When the Washington Capitals defeated the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, the Caps completed their second consecutive perfect week and extended their season-high winning streak to seven games.
Record: 3-0-0
What made the second consecutive 3-0-0 week important for
the Capitals was the “who” the wins came against as much as the “how many” wins they recorded. The Caps opened the week by falling behind
the New York Rangers, 3-1, before roaring back with six unanswered goals in a
7-3 win. The win helped the Caps finish
Week 11 a full ten points clear of the Rangers in the standings with two games
in hand. The last game of the week, a
solid 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens, might have come against a depleted
and struggling club, but that win enabled the Caps to finish the week 11 points
ahead of a club that started the year 9-0-0.
At the moment, those two clubs are the closest pursuers of the Caps (the
Canadiens tied with the Detroit Red Wings, and New York Islanders with 43
points).
Offense: 4.00/game
(season: 3.12 /game; rank: 2nd)
Sure, the Caps had that seven-goal game against the Rangers
to open the week, but Week 11 was a solid week offensively for the club. It was the first time since Week 2 that the
Caps scored three or more goals in each of a week’s games (edit: as a careful reader points out, the Caps didn't score three or more in all three games of Week 11...too much egg nog led me to write that, I suspect; it was still a solid week).
Illustrating how deep the club is, it was Jason Chimera who
led the Caps in goals for the week and who was tied for the team lead in points
(3-1-4). Eight different Caps recorded
goals, Justin Williams and Evgeny Kuznetsov with the other multi-goal weeks
(two apiece). Marcus Johansson tied
Chimera for the team lead in points (1-3-4).
And more evidence of depth.
Tom Wilson recorded his second multi-point game of the season with a
pair of assists in the 3-1 win over Montreal to end the week. Dmitry Orlov also recorded his second
multi-point game of the season, posting a pair of assists in the 7-3 win over
the Rangers to start the week. His three
assist overall tied Wilson, Johansson, and Nicklas Backstrom for club-high in
Week 11. That is a lot of names noted
for a three-game week.
Defense: 1.67/game (season: 2.12 /game; rank:1st)
Washington started Week 11 as if chickens would come home to
roost, poor possession numbers over more than a month finally being reflected
by a poor result on the scoreboard. By
week’s end, the Caps did not cure their possession ills, but they did bend the
possession curve a bit more in their favor.
The shots against remained a problem, the Caps allowing all
three opponents 30 or more shots on goal.
But even there, progress was made.
After allowing 36 shots to the Rangers in the first game of the week (15
of them in the first period, when the Rangers scored their three goals), the Caps
allowed 32 shots to the Carolina Hurricanes in the middle game of the week,
then 30 shots on goal in the 3-1 win over Montreal to end Week 11.
The possession numbers looked a bit better. Washington could not crack the 50 percent
level in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 overall for the week, but they did a better job in
close score situations. After a grisly
35.6 percent Corsi for in close score situations to open the week, the Caps
were 53.2 percent in those situations against Carolina and 52.9 percent against
Montreal to close the week (numbers from war-on-ice.com). It was the
first time the Caps cleared 50 percent Corsi for in close score situations in
consecutive games since they did so in Games 21 and 22 against the Winnipeg
Jets and Tampa Bay Lightning in late November.
Goaltending: 1.67 /.949 (season: 1.99 / .929 / 1 shutout)
Washington passed a noteworthy threshold in Week 11. For the first time this season – 34 games
into the season, mind you – team goals against average fell below 2.00. It did not look possible the way the week
started. Braden Holtby allowed three
goals on the first 15 shots he faced in the first period against the Rangers to
start the week. It was a performance
that almost resulted in his second consecutive game being pulled for Philipp
Grubauer.
Holtby returned to the ice for the second period and stopped the last 21 shots
he faced in a 7-3 win. When he stopped
29 of 30 shots against Montreal in a 3-1 win, he ended the week turning away 50
of the last 51 shots he faced. At the
end of the week, among 28 goalies logging at least 1,000 minutes of ice time, Holtby
led the league in wins (22, four more than Jonathan Quick and Corey Crawford),
goals against average (1.92, 0.08 better than Ben Bishop), and save percentage
(.932, .006 better than Bishop and Jake Allen).
The middle game of the week belonged to Philipp Grubauer,
who was solid in a 31-save, 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Going back to the third period of his
appearance against the Florida Panthers on December 10th, Grubauer
has stopped 41 of 42 shots on goal, an 0.60 goals against average in just over
100 minutes of ice time and a .976 save percentage.
Power Play: 2-for-7 / 28.6 percent (season: 25.2 percent;
rank: 2nd)
If there was one place in which the Caps started the week
better than they finished it, it was on the power play. In the first game of the week, the Caps
scored power play goals on their last two man advantages of the contest (of
three opportunities in all). They went
0-for-2 in each of the last two games of the week, the first time they had two
or fewer power play opportunities in consecutive games since Game 10 and 11 of
the season on October 21st and November 3rd, part of a
three-game streak of two or fewer man advantages (they were blanked in all
three instances).
The Caps were effective, their 28.6 percent success rate for
the week lifting their season success rate to 25.2 percent, but they were
better in terms of efficiency.
Washington recorded 15 shots on goal in 11:31 of power play ice time
(1.30 shots per minute), and it was not as if the shots were coming from odd
players. Alex Ovechkin had six shots of
the team’s 15 on the power play for the week.
