Record: 2-1-1
Week 23 was the eighth four-game week of the season for the
Capitals and the sixth in which they posted a winning record. When they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the
last game of the week, the Caps hit the 100-point mark for the tenth time in
team history and for the third season in a row, the third time in franchise
history that the Caps posted three consecutive 100-point seasons. The closed the week with points earned in
their last three games after opening the week with a 5-2 loss in Anaheim
against the Ducks to close their annual California trip. The three consecutive games with points was
the first time the Caps did that since Games 62-64 to close February and open
March. When they beat the Minnesota
Wild, 4-2, last Tuesday, it was their 45th win of the season, the 11th
time in team history that the Caps hit that win mark.
Offense: 3.00/game (season: 3.20 /game; rank: 3rd)
It was an uneven week in the offensive end with the Caps
alternating poor outcomes and good ones.
On average it was a pretty good week, although still a bit below the
season scoring average to date. The Caps
still finished the week as one of six teams averaging more than three goals per
game, and they did finish the week with a pair of games with four or more goals
after going six straight games with two or fewer.
T.J. Oshie led the Caps in goal scoring for the week,
getting all of them in the 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning to finish the
week. It was the second hat trick of the
season for the Caps and the first on the road this season (Alex Ovechkin had a
hat trick on November 23rd in a 4-3 win over the St. Louis
Blues). Oshie added an assist against
the Lightning to make it five games this season in which a Capital recorded
four or more points. Oshie joined
Nicklas Backstrom in having done it twice.
Evgeny Kuznetsov has the other instance.
Backstrom had a three-assist game against Minnesota and a
four-assist night against Tampa Bay on his way to an eight-point week (all
assists). He became the 11th player in
the league to record four or more assists in a game this season and became just
the second player in the league this season with four games with three or more
assists (Tyler Seguin is the other). John
Carlson was the other multiple goal scorer for the Caps in Week 23 (two) and
led the defense with four points.
The best news on offense might have been from a player who registered
only a single point. Andre Burakovsky
returned to the lineup after missing 15 games with a hand injury, over which
the Caps went just 7-6-2. He had an
assist and seven shots on goal in 15 minutes of ice time against the Lightning.
Defense: 3.00/game (season: 2.17 /game; rank: 1st)
The Caps had a good week holding down shot attempts. In each of the four games they held their
opponent to less than one shot attempt per 5-on-5 minute. Overall they held the four opponents to 50.16
shot attempts per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 (numbers from Corsica.hockey).
It helped hold the shots down, none of the four opponents managing to
get as many as 25 shots on goal at 5-on-5, although two opponents did outshoot
the Caps at fives. It just so happened
that those two opponents were Anaheim and Nashville, the sources of the losses
this week. As it is, this team is still
in a position to record the lowest average shots allowed per game in franchise
history since the 2004-2005 lockout.
This club is allowing 27.7 shots per game; the 2007-2008 squad allowed
27.5 shots per game.
Goaltending: 2.99 / .897 (season: 2.06 / .925 / 11 shutouts)
Braden Holtby played all the minutes in goal in Week
23. It was not an especially good one
for him, and it is part of a longer run of sluggish play from Holtby. In his last six appearances, he is 2-3-1,
3.51, .875. This week, Holtby strugged
at even strength with a save percentage of just .904, 18th among 26
goalies facing at least 50 even strength shots.
It was a case of declining save percentages as games went on
for Holtby. His first period save
percentage for the week was an excellent .947 (36-for-38). That dropped to .909 in the second periods of
games (40-for-44) and to .848 in the third period (28-for-33). He allowed one goal on two shots faced in the
overtime loss to Nashville.
As it is, Holtby allowed more goals in his last six games
(19) than he did over his previous 11 contests (18). Still, the Caps remain the only team in the
league with two goalies having faced at least 400 shots with a save percentage
of .925 or better. Both Holtby and
Philipp Grubauer have save percentages of .925 for the season.
Power Play: 3-for-13 / 23.1 percent (season: 21.4 percent; rank: 8th)
Consistency is a good thing, and the power play is no
exception. The Caps recorded three power
play goals for the week, one in each game.
Now, if the opportunities were as consistent. The Caps had five power play chances in each
of the first two games of the week, at Anaheim and at home against
Minnesota. They were successful once in
each game, John Carlson against the Ducks and Evgeny Kuznetsov against the
Wild.
In the second half of the week, Washington was held to a
total of three chances in two games, failing to connect on their only
opportunity in their 2-1 overtime loss to Nashville and getting a pair of
chances against Tampa Bay to close the week, T.J. Oshie finding the back of the
net on the Caps’ first opportunity on Saturday night.
