The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 12: Capitals at Oilers, October 24th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

Washington Capitals are two games into their season-long five-game road trip and have put two wins on the ledger.  They will try to make it three in a row, and five consecutive wins overall, when they head to Rogers Place in Edmonton to face the Oilers on Thursday night.  Washington will enter the contest as the leader in the Metropolitan Division and the conference leader in road wins (five).  Meanwhile, the Oilers, who were 7-1-0 in their first eight games, have lost two in a row on the road, both via shutout, a 1-0 Gimmick loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday and a 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.

The ten games played by the Oilers to date cleave into two neat pieces.  The first was a five-game segment in which they went undefeated and outscored opponents, 21-13.  However, in the second five games they are 2-2-1 and have mustered only nine goals, six of them coming in a single game, a 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on October 16^th.

Then and Now

This will be the 77^th regular season meetings of the Caps and Oilers, the Caps holding a 39-30-1 record (with six ties).  In Edmonton, the Caps have struggled, going 14-20-0 (four ties).  Since 2005-2006, Washington Is 11-6-1 against Edmonton overall and 4-5-0 in Edmonton.  The Caps lost their last visit to Edmonton, 4-1, last October 25^th.

Active Leaders vs. Opponent

Caps vs. Oilers:

    Goals: Ovechkin (11)

    Assists: Carlson (11)

    Points: Ovechkin (21)

    Plus-minus: Wilson (plus-5)

    Penalty minutes: Wilson (15)

    Power play goals: Ovechkin (3)

    Power play points: Ovechkin (6)

    Shorthanded goals: none

    Game-winning goals: Ovechkin (2)

    Overtime goals: none

    Shots on goal: Ovechkin (80)

Oilers vs. Caps:

    Goals: Nugent-Hopkins (4)

    Assists: Nugent-Hopkins (9)

    Points: Nugent-Hopkins (13)

    Plus-minus: Russell, Nurse (plus-3)

    Penalty minutes: Nugent-Hopkins (6)

    Power play goals: McDavid (2)

    Power play points: McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins (3)

    Shorthanded goals: Nugent-Hopkins (1)

    Game-winning goals: Nugent-Hopkins (1)

    Overtime goals: none

    Shots on goal: Nugent-Hopkins (30)

Noteworthy Opponents

The recent problem for the Oilers has not been top-line scoring.  Over those last five games Edmonton has three two-goal scorers.  One of them is expected, one isn’t.  Leon Draisaitl might be expected to be on this list.  He is coming off a career season in which he doubled his 2017-2018 25-goal total into his first 50-goal season last year.  It was quite an achievement.  One will remember the Oilers as once being the most prolific of offenses with the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Jari Kurri, but Draisaitl’s 50-goal season last year made him only the fifth player in Oiler history to record at least one 50-goal season (Gretzky (8), Kurri (4), Glenn Anderson (2), and Messier being the others) and the first to do it since 1987. 

He did it last year with uncommon efficiency.  Of 370 skaters to record at least 100 shots last season, Draisaitl had the best shooting percentage (21.6 percent).  Efficiency has been a part of his game since entering the league.  Of 280 players logging at least 500 shots since Draisaitl came into the league in 2014-2015, he ranks fourth in shooting percentage overall (16.0).  He is 2-2-4, plus-2, in eight career games against the Caps.

Draisaitl has six goals in ten games for the Oilers, but that is good only for second on the club, which brings us to the unexpected hot player for the club.  In his first ten seasons in the league, James Neal was one of its most reliably consistent goal scorers.  In ten seasons he topped 20 goals ten times and scored more than 30 twice, including a 40-goal season with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2011-2012.  However, for whatever reason, he was a commodity with a limited shelf life.  In those first ten seasons of his career, Neal skated for four teams: Dallas, Pittsburgh, Nashville, and Vegas, for which he played when the Golden Knights faced the Caps in the Stanley Cup final in their inaugural season. 

Last year, he signed a five-year/$28.75 million contract with the Calgary Flames as an unrestricted free agent and spent the entire season soiling the bed.  In 63 games he posted a career-low seven goals.  Calgary cut their losses last July, exchanging Neal for Edmonton’s Milan Lucic and a third round draft pick in an exchange of disappointing forwards.  The change did Neal good.  He was blanked on the score sheet in his first game as an Oiler, but then he ran off seven goals in his next three games.  Neal has not kept up that blistering pace, but he does have two goals in his last five games to lead the team with nine.  He is 10-5-15, plus-3, in 22 career games against Washington.

Lost in the Oilers’ fast start has been their play in goal.  The starts have been roughly evenly split between Mike Smith (six) and Mikko Koskinen (four), two goaltenders on the far side of 30 years of age with unspectacular careers.  Smith is the better known of the pair, now in his 14^th NHL season and his sixth team.  He is 13^th among active goaltenders in wins (246), but through Tuesday’s games he was also tied for fourth among active goaltenders in losses (238, with Craig Anderson).  Smith comes to the Oilers on a one-year/$2.o million contract as an unrestricted free agent after spending the last two seasons in Calgary, posting consecutive 20-plus win seasons for the first time in his career.  He is off to a good start with the Oilers, going 3-2-1, 2.15, .925, with one shutout in six starts to date.  Smith is 4-9-2, 3.26, .895, in 16 career appearances against the Caps.

Koskinen has had a far different sort of career than has Smith.  He appeared in four games for the New York Islanders in 2010-2011 but then returned to Europe to play in Finland and the KHL until last season, when he returned to the NHL and appeared in 55 games for the Oilers. He was 25-21-6, 2.93, .906, with four shutouts last season, but his start this season has been more impressive.  In four starts to date, Koskinen is 4-0-0, 2.21, .934.  Koskinen has never appeared against Washington.

1.  The Oilers went to the Stanley Cup final in 2006-2007.  Since then, no team has played fewer postseason games than Edmonton (13, tied with Florida), and they have won fewer postseason games than any of the other 30 teams (five).

2.  Since that 2006-2007 season, no team has fewer 40-win seasons than the Oilers (two, tied with Vegas, who has only been in the league two years before this season).

3.  The Oilers are dead last in the league in shots per game (26.9)

4.  Edmonton puts itself in a hole late in games in terms of special teams ice time.  Their minus-18:22 in third period special teams ice time (power play less penalty killing time) is worst in the league.

5.  The Oilers have a habit of taking their foot off the gas when ahead in one respect.  Their shot attempts-for percentage at 5-on-5 when leading in games (38.14 percent) is worst in the league.

1.  Washington leads the league in road goals scored through Tuesday (24), power play goals (seven), and empty net goals (three).

2.  The Caps have five wins in six road games to date, the first time in team history they started the season 5-for-6 on the road.  Last season, they did not get their fifth win on the road until November 19^th, at which time they were 5-4-1 in ten road contests.

