Capitals - Rangers: The Unfamiliarity of Familiar Foes

Familiarity breeds contempt.

So was the moral of the story in Aesop’s fable of The Fox and the Lion. And just as in that fable, so the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers might have developed a sense of contempt for one another having played one another in three playoff series over the last four years.  As we prepare to watch these familiar foes take the ice against each other one more time, it might be instructive (or, failing that, entertaining) to look at the history of the three series.

If you are interested in looking at the contests on a game-by-game basis, here are our post-game reviews of each:

2009 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals:

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

Game 5

Game 6

Game 7

2011 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

Game 5

2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

Game 5

Game 6

Game 7

These teams have played 19 times against one another in three playoff series over the past four season.  The Caps hold a 3-2 edge in series won and an 11-8 edge in wins and losses.  Here are some other facts and thoughts on the history of this long, strange playoff relationship…

-- In 19 games the Caps have outscored the Rangers, 45-34.

-- Of the Rangers eight wins, seven were by one goal, two of them in overtime.  The only time the Rangers won by more than one goal was in Game 1 of last spring’s Eastern Conference semifinals, a 3-1 win.

-- The Caps have an 18.8 percent power play conversion rate over the 19 games – 18.2 percent in 2009, 18.8 percent in 2011, and 20.0 percent in 2012.  They are 7-3 in games in which they recorded at least one power play goal.

-- Conversely, the Caps have an 88.2 percent penalty killing rate – 87.1 percent in 2009, 95.0 percent in 2011, and 84.0 percent in 2012.  They are 2-4 in games in which they allowed at least one power play goal.

-- Although the Caps enjoy a 29.0 – 27.6 advantage in shots per game over the 19 games, the tide swung over the course of the three series.  In 2009 the Caps had a 30.9 – 23.7 shot advantage per game.  In 2011 it was 31.2 – 29.6.  But last spring, it was 30.1 – 25.6 for the Rangers.

-- Overall, the Caps have outscored the Rangers in each period: 13-7 in the first period of games, 16-12 in the second period, and 14-13 in the third period.  Each team has two overtime goals in the series.

-- Seven times in the 19 games the Caps took a lead into the first intermission.  They won all seven games.  Four times the Rangers took a lead into the first intermission.  They won all four games.  The teams split eight games in which they were tied after 20 minutes.

-- The Caps are also 7-for-7 in games in which they led after two periods.  The Rangers are 4-for-5 in such games, losing to the Caps 4-3 in Game 4 of the 2011 Eastern Conference quarterfinals when the Caps came back from being down 3-0 after 40 minutes to win, 4-3, in double overtime.  The Caps are 3-4 when the clubs were even after two periods.

-- Only six Capital skaters have appeared in all three series against the Rangers over the past four seasons: Nicklas Backstrom, John Erskine, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Alex Ovechkin, and Jeff Schultz.  Only four – Backstrom, Green, Laich, and Ovechkin – have appeared in all 19 games.

-- As a group, the gang of six has 15 of the 45 goals scored by the Caps in the series:

• Nicklas Backstrom: 19 games, 1-11-12, plus-4, 8 PIMs
• John Erskine: 13 games, 0-1-1, plus-5, 14 PIMs
• Mike Green: 19 games, 3-9-12, plus-3, 20 PIMs
• Brooks Laich: 19 games, 2-8-10, plus-1, 8 PIMs
• Alex Ovechkin: 19 games, 9-8-17, plus-2, 12 PIMs
• Jeff Schultz: 12 games, 0-0-0, plus-1, 0 PIMs

-- For the Rangers, only two skaters have participated in all three series: Dan Girardi (19 games, 0-3-3, minus-2, 6 PIMs) and Marc Staal (19 games, 2-3-5, minus-3, 8 PIMs).  Ryan Callahan might have made three, but he suffered a fractured leg just before the start of the 2011 playoffs and did not dress for any post-season games. 

