Record: 0-2-1
A winless week. It
has not happened to the Caps since Week 17 last season when the club also went
0-2-1. Three straight losing weeks. That has not happened to the Caps since they
opened the abbreviated 2012-2013 season with three straight losing weeks (note:
they finished that season with 11 straight non-losing weeks). As if to put an exclamation point on the week,
the Caps lost to the New Jersey Devils, a team 24 points behind the Caps in the
standings going into the game, leaving the Caps with a 5-8-0 record against
Metropolitan Division teams since Christmas and a four-game losing streak
within the division. The Caps play seven
of their last 21 games against division opponents, three of them against the
Pittsburgh Penguins, starting on Sunday afternoon. That schedule will bear watching.
Offense: 2.33/game (season: 3.44/5th)
Week 20 was a repeat of Week 19 at the offensive end of the
rink for the Caps, which is to say, “not good.”
Seven goals in three games, coming in pairs. T.J. Oshie had a pair, Tom Wilson had a pair,
and Alex Ovechkin had a pair, the latter of which made some history:
Lars Eller had the other goal to round out the week’s goal
scoring. It was the group not scoring a
goal that bears watching, though. Jakub
Vrana, 0-for-the-week and 11 straight games without a goal. Nicklas Backstrom, 0-for-the-week and four
straight without a goal. John Carlson,
0-for-the-week and five straight without a goal. Dmitry Orlov, 0-for-the-week, and 24 straight
without a goal. Evgeny Kuznetsov,
0-for-the-week. The fourth line – Garnet
Hathaway, Brendan Leipsic, and Nic Dowd – 0-for-the-week and two since
Christmas (both by Dowd). Backstrom was
the only Capital to post three points for the week (all assists), the Caps
getting a pair each from Vrana, Carlson, Oshie, Wilson, Ovechkin, and
Kuznetsov.
It was hardly a surprise that the Caps finished the week
with seven goals. Their offense at even
strength shrank over the course of the week with diminishing shot attempts at
fives – 50 against Vegas to open the week, 44 against Montreal, and 35 against
New Jersey to end the week. Worse, they
did not muster the urgency to apply more pressure in games in which they
trailed, finishing a minus-7 against Montreal in even strength shot attempt
differential when trailing, minus-8 against New Jersey in that situation.
Defense: 3.33/game (season: 3.03/16th)
Week 20 was a repeat of Week 19 on the defensive side of the
puck as well, ten goals allowed in three games.
The odd part here was that it was not so much a bad week as it was an
uneven one. The Caps allowed Vegas only
39 5-on-5 shots attempts for the week and 29 shots on goal. Against New Jersey, those numbers were 40 and
29. Not bad in the general scheme of
things.
In fact, the Caps allowed three goals in regulation in each
of the three games for the week (they lost to Montreal, 4-3, in overtime),
extending a streak of games allowing three or fewer goals in regulation to five
after allowing 12 goals over two games earlier this month, their longest streak
of three-or-fewer goals allowed since they went seven straight games in late
November/early December. Unfortunately,
to the extent the scoring defense has improved, it has not translated into more
win-loss success, the Caps going 1-3-1 in those last five games.
As for Capitals one would not want to have been this week,
Dmitry Orlov and John Carlson might qualify.
Each were on ice for half (four) of the even strength goals scored
against the Caps (eight) this week, and Carlson was on ice for half (five) of
the ten total goals allowed.
Goaltending: 3.42 / .889 (season: 2.88 / .903 / 1 shutout)
Week 19 had a silver lining in this category with the solid
play of Braden Holtby, who looked to be coming out of a significant stretch of
uncharacteristically weak results. Not
so in Week 20. Holtby took a step
backward in Week 20, losing twice (once in overtime) and stopping just 54 of
the 61 shots he faced (.885 save percentage).
It was, as much as anything, slow starts. Holtby stopped 19 of 22 first period shots
faced (.864) while stopping 35 of 38 shots over the second and third periods he
played for the week (.921). And, he
stumbled back into a rut in which he has found himself for too much of this
season. Holtby stopped 49 of 56 shots at
even strength, his .875 save percentage ranking 41st among the 56
goalies to dress for the week. It
brought his season save percentage at evens to .904, 51st among 55
goalies to appear in at least 20 games.
It was no better for Ilya Samsonov. He got the last game of the week and took the
loss in the 3-2 decision to the Devils.
It was his first loss on the road of his career after opening with ten straight
wins (one no-decision) in his first 11 career appearances on the road. It was not as if he played altogether poorly
in the loss, which ended up being a bad present for his 23rd
birthday, but it extended a string of mortal performances on his part. He stopped 26 of 29 shots in that loss,
bringing his totals to 96 saves on 111 shots over his last five appearances
over which he is 1-3-0 (one no-decision).
