The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
The Washington Capitals renew their brief, but intense
rivalry with the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday at Capital One Arena. The Caps come into the contest among the hottest
teams in the league (9-0-1 in their last ten games), while the Golden Knights
have struggled of late (3-2-3).
Then and Now…
This will be only the fifth regular season meeting between
the clubs, equaling the number of games the teams played against one another in
the 2018 Stanley Cup final won by the Capitals, four games to one. The Caps are 1-3-0 against the Golden Knights
in the regular season series, outscored by a 14-11 margin. The Caps are 1-1-0 against Vegas at Capital
One Arena, the lone win a 5-2 decision on October 10, 2018.
Active Leaders vs. Opponent…
Noteworthy Opponents…
Vegas is the “Washington, D.C.” of NHL teams. Everyone comes from somewhere else. This is the lot of the third-year expansion
team. The Golden Knights are, however,
starting to work home-grown players into their lineup. Four players from their 2017 draft – their first draft --
have appeared in the NHL, two of them for the Knights in this, their respective
rookie seasons. Center Cody Glass was
taken sixth overall in the 2017 Entry Draft, and after spending two more
seasons in Canadian junior, plus a handful of games with the Chicago Wolves
affiliate in the AHL, he was in the lineup on Opening Night this season against
the San Jose Sharks. From that game he
took the memory of his first NHL goal, and he is a respectable 3-4-7, even,
through 17 games so far this season. Defenseman
Nicolas Hague is the other Vegas-drafted rookie to dress this season. Taken in the second round (34th
overall) of that 2017 draft, he has not been in the lineup as frequently as
Glass, appearing in ten games to date, and he has been up and down between
Vegas and Chicago in the early going. On
Wednesday he was sent down to the Wolves after going 0-2-2, even, in ten games
and averaging 14 minutes and change in ice time per game. Neither has appeared against the Caps.
Mark Stone is one of those “from somewhere else”
players. Drafted in the sixth round of
the 2010 Entry Drsaft (178th overall) by the Ottawa Senators, Stone
is one of only 23 players among the 210 taken in that draft to appear in at
least 400 NHL games (401). Most of those
– 366 of them – were played for the Senators before he was traded last February
to Vegas with Tobias Lindberg to the Dallas Stars for Oscar Lindberg, Erik
Brannstrom and a 2nd round pick in the 2020 Entry Draft. He put up good numbers in his year-end tour
with the Golden Knights (5-6-11, plus-4), but he has been more productive in
the offensive end to start this season, going 8-10-18, those 18 points leading
the team.
Stone been consistent (points in 13 of 17 games), but has
scored in bunches as well with five two-point games. Only one of the multi-point games have come
on the road, and that was in the Golden Knights’ first road game of the
season. After going 2-4-6 with points in
five of his first six games on the road, Stone is without a point in his last
two road contests, although the Knights are 1-0-1 in those games. Odd Stone fact… Vegas is 7-2-0 in the nine
games he skated less than 20 minutes, 2-3-3 in the eight games he skated more
than 20 minutes. He is 4-4-8, plus-5, in
14 career games against the Caps.
Seven of the eight defensemen to dress for Vegas so far have
posted points. Shea Theodore leads that
group (1-5-6 in 17 games). Theodore was
one of those players involved in the run-up to the 2017 expansion draft who was
moved for other considerations related to the draft. It was an “agreement” trade, Theodore going
to the Golden Knights in exchange for an agreement by Vegas to select
defenseman Clayton Stoner in the expansion draft.
Stoner, who was a 31-year old defenseman coming off a season in which he played
in only 14 games for the Ducks, limited by an abdominal injury. Stoner did not play again and has since
joined the Vegas organization in a coaching capacity. https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/hockey/news/clayton-stoner-moving-onto-bench/
Meanwhile, Theodore
is the all-time franchise leader among defensemen in goals scored (19) and
points (72). He had a fine start to this
season, going 1-4-5, even, in his first six games. Since then, however, Theodore has only an
assist in 11 games and is minus-4 over that span. It might not be coincidence that the Golden
Knights were 4-2-0 in those first six games but only 5-3-3 in the 11 games
since. Odd Theodore fact… Vegas has not
lost a game in regulation in which Theodore skated less than 20 minutes (4-0-2). In six career games against the Caps,
Theodore is 0-1-1, even.
1. When Vegas shut
out the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-0, on October 19th, it was the 100th
win in franchise history in its 173rd game. It took the Caps 456 games to reach their 100th
franchise win.
2. Vegas has spent a
lot of time killing penalties on the road, more than 60 minutes in eight games
so far. The 7:31 in shorthanded ice time
per game is within rounding error of the New York Rangers for most in the
league in road games through Thursday.
