The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
The Washington Capitals end their three-game road trip on
Saturday night with their second visit to Newark, New Jersey, in the last two
weeks. They will meet the New Jersey
Devils for the fourth of their five meetings this season. The Caps lead the season series with a 2-1-0
record and might have at least another standings point out of the series but
for this gaffe late in a 1-0 loss to the Devils…
Since these teams last met, on December 6th, the Devils have
been struggling with a 2-3-2 record that included five straight losses before
beating Tampa Bay in a Gimmick last night.
Goal scoring has dried up. The
Devils have a total of only 12 goals in those seven games.
Chances are you would not have thought it would happen, but
Scott Gomez leads the Devils in scoring in the seven games since the Devils last
faced the Caps (2-5-7) and with Adam Henrique are the only Devils with more
than one goal. It is quite a change for
Gomez, who went three games without a point after signing as a free agent with
New Jersey on December 1st.
Jaromir Jagr is next in line in scoring over the last seven
games (1-5-6), but the goal he scored in the Devils’ 2-1 win over Carolina on
December 8th is his only goal over his last ten games. He is also a minus-10 over those ten
games. One thing that stands out in his
recent play is ice time. He skated more
than 20 minutes in three straight game before last night’s contest, his longest
streak of 20-plus minute games this season, and he has had more than 20 minutes
in five of his last seven games.
Marek Zidlicky leads the Devils’ defense in scoring over the
last seven games (1-2-3). The goal he
scored in New Jersey’s 3-2 Gimmick loss to the New York Islanders on Monday was
his first in 19 games, since he lit the lamp on November 6th against
the St. Louis Blues.
Cory Schneider started the season with 20 consecutive starts
in goal for the Devils, a club record.
His record was a respectable 9-8-2 (one no-decision), 2.58, .914, with
two shutouts. He gave way to Scott
Clemmensen in Game 21 to break the streak.
Since his streak ended, Schneider has appeared in ten games with a
2-7-1, 2.50, .920 record. It isn’t significantly
different, except for the fact that he has received almost no goal support, as
his win-loss record indicates. What has changed,
though, is the undercard at the position.
Keith Kincaid has appeared in six games as Schneider’s backup, and his
numbers in a small population of games is impressive, even if his win-loss
record is not: 1-1-2, 1.71, .942 in 240 minutes of play (he recorded his first
NHL win last night).
Here is now the teams’ numbers compare overall:
1. Odd stat…going
into Fridays’ game with Tampa Bay, the Devils scored 24 goals in each of the
three periods of games this season. On the
other side, there might be some concern in New Jersey over the fact that only
four teams have allowed more goals combined in the second and third periods of
games than the Devils (69) .
2. Going into last
night’s game New Jersey was one of the few teams with a worse winning percentage
in one-goal games (.353/6-5-6) than the Capitals (.368/7-6-6). Only five teams have a worse winning
percentage in one-goal games.
3. Maybe the problem
is the Devils are such a bad front-running team. Through Thursday’s games they took a lead
into the first intermission only eight times in 33 games and had the league’s
third-worst winning percentage in when leading after 20 minutes (.375/3-0-5).
4. How can the Devils have the seventh highest number of
minor penalties taken, yet have the eighth lowest average penalty minutes per
game? They have taken only five major
penalties this season. Only Detroit has
taken fewer.
5. New Jersey is tied
with Edmonton for the worst shorthanded goal differential this season (minus-3). The Devils have allowed four shorthanded
goals while scoring only one themselves.
1. The Caps are 6-7-4
when outshooting their opponents, 7-3-2 when outshot by opponents. Huh…imagine that.
2. The Caps have
played smart on the road in one respect.
Only three teams – Nashville (38), the Rangers (39), and Toronto (40) –
have faced fewer shorthanded situations on the road than the Caps (43).
3. The Caps are third in the league in hits recorded on the
road (485), behind Los Angeles (507) and Anaheim (518).
4. Washington has the
second best ratio of road takeaways to giveaways (1.19:1). Only Toronto is better (1.37:1).
5. The Caps are 4-0-1
in their last five road games. It is
their best stretch of road play in-season since they went 7-0-1 from March 21
through April 9, 2013.
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
New Jersey: Patrik Elias
On December 2nd, Patrik Elias suffered a groin
injury against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In the six games he missed to the injury, the Devils went 2-3-1. He returned to the lineup last Wednesday in a
2-0 loss to Ottawa, but he recorded a goal in the Devils’ 3-2 Gimmick win over
Tampa Bay last night. It was a good sign
in what has been a tough year for the 19-year veteran. He is on a pace to finish the season with 36
points, which would be his lowest total for a full season of his career. He has never been a big minutes-eater, the
Devils’ system has never required that sort of thing. But his ice time (17:45 a game) is a few
ticks down from what his average has been over the last 16 years
(18:19/game). On a team that struggles
to score generally, his contributions are going to be important. In 62 career games against Washington, Elias
is 22-35-57, minus-3.
Washington: John
Carlson
John Carlson might have dodged a bullet in escaping
supplementary discipline for his hit on Columbus’ Ryan Johansen in Thursday
night’s 5-4 overtime win. It was a mere
blip on his recent play. Even with going
without a point in his last two games, Carlson is 2-8-10, plus-12, in his last
ten games, and he has logged 21 or more minutes in nine of those ten games. Carlson is tied for seventh in scoring among
defensemen, tied for 17th in plus-minus, and 12th in
shots on goal. His scoring has not been
especially noteworthy in road games, but he is a plus-9 overall, the second best
mark in the league (Robyn Regehr: plus-10).
Carlson is 2-7-9, plus-6, in 18 career games against New Jersey.
In the end…
In the Caps’ 5-0-2 run, they have climbed from fourth in the
Metropolitan Division and 11th in the Eastern Conference to third in
the division and eighth in the conference.
If anything, it shows how even with a solid run of play – all of it
coming against conference opponents – it is tough to climb the standings. That is the price of a league with
three-point games being available. This
is another opportunity to put two more points between themselves and a division
rival and to win the season series (the teams’ last contest of the regular
season will be played on March 26th). With the Devils having gone the full 65
minutes and through a Gimmick last night, why stop now?
Capitals 4 – Devils 2
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