Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 5

The winning week string came to an end for the Washington Capitals in Week 5.  It was less a systemic problem that led to the result as it was something individuals and teams go through over the course of a long season – a slump.

Record: 1-1-1

At least it was not a losing week, standings points wise. The Caps still have yet to have a losing week since Week 25 (the penultimate week) last season.  They failed to win consecutive games on the road, dropping a 1-0 decision in Detroit and offsetting that with a 5-2 win in Philadelphia.  It was their second straight split of a two-game road trip since sweeping their three-game western Canada trip in October.  The disappointment was the home game in the Week 5 schedule, a 3-2 overtime loss to the team that was, at the time, the worst team in the Western Conference, the Calgary Flames.  What made that loss harder to swallow was that the Caps were one of the better home teams in the East.  As it was, they finished the week with the third best home record in the Eastern Conference (6-2-1).

Offense:  2.33/game (season: 3.06/game; rank: 4th)

Did someone say, “slump?” Here is where the Caps came up short this week.  Sure, they pounded the woeful Flyers, 5-2, in the middle game of the week, but the Flyers’ defense is, to be charitable, a work in progress, and their goalie was making his first appearance after a ten-day absence.  In the other games, the Caps were shutout by a “1-A” goalie (a good one, but not a consistent number one performer in Detroit’s Petr Mrazek) and had to scramble to score a pair of late goals against a lower-tier goalie, Calgary’s Karri Ramo.

The scoring at an individual level reflected the offensive slump. The seven goals were spread among six different players.  The one Capital with two goals was grind-liner Jason Chimera (both against the Flyers).  He was not the only one who lit the lamp.  Jay Beagle and Michael Latta has goals in Week 5.  Tom Wilson had a pair of assists.  Brooks Laich had a helper, and so on.  Among the scoring liners, T.J. Oshie, Justin Williams, and Nicklas Backstrom had goals; Evgeny Kuznetsov had a pair of assists. 

The meaningful number as far as the offense went is “zero.”  Alex Ovechkin did not record a point.  It was not for lack of trying.  He had 15 shots on goal against the Red Wings without finding the back of the net, the first time in almost half a century a player recorded that many shots on goal without scoring.  He had 20 shots on goal for the week and 28 shot attempts without recording a point in his continuing pursuit of the NHL record for goals scored by a Russian-born player.  He remains tied with Sergei Fedorov at 483 goals.

Defense: 2.00/game (season: 2.31/game ; rank: T-7th)

The Caps started the week having allowed the fewest shots on goal per game in the league and finished the week second in that regard after allowing 76 shots on goal in three games.  It is part of a long string of games that point to an identity for this team.  The Caps have played 14 consecutive games without allowing a team more than 30 shots on goal.  Only Columbus during that streak – in the seventh game of this streak – reached the 30 shot mark.

This is a team that is establishing itself as a solid, perhaps elite possession team.  They finished the week third in Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 (54.4), largely on having the second-best Corsi-against per 60 minutes (47.1/60, second to New Jersey’s 45.5/60).  This could be a product of the notion that the best defense is a good offense, but however you slice it, the Caps are quite stingy in allowing opponents offensive opportunities.  The odd part about possession for Week 5, though, was the close-score situation numbers at 5-on-5.  They dominated, as one might have expected, the possession numbers against Philadelphia (57.4 Corsi-for percent) and Calgary (52.5).  However, the Detroit game represented their third-worst performance of the season in this area (40.0; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

Goaltending: 1.99 /.921 (season: 2.12 / .915)

Week 5 was a very good week in net.  It would have been even better if Calgary had not scored on their second shot of overtime to take away a 3-2 win.  Not that Philipp Grubauer had a bad game in spelling Braden Holtby in the second of a back-to-back set of games.  He did not.  In fact, he was the victim of some uncharacteristically iffy play in front of him, the Flames scoring their two goals in regulation from between the faceoff circles, prime real estate for scorers.

As for Holtby, he had another solid week.  His 18 saves on 20 shots against the Flyers was a solid, if unspectacular effort, but his performance against Detroit was a fine one, save for one moment.  He allowed his only goal in that game on a shot from just outside the goal line extended from his right by Andreas Athanasiou, the only goal he allowed on 27 shots.  It was almost a year to the day since he dropped the other 1-0 regulation time decision of his career, at home to the New Jersey Devils on November 14, 2014.  That one also featured an iffy third period goal, when his attempted pass from behind his own net was put right onto the stick of Mike Cammalleri, who one-timed it in for the game’s only goal.

Power Play: 2-for-8 / 25.0 percent (season: 22.4 percent; rank: 7th)

It was an efficient week, especially when you account for one big hole, but one was left wondering if it was sustainable.  The Caps recorded two goals on 18 shots in 12:40 of power play ice time (1.42 shots per minute).  Of those numbers, Alex Ovechkin was 0-for-9 shooting in 10:58 of power play time.  He had eight of those power play shots (of the 11 total) against Detroit in the 1-0 loss on Tuesday.

At the other end of the efficiency divide was Jason Chimera, who recorded two power play goals on three power play shots in 2:03 of ice time.  He was inserted into the middle of the 1-3-1 to get more energy and activity in front of the opposition goalie.

