Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was - Week 5

Odd it might seem, but the 2-1-0 record that the Washington Capitals posted in Week 5 was their first winning week since going 2-0-0 in Week 1.  It was a welcome occurrence, even if the week was spent on the margin, all of the decisions coming in one-gpal games.  It was a week with good signs and troubling signs.  In that respect it resembles the four weeks that preceded it.

Record: 2-1-1

The week opened with a 2-1 loss in Calgary against the Flames to end what amounted to a “The Good, the Bad, and the ‘Meh’” western Canada trip in which the Caps went 1-2-0.  It left the Caps under .500 for the month of October, the first time that they were under .500 for an October since 2013-2014, when they went 5-7-0.  Coincidentally, that is the last time the Caps missed the postseason.  They recovered to win the first two games of November, a 4-3 win at home against the New York Islanders and a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins in Beantown.  Keep this month in mind, for it is one in which the Caps can set the table for a good year.  In the last two seasons, both of which ended in Presidents Trophy seasons, they were 9-3-1 (in 2015-2016) and 8-4-1 (in 2016-2017).  Then again, they were 9-4-2 in November in that 2013-2014 season when they missed the playoffs.

Offense: 2.67 /game (season: 3.00 /game, 17th)

It was something of a disappointing week in the offensive end.  Of the three teams the Caps faced this week, only the Calgary Flames, to whom they lost, 2-1, to start the week, could be considered a good defensive team (seventh in scoring defense at week’s end).  The Boston Bruins and New York Islanders are bottom half teams in the scoring defense rankings, but the Caps did score seven goals combined against those teams, so it wasn’t a lost week in the offensive end.  It might say something about the league that the Caps, at 3.00 goals per game at the end of the week, rank 16^th in scoring offense.  Last season, only seven teams finished the season with three or more goals scored per game.

On an individual basis, the Caps spread their eight goals among six players.  Lars Eller and Tom Wilson each had two-goal games, Eller’s coming in the Caps’ 4-3 win over the New York Islanders in the middle game of the week; Wilson’s coming in the Caps’ 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins to end it.  Fourteen different players contributed points, Eller leading the way (2-2-4).  Chandler Stephenson had a three-assist week to win the helper of the week award.

Defense: 2.33 /game (season: 3.29 /game, 24th)

Too many shots.  The Caps are allowing too many shots.  In Week 4 they allowed three opponents 109 shots in all and brought their streak of allowing 35 or more shots per game to four by week’s end.  They have allowed 30 or more shots in 12 games.  No team has allowed that many more often.  Only Florida (nine times) has allowed more instances of 35 or more shots in a game than the Caps (eight).  Ten times in 14 games through Week 5, the Caps were out-shot by opponents (including now the last five).  They have a 5-4-1 record in those games.  But this is not, perhaps, a team that can cope with those kinds of situations the way they did last season when, with a much more potent and efficient offense, they were 19-7-3 in games in which they were out-shot.

Goaltending: 2.36 / .936 (season: 3.14 / .907)

Now Week 5 was more like it.  Braden Holtby has had a decent start to the season, but not quite, it seems, the elite level he had the last few seasons.  In his backup role, Philipp Grubauer struggled to open the season.  Grubauer put together a fine, if unlucky, performance in the first game of the week, stopping 36 of 38 shots, but taking the loss in a 2-1 decision against Calgary.  It was his first time in five appearances posting a save percentage of better than .900.

Holtby got the last two games of the week and posted wins in both.  His .929 save percentage for the week was offset somewhat by having to face 71 shots, but he was good when he had to be, especially in the third period against the Bruins, when he faced for Boston power plays and allowed one goal.  He had a superb .966 save percentage at even strength (he is fourth in the league in ES SV among goalies with at least five appearances (.945)), part of a week in which he and Grubauer combined for a .957 save percentage at evens.

Power Play: 0-for-8 / 0.0% percent (season: 18.6 percent / 16th)

Consecutive weeks without a power play goal.  Now there is something you do not – or did not – see often from the Washington Capitals in recent years.  Washington has now gone six games without a power play goal, going 0-for-15 over that span.  It is their longest such streak since they went six games without a power play goal in Games 31-36 last season when they went 0-for-17.