-- In three playoff series covering 19 games, the Caps have used four goaltenders:

• 2009 – Jose Theodore: 0-1, 4.08, .810
• 2009 – Semyon Varlamov: 4-2, 1.17, .952, 2 shutouts
• 2011 – Michal Neuvirth: 4-1, 1.37, .946, 1 shutout
• 2012 – Braden Holtby: 3-4, 1.90, .929

-- On the other side, Henrik Lundqvist has been the goalie of record in all 19 decisions in the three playoff series: 8-11, 2.26, .917, 1 shutout.

On the surface we have two teams that know one another.  But in fact there has been a lot of turnover on these rosters.  The teams will be familiar with one another from last spring’s tightly fought series (13 skaters that dressed for the Rangers saw action last spring; 15 skaters for the Caps), but there isn’t much of a shared playoff history beyond that.  That will make the series familiar enough to fans by the colors of the jerseys, but whether it resembles any of the previous three series is a far more uncertain matter.

Washington Capitals -- That Was The Week That Was: Week 14

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” 

It is a theme in how-to books on success, it is a theme for fables, it shows up in thoughts on business.  In this, the last week of the regular season, let’s take a look at how the Washington Capitals finished.

Record: 2-0-1

The Caps finished the season with 11 consecutive weeks of going .500 or better in earning standings points.  Their 2-0-1 week was their fourth consecutive winning week in that regard over which they went 9-1-1.  It was all part of a finishing kick in which they went 15-2-2 after losing in Pittsburgh on March 19^th.  The three games played at home this week allowed the Caps to rehabilitate what had been a mediocre home-ice record.  They ended their home season on a 7-0-1 run to go 15-8-1 after starting the 2013 season 8-8-0 on Verizon Center ice.

Offense: 3.00 (season: 3.04 / rank: 5^th)

Over their long push to make the playoffs the Caps were led on offense more often than not by Alex Ovechkin.  He had a good week to end the season (2-3-5) to finish atop the league rankings in goals scored and win the Maurice Richard Trophy that goes with (he is the first three-time winner of the trophy since it was introduced in the 1998-1999 season).  This week, however, the story was Mike Green.  The defenseman finished the week 2-3-5, led the team in shots on goal (16), and ended the season with the most goals of any defenseman in the league – 12 in only 35 games played.  Folks have wondered if Alex Ovechkin is “back”… more attention should be given to Green’s comeback from injury and low production over the last two seasons.

Defense: 2.33 (season: 2.71 / rank: 18^th)

The Caps had issues with shots on goal allowed all season, and this week was no different.  The 102 shots on goal by Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Boston are consistent with the season profile (34.0 shots/game this week, 32.3/game for the season).  It puts a premium on holding teams to poor shooting percentages, and in this respect the Caps are middle-of-the road.  The 6.9 percent shooting percentage this week was lower than that the Caps recorded for the season (8.4 percent), and allowed the Caps to finish fifth among Eastern Conference playoff teams heading into the playoffs (better than Pittsburgh (8.5), Montreal (9.6), and the New York Islanders (10.0)).  And it is not as if their improved fortunes in wins and losses made a difference.  The Caps allowed 32.6 shots per game in going 15-2-2 in their last 19 games

Goaltending: 2.28 / .931 (season: 2.65 / .917 / 4 shutouts)

After Week 5, Caps goaltending was not what one would call “elite.”  To that point the Caps goalies had a cumulative 3.24 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage.  Since then, things improved significantly.  This week, both Braden Holtby and Michal Neuvirth got work, and both performed well.  Holtby stopped 56 of 61 shots (.918 save percentage), but his was a case of being good early and late with some issues in-between.  Holtby stopped 14 of 15 first period shots (.933) and 21 of 22 third period shots (.956), but he was only 21 for 24 in the middle periods of the two games he worked this week (.875).  Meanwhile, Michal Neuvirth was superb in his first action since April 9^th.  He stopped 39 of 41 shots in a 2-1 overtime loss to Ottawa.  Despite the lack of work, he is 2-0-1, 1.99, .940 in his last three appearances.  Despite serving primarily as a backup this season, he was rewarded with a new two-year, $5.0 million contract.