3. No team has scored
more shorthanded goals on the road than the Golden Knights (four).
4. On the other hand,
only four teams have fewer even strength goals scored on the road than Vegas
(11): New Jersey (nine), New York Islanders (nine), New York Rangers (nine),
and Chicago (8).
5. After a rough
stretch of four road games in which the Golden Knights were in minus territory
in shot attempts at fives in each game (minus-44 overall), they were in plus
territory in two of their last three road games and were plus-18 overall.
1. The Caps return to
Capital One Arena having played in only seven home games. Only four teams have played on home ice fewer
times: Vancouver (six), Florida (six), Minnesota (five), and Tampa Bay (four)
through Thursday.
2. Washington opened
the home schedule without a power play goal in their first three games, going
0-for-13. In their last four home games
they have at least one power play goal in three of them and went 4-for-12 (33.3
percent).
3. The Caps have not
been out-shot on home ice yet this season.
They out-shot opponents six times and were held even by Toronto at 32
shots apiece in a 4-3 win over the Maple Leafs on October 16th. That is also the only game in which the Caps
allowed more than 30 shots on home ice so far.
Washington has more than 30 shots on home ice in each of their seven
home games to date.
4. Penalty minutes
have matter at home for the Caps. Taking
six or fewer, they are 3-0-0; taking eight or more, they are 1-1-2.
5. The Caps have 27
goals scored in seven home games. More
than a third of them have come from Jakub Vrana (six) and T.J. Oshie (five).
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
Vegas: Cody Eakin
Cody Eakin might be one of those “keep putting one foot
ahead of the other” sorts of players. He
was drafted by the Capitals in the third round (85th overall) in the
2009 Entry Draft and after a typical development arc out of Canadian junior and
the AHL, he appeared in 30 games for the Caps as a rookie in 2011-2012. Those would be his only games for the Caps,
who out of a sense of “win now” traded him to Dallas with a 2012 second round
draft pick for Mike Ribeiro. In five
years in primarily a checking forward role with the Stars he posted 61 goals
and 146 points in 349 games. But he was
left exposed by the Stars in the 2017 expansion draft, and Vegas took him with
their sixth selection. He was a
respectable 11-16-27 in 80 games with the Knights in their inaugural season
before posting career highs in goals (22) and points (41) last season with
Vegas.
Eakin had a slow start to this season. He missed the first four games with an upper
body injury and has only two assists in the 13 games in which he played (both
in a 5-4 overtime loss to Montreal on Hallowe’en) while going minus-6. Still, Eakin is an overachiever in his draft
class. The 85th overall pick
from that draft is 14th in games played (550), 17th in
goals (98), and 21st in points (224). Eakin is 3-4-7, plus-2, in 12 career games
against Washington.
Washington: Brendan Leipsic
When we posted the preview for Brendan Leipsic before the
season started,
we noted that “from a distance, the love of hockey and the love (or at least
tolerance) of travel intersect in the career of Washington Capitals forward
Brendan Leipsic.” Four teams in three
seasons and 126 games makes for a lot of miles.
But Leipsic still managed to offer hints of having some offensive pop
despite his modest role as a bottom six checker. In each of the two seasons preceding this one
he posted more than 20 points despite not playing in more than 62 games in
either of them and doing it while skating for three different teams, including
the Vegas Golden Knights (2-11-13 in 44 games in 2017-2018; he was traded to
Vancouver before Vegas started the playoffs and did not appear against the Caps
in the 2018 final).
Through 17 games this season he is slightly off his points
per game pace of the last two seasons, but he is still on pace to challenge, if
not surpass the 23 points he posted last season with Vancouver and Los Angeles. Leipsic got off to a bit of a slow start with
his new club, posting a pair of assists over his first dozen games. However, in the Caps’ current five-game
winning streak he is 1-2-3 despite averaging barely eight minutes per game
(8:14). Odd Leipsic fact… of 354
forwards to dress for at least ten games so far, Leipsic is one of 12 to
average less than ten minutes of ice time per game (9:18). He is 0-2-2, minus-8, in eight career games
against Vegas.
In the end…
The Caps come into this game firing on all offensive
cylinders, averaging 4.60 goals per game on their 9-0-1 run. On the other side, the Golden Knights have
been all over the place defensively of late.
Over their last eight games, Vegas allowed five of more goals three
times (0-2-1 record) and two or fewer four times (3-0-1 record). Which team shows up for Vegas could make a
difference, although the Caps are dominating everyone over the last three
weeks.
Capitals 4 – Golden Knights 2