It was a poor effort all around.  In  addition to going 0-for-8, the Caps managed only 12 power play shots on goal in 15:47 in power play ice time.  They did spread the shots around, eight different Caps recording at least one shot on goal, but none had any particularly high frequency.  Alex Ovechkin led the team with three.

They are doing themselves any favors in terms of opportunities, either.  They finished the week with only three teams having fewer power play chances on home ice than they had (19) and ranking in the middle of the pack in road power play chances (tied for 13^th) despite there being only one team having played more road games so far this season than the nine played by the Caps (Pittsburgh ias 11).

Penalty Killing: 7-for-10 / 70.0 percent (season: 74.6 percent / 27th)

In a season in which several holes have been identified, penalty killing might be the Caps’ biggest weakness to date.  After a perfect Week 1 in which they killed off all nine shorthanded situations they faced, the Caps have not had a week as good as 80 percent since.  Week 5 was the fourth consecutive week in which they allowed three or more power play goals.  They have allowed at least one power play goal in nine of their last 12 games.  That they are 4-4-1 in those games is fortunate, and it suggests that if they can get their penalty killing in order, they can start to win games with more frequency.

In Week 5 it was not so much a case of being especially inefficient, either.  The Caps allowed opponents 15 shots on goal in 15:21 of shorthanded ice time.  That shorthanded ice time is an issue, though.  By the end of Week 5, the Caps spent more time killing penalties (96:27 in 14 games) than all but four other teams, and their minus-26:27 in special teams ice time differential was third-worst in the league and worst in the Eastern Conference.

Faceoffs: 94-for-172 / 54.7 percent (season: 50.5 percent / 19th)

The Caps had a pretty good week in the faceoff circle, if a bit odd and uneven.  They won the first and second games of the week against Calgary and the Islanders, respectively, before finishing under 50 percent against Boston on their way to a 54.7 percent week.  The unevenness expressed itself in the Caps’ performance by zone.  Good performances in the defensive (57.4 percent) and neutral (56.7 percent) zones was offset by a 47.7 percent performance in the offensive zone.  Still, the Caps are 4-3-1 in games this season in which they were 50 percent or better on draws, 3-3-0 in games in which they were under 50 percent.

On an individual level, four of the five Caps taking ten or more faceoffs finished over 50 percent.  Lars Eller (55.9 percent), T.J. Oshie (54.5 percent), Jay Beagle (60.5 percent), and Evgeny Kuznetsov (555.3 percent) were in that group.  Only Nicklas Backstrom (47.5 percent) was under 50 percent for the week.  The odd thing about Backstrom’s week in the circle is that he took only seven of his 40 craws in the offensive zone and took none there in the 3-2 win over Boston to end the week.

Goals by Period:

Washington still has late-game issues in terms of allowing goals.  They dominated the first periods of games in Week 5, outscoring their three opponents by a combined 4-1 margin.  They were outscored by a 3-2 margin in each of the second and third periods of games, though.  It could have taken a bigger chunk than it did, too.  Calgary broke a 1-1 tie in the third period of the first game of the week to score what would be the game-winning goal.  The Islanders scored a third-period goal to tie their game with the Caps before the Caps scored late to squeeze out a win.  And, with a two-goal lead in the third period against Boston, the Caps allowed the Bruins a power play goal in the third period that made that game more interesting than it might have – or should have – been against an injury-depleted Boston lineup.  The Caps finished the week in the bottom ten in goals allowed in the second period  (16, tied for seventh-most) and in goals allowed in the third period (17, tied for eighth-worst).