Power Play: 3-7 / 42.9 percent (season: 26.8 percent / 1^st)

The Caps finished their week with their seventh 30-plus percent power play week over the last 12 weeks.  It was not a matter of consistency as much as volume.  The Caps had only one power play opportunity in each of the first two games of the week and did not score on either of the two power play shots on goal they had in each game.  But against Boston the Bruins took six minor penalties, four of them in the third period (resulting in three Caps power plays) and another in overtime of the Caps’ 3-2 win.  The Caps shot 3-for-12 against the B’s to allow them to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win their season finale.  Mike Green was the key.  He had six power play shots on goal, two of them coming in the third period – both of them resulting in goals – and another three in the overtime.  It was his last one, a shot that handcuffed Boston goalie Tuukka Rask, that provided a rebound that Eric Fehr swatted home for the win.  For the Caps, the season has been one of improvement after a slow start, then a sustained high level of performance.  It is worth noting that the 44 power play goals recorded by the Caps in 48 games exceeds their total for the entire 82-game 2011-2012 season (41).

Penalty Killing: 8-10 / 80.0 percent (season: 77.9 percent / rank: 27^th)

It has been a struggle, but the Caps have made improvements in their penalty killing as the season wore on.  This week, though, they fell into an old habit.  Allow three or more power play chances for the opponent, and things get dicey.  The Caps were 2-for-3 against Winnipeg and was 4-for-5 against Ottawa, the power play goal being the game-winner in the latter contest.  The Caps killed off both shorthanded situations they faced against Boston to save the week.  What it meant is that the Caps “three shorthanded situations” threshold held for the season.  The number of situations did not matter in terms of efficiency – the Caps had a penalty killing rate of 78.1 percent when facing fewer than three shorthanded situations and a rate of 77.9 percent when facing three or more. 

However, the Caps were 14-3-0 when facing fewer than three shorthanded situations and 13-15-3 when facing three or more.  The best penalty killing the Caps had this season was staying out of the box.  If there is a sliver of a silver lining in this, here it is.  In the last five games in which the Caps faced three or more shorthanded situations they were 17-for-19.  An 89.5 percent penalty killing rate is not bad, no matter how many situations you face, and they have been improving, slow but sure, over the course of the season.

Hits/Blocked Shots: 98 / 51 (season rank: 18^th / 8^th)

Odd week.  In the three games the Caps had a tight pattern of results in both hits and blocked shots – 33, 31, and 34 hits in the three games; 17, 16, and 18 hits.  All three games were at home.  Coincidence?  If there was a noteworthy performance, it was that of John Erskine, who recorded 14 of the 98 hits for the week and 10 of the 51 blocked shots. In 46:27 of total ice time.  He seems to have his ornery on.

Faceoffs: 113-197 / 57.4 percent (season: 50.8 percent / rank: T-10^th)

It was a very good week for the Caps in the circle overall.  It would have been a lot better without that Ottawa game.  In the 2-1 overtime loss the Caps were just 46.7 percent in the offensive end, but more than that it was taking only 15 draws in the offensive zone to 29 in the defensive zone (the Caps were 20-for-29 there, 69.0 percent).  For the week the Caps were excellent in the defensive zone – 46-for-76 (60.5 percent).  The offensive zone could use a bit of work (37-for-56, 48.2 percent), but the real bright spot was beating the league’s best faceoff team – Boston – by a 33-25 overall margin.

Turnovers: minus-8

It looks bad, but the minus-8 is a function of having only 34 takeaways on the week.  No Cap had more than two takeaways in any one game.  Karl Alzner had four to lead the Caps, and maybe that (and being on-ice for only one even-strength goal against) means an up-tick in his game.

