Washington Capitals: 2013-2014 By the Tens -- Forwards: Tom Wilson

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/new_2.html#4faSeVP5MUi4hqZy.99

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions."

-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

On April 26, 2013, Tom Wilson had an assist for his Plymouth Whalers’ on a game-tying goal with just 4:33 in regulation, capping a furious Whaler comeback from a 4-0 deficit to force overtime in Game 5 of Plymouth’s Ontario Hockey League playoff series against the London Knights. Alas, London would score in overtime to eliminate the Whalers and end the junior hockey career for Tom Wilson.

Two weeks later Wilson would find himself dressing for Game 5 of the Washington Capitals’ Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series against the New York Rangers. Alas, the Caps would lose that series in a seventh game.

On October 1, 2013, just 466 days after Wilson was drafted 16th overall by the Capitals in the 2012 entry draft, he found himself in the Caps’ lineup in the 2013-2014 season opener in Chicago to face the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks. Alas, the season did not end well for the Caps, as they failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

Before you start thinking that maybe Tom Wilson had something to do with the outcomes described above, stop. We mark them only to point out that it has been something of a whirlwind ride for Wilson in less than six months, from competing in a playoff series in junior hockey to doing so on a bigger stage just weeks later to finding himself in the Opening Night lineup in the NHL at the tender age of 19.

Maybe it was too fast, at least the last part about making the Opening Night roster for the Caps to start the 2013-2014 season. That, however, was a strategic decision taken by the Caps due to a lack of a full range of alternatives. Personnel rules dictated that the Caps’ choices were to keep Wilson on the parent roster or return him to Plymouth for a final year of junior hockey. Giving him a year in Hershey to hone his skills with the Bears was not an option.

So, young Tom Wilson got to spend his apprenticeship at the top rung of the organizational ladder. What he did not get as part of this apprenticeship was a lot of experience, at least on the ice in games. Wilson averaged 7:56 in ice time per game. Of 34 rookie forwards playing in at least half of their teams’ games this season, Wilson was 32nd in average ice time. Here is another way to look at that. Wilson skated 651 total minutes this season in 82 games, 24th in total minutes among rookie forwards. Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov just above Wilson with 682 minutes, but he did it in just 52 games played (13:06/game).

Wilson, as befits his limited ice time, did not rank especially highly among his rookie forward cohort – 39 in points (10), tied for 41st in goals (3), tied for 33rd in assists (7), 31st in shots on goal (63). There was an area in which he did rank highly, though. Wilson led all rookie forwards by a wide margin in penalty minutes with 157 (24 more than Edmonton’s Luke Gazdic). He was just one minute behind Tampa Bay defenseman Radko Gudas for the top spot among all rookie skaters.

A large portion of that was the product of Wilson’s willingness to stand up for himself and teammates. He was fifth in the league in fighting majors (14). But there was a general edginess to his game that was reflected in his penalty profile. If you look at the penalties of a more violent nature, Wilson has a broad-spectrum resume: roughing (6 penalties/12 minutes), high-sticking (2/4), cross-checking (2/4) elbowing (1/2), boarding (1/2), charging (3/9, including a major penalty), instigator (1/2), and slashing (2/4). Add in a game misconduct and two ten minute misconducts, and a total of 139 of his 151 total penalty minutes (92.1 percent) were the product of his “edginess.”

His apprenticeship was brief in terms of ice time; we did not say it was easy.

Fearless’ Take… How many players did Tom Wilson play more than 100 minutes with this season at 5-on-5? Jay Beagle, Aaron Volpatti, and… uh, that’s it. Beagle and Volpatti. And you wonder how he put up meager offensive numbers?

Cheerless’ Take… Cuz, Wilson played more than five 5-on-5 minutes with 17 forwards this season. Know how many he played with where they had a Corsi-for percentage over 50 percent? Martin Erat and… uh, that’s it.  Erat.

Fearless’ Rebuttal… Hold on, cuz. Take a look at Beagle and Volpatti, those two guys he spent most of his time with. With Wilson, Beagle was 49.1 percent; apart he was 41.7 percent. With Wilson, Volpatti was 42.6 percent; apart Volpatti was 28.6 percent (no, that is not a typo). Even Erat was worse apart from Wilson (49.7 percent) than with him (54.1 percent), although you might chalk that up to quality of competition effects.

Odd Wilson Fact… Tom Wilson was one of only three rookie forwards to play in all 82 games this season. The others were Nathan MacKinnon and Tyler Johnson, who also happen to be finalists for the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year.

Game to Remember… November 5th versus New York Islanders. You always remember your first, and for Tom Wilson there were two of them on this night.  The Caps were hosting the Islanders fresh off a Gimmick win over the Florida Panthers that got the Caps to 7-7-0, the first time they were at .500 since they split their first two games of the season.  The Islanders were feeling fat and happy having won consecutive games for the first time in the 2013-2014 season, the second win coming at the expense of the Boston Bruins. 

The teams exchanged the lead several times.  New York scored first on a goal by John Tavares early in the first period.  The Caps grabbed the lead on goals by John Carlson and Alex Ovechkin, the latter on a power play, 75 seconds apart early in the second.  The Isles tied it 17 seconds after the Ovechkin goal, but the Caps took the lead back just 2:12 later on a Marcus Johansson power play goal.  Then, just 1:20 after the Johansson goal, the Caps stuck in the dagger.

