Record: 3-0-0
The 3-0-0 week made it five weeks in six this season that
the Caps finished with winning weeks and all six at .500 or better in standings
points won. It was the second week of
the season and second consecutive week that the Caps poster a perfect record. Last season, the Caps did not have their second
perfect week on the record ledger until Week 9.
It was their fourth week without a regulation loss, a mark they did not
reach last season until Week 9.
It might be something Caps fans take a bit for granted these
days, the Caps having been a top-level contender for more than a decade now,
but it is a measure of how far they have come since the rebuild and the early
days of the Rock the Red era began. In
2005-2006, the Caps did not earn their 13th win until Game 36, but
this year they have 13 wins in half as many games (18). It is the earliest that the Caps got to 13
wins since they hit that mark in 18 games to start the 2010-2011 season. The last time they hit 13 wins earlier on
their schedule was 1991-1992, when they started the first 17 games of the season
13-4-0.
Offense: 4.67/game (season: 4.06/1st)
It would surprise few that the Caps led the league in total
goals in Week 6, their 14 goals tied with Colorado and Ottawa. They did it with considerable efficiency,
recording those 14 goals on only 97 shots (14.4 percent). They recorded five goals in two games, wins
over Florida and Vegas to close the week.
That brought their total of games with five or more goals to eight,
seven of them coming in their last ten contests. The eight five-goal games leads the league,
one better than Nashville and Vancouver.
The deluge of goals to open the season has the Caps leading
the league in scoring offense by almost a quarter of a goal per game over the
Nashville Predators (4.06 to 3.82) and is, for the moment, only the third time
in team history that the Caps averaged more than four goals per game (4.13 in
1991-1992; 4.03 in 1984-1985).
Eight different Caps had goals during the week, Tom Wilson
and Jakub Vrana leading the way with three apiece. Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin (two
apiece) also had multi-goal weeks.
Evgeny Kuznetsov led the team in assists (six) and points (seven), but
an indicator of the balance the Caps enjoyed was that five different players
finished the week with five or more points.
Wilson, Vrana, and John Carlson had five apiece.
Carlson continued his assault on the record book for scoring
by defensemen. He started the week
failing to record a point against the Calgary Flames, but he had a three-point
game against Florida and followed that up with a two-point effort against Vegas
to give him ten multi-point games this season, tops in the league among all
skaters. His 28 points through 18 games
is the most for a defenseman over that span of games since Al MacInnis had 32
points in his first 18 games in the 1991-1992 season.
The cherry on top of the sundae for the week in this
category might have been in the second period of the game on Saturday against
Vegas, when Jonas Siegenthaler recorded his first NHL goal. It would be the game-winning goal in the 5-2
Caps win:
Defense: 2.67/game (season: 3.06/T-18th)
The Caps did allow eight goals for the week, tied for tenth
fewest overall, but five of the nine teams allowing fewer played in fewer than
three games. The defense is coming,
though. After a span of eight games in
which they allowed fewer than three goals once, they allowed fewer than three
goals three times in four games including three of four in Week 6. Part of it is keeping shot totals down. In those eight games in which the Caps had
difficulty keeping opponents off the scoreboard, they averaged 33.6 shots
allowed per game. In the four games
since, that number was reduced to 31.3 per game. It does not sound like a lot, but a seven
percent reduction in shots allowed per game can have its effects over time.
The Caps also got better over the course of the week in
holding down shot attempts. In the last
two games of the week, the Caps held opponents to 35 of fewer attempts at fives
(35 against Florida, 34 against Vegas).
The week ended with the Caps having held opponents to 35 of fewer shot
attempts at 5-on-5 three times in five games after doing it only once in their
previous seven games.
Goaltending: 2.67 / .916 (season: 2.97 / .903)
Slowly but surely, the team goaltending is improving. After raising the team save percentage over
.900 in Week 5, the Caps found themselves under 3.00 in goals against average
for the first time since Week 1 after Week 6.
What drove the week as a clean sheet in the third periods of
games. Braden Holtby and Ilya Samsonov
stopped all 31 third period shots they faces, and Holtby added another save in
overtime for good measure in the Caps’ 5-4 overtime win over Florida.
Holtby won both of his starts for the week, stopping a total
of 62 of 68 shots faced against Florida and Vegas. It brought his record to 7-0-1, 2.72, .920
since his 0-for-3 debacle less than eight minutes against Colorado on October
14th. If there was one thing to
be concerned about in his performance, it was in stopping 38 of 44 shots over the
first two periods of the two games he played this week (.864 save percentage).
Ilya Samsonov had the first game of the week, and after his
own shaky start against Calgary (eight saves on ten shots in the first period),
he was a wall over the last 40 minutes, stopping all 19 shot he faced and
winning his fifth game in five starts, the first goaltender in Caps history to
do so.
Power Play: 3-for-12/25.0 percent (season: 25.0 percent/T-5th)
For the third consecutive week, the Caps had a 25.0 percent
power play. They have a season power
play of 25.0 percent. Week 6 was the
fifth consecutive week in which the Caps power play was 25.0 percent or better. Consistency is not a problem with which the
Caps suffer in this area of their game.
And to think that after Week 1 (2-for-11/18.2 percent), this was an area
of considerable concern, especially given how they finished the regular season last
year (7-for-48/14.6 percent over their last five weeks).