In the end…

The Caps came a long way.  We pointed out on multiple occasions the unlikelihood that they would be able to overcome that 2-8-1 start. But overcome it they did, and they did it with a flourish in the final week of the season, capturing five of six possible standings points and winning the Southeast Division.  For this week, the Capitals finished much better than they started and came within an overtime slap shot of finishing the season with a perfect record for the week.  The idea of it not mattering where you start, but where you finish is one of those sayings that is more catchy than it is true, but sometimes it applies.  It makes one want to sing about it… 

A TWO-point night -- Game 48: Capitals 3 - Bruins 2 (OT)

It seemed rather fitting that the Washington Capitals should struggle early, find their footing, then come roaring back late and grab an overtime victory over the Boston Bruins, 3-2, this evening at Verizon Center.  It was their season in a nutshell.

When Boston scored a goal in the first – a Milan Lucic shot that ticked off the toe of Karl Alzner’s skate and past goalie Braden Holtby – and then again in the second when Andrew Ference ripped a wrist shot to the back of the net, it looked as if the Caps might go quick and quiet into the night to close the regular season.

But they came back in the third period, thanks to the parade of the circus bears to the penalty box.  First it was Adam McQuaid taking a tripping penalty at 5:11 of the period.  The Caps won the ensuing faceoff and kept the puck in the Bruin zone with some hard work in front of goalie Tuukka Rask.  The puck eventually found its way onto the stick of Mike Green at the right point.  Green wristed a harmless enough looking shot at the Boston net, but Zdeno Chara took that moment to play “air goalie” and think he had a blocker on his right hand.  Chara flicked his arm up as if he was blocking the shot away, and the only purpose that served was to send Rask into a fit when the puck sailed over Rask’s blocker into the far top corner of the net.

Green figured in the beginning, middle, and end of the next power play.  He started it by drawing a tripping call on Rich Peverley barely a minute after his goal.  Then, he started a rush from the Caps’ end of the ice, sending a long lead pass to Mike Ribeiro at the Boston Blue line.  Ribeiro skate through the right wing faceoff circle, then fed the puck back to Green entering the zone.  Green one-timed the puck over Rask’s right pad, and the Caps were even with the Bruins 7:21 into the third period.

That would be it for the scoring in regulation time, but the Caps would go into the extra frame having to kill a penalty to – who else – Mike Green.  The Caps killed that off without a shot on goal for Boston, then grabbed the momentum.  The Caps pressured the Bruins net, eventually leading to Zdeno Chara taking a hooking penalty on Mike Ribeiro to give the Caps their fifth power play of the game and fourth since the 5:11 mark of the third period.  At that point, it was a matter of time.

The last sequence started with – you guessed it – Green slowly skating over the Bruins’ blue line and backhanding the puck over to Mike Ribeiro on the right wing.  Ribeiro skated the puck down into the right wing faceoff circle, then lined up Green for a one-timer from the opposite circle.  Green fired, handcuffing Rask, who had to make an awkward save with his right shoulder.  Rask was not in position to defend the rebound, and it was Eric Fehr swooping in before Wade Redden could tie up his stick to lift the puck past the fallen Rask and into the back of the net for the game-winner.

Other stuff…

-- Mike Green finished with a rush.  His three-point night (2-1-3) was his first such night since he had a four-point night (2-2-4) against Detroit in a 7-1 win on October 22, 2011.  He finished 4-7-11 in his last eight games.

-- Green finished the season leading all NHL defensemen in goals (12) in just 35 games.  That is a 28-goal pace over 82 games.

-- Alex Ovechkin had two assists to finish in a tie for third place in overall scoring with Sidney Crosby (united once again) at 56 points.  Ovechkin won the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer (32).  He also finished the season first in power play goals (16) and tied with teammate Mike Ribeiro in power play points (27).

-- It might have been Ovechkin’s backchecking on a Rich Peverley break that was a difference-maker, though.  Ovechkin was deft enough to get a body on Peverley without incurring an infraction, interrupting Peverley as he was about to try to give Boston what might have been an insurmountable 3-0 lead on a shorthanded goal.

