Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 26

Week 26 was the last full week of action of the regular season for the Washington Capitals, and a full one it was.  It was both a “winning” week and a “losing” week. It was one with frustrating performances and historic performances.  It was some of the best and worst the Caps offered this season.  It was hockey, and when the smoke cleared they had the best record in the league and knew who their first round playoff opponent would be.

Record: 1-0-2

Week 26 could have been so much more, record-wise.  The Caps carried a lead into the third period against the New York Islanders and had a two-goal lead on the Isles with less than 12 minutes left in regulation time on home ice, as close to a lock on a win as you could imagine, the Caps having a perfect 36-0-0 record when leading after two periods to that point this season.  The Islanders then scored two goals in less than two minutes to tie the game, then grabbed the extra standings point in overtime to give the Caps a disappointing start to the week.

Then the Caps spotted the Pittsburgh Penguins a three-goal lead 29 minutes into the middle game of the week before clawing their way back to tie the contest in the third period.  All the work went for naught when Sidney Crosby scored on a breakaway in overtime for the Caps second straight extra-time loss and third straight defeat overall, the first time all season the Caps lost three in a row. 

Washington salvaged the week with perhaps their best performance of the 2016 portion of the season, spotting the St. Louis Blues an early goal, then roaring back behind five unanswered goals and a bucket of milestones met to salvage what was, from a standings points perspective, a winning week.

Offense:  3.67/game (season: 3.06 /game; rank: 2nd)

The Caps had a big week in the offensive end because the Captain had a big week.  Alex Ovechkin started the week with 45 goals and was trying to fend off the challenge of Chicago’s Patrick Kane for the league goal-scoring lead.  By the time the week ended, Ovechkin had five of the team’s 11 goals, hit the 50-goal mark for the seventh time in his career (third-most all time), recorded his 15^th career hat trick (most in the NHL since he came into the league), and passed Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier for 33^rd place on the league’s all-time goal scoring list.

Five other Caps shared in the other six goals, Marcus Johansson the only other Capital with more than one for the week, both of them in the loss to Pittsburgh.  There were 13 different Caps sharing in the points for the week.  Johansson (2-3-5) and John Carlson (1-4-5) tying Ovechkin for the team lead with five points apiece.  Carlson had quietly put together a rather impressive season in the offensive end of the ice, despite missing 25 games to injury.  His eight goals in 56 games (0.14 per game) is his second-best goals per game output of his career (0.15 goals per game last season), and his 0.70 points per game is a career high.  His plus-minus of plus-16 might have been played into a career high had he not missed so many games (plus-21 in 82 games in 2011-2012).

Meanwhile, Johansson finished the week with 46 points, one off his career high (47 in 2013-2014), and his points-per-game (0.63) is his highest in a full NHL season (he had 0.65 per game in the abbreviated 2012-2013 season).

Defense: 3.00/game (season: 2.33 /game; rank: 2nd)

“Defense” was a mixed bag for the Caps in Week 26.  On a shots-on-goal basis, it was a good week, the Caps holding three opponents to an average of just 27.3 shots on goal per game, a bit more impressive for the fact that two of the games went to extra time.  But the circumstances in which goals were scored largely reflected breakdowns at inopportune times.  The Caps yielded far too many odd man rushes to far to the Penguins in the middle game of the week, ultimately losing the game on the ultimate odd-man rush, a breakaway when two Caps were caught along the right wing wall at their own blue line, a bad thing when there are only three men on the ice.  In the Islander game the visitors got back into the game when a Capital was late getting back to defend Kyle Okposo, who took a rebound off the end wall and stuffed it in to start the Islander comeback.  It was not so much a systemic problem on defense as it was poor moments borne of poor judgement or effort.

The “moment” hypothesis, as opposed to a systemic problem, is reflected in the shot attempts at 5-on-5.  The Caps had a solid week in that respect, finishing all three games above 50 percent and going 54.2 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5 for the week.  They won six of the nine regulation periods of the week in that respect and were especially efficient early in games, posting a 58.3 percent Corsi-for in the first periods of games and a 54.7 percent Corsi-for in the second periods for the week (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

Goaltending: 2.90 /.890 (season: 2.23 / .921 / 3 shutouts)

The weight of the all-time wins record that goalie Braden Holtby was pursuing seemed to be a heavy burden this week.  Holtby got all the minutes in Week 26 and had his struggles.  It would not have been so bad but for the two goals on six shots faced in two overtime games that for all intents and purposes denied Holtby the all-time wins record he was pursuing.  Even in the third periods of games, in which he stopped 30 of 32 shots for the week for a .938 save percentage, all was not unicorns and accordions.  The two goals he allowed were the two goals the Islanders scored in the third period to tie the game before the Isles won in overtime.  One of those goals was one of those “why don’t the hockey gods love us” moments when a puck that rebounded off the end wall eluded Holtby’s stick and ended up on the blade of Kyle Okposo’s stick to get the Islanders back in the game in the third period.

Not that his first two periods of play were all that shimmering.  He stopped 21 of 23 shots in the first periods of games (.913 save percentage) and 18 of 21 in the second periods of games for the week (.857).  But he did save the best for last.  He allowed a goal by St. Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko 75 seconds into the game, then slammed the door on the Blues, stopping the last 17 shots he faced to earn the win that tied him with Martin Brodeur for the all-time record in wins by a goaltender in one season (48).

And here is the remarkable thing about Holtby’s record-tying season.  None of the other goaltenders with 45 or more wins in a single season recorded fewer than 20 regulation losses in doing so.  Holtby will go into the season finale on Sunday with just nine losses in regulation this season.

Power Play: 0-for-7 / 0.0 percent (season: 22.2 percent; rank: 4th)

Woof.  If there was a worse week for the Capitals’ power play, we don’t want to think about it.  It was not even the fact that the Caps took their second “oh-fer” in four weeks (0-for-6 in Week 23).  It was the lack of pressure.  Washington managed just four shots in 12:25 of power play ice time (Ovechkin (2), Carlson, Kuznetsov).  Part of it might have been Nicklas Backstrom missing the first game of the week against the Islanders (the Caps had no power play shots on goal in that game), but it was just a week in which the power play didn’t have enough wattage to light the refrigerator with the door open. 

Penalty Killing: 9-for-9 / 100.0 percent (season: 85.0 percent; rank: 4th)

Where the power play failed, the penalty kill sparkled.  Not since Week 3 had the Caps faced as many as nine shorthanded situations in a week and killed them all off.  And the Caps were impressively efficient in killing off all nine power plays.  They permitted only nine shots on goal in 19:25 of shorthanded ice time (0.46 shots per minute).  That included holding the St. Louis Blues without a shot on goal on their power play in six shorthanded minutes.

