The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
The Washington Capitals face the Columbus Blue Jackets for
the second time in a week when they visit Ohio on Monday night. The Caps will be looking to even the score
with the Blue Jackets in the season series after dropping a 5-2 decision last
Monday in Washington. That loss is the
only blemish on the Caps’ record over their last nine games (8-1-0) and the
only regulation loss suffered by the Caps in almost a month, since a 4-1 loss
to the Rangers in New York on November 20th. On the other side, Columbus’ win over
Washington is their only win over their last seven games (1-4-2), and they have
lost three of their last four games on home ice.
Then and Now…
This will be the 42nd regular season meetings of
the Caps and Blue Jackets, Washington holding a 245-11-5 (one tie) record
against Columbus, 12-7-2 on the road.
Since 2005-2006, the Caps are 20-10-5 against the Blue Jackets overall, 9-6-2
in Columbus.
Active Leaders vs. Opponent…
Noteworthy Opponents…
Columbus is not an especially prolific team when it comes to
scoring goals, but someone has to lead the team, and at the moment that someone
is Pierre-Luc Dubois, the only player for Columbus having hit double digits in
goals scored. Despite his teammates’
struggles at finding the back of the net, Dubois is on pace to finish the
season with 26 goals, which would challenge his career best of 27 set last
year, his sophomore season in the league.
Where his teammates’ problems appear in his numbers are in his
assists. Dubois has ten, and at that
pace would finish with the fewest of his three-year career (26).
Dubois has taken on a bigger offensive load with the
departure of Artemi Panarin for the New York Rangers in one at least one
respect. His shot frequency has
increased significantly, jumping from 2.12 shots per game last season to 2.53
shots per game going into this contest. There
do appear to be limits as to the effectiveness of the increased shooting
frequency. Four seems to be the magic
number. Four times this season Dubois
recorded more than four shots and has one goal on 21 shots to show for it, the
Blue Jackets splitting the games (2-2-0).
On the other end, though, he has not made much of fewer chances. In the 13 games in which he recorded one or
two shots on goal, he has only one goal on 21 shots. His output has dried up of late, though,
going his last ten games without a goal. Dubois is 1-3-4, plus-2, in nine career games
against the Caps.
Among Columbus defensemen, fans probably recognize Seth
Jones. They might also know Zach
Werenski or Ryan Murray on the Blue Jacket blue line. Even Markus Nutivaara might be known to more
than a few fans. Unfortunately for the
Blue Jackets, though, Werenski, Murray, and Nutivaara reported as injured. That places more of a burden on rookie
defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. Chances
are that is a name fans outside of Columbus do not recognize. He was taken in the sixth round (159th
overall) in the 2015 Entry Draft, the 54th defenseman of 74 taken in
that draft. He was taken 30 spots ahead
of Nutivaara not played a game in the NHL before this season, while Nutivaara
dressed for 207 games over three years before this season. Gavrikov has not made a big dent in the
offensive side of the ledger (2-2-4 in 31 games), but he has been getting more
ice time as the Columbus defensive ranks thin out. Over his first 24 games he averaged 15:00 in
ice time, but over his last seven he is averaging almost three minutes more a
game (17:56). In his only appearance to
date against the Caps, last week, he went without a point and was plus-3 in
14:45 of ice time.
Next in the “Name That Blue Jacket” contest is forward Alexandre
Texier. Another rookie, although he did
get into two games for Columbus last season.
The second round pick from the 2017 Entry Draft happens to be tied with
Cam Atkiunson for the team lead in points (five) in December, and he is tied
with Andrew Peeke (another rookie) for the team lead in plus-minus for the
month (plus-5). Unfortunately for the
Blue Jackets, Texier’s contributions just have not been enough. He has points in four of the six games
Columbus has played in December, and the Blue Jackets lost three of them
(1-1-2), the lone win coming against the Caps when he recorded an assist. His recent production is quite a turnaround,
though. He was 3-1-4, minus-4, in his
first 22 games this season before going 3-2-5, plus-5, in his last six games. That game against the Caps last week and the
assist he recorded is the only game and only point he has against the Caps in
his career to date.
1. Columbus struggles
to score at home. They have only 42 goals
(third fewest in the league) in 17 games on home ice this season, the 2.47
goals per game second worst in the league, topping only Detroit (2.24).