3.  Alex Ovechkin is tied for the league lead in road goals scored through Tuesday’s games (six, with James Neal).

4.  John Carlson leads the league in road points through Tuesday (11; Steven Stamkos has nine).

5.  Second periods have been good for the Caps.  They lead the league in middle period goals scored (18), and only three teams have allowed fewer second period goals than the Caps (six): Buffalo (five), Arizona (four), and Edmonton (four).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Edmonton: Ethan Bear

The third Oiler with two goals in their recent 2-2-1 skid is defenseman Ethan Bear.  He is in his second season with the club after getting an 18-game look last year (1-3-4, minus-11).  That he would be averaging more than 20 minutes per game (20:50), even at this early stage of the season, is an achievement.  Bear was taken in the fifth round (124^th overall) in the 2015 Entry Draft, the 40^th of 74 defensemen taken in that draft.  But he is already one of only 20 defensemen in that draft to have appeared in 20 or more NHL games (28).  Odd Ethan Bear Fact… he is the only Oiler defenseman with a game-winning goal so far this season (October 18^th in a 2-1 win over Detroit).  Bonus Odd Ethan Bear Fact… The Oilers have points in all five games in which Bear recorded two or more shots on goal (4-0-1).  This will be Bear’s first appearance against the Capitals.

Washington: Nick Jensen

Nick Jensen has now dressed for 31 regular season and seven postseason games with the Capitals.  That is not a lot of games, but for a 29-year old veteran in his fourth NHL season, it is reasonable to expect that the break-in period would be over.  Somehow, though, it does not seem to be with Nick Jensen.  He was not expected to be a prolific offensive defenseman, but he has only two assists in six games this season and is still looking for his first goal as a Capital.  He has been on ice for 12 goals against so far, second-most among defensemen (Dmitry Orlov: 15), 11 of them at even strength, despite averaging 16:23 in even strength ice time (third among Caps defensemen).  The Caps have a shot attempt differential at 5-on-5 of minus-4 with Jensen on the ice, worst on the team among defensemen. 

It is frustrating at times to watch, since he does offer glimpses of being effective at moving the puck smartly out of his own end and letting the skill guys take over.  Jensen suffers some in a comparison with Michal Kempny who, like Jensen, was a trading deadline pickup brought on board to provide that puck-moving skill.  The Caps were wildly successful with the Kempny addition, it being what some might think was the last, missing piece in the Stanley Cup puzzle in 2018.  It has not yet been as successful in Jensen’s case, but there are only those 31 regular season and seven postseason games to date on which to judge.  Jensen is 0-1-1, even, in five career games against the Oilers.

In the end…

Edmonton fans have been a long-suffering lot.  Since going to the Stanley Cup final in 2006-2007, no team having played in one city (with the exception of the third-year Vegas Golden Knights) has fewer regular season wins than the 391 the Oilers have.  And although the Oilers have drafted a lot of high-end talent at the top of a lot of drafts since then, no team has allowed more goals (2,940).  But things are looking up, if only for the moment.  Edmonton is 7-2-1, and perhaps most encouraging, their scoring defense (2.30) is fifth in the league through Tuesday’s games.  When you have the most prolific offensive force in the league (Connor McDavid) and a returning 50-goal scorer (Leon Draisaitl), one can finally see the contours of a more complete, more consistently competitive team that will pose an interesting challenge for the Caps on Thursday night.

Capitals 5 – Oilers 3

A TWO-Point Night: Washington Capitals -- Game 11: Capitals 5 - Flames 3

The Washington Capitals headed west in an effort to extend their season-long winning streak to four games, facing off against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.  It was the second game of the Caps’ five-game road trip, while the Flames were returning home after splitting two decisions on the road.  In what was at times an ugly back-and-forth game, the Caps put enough moments together to hold off the Flames, 5-3, to make it four wins in a row.

First Period

The teams went through a lengthy feeling out period over the first six minutes of the contest, but the Caps got the first advantage when Mark Giordano was sent off 6:34 into the period for slashing Alex Ovechkin.  The Caps failed to convert on either of their two shots on goalie Cam Talbot.

The Caps went a man short just past the mid-way point of the period when Nic Dowd was whistled for holding.  The Caps successfully killed off the penalty, Calgary failing to make good on any of their three power play shots on goal.  The teams, having failed in their respective lone power play chances, did not dent the net at evens, and the teams went off scoreless after 20 minutes.

-- Calgary picked up the shooting pace over the last ten minutes, but they were not a collection of threatening shots, for the most part.  The Flames out-shot the Caps, 15-9, and out-attempted them, 23-17, in the first period.

-- Lars Eller, Renaissance Man… Two shots on goal (led team), one takeaway, seven for eight on faceoffs, and 1:17 in penalty killing ice time (led all Caps).

-- The fourth line got fifth line ice time… Chandler Stephenson had 1:54, Nic Dowd had 2:07, and Brendan Leipsic had 1:13 (only two shifts).

-- Four score… Caps had four shot attempts blocked, four missed shots, four giveaways, four takeaways, and four blocked shots.

Second Period

John Carlson struck for the Caps in the first minute of the period, taking a puck off the right wing wall and proving the maxim, “there are no bad shots,” flinging the puck at the net and past Talbot just inside the near post to make it 1-0, Caps, 35 seconds into the frame.

Chandler Stephenson doubled the Caps’ lead with an unassisted goal 2:41 into the period, banking a shot from below the goal line off defenseman Rasmus Andersson.

Alex Ovechkin got tangled up with Sean Monahan off the ensuring faceoff and was sent off for interference.  Elias Lindholm made the Caps pay with a rocket form the right wing circle over the glove of goalie Braden Holtby off a feed from Johnny Gaudreau 3:19 into the period.

The Caps had a chance to regain the two-goal lead with a power play of their own, Derek Ryan sent off on an interference call 5:15 into the period, but the Caps were unable to convert.

Calgary got their third man advantage of the evening in the 15^th minute when T.J. Oshie was sent to the penalty box for slashing.  The Flames did not score on the power play, but they did tie the game shortly thereafter off a goal mouth scramble, Austin Czarnik batting a loose puck in from Holtby’s left at the 16:25 mark.

Washington regained the lead on the next shift.  Nicklas Backstrom led a 2-on-1 into the Calgary end and backhanded a pass across to Ovechkin for a one-timer that beat Talbot on the blocker side, ten seconds after the Flames tied the game.  That would end the scoring for the second period, the Caps up, 3-2.

-- Calgary out-shot the Caps, 10-8, for the period, but the teams were 18 apiece in shot attempts in the middle frame.

-- Alex Ovechkin led the team with four shots and seven shot attempts through two periods.

-- Lars Eller was 9-for-12 in faceoffs through two periods, the rest of the Caps were just 12-for-30.

-- Not a big hitting game, with the Caps credited with 11 hits and Calgary with seven through two periods.  Garnet Hathaway led the Caps with three.

