 of ice time.

Penalty Killing: 9-for-11 / 80.0 percent (season: 82.4 percent; rank: 14th)

One area of concern in recent weeks has been the Caps’ propensity to take penalties and face shorthanded situations.  The Caps appeared to begin addressing that problem in Week 8 with just five power plays allowed in two games.  They permitted only three apiece to the Sabres and Bruins in the first two games of Week 9.  And when the Caps allowed the Sabres only two power plays through 40 minutes in the third game of the week, it looked as if it would be another stingy week.  However, Washington committed three minor penalties in the space of 8:37 of the third period while holding a 2-0 lead.  It could have been a disaster.  The Caps killed off the first two of the ensuing shorthanded situations, but they yielded a Kyle Okposo power play goal on the third to allow the Sabres back into the game.

The five power plays the Caps allowed to the Sabres made it 11 for the week, and with them was a lot of shorthanded ice time recorded.  But even with that, there was a certain efficiency in the penalty killing.  Washington allowed opponents 14 shots on goal in 11 power plays covering 20:34 of ice time.  Even the Okposo power play goal in the third of three straight Sabre power plays came with just 24 seconds left on the Buffalo man advantage.  And there is another curious shot statistic coming out of the week in penalty killing.  The Caps had five shorthanded shots on goal in 15:36 of shorthanded ice time against the Sabres for the week (Buffalo had ten shots on goal in that same span of time).

Faceoffs: 84-for-167 / 50.3 percent (season: 51.1% / rank: 10th)

A week that might be described as uninteresting in the circle was anything but.  First, the 50.3 percent overall mark masks the fact that the Caps lost the offensive (47.2 percent) and defensive (48.1 percent) zones for the week.  Then there was the usual (Jay Beagle finished with a 65.2 percent win mark) and the unusual (Evgeny Kuznetsov finished the week 51.2 percent to the good).  And then there was the odd outcome in the second game against the Sabres to close the week.  Perhaps it was a specific attempt to protect a player, and perhaps it was just circumstance, but Beagle took 20 draws against the Sabres overall (going an amazing 16-for-20).  Of those 20 faceoffs, 15 were taken in the defensive zone (he won 13).  On the other hand, Kuznetsov took 12 total draws in that game but none of them in the defensive zone.  Beagle and Kuznetsov were the only Caps taking at least ten faceoffs for the week to win more than half of them.

Goals by Period:

The Caps won the week in every period, including overtime, in which they scored two game-winners.  This is a hopeful sign in two respects, both with respect to goals allowed.  First, the Caps allowed just one first period goal for the week.  With it, the Caps became the last team in the league to allow a tenth first period goal this season, and they finished the week with the fewest such goals in the league.  Second, the Caps allowed just two third period goals.  That does not sound quite as impressive, but the Caps have been a middle-of-the-road performer in this regard for much of the season.  A third period power play goal allowed to Boston did cost the Caps a victory in regulation time (they won in overtime), and they did allow 31 shots on goal in the third period over the three games, but their third period performance did evidence a bit of a tightening up.

In the end…

A 3-0-0 week is not to be sneered at, but neither should it be revered as a return to dominance by the Caps.  Twice they beat a young, struggling team, and they took advantage of a goalie against whom they have had unusual success (Boston’s Tuukka Rask gave up four goals on 20 shots and finished the week with a record against the Caps of 1-8-5, 3.00, .894, with one shutout).  On the other hand, one could say the Caps ground out six very important standings points, given that the teams ahead of them in the Metropolitan Division standings went a combined 11-1-0 for the week.  The 3-0-0 record meant only that the Caps were able to tread water in the standings, but they do have at least two games in hand on three of the four teams ahead of them (Columbus has played in the same number of games – 26).  The trick is to make those games in hand count, and with a four-game week coming up in Week 10 (including a back-to-back to close it), that is the next task on the to-do list.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Marcus Johansson (3-2-5, plus-2, game-winning/OT goal, points in all three games)
• Second Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (0-4-4, plus-1, points in all three games, 51.2 faceoff winning percentage, six shots on goal)
• Third Star: Jakub Vrana (first NHL goal, a game-winner, five shots on goal, two hits, a blocked shot in 11 minutes per game)