Wilson started the play when he collected a loose puck in the Capitals’ zone, turned up ice, and backhanded the puck across the ice to Steve Oleksy heading up the right wing.  Oleksy carried it to the Islander line, then sent the puck back to Wilson filling in on the left side.  With a burst of speed, Wilson leaned hard into the middle, drawing a delayed tripping call from Frans Nielsen as he reached the top of the crease and tumbled to the ice with Nabokov going down to try to seal the left side of the net.  Wilson did not give up on the play, though.  From the seat of his pants to the left of goalie Evgeni Nabokov, Wilson threaded a pass through the skates of Islander Josh Bailey and onto the stick of the Caps’ Alexander Urbom.  From the top of the left wing circle, Urbom wound up and fired a slap shot past Nabokov before he could scramble to his feet, giving Urbom his first NHL goal in almost two years and Wilson his first NHL point.

The Caps made it 5-2 before the second intermission, but there was still one item of unfinished business.  With 15:25 gone in the third period Thomas Hickey was sent off for holding Alex Ovechkin.  On the ensuing power play the Caps worked the Islanders in their own zone for a faceoff when a puck was deflected into the crowd.  On the next draw, Mikhail Grabovski pulled the puck back to Ovechkin who faked a shot and walked the puck a couple of steps down the left wing.  He retraced his steps to the top of the faceoff circle, then threw the puck into the middle where Wilson was sliding into the slot.  Wilson redirected the puck past Nabokov for his first NHL goal and first multi-point game in the Caps’ 6-2 win.  All in all, Wilson had a “Wilson Hat Trick,” a goal, an assist, and a ten-minute misconduct penalty he took with seven seconds left.

Game to Forget… December 10^th versus Tampa Bay.  On a night when pucks would be flying into nets with alarming frequency, Tom Wilson would barely get a sniff of the action, let alone get in on the fun.  The Caps fell behind early to the Lightning, 3-0, just 11:07 into the game.  That put a premium on offense for the Caps, and Wilson being as green as he was, head coach Adam Oates super glued him to the bench.  The strategy paid off, the Caps clawing all the way back to tie the game with 32.4 seconds left before winning it in the trick shot competition.  For Wilson it was a short, forgettable night.  Five shifts (only one in each of the second and third periods), 3:17 of ice time, no points, no shot attempts.

In the end…

It is one thing to come up short when presented with opportunities to excel.  If this had been the case with Tom Wilson, you might say, “okay, at least it was a learning experience.”  But in this instance Wilson logged fewer than 700 total minutes for the season and did it largely with linemates who might have dragged down his performance more than vice versa.  Even though Wilson dressed for 82 games it would be hard to say just what the Caps have here.  In the limited instances in which he was given more responsibility or more exposure to higher quality teammates at the offensive end he did not look out of place.  Consider it something to build on; you’ll sleep better.

Grade: B

Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals: 2013-2014 By the Tens -- Forwards: Joel Ward

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

-- George Eliot

In his first four seasons in the NHL Joel Ward was one of a class of hockey player who toils largely anonymously, so far as professional athletes go.  He was the player who might chip in an occasional goal or two, but was called upon more often to do the heavy lifting in the corners and along the walls, in the hard work areas of an NHL hockey rink, freeing pucks for teammates to carry to the net.

Then Ward had his turn in the spotlight, scoring seven goals in 12 post season games for the Nashville Predators in the 2011 post season.  It was just the ticket for a player entering unrestricted free agency.  It would be the Washington Capitals that offered Ward a contract to his liking, a four year deal, and Ward joined the team bringing the hope that he could extend his 2011 playoff performance into four years of hard-nosed, opportunistic effort.

Two years later, Ward had 14 goals in 112 regular season games and two goals in 21 post-season games, one of them rather memorable.  Still, it might not have been quite what Ward or fans had in mind when he arrived in Washington.

That changed in 2013-2014.  One of the things that plagued Ward in his first two seasons in Washington was his inability to sustain good starts to seasons.  He got out of the gate with a solid effort this past season, going 3-3-6 in his first ten-game segment and 6-1-7 in his second segment.  He slowed down a bit in his third segment (0-4-4), but picked up in the fourth (3-3-6) and sustained that level of effort over the remainder of the season to finish with career highs in goals (24), assists (25), points (49), power play goals (6), power play assists (4) shorthanded goals (2, tied with his total in 2008-2009), game-winning goals (4, tied with his total from 2010-2011), and shooting percentage (18.0 percent).

Ward’s performance was the embodiment of the importance of secondary scoring.  In 21 games in which he recorded a goal the Caps were 13-3-5; they were 21-10-7 in 38 games in which he recorded a point.  He was part of what was the most consistently effective line for the Caps this season with Eric Fehr and Jason Chimera. 

Ward was an especially effective teammate.  Consider the two forwards with whom he spent most of his 5-on-5 ice time: Jason Chimera (84.3 percent of Ward’s 5-on-5 ice time) and Eric Fehr (36.5 percent).  When paired with Ward, Chimera had a goals-for percentage of 53.8 percent, Fehr had a goals-for percent of 53.6.  When apart from Ward those percentages dropped to 41.7 percent for Chimera and 45.2 percent for Fehr.  However, Ward carried his 50-plus goals-for percent with him when he was apart from Chimera (57.1) and Fehr (54.2).