In the end…

The Caps had a difficult schedule to open the season.  Three back-to-back sets of games, the western Canada trip, nine of 14 games played on the road, not playing consecutive games on home ice.  To that add the injuries to Matt Niskanen (limited to five games), Andre Burakovsky (nine games), and Brett Connolly (ten games), and a 7-6-1 record does not look so bad.  Not that there aren’t issues.  The offense is inconsistent, and the defense allows far too many shots.  The special teams, with a special teams index of 3.2 percent, are having persistent difficulties.  The silver lining is that if the Caps can get healthy, if they can repair their special teams, and if they can tighten things up in their own zone, they would be on much better footing.  Then again, if they did all those things, they would be last year’s 118-point team.  Chances are, they are not that team.  Still, there is room – and the potential – for improvement.  Week 5 was a step in that direction.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Lars Eller (2-2-4, plus-4; 1 GWG, 8 shots on goal, 13 shots attempts, 19-for-34 on faceoffs (55.9 percent))
• Second Star: Tom Wilson (2-1-3, plus-4, 1 GWG, 6 shots on goal, 9 shot attempts, 9 hits)
• Third Star: John Carlson (0-2-2, even; 5 shots on goal, 28:08 average ice time)

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 14: Capitals at Bruins, November 4th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals, who have played eight of their first 13 games this season on the road, head back out on that road on Saturday night when they visit TD Garden in Boston to face the Bruins in a battle of teams tied in standings points (13) in the Eastern Conference.

Washington has been a better than .500 team on the road so far with a 4-3-1 record, but they have persistently alternated wins and losses through their eight road contests so far. Given that the Caps lost their last road game, a 2-1 loss in Calgary to the Flames, Caps fans might be hopeful for a continuation of the trend, at least through Saturday.

Boston is coming off a 2-1 win on home ice over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. That win is part of the Bruins’ own odd pattern of alternating wins and losses on home ice since they beat the Nashville Predators at TD Garden on Opening Night. Given the win on Thursday, one might thing it one more element pointing to a Caps win.

If Boston is going to snap the pattern and win a second straight home game, they might need more balanced scoring than they are getting. Of the 32 goals scored by the Bruins in 11 games so far, 14 of them have been scored by the duo of Brad Marchand (eight) and David Pastrnak (six). Marchand is really one of the underrated goal scorers of recent years. Since the 2013-2014 season he is in the top ten in goals scored (133), more than Corey Perry (131), Phil Kessel (115), Jeff Carter (111), James Neal (111), and Rick Nash (108), among other notables. Five of his eight goals this season have been scored on TD Garden ice, although the Bruins are just 2-0-2 in the four games in which he recorded those goals. Marchand scored his 200th career goal in the Bruins’ 4-3 Gimmick loss in Columbus to the Blue Jackets on October 30th. He is 7-7-14, minus-6 (the worst career plus-minus he has against any team), in 23 career games against the Caps.

Pastrnak, on the other hand, is continuing a rather impressive early-career arc in terms of goal scoring. He had 10 goals in 46 games of his 2014-2015 rookie season, and then he followed it up with 15 goals in 51 games the following season. Last year, he jumped to 34 goals in 75 games. That performance led, after some off-season tension, to a six-year/$40 million contract. With six goals in 11 games this season, Pastrnak is on a pace for 45 goals this season, although one wonders if his 19.4 percent shooting percentage (a career high to date) is sustainable. He has hit a dry spell, going without a goal in each of his last four games. He did have a three-assist performance in that 4-3 trick shot loss to Columbus on October 30th, though. In six career games against the Caps, Pastrnak is 1-3-4, minus-4.

If there is a bit of a surprise for the Bruins, it might be hometown native defenseman Charlie McAvoy. Born in Boston, drafted by the Bruins 14th overall in 2016 out of Boston University, he got his baptism under fire in last spring’s postseason, going 0-3-3, minus-2, in six games against the Ottawa Senators. This season, the rookie leads Bruin defensemen in points (1-7-8) and is third among rookie defensemen in the league overall, trailing only Tampa Bay’s Mikhail Sergachev (4-7-11) and New Jersey’s Will Butcher (0-11-11). He had a four-game points streak over the October 14-21 period, but he has just one assist in his last four games, and he does not have a goal since he recorded his lone goal of the season on Opening Night in the Bruins’ 4-3 win over Nashville. This will be his first career appearance against the Caps.

1.  If the Capitals are having issues shooting the puck (and they are), Boston is in the same predicament. The Bruins rank 28th in the league in shots on goal per game (29.3), although they do show signs of improvement, averaging 31.2 shots over their last six games.

2.  The Bruins do not work or play well with others. Their 13:32 in penalty minutes per game is third in the league (through Thursday’s games), and they are tied with the Dallas Stars with seven major penalties (seven fighting majors tops the league).