Ovechkin taking a donut for the week (he has one power play goal this season), Jason Chimera as many power play goals as he had over his previous four seasons combined.  Going 2-for-8 is nice, but it might not be the way this team goes about getting there consistently on a week-to-week basis.

Penalty Killing: 6-7 / 85.7 percent (season: 84.8 percent; rank: 7th)

The most effective penalty kill is the penalty you don’t have to kill.  Week 5 was another example of this for the Caps.  The Caps’ four-week string of progressively fewer shorthanded situations faced ended in Week 5 with facing seven (after facing six in Week 4), but it is still a fine number.  The Caps have faced the fourth-fewest shorthanded situations in the league to date (46 in 16 games), and even with the one goal allowed have yielded the second fewest power play goals in the league (7 – Anaheim has allowed 6).

Even the goal was a bit of bad luck, a shot by the Flyers’ Claude Giroux hitting the far post and caroming in against Braden Holtby in the Caps’ 5-2 win.  It was an otherwise efficient week, the Caps allowing only seven shots in 11:25 of shorthanded ice time (0.61 shots per minute).

Even Strength 5-on-5 Goals for/Goals Against: 4-4 / even (season, 5-on-5 goals for/goals against ratio: 1.28; rank: 6th)

It was a low scoring week overall and no less so than at even and full strength.  This is where the scoring line players for the Caps made a mark.  T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstom scored their goals for the week at 5-on-5, both in the 5-2 win against the Flyers.  But there was also the input from the bottom six.  Justin Williams, skating on a line with Jay Beagle and Jason Chimera, scored against the Flyers.  Beagle got one of his own against Calgary, the game-tying goal to send the game to overtime as it turned out , and Michael Latta scored the first goal for the Caps against the Flames. For Latta it was his first goal of the season and his first since recording his first NHL goal in a 4-3 win at Detroit on November 15, 2013.

Faceoffs: 85-for-165 / 51.5 percent (season: 50.5% / rank: 13th)

There is better than 50 percent, and there is better than 50 percent…but.  For the Caps in Week 5, the latter was operative.  Overall, the Caps finished at 51.5 percent for the week, but that was the product of a 64.9 percent winning percentage in the neutral zone.  They were under 45 percent in the ends – 44.2 percent in the offensive zone and 44.6 percent in the defensive zone.  It was just as problematic on an individual level.  Eight Caps took more than ten draws for the week and of the eight scoring zone results among them, only Jay Beagle’s 62.5 percent (10-for-16) in the defensive zone was over 50 percent.  Beagle did finish the week at 50 percent or better in all three zones, but Nicklas Backstrom had a rough week.  His offensive/defensive zone performance of 26.9 percent (7-for-26 combined) was one he might like to forget.

Goals by Period:

The Caps won the late show for the week, outscoring opponents by a 3-2 margin in both the second and third periods.  However, one of those third period goals was the only goal scored in the 1-0 loss in Detroit, and there was that overtime goal that was the margin in the 3-2 loss to Calgary.  In that respect, the Caps had an uncharacteristically unpleasant late-game performance for the week.  The Caps are still a plus-4 in the second periods of games for the season and a plus-7 in the third periods of games.

In the end…

Maybe Week 5 was spent paying too much attention to getting a teammate a record.  Alex Ovechkin did not set that record for career goals by a Russian-born player, and the team didn’t make up for the absence of his contributions at the offensive end.  Perhaps it says something about the team that despite a lot of fair-to-poor results among individual players and the team as a whole on offense, they still managed to squeak through with a .500 week in standings points.  If there is one thing being a dominant possession team can do for you, it is keep you in games when the pucks aren’t going in.  That (the Detroit game aside) is what allowed the Caps to limit the damage to a win and two one-goal losses.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Karl Alzner (22.53 average ice time, 0-1-1, plus-2, 3 hits, 8 blocked shots, 1 goals against on-ice at 5-on-5)
• Second Star: Braden Holtby (1-1-0, 1.52, .936)
• Third Star: Jason Chimera (2-1-3, 3 hits)

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 16: Flames at Capitals, November 13th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals return home from their two-game road trip to Detroit and Philadelphia to take on the Calgary Flames at Verizon Center on Friday night.  In an odd twist of the schedule, the Flames are the first team that the Caps will be facing for a second time this season.  Washington won the first meeting in Calgary by a 6-2 margin on October 20th.

For the Capitals, not a lot has changed since that first meeting.  They were 3-1-0 before taking on the Flames the first time, and since that win they are 6-3-0 going into their game against Philadelphia on Thursday night.  The goal scorers in that game – Nicklas Backsrom (2), Alex Ovechkin, Jason Chimera, Andre Burakovsky, and T.J. Oshie – represent the top-end and secondary scoring of a sort the Caps need to be successful.

What the Caps have not had, though, is just that, at least on a consistent basis.  Since his two-goal game against Calgary, Backstrom has two goals in his last nine games.  Chimera has one in his last night games, none in his last eight since scoring against the Flames.  Burakovsky has one goal in nine games since recording one in Calgary.  T.J. Oshie also has one goal in his last nine contests since getting one against the Flames.  Of that group, Alex Ovechkin is the only player who has maintained a somewhat consistent goal scoring pace since Calgary, getting four in his last nine games (all results are before the Caps’ game in Philadelphia on Thursday night).

