Record: 1-1-0
It could have been worse.
Teams allowing the first goal of a game do not generally win such
games. Only the Tampa Bay Lightning have
a winning percentage over .500 this season in such games, and they are just one
win over .500 (12-8-3). The Caps are one
of the better teams at this, though, going into the week with a 12-13-3 record
when allowing the first goal of a game.
Splitting the two games in which they allowed the first goal this week
left them with the third-best record in the league when faced with that
deficit, topped only by the Boston Bruins and the Lightning, not bad company
given that the Bruins are the hottest team in the league (points in 20 straight
games), and the Lightning have the best record overall.
The disappointing thing, though, was not closing out the
Penguins when they erased their deficit.
After falling behind by 2-0 and 3-1 margins, the Caps tied the game in
the second period and carried that tie into the third period. But they could not keep out of the penalty
box and, as a product of that, could not keep the Penguins from pulling
away. Still, splitting the week against
Metropolitan Division rivals left the Caps with a three-point lead in the
division over the stubborn New Jersey Devils, and they do have a 6-3-1 record
against division opponents, which trails the Columbus Blue Jackets (8-5-2) and
New York Rangers (6-4-3) in points earned, but the ten intra-divisional games
they played is five fewer than the Blue Jackets and three fewer than the
Rangers. There will be opportunities to
take matters into their own hands in suppressing any challenges to their top
spot in the division.
Offense: 4.50 /game (season: 3.06 /game, rank: 9th)
Nine goals in two games is fine production. In fact, the Caps ended the week having
recorded three straight games with four or more goals. It is part of a longer run that started after
the Caps were blanked in consecutive games in late December. Since then, Washington has averaged 3.38
goals per game and have scored four or more seven times.
Seven different skaters recorded a goal in Week 18, Alex
Ovechkin and Chandler Stephenson with a pair each. Stephenson’s goals came less than a minute
apart in the Caps’ 5-3 win over the Flyers to open the week, Ovechkin’s goals
coming in the 7-4 loss to Pittsburgh to close the week. It was good to see T.J. Oshie and Andre
Burakovsky break through with goals.
Oshie snapped a 13-game streak without a goal with his tally against the
Flyers, a goal that was his first on home ice in more than two months (November
18 against Minnesota). Burakovsky’s goal
broke a nine-game streak without a goal and was his first goal on home ice this
season.
Fourteen skaters recorded points in Week 18, Lar Eller
(0-3-3), Evgeny Kuznetsov (1-2-3), and Ovechkin (2-1-3) topping the list with
three apiece. Eller in particular had
been on fire of late with points in eight of his last ten games (5-4-9). The defense chipped in smartly with five of
the six defensemen dressing for the week getting at least one point. Dmitry Orlov (1-1-2), Christian Djoos
(0-2-2), and John Carlson (0-2-2) had a pair apiece. Djoos’ pair of points gave him 11 for the
season. It also gave the Caps two rookie
defensemen with at least ten points this season, Madison Bowey being the other
(0-12-12). The Caps are the only team in
the league having two rookie defensemen with at least ten points this season.
Defense: 5.00 / game (season: 2.88 /game, rank: 16th)
The Caps allowed both opponents to get to the 30-shot level
in Week 18. The Flyers had 30, seven more
than they managed when the teams met on January 21st (a 2-1 overtime
win for the Flyers), and the Penguins had 39 shots on goal, the third-highest
number allowed by the Caps this season (the fifth time they allowed that many). The two games allowing 30 or more shots
extended the Caps’ streak to three in that category.
The Caps did a good job of locking down the Flyers in the
third period of their contest after they took a 3-2 lead. They allowed Philadelphia only seven shots on
goal, and by the time the Flyers converted one of them, the Caps had a 5-2
lead. It was the only period for the
week that Washington gave up fewer than ten shots in a period.
Oddly enough, the Caps were respectable in their shots-for
percentages at 5-on-5, going 49.44 percent overall. Their difficulty though, was when the
decision was in doubt. They were just
45.45 percent when tied and only 46.61 percent in close situations (all numbers
from NHL.com).
Goaltending: 5.00 / .855 (season: 2.73 / .914 / 1 shutout)
One can play chicken-or-the-egg and play the mind game of
whether allowing ten goals in two games was a product of poor goaltending or
bad defense in front of it, but it certainly was not a good week for the
goaltending. It was certainly uneven
with Braden Holtby allowing two goals in the first period of each game and
stopping 20 of 24 shots (.833 save percentage) and allowing four goals on 14
third period shots for the week (.714).
His second periods were more Holtby-like with 24 saves on 25 shots
(.960). Holtby has found the Penguins a
particular tough nut to crack lately. In
his last nine appearances against Pittsburgh, he is 3-3-2 (one no-decision),
3.53, .893, and he was pulled three times, including in the third period of the
Caps’ 7-4 loss on Friday. Philipp
Grubauer got mop-up work in the loss to Pittsburgh, stopping six of seven shots
in a game that already got away from the Caps.