The odd part there was the balance.
Ovechkin had five of those shots on goal against the Rangers in the
first game of the week, scoring one of the power play goals. Justin Williams had the other power play goal
for the week, also against the Rangers, in his only power play shot on goal for
the week.
Penalty Killing: 9-for-10 / 90.0 percent (season: 84.7
percent; rank: 5th)
Week 11 would qualify as a good week for the penalty
killers. It was the second consecutive
week that the Caps finished a week over 85 percent, the first time this season
they accomplished that feat. It was also
a 90 percent week, the first time they hit or surpassed that mark since Week 3
when they killed off all nine shorthanded situations they faced.
One might have liked finishing the week with less time spent
killing penalties, the Caps skating 18:20 in shorthanded situations, 6:49 more
than they spent on the power play. But
they made up for it with killing off penalties in an efficient manner, allowing
only 17 shots on goal in that 18:20 of shorthanded ice time (0.93 shots per
minute).
Even Strength 5-on-5 Goals for/Goals Against: 9-4 / plus-5 (season,
5-on-5 goals for/goals against ratio: 1.42; rank: 1st)
If the Capitals did not dominate at 5-on-5 in terms of possession,
they certainly did on the scoreboard.
What possession did not provide, persistence did. In getting to the net, that is. Of the nine 5-on-5 goals scored by the Caps in
Week 11, only two were officially scored from beyond 15 feet (Marcus Johansson,
18 feet in the 7-3 win over the Rangers; Jay Beagle, 31 feet in the 3-1 win
over Montreal).
The week made for an odd juxtaposition of 5-on-5 possession
and 5-on-5 scoring. While the Caps now
sit in 15th place in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 (numbers from
war-on-ice.com), they are third in total goals scored at 5-on-5 and have
allowed the second fewest of 5-on-5 goals.
Their goals for-to-goals scored ratio of 1.42:1 leads the league by a
wide margin (Rangers: 1.28).
Faceoffs: 81-for-166 / 48.8 percent (season: 49.91% / rank: 17th)
The Caps slipped below 50 percent on faceoffs for the season
in Week 11 on a 48.8 percent week. It was
another case of a tale of two ends. The
Caps went just 22-for-50 in the offensive end (44.0 percent) but went 34-for-63
in the defensive end (54.0 percent). The
odd part of the week on a team basis was its only winning effort in the circle. The Caps won 26 of 43 draws in their 2-1 win
over the Carolina Hurricanes in the middle game of the week. Compare the 43 draws in that game to the 65
in the win over the Rangers and the 58 in the win over the Canadiens. The 43 faceoffs was a reflection of the hectic
pace of the game, a lot of end to end action with very few whistles.
On an individual basis, it is no surprise that Jay Beagle
led the Caps for the week with a 54.3 percent winning effort. Among players taking at least 250 draws,
Beagle ranks sixth in the league at 58.0 percent. He was especially effective in the defensive
end in Week 11, winning 14 of 20 faceoffs (70.0 percent).
If there was a surprise, it was Evgeny Kuznetsov credited
with a 53.8 winning percentage for the week on 21 wins in 39 draws taken. Most of that was a function of his neutral
zone performance – 11-for-15 (73.3 percent).
Goals by Period:
More evidence of solid offense; the Caps scored goals in
eight of nine periods for the week. And,
except for that three-goal first period to open the week, the Caps were stingy
at the other end, allowing goals in only two of the other eight periods of
hockey. After catching the Rangers at
the 7:01 mark of the second period in the first game of the week, the Caps
played the last 152:59 of the week either tied or ahead in games.
The Caps are the only club in the league to have allowed 25
or fewer goals in each of the three regulation periods this season. How impressive it that? There are 14 teams in the league to have
allowed more than 25 goals in each of the three regulation periods this season.
In the end…
It was another fine week in a season full of them for the
Capitals so far this season. Ten winning
weeks in 11 tries, fastest club to 26 wins (34 games, beating the 1991-1992
club that did it in 40 games). The Caps
lead the league in scoring defense and are second in scoring offense. Only the Caps and the Dallas Stars have an
average goal differential of 1.00 goals per game. The Caps are top five in power play (second)
and penalty killing (fifth). While there
are possession issues that point to a lingering “productivity” problem, the
performance of this club to date is little short of remarkable. Week 11 had it all on display, an ability to
comeback in games, a stifling defense that can win one-goal games, an
opportunistic offense that can take advantage of a team with its own injury and
performance issues. This is not just a
dominant team at the moment, but a versatile one. It can beat opponents in a variety of ways
and in a variety of game styles. Can it
last? At the moment, the Caps offer
little evidence that is cannot.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Jason Chimera (3-1-4, plus-4, shorthanded goal, game-winning goal, goals in three consecutive games, points in four straight games and five of six contests)
- Second Star: Tom Wilson (0-3-3, plus-5, reached double digits in points for the season (12th Capital to do so), answered challenge to scrap with Montreal’s Jarred Tinordi)
- Third Star: Philipp Grubauer (31-save effort in 2-1 win over Carolina, first time he won in consecutive appearances since his first two appearances of the season)
Minor quibble but the caps did not in fact have a a week where "It was the first time since Week 2 that the Caps scored three or more goals in each of a week’s games." They scored only 2 in the victory against Carolina.
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