Faceoffs: 83-for-166 / 50.0 percent (season: 49.7% / rank: 19th)

The Caps split the week right down the middle for Week 26 overall.  They also “split” the week by games, winning one (against St. Louis), losing one (against Pittsburgh), and winning 50 percent in the other (against the Islanders).  By zone it was equally inconclusive, the Caps less successful in the offensive end (45.3 percent) than they were in the defensive end (57.4 percent), while losing the neutral zone total for the week (48.5 percent).

Among those Caps taking at least ten draws for the week, Jay Beagle (57.1 percent) and Mike Richards (63.1 percent) were impressive.  Richards was the only Capital to win all three zones for the week (offensive: 6-8; defensive: 6-10; neutral: 9-15).  Beagle finished the week with the third best faceoff winning percentage in the league among players taking at least 500 draws (58.1 percent, trailing only Ryan Kesler (58.5 percent) and Jonathan Toews (58.6 percent)).

Goals by Period:

It would have been a lot better week if the goal breakdown by regulation period reflected a different distribution among the games.  The Caps had an 11-7 edge in goals scored in regulation.  It is those seven goals against.  Two of them came in the first period, both of them scored by the Penguins, the first two goals of the game in a 4-3 overtime loss.  There were two scored by opponents in the third period, both by the Islanders to tie the game after the Caps took a 3-1 lead, only to lose by a 4-3 score in overtime.  Sometimes it’s not the “what,” or even so much the “how,” but the “when”

In the end…

On one level, you cannot say Week 26 was a good one for the Caps, not with a 1-0-2 record.  But the team had clinched the Presidents Trophy before the week started, they knew they would have the top seed in the postseason and home-ice advantage as long as they were playing.  That left the incentive a number of team and personal milestones, many of which were achieved:

• The 2015-2016 Caps reached the 120-point mark for the second time in seven seasons and are just the ninth team to reach that mark in NHL history.  They are one of three teams to have done it at least twice.  Montreal has done it four times, while the Detroit Red Wings have done it twice.
• The Caps finished the week with 56 wins, a franchise record and the ninth team in NHL history to reach that mark.
• The Caps became the first team in 39 years to go an entire NHL season without losing consecutive games in regulation, the 1976-1977 Montreal Canadiens being the last team to do it on their way to a 60-8-12 record.
• Braden Holtby won his 48^th game of the season, tying Martin Brodeur’s league record, set with the New Jersey Devils in 2006-2007.  Holtby is the only player to win 45 or more games in fewer than 70 season appearances (he did it in his 66^th appearance) and is the only one to do it with fewer than 20 regulation losses (he has nine).
• Alex Ovechkin recorded his seventh 50-goal season, becoming the first player in NHL history to record two separate three-season streaks of 50 or more goals.  In doing so he won the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer for the sixth time, the last four in succession.
• Jason Chimera recorded his 20th goal of the season in the week’s final game, the 5-1 win over the St. Louis Blues.  It tied a career-high in goals scored for Chimera, set with the Caps in 2011-2012.
• Nicklas Backstrom had three assists against the Blues, his fourth game with three or more assists this season, tying him with teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson for the league lead.  It was his 31st career game with three or more assists, most in the league since he came into the NHL in 2007-2008.
• Backstrom finished the week with 50 assists for the season, giving him six seasons of 50 or more assists since he entered the league in 2007-2008, tied with Ryan Getzlaf, Henrik Sedin, and Joe Thornton for most in the league in that span.

It was quite a week.  Bring on the Flyers.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Alex Ovechkin (5-0-5, plus-5, 20 shots on goal, 31 shot attempts, five hits)
• Second Star: John Carlson (1-4-5, plus-6, 4 blocked shots, 3 hits, on ice for one goal against)
• Third Star: T.J. Oshie (1-3-4, plus-3, 8 takeaways, 4 hits, 4 blocked shots)

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 82: Ducks at Capitals, April 10th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

Well, we are at the end of it.  The journey that started last October ends where it began, on the ice at Verizon Center where the Washington Capitals will host the Anaheim Ducks in a game that was postponed from January when the region was buried in snow from Winter Storm Jonas.

Washington comes into this game with few things left on the checklist to check off.  They can set a franchise record of 122 standings points with a win, and if that win is recorded by goalie Braden Holtby, he will hold the record for most wins in a season by a goaltender.  The Ducks, meanwhile, have a bit more to reach for – the top seed in the Pacific Division.  If the Ducks capture two points, they will pass the Los Angeles Kings in the division and face the Nashville Predators in the first round of the playoffs instead of the San Jose Sharks.

The Ducks are stumbling a bit coming into this game with a 2-2-1 record over their last five games.  Scoring has been an issue with only 12 goals in those five games, five of them coming in a 5-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche in the Ducks’ last game, played on Saturday night in Denver.

What the Ducks have been lacking is a certain star power in their offensive game.  Ryan Getzlaf has a goal and an assist over the last five games, and until Corey Perry recorded three assists against Colorado on Saturday night, he has not had a multi-point game since March 3^rd (5-7-12 in his last 18 games).  The Ducks are led in goals over the last five games by Ryan Kesler (three), giving him his third straight 20-goal season and eight of his career.  Kesler has been quite the road warrior lately, going 3-11-14 in his last 13 road games.  In 11 career games against the Caps, Kesler is 3-6-9, plus-2.

Jakov Silfverberg is tied with Kesler for the team lead in points over the last five games (2-3-5).  With two goals against Colorado on Saturday, he hit the 20-goal mark for the first time in his four-year career and tied his career-best in points (39) set last season.  What he does not yet have that he had in each of his first three seasons is at least one shorthanded goal (we’ll be pulling for him to miss a fourth season), but he does have something he did not have in any of his first three season, an overtime goal, scored in a 3-2 win over Winnipeg on March 20th.  Silfverberg is 1-2-3, even, in eight career games against the Caps.

With John Gibson having appeared in the last seven games for the Ducks, it could be Frederik Andersen getting the nod in goal for the Ducks in the back half of their weekend road back-to-back.  Andersen last appeared in a game on March 30^th, when he logged 11 minutes and change in the second period of an 8-3 win over the Calgary Flames.  It was an odd circumstance, Andersen coming into the game after Gibson was shaken up in a collision with teammate defenseman Hampus Lindholm.  Andersen probably wanted a do-over after allowing three goals on five shots and yielding to Gibson in the third period.  In his last three appearances dating back to March 24^th he has allowed 12 goals on 64 shots (.813 save percentage).  He has never faced the Capitals.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

1.  Anaheim leads the NHL in both power play (23.4 percent) and penalty kill (87.1 percent), the power play even better on the road – 24.8 percent.