3.  Giveaways and takeaways are in the eye of the beholder, but the beholders have the Bruins among just eight teams in the league with a positive takeaway-to-giveaway ratio (1.34-to-1).

4.  Boston might be in a transition of sorts. They have already dressed seven rookies this season, four of them – forwards Anders Bjork, Sean Kuraly, and Jake DeBrusk; an defenseman Charlie McAvoy – playing in all 11 games so far. Five rookies (that group of four plus Danton Heinen) have contributed nine of the team’s 32 goals so far.

5.  Whether it is injuries or rotation, the Bruins have gone through a lot of skaters so far. There have been 27 skaters dressing for Boston through 11 games. They had 30 skaters dress over 82 games last season.

1.  The Capitals have been docked for 10 or more penalty minutes in nine games so far. Only Nashville (10) and Chicago (11) have topped ten minutes more often. Only twice in 13 games have the Caps been charged with fewer penalty minutes than their opponent. They had four the Maple Leafs’ six in a 2-0 loss to Toronto, and they had six the Islanders’ eight in the 4-3 win over New York on Thursday night.

2.  Whatever the Caps are doing with their power play on the road, they need to bottle it and bring it back to Capital One Arena. The anemic 5.3 percent home power play (30th of 31 teams) stands in stark contrast to the 31.8 percent road power play (fourth in the league). But wherever they deploy it, they need to do it more often. They are tied with New Jersey for the ninth-fewest power play chances overall (41), and despite their road-heavy schedule rank only tied for 15th in road power play opportunities (22).

3.  On the other side of special teams, the Caps were perfect killing penalties in their first two games this season, going 9-for-9. Since then, they are 32-for-46 (69.6 percent). They are 22-for-26 in wins this season (84.6 percent), 19-for-29 in losses (65.5 percent). Either get better killing penalties, or avoid taking them.

4.  The Caps scored first against the Islanders and won. Not surprising. Washington is 3-0-1 when they scored first in games this season, 3-6-0 when they allowed the first goal.

5.  The Caps need to do a much better job of dictating play and putting teams away when they are ahead. Letting the Islanders tie the game in the third period is just one example of the failure to do that this season. Here’s another – the Caps are last in the league in shot attempts-for percentage at 5-on-5 when leading (38.14), the only team under 40 percent in that situation in the league.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Boston: Tuukka Rask

Tuukka Rask occupies an interesting place in the history of Boston Bruins goaltending. He is fourth on the franchise’s all-time list in wins (206). Each of the three goalies ahead of him – Tiny Thompson (252 wins), Frank Brimsek (230), and Gerry Cheevers (229) – are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.   It is not too much to think that he will be second on this list well before season’s end (he averaged 35 wins per season over the last four years). And since he came into the league in 2007-2008, Rask is the only goaltender playing at least 5,000 total minutes with a goals against average under 2.30 (2.25), a save percentage over .920 (.922) and at least 30 shutouts (38). Yet, he has been a Vezina Trophy finalist as the league’s best goalie only once, winning the trophy in 2013-2014.

He does seem to be slipping just a touch, though. After going 36-15-6, 2.04, .930, with a league-leading seven shutouts in that Vezina-winning season, Rask’s goals against average has jumped around (2.30, 2.56, and 2.23 last season), while his save percentage has deteriorated (.922, .915, .915). He did have a career high eight shutouts last season, but on the flip side, only six goalies allowed five or more goals in more games than the five games it happened to Rask. He has struggled against the Caps, going 1-9-5, 3.07, .889, with his lone win coming by shutout.  

Washington: Evgeny Kuznetsov

Evgeny Kuznetsov has not been a fast starter when it comes to goal scoring.  Last season he scored his first goal in Game 4, but he then went nine games without one.  He had just two goals in his first 18 games.  The previous season he went without a goal in his first six games before recording a hat trick against the Edmonton Oilers.  The year before that he had one goal in his first 20 games.  There seems to be a pattern.  He went his first nine games without a goal to start this season before getting three in two games against Vancouver and Edmonton on the western Canada trip.  That all three of those goals came on the road should not be considered unusual.  Of his 56 career goals, 32 of them were scored on the road, only 24 in Washington.