Fearless’ Take… Of 201 forwards recording at least 100 power play minutes this season, Joel Ward had the ninth best shooting percentage (27.3 percent).  Ward had six goals on 22 shots in 142 minutes.  He was very economical in his use of power play time as well.  He had one power play goal per 23.8 minutes of power play time, 28^th best in the league among those 201 forwards.

Cheerless’ Take… Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.  Not to say Joel Ward wasn’t good, but let’s not get too carried away.  For instance, among Capital forwards playing in at least 10 games Joel Ward had the second lowest offensive zone start shares at 5-on-5 (44.8 percent, to Jason Chimera’s 43.8 percent).  Despite the burden of low offensive zone start frequency he had the highest PDO among forwards playing at least 20 games with the Caps (102.7).  That number was more the product of on-ice shooting percentage (10.3 percent, tops among that set of forwards) than on-ice save percentage (92.4 percent, seventh among those forwards).  That 10.3 percent on-ice shooting percentage was itself largely a product of Ward’s own shooting percentage at 5-on-5 – 14.7 percent, best among those forwards and 20^th of 292 forwards playing in at least 75 percent of their team’s games.  Makes one wonder if Ward’s season wasn’t puck-lucky as much as plucky.

Odd Ward Fact… In six season coming into the 2013-2014 campaign Joel Ward had two career four-game point streaks.  In the 2013-2014 season he had three such streaks, all of them coming in the 2014 portion of the season.

Game to Remember… November 1^st versus Philadelphia.  With the Capitals heading to Philadelphia to face the Flyers and Alex Ovechkin being held out of the lineup with an upper-body injury sustained against the Vancouver Canucks, someone had to step up in a big way for the Caps.  On a night that was all Caps, a lot of guys did, but none stepped up higher than Joel Ward.  With the Caps holding a 1-0 lead early in the second period, Ward picked up a loose puck behind the Flyers’ net.  Skating the puck around into the corner to the right of goalie Steve Mason, Brayden Schenn tried to cut Ward off.  Ward spun away leaving Schenn defending air. Ward walked out from behind the net and tried to stuff the puck under Mason.  The first whack didn’t work, but the second one did to put the Caps up, 2-0.

Ward added a goal late in the second period when he completed a nifty passing sequence starting with Jason Chimera peeling the puck from the left wing wall and backhanding it to Mikhail Grabovski in the left wing circle.  Grabovski backhanded a pass to Ward, and Ward snapped a wrist shot off the far post and in for his second of the game, giving the Caps a 5-0 lead.  On a power play in the third period Ward completed his first career hat trick when he converted another backhand pass from Chimera, taking the pass at the top of the crease and snapping it past relief goalie Ray Emery to cap the scoring in a 7-0 Capitals win.  As impressive as the hat trick was, Ward achieved it (two goals at even strength) despite an offensive zone start share of 20.0 percent.  His Corsi-for percentage was 66.7 percent at 5-on-5.  It was a solid night all around.

Game to Forget… April 4^th versus New Jersey.  With the Capitals’ playoff hopes hanging by a thread, the Caps went to New Jersey hoping to get a foothold for one last push to make the post-season.  It ended up being nothing but frustration for Joel Ward.  In what would be a tightly-played game Ward would record his third-lowest amount of ice time for the season (13:12).  Part of the reason for that was that he took three minor penalties, his only game of the season in which he took more than one penalty.  As it turned out he did not record a shot on goal in those 13 minutes (including 1:35 in power play ice time), and the Caps lost, 2-1.

In the end…

There were far more high points than lows in the play of Joel Ward this season.  It was not the case of a player setting career bests in multiple categories from low baselines. Ward was part of – and arguably the most important part – of what was on more nights than not, it seemed, the Caps most effective forward line.  He was a critical ingredient on a line that might have been more than the sum of its parts, something that could not be said for the rest of the team in the 2013-2014 season.

Grade: A

Photo: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals: 2013-2014 By the Tens -- Forwards: Aaron Volpatti

“We convince by our presence.”

-- Walt Whitman

It might surprise you, even if you are a fan of the Washington Capitals, that Aaron Volpatti was one of 12 forwards with the club at the end of the season who appeared in at least half of the team’s games. Only two of those games, however, came after the break for the Olympic Games.  By that time, a gimpy Brooks Laich was viewed as a better option at left wing, then Dustin Penner was obtained in trade, and Evgeny Kuznetsov was finally introduced to North American hockey, leaving no room at the left wing table for Volpatti.

Volpatti presents something of an odd statistical profile, which might not be all that unusual given his limited exposure on the ice.  First, there is that ice time.  Only four times in 41 games did Volpatti skate more than ten minutes.  His 7:21 in average ice time was 531^st among 583 forwards who dressed for NHL games this season.  Only 11 forwards playing in at least half their team’s games averaged less ice time.

In those 41 games Volpatti was even or better in 36 of them.  Only once was he worse than minus-2, that in a 4-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins back on November 20^th. 

That is not to say he had correspondingly decent possession numbers.  He most assuredly did not.  Volpatti was 368^th of 375 forwards playing in at least half of his team’s games in Corsi-for percentage at5-on-5.  He was 371^st in Fenwick-for percentage at 5-on-5 among that group of forwards.  Working up the statistical chain, he was 371^st in shots-for percentage and 345^th in goals-for percentage.  You could say that good things happening when Volpatti was on the ice were somewhat rare occurrences.  It might have looked even worse had Volpatti not had the highest save percentage on-ice at 5-on-5 of any skater playing at least half the Caps’ games this season (.954).