-- T.J. Oshie was not credited with a single shot attempt through 40 minutes.

Third Period

Neither team could muster much in the way of chances over the first eight minutes, but the Caps got a power play chance when the “T.J.’s” tangled up in center ice, T.J. Brodie going off for interfering with T.J. Oshie.  The Caps had decent zone time but could not solve Talbot in the two-minute man advantage.

The Caps did extend their lead in the 13^th minute, Lars Eller leading a three-man wave into the Calgary zone and finding the trailing skater, Tom Wilson, who snapped a shot past Talbot’s glove to make it 4-2, 12:34 into the period.

John Carlson added an empty net goal at the 18:15 mark, and Tobias Rieder scored for Calgary with 15.2 seconds left to complete the scoring in the Caps’ 5-3 win.

Other stuff…

-- With a goal and an assist, Alex Ovechkin recorded his 346^th career multi-point game (26^th all time).

-- Braden Holtby stopped 32 of 35 shots.  Since allowing three goals on three shots and being pulled against Colorado, he has stopped 73 of 79 shots (.924) and has two wins.

-- John Carlson’s goal extended his points streak to eight games, a career high.  His second goal made it four career two-goal games, tied for sixth in franchise history among defensemen with Al Iafrate and Calle Johansson.

-- The win was the Caps’ fifth in six road games to start the season, the first time they accomplished that feat in team history.

-- T.J. Oshie finished the game without a shot attempt.

-- The Caps gave up four power plays to the Flames, the eighth time in their last nine games that they faced four or more shorthanded situations.  The Caps are 31-for-36 killing penalties in that span (86.1 percent).

-- Calgary out-shot the Caps, 35-30, and out-attempted them, 58-55.

-- With an assist, his 649^th career assist, Nicklas Backstrom broke a tie with Daniel Sedin .for fifth place all-time among players born in Sweden.

-- The Caps made the big Calgary guns play defense and made them pay for doing so.  Mark Giordano, Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Elias Lindholm all finished minus-3 for the Flames.

-- Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller each won ten faceoffs for the Caps.  It is the fourth time this season that this duo each won ten or more draws in a game.

In the end…

It was not stylish, but it was pretty.  As in “all road wins are pretty.”  The Caps extended their lead in the Metropolitan Division to four points and find themselves only one point behind the surprising Buffalo Sabres for the Eastern Conference lead.  After the third period meltdown against Nashville almost two weeks ago, the Caps are 5-1-0, with five goals scored in each of their last three games, and but for an awful start against Colorado might be even better.  They are setting an early pace that their division rivals will find tough to match. 

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 11: Capitals at Flames, October 22nd

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

Washington Capitals will look to extend their longest winning streak of the young season when they visit Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Tuesday night to face the Flames.  The Caps have won three in a row, victories over the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, and Chicago Blackhawks, outscoring the trio of opponents by a 14-8 margin.  On the other side, the Flames have been all over the road to start the season, first alternating wins and losses over their first four games, then piecing together a pair of losses and a pair of wins before returning to alternating a loss with a win, bringing their season record to 5-4-1.

Then and Now

This will be the 98^th meeting in the all-time series between the Caps and the Flames.  Washington is 39-43-2 (13 ties) in 97 meetings to date.  They are 13-27-0 (seven ties) in 47 games played in Calgary.  Since 2005-2006, the Caps are 11-5-2 in 18 games played against the Flames and 6-3-0 in the nine games played in Calgary.  They defeated the Flames in their last visit to Calgary, a 4-3 Gimmick win last October 27th.

Active Leaders vs. Opponent

Caps vs. Flames:

• Goals: Ovechkin (10)
• Assists: Backstrom (14)
• Points: Ovechkin (23)
• Plus-minus: Backstrom (plus-4)
• Penalty minutes: Wilson (12)
• Power play goals: Ovechkin (8)
• Power play points: Ovechkin (15)
• Game-winning goals: Ovechkin, Backstrom (2)
• Overtime goals: none
• Shots on goal: Ovechkin (99)

Flames vs. Caps:

• Goals: Monahan (7)
• Assists: Gaudreau (9)
• Points: Monahan (11)
• Plus-minus: Monahan (plus-6)
• Penalty minutes: Giordano (14)
• Power play goals: Lindholm, Backlund, Monahan (1)
• Power play points: Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Giordano (2)
• Game-winning goals: Monahan (4)
• Overtime goals: Monahan (2)
• Shots on goal: Monahan (34)

Noteworthy Opponents

The Flames have struggled to put the puck in the net over their first ten games.  Their 2.50 goals per game in scoring offense is tied with the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers for 23^rd place in the league through Sunday’s games.  One fifth of their 25 goals have been recorded by Elias Lindholm.  Now in his second season in Calgary after spending his first five seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, Lindholm is coming off a career year last season: 27 goals, 51 assists, and 78 points, while going plus-30, that last number tied for second in plus-minus among all forwards last season.  Lindholm had a goal in each of the Flames’ wins this season until he was blanked on the score sheet in Sunday’s 2-1 win in Anaheim over the Ducks.  It was only the second time this season in ten games in which he was held without a shot on goal.  One odd number he has posted is his penalty minute total.  Coming into this season, Lindholm had never compiled more than 24 minutes in penalties in any of his six seasons, but he already has ten penalty minutes in ten games to date.  The unexpected part of that is that the Flames are 3-1-0 in the four games in which he logged penalty minutes.  In 20 career games against the Caps, Lindholm is 5-5-10, plus-1.

When Lindholm was traded to Calgary by Carolina in June 2018, defenseman Noah Hanafin came with him.  Like Lindholm, who was a fifth overall draft pick by the Hurricanes in the 2013 Entry Draft, Hanafin was a fifth overall pick by Carolina in the 2015 Entry Draft.  His four years preceding this one were characterized by steady, incremental improvement – 22 points as a 19 year old rookie in 2015-2016, 29 points in his sophomore season, 32 points in 2017-2018, and 33 points last season, his first in Calgary.  Hanafin is off to a slow start this season, posting two points (two goals) in ten games.  Despite averaging almost 21 minutes a game over his last six contests, he is without a point and has eight shots on goal after going 2-0-2 over his first four games with nine shots on goal.  Those two goals are tied with Mark Giordano for the team lead among defensemen.  He leads the defense in credited hits (18) and takeaways (eight), but he also has been charged with a team high ten giveaways among defensemen.  Hanafin is without a point in 14 career games against Washington and is minus-3.

