Record: 2-1-0
When the Caps finished Week 20 with a 3-2 win over the Minnesota
Wild, the Caps wrapped up their 18th winning week in 20 tries. Put another way, if you divide the Caps’
completed schedule to date into ten-game segments, they finished with their
fourth eight-win segment in six. In
their other two segments they won six games (second segment) and seven games
(fifth segment). This is a remarkably
consistent team through 60 games.
Their consistent high level of play, at least in terms of
win-loss outcomes, left them with 94 points through Week 20. That is just two short of the league record
for standings points after 60 games, set by the 1976-1977 Montreal Canadiens
and tied by the 1979-1980 Philadelphia Flyers.
With 45 wins, the Caps have two more wins than the Canadiens had in
their big season after 60 games and four more than the Flyers had three seasons
later. They hold a 16-point lead over
their closes pursuer in the Eastern Conference (Florida Panthers: 78
points). When they won the Presidents
Trophy in 2009-2010, their final margin was 18 points over the New Jersey
Devils (121 to 103).
Offense: 3.00/game
(season: 3.28 /game; rank: 1st)
The Caps had a good and balanced week in the offensive end
of the ice. They scored three goals in
each of the three games they played, bringing their total of games with three
or more goals scored to 41, second most in the league. No team has won more games than the Caps when
scoring three or more goals (37).
The balance came with seven players sharing in the nine
goals scored and 14 players posting points.
Week 20 had a Russian look to it with Alex Ovechkin and Dmitry Orlov
leading the team in goals with two apiece.
For Ovechkin, the two goals left him with 40 at week’s end. It was the eighth time Ovechkin hit the
40-goal mark in his 11-year career. He
became the tenth player in league history to score 40 or more goals in eight or
more of his first 11 seasons. With a
five-goal lead on his closest pursuer in goals (Patrick Kane), he is in a
position to win his fourth straight Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal
scorer and his sixth overall.
Orlov’s two goals allowed him to reach a more modest achievement. Two goals gave him seven for the season, a
total that more than doubles his previous career high (three in the 2011-2012
and the 2013-2014 seasons). His goal
against the Minnesota Wild in the 3-2 win to end the week was his third
game-winner of the season, also a career best.
Ovechkin led the team in total points for the week (2-3-5),
and Evgeny Kuznetsov tied for second (1-2-3) with Andre Burakovsky and Brooks
Orpik. Two of those points, a goal and
an assist, came in the Caps’ 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes to start the
week. It was his 18th
multi-point game of the season, tied for fourth most at the end of Week 20.
Defense: 2.67/game (season: 2.30 /game; rank: 3rd)
The odd part of the week on defense was the Caps inability
to win when scoring three or more goals.
The four goals allowed to Montreal in their 4-3 loss in the middle game
of the week was just the second time this season that the Caps lost a game when
they scored three or more (the other was against the Dallas Stars, also a 4-3
decision, on February 13th).
Part of the problem in that game against Montreal was the
shot and shot attempt volume. The 34 shots
on goal allowed was the high for the week and one of two games in which the
Caps allowed more than 30 shots (they allowed 32 to Minnesota). The shot attempt volumes rose through the
week as well. After holding the Arizona
Coyotes to 40 shot attempts at five-on-five to open the week, the Caps allowed
the Canadiens 49 shot attempts and then 57 shot attempts to Minnesota to end
the week. There was also the related matter
of shot attempts per 60 minutes at five-on-five. The 64.4/60 allowed to Minnesota and the 64.2
allowed to Montreal were the 10th and 11th highest
frequency of shot attempts at five-on-five per 60 minutes in 60 games this
season and the fourth and fifth highest frequency at home (numbers from
war-on-ice.com). In that respect it was
not the best of weeks.
Four Caps were on ice for half or more of opponents’ goals
for the week. Justin Williams (five),
Dmitry Orlov (four), Brooks Orpik (four) and Jason Chimera (four) were the
victims.
Goaltending: 2.69 /.914 (season: 2.19 / .924 / 2 shutouts)
Braden Holtby was like “the little girl with the curl” in
Week 20. When he was good, he was very
good – 25 saves on 27 shots against Arizona to start the week and 30 saves on
32 shots against Minnesota to end the week.
When he was bad, he wasn’t “horrid” as in the verse of Longfellow, but
he was relieved, stopping just 15 of 18 shots in 21:54 of the Caps’ 4-3 loss to
the Canadiens. For Holtby it is part of
a longer series of games in which he has not been especially Vezina-like. In the 2016 portion of the season he is
15-2-2 in 20 appearances, a fine win-loss record, but his goals against average
is 2.78, and his save percentage is .907.
In that sense, his week was not a lot different than his 2016 to date, a
2.97 goals against average and a .909 save percentage.
Holtby was relieved in the middle game of the week by
Philipp Grubauer, who performed well (15 saves on 16 shots) but had the
misfortune of allowing the last goal in a 4-3 loss, a loss that was attached to
his record. Grubauer has been very
effective in his role as a middle and late innings reliever this season. In five appearances in which he logged fewer
than 40 minutes (a total of 141 minutes), he has a goals against average of
0.85 and a save percentage of .965. He
has a 1-1-0 record in those games with three no-decisions.