Volpatti’s statistical performance was not necessarily a product of poor defense, that high on-ice save percentage notwithstanding.  However, as an offensive threat he (and his fourth line teammates) was almost non-existent.  Of those 375 forwards playing in at least half their team’s games, Volpatti ranked 371^st in shooting percentage relative to his team’s when he was not on the ice.

It was not even as if Volpatti was an especially inefficient shooter.  At 11.1 percent for the season his shooting percentage was equal to that of Niklolai Kulemin and a tenth of a percent better than Daniel Briere.  Ah, but “low population size.”  Volpatti recorded only 18 shots in 41 games covering almost 302 minutes of ice time.  Those 18 shots in 41 games was a far lower frequency (0.44/game) than that of his most frequent linemates on the fourth line, Jay Beagle (0.97) and Tom Wilson (0.77).

Fearless’ Take… The Capitals were 22-12-7 with Volpatti in the lineup, 16-18-7 in his absence.  Maybe there is something to be said for being there.

Cheerless’ Take… If you are not a big offensive threat, you’d better be putting a charge into your team.  Volpatti was a big hitter, as Caps forwards go (one of two Capitals forwards playing at least half the team’s games to average more than 1.5 hits per game), but he did not have so much as a single second of penalty killing time, and the Caps were 1-2-2 in games in which Volpatti recorded a fighting major.

Odd Volpatti Fact… Since Aaron Volpatti came into the league in the 2010-2011 season, only three forwards playing in at least 100 games and playing in all four seasons have recorded fewer shots on goal (Tom Sestito, Cam Janssen, and Colton Orr)

Game to Remember… November 30^th versus New York Islanders.  Scoring first means something in the NHL.  Teams scoring first had a record of 853-222-152 this past season.  So, even when that first goal comes from a fourth-liner, it means something.  That was the case on the last day of November when the Caps visited the Islanders in Uniondale, NY.  After a scoreless first period, the Caps were pressuring the Islanders in their own end in the ninth minute of the second period. 

Martin Erat outdueled Aaron Ness behind the islander net for possession of the puck.  Circling to the left of goaltender Anders Nilsson, Erat sent the puck across the crease to Tom Wilson at the right post.  Wilson took a whack at it, but Nilsson kicked it back out.  Unfortunately for Nilsson, Aaron Volpatti had his stick on the ice right in the path of the rebound.  As he was being jostled by defenseman Matt Carkner, Volpatti flipped the puck past Nilsson, and the Caps had a 1-0 lead in a game they would go on to win, 3-2.  Oddly enough, Volpatti would be second only to Alex Ovechkin in shots on goal with four.  That was more than 20 percent of the shots on goal he would record for the season (18).  He would record only five shots on goal over his remaining 21 games.

Game to Forget… December 17^th versus Philadelphia.  Games against the Flyers have been wars since the teams were Patrick Division combatants in the 1980’s.  The Caps had already won two games against the Orange and Black, one in a game that feature 164 minutes in penalties and another in a closely fought (figuratively speaking) Gimmick outcome.  Two days after that Gimmick decision, the Caps visited Philadelphia to try and seal back-to-back wins.  At first it looked good.  The Caps held the Flyers to a scoreless draw in the first period, then Alex Ovechkin put the Caps in front with a power play goal just 40 seconds into the second period.  The Flyers tied it less than a minute later, but Eric Fehr put the Caps ahead again 5:31 into the period. 

Then came what was arguably the turning point of the contest.  On the ensuing faceoff, Aaron Volpatti and Adam Hall dropped the gloves.  Hall caught Volpatti off balance and dropped him with a right hand to the side of the head.  Volpatti rallied to work the bout to what looked like a draw, but the fight seemed to energize the Flyers.  The home team scored three goals in the last 8:06 of the period and won going away, 5-2.  Volpatti finished the game with one shift after his fight that lasted one second, seven shifts in all covering 3:54 in ice time, and no shots on goal.  While he might have had the best of intentions, making Hall answer for a big hit on Alex Ovechkin earlier in the game, the timing was found wanting, and the results were not nearly what the Caps might have had in mind.

In the end…

Even as fourth-liners go, Aaron Volpatti did not have a very memorable year.  There were just too few contributions on offense, none on the penalty kill (where a fourth liner might make some contributions these days), and with very limited overall ice time to boot.  He was given fewer than ten minutes of ice time in each of his last 19 games of the season and had a season high of 11:10 back in December.  Even when he was present, he was not particularly convincing in his performance, even when accounting for his role.

Grade: C-

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals: 2013-2014 By the Tens -- Forwards: Alex Ovechkin

“Right now I'm having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time.”

-- Steven Wright

When Alex Ovechkin scored in the first period of a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on April 8^th, he hit the 50-goal mark in a season for the fifth time in his nine-year career.  He became the fifth player in NHL history to hit 50 goals five or more times in his first nine seasons in the league.

When the Capitals failed to score a goal in the Gimmick in a 1-0 loss to Tampa Bay to end the Capitals’ season, Ovechkin finished a minus-35, 884^th among 886 skaters who dressed for an NHL game this season.  He became the first player in league history to record 50 goals and finish minus-35 or worse.

It was a strange season for Alex Ovechkin, perhaps the most ridiculed historic season in recent memory.  And the relentless pointing out of Ovechkin’s plus-minus rating was hardly the only thing that made the 2013-2014 strange. 