After a pair of disappointing seasons split between the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers over which he was a combined 42-48-6, 3.15, .902, with two shutouts, Cam Talbot signed a one-year/$2.75 million contract with Calgary as an unrestricted free agent.  He has been effective in limited work, going 1-1-0, 1.75, .931 in three games to date, including a sparkling 29-save effort in a 2-1 win over Anaheim on Sunday night.  But he is backup to David Rittich, who might be thought of as an unexpected number one goalie for the moment.  Undrafted as an amateur, he was signed by the Flames as a free agent in June 2016.  After appearing in 22 games over his first two NHL seasons, Rittich dressed for 45 games last season, posting a 27-9-5, 2.61, .911 record with one shutout, his first in the NHL.  He started eight of the first ten games for the Flames, going 4-3-1, 2.85, .912, with one shutout, a 34-save effort in a 3-0 win over Vancouver on October 5^th.  Talbot is 3-5-0, 2.48, .916 in ten career appearances against the Caps, while Rittich has yet to face Washington in his career.

1.  The first 20 minutes matter for Calgary in this respect.  The Flames are 3-0-0 when leading after 20 minutes, 0-4-1 when trailing at the first intermission.

2.  The Flames are second in the league in penalty minutes per game (12:11), trailing only Los Angeles (12:46).  Their 50 penalties taken is by far tops in the league (three teams with 41).

3.  Only the Philadelphia Flyers scored fewer first period goals (three) than the Flames (four, tied with three other teams) through Sunday’s games.

4.  Calgary’s defense, home and road, have been quite different.  The Flames are averaging 3.50 goals allowed per game on the road, but they are averaging only 1.50 goals per game allowed at home and have allowed one or fewer in three of four home games to date.

5.  The Flames are third in the league in shot attempt differential at 5-on-5 on home ice (plus-21), trailing Carolina (plus-29) and Vegas (plus-34).

1.  The Caps have an odd opportunity on Tuesday night of some historical significance.  One could make the argument that the most important event in the history of the club was not drafting Alex Ovechkin, but the trade that brought Rod Langway to Washington from Montreal in 1982.  Here is something to chew on.  If the Caps win this game, and the Boston Bruins lose to Toronto on Tuesday night, the Caps will tie Boston for the most total wins in the NHL since that trade for Langway was made in 1982 (1,467 wins). 

2.  Through Sunday’s games, the Caps led the league in road wins (four).

3.  Only once in five road games have the Caps recorded more than 30 shots, 34 in the season opener in St. Louis.  Washington might need to attend to the matter of shot attempt differential on the road.  In their last three road games they are minus-40 and have a shot attempts-for percentage at fives of 40.91.

4.  The Caps have at least one power play goal in each of the five road games played to date and are 7-for-15 on the power play in those five games (46.7 percent, fourth in the league and best among teams with at least ten road power play chances).  Their penalty kill is 16-for-18 on the road (88.9 percent/seventh in the league).

5.  Very odd fact… Through Sunday, only two defensemen in the league logged at least 175 minutes and had six or fewer total shots on goal – Nick Jensen (188 minutes/five shots) and Jonas Siegenthaler (189 minutes/6 shots).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Calgary: Milan Lucic

Before there was Tom Wilson, there was Milan Lucic.  When Lucic posted 30 goals and logged 121 penalty minutes as a 22-year old with the Boston Bruins in 2010-2011, he was viewed by many as the league’s emerging power forward.  When he posted 26 goals with 135 minutes in the following season, there was little doubt that he was going to be a force of skill and edginess to contend with for the next decade.  Things did not work out that way.  In the abbreviated 2012-2013 season, Lucic posted only seven goals in 46 games.  He rebounded to record 42 goals in 161 games over the next two seasons with the Bruins, he was entering his chronological prime years with declining production and a big price tag ($6.0 million per year with a year remaining on his contract). 

Boston traded him to Los Angeles for Martin Jones, Colin Miller and a first round pick in the 2015 Entry Draft.  Lucic played the remaining year of his contract with the Kings, and then he signed a seven-year/$42 million contract with Edmonton as a free agent.  In three years with the Oilers, Lucic suffered declining goal production, opening with a 23-goal season but ending last year with only six goals in 79 games.  Last July, he was part of a damaged goods trade that saw him going to Calgary in exchange for James Neal, who was having production problems of his own with the Flames.  Things have yet to improve for the 31-year old Lucic in Calgary.  He has one point (an assist) in ten games so far and is averaging just 12:43 per game.  After posting 26 penalty minutes in his first three games, he is without one in seven games since.  Lucic is 7-14-21, minus-6, in 35 career games against the Caps.

Washington: Jonas Siegenthaler

Jonas Siegenthaler got his first taste of NHL action last season with 26 regular season games and another four in the postseason.  It set up a competition with Christian Djoos for time on the third defensive pairing for the 2019-2020 season, a competition that Siegenthaler won (Djoos was waived, cleared waivers, and was assigned to Hershey in the AHL).  While Siegenthaler has not put many marks in the offensive categories of his score sheet (0-1-1) in ten games so far, he is a plus-4 (third among Caps defensemen) and has a respectable personal 50.59 percent in on-ice shot attempts-for percentage while averaging 18:52 in ice time per game.  His 17 blocked shots is tied with Radko Gudas for second among Caps defensemen, while he has averaged 1.0 hits per game over ten games to date. 

As noted above, Siegenthaler has not been a high-volume shooter, and he is looking for his first goal in the NHL having played in 36 NHL games.  This might be among the last elements of his game to be expressed, but for now he is showing a solid game in other areas in his early stage of development.  Siegenthaler is without a point and is even in one career appearance against Calgary.

In the end…

Calgary is an odd team against which to start the western road swing.  It is a team that has had wild swings of fortune over the past half dozen years, posting 35 wins in 2013-2014 and following that with seasons of, in order, 45, 35, 45, 37, and 50 wins last season, alternating seasons of playoff appearances with those absent from the postseason.  If the pattern holds, this will not be a pleasant season for Flames fans.  But this is a team that has been stingy to guests on home ice, and presents a challenge for a Caps team that has scored four or more goals in each of their last three road games and five of their last six games overall.  Consider this game “unstoppable force meets impenetrable object.” 

The Force wins…

Capitals 4 – Flames 3

A TWO-Point Night: Washington Capitals -- Game 10: Capitals 5 - Blackhawks 3

The Washington Capitals put their tenth game of the season in the books with a visit to Chicago and a matchup against the Blackhawks on Sunday night.  Both teams came into this game having won their previous two games.  It would be the Caps extending their winning streak to three with a 5-3 win.

First Period

The pace was fast, and the teams were back and forth over the first nine minutes of the period, but goalies Braden Holtby for the Caps and Corey Crawford for the Blackhawks turned everything aside.  Things changed when Andrew Shaw took a holding call in the tenth minute of the period.  On the ensuing power play, Evgeny Kuznetsov stripped Duncan Keith of the puck beneath the Chicago goal line and fed the puck in front to a charging T.J. Oshie down the slot.  Oshie one-timed the feed over the left shoulder of Crawford and under the crossbar to make it 1-0, Caps, 9:25 into the period and just eight seconds into the power play.