2.  You would not expect a 100-point team to have a poor record when scoring first, but the Ducks can be caught when they get the first goal.  They rank just 18^th in winning percentage (.660/33-7-10), and their ten overtime losses when scoring is most in the league.  Their 50 instances of scoring first is second most in the league, behind Chicago (53, with a record of 41-6-6).

3.  Despite scoring first 50 times this season, the Ducks do not often lead at the first intermission, and when they do they are not especially successful, at least in the context of league rankings.  Anaheim has taken a lead into the first intermission 33 times and has a record of 23-4-6, a winning percentage of .697 that ranks tied for 22^nd in the leagtue.

4.  Anaheim does not work or play well with others.  Their 328 minor penalties is third most in the league.  If they take three against the Caps, they will jump into second place over the Winnipeg Jets.

5.  Anaheim is the fifth-best possession team in the league, as measured in Corsi-for percent at 5-on-5 (52.4).  They are also fifth in that measure in road games (51.1 percent; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  Let’s look at a few milestones that can be reached for the Caps in Game 82.  With three points, Evgeny Kuznetsov would finish the season with 80 points.   He would become the fourth Capital to hit that mark since the 2004-2005 lockout, joining Alex Ovechkin (seven times), Nicklas Backstrom (twice), and Alexander Semin for the club.

2.  John Carlson and Andre Burakovsky are within striking distance of 40-point seasons, Carlson needing one point and Burakovsky needing two.  If both make it, the Caps would finish the season with nine players with 40 or more points.  Compare that to last season when the Caps had six such players.

3.  Kuznetsov is currently at plus-25. No Capital has finished a season at plus-25 or better since the 2010 season when six players topped that mark.

4.  Alex Ovechkin stands at 19 power play goals.  If he gets one more he will have his fifth 20-power play goal season, tying Brett Hull for most over the last 40 years.

5.  The Caps have an odd relationship of Corsi-for to scoring on home ice.  Their Corsi-for at 5-on-5 ranks just 15^th in the league (51.7 percent), but their goal differential of plus-22 at fives on home ice ranks fourth in the league (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Anaheim:  Bruce Boudreau

OK, he is not a player, but Bruce Boudreau is about to wrap up a remarkable regular season.  After the Ducks stumbled out of the gate with an awful October (1-7-2), the “Bruce Watch” began anticipating his firing as head coach.  The end of October would be the low-water mark for the club.  They slowly and methodically resurrected their season, going 44-18-9 since then as they come to Washington.   Boudreau will finish the season with a points percentage over .600 for the eighth time in nine NHL seasons, the only season he missed it being the one in which he was fired by the Caps and hired by the Ducks (39-32-9 overall, a .544 points percentage).  Boudreau is 3-1-1 in games coached against Washington.

Washington: Justin Williams

When Justin Williams takes the ice on Sunday night, he will do so for the 1,000^th time in the regular season for his career.  Williams has been everything anyone could have expected in his first season in Washington.  He will have appeared in all 82 games for the season, the fifth time he will have appeared in all 82 games.  He ranks third on the club with 22 goals, topping the 20-goal mark for the first time since the 2011-2012 season with Los Angeles.  He has 30 assists, fourth on the team and the first time he reached that level since 2011-2012.  His 52 points is fourth on the club and, again, his best since 2011-2012.  His plus-15 is a career best, tying a mark he recorded in 2012-2013.  He has not been especially hot lately (1-2-3 in his last ten games), but he has had success against the Ducks, going 11-14-25, plus-4, in 36 career games.

In the end…

At the moment, it appears that Philipp Grubauer will “probably” get the call in goal for the Capitals on Sunday, meaning there would be no last attempt to secure the all-time goalie wins record for Braden Holtby.  That would make give the Caps few incentives in this contest, other than to remind their former coach that they are still a formidable team.  But this team has, for the most part this season, done a good job of taking care of business.  This is a chance to punch the time clock and carry the lunch pail one last time before the fun starts in the postseason.

Capitals 3 – Ducks 2

Washington Capitals Recap: A TWO-Point Night: Capitals 5 - Blues 1

If the Washington Capitals were in need of an all-around performance to get them prepared for the postseason that starts in less than a week, they got it on Saturday night as they spotted the St. Louis Blues an early goal, then roared back with five unanswered goals in what was a milestone night up and down the roster.

It did not start well for the Caps as the Blues jumped in front in the first 90 seconds of the game.  It started with Vladimir Tarasenko setting up between the hash marks as Alex Pietrangelo  circled with the puck behind the net.  The Caps seemed a bit mesmerized by Pietrangelo as he came out with the puck to the right of goalie Braden Holtby.  It was enough for Pietrangelo to find Tarasenko for a one-timer to give the Blues a 1-0 lead just 75 seconds into the contest.

It did not take long for the Caps to shake off the insult.  Just as the clock passed the four minute mark, T.J. Oshie pinched down the wall to keep a loose puck out of the grips of Carl Gunnarsson.  Nicklas Backstrom circled in to take control, then fed John Carlson at the top of the offensive zone.  Carlson took advantage of two Blues closing on him.  It gave Carlson the opportunity to slide the puck off to his left where Alex Ovechkin was waiting.  A one-timer later, it was 1-1, and the Caps were off and running. 

Less than three minutes later it was Ovechkin again.  Backstrom took a faceoff to the right of Elliott in the Blues’ zone.  With his second swipe at the puck, he pulled it back to Ovechkin, past the attempted steal by Robby Fabbri.  It was a positional mistake by Fabbri, whose momentum left him out of position to do anything but turn his head around just as Ovechkin was settling the puck and snapping it past Elliott to make it 2-1 at the 6:49 mark.

In the third period, another pair of Caps got into the scoring column.  John Carlson and Tom Wilson worked a lovely give-and-go, starting when Carlson fielded a pass at the top of the offensive zone from Brooks Orpik.  Carlson turned and fed Tom Wilson at the right wing wall, then broke to the net behind Alexander Steen.  Wilson froze Jori Lehtera with a look that said “shot,” then led Carlson for a tap in behind Elliott that gave the Caps a 3-1 lead 5:21 into the period.

A little more than five minutes later the Caps added another goal, courtesy of Jason Chimera.  It started with Dmitry Orlov with a stretch pass to Evgeny Kuznetsov skating through the neutral zone.  Kuznetsov circled into the Blues’ zone, weaved his way across the middle, faked a pass to Tom Wilson, then, as he pulled goalie Brian Elliott to defend against a shot, he whipped a backhand pass across the slot to a fast-closing Chimera, who batter the puck behind Elliott to make it 4-1 at the 10:56 mark.