The Caps could indulge a slow start from Kuznetsov in the goal scoring department over the past few years, given the Caps’ depth in scoring.  This season, as the number one or the number 1-A center, depending on how you see Nicklas Backstrom’s role, his setting up Alex Ovechkin for scoring chances is important, but with fewer goal-scoring options up and down the roster, they can’t come at the expense of converting the chances that come his way to light the lamp.  Kuznetsov is 3-8-10, plus-8, in 10 career games against the Bruins.

In the end…

This game presents an interesting opportunity for the Capitals. The contest against the Bruins represents the last game in which has been a difficult early season schedule for the Caps. It is their 14th game, nine of them coming on the road. And, if you look at the teams they have faced, they played Tampa Bay (an overtime loss to the league’s top team in the standings), New Jersey (a win against the fourth-place team league-wide), Pittsburgh (sixth), Ottawa (a win against the seventh-place team), and Toronto (tenth). Five of their 13 games to date have been against some of the best in the league. Now, they have a chance to escape this part of the schedule with a record over .500 with a win against the Bruins. All other things equal, there are worse places to be (Glendale, Arizona comes to mind, or if you’re looking at preseason contenders, Edmonton).

After this game, the Caps will be home for eight of their remaining 12 games in November. But to get to that oasis in the early season schedule, they will have to beat a team that they might be battling all season for a playoff spot. Getting a win on their ice would give the Caps an advantage in that long battle.

Capitals 3 – Bruins 1

A TWO-Point Night: Washington Capitals -- Game 13: Capitals 4 - Islanders 3

The Washington Capitals opened their November schedule on much happier terms than they closed the month of October, rebounding from their month-ending 2-1 loss at the Calgary Flames and breaking a three-game home losing streak with a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders.  The teams traded goals back and forth with the Caps getting the last, game-winning goal late in the third period.

First Period

It did not take the Caps long to get a taste of home cooking.  Taylor Chorney opened the scoring for the home team just under six minutes into the contest, cleaning up what looked like a broken play.  Lars Eller skated the puck into the Islanders’ zone on the left wing and spied Chandler Stephenson coming late in support through the right wing circle.  Stephenson could not handle the pass for a one-timer, but he did get control of the puck and sent it back out to Chorney at the top of the zone.  Chorney fired through a maze of bodies, and the puck eluded goalie Jaroslav Halak at the 5:55 mark to give the Caps a 1-0 lead.

John Tavares, in whose glow these days the sun would look dim, scored his tenth goal in his last six games at the 13:01 mark to tie the game.  It was the product of gritty effort on his part on a New York power play, working his way to the top of the paint to nudge a loose puck through the pads of goalie Braden Holtby and just over the goal line.

Eller restored the Caps’ lead three minutes later on a play that looked like the same one that resulted in the first Caps goal, only with roles reversed.  Stephenson skated the puck down the left side, and as he reached the far edge of the left wing faceoff circle sent the puck across to Eller for a one-timer.  Eller, unlike Stephenson on the first goal, got good wood (or composite) on the puck, sending it under Halak’s left pad for the lead the Caps would take to the first intermission.

Alex Ovechkin, Lars Eller, and Jay Beagle led the Caps with two shots apiece. Evgeny Kuznetsov was a perfect 4-for-4 on faceoffs.  John Carlson had four shot attempts, three of them blocked, and Ovechkin tied him with four.  Tavares had four shots on goal to lead the Isles, part of the 14-11 edge the visitors had in shots on goal in the period.

Second Period

The teams traded power plays over the first ten minutes, the Caps getting a pair of man advantages and the Islanders getting one.  Neither team scored, though.  That came in the latter half of the period.  New York tied things up on a power play, Anders Lee redirecting the puck through Holtby’s pads at the 16:18 mark.

Alex Chiasson untied the game 12 seconds after the Lee goal, taking a pass from John Carlson, skating down the right wing, and blasting a shot over the right pad of Halak on the far side to give the Caps a 3-2 lead at the second intermission.

Jakub Vrana led the Caps with two shots on goal apiece; Dmitry Orlov and Vrana had three shot attempts.

