Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was - Week 20

Week 20 might have been the worst week for the Washington Capitals in recent memory.  A winless week, almost no offense, losses to a poor possession team and a team that couldn’t seem to win games in regulation even if they were spotted multiple goals, which the Caps did and failed to make up the difference.  It was brutal.  Fortunately, it was only a two-game week.

 

Record (0-2-0)

Week 20 was the fourth week of the season in which the Caps failed to record a win and the first win which they played more than one game and failed to earn a standings point (they were 0-1-0 in Week 11).  Making it worse, the two losses came against Metropolitan Division opponents, and while the loss to Philadelphia to end the week had no impact on the teams’ relative stations this season, the loss to the New York Rangers to open the week did leave the Caps slipping further behind the Blueshirts for the third seed in the Metropolitan Division.

But while that loss to the Flyers did not have any impact on the teams’ relative positions in the standings, it was galling nonetheless.  In dropping a 2-1 decision to the Flyers, the Caps were only the second team that Philadelphia beat in regulation since December 14^th.  The loss in New York to the Rangers broke a three-game winning streak at Madison Square Garden.

Offense: 1.00 / game (season: 3.17 / 13th)

Two games, two goals, one at even strength.  And while getting one goal in New York against one of the better defensive teams in the league (2.44 goals allowed per game, third-best in the league at week’s end) and a Vezina Trophy contender in goal was not an altogether surprising result, one goal – on a power play – against the 25^th-ranked scoring defense in the league I Philadelphia was just inexcusable.

It was not as if the Caps lacked for shots on goal, they totaled 65 in two games for the week. What they lacked was follow-up and a persistence in getting into good scoring areas or in sniffing out rebounds.  There was a lot of “one-and-done” in terms of their shooting for the week.  For the record, Alex Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie scored the goals for the week, Ovechkin’s being a rather cosmetic tally late in what was at the time a 4-0 Ranger lead and Oshie’s being a power play goal of a sort that was missing during his injury absence, a one-timer from the bumper slot on a power play.

Four skaters recorded points (Ovechkin, Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Nicklas Backstrom), Kuznetsov the only one posting two points for the week.

Defense: 3.00 / game (season: 2.76 / 11th)

It was not exactly a bad week for the Caps, who allowed only 43 shots on goal and 93 attempts for the week.  It was a case of committing unforced errors in coverage that led to problems, perhaps none as obvious as the Kuznetsov losing track of Claude Giroux trailing a play, taking a pass, and snapping the puck into the back of the net just 11 seconds into the Caps’ 2-1 loss to the Flyers to end the week.  Or there was the Rangers’ Alexis Lafreniere easing out from behind the Caps’ net, shoving Martin Fehervary off balance, and redirecting a shot past goalie Ilya Samsonov.  Or Chris Kreider, who Dmitry Orlov allowed to walk across the top of the crease unchecked and into open space to take a feed and stuff into the net to all but end the competitive portion of that game, giving the Rangers a 3-0 lead midway through the third period.  It was decent defense pockmarked by some hideous errors in coverages, an “all-or-nothing” sort of week in the defensive end of the rink.

Goaltending: 3.09 / .860 (season: 2.62 / .908 / 6 shutouts)

Ilya Samsonov got both starts and, frankly, deserved better support than he got in front of him.  There was the usual iffy goal allowed, that one being a Mika Zibanejad tally from the right-wing circle in the 4-1 loss to the Rangers that snuck past his left elbow that he might like back.  But he kept the Caps in the Rangers’ game as best he could with a sluggish to the point of sleepwalking team in front of him, and he was quite good against the Flyers after that Giroux goal 11 seconds into the game, the second goal he allowed being the product of a teammate – Conor Sheary – putting the puck on the stick of Cam Atkinson for a goal from the post to Samsonov’s left.  Samsonov has now started six straight games and has a disappointing 3-3-0 record in those games, but his underlying numbers – 2.71 goals against average and .911 save percentage – have been decent.  They do, however, need to be better to inspire any confidence that he can carry his fair share of the load as the postseason approaches.  He cannot be a passenger relying on the Caps to us high volume scoring to win games.  He has to show an ability to steal the occasional game.