There were two items of business left for the Caps in the third period.  They checked one off the list mid-way through the period.  T.J. Oshie stripped Jay Bouwmeester of the puck just outside the Caps’ blue line and fed it up to Nicklas Backstrom heading the other way.  Backstrom led the Caps on a 3-on-1 rush.  With the lone defender occupying Oshie in the middle, Backstrom floated a saucer pass to the left side where Alex Ovechkin one-timed it past Anders Nilsson, in goal in relief of Brian Elliott for the third period.  It gave Ovechkin the hat trick and a 50-goal season for the seventh time in 11 NHL seasons. 

That left the last order of business for the Caps, now all but assured with the bunches of goals.  Braden Holtby stopped all ten shots he faced in the third period to secure his 48^th win of the season, tying a record set by Martin Brodeur in 2006-2007 with the New Jersey Devils, the Caps skating off with the 5-1 win.  

Other stuff…

-- The Capitals became the ninth team in NHL history to win 56 or more games in a season.  In doing so they became the first team in 39 years to do it without losing consecutive games in regulation (they will finish the season with that fact intact), the 1976-1977 Montreal Canadiens being the last team to do it on their way to a 60-8-12 season.

-- Washington also became just the ninth team in NHL history to reach 120 standings points in a season.  They are one of three teams to have done it at least twice.  Montreal has done it four times, while the Detroit Red Wings have done it twice.

-- Braden Holtby winning his 48^th game and tying Martin Brodeur for the all-time record of wins in a season is an amazing accomplishment, but there is something even more remarkable about it.  In none of the other instances of a goalie winning 45 or more games in a regular season did they record fewer than 20 regulation losses.  Holtby has nine.

-- The greatest pure goal scorer I ever saw was Mike Bossy.  But for his sheer consistency and reliability, it would be hard to top Alex Ovechkin.  His hat trick gave him his seventh 50-goal season and sixth Maurice Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer, his fourth in a row (a record since the Trophy was first awarded after the 1998-1999 season).  He became the first player in NHL history to record three-straight 50-goal seasons in two separate streaks.  And consider this.  After the 2011-2012 season, when he had “just” 38 goals in 78 games (his second straight season in which he did not reach the 40-goal mark), he was considered in decline.  In the four seasons since, he has 186 goals.  The second-ranked goal scorer over that period is San Jose’s Joe Pavelski, who has 131.

-- Jason Chimera recorded his 20^th goal of the season in this game.  It tied a career-high in goals scored for Chimera, set with the Caps in 2011-2012.

-- Nicklas Backstrom had three assists, his fourth game with three or more assists this season, tying him with teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson for the league lead.  It was his 31^st career game with three or more assists, most in the league since he came into the NHL in 2007-2008.

-- John Carlson had a two-point game (goal, assist), giving him consecutive multi-point games and nine for the year in just 56 games.  Since he returned from injury on March 25^th, he has not gone consecutive games without a point and is 2-6-8 in nine games.

--  Mike Richards might not have had much action on the scoring side, but he did make his presence felt.  In 14:28 of ice time, he had four hits and won 13 of 19 faceoffs (68.4 percent).

-- If there was a hole in the offense for the Caps, look to Andre Burakovsky and Marcus Johansson.  Between them, they did not record a shot attempt.

-- St. Louis recorded the first three shot attempts, the last resulting in their only goal.  After that, the Caps out attempted the Blues, 55-38, at 5-on-5, finishing the game with a 57.3 percent Corsi-for at fives.  And it was something of a “score effect” that the final numbers were that close.  The Caps had a 26-9 edge in shot attempts at 5-on-5 in the first period and a 15-12 edge in the second (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

In the end…

This might have been the best game the Caps played in the 2016 portion of the season.  On the road, against an opponent they have a history of some struggles against (2-2-1 in St. Louis since the 2004-2005 lockout), and against a team that still had something to play for (a top-seed in the Central Division).  One might have liked to see a Burakovsky or a Johansson make more of an impact, and one hopes that the injury Jay Beagle suffered when he took a shot off the inside of his ankle does not take him out of the lineup, but having the stars come up big was a big plus as the Caps wrapped up the road portion of their regular season schedule.  It was a superb effort in all three periods in all three zones, just the tonic for the team and its fans as the playoffs are about to begin.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 81: Capitals at Blues, April 9th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals wrapped up the Eastern Conference portion of their season on Thursday night with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.  They have two games against Western Conference teams remaining, the first of which will be played on Saturday night in St. Louis against the Blues.

Washington comes into this game dragging their first three-game losing streak of the season with them.  That is also four losses in five games and five losses in seven contests.  On the other side, the Blues are humming along with a three-game winning streak and wins in eight of their last nine games, including a 4-0 shutout win over the Caps on March 26^th.

In the five games played by the Blues since they faced the Caps, they are 4-1-0, outscoring their opponents by a 20-11 margin, more than half of those goals allowed coming in an uncharacteristic 6-5 loss at home to Boston on April 1^st.  Their power play has been a fine 5-for-19 (26.3 percent), while their penalty kill is 12-for-14 (85.7 percent) over the same five games.

Vladimir Tarasenko leads the Blues in goals (four) and points (eight) over the last five games.  It is part of a longer hot streak for Tarasenko.  Since March 1^st, he is 10-9-19, plus-7, in 16 games.  For Tarasenko the goal-scoring binge vaulted him to a career-best 39 goals for the season, two more than the 37 with which he finished last season.  He is one of just four players with more than 75 goals over the past two seasons, Jamie Benn (76), Steven Stamkos (79) and Alex Ovechkin (100) being the others.  He and Benn are the only players with at least 75 goals and 70 assists over the past two seasons.  Tarasenko is 2-1-3, plus-6, in four career games against Washington.

Alex Pietrangelo leads the defense in scoring over the last five games (2-4-6) in a season that looks a lot like his previous two in terms of goal scoring, but not in assists.  His goals per game this year (0.10) are similar to what he recorded last season (0.09) and in 2013-2014 (0.10).  His assists follow a somewhat different pattern – 0.40 per game this season compared to 0.48 last season and 0.53 in 2013-2014.  He is now on a four-game points streak, his longest since putting four straight games together in early January.  Pietrangelo is one of only five defensemenover the past three seasons to record at least 20 goals, at least 100 assists, and post a plus-minus of plus-25 or greater.  He has one assist and is a plus-1 in seven career games against the Capitals.

