The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
The Washington Capitals have won two straight games in extra
time and will look to make it three wins in a row – in 60 minutes, if possible,
but more if needed – when they head to Los Angeles to take on the Kings on
Wednesday night.
For the trepidation express in some corners of Capitals
Nation over whether or not the team is playing well or relying too much on
winning one-goal decisions, the fact is that since they dropped a 5-2 decision
to the Florida Panthers to open the month of February, the Caps are
14-4-0. If you do not want to do the
math, that translates to a 128-point pace per 82 games, one point better than
their pace over the season as a whole (127-points on an 82-game basis).
Meanwhile, the Kings are back in the conversation as to
which teams might be serious contenders for a Stanley Cup finals berth,
although they have stumbled a bit of late.
After putting together a four-game winning streak as February was
winding down, the Kings have alternated losses and wins over their last four
games. They have outscored opponents by
a 12-10 margin.
Anze Kopitar brings a four-game points streak into Wednesday
night’s game (2-4-6, plus-4). He has
been hot pretty much since Christmas. He
is 11-27-38, plus-16 in his last 31 games.
He is also the straw that stirs the drink for the Kings. In 41 games in which he scored a point, the
Kings are 27-12-2; they are 12-10-2 in games where he failed to record a
point. The Kings are 13-3-1 in games in
which he recorded a goal, 26-19-3 in games in which he did not turn the red
light on. He is also one of the best
two-way players in the game. In addition
to his fine offensive statistics, Kopitar is the only King to average more than
two minutes a game both on the power play and killing penalties, and his 52.7
percent faceoff winning percentage is 12th in the league (minimum: 1,000
draws). Kopitar is 8-4-12, plus-4, in 11
career games against the Capitals.
Drew Doughty is one of the true minutes eaters in the league
among defensemen. Coming into this season he was one of just four defensemen in
the league to have played in at least 75 games and averaged more than 23
minutes of ice time per game in each of six full seasons he has been in the NHL
(not counting the abbreviated 2012-2013 season when he averaged more than 26
minutes while playing in all 48 games).
Dan Girardi, Brent Seabrook, and Shea Weber are the others. He is on his way to doing it again, having
appeared in all 65 games for the Kings so far this season and averaging a
career high 28:23 a game in ice time.
Over the last three seasons preceding this one, Jonathan
Quick had a combined goals against average of 2.23 and a save percentage of
2.23. Those are good numbers, and it is
part of a fairly exclusive club. Among
goalies appearing in at least 100 games over those three seasons, seven had
combined goals against averages of less than 2.30 and save percentages over
.910. It is a group that includes Carey
Price (2.24/.925), Tuukka Rask (2.14/.926), Henrik Lundqvist (2.24/.923), Corey
Crawford (2.20/.922, Cory Schneider (2.14/.924), and Brian Elliott
(2.18/.916).
But Quick is not judged by
his regular season numbers any more. He
might never be a Vezina Trophy winner, but he does have two Stanley Cup rings. In the post-2004-2005 lockout era, six
goalies have appeared in 25 playoff games, have a goals against average less than
2.25, a save percentage of over .920, and at least five shutouts.
Quick joins Lundqvist, Rask, Crawford, Tim Thomas, and Chris Osgood on
that list (note: Washington’s Braden Holtby would be on that list bur for the
fact he has only two shutouts in 34 games). In his last ten appearances he is 6-3-1,
1.91, .930. Quick is 5-2-0, 2.38, .918
in seven career appearances against the Caps.
Here is how the teams compare overall:
1. Both of the
Kings’s losses over their last four games were at the hands of the Anaheim
Ducks, who the Caps defeated on Monday night.
2. The Kings’ power
play seems to run hot and cols. They
started February going 7-for-12 in their first three games (58.3 percent), then
went just 4-for-32 (12.5 percent) over their next 11 games. They appear to be hot once more, going
3-for-8 in their last two contests.