Chicago got their first chance with the man advantage when Lars Eller took a tripping penalty 12:59 into the period.  The Caps held the Blackhawks off the board on the power play, Holtby turning aside all three power play shots he saw.  Chicago carried play over the last third of the period, but Holtby was sharp, turning away all chances in what might have been his best period of the season so far with 14 saves, many of them of the dangerous chance variety.

-- Chicago out-shot the Caps, 14-12 in the period and out-attempted them, 25-18.

-- Jonas Siegenthaler led all Caps with 7:30 in ice time for the period.

-- Eleven Caps had shots on goal, Ovechkin the only one with two.

Second Period

Chicago opened the second period on a power play, owing to Radko Gudas taking umbrage over Connor Murphy standing up Alex Ovechkin at the end of the first period, but Holtby turned aside all four power play shots he saw on the Chicago man advantage.

Chicago got the tying goal, though, 8:25 into the period when Oshie lost an edge trying to spin just inside his own blue line.  Ryan Carpenter picked up the loose puck and fed it to Alexander Nylander low to Holtby’s right.  Nylander backhanded a pass across the low slot to Drake Caggiula, who had nothing but open net to shoot the puck, and the game was tied.

Just over two minutes later, Chandler Stephenson was sent off for a high-sticking double minor, putting Chicago on their third power play of the night.  It would be the Caps converting, though.  The puck got away from Patrick Kane inside the offensive blue line, and Carl Hagelin took off with it, Nic Dowd on his right on a 2-on-1 break.  Hagelin fed the puck through a sliding Erik Gustafsson to Dowd, who fired the puck high over Crawford’s glove to make it 2-1, Caps, 9:53 into the period.  The Caps skated off the remainder of the double minor, allowing one shot on goal.

The goal allowed and failed power play seemed to take some starch out of the home team, and the Caps held on to take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

-- Chicago held the edge again in shots and shot attempts for the period, 15-9 and 27-15, respectively.

-- Through two periods, Lars Eller and Dmitry Orlov were the only Caps without a shot attempt.  Alex Ovechkin led in both categories with three shots and four shot attempts.

-- Jonas Siegenthaler and Ovechkin led the club with four credited hits apiece through 40 minutes.

-- Orlov had four blocked shots through two periods to lead all players for both teams.

Third Period

The Caps lit a match and played with fire early in the period when Michal Kempny took a tripping penalty 33 seconds into the period to put Chicago on their fifth power play of the evening.  The Caps were up to the penalty killing task once more, holding the Blackhawks to a single unsuccessful shot on goal.

Chicago paid for their power play failure.  John Carlson peeled the puck off the right wing boards just inside the offensive blue line and fed the puck across to Alex Ovechkin for a one-timer from the Office, beating Crawford cleanly at the 3:52 mark to make it 3-1, Caps.

The Blackhawks got it back a little over two minutes later when the Caps could not get the puck out of their own end and got caught running around.  Working the puck low in the zone, Brandon Saad’s backhand pass from Holtby’s left to the low slot found Dominik Kubalik for a tap in to make it 3-2, 6:05 into the period.

Chicago got all the way back mid-way through the period on a Caps turnover at the offensive line.  From the left wing wall, Lars Eller tried to throw a backhand pass into the middle, but it was broken up by Alexander Nylander.  Patrick Kane picked up the puck and took off leading a 2-on-2 break.  Kane called his own number from the right wing circle, snapping a shot through Holtby’s pads at the 9:58 mark to tie the game at three apiece.

Tom Wilson put the Caps back in front less than two minutes later, Eller redeeming himself by circling out from behind the Chicago net and firing a shot on Crawford.  He made the save, but the puck ended up on the stick of Carl Hagelin, who fed Tom Wilson for a tap in from Crawford’s left to make it 4-3, 11:47 into the period.

Brendan Leipsic almost gave the Caps a two-goal lead shortly after the Wilson goal, sneaking behind the Chicago defense to take a pass and curl in on the Blackhawk net, but his backhand was smothered by Crawford.

Lars Eller put a fork in this one, lifting a backhand from deep in the corner in his own end down the middle of the ice and into the empty net with 43.2 seconds left to give the Caps a 5-3 win.

Other stuff…

-- Braden Holtby stopped 41 of 44 shots, the 22^nd time in his career he faced 40 or more shots in a game and 11^th time he recorded 40 or more saves.  He is now 13-6-3 when facing at least 40 shots, 9-1-1 when making 40 or more saves.

-- John Carlson recorded an assist, his seventh straight with at least one.  He can tie a club record for helpers in consecutive games with an assist in his next game.

-- Carl Hagelin had a two assist night, bringing his points streak to three games and posting his first multi-point game of the season.

-- Lars Eller had a two-point night (goal, assist), his first multi-point night since the season opener in St. Louis (two assists).

-- Alex Ovechkin was credited with seven hits, a personal season high and tying Tom Wilson for high in a single game this season (Wilson had seven in the Caps’ 6-3 loss to Colorado on October 14^th).

-- Brendan Leipsic and Jakub Vrana were the only Caps not to be credited with at least one hit.

-- The Caps were 5-for-5 on penalty kills, the five shorthanded situations faced one short of their season high (six in a 4-1 win over Dallas on October 12^th).

-- Four by four… Four Caps were credited with four blocked shots: Michal Kempny, Dmitry Orlov, Tom Wilson, and T.J. Oshie.

-- Chicago out-shot the Caps, 44-30, and out-attempted them, 84-49.

-- That was the Caps’ first multi-goal win in Chicago since 2004, when they beat the Blackhawks, 4-0.  Three wins in Chicago since then were all by one goal, two in overtime.

In the end…

Given that the Caps allowed a total of 15 goals in their last two visits to Chicago, this can be counted as a good win.  But 84 shot attempts and 44 shots on goal allowed is no way to consistently win games.  Braden Holtby was nicked for three goals, but he was the best Capital on the ice in this one.  That is a good sign, as was the balance in scoring (ten Caps with points).  It is a good way to start a long road trip, but the Caps will have to be tighter in team defense if this trip is going to be successful.

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

Week 3 for the Washington Capitals might be summed up with the punch line, “Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”  The reference is, of course, to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, and while no week in hockey compares to the assassination of a head of state, Week 3 did have that “except for that” quality to it.  Specifically, but for the first ten minutes of the week, how did you like the week Caps fans?

Record: 2-1-0

There is much to scratch one’s head about so far this season for the Caps, but the fact is that they opened the season with three straight .500 or better weeks in standings points earned.  Through nine games the team is on a 110-point pace, which would eclipse last season’s 104 point total.  The Caps faced an odd assortment of teams on home ice in various stages of rebuilds.  They opened with the Colorado Avalanche, a team with considerable skill that is looking to find the consistency to merit being considered a true contender. 