As far as goaltending in concerned, the Blues have an embarrassment of riches, or at least hot goaltenders at the moment.  Brian Elliott seems to have the inside track on starting in goal for the postseason based on a longer period of superior play.  In his last 21 appearance dating back to mid-January he is 15-2-2, 1.64, .943, with four shutouts, three of those coming in succession against Vancouver (twice) and San Jose in late March.  However, Jake Allen has provided solid minutes lately.  He shut out the Caps on March 26, and he has allowed just one goal in his last 120 minutes.  Elliott is 6-2-0, 3.17, .886 in ten career appearances against the Caps, while Allen has the shutout on March 26^th in his only career appearance against Washington. He is listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

1.  Over the last five seasons through Thursday night, no team – not Chicago, not Los Angeles, not Pittsburgh, not the New York Rangers – has won more regular season games than the St. Louis Blues (230).

2.  This year, the Blues are tied for the second highest number of wins (49) through Thursday’s games, but the odd part of it is that they have a better record on the road (25-11-5) than they do at home (24-12-4).

3.  St. Louis protects the puck well, even if one acknowledges the arbitrary nature of awarding takeaways and giveaways.  No team has been credited with fewer giveaways this season than the Blues (443).

4.  Only three teams have had more shorthanded situations faced on home ice this season than the Blues (137) – Detroit (138), Anaheim (140) and Arizona (151).

5.  It might strike one as surprising that the Blues have an “even” goal differential on home ice this season (59 goals for, 59 goals against; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  The Capitals have more standings points earned in just the Eastern Conference portion of their schedule (83 on a record of 39-10-5) than 11 teams have in total for the season through Thursday night’s games.  Those 39 wins are more than 13 other teams.

2.  The Caps’ recent record is as much frustrating as it is disappointing, perhaps more so.  No team has more one-goal victories than the Caps (27, tied with Los Angeles and Detroit), and they have the best winning percentage in such games (.658/27-6-8).  However, three of their last four losses were by one goal, all of them in extra time. 

3.  In the same vein, earlier in the season the “3-2” score was one that the Caps liked seeing.  All in all, they have a 13-3-1 record in games ending in a 3-2 score.  The “4-3” score?  Not so much.  The Caps lost their last two games by that margin, both in overtime.  The Caps have a 3-2-4 record in games ending in a 4-3 score this season.

4.  No player since the 2004-2005 lockout has more game-winning goals than Alex Ovechkin (87).  However, he has only one game-winning goal in his last 31 games, the overtime game-winner in a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on March 15^th.

5.  The Caps have had a good run of it as far as their road possession numbers are concerned.  Over their last four road games, their Corsi-for at 5-on-5 overall is 59.1 percent.  They do not have much to show for it, though.  Their goal differential is “minus-2,” two for and four against (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

St. Louis: Troy Brouwer

The former Capital forward is 3-3-6 over his last four games, putting him within striking distance of recording his third consecutive 20-goal season (he has 18) and one point away from his third straight 40-point season.  Brouwer’s goal-scoring success has coincided quite nicely with team success.  The Blues are 14-2-2 in the 18 games in which Brouwer has a goal (he does not have a multi-goal game this season), and the Blues have won each of the last six games in which he has one.  He is doing it in a somewhat less efficient manner than has been customary in his career.  His 12.8 percent shooting percentage is his worst since his first full season with Chicago when he had a 7.9 percent shooting percentage in 69 games.  He does not have a point and is minus-1 in three career games against Washington.

Washington: Dmitry Orlov

If there is a player that opponents are going to look to exploit for the Washington Capitals in the postseason, it could be defenseman Dmitry Orlov.  The 24-year old has never appeared in an NHL postseason game, and he has not appeared in a postseason game of any kind since he appeared in four post season games with the Hershey Bears in 2013.  It is going to be important that he be prepared for what awaits him in the playoffs.  It means he is going to have to contribute more than he has recently.  He has had a rough go of it as the season winds down, going 0-0-0, minus-5 over his last nine games, and his 10:42 in ice time against Pittsburgh on Thursday night was his lowest ice time since February 13^th against Dallas (10:19).  Orlov has an assist and is minus-1 in three career games against the Blues.

In the end…

The Caps have hardly been a good team over the last month, but their misfortune might be a bit overstated.  Yes, they are 11-7-4 in their last 22 games, but of the 11 losses, seven of them were by one goal, four of them in extra time.  For the Caps it is now a matter of finding that  one shot, that one save, that one extra bit of effort that will propel them past those frustrating one-goal losses and back to winning with something approaching the regularity with which they did so earlier in the season.

Capitals 3 – Blues 2

Washington Capitals Recap: A ONE-Point Night: Penguins 4 - Capitals 3 (OT)

When Sidney Crosby took a pass from Kris Letang late in overtime on Thursday night against the Washington Capitals and scored on a breakaway to give the Pittsbugh Penguins a 4-3 win, it might have been a play fraught with symbolism.  The Caps spent the first two-thirds of the season running away from the pack in the NHL standings, but they have spent the last six weeks watching the Penguins slowly and methodically chipping away at their status as the league’s favorite to take the Stanley Cup.  The breakaway might have been a symbol of the Penguins breaking free of the Caps as the favorite to represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup final.

Then again, maybe it was just a game.

And what a strange game it was.  For 37 minutes, the Caps sleepwalked through what should have been, for them, a game with which they could make a statement that they were still the class of the conference.  It was Pittsburgh who scored the game’s first three goals, all of them coming from unexpected sources.

Matt Cullen scored a pair, one coming in the first minute of the first period, the Caps getting caught facing a 3-on-2 rush.  Tom Kuhnhackl led the rush and fed Cullen on the left side just as the Penguin trio reached the Capitals blue line.  Cullen had an open lane to skate and shoot, and he did both effectively, snapping the puck past goalie Braden Holtby’s blocker to make it 1-0 just 44 seconds into the game.

Cullen struck again in the first minute of the second period with the Caps on a power play.  He led Eric Fehr on a 2-on-1 break into the Caps’ end.  As he closed on Holtby, he tried to slide the puck over to Fehr, but the puck struck the skate of defenseman Matt Niskanen and slid past Holtby to make it 2-0 just 28 seconds into the period.

When Conor Sheary made it 3-0 at the 9:03 mark on another rush after the Caps made a sloppy line change, it looked as if the only team making a statement was the Penguins, and it wasn’t a pleasant one to the ears of Capitals Nation.

Then, the Caps discovered the charms of going to the net.  Late in the second period Andre Burakovsky threw a shot at the Pittsburgh net that was blocked aside to the far wing.  John Carlson collected the puck and fired a slap pass to the slot where Marcus Johansson was set up.  Johansson redirected the puck past goalie Matt Murray, and the comeback started at the 17:19 mark of the period. 