Ovechkin was a terror on the power play, leading the league by a wide margin in goals (24) and second in the league in total power play scoring to teammate Nicklas Backstrom.  At even strength, though, he was not better than fifth in goal scoring (27), and he finished tied for 56^th in points (39), behind such stalwart scorers as Tyler Bozak (40), Mats Zuccarello (41), and Jaden Schwartz (43).

Even his goal scoring had a strange quality to it.  Ovechkin started the year as if he was going to obliterate his own league record for goals by a left wing.  With 30 goals in his first 36 games he was on a pace for 68 goals, and he was chasing his own version of 50 goals in 50 games.  

In his last 42 games, though, he had “only” 21 goals, only nine of those at even strength.   Only seven of those total goals (one of them at even strength) came in his last 19 games. 

There was that power play, though.  Ovechkin became the fifth player since the 2004-2005 lockout to record 24 power play goals in a season.  The last time a player had more was when Todd Bertuzzi finished the 2002-2003 season with 25 power play goals for the Vancouver Canucks.  But even here Ovechkin had an odd season.  Known as the trigger man from the left wing circle on the Caps’ second-ranked power play, he had more power play assists (15) than he had at even strength (12).

And here is something lost in the wake of 50 goals and a minus-35.  His 2013-2014 season was not as productive as his 2012-2013 season.  Let’s normalize his 2012-2013 numbers to put them on the same 78-game basis as his 2013-2014 season.  Here is what we get:

Fearless’ Take… Alex Ovechkin remains the straw that stirs the drink for the Caps.  Washington was 26-9-5 in games in which he scored a goal.  He also recorded his ninth 30-goal season, the sixth player in NHL history to record 30 goals in each of his first nine seasons and the second Capital to do it (Mike Gartner).

Cheerless’ Take… Scoring goals is nice, cuz, but the Caps were 10-19-9 in games Ovechkin didn’t score a goal.  And his on-ice goals-for percentage at 5-on-5 was… what’s Peerless’ word for it?  Oh, yeah… ghastly.  He was 417th among 435 skaters playing at least 75 percent of their team’s games (35.8 percent).

Odd Ovechkin Fact…  Fact?  This season has its own section of Odd Ovechkin Facts…

• Ovechkin scored goals in 40 games and was a “minus” player in 10 of them, an “even” player in 15 other contests.
• He was a “minus” player in 36 of 78 games; the Caps won just ten of them.
• In 38 games in which Ovechkin did not score a goal, he was a “minus” player in 26 of them, an “even” player in 10 more, and a “plus” player in just two of those games.
• He was 3-1-4 in eight games with Jay Beagle logging the most time as his center (no points at even strength, no “plus” games), 48-27-75 in 70 games with other centers (27-12-39 at even strength).

Game to Remember… December 10^th versus Tampa Bay.  In 51 career contests against the Tampa Bay Lightning Alex Ovechkin used Lightning goalies as his personal chew toy, mauling them for 31 goals and 66 points.  What he did not have in any of those 51 games, though, was a hat trick.  Ovechkin took care of that space on his career resume before the second period was over, helping drag the Capitals out of a 3-0 hole barely 11 minutes into the game to a 4-4 tie at the second intermission.  The last of those three goals came with just 1:12 left in the second period, and it would serve as prelude to what unfolded in the third period. 

Tampa Bay scored in the ninth minute of the third to take a 5-4 lead that they would cling to for the next ten minutes. Then, with the clock running under a minute left in regulation time, Mikhail Grabovski wrestled the puck away from defenseman Radko Gudas and slid it up the boards to Nicklas Backstrom.  From the right wing wall Backstrom moved the puck along to John Carlson, who relayed it across to Ovechkin at the top of the left wing circle.  Ovechkin let fly with a one-timer that snuck under the right arm of goalie Ben Bishop to tie the game with 32.4 seconds left, giving Ovechkin his fourth goal of the game.  It was Ovechkin’s third four-goal game of his career and first since he had two in the 2007-2008 season.  The Caps went on to win the game, 6-5, in the Gimmick.

Game to Forget… January 30^th versus Columbus.  You knew it was going to be bad early.  Just 6:41 into the game Boone Jenner took a goaltender interference penalty that put the Caps on the power play.  Instead of making the Blue Jackets pay, though, it was the Caps doing the buying, a world of trouble that is.  John Carlson tried to shoot the puck down the right wing wall from the point, but the attempt was blocked out of the Columbus zone where Derek MacKenzie picked it up.  Ovechkin tore after MacKenzie from the other side of the ice but managed only to get close enough to see MacKenzie deke goalie Braden Holtby to the ice and slide the puck past Holtby’s right pad to give the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead.

Ryan Johansen scored for Columbus less than five minutes later.  Ovechkin was on the ice for that one, too.  Brandon Dubinsky scored just 24 seconds into the second period, and Ovechkin was there.  Johansen got another one 12 minutes into the period.  Yup, Ovechkin was on the ice.  Cam Atkinson scored less than five minutes into the third period.  Uh-huh… Ovechkin got an up close and personal look.  Ovechkin’s minus-5 for the evening was one of six minus-5 performances in the league for the season, the others being: Matt Duchene, Victor Hedman, Jamie McGinn, Ryan O’Reilly, and Sidney Crosby.

In the end…

It is a measure of how routine a player can be scoring 50 goals a season when it is forgotten in the wake of another, less flattering statistic.  That was the persistent theme in Alex Ovechkin’s season, though, that plus-minus number.  It ended up being historic, not for its own importance (there have been five other instances of a player finishing minus-35 or worse since 2005-2006, in addition to Ovechkin), but for the fact that it occurred with a 50-goal season being recorded. 