Meanwhile, the Flames are showing some signs of coming out of a slow start.  After dropping nine of their first 11 decisions to open the season (2-8-1), the Flames are 3-2-0 in their last five contests going into their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.

In those five games, the Flames outscored their opponents by a 18-17 margin, three of the decisions coming by one goal (a win, a loss, and a win in overtime).  The Flames are led in scoring over this five-game stretch by Michael Frolik (3-3-6), who had a hat trick in the Flames’ 5-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers that kicked off this five-game run.  That hat trick was a quite odd occurrence for Frolik.  It was the only game in which he has scored a goal this season.  It was his first multi-goal game since Opening Night of the 2013-2014 season (also against Edmonton), and it was the first hat trick of his eight-year career.  He has had some success against the Caps, going 6-7-13, minus-5, in 22 career games against Washington.

Johnny Gaudreau also has three goals in this 3-2-0 stretch for Calgary. Two of them came in a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 7th.  With four goals in 16 games, Gaudreau is a bit behind his goal scoring pace of last year (24 in 80 games), but with a 4-13-17 scoring line in 16 games he is well ahead of his rookie season points pace (24-40-64 in 80 games).  It might not come as much surprise that Gaudreau is officially the lightest of 685 players to have dressed for an NHL team this season at 157 pounds.  This will be his fourth game facing the Caps, and he is 0-2-2, even in his first three career games against them.

Mark Giordano leads the Calgary defense in goals (4) and is tied with Dennis Wideman in points (6), but he has just one point (a goal) in the last five games.  In fact, since recording two goals (including the game-winner) and an assist in a 3-2 overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings on October 23rd, Giordano has only two points in his last nine contests.  He is 2-3-5, plus-1, in seven career games against Washington.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

1. It’s not that Calgary gives up a ton of shots per game in allowing so many goals; they are 18th overall in shots allowed (30.1).  It is that their save percentage is so poor -- .873.  That would be poor by 1980’s standards.

2.  Calgary is not especially good at the little things, either, at least as far as taking faceoffs is concerned.  Their 48.2 percent winning percentage is 28th in the league.

3.  If the Flames score first, they would seem to have a fighting chance.  They are 4-4-1 when getting the first goal.  If they don’t, well… They are 1-7-0 when allowing the first goal of a game.

4.  As one might expect, when the Flames lose, they don’t make it suspenseful.  Their seven losses by three or more goals is worst in the league.

5. Calgary’s 5-on-5 possession numbers are not bad overall – 48.7 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5.  And it does not get appreciably worse in close score situations – 48.0, 23rd in the league.  It seems to come back to their goaltending (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  For those who aren’t concerned about 15 games being too early to draw historical comparisons, the Caps are on a pace to finish with 120 standings points.  Compare that to the 2009-2010 franchise record-setting team that finished with 121 poiints.

2.  That 2009-2010 team was just 8-3-4 after 15 games.

3.  The 2009-2010 team allowed 3.06 goals per game through 15 games; this team is allowing just 2.27 goals per game.

4.  By this time in 2009-2010 the Caps already had two losing streaks of at least three games.  This team has yet to lose consecutive games.

5.  The 2009-2010 team had a penalty kill of just 78.6 percent through 15 games and allowed 70 power play chances.  This team is at 84.1 percent and has allowed only 44 chances, fifth-fewest in the league.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Calgary: Karri Ramo

Goaltender Karri Ramo has had an interesting season thus far.  He was pulled in the second period of the 6-2 loss to the Caps last month, was waived the following day, cleared waivers and was sent to Stockton in the AHL the next day, then was recalled by the Flames on October 29th.  Since then he has appeared in five games – all five games of this 3-2-0 run for the Flames – and has not really been the reason the Flames have a winning record in their last five contests.  Over those games he has a 3.21 goals against average and a .891 save percentage.  Ramo got the start last night against Tampa Bay; we'll see if he gets the nod tonight.  He is 1-5-2, 3.40, .897 in nine career appearances against the Caps.

Washington: Nate Schmidt

You are a 24-year old defenseman trying to climb your way into a regular spot in the lineup after two seasons of part-time play split with the AHL club.  You appeared in nine games so far this season, going into last night's game, and in all but one you have a Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 of 50 percent or better.  Seven times you were over 55 percent; five times you were at 60 percent or better.  There isn’t a single defenseman in the league with more than 100 5-on-5 minutes played with a better Corsi-for at fives.  Going into Thursday’s games you are the only one over 60 percent for the season (60.1).  Sure, you are getting third pair minutes with all that entails, but your team is 6-3-0 when you are in the lineup.  You are hardly a liability.  You are Nate Schmidt, and you are having a quiet coming out party in the early going this season.  In three career games against Calgary, Schmidt is 0-1-1, minus-2.

In the end…

So, Calgary is 3-2-0 after a ghastly start to the season, but their wins are against Edmonton, Philadelphia, and at home against Pittsburgh on a night when the Penguins were playing the back half of a back-to-back set of games.  Their losses were at Colorado and at Florida.  It hasn’t exactly been a Murderer’s Row the Flames faced.  They are moving up a couple of weight classes against a club that wants to re-establish momentum.”  And, the Caps are much deeper and skilled, well, everywhere.  A 6-2 decision might not be in the offing, but the Caps will be able to see it from the result of this game.