Washington inched closer mid-way through the third period when Johansson caught the Penguins standing around.  Evgeny Kunetsov fended off Justin Schultz behind the Penguin net and passed the puck in front.  Niskanen flagged it down and slid it over the Johansson cutting across the high slot.  Johnasson took a stride and fired just before Fehr could reach out and poke the puck away, the puck sailing under the right arm of Murray to make it 3-2 at the 10:05 mark. 

Less than three minutes later the game was tied on some fine stick work all around for the Caps.  Kuznetsov settled a bouncing puck at the blue line before it could escape into the neutral zone, upon which he pivoted and fed it to Justin Williams, who wasted no time chipping it to John Carlson in the left wing circle.  Carlson settled the puck and drew it back from a closing Ben Lovejoy and sent it to the far side of the Penguin net.  Burakovsky moved the stick from his forehand to his backhand, reached out, and redirected the puck out of mid-air past Murray’s left pad to make it 3-3.

That would be it for the scoring in regulation, and it looked as if the teams might need the freestyle portion of the evening to settle things, but the Penguins – and Crosby – ended that thinking with just 60 seconds left in the extra session, giving the Penguins the 4-3 win.

Other stuff…

-- Marcus Johansson scored two goals in a game for the first time this season and for the first time he had a pair in a 6-2 win over the Maple Leafs in Toronto on January 7, 2015.  He broke an 18-game streak without a goal and gave him five points in his last two games after a three-assist effort in the 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

-- Andre Burakovsky also had a two-point game with a goal and an assist, breaking an eight-game streak without a point.  It was his seventh multi-point game this season.

-- John Carlson had a pair of assists, giving him his first multi-point game since he had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over the Penguins on December 14^th.

-- The Caps faced four power plays, the most they faced on home ice since they faced four in a 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 2^nd.

-- This was the rubber match in the season series between the team, the Penguins taking a 3-2 edge.  The Penguins outscored the Caps, 16-13 in the series, but they were just 1-for-18 on power plays (5.6 percent), while the Caps were just 2-for-16 (12.5 percent).  The shorthanded goal scored by the Pens in this game was the only one of the series this season.

-- Tom Wilson had a rough night.  He was on ice for the game’s first goal by Matt Cullen, he took a major penalty for boarding Nick Bonino, had no shot attempts, and he took just two shifts in the last 32 minutes of the game, eight in all for just 5:50 in ice time, his low for the season and his lowest ice time since he skated 4:14 on April 2, 2015 in a 5-4 Gimmick win over the Montreal Canadiens.

-- Matt Niskanen recorded his 27^th assist of the season, matching his total last season in his first year in Washington.

-- Back to Johansson… he was on ice for all four Pittsburgh goals.  It was the first time he finished as poorly as a minus-2 since he recorded such a plus-minus in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames last November 18^th.

-- Braden Holtby is not going to be sad to see this 3-on-3 overtime thing end once the regular season ends.  Among 25 goalies with at least 25 minutes played at 3-on-3 this season, Holtby ranks 23^rd in save percentage (.792; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

-- The Caps, who came into this game as the substantially inferior possession team overall, acquitted themselves well in that regard, out attempting the Penguins, 39-35, at 5-on-5 and winning the scoring chances, 24-20 (numbers from war-on-ice.com). 

In the end…

If this game had been played in December, instead of it being Game 80 of the regular season, Caps fans might find solace in the comeback after a ghastly start to the game.  But it is Game 80, and this could be a second round playoff matchup if both teams advance past the first round.  The takeaway from this game, if you are a Caps fan, is that the game did not turn on the play of the Penguins.  You cannot look at the raw possession numbers and conclude that the visitors took it to the Caps.  It was how the Caps played that dictated the pace and momentum.  They were awful early, especially prone to giving up odd-man rushes.  They found a spark late in the second period, and it served to give them momentum through the third period.  You could conclude that if the Caps play like they did in the first 35 minutes, their postseason will be short.  If they play as they did in the last 25 minutes of regulation, theirs could be a deep playoff run.  It’s really up to them which way the road takes them.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 80: Penguins at Capitals, April 7th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals take the ice for their penultimate home contest of the 2015-2016 season on Thursday night when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Verizon Center.  It would have been the “ultimate” home game of the season but for the rescheduled home contest with the Anaheim Ducks, postponed due to Winter Storm Jonas in January to this coming Sunday.

If not the ultimate home game, the Penguins offer much as an ultimate opponent.  They are on a roll that looks far too ominously (if you are a Caps fan) like the 2008-2009 run they made to finish the regular season on their way to a Stanley Cup.  Since March 11th, when they defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2, the Penguins are 13-1-0.  Compare that to their 18-3-3 finish in 2008-2009 that served as a springboard on their way to the Cup that season.

This club is doing in at 5-on-5, outscoring opponents by a 40-21 margin; they are doing it on special teams, outscoring opponents by a 10-6 margin on their respective power plays.  That Penguin power play is 10-for-49 (20.4 percent), while the penalty killers are 38-for-44 (86.3 percent).

In that 13-1-0 run, Sidney Crosby has reclaimed his spot as the game’s most dangerous offensive weapon.  He is 7-11-18, plus-7 in those games, a scoring level more impressive for the fact that Pittsburgh’s other outsized weapon – Evgeni Malkin – has been out of the lineup since sustaining an upper-body injury in the win over Columbus that set the Penguins on this run.  Crosby is one off the league lead in multi-point games with 25 (Patrick Kane has 26), and since he came into the league in the 2005-2006 season he has more such games than any other player (279, one more than Alex Ovechkin).  If Crosby does have a weakness, it is in the disparity of his home and road scoring this season.  At Consol Energy Center he is 25-26-51, plus-17 in 40 games.  On the road he is 10-23-33, plus-1 in 39 games.  But take small comfort in that.  Crosby has points in ten straight road contests (4-10-14, plus-5).  He is 18-36-54, plus-3, in 37 career games against the Capitals.

If Crosby is worming his way into the conversation about potential Hart Trophy winners as most valuable player, Kris Letang is certainly going to be in the conversation of Norris Trophy-worthy defensemen.  Letang is third in scoring among defensemen (16-50-66) despite having played in 70 games, ten fewer than both of the players ahead of him – Erik Karlsson (16-64-80) and Brent Burns (27-47-74).  It is already a career year for Letang in goals (he had 11 in each of the two previous years), assists (he had 42 in 2010-2011), and points (he had 54 last season).  In this most recent 14-game run of good fortune for the Penguins, Letang is 4-11-15, plus-9, and he has points in each of his last seven games.  In 26 career games against Washington, Letang is 4-7-11, minus-13.