Ovechkin’s 51 goals made it five 50-goal seasons since he came into the league in 2005-2006, more than twice as many 50-goal seasons as the next players in line, Dany Heatley, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Steven Stamkos with two apiece.  He has almost a third of all the 50-goal seasons scored in his nine seasons in the league (18).

However, between the curious experiment of pairing him with Jay Beagle for eight games and the frustratingly poor shooting of his most frequent linemates (Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson combined to shoot 6.1 percent at 5-on-5, 12 goals on 197 shots), Ovechkin had odd circumstances to deal with as well as his iffy defense.

And let’s face it; if you have a minus-35 and 50 goals, you are going to get attention of a sort in which you are not interested.  Here is something to ponder in terms of context.  The other five players to post a minus-35 or worse since Ovechkin came into the league combined for a total of 57 goals in the seasons in which they posted those dismal plus-minus numbers.  They were not, with the exception of Marc Recchi (28 goals, minus-36 with Pittsburgh and Carolina in 2005-2006), high producers on offense.

It made for a season that was in a sense déjà vu for Alex Ovechkin, thrilling fans with another 50-goal season.  But being the captain of a team that missed the playoffs while he was posting one of the worst even strength seasons in recent memory for such a prolific scorer, it made for a season that one hopes might be lost to amnesia in other respects as the years go by.

Grade: C

Photo: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals: 2013-2014 By the Tens -- Forwards: Brooks Laich

Calvin: “They say the world is a stage. But obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines.”

Hobbes: “Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.”

Calvin: “We need more special effects and dance numbers.”

It is a measure of just how bad the 2012-2013 season was for the Washington Capitals’ Brooks Laich when you consider that the 2013-2014 season was a vast improvement on it.  Laich played in almost six times as many games (51 to 9), scored eight times as many goals (8 to 1), had almost four times as many points (15 to 4), and was one of three Caps to record a power play, an even strength, and a shorthanded goal this season (Nicklas Backstrom and Joel Ward being the others).

And yet… Laich missed 31 games to a chronic groin injury.  He posted his second consecutive single-digit season in goals scored, the first time that happened since his first two full seasons in the league (2005-2006, 2006-2007).  He had less than half as much power play ice time (1:20) as he did in his career-best goal scoring season (25) in 2009-2010 (2:57).  His power play scoring (1-2-3) was miniscule compared to that career-best season (12-9-21).

There was not much for Laich to like about his season (ok, there was this). 

Even when he was relatively healthy (“relatively” being the operative word there, since he was never really “healthy” this season), he was unproductive.  In three full ten-game segments he had no more than three points in any of them.  He started the season poorly (3-2-5, minus-9 in his first two ten game segments) and ended it broken with only six games in his last ten-game segment played (2-1-3, minus-6) before retiring for the last 14 games of the season to undergo surgery to correct his chronic groin problem.

Laich is expected at this point of his career to be a core element to the Caps.  After all, over a five-year period, from 2007-2008 through 2011-2012 he missed a total of just four regular season games, scored 101 goals, recorded 238 points, had 38 power play goals, recorded at least one shorthanded goal in each season, all while averaging more than 17 minutes a game.  This season he still averaged more than 17 minutes per game, but those 15 points were the same that Ville Leino had in Buffalo (ok, Leino’s were all assists) in roughly as many games (Leino played in 58 games).  For Brooks Laich, on the ice, at least, it was not a season for the scrapbook.

Fearless’ Take… Laich might have been most productive when he was at his nadir of the season, physically.  He was 3-3-6 in seven games before ending his season after skating just 12 minutes against Vancouver on March 14^th.

Cheerless’ Take… Laich was hardly a difference maker this season when he was in the lineup.  The Caps were 22-22-7 in games he played.  And here’s the thing.  Yeah, he missed a lot of games the last two seasons, but his 5-on-5 possession numbersthis season in 51 games look a lot like his numbers in 2011-2012, the last time he played in 82 games.  His Corsi-for percentage this season was 48.0 percent; 47.1 percent in 2011-2012.  His Fenwick-for percentages was 45.8 percent this year; 47.5 percent in 2011-2012.  Shots-for percentage: 45.3 versus 48.3.  Goals-for percentage: 45.5 compared to 45.8.  Maybe he is going to feel better after that surgery, but is he going to be more productive?

Odd Laich Fact… Brooks Laich was a minus-7 for the season, the entirety of that number earned in games against Western Conference teams.  He was “even” in 32 games against Eastern Conference teams.

Game to Remember… February 27^th versus Florida.  Through 44 games in the 2013-2014 season Brooks Laich was struggling along with a 5-4-9 scoring line.  He did not have a multi-point game in any of those 44 contests, and he was just 1-1-2 in his previous 16 games.  In the first game after the Olympic break, though, Laich broke out.  It started with when Laich picked up an assist helping to dig out the puck from the top of  crease to give Troy Brouwer a chance to slam it behind goalie Tim Thomas.  Less than three minutes later the Panthers turned the puck over at the Capitals’ blue line.  Dmitry Orlov intercepted a pass and fed Alex Ovechkin heading up the left wing.  After crossing the blue line and drawing the defense to his side of the ice, Ovechkin fed Laich on the right side for a one-timer that beat a sprawling Thomas.   