If anything, that contest was more a reflection of the state of the Avs than it was of the Caps, Colorado jumping all over the Caps in the first ten minutes before hanging on for a 6-3 win that was much closer than it needed to be or that the score would indicate by the time the game ended.  Against Toronto in the middle game, the Caps faced a club furthest along the rebuild curve, a club that is deep in skill, young, but has played enough together as a group to be thought of as a possible contender.  The Caps were able to exploit holes in that squad in the defensive end that still remain to get their first win of the week.  In the final game of the week against the New York Rangers, the Caps faced off against a club that has taken its first steps in rebuilding what was once, but is no longer for the time being, a reliable contender for the postseason.  It went as one might expect, the Caps dominating a young team with their own depth and experience to carve out their second winning week in three this season.

Offense: 4.00/game (season: 3.44/T-9th)

The Caps expressed a certain week-to-week consistency in the offensive end – 12 goals in three games in Week 2 and 12 goals in three games in Week 3.  They recorded a three-goal, a four-goal, and a five-goal game in Week 2, and they duplicated that effort in Week 3.  The 24 goals that the Caps scored over the last two weeks is tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for second most in the league. 

What the Caps got in Week 3 that was uncommon was balance.  Ten different Capitals recorded a goal.  T.J. Oshie had three of them, two in the win over the Rangers, and nine other Caps had one apiece.  What is not in balance among individuals are the point totals.  John Carlson assisted on half of the goals in Week 3 (six of 12) and had a hand in seven of them with the goal he added.  With 17 points through nine games, he has had a hand in almost 55 percent of the total goals scored by the Caps so far this season (31).  And, he is the first defenseman in 30 years to record 17 or more points in his team’s first nine games, the first since Paul Coffey had 18 points in his first nine games of the 1988-1989 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Alex Ovechkin had an oddly lopsided week of his own.  He had four points in the three games, but three of them came on assists, that assist total tops among forwards for the week and second only to Carlson.  He shot in a bit of bad luck, recording just the one goal on 16 shots (tops on the team) for a 6.3 percent shooting mark.  The surprise in shots, though, might have been Jakub Vrana, who was second in shots for the week (11), signaling perhaps that he is emerging from a mini-slump in which he had only four shots on goal over four games before this week without a goal.

Defense: 3.67/game (season: 3.11/16th)

More consistency – 11 goals allowed in three games in Week 2 and 11 goals allowed in three games in Week 3.  What was something to hang their helmets on, despite the 3.67 goals allowed per game average, was allowing only six non-empty net goals in the last 170 minutes of the week.  That goals allowed total was reflected in the shot totals, as well, the Caps allowing only 81 shots in the last 170 minutes of the week (28.6 per 60 minutes) after allowing three (and three goals) in the first ten minutes of the week.

What was not particularly consistent, or even especially that good in Week 3 were the 5-on-5 shot attempts.  The Caps opened the week allowing Colorado 43 shot attempts at 5-on-5, second most of the season to that point.  It became the third-most shot attempts at fives when the Caps allowed Toronto 53 shot attempts at 5-on-5 in the middle game of the week, the most the Caps have allowed through nine games.   What was disconcerting about that game was taking the foot off the gas with a lead, when the Caps had a minus-16 shot differential against the Maple Leafs. 

The Caps redeemed themselves, albeit against a young Rangers team, in the week’s finale.  They doubled up on the Rangers, 44-22, in shot attempts at 5-on-5, the 22 attempts allowed tying the fewest allowed by the Caps this season (22 against Dallas in a 4-3 overtime loss on October 8^th).

Goaltending: 3.40 / .881 (season: 2.99 / .892)

Goaltending was another case of Week 3 resembling the previous week – a 3.40 goals against average versus 3.71 in Week 2 and a .881 save percentage versus .976 in Week 2.  What it meant was that the goaltending situation, if not a full blown “controversy” between Braden Holtby and Ilya Samsonov, was muddled.

Holtby opened the week in as ghastly a fashion as might be imagined, facing off against his former backup, Colorado’s Philipp Grubauer, and allowing three goals on three shots in 7:54 before he was relieved in favor of Samsonov.  It would be the only action Holtby saw until week’s end, when he got the call against the New York Rangers.  He was solid, if not spectacular, stopping 26 of 28 shots, and holding the Rangers at bay in the last period, stopping all nine shots he faced while his teammates built a one-goal lead after 40 minutes into a three-goal win.

It was Samsonov holding up his end of things to make muddled the goaltending situation.  He stopped 19 of 21 shots in relief of Holtby against Colorado, one of those goals being the unfortunate product of his lack of experience in handling the puck behind his own net, his turnover resulting in an Avalanche goal.  Against the high-powered Toronto offense, he stopped 29 of 32 shots, including 20 of 21 over the last 40 minutes when the Caps came back from two goals down to grab a 4-3 win.  At the end of the week, Samsonov had a goals against average almost two full goals better than Holtby (1.84 to 3.83) and had more than 70 points on Holtby’s save percentage (.933 to .862), and Caps fans were left to ponder if Holtby’s troubles signaled a change in his career arc after almost a decade of excellence. 

Power Play: 3-for-11/27.3 percent (season: 25.0 percent/T-9th)

For a second consecutive week, the Caps elevated their power play game.  After going 18.3 percent in Week 1 and 21.4 percent in Week 2, the Caps jumped over 25 percent in Week 3 and jumping into the top ten overall in the league.

It was a bit of an odd week with the man advantage in that Alex Ovechkin neither led the team in power play goals, nor in power play shots.  Both categories were topped by T.J. Oshie, who had two power play goals on four shots (two of three against the Rangers).  When Oshie scored on the power play 2:24 into the game, it was the 200^th power play goal scored by the Caps in the all-time series against the Rangers.

While the Caps were effective with the man advantage, they were not quite as efficient.  In 17:17 of power play time they posted 12 shots on goal, Oshie (four) and Ovechkin (two) being the only Caps with more than one power play shot on goal for the week.  On the down side, the Caps did allow a shorthanded goal in Week 3, Kasperi Kapanen doing the deed for Toronto to open the scoring in the Caps’ 4-3 win over the Maple Leafs.

Penalty Killing: 7-for-9/77.8 percent (season: 83.3 percent/11th)

Week 3 was a considerable improvement over Week 2 in an important respect on the penalty kill.  The Caps found themselves shorthanded only nine times for the week compared to 14 times in Week 2.  And, after the Caps allowed a power play goal on the first power play they faced against the Avalanche, they skated off the last eight with one getting through, a first period man advantage strike by the Rangers in the last game of the week.

The penalty killers did a good job of limiting shots.  For the week the Caps defended only ten shots on goal in 14:06 of shorthanded ice time.  The odd part of that was that after holding the dangerous Avalanche and Maple Leafs to just three shots in 7:31 of shorthanded ice time, the Caps allowed the Rangers seven shots (one goal) in 6:35 of shorthanded ice time.

