Record: 1-2-0
Fluid. That’s your
word for the Caps’ 1-2-0 record. It
could have been different in a lot of ways.
Against the Blue Jackets, the team with the eight-game losing streak,
the Caps stomped on them for three goals in the first period, then sat back and
let Columbus to crawl back within a goal before tacking on an insurance goal
late. That could have been one that got
away. Against New Jersey, the Caps and
Devils looked as if they would head to overtime in a scoreless tie in a
thoroughly boring game. That is, until
The Demon in a Mask paid a visit to goalie Braden Holtby, who giftwrapped the
winning goal…not for his own team. That
one could have gone either way. There
was no such suspense in the Caps’ last game of the week, a 4-1 loss to the St.
Louis Blues in which they were thoroughly dominated because they were never
really engaged in the game. It made for
a 1-2-0 week, the Caps’ second losing week in their last three.
Offense: 1.60/game
(season: 2.88; rank: 7th)
The good part of the week is that the Caps opened it with a
bang – a three goal explosion in the first period against the Columbus Blue
Jackets. The bad part? After scoring three goals on 12 shots in
16:04, the Caps scored two goals on 75 shots in the last 163:56 the rest of the
week. And the second of those goals was something of a
gift, a misplay of a Joel Ward shot from the top of the faceoff circle by the
Blues’ Brian Elliott. Part of the
problem in the last two games was upside down shooting. The Caps got 24 shots from the defense, 31
from forwards. That seems a bit heavy
from the blue line as a share of total shots.
Another thing was that the Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom pair had
eight shots on goal in the last two games.
Their even-strength linemates – Jay Beagle against the Devils and Tom Wilson against the
Blues – had one shot apiece. While the
top line had their troubles, the rest of the forward lines hardly distinguished
themselves. It was a team-wide slump.
Defense: 2.33/game (season: 2.76/game; rank: 17th)
If you give up two and a third goals a game over a season,
chances are you are a top-ten scoring defense (it would be tenth as we write
this). In that sense, the week went
pretty well. It was how the Caps got
there that was the problem. After
holding the Blue Jackets to five shots in the first period of their game to
open the week, the Caps allowed ten or more shots in six of the next eight
periods, an unusual occurrence for a team that even at week’s end had allowed the
fourth-fewest shots on goal in the league.
The Caps spread it around, too.
There were 17 different skaters who were on ice for at least one goal
(Michael Latta and Evgeny Kuznetsov escaping that fate), six of them on ice
for three of the seven goals scored for the week. This
is not the sort of teamwork folks have in mind.
Goaltending: 2.36 GAA / .920 SV (season: 2.66 / .899 / 1 SO)
Let’s do this again.
If you have a 2.36 GAA you are having a pretty decent season in goal; it
would rank 15th in the league as we write this. Ditto for the save percentage. A .920 save percentage would be tied for 14th. So what gives with the 1-2-0 record. Again, it was not the “what” as much as the “how.” It was in this area that the week turned, and
it did so on two plays, similar and from each goalie. With the Caps and Devils skating to what
seemed an inevitable overtime period in a scoreless game, Braden Holtby stopped
a puck behind his own net, turned, and sent the puck on its way, right onto the
stick of the Devils Mike Cammalleri. One
shot later, before Holtby could return to the front of his net, and the Devils
had their game-winning goal. Against St.
Louis, with the Caps trailing the Blues by a 2-1 margin coming out of the
second intermission, Justin Peters stopped the puck behind his own net, turned,
and tried to move the puck along. He
managed to whiff on the attempt, and Patrik Berglund, who pressured Peters into
the gaffe, slid the puck to David Backes for the insurance goal that deflated
the Caps in a game that might have ended a bit differently had Peters made good
on his pass attempt. The different
between 1-2-0 and 2-1-0 or even 2-0-1 can turn on two plays. For the Caps, it did.
Power Play: 1-9 /
11.1 percent (season: 25.9 percent ;rank: 3rd)
It was a bad week all around for the Caps on the man
advantage. First there were the
chances. The Caps had nine power play
opportunities for the week. In and of
itself, that’s not bad, but the Caps went from five against Columbus to four
against New Jersey to none against St. Louis.
The odd part of that was that the Blues went into the game tied for the
fourth-most power plays faced at home (34).
They came out of that game with the same 34, the Caps getting none and
leaving town as they entered it, with the fewest power play opportunities
awarded on the road, 14 in seven games.
