The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
The Washington Capitals close the southern California leg of their four-game road trip with a visit to STAPLES Center and the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night. The Kings are among the hottest teams in the league, taking an eight-game points streak (7-0-1) into their contest with the Caps.
The Kings have not been an especially frisk team on offense to date, averaging 2.73 goals per game, which ranks in the bottom third in the league. But the struggles of Mikey Anderson have been rough. The third-year defenseman is one of five players in the league (a group that includes former Capital Jay Beagle) to appear in 15 or more games without recording a point. What Anderson has that the other four do not is a plus rating (plus-9). Anderson, a fourth round pick (103rd overall) in the 2017 Entry Draft, is not an offensive defenseman by any means, with a career scoring line of 2-10-12, plus-13, in 75 career games, but he was good enough overall last season to be one of 20 rookies to earn votes for the Calder Trophy for top rookie. Odd Anderson fact… over his first 13 games he had a total of nine shots on goal, and then he had six in a 2-0 win over Ottawa on November 11th. Anderson has never faced the Caps.
When the team for which you root has not faced a team in almost two years, chances are you lose touch with that opponent’s roster and who the productive players are. With respect to the Kings, that brings us to Alex Iafallo. Now in his fifth season with the Kings, he is turning into a productive goal scorer. His goals per game increased in each of his first four seasons, last year reaching a high of 0.24 goals per game last season, a 19-goal pace. He is far ahead of that pace this season with six goals in 15 games, a 33-goal pace. Those six goals came in a nine-game stretch from October 23rd through November 9th and half of them coming at the expense of the Montreal Canadiens. He has been a good example of the value of secondary scoring, the Kings going 7-2-0 in games in which he registered at least one point, 1-3-2 in games in which he was held off the score sheet. In the last of those nine games in which he recorded six goals, he registered eight shots on goal and a goal against the Canadiens in a 3-2 win on November 9th. Oddly enough, in his next game he failed to record a shot on goal, the first and only game so far this season in which he did not record a shot on goal. Iafallo is without a point in his last two contest. He is 1-0-1, minus-3, in six career games against Washington.
Jonathan Quick is the all-time franchise leader among goalies in games (674), wins (340), fourth in goals against average (2.40; minimum: 50 games), third in save percentage (.913), and first in shutouts (55). But before this season he was in what amounted to a three-year slump – 43-54-13, 3.05, .896, with five shutouts. But this season he has found his game once more, going 4-3-1, 1.98 (sixth in the league; minimum: 250 minutes), .935 (sixth), with one shutout. He goes into this game on a hot streak. After losing his first four decisions this season (0-3-1), he is on a four-game winning streak with a 1.23 goals against average and a .961 save percentage. His most recent game was a 34-save shutout of the Ottawa Senators on Veterans Day.
But while Quick is the past and the present, what of the future? Cal Petersen, who just turned 27 years old and is in his fourth year with the Kings, is 4-2-1, 2.84, .902 in seven games this season. Unfortunately for Petersen and the Kings, his save percentage is heading in the wrong direction -- .924 in 11 games in his first season, followed by seasons of .922 in eight games and .911 in 35 games last year. Petersen is on a streak of his own, going 3-0-1 over his last four appearances with a 2.21 goals against average and a .917 save percentage. Quick is 9-5-0, 2.55, .907 in 14 career appearances against the Caps, while Petersen has not yet faced the Caps in his career.
1. Los Angeles outscored opponents, 25-14 over their eight-game points streak. Five of the games were one-goal decisions in which the Kings were 4-0-1.
2. Only Arizona has
fewer first period goals scored so far (six) than the Kings (eight).
3. On the other hand,
only four teams have allowed fewer first period goals than Los Angeles (eight).
4. Only four teams
have a worse winning percentage when scoring first in games than the Kings
(3-3-1/.429).
5. Only three teams
have a better winning percentage when trailing first than Los Angeles
(5-2-1/.625).
1. In the nine days since the Caps embarked on the four game winning streak they took into Anaheim on Tuesday night, they rank fourth in scoring offense in that span (4.25 goals per game).
2. The Caps are one
of five teams with a perfect penalty kill in that spa, (11-for-11), and their
net penalty kill (109.1) is second-best in the league, owing to the addition of
a shorthanded goal scored.
3. In their four-game
winning streak, only one team (Montreal) has fewer takeaways per 60 minutes
than the Capitals (4.25).
4. In the four-game
streak, the Caps have averaged 2.75 power play chances per game and have had
2.75 shorthanded situations per game.
5. The Caps have goals from 11 different skaters in their four-game winning streak and points from 16 of 19 skaters.
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
Los Angeles: Anze Kopitar
There are few Los Angeles Kings franchise records Anze Kopitar will not own when he decides to hang up his skates or leaves the Kings (he is under contract through the 2023-2024 season). He ranks second in games played (1,144, 103 behind leader and current teammate Dustin Brown), fourth in goals (354, 203 behind leader Luc Robitaille…count that one as a franchise-best he is unlikely to reach), third in assists (662, 95 short of Marcel Dionne), fourth in points (1,016, 291 behind Dionne), fifth in power play goals (101, 109 behind Robitaille), third in power play points (364, 97 behind Dionne), tied for second in overtime goals (nine, two behind Jeff Carter), third in game-winning goals (58, 14 behind Robitaille), first in faceoff winning percentage (52.6 percent; minimum: 100 faceoffs taken), first in blocked shots among forwards (760), first in takeaways (666). Kopitar is not slowing down. He is currently the team leader in goals (eight), assists (eight), and points this season (16). His three power play goals and six power play points lead the team. His 21:18 in ice time per game leads all forwards, as do his 20 blocked shots. And, he is 2-5-7 in Los Angeles’ eight game points streak. Kopitar is 9-8-17, plus-1, in 20 career games against the Caps.
Washington: Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin is the 22nd oldest skater to have played in the league this season. That is 744 skaters who are younger than Ovechkin to have dressed this season, and few, if any of them are having the kind of season Ovechkin is – second in goals (12), tied for fifth in assists (14), third in points (26), second in plus-minus rating (plus-14), fourth in points per game (1.73), second in even strength goals (nine), first in shots on goal (65), first in points per 60 minutes (4.46; minimum: ten games). He has points in 13 of 15 games (pending results in Anaheim on Tuesday night), he has nine multi-point games (he had only 11 all of last year), he has five multi-assist games so far this season (three all of last year and one the year before that). In the Caps current four-game winning streak going into their game in Anaheim, Ovechkin has been the straw to stir the drink. In those four games he is 2-6-8, plus-6, averaging 21:43 per game in ice time, and oddly enough, had his only game without a shot on goal this season, but he did manage an assist in that 2-0 win over Detroit on Veterans Day.
It is, in some respects a career year in the making, which is saying something. His 2.2 goals per 60 minutes is a career high, as are his 2.6 assists per 60 minutes and 4.8 points per 60 minutes. His 0.80 goals per game is a career high, as are his 0.93 assists per game and 1.73 points per game (he is on a 142-point pace). He seems a good bet to finish the season with 100 points for the first time since 2009-2010 (109 points) and finish with the fifth 100-point season of his career. Against the Kings, he is 11-10-21, minus-2, in 21 career games.
In the end…
Los Angeles resembles their Stanley Cup winning teams of a decade ago. They will not overwhelm with offense, but they
will be solid in the defensive end and generally get good goaltending. They are, however, different on special
teams, where their present penalty kill is weak (74.4 percent/27th
in the league), and their power play is unimpressive (18.2 percent/18th). If the Capitals can shake off their own power
play problems, they could make this a successful night.
Capitals 4 Kings 2
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