Capitals 5 – Flames 2

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

The Washington Capitals power play provided a much-needed jolt of offense, even if it came from an unexpected source, leading the Caps to a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night in Philadelphia.

It was Jason Chimera putting the “power” in the Caps’ power play, scoring a pair of man-advantage goals in the second period. The first came with the Flyers holding a 2-1 lead mid-way through the period. It was the result of some deft hand-eye work by Chimera and Evgeny Kuznetsov. From just inside the Flyers’ blue line, Justin Williams threw the puck across the ice to Kuznetsov entering the offensive zone. Kuznetsov managed to get his stick on an uncooperative puck, one timing the feed into a bloop pass that floated over the sticks of a pair of Flyers defenders to Chimera heading to the net. Chimera whacked the puck as it was falling out of the air past goalie Steve Mason, and the game was tied.

Williams got a goal of his own less than two minutes later when he looped around a clot of players at the top of the Flyer crease and beast Nick Schultz to a loose puck, snapping it past Mason’s left pad to make it 3-2.

Then it was Chimera again on a power play. Late in the second period, Chimera took a drop pass from Tom Wilson in the right wing circle, sent the puck back to Matt Niskanen at the right point, then headed for the slot. Niskanen fired, and Chimera got enough of the puck sailing through to redirect it past Mason and make the score 4-2 heading into the second intermission.

Nicklas Backstrom ended the scoring in the third period, but it was hard work by Tom Wilson that started the scoring play. Chris VendeVelde played the puck behind his own net to his partner, Evgeny Medvedev. The puck got caught for a moment in Medvedev’s skates, and it was enough for Wilson to pounce. He checked Medvedev off the puck and fed it in front to Marcus Johansson skating down the middle. Johansson slid the puck over to Backstrom at the inside edge of the right wing circle, and Backstrom one-timed the puck past Mason for the final 5-2 margin.

Other stuff…

-- T.J. Oshie snapped a five-game streak without a goal when he scored in the first period. He was the beneficiary of another instance of Evgeny Kuznetsov circling around the opponent’s net and back passing to the trailing player. This time, Kuznetsov sent a pass from his forehand back through the legs of defenseman Michael Del Zotto to Oshie filling in the space Kuznetsov left.

-- Kuznetsov had a pair of assists, his first two assist game since recording a pair against Edmonton on October 23rd. He has four assists in his last four games.

-- The record will have to wait another game. In his pursuit of the record for most goals scored by a Russian-born player, Alex Ovechkin was held to a pair of shots on goal and just three shot attempts.

-- Every Capital but Oshie was credited with at least one hit. Jay Beagle was credited with six.

-- Beagle also won 12 of 16 faceoffs and had an assist. If there was still a hard hat award, he might have earned it. By the way, just what is that post-game award the Caps are using this season?

-- Tom Wilson recorded two assists, his first two-helper game since December 13, 2014 against Tampa Bay, and first career two-assist game on the road.

-- Jason Chimera added an assist to his two power play goals, making it his first three-point game since April 10, 2014, at Carolina.

-- The two power play goals for the Caps was the first time they scored more than one in a contest since their 7-4 win at Edmonton on October 23rd.

-- Braden Holtby improved to 4-0-0, 1.98, .923 in games following a loss.  In baseball parlance, that’s being a “stopper.”  In this case, he is his own stopper, avoiding personal losing streaks.

-- For the second time in three games, Alex Ovechkin appeared to have set the Russian-born goal scorer record.  For the second time in three games, the goal was challenged.  For the second time in three games, the challenge was based on something Justin Williams did (in last night’s case, an offside infraction).  For the second time in three games, the challenge was upheld.  Maybe the third time will be the charm.

In the end…

There are few more pleasurable outcomes in a Caps game than beating the Flyers in Philadelphia.  Not that this Flyers team is good; they’re not (now 1-6-2 in their last nine games).  And Caps fans might take a little extra pleasure in having the Caps kick a bitter rival when they are down, especially after the Flyers had their way with the Caps last season.  But this was just another instance of shrugging off a frustrating loss a couple of nights earlier and taking care of business.  Through 14 games, the Caps do not have the look of the Ferrari that they were in 2009-2010 when they lit up the scoreboard regularly.  This club is more of an earth-mover, grinding up and disposing of whatever is in their path, ruthlessly and relentlessly.  Frankly, when they play like this, it is a pleasure to watch.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 15: Capitals at Flyers, November 12th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

After three contests against Atlantic Division clubs, the Washington Capitals return to intradivisional battle on Thursday night with a contest against a fellow Metropolitan Division foe.  The Caps are set to visit the Philadelphia Flyers at Core States First Union Wachovia Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Both teams are coming off shutouts in their last outings, and not the good kind.  Washington was shutout by the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night, 1-0, the second time they have been blanked this season.  The first was back on October 13^th in Game 2 of the season, a 5-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks.  It might be worth noting that after that result, the Caps peeled off a five-game winning streak, their longest of the season to date.

Meanwhile, the Flyers are coming off consecutive decisions in which a shutout was recorded, a 3-0 win at Winnipeg against the Jets last Saturday and a 4-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at home on Tuesday.  That win against the Jets is the lone win for the Flyers in their last eight contests (1-5-2).