Third Period

The Islanders outshot the Caps, 9-0, over the first 6:45 to start the final period.  They scored on their 10^th unanswered shot when Anders Less scored his second goal of the game when he settled a shot from Thomas Hickey at his feet, and defenseman Madison Bowey on his hip, he spun and snapped a shot past Holtby’s right pad to tie the game, 3-3, seven minutes into the period.

The game looked as if it would go to extra time, but Eller put that thought to rest with less than four minutes left.  John Carlson started the play, turning with the puck around the back of his own net and send a pass off the right wing boards and up to Tom Wilson in the neutral zone.  Wilson took a hit to make a play, sliding the puck over to Eller heading up ice with speed. He skated into the Islanders’ zone and made it to the top of the right wing circle where he fired a shot that beat Halak cleanly over his glove at the 16:30 mark.  Braden Holtby made it stand up, and the Caps had their 4-3 win.

Other stuff…

-- The win was the second on home ice this season for the Caps, their first since their 6-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens in the home opener on October 7^th.

-- The Islanders out-shot the Caps, 16-2, in the third period and 38-19 for the game.  It was the 11^th time in 13 games that the Caps allowed an opponent at least 30 shots, the eighth time they allowed 35 or more shots (and third game in a row).

-- With two goals and an assist, Lars Eller recorded his first three-point game as a Capital.

-- The Caps were credited with ten hits in the game, nine of them coming from three players: Devante Smith-Pelly (four), Tom Wilson (three), and Brooks Orpik (two).

-- Nathan Walker returned to the lineup and had a clean line on his score sheet (no shot attempts, no hits or blocked shots, no giveaways or takeaways, no faceoffs taken), but he was a plus-1, and he gets marks for guts for getting in Cal Clutterbuck’s face after taking a hit from the Islander.

-- The Caps had more shots blocked by the Islanders (20) than they managed to get to the net (19).  John Carlson had five of his seven shot attempts blocked.

-- The Caps won 32 of 52 faceoffs (61.5 percent).  Take away Nicklas Backstrom’s rough night in the circle (3-for-10), and it was 29 wins and 13 losses (69.0 percent).

-- This was the fourth time in their last ten games that the Caps allowed multiple power play goals to an opponent.  Over that span, the Caps’ penalty kill is 28–for-41 (68.3 percent).  And it is killing the Caps.  An indicator… Among 36 goalies appearing in at least five games this season, Braden Holtby is fifth in even strength save percentage (.942).  However, he is just 25^th when the Caps are shorthanded (.859).  And it’s not like Philipp Grubauer is better (.848/29^th).

-- Alex Ovechkin skated 20:08, making this the first time in three games this season that the Caps won when he skated more than 20 minutes.

-- The Caps are 5-on-5 were pretty much steamrolled by the Islanders.  Their 39.58 percent shot attempts-for overall (third-worst of 24 teams playing on Thursday night; numbers from NHL.com) and 34.29 percent when ahead (they never trailed) were grim numbers to behold.

In the end… 

Let’s face it.  A win is a win is a win, and they are never bad.  But neither are they always indicators that the team is playing well.  The Caps got fine individual efforts from Lars Eller, John Carlson, and Chandler Stephenson on Thursday night (all with multi-point games), but the defense is, to be charitable, unsettled, especially when shorthanded.  And the Caps are losing too many battles in close.  The first two Islander goals were scored from a combined official distance of 17 feet, and on the third Islander goal, Anders Lee treated Madison Bowey as an afterthought in getting position for a spin move and shot.  The Caps are not going to win as many games with skill as they might have in recent years.  They are going to have to do it by being technically sound and winning one-on-one battles, especially in the defensive zone.  That they bent, but did not break last night was a good sign, but they must get better if they are to start putting wins together in bunches.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 13: Islanders at Capitals, November 2nd

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

An 82-game season spanning six months will have its ebbs and flows, its intense back-to-back and three-games-in-four-nights stretches, and the calm of days off between games. The Washington Capitals seem to be in one of those calm stretches at the moment as they prepare to host the New York Islanders on Thursday night at Capital One Arena. It will be only the fourth game in 12 days for the Caps and the first at home since a 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on October 21st.