2. Only Tampa Bay has
allowed more shorthanded goals on home ice (four) than Columbus (three, tied with
five other teams). No team has allowed
more shorthanded goals on home ice without scoring one themselves that the Blue
Jackets.
3. Columbus is one of
four teams in the league to have taken no major penalties on home ice this
season (Buffalo, Toronto, and Dallas are the others).
4. Only the New York
Islanders have more overtime goals scored (four) than Columbus (three, tied
with Toronto and Pittsburgh).
5. Columbus does not
have elite goal scoring so far this season, but they are egalitarian about
it. Of the 24 skaters to dress, 19 have
at least one goal.
1. The Caps have had
24 skaters dress this season, too. Of
that group, 17 have goals. The
difference is that while Pierre-Luc Dubois leads the Blue Jackets with ten
goals, the Caps have six players with more than that number.
2. While Columbus has
two players with 20 points – Dubois and Gustav Nyquist – the Caps have seven
players with more than that number.
3. No team has more
players with 20 or more penalty minutes than the Caps, with seven (tied with
San Jose).
4. The Caps have 11
players with game-winning goals, a total more than the win totals posted by New
Jersey or Detroit so far.
5. Washington has hit
the crossbar 10 times in 34 games. Last
season they hit the crossbar 10 times in 82 games.
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
Columbus: Gustav Nyquist
When it became certain that the Blue Jackets were going to
lose Artemi Panarin to free agency, they had to try to replace his goal scoring
with something. The trouble is,
replacing the 55 goals Panarin scored in two seasons in Columbus is not an easy
task. Part of the solution was to sign
Gustav Nyquist as a free agent to a four-year/$22 million contract, a far cry
from the seven-year/$81.5 million deal Panarin signed with the Rangers last
July. Nyquist is not and is not likely
to be in Panarin’s class as a goal scorer, but he is a reliable sort who topped
20 goals four times in six seasons before this one. However, he has only seven in 32 games so far
this season, an 18-goal pace (Columbus fans no doubt have noticed that Panarin already
has 19 with the Rangers this season). He
has fallen off of late. Since recording
a hat tricj in a 5-2 win over Pittsburgh on November 29th, he is
without a goal in his last seven games. And
it is not a case of shooting in bad luck.
Nyquist has only seven shots on goal in his last six games, three of
them in the most recent game, a 4-3 overtime loss to Ottawa. Even with the hat trick against the Pens, he
has a total of five goals over his last 23 games, precisely the 18-goal pace he
is on overall. Nyquist is 6-7-13,
plus-2, in 18 career games against the Caps.
Washington: Lars Eller
Before Lars Eller burned his name into the Capitals history
book with the game-winning, series-clinching, Cup-winning goal in Las Vegas in
the 2018 postseason, Lars Eller scored the goal that made all of that possible,
a goal in the second overtime of Game 3 of the first round series against
Columbus on the Nationwide Arena ice sheet that kept the Caps from falling into
an 0-3 hole and ending their Stanley Cup dreams before they started. He added an empty net goal to clinch Game 6
for the Caps and send them on to the second round, but here is the odd thing
about that. Eller has more goals scored
against Columbus as a Capital in the postseason (two in six games) than he has
as a Capital against the Blue Jackets in the regular season (one in 13
games). And, he does not have a point in
his last six games against the Blue Jackets.
Not that he has been shy about sending pucks to the net; he has 18 shots
on goal in those six games without finding the back of the net (he had only
eight shots on goal in his first seven games as a Cap against Columbus). If a Capital seems due to score against this
team, Eller might be a player to watch.
Eller is 2-3-5, minus-4, in 24 career games overall against Columbus.
In the end…
The Caps have had success against Columbus on their ice
sheet in the postseason, going 3-0 in the three playoff games the teams played
in Ohio. The regular season has been a
different matter, the Caps going 6-5-2 in their last 13 visits to Columbus. But these are teams going in different
directions at the moment. Columbus has
stumbled at home recently with their 1-3-0 record over their last four games,
while the Caps have been the gold standard in road play this season. Makes it hard to pick against the Caps,
regardless of last week’s result.
Capitals 4 – Blue Jackets 2
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