The Flyers’ offense has been all but non-existent in their eight-game slide.  The have 12 goals in those eight contests, a drought that has dropped them to 29^th in scoring offense in the league (1.80 goals per game).  Of those 12 goals, Claude Giroux has a hand in five of them (1-4-5).  Giroux is the team leader in points so far this season with nine (4-5-9).  That makes the Flyers one of two teams in the league whose team leader in points has not yet cracked the double-digit level (Anaheim is the other).  Giroux has been one of the few consistent weapons in the Philadelphia arsenal this season.  Only once has he gone consecutive games without a point (October 29-30), and he has four points in his last five contests.  Giroux is 14-13-27, plus-2, in 25 career games against the Capitals.

Brayden Schenn is the club’s leading goal scorer (5) and the leading goal scorer over the Flyers’ recent eight-game downturn (3-1-4).  Perhaps no one on the club reflects the difficulties the club has had in recent games.  During a 2-1 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames a week ago, Schenn took one in the teeth – literally – for the team…

Schenn is 5-2-7, minus-4, in 14 career games against Washington.

One of the problems the Flyers have had scoring goals is getting little contribution from the defense.  The seven defensemen for the club to have dressed this season have a total of four goals, three of them by Mark Streit.  The ten-year veteran has built a reputation of being something of a special teams specialist.  More than half of his career goals (45 of 87) have been scored on the power play, and almost half of his career points have been recorded on the man advantage (189 of 392).  He has been a bit streaky, recording only one point in his first five games of the season and only one point in his last five games.  In between he was 2-4-6 in five games.  In 34 career games against Washington, Streit is 8-17-25, minus-1.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

1.  The Flyer defense might not score a lot, but they do pile up the penalty minutes.  Through 15 games, Flyer blueliners have a total of 57 minutes in penalties (compare that to 34 in 14 games for Capital defensemen).

2.  Michal Neuvirth has gotten the call in four straight games in goal, filling in for number one netminder Steve Mason, who has missed time with a family matter and illness.  Neuvirth has had an odd go of it this season.  He has three wins, all shutouts.  In six other appearances he is 0-3-1, 3.28, .910.  It has been quite an all-or-nothing proposition with Neuvirth so far this season.

3. As one might expect from a team with as weak an offense as the Flyers, their shooting effectiveness is anything but effective.  They rank 29^th in shooting percentage (5.9 percent).  Only Anaheim is worse (5.6 percent).

4.  The Flyers have the worst first period goal differential in the league (minus-9).  Only five teams have a worse third period goal differential than Philadelphia (minus-4).

5.  Not that they have been good in their possession numbers, but the Flyers have not been as awful as their offensive performance numbers would suggest.  They rank 20^th in Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 (48.6) and 21^st in close score situations (48.8; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  Here is your odd Alex Ovechkin stat for the game.  He had 15 shots on goal in the 1-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.  It was the eighth time in 13 games this season he recorded five or more shots.  The Caps are 5-3-0 in those games.  In the five games in which he recorded fewer than five shots, the Caps are 5-0-0.

2.  Washington has the second best shot differential, for and against, in the league (plus-5.4 per game).  Only Carolina is better (plus-5.5).

3.  The Caps had a modest two-game power play goal streak stopped by the Red Wings on Tuesday.  Oddly enough for a power play as strong as the Caps, the two-game streak tied their longest streak of games with a power play goal this season (Games 3 and 4 against Chicago and Carolina).  Washington is just 2-for-16 on the power play in road games this season (12.5 percent).

4.  Only two teams have more wins by three or more goals than the Capitals (5).  The New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens each have seven such wins.

5.  Odd team possession stat.  The Caps have had offensive zone starts at 5-on-5 of 50 percent or better in 10 of their 14 games so far.  In the four in which they did not, they won three times (against Boston, Edmonton, and Chicago), their only loss being the 1-0 loss to Detroit on Tuesday (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Philadelphia: Steve Mason

Steve Mason has not won a game in regulation time this season in goal for the Flyers.  In eight appearances so far he has two wins, one coming in overtime against Boston on October 21^st, the other coming in a Gimmick on October 24^th.  Of 45 goalies having appeared in five or more games through Tuesday’s games, Mason is 42^nd in goals against average (3.34) and 35^th in save percentage (.902).  He has not appeared in a game since dropping a 4-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on November 2^nd.  With Michal Neuvirth having sustained an injury in the third period of the Flyers’ 4-0 loss to Colorado on Tuesday, Mason is expected to get the start against the Caps.  In 13 career appearances against Washington, he is 7-3-2, 2.65, .910, with two shutouts.

Washington:  T.J. Oshie

Since recording the game-winning goal in the third period of a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 20^th, T.J. Oshie is without a point in his last five games.  It is his longest streak without a point since he opened the 2014-2015 season with a six-game streak.  His performance on the road could use some punching up.  He is 1-2-3 in six road contests, but he is without a point in his last three road games.  He does not have a point against the Flyers since recording a goal in a 4-2 St. Louis Blues win over Philadelphia on October 22, 2011 (four games).  Over his career against the Flyers, Oshie is 2-2-4, minus-1, in eight games.