Faceoffs: 92-for-178 / 51.7 percent (season: 52.1 percent/8th)

It was a good, if an odd and uneven week in the circle for the Caps.  Overall, the Caps were over 50 percent in Week 3, the third consecutive week the Caps were over 50 percent.  What was odd about it, though, was the difference in the ends of the ice.  Washington was just 34-for-75 in the offensive end (45.3 percent), 14-for-46 (30.4 percent) against the Maple Leafs and the Rangers, the two wins for the week.  Meanwhile, in the defensive end, the Caps were 27-for-48 (56.3 percent) and were especially dominant in the defensive end against Toronto (11-for-17/64.7 percent).

Individually, Nicklas Backstrom might have had the oddest week of all, going 9-for-24 in the offensive end (37.5 percent) while going 9-for 11 (81.8 percent) in the defensive end while finishing the week at 50.9 percent overall.  Two other Caps taking at least ten draws for the week finished over 50 percent – Lars Eller (60.0 percent) and T.J. Oshie (54.5 percent).

Goals by Period:

The Caps stopped the third period bleeding of goals allowed in Week 3, allowing three overall but only two of the non-empty net variety.  It was the first period against Colorado that did them in, four of the seven first period goals allowed for the week given up in the first period of that game. 

It was in the second periods of games in which the Caps were dominant, holding a 6-1 edge in goals scored and finishing the week with a 14-3 edge in middle period goals.  Only Pittsburgh finished Week 3 with more second period goals scored for the season (16), while only Arizona allowed fewer middle period goals (2).

Year-over-Year:

Perhaps surprisingly, the Caps are slightly ahead of last year’s standings pace, earning one extra win in nine games to date and one fewer loss in regulation.  At the simplest level, what one might have expected with the personnel moves the Caps made over the summer is having an effect, although at the moment it is marginal.  Scoring is down (from 35 to 31 goals), but goals allowed are down even more (from 33 to 28).  Giving up offense for better two-way play might yield fewer goals scored but a better goal differential.  This is also reflected in shots and shot attempts, where the “for” side of the equation is down year-over-year, but shots and shot attempts allowed are down even more.

The Caps have flipped the script on special teams chances, power play opportunities being up this year over last and penalty killing instances being down year over year.  The result, even if the power play and penalty killing rates are very different on a year to year basis, is that the differential of power play goals to power play goals allowed this season (plus-4) is better than last season (plus-2).

In the end…

Through nine games, the win-loss results are largely the same this year as last, although how the Caps got there looks different.  One thing in which this season mirrors last is that the Caps played five home and four road games through nine contests, both this year and last.  Where they differ is that last season the Caps had already embarked on their western Canada tour, having already split games in Vancouver and Edmonton before heading to Calgary.  The Caps will begin that tour this season in the week ahead, the middle three games on a season-long five game road trip that begins in Chicago on Sunday against the Blackhawks and ends in Toronto against the Maple Leafs on October 29^th.  The Caps have weathered an important early-season challenge with their first eight games of nine played to date against opponents that made the playoffs last season.  The next challenge, a long road trip, is different, but no less daunting.

Three Stars:

• First Star: John Carlson (1-6-7, plus-1, 1-1-2 on power plays, one game-winning goal, 26:17 in average ice time, most points scored by a defensemen through nine games in 30 years).
• Second Star: T.J. Oshie (3-1-4, plus-1, 2-0-2 on power plays, 54.5 percent on faceoffs, played in his 300^th game as a Capital against the Rangers)
• Third Star: Radko Gudas (0-0-0, plus-2, 14 hits (led defensemen), 9 blocked shots (tied for team lead))

Captain rates the week…

Three puppers

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 10: Capitals at Blackhawks, October 20th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals head on the road to close the weekend with a Sunday evening matchup in Chicago against the Blackhawks.  The Caps won a second consecutive game on Friday night, beating the New York Rangers, 5-2, to match their longest winning streak of the season (they won their first two games of the season).  The Blackhawks have also won two in a row, besting the Edmonton Oilers and Columbus Blue Jackets (the latter in overtime) after opening the new season with three straight losses, one of them in overtime.

Then and Now

This will be the 100^th meeting of the teams in the all-time series between the clubs.  The Caps have a 44-43-1 edge (with 11 ties).  Chicago has been rather inhospitable, the Caps sporting a record of just 15-28-0 (six ties) in 49 games in the Windy City.  Since 2005-2006, Washington is 11-6-0 against the Blackhawks overall, 3-6-0 in Chicago.  The Caps are 8-3-0 in the last 11 meetings between the clubs, all three losses coming in Chicago.

Active Leaders vs. Opponent

Caps vs. Blackhawks:

• Goals: Ovechkin (9)
• Assists: Backstrom (10)
• Points: Ovechkin (18)
• Plus-minus: Orlov (plus-8)
• Penalty minutes: Ovechkin (38)
• Power play goals: Ovechkin (2)
• Power play points: Backstrom (6)
• Game-winning goals: Ovechkin (2)
• Overtime goals: Backstrom (1)
• Shots on goal: Ovechkin (66)

Blackhawks vs. Caps:

• Goals: Toews (10)
• Assists: Toews (9)
• Points: Toews (19)
• Plus-minus: DeBrincat, Seabrook (plus-4)
• Penalty minutes: Seabrook (9)
• Power play goals: Toews (4)
• Power play points: Toews (6)
• Game-winning goals: Toews, Kane, Saad (1)
• Overtime goals: none
• Shots on goal: Kane (55)

Noteworthy Opponents

Five Blackhawks are tied with two goals apiece to lead the team.  Patrick Kane is one of them and the active career leader among Blackhawks (358).  Now in his 13^th NHL season, the 30-year-old Kane is coming off a superb 2018-2019 season in which he posted 44 goals (topped only by the 46 he had in 2015-2016), 66 assists (a career high), and 110 points (also a career high).  His 35 even strength goals were second only to the 37 John Tavares had for Toronto.  For a franchise now playing in its 93^rd season, Kane is ranks in the top-ten in a number of career categories: games (908/8^th), goals (358/5^th), assists (587/3^rd), points (945/4^th), even strength goals (258/4^th), power play goals (100/6^th), game-winning goals (60/4^th), points per game (1.04/6^th among players with 250 games).  He is off to a fine start with an interesting pattern to his scoring, opening the season with a three-point night in a loss to Philadelphia, following that up with one point, no points, and one point again, before posting his second multi-point game (two assists, including on the overtime game-winning goal) in Chicago’s 3-2 overtime win over Columbus on Friday night.  Kane is 6-8-14, minus-5, in 16 career games against Washington.