It might have been an even better week but for the
acrobatics of Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped all but one of the
12 power play shots he faced in 10:14 of Caps power play ice time. As if was, the Caps had a decent week,
efficiency-wise, going 3-for-22 shooting in 20:14 of total power play ice
time. The Caps enjoyed a measure of
balance in their shooting. Four Caps
recorded four or more power play shots on goal for the week – Alex Ovechkin
(1-for-6), Nicklas Backstrom (1-for-4), Evgeny Kuznetsov (four shots), and John
Carlson (five shots). Lars Eller had the
third power play goal.
If there is a bizarre aspect to the Caps’ power play through
six weeks, it is the difference between home and road efficiency, and that in
an odd way. Washington finished the week
11-for-33 in road power plays (33.3 percent), second in the league to the New
York Islanders (40.0 percent on few chances, only 4-for-10). The Caps are 5-for-31 at home (16.1 percent),
23rd in the league in home power play efficiency.
Penalty Killing: 9-for-11/81.8 percent (season: percent/T-7th)
Washington’s sawtooth patter of penalty killing efficiency –
up one week, down the next, repeat – was on display again in Week 6. The 9-for-11 result was by no means poor, but
the 81.8 percent penalty kill for the week was off from 90.0 percent the
previous week, which was up from 87.5 percent the week before that, etc.
The Caps were efficient overall in holding shots down,
allowing 17 in 18:37 of shorthanded ice time.
But that was tempered by allowing Vegas ten power play shots in just
7:27 of power play ice time in the last game of the week. Seven of them came from two power plays in
the third period, the Caps holding the Golden Knights off the score sheet for
the entire four minutes of shorthanded ice time.
Faceoffs: 93-for-178 / 52.2 percent (season: 50.1 percent/13th)
The Caps inched back over the 50 percent mark for the season
on faceoffs off their Week 6 effort.
With three games at 50 percent or better, the Caps extended that streak
to four games, their longest streak of 50 percent of better in the circle this
season.
They were consistent by zone, finishing over 50 percent in
all three zones for the week overall.
That the Caps did it against three teams that finished the week ranked
20th or worse in faceoff winning percentage does not diminish the
achievement much; you play the teams in front of you.
Individually, the Caps spread things around for a team
playing only three games for the week.
Six different skaters finished with ten or more faceoffs taken. Four of
them won more than 50 percent of their draws, including the often unamazing
Evgeny Kuznetsov, who not only finished above 50 percent for the week (56.4
percent), but was 50 percent or better in all three zones. It is worth noting, though, that the two
players taking the most draws for the week were the two that finished under 50
percent among the six taking ten or more draws – Nicklas Backstrom
(23-for-47/48.9 percent) and Lars Eller (20-for-43/46.5 percent).
Goals by Period:
Part of the idea, “play for a full 60 minutes,” means
finishing games well. In that case, the
Caps had a very good week. The Caps
outscored their three opponents by a combined 5-0 margin in the third period
and overtime of games. That margin
allowed the Caps to climb into positive differential territory in third period
goals for the season (21 scored, 18 allowed).
They continued their second period dominance, albeit slightly for the
week. However, they did score goals in
the second period in each of the three games in Week 6, making it 18-for-18 in
games in which the Caps scored at least one second period goal.
First periods were less successful. Although the Caps did score first in two of
the games this week, both times in the first minute of play (John Carlson 25
seconds into the game at Florida and Evgeny Kuznetsov 58 seconds into the game
against Vegas), the Caps were merely even for the week with five goals scored
and five allowed in the first periods of the three games.
Year-over-Year:
The six-game winning and 11-game points streak has the Caps
of this season pulling away from last year’s squad at similar points on the
schedule. There is the ten standings
points difference between this year’s and last year’s 18-game totals, of
course. But the positive differences
extend downward through most statistical categories – goals scored (up 14,
almost 25 percent), goals against (down five), shots, shots allowed, penalty
killing, faceoffs, shot attempts at 5-on-5, blocked shots, and giveaways. The completeness with which the Caps have
improved across categories after more than 20 percent of the season has been
completed suggests that the Caps’ record is no fluke. It might not be sustainable over the longer
run (they are on a 59-win/132-points pace), but they can stake a claim to be
among the top clubs in the league to date.
In the end…
The Caps are the only Eastern Conference club not to have
lost a game in regulation to an Eastern Conference team (6-0-1). On the other hand, no team in the East has
played fewer games against Eastern Conference rivals than the Caps (seven, tied
with Pittsburgh, who is 3-4-0). The
schedule pivots back to the East in Week 7 with three of four games and seven
of the next ten on the schedule through the end of November against Eastern
foes. The Caps have set themselves up
well in their record to date, positioning themselves to put even more distance
between themselves and the rest of the conference in the standings. Week 6 added to that advantage in a fine all-around
performance.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Tom Wilson (3-2-5, plus-5, 1 power play goal, 1 game-winning (overtime) goal, 9:54 in shorthanded ice time (led all skaters), eight credited hits)
- Second Star: Jakub Vrana (3-2-5, plus-4, 1 game-winning goal, 10 shots, 16 shot attempts, three takeaways)
- Third Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (1-6-7, plus-4, 10 shots, 11 shot attempts, 56.4 percent on faceoffs)
Captain rates the week…
Four puppers
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