-- Ribeiro’s two assists lifted him into a top-ten finish in points (49), tied with Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk and a top-five finish in assists (36).

-- The three power play goals by the Caps tied a season high for the club, set when the Caps went 3-for-5 against Florida in a 4-3 win on April 6^th.  The Caps finished the regular season with 44 power play goals.  In all of last season, the Caps had 41 power play goals over 82 games.

-- Braden Holtby’s 32 save effort closed a fast finish of the season.  After going 3-4-0, 4.04, .874 in his first seven appearances, he went 20-8-1, 2.26, .930 in his last 29 appearances.  He allowed two or fewer goals in 15 of those 29 games.

-- John Erskine was laying the lumber in this one – seven of the Caps’ 34 recorded hits. 

-- Eric Fehr had two game-winning goals this season, both against Boston, both in overtime, both against Tuukka Rask, both while getting knocked down in front of the Bruins’ net.

-- Milan Lucic scored only his third goal in his last 30 games, but the Caps managed to hold the trio of Brad Marchand, Tyler Seguin, and Patrice Bergeron without a point.

-- Troy Brouwer recorded an assist to finish the season with 33 points, his total for all 82 games of last season.

In the end, it was a satisfying win against a stout opponent.  Just the sort of game the Caps needed to head into the post-season to face – again – the New York Rangers.  With a record of 25-10-2 to close the season, Caps fans could not ask for a better way to move forward, especially with their best players playing well and the team getting contributions from all over the lineup.  But as Caps fans are also too aware, their record as of now is 0-0.  Time to go to work.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 48: Bruins at Capitals, April 27th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

Well, here we are.  It almost seems as though the season just started, and we are at the end of it.  And here, at the end of the 2013 regular season, the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins find themselves in places they might not have thought when the season started that they would occupy as they face off against one another in Game 48.

For the Bruins, leading the Northeast Division and standing in second place in the Eastern Conference is not necessarily a surprise, but having faced a season-long challenge by the Montreal Canadiens for supremacy in the Northeast Division has to be regarded at least as a mild surprise, and heading into Game 47 on their schedule (it would have been Game 48 but for their Patriots Day game against Ottawa being postponed) with a 2-4-1 record in their last seven games has to be considered unexpected.

For the Caps, not many people thought of them as being on a short list of Stanley Cup contenders when the season began, and when they stumbled, bumbled, and fumbled their way to a 2-8-1 start, they were given up for dead as far as being a playoff contender at all was concerned.  However, a 24-10-2 rush in their next 36 games propelled them to the top of the Southeast and in more than a few conversations as being a team to watch as the playoffs begin next week.

The Bruins come into this game a team in an uncertain state.  On the one hand, in their 2-4-1 run of late their goaltending and defense has not been a problem.  They have limited their last four opponents to 30 or fewer shots and have allowed only 16 goals against in the seven games over all (2.29).  Tuukka Rask has shutouts in his last two appearances.

However, on the other hand the Bruins cannot seem to remember where the back of the net is.  In those same seven games Boston has only 14 goals scored and has scored more than two goals just once (a 3-0 shutout of Florida last Sunday).

Tyler Seguin has had a pretty good stretch of late.  He has a hand in five of the 14 goals Boston scored over their recent 2-4-1 run (3-2-5).  It represents a turnaround of sorts for Seguin, who was 2-0-2 in his previous seven games.  Dan Paille and Brad Marchand each have a pair of goals in these last seven games, but after that, scoring gets thin quickly.  Only seven other players have one goal apiece, and the only other player with as many as three points over those games – Jaromir Jagr(1-3-4) – will be out for this game with a case of the flu.

As for getting any scoring help from the blueline, no defenseman has a goal for Boston in these last seven games, and the four defensemen with assists are merely tied in scoring with their goaltender, Tuukka Rask, who had an assist in a 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh last Saturday.

