Record: 4-0-0
The Caps posted their second four-win week of the season,
their first since Week 4, adding to a winning streak that reached five games by
week’s end. That streak is now the
longest active winning streak in the league. For all the
offensive sluggishness that settled on the Caps in the first part of the season
– Alex Ovechkin’s lackluster (for him) production, the curious ineffectiveness
of the power play – they are only six standings points 55 points/25-9-5) off
the torrid pace they set last season through 39 games (61 points/29-7-3). And only last year’s team got to 25 wins
faster (in 33 games on a 25-6-2 record) than this team in 39 games (three other
Caps teams reached 25 wins in 39 games: 1985-1986, 1991-1992, and 2008-2009).
Offense: 3.50/game
(season: 2.82 /game; rank: 9th)
Scoring 14 goals in four games is not a bad thing, but it
might have been better had the Caps not played the Ottawa Senators to begin and
end the week. The Caps scored a total of
three goals in those two games, a 2-1 win to start the week and a 1-0 win to
finish it. In between, the Caps lit up
the Toronto Maple Leafs for six goals in a come-from-behind 6-5 win in
overtime, then they torched the Columbus Blue Jackets for five in a 5-0 win to
break the Blue Jackets’ winning streak at 16 games, second longest in-season
streak in NHL history. It was only the
third time this season that Columbus allowed five or more goals in a game.
There was balance in the Caps’ offense for the week. Eleven different players scored goals, and 18
different skaters recorded points. What
was particularly noteworthy about the scoring was that defensemen accounted for
six goals and seven assists. Three Caps
finished the week with a pair of goals – Justin Williams, John Carlson, and T.J.
Oshie. Evgeny Kuznetsov led in points
overall (1-5-6).
On the downside, the Caps suffered what could be an
important blow to their lineup. In the
last game of the week, T.J. Oshie took a big hit on his shoulder from Ottawa
defenseman Dion Phaneuf, then took some more abuse from Phaneuf later in the
second period that put him on the shelf for the rest of the contest. It looked to be the same shoulder he injured
against Detroit earlier this season.
That, and the flu that appears to be going through the Caps’ locker room, pose just more challenges to fight through.
The highlight of the week was in the first period of the
last game of the week. Just 98 seconds
into the game, Nicklas Backstrom wrote himself into the Capitals’ and the NHL’s
history books with his 500th career assist:
As we pointed out in the recap of the game, “Backstrom
reached that mark in his 691st game with the club. As Craig Laughlin noted in the Caps telecast,
only Peter Forsberg among players born in Sweden reached the 500-assist mark in
fewer games than Nicklas Backstrom.
Forsberg did it is 551 games. And,
as Laughlin pointed out, only two active players – Jaromir Jagr and Sidney
Crosby – got to 500 sooner than Backstrom.
Jagr did it in 642 games, while Crosby did it in 554 games. It's a lot of apples.”
Defense: 1.50/game (season: 2.03 /game; rank: 1st)
When the Capitals shutout the Ottawa Senators, 1-0, to end
Week 13, it was the tenth time in the post-2004-2005 lockout era that the team
won a 1-0 game, the second time they did it against the Senators (they did it
on April 1, 2006). It ended a week in
which the Caps played three games in which they limited opponents to one or
fewer goals. That brings the total this
season to 12 such games, wins in all of them.
The effort reduced the Caps’ scoring defense to 2.03 goals per game,
best in the league and, at the moment, the third lowest for a season since that
same 2004-2005 lockout season (St. Louis had a 1.89 goals/game against in
2011-2012, and Chicago had a 2.02 mark in 2012-2013).
The blemish on the record, though, was that the Caps barely
won the week in possession, and that was entirely a product of the overwhelming
shot attempt advantage they had over Toronto in the second game of the
week. The Caps finished the week with a
50.7 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5, but they had a 46-31 in shot attempts at
fives against the Maple Leafs (59.7%).
The Caps were underwater in the other three games (numbers from Corsica.hockey).
The presence for goals against was spread around rather
liberally. Fifteen different skaters
were on ice for goals against, the fourth line of Daniel Winnik, Tom Wilson,
and Jay Beagle on ice for three apiece, and the defensive pair of Matt Niskanen
and Brooks Orpik doing the same.
Goaltending: 1.50 / .944
/ 2 shutouts (season: 1.93 / .930 / 6 SO)
By the end of Week 13, the Capitals have the best
goaltending overall in the NHL. With
apologies to Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk, who leads the NHL in goals against
average (1.82) and save percentage (.939) among 50 goalies with at least 500
minutes of ice time, Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer have established
themselves as the premier tandem in the league.
Even with what might be
characterized as a bad game against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second game
of the week, one in which Holtby was relieved after 20 minutes and the two
goalies combined for just 20 saves on 25 shots faced, a 1.50 goals against
average and .944 save percentage is exceptional.
Most of that is due to Holtby, who in the three complete
games he played stopped 82 of 83 shots.
The three games in which Holtby allowed one or fewer goals brought his
total for the season to 11 (complete games only). Only four goalies in the league have more. The best part of all, overall, might have been how the Caps's save percentage improved on a period-to-period basis for the week. They finished with a .919 save percentage in the first periods of games, .949 in the second periods, and .969 in the third periods (Grubauer faced no shots in overtime in the win over Toronto).