Power Play: 2-for-6 / 33.3 percent (season: 20.5 percent,
rank: 15th)
Two straight weeks at 33.3 percent, 5-for-15 overall, has to
be considered a good thing. If there was
something Caps fans might feel a bit greedy about, it was that the Caps had
only six power play chances, three in each game. And, it would have been nice to get one of
those power play goals against Pittsburgh, who shut out the Caps on three
chances in the 7-4 loss to the Penguins.
This is where T.J. Oshie and Andre Burakovsky broke out of
their respective goal scoring droughts, accounting for both of the Caps’ power
play goals for the week. Five different
Caps had power play points. Oddly, perhaps, none of them included either
Nicklas Backstrom nor Alex Ovechkin despite Ovechkin leading the team in power
play ice time (9:21 of the total of 10:20 the Caps had for the week) and
Backstrom getting 7:21, tied with Oshie for third most on the team for the
week.
As a group, the Caps were efficient to a point, recording
two goals on ten shots in 10:20 of ice time.
But they were 0-for-7 in six fruitless minutes of power play ice time
against the Penguins. Think of it as
momentum lost.
Penalty Killing: 2-for-5 / 40.0 percent (season: 79.1
percent, rank: 20th)
There was the good, the bad, and the ugly on the penalty
kill in Week 18. The good is easy. The Caps held the Flyers to one power play
chance and snuffed it out, allowing two shots on goal in the two minutes. Then there was the bad. The Caps allowed the top power play squad in
the league four chances, two in the space of less than five minutes in the
third period. The Penguins scored on
both of those third period power play chances to pull away from the Caps in the
7-4 loss. The ugly was allowing three
goals on seven shots in four power play chances to the Penguins to finish the
week allowing three goals on nine shots.
The performance against Pittsburgh is disturbing in that it
was the second time in three games this season in which the Pens scored three
power play goals against the Caps (they did it in a 3-2 win over Washington
back on October 11th). If one
did not know better, they would think they have figured something out against
the Caps’ penalty kill, or they found a weakness in Braden Holtby in defending
power play shots.
Faceoffs: 58-for-125 / 46.4 percent (season: 50.6 percent,
rank: 13th)
Strange week in the circle, one that looks worse that it was. What was bad was the performance in the
offensive zone. It wasn’t bad enough
that the Caps took nine fewer draws in the offensive end (30) than in the
defensive end (39), and it wasn’t bad enough that eight of that nine faceoff
differential came against Pittsburgh (14 in the offensive end, 22 in the
defensive end), but that the Caps won just nine of 30 offensive zone draws for
the week (30.0 percent).
Where it was not quite as bad is that the big-four in taking
draws, those Caps with at least ten faceoffs taken for the week (Nicklas
Backstrom, Lars Eller, Jay Beagle, and Evgeny Kuznetsov) finished 57-for-117, a
not bad but not great 48.7 percent. It
was the others, the guys called in to replace a guy thrown out, that had a hard
time, going just 1-for-8 (12.5 percent).
Individually, Eller (13-26/50.0 percent) and Beagle
(12-23/52.2 percent) finished the week at 50 percent or better. Backstrom (17-36/47.2 percent) and Kuznetsov
(15-32/46.9 percent) finished under 50 percent.
Goals by Period:
The Caps have struggled in the second periods of games this
season. In Week 18, the second period
saved their week and put them in a position to win the week outright. Three second period goals against the Flyers
erased a two-goal deficit and put the Caps in front to start the third period
of their 5-3 win over Philadelphia. Two
second period goals against Pittsburgh erased another two-goal deficit (their
second of the game) and left the Caps even going into the third period of that
game.
Which leaves the first and third periods, which were
awful. In both games, the Caps allowed
the opponent a pair of goals to open the scoring. Alex Ovechkin got a late first period goal
against the Flyers to give the Caps some momentum to go into the second period,
something of which they took advantage. The
Caps did allow a third period goal to the Flyers, but that came after the Caps
had scored five straight goals to take a 5-2 lead. It made the game a bit more interesting, but
little more. The three goals allowed to
the Penguins, two on power plays, in the space of less than six minutes of the
third period? It was vaguely reminiscent
of the five straight goals the Pens scored in the space of barely eight minutes
in last January’s 8-7 overtime loss to the Penguins on the same PPG Arena ice
sheet. Not a good memory, not a good
week in this category.
In the end…
Scheduling has been a bit of an issue for the Caps, who
played just two games in each of the last three weeks. That they are 2-2-2 in those games is not the
worst outcome, but it is not a pace the team wishes to sustain, either in
frequency of games played or record. The best part of the week might have been
the signs of offensive life coming from T.J. Oshie and Andre Burakovsky. Next up on the revival list might be Nicklas
Backstrom, who is stuck on 198 career goals (he has one in his last 11 games).
All three will get more frequent opportunities to raise their
respective games with the Caps’ schedule getting busier – three games coming in
Week 19 and 13 games over the last 25 games of February, starting with Sunday’s
matchup with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Alex Ovechkin (2-1-3, even, seven shots on goal, 14 shot attempts, four hits)
- Second Star: Chandler Stephenson (2-0-2, even, two goals in 47 seconds to erase a two-goal deficit against Philadelphia, two blocked shots)
- Third Star: Lars Eller (0-3-3, even, four shots on goal, seven shot attempts, 50.0 percent on faceoffs)
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