In the end…

Philadelphia is a struggling team.  They are 1-5-2 in their last eight games, and they have not won a home game in regulation in almost a month (3-0 over Chicago on October 14^th).  They cannot score with any regularity, and unless their goalie pitches shutouts, their chances of winning drop precipitously (2-7-3 in games in which they allow a goal).  The trouble for the Caps is that they have lost four in a row in Philadelphia (0-3-1) since beating the Flyers, 7-0, back on November 1, 2013.  The thing to watch is the play of Braden Holtby.  He is 4-4-4, 2.95, .900, with two shutouts in 13 career appearances against the Flyers.  On the other hand, in three games following losses this season, Holtby is 3-0-0, 1.00, .965, allowing a single goal in each game.  Getting a split on a two-game road trip would not be the worst thing for the Caps.

Capitals 4 – Flyers 1

Washington Capitals Recap: A NO-Point Night: Red Wings 1 - Capitals 0

Hockey is a team sport.  That point was driven home on Tuesday night as the Detroit Red Wings defeated Alex Ovechkin, 1-0, at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.  As for the rest of the Washington Capitals, they were largely absent from the contest in which one harmless looking shot was the difference on the scoreboard.

That shot came from the stick of Andreas Athanasiou early in the third period, a shot taken off the rush from the goal line extended to goalie Braden Holtby’s right, a shot that somehow snuck between Holtby and the near post, a shot that might otherwise have been forgotten in the context of the game if the Caps had spent less time watching a teammate trying to set a record and more in tending to business.  It was enough for the Red Wings to post their first shutout since Opening Night and deny a Capital a record.

Other stuff…

-- Alex Ovechkin had 15 shots on goal, nine of them in the third period.  The shot total tied a career high, set on October 7, 2006, in a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.  He had a goal in that game.  No player since 1987-1988 has recorded as many shots in a game without scoring a goal.

-- Ovechkin had more power play shots on goal in the third period (5) than any Capital had of any kind for the entire game.  Matt Niskanen had four shots on goal for second highest on the club.

-- The loss was the first for the Caps in Detroit in regulation time since they dropped a 3-2 decision on March 16, 2011. 

-- This was the 41^st game in his career that Ovechkin recorded ten or more shots.  That is, by far, the most in the league since he arrived in 2005-2006.  Next highest is Eric Staal – nine occurrences.  In fact, Ovechkin has more ten-or-more shot games than the next seven players on the list.  They total 39 occurrences.  

-- Ovechkin skated 24:43 in ice time.  Over his career, in games in which he skated that amount of ice time or more, the Caps are 26-49-28.

-- The odd thing about Ovechkin’s 15 shots on goal?  None of them came in the second period.

-- That was the first time in the series between the clubs that the Red Wings defeated the Caps by a 1-0 score at home.  They beat Washington, 1-0, on November 17, 1987, in Landover, MD.  The author of that shutout for Detroit was former Caps coach Glen Hanlon.

-- The 1-0 loss was the first time Braden Holtby lost a 1-0 decision in regulation on the road.  His only other 1-0 loss on the road came in overtime on January 31, 2015, in Montreal.

-- Brooks Orpik skated one shift in the second period.  He went out with a lower body injury.  It is probably worth noting that over the last two periods, Nate Schmidt filled in to skate a total of 12:21 in ice time.

-- Changing of the guard in Detroit?  The shots on goal leaders with four apiece were Dylan Larkin and Tomas Tatar.  Yeah, combined they didn’t have as many shots on goal as Ovechkin had in the third period (9).

In the end…

Two words come to mind after watching this game… “move on.”  The Caps tried to get the record for most goals scored by a Russian-born player for Alex Ovechkin and didn’t.  Move on.  It was a severely lopsided attack for the Caps who didn’t bring the level of effort that Ovechkin did, and when they did, it seemed to be in trying to get Ovechkin that goal.  It made one mistake by Holtby look a whole lot bigger than it needed to be in an otherwise pretty good performance by the netminder.  Even the team defense looked pretty good, holding Detroit's leading goal scorer Gustav Nyquist without a shot on goal and doing the same to former teammate Mike Green.  It was one of those nights that could have been special, wasn’t, and now it’s time to set that aside and move on.

Induction of the NHL's Magnificent Seven

The last thing we saw before passing out in a food coma from our occasional indulgence of pepperoni, anchovy, and marshmallow fluff pizza last night was a picture on NHL.com of this year's Hockey Hall of Fame induction class.  And as so often happens when we indulge in a PA&MF pizza, we had a very active dream state.  We could not help but conjure images of which inductees would be which characters from the iconic film...

As for the characters...

“Chris,” the veteran gunslinger, fearless and a born leader.  Well, that has to be Chris Pronger.

There is the skilled, but inexperienced “Chico,” and while Phil Housley certainly did not lack for long experience in his NHL career, he spent a lot of it looking like a kid.

There is “Vin,” a well-traveled sort who cannot accept being mundane. Sergei Fedorov, one of the early entries from Russia in the NHL, had a style and skill level that was anything but mundane.

“Bernardo” worked in comparative obscurity before being recognized for his skill.  This might fit Angela Ruggiero, who excelled in the formative years of U.S. women’s hockey, medaling in four consecutive Winter Olympics and being a member of four world championship teams.

There is “Britt,” who does not shrink from a challenge and who has a variety of skills.  Not unlike Nicklas Lidstrom, arguably the most complete defenseman in the modern era of hockey.