Power Play: 1-for-10 / 10.0 percent (season: 16.4 percent;
rank: 21st)
How bad is the Caps’ power play? Last season they did not finish a single one
of 26 weeks with a season power play below 20.0 percent. Through 13 weeks this season, the Caps power
play has yet to finish a week at or above 20 percent for the season, and their
season number has dropped in each of the last three weeks (overall going
1-for-25/4.0 percent).
Week 13 was little better.
Washington did break a five-game streak without a power play goal when
they opened the scoring against Toronto with a Justin Williams power play
strike. But that was a brief respite
from the gloomy results, finishing the week with a pair of games without a
power play goal.
Going 1-for-10 for the week left the Caps just 1-for-25 over
their last nine games, and in Week 13 they were woefully inefficient. On ten power plays they managed only eight
shots in 16:28 of power play ice time.
What is remarkable about the shots is not the distribution – six different
Caps recorded power play shots on goal – but that Alex Ovechkin had just two
power play shots in 11:48 of ice time.
Penalty Killing: 16-for-18 / 88.9 percent (season: 87.1
percent; rank: 3rd)
As bad as the power play has been, the penalty kill has been
good. Even the hiccup shined a light on
how good the penalty killers have been.
The two power play goals allowed to the Maple Leafs was the first time
the Caps allowed more than one power play goal in a game since November 20th,
when the Columbus Blue Jackets touched the Caps for a pair in a 3-2 win over
the Caps (a span of 18 straight games allowing just one or fewer power play
goals, over which time they went 65-for-71 (91.5 percent)).
And it has all been about denying shots. In the four games, the Caps allowed opponents
just 21 shots in 30:38 of shorthanded ice time.
And that shorthanded ice time included having to kill a full two-minute
3-on-5 shorthanded situation against Ottawa in the third period of the first
game of the week, then a 3-on-5 situation against the Columbus Blue Jackets
lasting 1:03. In both instances, the
Caps killed off the disadvantage. From a team perspective, this is arguably the
best and most consistent part of the Caps’ game at the moment.
Faceoffs: 111-for-233 / 47.6 percent (season: 50.1% / rank: 13th)
It was not an especially good week for the Caps in the
faceoff circle, although it was not quite as bad as it looked. The Caps did well in the second and fourth
games of the week, posting 50-plus percent marks against Toronto (56.3 percent)
and Ottawa (52.6 percent), but falling under that bar in the first and third
games of the week against the Senators (38.9 percent) and Columbus (41.4
percent.
The problem was winning draws in the offensive zone, where
the Caps finished the week 29-for-74 (39.2 percent). Only in the second game against Ottawa of the
week did the Caps reach 50 percent in the offensive zone (10-for-20). They finished above 50 percent in the defensive
zone for the week (51.1 percent) and in the neutral zone (52.1 percent).
The “big four” in terms of draws taken – Nicklas Backstrom,
Lars Eller, Jay Beagle, and Evgeny Kuznetsov – split their ways in who was over
or under 50 percent, but not in the usual distribution. Backstrom (46.3 percent) and Eller (38.1
percent) were short of 50 percent for the week, while Jay Beagle (56.5 percent)
and Evgeny Kuznetsov (58.5 percent) won more than half their draws. Kuznetsov’s week was especially surprising,
in a pleasant way, since even at the end of the week he ranked 106th
of 110 players taking at least 250 draws in winning percentage (42.9 percent).
Goals by Period:
First periods continue to be good for the Caps. Even with allowing three goals to the Maple
Leafs in the first period of the 6-5 overtime win, part of a 5-3 advantage in
first period goals scored for the week, the Caps finished the week with the
fewest first period goals allowed in the league (17) and the second-best first
period goal differential (plus-19’; Columbus is plus-20).
However, don’t underestimate the late-game effectiveness of
the Caps. In the third period and
overtime, the Caps won the week, 6-1.
The one goal allowed in the third period and overtime over the four
games left the Caps with 32 goals allowed in the third period and overtime of
games this season. Only the Pittsburgh
Penguins have allowed fewer (28).
In the end…
It was by no means an easy week. Games every other day is a nice rhythm to
have, but four-game weeks can be a burden.
Add to that the fact that the week presented such variety in the nature
of opponents. Twice the Caps had to face
a team (Ottawa) that plays a very deliberate, grinding style. On the other
hand, they also faced one of those young, frisky teams with skill, speed, and a
desire to make a reputation (Toronto) that can be a real pain in the neck for a
veteran team. So much skating and shooting and celebrating. Then there were the Columbus Blue Jackets,
looking to make some history in tying the longest in-season winning streak in
NHL history (17 games, set by the 1991-1992 Pittsburgh Penguins). For the Caps, it was a statement game against
a team at the top of its game and that already beat the Caps twice this
season.
It won’t get any easier, though. The Caps have a three-game week ahead of them
in which they face the Montreal Canadiens, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the
Chicago Blackhawks, each of which has 25 wins and carry a combined record of 75-29-16.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Braden Holtby (3-0-0, 1.20, .956, two shutouts)
- Second Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (1-5-6, plus-5, 10 shots on goal, 14 shot attempts, 24-for-41 on faceoffs/58.5 percent)
- Third Star: Justin Williams (2-3-5, plus-6, eight shots on goal, 16 shot attempts)
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