Getting five chances in a game is a comparative rarity for
the Caps this season, Week 23 seeing the 12th and 13th
times this season the Caps had as many or more.
Getting volume such as that is no guarantee of success, though. Washington is 7-4-2 in games this season in
which they had five or more power play chances.
Their chances came with a fair amount of pressure, getting 22 shots on
goal in 19:40 of power play time, but that included a failure to get any shots
on goal in their 2:00 of power play time against the Predators.
Penalty Killing: 12-for-15 / 80.0 percent (season: 83.7
percent; rank: 8th)
A less-than-typical effort killing penalties held the Caps
to barely 80 percent on the other side of special teams and only allowed them
to break even on special teams goals for the week. The seven shorthanded situations they faced
against the Wild in the second game of the week was the second-most situations
faced this season (they were shorthanded nine times in a 6-2 win over the New
Jersey Devils on New Year’s Eve). They
were almost as frequent in shorthanded situations in the opening game of the
week, skating five times a man short and once two men short, the Ducks
converting just after their 5-on-3 power play expired.
The Caps did better in the second half of the week, facing a
total of two power plays (one each) against Nashville and Tampa Bay, although
they did allow the Lightning to convert on their only chance in the 5-3 Caps
win. For the week, the Caps allowed
three goals on 21 shots in 20:16 of shorthanded ice time. Not a poor week, but not a great one, either.
Faceoffs: 118-249 / 47.4 percent (season: 50.1 percent;
rank: 13th)
It was not an especially good week in the faceoff
circle. The Caps were over 50 percent
only against Tampa Bay, although that game was not without incident as a result
of a lapse in one faceoff moment. Jay
Beagle lost a faceoff to Brayden Point with under two minutes left in a 4-2
game, and the draw went back to Nikita Kucherov, who slammed home a shot to
make it 4-3.
The Beagle lost draw late against the Lightning was part of
a week in which the Caps were under 50 percent in the defensive end (40-86/46.5
percent). They were equally weak in the
neutral zone (30-68/44.1 percent), where they were under 50 percent in all four
games. Washington did manage to finish
one over 50 percent in the offensive end (48-95/50.5 percent) but almost gave
that up with a 7-for-21 performance in the offensive end against Nashville.
The big four – Nicklas Backstrom, Lars Eller, Jay Beagle,
and Evgeny Kuznetsov – were a combined under 50 percent in all three zones for the
week and overall (46.1 percent). Of the
four, only Beagle finished the week over 50 percent (32-58/55.2 percent).
Goals by Period:
In a week with a total goal differential of even, the fact
that the Caps were mostly that by period is no surprise. Also no surprise, the Caps won the first
periods overall by a 4-2 margin. That
made them plus-40 for the season in first period goal differential. It would have been better but for an
uncharacteristic two goals allowed – after taking a 2-0 lead, to boot – against
Tampa Bay in the last game of the week.
Those two goals left the Caps with 33 goals allowed in the first periods
of games this season, fewest in the league.
They held their own in the third period with five goals
scored and five allowed to finish the week plus-30 in third period goal
differential. Those five goals allowed
were a problem, the difference between finishing the week with the second-fewest
number of third period goals allowed and finishing tied for fifth.
The second period continues to be a problem. Washington finished just minus-1 for the
week, but that is also where they are for the season. Teams have been able to erode first period
advantages for the Caps in the middle period, a matter that needs to be
addressed in the last few weeks of the season.
In the end…
There are two good things that can be said about Week
23. One, the California trip is in the
rear-view mirror. The Caps were
outscored on the trip by a 13-6 margin, including the 5-2 loss to Anaheim in
the first game of the week to end the trip.
The second thing is that the Caps managed to start and end the week atop
the league standings. However, their margin was shaved by a point down to
two points over the Columbus Blue Jackets, a team that just doesn’t want to go
away. Pittsburgh and Chicago lurk just
one point behind Columbus, three points behind the Caps.
Nevertheless, the Caps became the first team to clinch a
spot in the playoffs with their win over Tampa Bay to close the week, the 27th
time in 43 seasons of team history the Caps will head to the postseason. That might be the best news to come out of
Week 23.
Three Stars of the Week:
- First Star: Nicklas Backstrom (0-8-8, plus-2, three power play assists, nine shots on goal, 18 shot attempts)
- Second Star: T.J. Oshie (3-1-4, plus-3, hat trick (first in regular season as a Capital), seven shots on goal, 16 shot attempts, 6-for-9 on faceoffs)
- Third Star: John Carlson (2-2-4, minus-1, 13 shots on goal, 28 shot attempts, 22:56 average ice time)