The Penguins score enough (third in scoring offense overall, 4.14 goals per game over their last 14 contests) that they do not need elite goaltending to be successful.  They are getting it, though.  Among 33 goalies having logged at least 2,000 minutes this season, Marc-Andre Fleury ranks tied for fourth in wins (35), eighth in goals against average (2.29), and tied for ninth in save percentage (.921).  His five shutouts is tied for fourth in the league; his .933 save percentage at 5-on-5 is fifth in the league, as is his “high-danger” save percentage of .858 (numbers from war-on-ice.com).  And, he is 8-1-0, 1.98, .915 in this 13-1-0 run.  He is also out of the lineup with a concussion as reported last weekend.  He is not expected to play in any of the Penguins’ last three regular season games.

Which brings us to Matt Murray.  Resembling the Vancouver Canucks’ Ryan Miller in build (6’4”, 178), he is doing a pretty good job of resembling Miller in his prime in on-ice performance.  In 11 appearances this season he is 8-2-1, 1.98, .930, with one shutout.  However, a certain unevenness has been creeping into his game of late.  In five appearances in this 13-1-0 run, Murray is undefeated, but his goals against average of 2.69 is unremarkable, and his .925 save percentage is influenced by his pitching a 24-save shutout at the New York Islanders on April 2nd.  He also has a three-goals allowed and a four-goals allowed performance in his last four games.  Murray lost his only career appearance to date against the Caps, allowing three goals on 37 shots in a 3-2 Caps win on March 1st.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

1. Pittsburgh can score goals in bunches.  They have 33 games this season in which they scored four or more goals (a 32-0-1 record), a total topped only by the Dallas Stars (35 games).

2.  That goal scoring comes from being able to make goalies work.  No team in the league has had more games with 35 or more shots on goal that Pittsburgh (30).  Dallas and Los Angeles trail with 29 games each.

3.  Six of the Penguins’ last nine wins have been by three or more goals.

4.  The Penguins have the best record in the league when leading after two periods (38-0-0).

5.  In their 13-0-1 run, the Penguins have a stunning 57.1 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5.  Of those 14 games, they were over 50 percent 11 times and over 60 percent four times (war-on-ice.com).

1.  Washington has the second-best special teams index in the league (107.1, the sum of power play and penalty killing percentages).  Only Anaheim (110.3) is better.

2.  The Caps have played almost all of their time over the last two games at even strength.  Over more than 120 minutes of play, the Caps and their opponents split a total of six power plays, none of them resulting in goals.

3.  Now that we are in the last few games of the season, and everyone who is looking at the Caps’ last 25 games thinks they will be one-and-done in the postseason, here is a fun fact.  In the post-2004-2005 lockout period, the average record of a Stanley Cup winner in their final 25 games was 15-7-3.  The range of standings points earned was from 28 on the low side (Detroit in 2008 and Chicago last season) to 40 on the high side (Pittsburgh in 2009).  The Caps can finish their final 25 games with a 15-7-3 record if they sweep their last three games, but the only team to do that among the last ten Cup winners was Pittsburgh in 2009.  If they lose their last three in regulation, the Caps would finish with a 12-10-3 record, just under the low side of performance in this example.

4.  The Caps are still slow starters.  They are tied for 22^nd in goals scored in the first periods of games (53) and have a goal differential of minus-4 for the season.

5.  In their last dozen home games, the Caps have a combined Corsi-for of 52.2 percent at 5-on-5 overall.  Not that it has translated into a superior PDO number.  Over those same dozen home games, the Caps’ PDO is 99.9 (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Pittsburgh: Phil Kessel

When Phil Kessel was obtained by the Penguins in a six-player-plus-draft-picks trade last summer, folks wasted no time speculating on just how many goals he would score as a teammate of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.  Would he get 40?  50?  60??  Never mind that he had never hit the 40-goal mark in his career to that point over nine seasons.  And when he started slow (four goals in his first ten games) and failed to do much to pick up the pace (12 in his first 40 games), one might have been forgiven for wondering if the promise was all a mirage.  Kessel might be warming up at the right time, though.  He has five goals in his last ten games, the most he had in any of his eight ten-game blocks of games this season.  Kessel is 7-15-22, minus-3 in 34 career games against Washington.

Washington: Evgeny Kuznetsov

Evgeny Kuznetsov is eighth in the league in total scoring with 75 points in 79 games.  Only Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau among those ahead of him has more points (77) in fewer games (77).  The same Evgeny Kuznetsov does not have a goal in his last 17 games, and over that time he has just ten assists, three of them coming in a 4-1 win over Nashville on March 18^th, the only multi-point game in his last 21 games.  His progress in his second full NHL season has been nothing short of remarkable, but he is now a player on whom the Capitals must depend to produce if they are to make a deep run in the postseason.  The Caps are 36-5-4 in games in which Kuznetsov recorded a point, 14-2-1 in games in which he scored a goal.  Washington needs him to put more crooked numbers on the score sheet.  In ten career games against the Penguins, Kuznetsov is 2-2-4, minus-3.

In the end…

If you subscribe to the notion that the Caps have lacked the incentive of being in a close race as a reason for their less-than-impressive 11-7-3 record over their last 21 games (after going 44-10-4 over their first 58 games), the Penguins should get their full, clear, and undivided attention.  For those first 58 games the Caps were the fox, far out of sight of the 29 hounds chasing them.  But now, with the Penguins earning 26 of a possible 28 points in their last 14 games, the Caps look like a hound chasing a new fox.  Pittsburgh now appears to be the trendy pick as the team most likely to come out of the East in a Cup final.  It is a position the Caps spent two-thirds of the season building.  Now, perhaps having ceded it to the upstarts in black and gold, it’s time to take it back.

Capitals 4 – Penguins 3

What Game are the Washington Capitals Playing?

Let’s play a game…”on the one hand, on the other hand.”

On the one hand…the Washington Capitals have the best record in the league.  On the other hand…they are just 11-7-3 in their last 21 games.

On the one hand…they have both the second best scoring offense and the second best scoring defense in the league.  On the other hand… they have been outscored, 52-49, over their last 21 games.

On the one hand…they have the second best power play in the league (22.9 percent).  On the other hand…they are 4-for-28 (14.3 percent) over their last 11 games.

On the one hand…they have the fourth best penalty kill in the league (84.5 percent).  On the other hand…they are 30-for-36 (83.3 percent) over their last 13 games (okay, that’s not so bad).

On the one hand…they have outshot opponents by a 644-579 margin over their last 21 games.  On the other hand…they are shooting just 7.6 percent on those 644 shots on goal.