Duncan Keith has the awards – two Norris Trophies as the league’s top defenseman, one Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs, four all-star game berths, two-time first team NHL All-Star – but his career numbers and that of fellow defenseman Brent Seabrook (who has only the 2015 All Star game on his awards list) are almost indistinguishable in where they rank in their respective careers with the Blackhawks.  The rank 1-2 in games played by defensemen in team history (Seabrook: 1087/Keith: 1082), third and fourth in goals by defensemen (Seabrook 101/Keith 98), second and sixth in assists (Keith 487/Seabrook 360), second and sixth in points (Keith 585/Seabroook 461), sixth and ninth in plus-minus (Keith plus-159/Seabrook plus-110), 11^th and 15^th in penalty minutes (Seabrook 657/Keith 609), and game-winning goals (Seabrook 18/Keith 17).  Both are in their 15^th seasons with the club, joining Bob Murray as the only defensemen in team history to skate 15 seasons.  Neither have been especially productive through five games, but typically, through five games for each player they are tied in penalty minutes (four), power play points (one), and are separated by just one shot on goal (six for Keith, five for Seabrook).  Keith is 1-8-9, minus-6, in 17 career games against the Caps, while Seabrook is 1-4-5, plus-4, in 17 career games against Washington.

Corey Crawford almost certainly will not be the top-ranked goalie in team history in any major category, but when the two ahead of him in most categories are hall of famers Tony Esposito and Glenn Hall, that is good company nevertheless.  Crawford trails only those two netminders in career games for the club (451), minutes played (25,956), and wins (245).  He is the all-time leader in goals against average (2.42) and save percentage .918, minimum: 100 games).  However, he has been prone to injury in recent years.  In 2017-2018 he missed the last 47 games of the season with an upper-body injury, while last season he lost 33 games to two different bouts with concussions.  It limited Crawford to only 67 appearances over the two seasons, even as his numbers in those limited appearances were rather good for a struggling club (30-27-7, 2.66, .917, with four shutouts).  He is not off to a very good start this season, posting a 1-2-0, 3.40, .900 record in three appearances.  Given that Robin Lehner, signed away from the New York Islanders last summer, stopped 37 of 39 shots in the Blackhawks’ 3-2 overtime win over Columbus on Friday night, Lehner might get the nod here.  Crawford is 3-5-2, 3.61, .881 in 10 career appearances against the Caps.  Lehner is 2-3-1, 2.17, .927, with one shutout in his career against the Caps.

1.  Zach Smith, in his first year with Chicago after spending his first 11 seasons with the Ottawa Senators, is the only skater among 15 having dressed for all five games so far without a point for the Hawks.

2.  Chicago will give up shots.  The 34.4 shots allowed per game are second most among Western Conference teams (Colorado: 35.1).

3.  Last season, the Blackhawks set a pair of odd highs.  Both their scoring offense (3.26 goals per game) and scoring defense (3.55 goals per game) were highest in the post 2004-2005 lockout era.

4.  In the “it’s early” department, the 70.6 percent penalty kill through five games is the worst for the Blackhawks since 2005-2006. Then again, the 72.7 percent they posted for all of last season is second worst.  This just might not be a very good penalty killing team.

5.  Chicago has scored first in four of five games so far, going 2-1-1 in those games.

1.  Scoring first has not mattered for the Caps to date.  They are 3-1-2 when scoring first, 2-1-0 when allowing the first goal.

2.  Ditto on leading or trailing after two periods.  Washington finally went over .500 with their win over the Rangers after taking a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes, currently with a 4-1-2 when leading after two periods.  They are 2-1-0 when trailing after two periods.

3.  John Carlson has 17 points in nine games.  Since 1979-1980, do you know how many defensemen have had as many points through nine games?  One – Paul Coffey had 18 points at the nine-game mark in 1988-1989 for Pittsburgh.

4.  Michal Kempny scored a goal in his first game back from injury.  He is one of three Caps defensemen with a goal.  John Carlson (three) and Dmitry Orlov (one) are the others.

5.  The Caps had a 66.67 percent shot attempts-for at 5-on-5 against the Rangers on Friday.  It was the second-highest SAT% for a single game over the last three seasons, topped only by the 68.42 percent that the Caps recorded in a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders last March 1^st.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Chicago: Olli Maatta

When defenseman Olli Maatta broke in with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2013-2014, went 9-20-29, plus-8, in 78 games, and finished fifth in the Calder Trophy voting for top rookie, the road to a long and productive career seemed laid out before him.  By last season, his sixth with the Pens, in which he was 1-13-14, plus-9, in 60 games (the third season in six in which he missed at least 20 games), he looked like a player who needed a fresh start.  The Penguins must have felt the same way, trading him to Chicago for center Dominik Kahun and a fifth round draft pick. 

Unfortunately, it is the absences that seem to have defined Maatta’s career to date.  There were a thyroid problem, a shoulder injury, and mumps in his sophomore season in 2014-2015 that limited him to 20 games, 15 games lost to two injuries in 2015-2016, 27 games lost to a hand injury and illness in 2016-2017, and 21 games lost to a shoulder injury last season.  The injuries have conspired to make that rookie season his best among the six seasons he spent in Pittsburgh.  And now, at 25 years old, he makes a new start.  It has not been a rousing start, but he has dressed for all five games so far and posted an assist while averaging more than 17 minutes per game.  It is his lowest average ice time in six seasons, but at this point Maatta is a renovation project.  He is 1-8-9, plus-6, in 19 career games against the Capitals.

Washington: Jakub Vrana

When Jakub Vrana opened the season with a game-winning goal in the opener and another goal in his next game, both of them in wins, those who predicted he would have his first 30-goal season this year looked good.  Then, the Caps started losing, and Vrana’s production fell off.  He went five games without a goal, and the Caps went 1-2-2, suggesting that his brand of secondary scoring was an important ingredient to the team’s success, and when it was absent, the team faltered.  His ice time dropped off, too.  After averaging 16:47 over his first three games (he had an assist in that third game to open the season on a three-game points streak),  he averaged just 11:49 over his next four games, posting a single assist in the process. 

Vrana rebounded with a goal in the Caps’ 4-3 win over Toronto on Wednesday, posting a personal season high of six shots on goal in 13:50 of ice time.  Although he went without a point in the Caps’ 5-2 win over the New York Rangers on Friday, he posted another four shots on goal for his high shot mark over any two consecutive games so far this season (ten).  Looking at things from another perspective, though, his goal scoring to open this season (three in nine games) is not much different from last season (three in his first 12 games) or the season before that (three in his first 16 games).  Given expectations, though, that pace will have to pick up.  Vrana is 0-2-2, minus-2, in three career games against Chicago.

In the end…

The Caps shut out the Blackhawks in Chicago, 4-0, back on February 15, 2004.  Since then, in nine visits to Chicago, the Caps have are 3-6-0 and have been pummeled by an aggregate score of 41-24.  The Caps have allowed five or more goals five times in those nine games, including 15 goals over their last two visits.  They have been outshot, 297-246, and killed only 20 of 28 shorthanded situations (71.4 percent penalty kill). There is little mystery here.  The Caps have to do a much better job buttoning down their own end than they have in their recent trips to United Center.

Capitals 3 – Blackhawks 2