Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was - Week 2

The Washington Capitals stumbled out of the gate in Week 1, dropping their first two decisions.  But they posted a pair of wins in three games in Week 2 to even their record for the season to date as they prepare to head on the road for Week 3.

Record (2-1-0)

The Caps took small steps to improve themselves in Week 2, following up a 1-2-0 opening week with a 2-1-0 record last week.  It was the second straight week in which the Caps did face a Metropolitan Division opponent, finishing the week having played four games against Atlantic Division foes and a pair against Pacific Division rivals.  The Caps got a chance to renew acquaintances with former coach Bruce Boudreau in Week 2 and after falling behind, 4-2, late in the third period, scored four third period goals to open the week on a winning note.  It looked as if the Caps would continue building on their success when they scored a pair of power play goals in the 11^th minute of the first period against Ottawa, but the Senators rallied to score five unanswered goals (two into an empty net) to skate off with a 5-2 win over the Caps.  Washington closed the week coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the second period to beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-3, to even their season record at 3-3-0.

Offense: 4.00/game (season: 3.17 / T-18th)

Washington had a good week in the offensive end of the ice, scoring four or more goals in two of the three contests, both of them wins.  Nine Caps shared in the 12 goals, three Caps each with a pair – John Carlson, Lars Eller, and Alex Ovechkin.  Carlson added three assists to lead the team with five points for the week.  Thirteen players recorded at least one point, ten of them with multi-point weeks.  Carlson also led the Caps in shots on goal with 14, extending what has been a prolific start in the shots department for the defenseman, who has 19 shots on goal in six games, tied for fourth among all NHL defensemen and six more than Dmitry Orlov among Caps defensemen.  What makes Carlson’s shots on goal a bit more impressive, in a strange since, is that he led the team in missed shots (five).  Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie had the Caps’ first goals in games for the week.

Defense: 4.00/game (season: 3.50/25th)

What the offense giveth, the defense gave back.  The Caps allowed three or more goals in all three games for the week, bringing their total of three-or-more goals allowed in games to five in six contests.  It was not that the Caps allowed a high volume of shots, the 31.8 shots allowed per game ranking 19^th in the league.  What did seem to be a factor, though, was distance.  The ten non-empty net goals scored were achieved from an average distance of 17 feet, and three of them from less than ten feet.  The Caps appeared to get burned on several occasions by cross-ice feeds in deep that left goalie Darcy Kuemper with little chance to reset and defend opponents that had position on Caps defenders.  The Caps were right on the margin in terms of shot attempts at 5-on-5 with 272 attempts for and 274 against (49.8 percent).

Goaltending: 3.36 / .898 (season: 3.06 / .904)

It was Darcy Kuemper’s week, and what seemed to be the case in Week 2 is that communications remain to be settled, but as noted, what might have been more of an issue was the Caps leaving Kuemper to defend scoring chances too often from in-close, opponents getting chances for inside position on cross-ice feeds or avoiding having their sticks tied up by Caps defenders.  Kuemper’s perio-by-period performance mirrored, as one would expect, the defense in front of him.  He posted fine save percentages in the first periods of games (.947) and in the third periods of games (.946), but lagged in the second periods (.833).  Part of the problem might have been shot volumes, Kuemper facing a total of 42 second period shots in the three games while facing just 19 first period shots and 37 third period shots.  He had a decent week at even strength, stopping 88 of 98 shots, his .920 save percentage at evens ranking 21^st among 57 goalies to play in Week 2.

Power Play: 4-for-10 / 40.0 percent (season: 23.8 percent / 14th)

It was a good week for the power play, the second best in the league (Colorado: 57.1 percent).  And the Caps were efficient in their use of time as well.  Despite ten power play chances, the Caps spent just 4:40 in power play ice time in total for the week.  Twice they scored power play goals in the first half minute of a power play.  Four different Caps had power play goals – Dylan Strome, Anthony Mantha, T.J. Oshie, and Alex Ovechkin, with Ovechkin extending his lead in all-time power play goals with the 286^th of his career.  Eight different Caps had power play points with Marcus Johansson leading the team for the week (0-3-3).  Ovechkin led the team with four power play shots on goal, but Strome was right behind him with three in part of what has been a good start for the off-season acquisition overall.

Penalty Killing 3-for-6 / 50.0 percent (season: 66.7 percent / 30th)

It was not a good week for the penalty killers, efficiency-wise.  Washington finished last in the league for the week with the 50.0 percent kill rate.  The good part was that they only had to ice the penalty killing unit six times; only St. Louis had fewer shorthanded situations per game (1.0) than the Caps (2.0).  The quartet of Martin Fehervary, Conor Sheary, John Carlson, and Lars Eller were on ice for two power play goals against.

Faceoffs: 69-for-167 / 41.3 percent (41.3 percent / 30th)

At least the Caps are consistent in this category.  For the second straight week they finished with a 41.3 winning percentage on faceoffs.  It was a team-wide, rink-wide collapse.  The Caps could not top the 45 winning percentage mark in any of the three zones and were awful in the defensive end (38.6 percent).  No Capital taking at least ten draws could reach 50 percent for the week, and Nic Dowd, usually a reliably effective player on faceoffs, struggled in uncommon fashion (32.5 percent).

Goals by Period

Last season, the Caps were effective in scoring in the second periods of games.  In the early going this season, keeping opponents off the scoreboard in the second is an unwelcome issue.  The seven goals allowed by the Caps in the second periods of the three games in Week 2 tied for most in the league with Winnipeg and San Jose.  The Caps finished strong, though.  The eight third period goals they scored were most in the league for the week.

Year-over-Year

It is not a surprise that the Caps have been sluggish out of the gate with new and missing pieces to deal with, but they do lag behind last season’s six-game performance.  But it is not all that bad.  Yes, the Caps have taken losses in regulation when they did so in extra time last season at this point, but they are still averaging a standings point per game with a depleted lineup and are 3-1-0 in their last four games after starting the season with a pair of losses.  On the good side, the power play is off to a much better start than last season, but then again, it is a two-goal difference over 21 chances and six games.  That the faceoff winning percentage is lower, and significantly so, from last year at this point seems almost inconceivable.  If there is one set of numbers that jumps up, it is credited hits, where the 200 recorded by the Caps through six games this season almost doubles the number they had after six games last season (113).

In the end…

The Caps came into this season looking to at least stay close to the leaders and playoff-eligible teams until their health improves and they get players back into the lineup.  This makes the loss of Connor Brown for what appears an extended period difficult to deal with.  Another forward slot that needs someone to step up.  What has been a bit strange about this is that the Caps have not lacked much for scoring with nine players sharing in the 19 goals scored to date, 17 of them by eight forwards.  If the Caps can clean up their own end more effectively and give their goaltenders fewer instances of having to make big saves from in close, the Caps might be able to build some momentum as they head into Week 3.

Three Stars

• First Star: Marcus Johansson (1-3-4, plus-2, one game-winning goal, three power play points, five shots on goal)
• Second Star: Dmitry Orlov (0-4-4, plus-3, one power play point, six shots on goal, 22:28 in ice time per game)
• Third Star: John Carlson (2-3-5, plus-1, two power play points, 14 shots on goal, 24:03 in ice time per game).