Speaking of Rask, he has been superb.  He is just 2-3-0 in this seven-game stretch in six appearances (he came on in relief of Anton Khudobin in a 5-2 loss to Philadelphia last Tuesday), but his goals against average of 1.89 and save percentage of .941 with two shutouts has been top-notch.  The question here is whether Rask will get a tune-up against the Caps on Saturday and sit for Sunday’s finale against Ottawa, or if head coach Claude Julien will hold him out of this game to face the Senators on Sunday.

Here is how the teams come into this final game of the year, numbers-wise…

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Boston: Carl Soderberg

For a fellow who has four games of NHL experience, Carl Soderberg has certainly had an interesting road getting there.  It started back in 2004 when the Malmö Redhawk center in the Swedish Elite League was drafted in the second round (49^th overall) by the St. Louis Blues.  But a Redhawk he was then, and a Redhawk he remained, right through the 2010-2011 season.  During that time, his rights were traded to the Boston Bruins – on July 23, 2007 – for goalie Hannu Toivonen.  And then, even after that last season with Malmö, Soderberg did not hop the pond.  He played for Linköpings HC in the SEL the last two seasons.  But then things, as they say, took a turn.  Set to come to Boston, the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation blocked his release to the NHL so that he would play for the Swedish national team in the World Championships.  Soderberg then declined to play for the national team.  He finally signed his first NHL contract two weeks ago today.  A long and winding road, indeed.  Oh, and he is 0-2-2 in his four games so far.  As for Toivonen, he ended up playing for Malmö in the 2011-2012 season.  Small world.

Washington: Braden Holtby

Braden Holtby got a night off on Thursday, and now it’s time to put his war face on, so to speak.  He will not be getting a rest, all other things being equal, until the Caps season is over.  Overall, he has been excellent down the stretch.  Since the Caps last faced Boston (Holtby did not figure in that decision), Holtby is 13-3-1, 2.26, .929, with one shutout.  But while he is capable of the superior performance (six times in 17 games he allowed fewer than two goals), he can have the occasional stinker.  He has a couple of five-goals allowed performances in there, too.  Caps fans will hope that “occasional” becomes “rare” from here on out.  He is 2-0-0, 2.54, .919 in two career regular season appearances against Boston.

Keys:

1.  Dress rehearsal.  In a sense, the Caps have been in a playoff mode for quite some time, given the challenge they faced coming from so far back in the standings. But now, it is time to work out whatever kinks they have left to work out.  This is a game where the phrase, :”play the right way” really does apply.

2.  Time + Space = Quick Decisions.  Boston is a team that takes away time and space, trying to intimidate teams physically.  The Caps need to make quick – and smart – decisions with the puck.

3.  Fine Grind.  One problem the Caps have had in the post-season in recent years is getting contributions from the bottom half of the forward lines.  Starting now with those kinds of contributions is part of the “dress rehearsal.”

 

In the end…

This is a good test for the Caps going into the post-season.  Boston still has something to play for, still looking to clinch the Northeast Division title and a two-seed in the playoffs.  The Caps also will be getting the “hot” goaltender in Tuukka Rask (two shutouts in his last two complete games).  And, there is not a lot to play for on an individual basis.  Steven Stamkos might get a hat trick against Florida to tie Alex Ovechkin for the Richard Trophy, but it would not be the way to bet (he does not have a hat trick this season).  Besides, this team really does have the look of “team first” about it.  They are ready for their final rehearsal before the post season.

Capitals 3 – Bruins 2

A ONE-point night -- Game 47: Senators 2 - Capitals 1 (OT)

It was a night to settle things, just not for the Washington Capitals.

The Capitals settled their business on Tuesday, making last night’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators less meaningful for them than for their opponent.  The win clinched a playoff spot for Ottawa, which became the seventh team in the Eastern Conference to claim a playoff spot (the New York Rangers would claim the last spot with a 4-3 win over Carolina).