On the one hand…the Caps have an overall goaltender save percentage this season of .921.  On the other hand…the Caps’ save percentage over their last 21 games is .910.

On the one hand…the Caps are 52.1 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5 over their last 21 games.  On the other hand…they have been outscored at fives, 35-31.

On the one hand…the Caps are 52-15-6 with Nicklas Backstrom in the lineup.  On the other hand…they are 3-2-1 in games he missed this season.

On the one hand…Braden Holtby won 38 of his first 48 appearances this season.  On the other hand, he has nine wins in his last 16 appearances.

On the one hand…the Caps had six winning streaks of four or more games in their first 58 contests.  On the other hand…only once since then have they won as many as two consecutive games in regulation and have not won more than two consecutive games at any point.

On the one hand…the Caps haven’t really had a meaningful “must-win” or “make a statement” game in weeks.  On the other hand…the game the Caps are playing now is “Jeopardy!”  As in, “the Caps are in jeopardy of letting what has been a special season end before the fun really started.”

Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals Recap: A ONE-Point Night: Islanders 4 - Capitals 3 (OT)

It is not so much that the Washington Capitals lost to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night at Verizon Center, 4-3 in overtime, but how they did it. Holding a 3-1 lead mid-way through the third period, the Caps allowed two goals in a space of less than two minutes to let the Islanders back into the game, then allowing the Islanders to escape with the win on a goal by Thomas Hickey in the extra frame.

It had the look of a good night for Washington in the first period when Alex Ovechkin scored his 46th goal of the season. When Marcus Johansson tied up Brock Nelson on a faceoff, T.J. Oshie came in and chipped the puck back to Ovechkin at the top of the right wing circle. Ovechkin circled around the dot and from the right wing wall snapped a shot at the Islander net that beat Christopher Gibson cleanly to start the scoring.

That would be all for the first period scoring, and it would be the Islanders starting the second period on a high note, John Tavares one-timing a pass from Hickey off the glove of goalie Braden Holtby and into the top corner of the net to make it 1-1, 13:43 into the period. The teams went to the third period tied, but T.J. Oshie put the Caps back in front, taking a flubbed pass from Johansson and from the right wing circle snapping the puck past Gibson’s blocker just 1:15 into the period.

Ovechkin scored his second of the game, finishing off a 3-on-1 break. Johansson skated the puck in deep on the left side, then fed Oshie filling in down the middle. Oshie worked his way around Scott Mayfield, then backhanded a pass to Ovechkin at the doorstep to Gibson’s left. Ovechkin had only to guide the puck into the open side of the net past Gibson’s glove, and it was 3-1 at the 6:56 mark.

Then the Caps let it get away from them. Kyle Okposo got the Islanders within a goal when he came into the play late, taking advantage of Holtby’s inability to play the puck off the end wall, fanning on his attempt to chip it to the corner. Okposo found the puck on his stick instead and had nothing but net to shoot at, making it 3-2, 8:40 into the period.

Less than two minutes later, it was tied. Ryan Strome followed up his own chip deep into the Caps’ zone to send the puck around the end boards to Nick Leddy at the left point. Leddy fired a shot that Anders Lee redirected past Holtby from the top of the crease, and it was 3-3 at the 10:25 mark.

There would be no more scoring in regulation, but mid-way through the overtime, the Islanders finished off their comeback. John Tavares started the play skating the puck down the right side into the Caps’ zone with the teams 3-on-3. He stopped in the right wing circle and fired a shot that was turned aside by Holtby. He followed up the rebound, though, and slid the puck to Thomas Hickey in the low slot. Hickey snapped the puck past Holtby’s glove, and the Islanders had the 4-3 win 2:13 into the overtime.

Other stuff…

-- The jury-rigged first line of Alex Ovechkin, Marcus Johansson, and T.J. Oshie came to play.  The combined for all three goals (Ovechkin with two, and Oshie) and five of the six assists, three of them by Johansson.

-- Those three assists by Johansson are a season high and ties a career high set on October 3, 2013, in a 5-4 win over the Calgary Flames.\

-- For Ovechkin it was his seventh multi-goal game of the season and first since February 18th in against these same Islanders (a 3-2 win).  His seven multi-goal games is tied for third in the league, behind Jamie Benn and Johnny Gaudreau, each with eight.

-- Does Evgeny Kuznetsov listen to the post-game show on Comcast Sports Net?  After the last game, he was called out on the show for not shooting enough.  Well, how does nine shots on goal sound?  It is a career high.  It is also the first time a Capital recorded nine or more shots in a game without scoring a goal since Alex Ovechkin failed to hit the back of the net on ten shots in the Caps’ 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on February 16th (Ovechkin has gone 0-for-9 or more 26 times in his career).

-- The 23 Islander shots that the Caps blocked was not a season high, but it did make the top-ten, tied for the eighth highest number of blocked shots this season.  The season high is 33 blocked shots against, yes, the Islanders in a 3-2 win on February 4th.

-- Tom Wilson had a typically rugged game – seven hits, two blocked shots, a pair of minor penalties.  Points might have been helpful, though, he was one of the nine forwards who did not have one in this game.  He did have four shots on goal, though.  Only once this season did he have more – six (and a goal) in a 4-1 win over Vancouver on January 14th. 

-- The fourth line had a light night.  Mike Richards skated less than seven minutes; Michael Latta had less than five (he had seven minutes in penalties).

-- John Carlson had a bit of an odd night.  He finished the game with almost 23 minutes of ice time, but the only marks on his line of the score sheet were on shot attempt (a shot on goal) and one giveaway.  He did have an assist on the Oshie goal.

-- Speaking of Oshie, not only did he have a three-point night, his fourth game as a Cap with three or more, but he led the team with four blocked shots and had three takeaways. 

-- The Caps won the shot attempts battle at 5-on-5, 54-49.  It was even more pronounced as the game wore on; the Caps won the last two periods and overtime by a 35-26 margin.  It was the sixth straight home game that the Caps were over 50 percent on Corsi-for at fives and the fourth straight game that they were over 55 percent.

In the end…

One could compose a list of who really did not seem to come to play in this game, but the much shorter list is who did – the first line.  The silence of the bottom nine forwards was loud, with the exception of Evgeny Kuznetsov, who had almost half of the total shots on goal the bottom nine produced (nine of 19).  And, it was not goalie Braden Holtby’s best game, either.  It looked as if that whole “all time season wins” thing was in his head at times.  But with all that, the most disturbing thing was letting the game get away when the Caps had a two-goal lead with 12 minutes left in regulation.  It just gives folks more ammunition to argue that this Caps team is not the one we saw in the first 50 games and is one that will struggle to get out of the first round of the post season.