Power Play: 1-for-7 / 14.3 percent (season: 16.1 percent / 28th).

It just is not a very good power play at the moment.  It is not even a mediocre power play at the moment and has not been for the last couple of months.  Part of the problem was that an important cog was missing for much of that time to injury.  But T.J. Oshie has returned to the lineup, and while one power play goal does not a turnaround make, his getting the Caps’ lone power play strike on a set play from his post in the middle of the Caps’ 1-3-1 set-up was a plus.  Whether it is something on which to build will have to await whether he can continue to produce and occupy defenses a bit more to allow Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson a bit more room to do their work on the man advantage.

Penalty Killing: 4-for-4 / 100.0 percent (season: 79.6 percent / 15th)

The week was not a total loss, style-wise, thanks to the penalty kill.  Allowing only four man advantage chances, killing them all, including killing both chances against the fourth-best power play in the league on their ice and snuffing out both Flyer power plays, including 49 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage, made for a good week in this area.  It was the seventh time in 20 weeks that the Caps were perfect in penalty killing but only the second time in the last seven weeks.  It was also the third time this season the Caps held an opponent to four chances.

Faceoffs: 55-for-109 / 50.5 percent (46.9 percent / 30th)

It was a week that gave credence to the notion that faceoffs don’t matter much.  An uncommon 50-plus percent week in the circle did not give the Caps much push to make it a successful week in wins.  It was, however, an uneven week of the sort that might have had an impact on the Caps’ inability to score.  They won 24 of 51 offensive zone draws (47.8 percent), but the two top scoring line centers – Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov – went a combined 10-for-25 (40.0 percent) in the offensive zone.

The Caps were better in the defensive end, going 18-for-31 (58.1 percent), Nic Dowd and Backstrom finishing over 50 percent and going a combined 12-for-17 (70.6 percent).

It was also an uneven week in terms of game-to-game performance, the Caps winning 32 of 51 draws against New York (62.7 percent) but only winning 23 of 58 faceoffs against the Flyers (39.7 percent), a game in which no Capital finished over 50 percent.

Goals by Period

When a team scores two goals in two games, the goals by period do not impress, and that is the case in Week 20.  The problem for the Caps were those three first period goals, the Caps falling behind first in both games.  The combination of digging themselves early holes and an anemic offense made for a bad week, especially for a club that still finished the week tied for sixth-fewest first period goals allowed but allowed half the goals given up for the week in the first frame.

Year-over-Year

This year’s Caps are sinking more quickly relative to last year’s squad, and that is an ominous sign.  Injuries have taken their toll on this team, but it also has the look of a club that is running out of gas.  While the defense in this team is better compared to last year, the offense is now running at about a quarter goal per game under last year’s scoring pace, despite an edge of more than 100 shots on goal for this team over last through 54 games.  The power play is hopelessly behind last year’s team, but the penalty kill seems to be sagging relative to last year’s as well. 

In the end…

Week 20 was nothing short of a disaster, arguably the low point of the season to date.  Almost no offense, an inability to recover from early deficits, poor power play, and a general lack of spark that has ominous tones as the season heads into the home stretch.  Does this team have enough energy to recover from a poor middle third of the season?  Will a trade really make all that much difference?  These are the sorts of questions one does not ask of a Stanley Cup contender, but here we are with a team that is all but certain to make the playoffs but might be just as certain to make that trip a short one.

Three Stars

• First Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (0-2-2, minus-1, nine shots on goal)
• Second Star: T.J. Oshie (1-0-1, minus-1, one power play goal, six shots on goal, 61.5 winning percentage on faceoffs)
• Third Star: Nic Dowd (0-0-0, even, 65.2 winning percentage on faceoffs, six credited hits)