Florida climbed back into the game, though, tying the contest at 4-4 just over nine minutes into the third period.  That left things up to Laich and Ovechkin once more.  It started as the Caps’ second goal did, with a Panther turnover, this time at their own blue line.  Nicklas Backstrom picked up the puck and fed it forward to Laich.  It would be Laich returning the favor to Ovechkin, laying the puck out for his one-timer at the 15:43 mark to give the Caps a 5-4 win.  It was Laich’s first multi-point game since going 1-1-2 in a 4-2 win over Florida on April 5, 2012.

Game to Forget… January 19^th versus New York Rangers.  When Brooks Laich took the ice for the Caps in Madison Square Garden on a Sunday evening and before a national television audience in January, it was the 600^th time he did it in the regular season for the Caps.  He was coming off a thoroughly forgettable 600^th NHL game in Columbus two nights earlier (he played one game for Ottawa in 2004) and was presented an opportunity to shine on a larger stage. Things did not work out as Laich or the Caps might have hoped.  The Rangers scored three times in the first 18 minutes and nipped the momentum of a first minute goal in the second period by the Caps in the bud by scoring one of their own less than two minutes later.  For Laich it was another thoroughly forgettable night – no shot attempts, no hits, no takeaways, a minus-1, and he lost 10 of 14 draws in 15:38 of ice time.

In the end…

In seven seasons after the 2004-2005 lockout, everything was methodical and predictable in the career of Brooks Laich.  He would play a lot of games (averaging 79 games a season), become a reliable 20-goal scorer, fill in at forward position, play in any situation.  Then he became a “Flyer,” and things got turned upside down.    Ever since he has been struggling to overcome injuries that sapped him of his production and durability.  One might admire his grit to play through those problems, but we are left with the hope that the surgery he had in the spring will return him to the production he enjoyed before his dalliance with being a Flyer that turned his career with the Caps into part tragedy, part farce.

Grade: C

Quotes from the mind of Bill Watterson

Photo: Greg Fiume/Getty Images North America

In Washington, It's Dark Inside

We’ve seen it before.  You have been a fan of a local sports team for years, following it faithfully through season after season of disappointment.  You have to defend yourself and your team from the insults and the pity that come with following a team so persistently mediocre, if not simply inept.

The season starts like so many others of recent memory.  A loss.  Then another.  And another.  It isn’t even Veterans Day and the season has the feel of slipping away.  Your team wallows among the stragglers in the standings so that by the end of November it is still below .500, and you might be thinking “maybe next year will be our year.”

Then the calendar turns over, and your team wins a game.  The first time it has seen .500 all season and the first time in more than three years.  It starts a long slow climb, struggling to get to and stay above .500.  You get the feeling that if the team can just get past that break-even mark, good things might be in store.

Finally, in late February they pass .500 and stay there.  They finish with a rush in April – a 6-2 run – to clinch a spot in the playoffs.  Few might have expected your team would reach the post season this year.  Their number one overall draft pick might not be seasoned enough yet.  The top five pick they selected two years later might be too young.  But here they are, breathing the bright, clean air of the post season, ready for their first turn around the dance floor.

Your team makes quick work of a higher-seeded opponent in the first round.  But then, reality pays a visit.  You win the first game of the second round, but it seems less what your team did than the opponent did not.  Then you lose.  And lose again.  And again.  You might be thinking, “maybe next year.”  But your boys rise up and smack the other guys.  Now you are thinking, “they can do this.”

The good feeling that has been building for almost three months has been hiding a dark truth, though.  You don’t win at home.  Not nearly enough, anyway.  Having just the 18^th best home record in the league in the regular season, you have just one win in four home games in the post season.  The city is talking about little else but what could happen if your team wins.  You head to the arena as certain as the sun rising in the east that your team will do just that. 

And they come out flat.  Trailing after one period, trailing badly after two, your head is resting in your hands, and you are thinking it was not supposed to end like this.  Then they come back, dragged along by the cheering and stomping by you and your fellow fans.  They take a lead.  But there is that dark truth that has been lurking, and it comes out to play.  The other guys go on a run late, leaving your team bewildered and out of gas, with nothing left to make one more push.  Your standing ovation for them as the clock winds down is more for appreciation than it is a rallying point.

The horn sounds, and it’s over.  The players are inconsolable at their bench. You and your fellow fans file out slowly and quietly, unable just yet to process the fact that there are no more games. 

You are a Washington Wizards fan.

You are where we, as Washington Capitals fans, were six years ago on a spring night when the boys we cheered through a long hard climb from the bottom of the standings to the playoffs had their – and our --- hopes crushed in front of us in the most cruel fashion, an overtime goal in Game 7.

You sat in the stands cheering, when you weren’t wondering, "why can’t our boys win at home?"  We’ve seen it, too.  Splitting four home games in that first playoff series six years ago. 

You tried to will your two young stars, perhaps not quite ready for the leading roles they were being asked to play, but full of skill and energy that were only going to make their games better as the games and the years passed.  You have your John Wall and Bradley Beal.  We had our Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.

You rallied around a theme… “dcRising.”  We found our rallying cry in “Rock the Red.”

You are at that point as a fan where you have had a taste of what the playoffs are.   Everything is bigger, brighter, louder.  Especially louder.  But the stakes are bigger, too.  Having that taste that you might not have expected last fall, you can’t wait for the next.  And you are sure it will be more satisfying.