Then there was the efficiency. The Caps managed 20 shots on goal in 15:14 of
power play time, the 1.3 shots per minute of power play time being something to
shoot for, so to speak. But the Caps
managed just that one goal on 20 shots, not something you want to see. The Caps even got the shots from the players
they wanted, but not necessarily in the way they wanted them. Alex Ovechkin was 1-for-5 against Columbus,
but was held without a power play shot against New Jersey, who blocked six of
his attempts. Marcus Johansson,
continuing his early season shotzapalooza, had four power play shots against
Columbus, one against New Jersey. Six
different Caps shared the rest of the power play shots for the week. They just could not find the back of the net.
Penalty Killing: 9-for-9 / 100.0 percent (season: 80.7
percent; rank: 16th)
If there was a bright spot to the week, penalty killing was
it. It would be hard to draw it up
better than this as far as results are concerned. First, the Caps killed off all nine
shorthanded situations they faced, the first time since Week 1 that the Caps
had a perfect week. Then there was the
efficiency. In 18 minutes of shorthanded
ice time, the Caps allowed opponents only a total of nine shots on goal. When one considers that the Caps faced, at
the time, the seventh-ranked (Columbus), 13th-ranked (New Jersey),
and third-ranked (St. Louis) power plays, it was a very good week for the
penalty killers.
Even Strength Goals For/Goals Against: 4-7 / minus-3
(season, 5-on-5 goals for/goals against ratio: 0.97; rank: T-20th)
One of the things that characterized the Caps good start to
the season was their 5-on-5 play. They
finished Week 1 ranked 4th in the league in goals scored-to-goals
allowed ratio at 5-on-5. They followed
that up with weekly rankings of seventh and third. Then the wheels started coming off, dropping
to a tie for 13th after Week 4 and a tie for 14th after
Week 5. Now, they are tied for 20th
after a minus-3 week. The Caps have
dropped to tenth in Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5, 51.57 percent (from
war-on-ice.com). The Caps were minus-16 for the week in Corsi
at 5-on-5, on the wrong side of the divide in all three games. The Ovechkin-Backstrom pair were victimized
for three of the seven goals against while being on ice for only one goal
for. It was not a good week in this area
for the Capitals.
Faceoffs: 98-for-190 / 51.6 percent (season: 49.9 percent;
rank: 15th)
It was a good week in the circle overall, if a bit
uneven. Overall the Caps were above 50
percent (51.6 percent), but it would have been much better if the Blues had not
lit up the Capitals for a 58.5 percent winning percentage in the last game of
the week, part of a generally lethargic performance by the Caps. On an individual level, it was a case of the
veterans and the kids, the former doing well and the latter not as much. Nicklas Backstrom continued his fine work,
going 59.7 percent for the week, including winning 11 of 13 defensive zone
draws. Eric Fehr won his week as well,
finishing at 51.4 percent. At the other
end, the two kids – Evgeny Kuznetsov and Andre Burakovsky – are still a work
in progress, the former winning 44.4 percent of his draws for the week and the
latter winning only 29.4 percent of the 17 draws he took.
Goals by Period:
Start well, finish poorly.
That was the week for the Caps.
The Caps outscored Columbus, 3-1, in the first period of their game to
open the week, then let the Blue Jackets inch back into the game before getting
a late insurance goal. In the losses,
the Caps allowed the game-winning goal with 10:22 left in the third period
against New Jersey and with 7:24 in the second period against St. Louis. Getting only single goals in each of the
second and third periods of games for the week had the usual and the unusual
attached to them. In the case of their
lone second period goal for the week, it was unusual for the rare
occurrence. With 20 second period goals
this season the Caps are tied for eighth in the league. As for the third period goal, this is a
continuing shortcoming. The Caps have
only ten third period goals in 17 games.
Only Florida (8) and Winnipeg (6) have fewer.
In the end…
Through Week 2 the Caps were 3-0-2. In four weeks since then, they are
4-7-1. There is probably one good win in
that bunch, that coming in Chicago back on November 7th. Losses to Edmonton and Arizona more or less
negate that. While the Caps have lost to
some very good teams, like Tampa Bay and St. Louis, otherwise the Caps have
been struggling against teams like themselves, those who are going to be
competing for that limited number of playoff spots next spring. Week 6 was one of those struggling weeks when
they held on to beat a Columbus team stuck in a rut, gave away a game to New
Jersey, and never got their legs going against St. Louis. Week 6 might not have been a week as good as
the 1-2-0 record would suggest. The Caps
have an opportunity in the week coming up with three games against teams that
are all under .500. It’s past time to
turn things around and establish some momentum.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Braden Holtby (1-1-0, 1.52, .944)
- Second Star: Marcus Johansson (2-0-2, 12 SOG)
- Third Star: Alex Ovechkin (2-0-2, GWG, 13 SOG)
…it was a dim week for stars.
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