3. Los Angeles has
the third-highest total of games in which they allowed 25 or fewer shots on
goal, but their 15-11-1 record in such games is hardly impressive. They are 24-11-3 in games in which they allow
more than 25 shots. Sometimes, more
really is better.
4. Scoring first
might not have the meaning in this game it usually has in an NHL game. The Caps are first in the league in winning
percentage when allowing the game’s first goal (20-11-4/.571), but the Kings
are second (15-15-2/.469).
5. The Kings are the
top possession team in the league, no matter how you slice it… Corsi-for
overall at 5-on-5 (56.3 percent/1st), score-adjusted Corsi-for
(56.7/1st), leading in games (51.5/1st), trailing in
games 61.6/2nd), Corsi-for/60 minutes overall (62.2/1st),
Corsi-against/60 minutes overall (48.3/1st; numbers from war-on-ice.com)
1. Evgeny Kuznetsov
leads the Capitals in total scoring with 67 points. The last Capitals not named Alex Ovechkin or
Nicklas Backstrom to lead the team in total points was Robert Lang, who had 74
points (29 goals, 45 assists) in 63 games in the 2003-2004 season before he was
traded to the Detroit Red Wings.
2. Alex Ovechkin is
the only player still with the Caps who played in the last game the Caps won in
Los Angeles. He recorded an assist on
the game-winning goal by Jamie Heward in the Caps’ 3-2 win on December 14,
2005.
3. The Capitals are
the only team in the league with six players with 60 or more points – Kuznetsov
(67), Backstrom (61), and Ovechkin (60).
4. The Caps lead the
league in both 5-on-5 goals scored (139) and goals scored at 5-on-4 (45).
5. Washington has
been at 50 percent or lower in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 in five of their last six
road games, going 47.3 percent overall in those six games (numbers from war-on-ice.com).
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
Los Angeles: Vincent Lecavalier
For 14 seasons, Vincent Lecavalier tormented Capitals Nation
as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring 34 goals in 77 games against
Washington. Then he went to Philadelphia
and added a goal in three games with the Flyers. However, in last season and this he came up
empty against the Caps in five games with Philadelphia. He gets to renew acquaintances with the Caps
on Wednesday night in the autumn of his career.
At 35 years of age and his most productive years well behind him, he has
found a measure of renewal in Southern California. In 26 games he has six goals, a modest
number, but it is just two short of the eight goals he posted in 57 games with
the Flyers last season. And, he is getting more ice time – 14:01 a game, more
than four minutes more than he was averaging with the Flyers this season
(9:28). I(n 85 career games against the
Caps, Lecavalier is 35-36-71, minus-9).
Washington: Tom Wilson
Players learning the game might have consistency in
production become the last element to add to their game. Despite the fact that Tom Wilson has
established career highs in goals (six), assists (14), and points (20) in 66
games, consistency is that thing he is still working into his game. Sometimes that is hard to do as a third-liner
who does not get any meaningful power play minutes, but Wilson has gone four
games without a point and is 1-1-2 in his last 13 games. He has shown restraint, not letting the
mini-slump spill over into taking large chunks of penalty minutes. He does lead the team in that category, but
he has just seven minutes in penalties in his last five games, all of them
coming in the 2-1 overtime win over Boston on Saturday. Wilson does not have a point in five career
games against Los Angeles.
In the end…
They say all good things come to an end. Well, all bad things do, too. The Caps are 6-2-0 in eight road games since
the All-Star game break. Part of their
success has been their power play, which has goals in five of the eight
games. This is yet another in what seems
to be a series of games that is being described as “possible Stanley Cup finals
preview.” The common thread in that is
that the Washington Capitals are the team always included in the
commentary. There is a reason for that. They’re pretty good, even on the road, where
they have the best winning percentage in the league (23-7-2/.719). It makes one think they can extend their
California winning streak by ending their losing streak in Los Angeles.
Capitals 3 – Kings 2