Yes, Wizards fans.  We have been there, too.  As certain as that sun rising in the east that next year, our Capitals would go further, that a championship was in reach.

We are still waiting.  We hope your wait is not as long, that “dc” is still “rising.”  In the meantime, it is not pleasant to contemplate that it is dark inside.  Inside Verizon Center, inside the hearts of Wizards fans this morning.  Except for the spark the boys lit that you should keep with you as you wait until next season.

It was a season for you to remember, just as that 2007-2008 season was for us.  Be proud of them.  They earned it.

Crosby and Ovechkin -- United Once More

This is a tale of two players, once thought of as the future of the NHL who would lead their respective teams to a decade or more of achievement, usually at the expense of the other.  Their home towns separated by more than 4,000 miles, the cities they call home in the NHL separated by less than 200 miles, they have been almost inseparable in the minds of fans and media since each came into the NHL in 2005.

Almost a decade later, the rivalry between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby has dimmed.  Between them they have one Stanley Cup, that belonging to Crosby.  They have faced one another only once in the playoffs, that coming in Crosby’s Stanley Cup year in 2009.  Since then, their games and their teams have suffered in the post-season, either from injury, the lack of an adequate supporting cast, coaching turnover, or their own shortcomings.  This morning, one is participating in a world hockey tournament that might seem like an afterthought – the NIT to March Madness – while the other licks his wounds after another lost series to a lower-seeded team.

In a sad way, though, Crosby and Ovechkin are united once more, now by their frustration in the Stanley Cup playoffs.  Since that 2009 triumph for Crosby, both he and Ovechkin have participated in four post-season tournaments.  Crosby missed the 2011 playoffs due to injury, Ovechkin’s team failed to qualify for the 2014 post-season.  For each, those four playoff seasons paint a disturbing picture for players once thought to be the league’s apex mano-a-mano rivalry.  

At the highest and most meaningful level, Crosby and Ovechkin simple have not won enough.  In 46 playoff games played since his Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009, Crosby’s teams have a win-loss record of 23-23 in games in which he played, 4-4 in playoff series.  He has been to one conference final.  Meanwhile, in Washington, Ovechkin’s Capitals have a win-loss record of 17-20 over the same span of years, a 2-4 record in series.  The Capitals have not advanced past the second round in any of those seasons.

Even within those respective game and series win-loss records, there is a disappointing record.  In elimination games – those in which their respective teams have to win or go home for the summer – both Crosby’s and Ovechkin’s teams have 2-4 records.  In those six games Ovechkin has a scoring line of 1-2-3, even.  Oddly enough, Crosby is also 1-2-3 in his six elimination games played, but he carries a minus-5 in those games along with that points line.

Then there is the matter of series-clinching games – those for which a win means heading on to the next round.  In those games Crosby’s teams have a 4-6 record over his four playoff seasons with a scoring line of 2-6-8, minus-1.  Embedded in that record is the stain of dropping three straight series-clinching opportunities in one series, the one lost to the New York Rangers last night being the instance on his record. 

On the other hand, the record of Ovechkin’s teams is even worse.  The Capitals have had nine opportunities to close out series in Ovechkin’s four playoff appearances over the last five years and posted a 2-7 record in those games.  His scoring line in those contests is 3-2-5, minus-2, but what is odd about his scoring line, given his reputation as a dangerous goal scorer on the power play, is that he has no power play goals.  He, too, has on his record an instance of losing three straight series-clinching games in a single series, that coming in 2010 against the Montreal Canadiens in one of the most shocking first-round upsets in recent playoff memory.

There is also the matter of the ultimate test, a Game 7.  While there is a very small sample of games between them overall, just six in fact, neither seems to have risen to the occasion on that stage.  Crosby has just two appearances in a Game 7 over his four playoff seasons, losing both and failing to register a point in either game.  One came in 2010 in the second round against Montreal, another instance of the Canadiens pulling off a big upset in that year, the other against the Rangers last night.

Ovechkin has made appearing in Game 7’s something of a habit, playing in four Game 7’s over his four playoff seasons.  The Capitals’ record in those four games is 1-3, one of them against Montreal in 2010, two in 2012 against the Boston Bruins and the Rangers, the fourth coming in 2013 against the Rangers again.  Ovechkin and the Capitals are no small part of the reason that Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has built a sturdy resume as a clutch Game 7 goaltender over the past several years.  The Caps and Ovechkin account for two of Lundqvist’s five straight wins in Game 7’s over the last three post-seasons (the Caps also account for Lundqvist’s only career Game 7 loss, that coming in 2009).  Ovechkin’s scoring line in his four Game 7’s is 0-1-1, minus-1.

Here are the respective post-season records of Ovechkin and Crosby, post-2009, summarized:

This is not how it was supposed to be.  When Sidney Crosby won his Cup in 2009, one might have thought it was just a matter of time before Alex Ovechkin won his first Cup, especially with the way the Capitals steamrolled through the following regular season.  That was the way it was supposed to be – Pittsburgh and Washington, Crosby and Ovechkin battling in the games that mattered most for the right to carry the Stanley Cup as their respective team’s captains. 

Who knew that their 2009 playoff matchup would be their only one as both players now ponder what will be the tenth season in the league for each next season?

Who knew that neither of them would be much of a difference maker in the post-seasons to follow, especially in the games that mattered even more among the games that mattered most?

Who knew that the conversation surrounding both players would be what qualities they lacked and not what Stanley Cups they won?

Who knew?

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America