Wins are always better than losses at this time of year, but the important point for the Caps was to maintain focus and play their game.  At this they succeeded, to a point.  Holding an NHL team – any NHL team, even one as offensively challenged as the Senators – to two goals in more than 60 minutes of play is evidence of good defense, or at least good goaltending.  Michal Neuvirth, relieving Braden Holtby on this evening, held the Senators to a tip in and a 4-on-3 power play goal.  It was a fine effort given that he had not seen action in more than two weeks.

For the Capitals, Alex Ovechkin recorded his 32^nd goal of the season, settling a bouncing puck off a pass from Marcus Johansson, turning defenseman Chris Phillips inside out, curing through the right wing circle and backhanding the puck past goalie Craig Anderson’s right pad.

That was it for the scoring in a game played at a pace much more to Ottawa’s style than Washington's, much like the game in Ottawa a week earlier.  That it wasn’t worse for the Caps in a game with little meaning (other than as a potential playoff preview, since the Senators reside in sixth place at the moment) might be taken as a positive.

Other stuff…

-- If Alex Ovechkin, who scored last night, can manage two goals in the finale on Saturday he will tie former Capital Peter Bondra for the NHL record in goals recorded in a lockout-shortened 48-game season (34).

-- It was hard to tell if as the game went on, was it the Caps’ attention wandering or the Senators clamping down?  Ten shots… six…four…none.  Craig Anderson has had his issues with low shot-volume games, but he was not severely tested.

-- Part of the problem for the Caps was their inability to achieve any rhythm, especially in that third period when they had only four shots on goal.  They spent 4:58 of the third period killing penalties (they had no power plays of their own). 

-- It might be worth noting that the Caps shot themselves in the foot by taking four offensive zone penalties (one of them part of a coincidental set of minor penalties) for the night.  Another way to upset one’s rhythm.

-- A 4-on-3 situation creates a lot of space for teams, but it was the lack of it – that small space between Mika Zibanejad’s backside and Michal Neuvirth – that was the difference.  Neuvirth was peeking at Sergei Gonchar past Zibandejad’s left hip on the game’s final play, and just as Gonchar wound up to take his slap shot, Zibanejad slid ever so slightly into Neuvirth’s field of view.  Neuvirth could not see the shot coming, reacting just that split second too late to the puck sailing by past Zibanejad’s right hip for the game-winner.

-- Erik Karlsson would appear healthy. Eight shots on goal, 12 attempts, two assists.  Does this mean he’s going to get Norris Trophy votes, now?

-- Ten of the Caps’ 18 skaters had more hits than shots on goal.  Not sure that’s a trend worth sustaining.

-- The top line of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Marcus Johansson had only four shots on goal for the game (Ovechkin had three of them).  Might not have been an “always intense” effort.

-- The second line of Mike Ribeiro, Martin Erat, and Troy Brouwer had four shots on goal, too (Brouwer had three of them). 

-- The defense had nine shots on goal.  By itself, that is probably a good thing, but if they constitute 45 percent of the total for the team, the goalie is not going to have a particularly hard night.

-- The less said about Mike Ribeiro taking two penalties in the last 4:52 of the game, the better.

-- How good was Michal Neuvirth in this game?  Ottawa shelled him with 23 shots in the third period, part of a 37-attempt effort in those last 20 minutes.  Washington had only 43 shot attempts for the entire contest. 

In the end, there will be a fair amount of navel-gazing about this game.  Third time in three games the Caps lost to the Senators, only four goals scored in the season series, Ottawa has their number, yadda-yadda-yadda.  We are not buying it.  It would be only human to have a letdown of some sort after clinching an unexpected division title two nights earlier, and the Caps looked as if they, well, let down.  The last time the Caps lost to the Senators they went right back to work, beating Montreal and Winnipeg to wrap things up in the Southeast Division.  The next time the Caps meet the Senators, we think the Senators will have the Caps’ full and undivided attention.  Don’t read too much into this result.