Power Play: 2-for-10/20.0 percent (season: 20.5 percent/15th)
The power play was, like so much in Week 20, just enough to
keep the Caps close in games without being the thing to push them over the top
for a win. The effort against the Devils
to wrap up the week was especially frustrating.
The Caps had six power play chances against the Devils, the fifth time
this season that they had six or more power plays in a single game and the
first time they suffered a loss in regulation in such a game.
The shot frequency didn’t seem to matter much, either. Washington managed two shots in 5:09 against
Vegas and scored one power play goal.
They were shut out on shots in their only power play over two minutes
against Montreal. They followed that up
with 14 shots in 10:27 of power play time on the Devils with one goal scored
for a total of two goals on 16 shots in 17:36 for the week. What was telling was that John Carlson and
T.J. Oshie combined for 10 shots (fie apiece) of the 16 the Caps had in total,
and Alex Ovechkin, who teams were favoring in their penalty kill schemes,
managed just one unsuccessful power play shot on goal for the week.
Penalty Killing: 4-for-6/66.7 percent (season: 83.3 percent/4th)
The best that can be said of the penalty kill was that it had
to be deployed infrequently. The six
shorthanded situations faced for the week stand as the fewest the Caps faced in
any week to date this season. And that,
coupled with the Caps’ performance in the first two games, when they killed all
three shorthanded situations they faced against Vegas and Montreal, had the
makings of a great week of penalty killing.
But the Caps gave up two power play goals to the Devils, the 23rd-ranked
power play in the league at week’s end, on just three shorthanded situations
faced to close the week on a sour note.
All in all, the Caps allowed their three opponents 11 shots on goal in
11:24 of shorthanded ice time, but seven of those shots came in just over five
minutes of shorthanded ice time against the Devils.
Faceoffs: 76-for-178 / 42.7 percent (season: 48.3 percent/28th)
At the rate they are going, it would hardly be a surprise if
the Caps finished the season at the bottom of this statistical category. They have some work to do to “catch” the
league-worst Buffalo Sabres (46.2 percent), but they do seem intent of taking a
run at it.
Once more, the Caps were weak in each game. They managed to hit 50 percent only against
the Devils, one of the few teams ranked lower in this area (46.7 percent and 29th
in the league at week’s end) and were under 50 percent in each of the three
zones for the week. They were under 40
percent against both the Golden Knights and Canadiens, making it four times in
seven games that the Caps were under 40 percent in faceoff wins.
Among the six Capitals to take ten or more draws for the
week, only T.J. Oshie finished above 50 percent (7-for-10/70 percent). Evgeny Kuznetsov and Travis Boyd finished the
week under 30 percent (28.6 percent and 27.3 percent, respectively).
Goals by Period:
It was another disturbing week for the Caps in this area,
characterized by slow starts (four first period goals allowed) and furious
finishes with no reward (four third period goals scored, but no wins). In their 11-12-1 slide since December 23rd,
the Caps have a minus-12 first period goal differential (18 scored, 30 allowed)
and a plus-11 in the third period (34 scored, 23 allowed), a reflection of the
poor start-furious finish that has led to such a mediocre record.
Year-over-Year:
Over 61 games, this year’s club still has advantages over
last year’s in most categories, but the margin is shrinking. Nowhere is this more important than in the
top numbers: wins and losses, and goals scored and allowed. In these respects, this year’s club and last
year’s are losing their distinguishing characteristics, this year’s Caps with
only a three-win/five-point advantage over last year’s club, and this year’s
team holding a plus-15 goal differential advantage over last year’s team. Even with the remaining significant
advantages this year’s club has over last year’s team in shots and 5-on-5 shot
attempts, these advantages are becoming more and more dissociated from win-loss
success.
In the end…
The Caps are close to, if not already at a point no one
might have expected as recently as a month ago.
They are playing poorly, and they seem to have no clear answer as to how
to reverse this trend. The question can
be asked, does the coaching staff have an answer? If not, are we at a point with a team where “win now” is not just a saying, where a change has to be considered. This seems unlikely, given the patience with
which this team has managed coaching and management personnel over the years,
but that such a notion is even entertained, even in our lonely corner of
Capitals Nation, is an indicator of how things have changed over the last two
months for this club.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Alex Ovechkin (2-0-2, even, 13 shots on goal, 27 shot attempts, 11 credited hits, four blocked shots (led all forwards), became the eighth player in NHL history to post 700 career goals)
- Second Star: John Carlson (0-2-2, minus-3, eight shots on goal, tied Calle Johansson for most career points by a Caps defenseman in team history (474))
- Third Star: Tom Wilson (2-0-2, plus-2 (led team), 13 shots on goal, 18 shot attempts, 16 credited hits, four takeaways (tied for team lead))
Captain rates the week…
…blech
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