“Lee” had to face down a crisis of confidence, not all that different from someone like Peter Karmanos confronting the challenge of growing a successful hockey franchise is a non-traditional part of the world known more for barbecue and auto racing.

And there is “Harry,” joining the adventure to seek treasure and fame, and well, Bill Hay spent 15 years as chairman and chief executive officer of the Hockey Hall of Fame, a jewel in the hockey firmament. 

And you know that Gary Bettman is "Calvera."

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 14: Capitals at Red Wings, November 10th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals embark on what amounts to “Reunion Week,” kicking off a two game road trip that will take them to Detroit to face the Red Wings and former Caps defenseman Mike Green on Tuesday and then to Philadelphia on Thursday where they could face former Caps netminder Michal Neuvirth.

First up is Washington’s first visit to Motown of the season.  It will be the 108^th meeting of the clubs, all-time, and the Caps are 44-44-16-3 against the Red Wings in their first 107 meetings.  Washington is 17-22-11-3 when visiting Detroit, but they have had recent success at Joe Louis Arena.  In their last four visits to The Joe, Washington is 3-0-1.  The Caps have been successful on the road so far this season overall as well, going to Detroit with a 4-1-0 record away from Verizon Center.

The Caps started their road season in dominating fashion, winning their first three games and outscoring their opponents – Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver – by a 16-8 margin in the process.  Their last two road contests have not featured much in the way of fireworks, the Caps scoring two goals in each game and splitting the decisions, a 2-1 overtime win over the Florida Panthers and a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers.

The 20 goals scored on the road by the Caps are shared by nine players.  Evgeny Kuznetsov leads the club with four scores, three of them coming on a hat trick in a 7-4 win over Edmonton on October 23^rd.  Kuznetsov also leads the club in points on the road with ten.

On the other side, the Red Wings are having their struggles at home.  Their 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Sunday dropped their home record to 3-4-0 this season.  They have been outscored on home ice by a 17-15 margin, but this is a bit misleading.  Detroit won their first two home contests by a combined 7-1 margin.  They are 1-4-0 since and have been outscored, 16-8.

Overall, Henrik Zetterberg has had a hand in almost half of the goals scored by the Red Wings at home.  He is 2-5-7 for the Wings on home ice.  He is 4-11-15 overall, and he has not been held without a point in consecutive games so far this season.  Given that he was held without a point in the Red Wings’ loss to Dallas on Sunday, the Caps will have an opportunity to end that streak for Zetterberg.  In 14 career games against the Caps, he is 5-6-11, minus-1.

Justin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyquist are the goal scoring leaders for the Wings on home ice with three apiece.  Unfortunately for Detroit fans, that production came early in the Wings’ home season.  Abdelkader recorded all three of his goals in authoring a hat trick on Opening Night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, going 3-for-3 shooting that night.  In six home games since he is 0-for-12 shooting and did not record a shot on goal against Dallas on Sunday.  Abdelkader is 3-2-5, minus-3, in 11 career games against Washington.

Nyquist leads the team in goals overall (6), but his production at home has fallen off.  He had goals in two of his first three home games, but he has just one in his last one in his last four.  That one was the only goal in the Wings’ 4-1 loss to Dallas on Sunday.  Unfortunately, that goal was accompanied by a minus-3 (his goal was on a power play).  It was only the second time in 193 NHL games that he was a minus-3 in a game and the first time at home.  In six career games against Washington, Nyquist is 5-3-8, plus-2.

Goaltending has not been the problem for Detroit, either at home or in general.  Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek have split the minutes rather evenly so far, 432 for Mrazek and 405 for Howard.  Combined, they are tending goal to a 2.22 goals against average and a .930 save percentage.  It is even better at home where the goals against average is 1.89 for the two combined while sustaining a .930 save percentage.  If past is prolougue, Jimmy Howard could get the nod in this game.  Six of his seven appearances have come at home, where he is 3-3-0, 1.93, .922, with one shutout.  He did leave Sunday’s game in the third period with a head injury, but he was reported to have not been subjected to concussion protocol.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

1.  Clearly, the Red Wings miss Pavel Datsyuk.  The 13-year veteran has yet to dress this season after undergoing off-season ankle surgery.  He is said to be “close” to areturn, but it will not likely be for this game.  Datsyuk is the leader among active Red Wings in career games played with the club (887), assists (571), points (869), plus-minus (plus-242), shooting percentage (14.4 percent, minimum: 200 games).  He is second only to Henrik Zetterberg in goals (298 to 300).

2.  Detroit does not get eye-popping offense out of their blue line, but it certainly is balanced.  Five defensemen have goals this season (led by Jakub Kindl with two), and seven have points (led by Niklas Kronwall with 5).  What they do not get is power play goal scoring from the blue line.  Brendan Smith is the only defenseman with a power play goal for the Wings this season.

3.  One thing to watch in this games is shots on goal.  Caps fans probably realize that the Caps lead the league in fewest shots on goal allowed (25.2 per game).  On the other side of the ledger, the Red Wings are last in the league in shots on goal per game (25.1).  Only once in seven home games have they recorded as many as 30 shots in a game, and four times they finished with fewer than 25 shots on goal.

