Record: 1-1-0
On the one hand, it was a light schedule, what with just two
games on the docket. On the other, they
were in western Canada in the most distant road trip of the young season. Last season, when the Caps took a similar
four-game road trip to the western provinces, the Caps opened with three wins. One of them was against the Edmonton Oilers,
then a precocious team with iffy defense and goaltending that the Caps beat by
a 7-4 margin. This time around, the
Oilers got their four goals, but things might be turning around in the Edmonton
end of the ice in their new arena, where the Caps managed but one goal. The Caps followed up the 4-1 loss in Edmonton
with what might have been their best all-around game of the season. They
dominated possession, had balanced scoring, and held an opponent to two or
fewer goals for the fifth time in seven games (not counting shootout goals).
Offense: 3.00/game
(season: 2.71 /game; rank: T-15th)
Scoring one goal against Edmonton was surprising in one
respect, the Caps being among the most skilled and deepest offenses in the
league, largely returning the league’s second-ranked scoring offense from last season. On the other hand, the Oilers, who allowed
three or more goals in their first three games of the season, allowed a total
of one goal in two games leading up to their game against the Caps. They
allowed only one goal to the Caps and as of the end of the week allowed just two
goals over four games.
Meanwhile, the Caps unloaded on the Vancouver Canucks,
scoring five goals for the first time this season, getting points from nine
different skaters, and dominating the possession numbers (a 56-35 edge in shot
attempts at 5-on-5). And it came with a
couple of unexpected results. The Caps
got a five-goal game without any of them off the stick of Alex Ovechkin (the
first time in 11 five-goal games he did not light the lamp), and Tom Wilson –
that would be second-line Tom Wilson – got his first of the season with assists
from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson on a snipe that was certainly no
fluke.
Defense: 3.00/game (season:
2.14/game; rank: 6th)
The Caps are proving to be a rather difficult team to play
against in two related respects that were on display in Week 3. They allowed Edmonton only 29 shots on goal
and Vancouver only 25 shots on goal, ending the week with six straight games
holding opponents under 30 goals and not yet having allowed as many as 30 shots
in regulation time this season (they allowed Pittsburgh 28 shots in regulation
and two in overtime in the season opener).
The Caps and Oilers split 90 shot attempts at 5-on-5 in the 4-1 Edmonton
win, but Washington held the Canucks to just 35 5-on-5 shot attempts, just 0.72
shot attempts per minute at fives. The
Caps ended the week allowing the third-fewest shot attempts per 60 minutes at
5-on-5 (48.48; numbers from Corsica.hockey).
Goaltending: 3.00 /.889 (season: 1.99 / .921 / 1 SO)
The goaltending was efficient and inefficient in Week 3, but
no in ways one might expect. Braden
Holtby took the loss in Edmonton, allowing four goals on 29 shots. It was his second straight game with a save
percentrage south of .900, and they are the only two times in which he allowed
more than two goals. Allowing a goal to
Patrick Maroon when he lost track of the puck barely a minute after the Caps
got within a goal was a tough play and a difficult position in which Holtby
found himself, but it was a much the turning point in the contest as any other.
In the second game of the week, Philipp Grubauer did what a
backup needs to do, provide solid minutes.
He might not have been as sharp as he was in his shutout of the Colorado
Avalanche in Week 2, but he was solid against the Canucks, stopping 23 of 25
shots, including all six he faced as the Caps pulled away from a one-goal lead
to start the third period to a 5-2 win.
Power Play: 1-for-5 / 20..0 percent (season: 14.3 percent;
rank: 23rd)
Well, they got one.
With one power play goal in two games, the Caps avoided ending the week
with the fewest power play goals in the league.
As it is, the three they have so far through seven games is tied with
the four other teams just ahead of the New York Islanders with two extra man
goals. Marcus Johansson did the honors
against the Canucks, joining T.J. Oshie and Alex Ovechkin as the only power
play goal scorers so far this season. It
was not the prettiest of goals, coming off an Oshie shot that hit the post and
dropped into the crease about 12 inches from the goal line from where Johansson
could swipe it in.
You could say the Caps were victimized somewhat by bad
luck. It was not for lack of shots; they
had 12 shots on goal in 8:40 of power play ice time, a healthy 1.39 shots per
power play minute. T.J. Oshie had five
of those 12 shots but did not convert any of them, although his miss when
hitting a post resulted in Johansson’s oower play goal. What the Caps diod not get, shooting-wise,
was a lot from Alex Ovechkin who had two power play shots against Edmonton and
none against Vancouver.
Penalty Killing: 6-for-7 / 85.7 percent (season: 76.2
percent; rank: 23rd)
After allowing a power play goal to the Edmonton Oilers in
the first game of the week, the Caps finally stopped the bleeding on their
penalty kill, denying the Canucks a goal on any of their three man advantages. It was the first time since Game 3 against Colorado
that the Caps did not allow a power play goal (they didn’t allow a goal of any
kind in that one).
The Caps held Vancouver to three power play chances after
allowing four chances to the Oilers in the first game of the week, and in that
respect, avoiding shorthanded situations has been the best penalty killing tool
they have. By week’s end, the Caps held
opponents to three or fewer power play chances
five times in seven games.
It was an efficient penalty kill in denying shots. In the
two games the Caps allowed just ten shots on seven power plays covering 12:43
in shorthanded ice time (0.79 shots per minute). Perhaps the Caps are turning a corner here.
Faceoffs: 66-for-132 / 50.0 percent (season: 51.4% / rank: 7th)
Two games, one over 50 percent, on under, two players
finishing the week with more than 10 draws and a winning percentage over 50
percent (Nicklas Backstrom: 53.6 percent; Jay Beagle: 52.0 percent), two
players finishing the week with at least ten draws and winning less than 50
percent of them (Lars Eller: 48.0 percent; Evgeny Kuznetsov: 45.7
percent). Little wonder that the Caps
split 132 draws right down the middle (66 wins, 66 losses) for the week. If there was a noteworthy performance, it was
Justin Williams against Vancouver. He
won all six draws he took, including four in the offensive end.
Goals by Period:
If there is something the Caps still need work on, it is
that second period. While they won the
first and third periods of the week, they are still coming up short in the
second period. It was another case of
allowing as many goals in the second period (three) as in the first and third
periods combined. Their minus-6 goal
differential in the second periods of games is tied for the fourth-worst in the
league. Given that the Caps are tied for
the best first period goal differential (plus-6) and tied for the third-best
third period goal differential, it’s clear that the second period is a problem
that needs to be addressed.
In the end…
If you subscribe to the idea that you are only as good as
your last game, then the Caps had a good week.
Yeah well, that goes only so far.
Splitting weeks is not the game plan, road trip notwithstanding. But look at it this way. The Caps have gone 33 consecutive weeks
without a losing week (27 winning weeks and six .500 weeks) since Week 23 of
the 2014-2015 season. That is some
impressive consistency.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Marcus Johansson (2-1-3, plus-2, game-winning goal, five shots on goal)
- Second Star: T.J. Oshie (1-1-2, plus-1, eight shots on goal, 12 shot attempts, two blocked shots)
- Third Star: Matt Niskanen (0-2-2, plus-2, three hits)
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