The Caps’ goaltending by period of the week left them in a
position of having to come from behind and/or trying to mount a late
comeback. The first period save
percentage was a respectable .914, but it was three goals on 35 shots,
too. The second period was grim, a .852
save percentage ((four goals on 27 shots).
The third period save percentage of .968 (30-for-31) allowed the Caps to
break a tie with Arizona after two periods and to come from behind to beat the
Wild in the third period. It stopped the
bleeding long enough for the Caps to make things interesting against Montreal
after falling behind, 4-1, through two periods.
Power Play: 2-for-8 / 25.0 percent (season: 23.3 percent;
rank: 1st)
The Caps have not quite shaken off the slump that bedeviled
their power play coming out of the All-Star Game break, but they are getting
there. If there was a problem, it was
opportunities. They did have four
against Arizona in the first game of the week, but they dropped to three
against the Canadiens and had just one (that they converted) against Minnesota
in the last game of the week.
The Caps piled up the shots on goal in limited power play opportunities
and ice time. With 17 shots in 13:54 of
ice time (1.22 shots per minute), the Caps did not lack for getting shots on
goal. They also got them from the
players – or player – they rely on to get them.
Alex Ovechkin scored one power play goal on eight shots in 13:38 of ice
time. Six of those shots on goal came
against Arizona in the first game of the week, though. Justin Williams and John Carlson were the
only other Caps to record more than one shot on goal on the man advantage (two
apiece), and Evgeny Kuznetsov had the other goal on the only power play shot he
recorded for the week, that coming against the Coyotes.
Penalty Killing: 10-for-12 / 83.3 percent (season: 84.2
percent; rank: 4th)
It was not a bad week, but neither was it a very good one. The problem here, as with the power plays,
was opportunities. The Caps faced 12
shorthanded situations for the week, half of them against the Coyotes. It was the sixth time this season that the
Caps faced as many as six shorthanded situations. It was the first time in those four instances
that the Caps killed off all six opponent power plays. It was the first time that the Caps were
perfect in killing off six or more power plays since they went 7-for-7 in a 5-2
loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on January 30, 2014.
There was also the matter of penalties taken early in
games. Of the 14 penalties for which the
Caps were charged, eight of them came in the first periods of games, three
against Arizona and Minnesota, and two against Montreal.
The penalty kill was an example of the difference between
being efficient and being effective.
Washington was a very efficient penalty killing group in Week 20,
allowing opponents just eight shots on goal in 20:34 of shorthanded ice time
(0.39 shots per minute). They were
especially efficient against Arizona, allowing just three shots on goal in
10:30 of shorthanded ice time (0.29 shots per minute). However, the Caps allowed two goals on just
five shots in 10:04 of ice time in the last two games of the week. That is an example of being ineffective.
Faceoffs: 95-for-197 / 48.2 percent (season: 49.6% / rank: 18th)
Faceoffs for Week 20 looked better than they were, and they
did not look all that good. The Caps did
win one faceoff battle in one game, tied their opponent in another. They were over 50 percent in the offensive
zone (40-for-77) but below that number in the defensive zone (26-for-59). Where they looked bad was in the players who
took significant numbers of draws. Five
players took more than ten draws, three of them – Marcus Johansson (6-for-13), Evgeny
Kuznetsov (24 for 49), and Mike Richards (20 for 51) were below 50
percent. Only Nicklas Backstrom (29 for
55) and T.J. Oshie (11 for 17) were over 50 percent.
Goals by Period:
One number sticks out in Week 20 insofar as goals by period
is concerned: “zero.” The Caps did not
record a first period goal in any of the three games. It is part of a continuing issue with the
club, an inability to put distance between themselves and opponents early in
games. Washington is tied for 17th
in goals scored in the first periods of games this season (45, with
Arizona). It is in part why the Caps are
just a plus-1 in first period goal differential through 20 weeks.
On the other hand, there are the third periods. The Caps outscored opponents, 6-1, in the
third periods of the three games this week.
That should surprise no one. The
Caps have a plus-32 goal differential in the third periods of games, greater
than the total goal differential of the second place club in that statistic
Florida and Los Angeles: plus-24, not including shootout goals). The Caps remain the only club in the league
to have allowed fewer than 50 goals in each of the three regulation periods
this season.
In the end…
As long as the league ranks teams in the standings by wins
and losses, a 2-1-0 week will never be a bad one. However, the Caps are sitting in a puddle of
gasoline playing with matches in their inability to get off to good
starts. In none of the three games in
Week 20 could it be said they had a good first period. And, there is the bit of inconsistency that
has seeped into Braden Holtby’s game in goal.
If not for superior efforts in the third periods of games, this week
might have turned out in a much different fashion. They got away with a winning week in which
the performances were not always of a winning nature. Consider it a warning, one that should be
heeded as they embark on what might be their most difficult week of the regular
season. Five games in seven days, coming
in the midst of the busiest week of the year in terms of player movement, will
test their depth, their focus, and their resiliency.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Alex Ovechkin (2-3-5, plus-2, 15 shots on goal, 29 shot attempts, points in all three games, reached 40 goals for eighth time in 11-year career)
- Second Star: Brooks Orpik (1-2-3, plus-1, second multi-point game in four days, 11 hits, seven blocked shots)
- Third Star: Andre Burakovsky (1-2-3, even, points in all three games, four blocked shots)
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