4.  Scoring in the first period has been a challenge overall for Detroit.  Only four teams have fewer first period goals than the Red Wings (7).   The silver lining there is that they have only allowed seven first period goals; only three teams have allowed fewer.

5.  Once upon a time, the Red Wings were possession monsters. From the 2005-2006 season through last season the Red Wings finished over 50 percent every year in Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5.  Four times in those ten seasons they finished above 55 percent.  This year, they are struggling.  Detroit ranks 29^th of 30 teams in Corsi-for at fives (46.1).  Their score adjusted (46.8/29^th) and close score (45.3/26^th) are similarly disappointing.  They are better at home (50.5 overall/18^th), but they do not remind fans of the editions of Red Wings teams past in this regard (all numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  Let’s go with a Russian theme for the first random fact in hopes of a record-setting night.  So far this season, 30 Russian born players have dressed for NHL games.  No team has had more goals scored from Russian born players so far than the Caps.  Alex Ovechkin (8) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (5) have combined for 13 goals.  The Chicago Blackhawks have ten goals from Russian born players – Artem Anisimov (6) and Artemi Pararin (4).  If Ovechkin makes it nine goals, he will stand alone among Russian born players in career NHL goals scored (he and Sergei Fedorov, who will be in the arena for this game, share the top spot with 483 goals).

2.  Alex Ovechkin has seven assist through his first 12 games of the season.  On the one hand, that is a pace for 47 assists for the season.  He has not had more than that many since the 2010-2011 season (53).  On the other hand, he had seven assists after 12 games last year, too, then finished the year with just 21 assists in his last 69 games (a 25-assist pace over 82 games). 

3.  The Caps have a three-man rotation on faceoffs – Nicklas Backstrom, Jay Beagle, and Evgeny Kuznetsov.  How many of you had Chandler Stephenson with the fourth-highest number of draws taken (without looking)?  Stephenson has taken 49 draws, winning 27 for a 55.1 percent winning percentage.

4.  John Carlson is one of 13 defensemen averaging at least 3:30 of ice time per game on the power play.  He and Kris Letang are the only ones in that group also averaging at least 2:30 of ice time per game killing penalties.

5.  The Caps are currently plus-6 in goal differential at 5-on-5 through 13 games.  That might not sound like a lot, but it is a plus-38 pace per 82 games.  If the Caps finish the season at plus-15 or better it would be their second best goal differential at 5-on-5 since the 2004-2005 lockout.  Only in their knockout offensive season of 2009-2010 were they better (plus-72; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Detroit: Mike Green

Mike Green’s first season with the Detroit Red Wings has started the way too many of his seasons with the Washington Capitals ended – nursing an injury.  Green started the season appearing in the Wings’ first seven games, recording a pair of assists.  However, after recording the second of his assists for the season in the first period of a game in his home town of Calgary against the Flames, he sustained an upper body injury when he was hit by the Flames’ Josh Jooris.  Green missed the next six games, returning to the lineup in Detroit’s 4-1 loss to Dallas on Sunday.  He recorded an assist, but was a minus-2.  In his eight games he has been on ice for five of the 11 goals scored against Detroit at 5-on-5.  He is still a minutes eater, though.  In each of his last four full games, Green has logged at least 22:47 in ice time, and he leads the team in average ice time at even strength (17:19 per game).  This is, of course, his first game against his old team.

Washington: Dmitry Orlov

Since Dmitry Orlov recorded a pair of goals in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 2, 2014, it will be 618 days, and counting, without a goal in the NHL when he takes the ice against the Red Wings on Tuesday.  That represents just 31 games of actual NHL activity in all that time, and Orlov does have four assists in the 13 games he has played to date.  Still, on a team where defensive defensemen Karl Alzner and Brooks Orpik already have goals, it would be good to get Orlov into crooked numbers.  Getting there will require some more aggressiveness in the offensive end.  In five road games he has only three shots on goal.  He has two career appearances against the Red Wings without a point.

In the end…

The Caps are playing the Detroit Red Wings, but they are not exactly the “Detroit Red Wings.”  This is not the possession dominating, deeply skilled, supremely confident squad that over a 22-year period through last season played at a 48-23-6-6 pace per 82 games (108 points), won 13 division titles, went to six Stanley Cup finals and won four Cups.  It is a team in transition, having parted ways with recently minted hall of fame defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom via retirement after the 2011-2012 season, and with the last sturdy links to their Stanley Cup champions – Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen, and Niklas Kronwall – all north of 34 years of age.  This is a team working youth into the lineup.  For example, there is 19-year old Dylan Larkin – a 15^th overall pick in the 2014 entry draft – with 10 points in 14 games, tied for second on the team.  There is less heralded Teemu Pulkkinen (4^th rounder in 2010) with seven points in 14 games. 

Then there is the new head coach, Jeff Blashill, taking over for Mike Babcock.  Think about that for a moment.  In the 21 seasons preceding this one, 19 of them were coached, in whole or in part, by Babcock and hall of famer Scotty Bowman.  There is a lot of history weighing on this transition period for the Wings.  Add to that the fact that the Red Wings are somewhat beat up (Pavel Datsyuk Johan Franzen, Brad Richards, and Kyle Quincey on injured reserve), the Caps having had had some recent success in this building, and that they are playing solid hockey so far, the road trip should get off to a good start for the Caps.

Capitals 3 – Red Wings 2