Meanwhile, the Islanders will be coming to Washington for their first contest since pinning a 6-3 loss on the upstart expansion Vegas Golden Knights on Monday. Those six goals scored appear to be no fluke. New York has not scored fewer than four goals in any of their last five games and have averaged 5.2 goals per game in that span, posting six in each of their last two games.

Over those five games John Tavares had been all but unstoppable. His nine goals over that span (more than a third of the team’s 26) would, by itself, rank tied for fourth overall for the season. But as it is, the hot streak lifted Tavares into second place in the league with 11 goals, two behind Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov. Tavares’ scoring has an odd quality to it, though, in a couple of respects. First, when he scores, he does it in bunches. His 15 points this season (11-4-15) have come in just five of the Islanders’ 12 games, and he was a multiple-point producer in each of them. Then there is his home-road split. Tavares is 8-4-12, plus-9, in five home games so far, recording points in four of them, all of them Islander wins (his lone game without a point ended in a Gimmick loss to the St. Louis Blues). On the road it is a different story. In seven road games, Tavares has a hat trick against the Nashville Predators (in a 6-2 win on October 28th), but not a point in any of his other six road contests, and he is a minus-5 overall on the road. In 30 career games against Washington, Tavares is 12-14-26, plus-6.

Josh Bailey is the other Islander with double digit points in this five-game stretch (1-9-10, plus-7). It is part of what is a longer seven-game points streak for the ten-year veteran. That he is this productive in recent games is likely unsustainable, but his being a reliable producer might not be much of a surprise. Last season, dressing for all 82 games for the first time in his career, he set career highs in assists (43) and points (56, obliterating his previous high – 41 points in 2014-2015). The plus-9 he takes into Thursday’s game is already, at least for how, his career best. His scoring matters at this early stage, the Islanders posting a 6-2-0 record in games he recorded a point. And, his home-road split is a bit more balanced than his teammate, Tavares. In five home games, Bailey is 2-6-8, plus-7, while in seven road contests he is 1-5-6, plus-2. He is 4-8-12, minus-8, in 36 career games against the Caps.

Jaroslav Halak has been a model of consistency in goal for the Islanders this season. In seven appearances in which he played the entire contest (he had one 28-minute no-decision in his first appearance this season), he has allowed exactly three goals in six of them. That he is facing more shots lately is improving his save percentage, and it also seems to agree with him on a wins-losses basis. After not facing more than 30 shots in any of his first four appearances this season (1-2-0, 2.62, .907, 28.3 shots per 60 minutes), he hasn’t faced fewer than 30 in his last four, but carries a four-game winning streak (4-0-0, 2.69, .921, 34.3 shots per 60 minutes). He has had, as they say in another sport, great run support with the Islander offense humming along as it has. Halak, who has the best postseason save percentage against the Caps of any goalie appearing in five or more playoff games against the Caps since 2005-2006 (.933 in 13 games), has had a comparatively mediocre record against them in the regular season: 8-7-0, 2.66, .907, with one shutout in 15 career appearances.

1.  What’s with the bench minors? Through Tuesday’s games, only the Toronto Maple Leafs (five) had more than the Islanders (four).

2.  “Thou shalt not steal”…only five teams have fewer takeaways than the Islanders (67). Minnesota, Nashville, and Montreal each have 66, Philadelphia has 56, and Anaheim has 55 through Tuesday’s games.

3.  Jay Beagle might get to pad his faceoff stats against this team. They are 27th in faceoff winning percentage (46.9 percent). Among the six players taking at least ten draws, only Casey Cizikas is over 50 percent (50.6 percent).

4.  Intermissions matter to the Islanders. They are 3-0-0 when winning after one period, 2-3-0 when they trail. They are 6-0-0 when they lead after two periods, 0-4-1 when they trail.

5.  No team has more wins when out-shot by the opposition than the Islanders (six wins through Tuesday’s games, tied with New Jersey and Tampa Bay). Oddly enough, they have just one win (along with a loss and an extra time loss) when outshooting their opponent. Only Minnesota has yet to win when outshooting their opponent.

1.  The penalty box has been something of a second home on the ice for the Caps this season. Only three teams have taken more minor penalties than the Caps (62, tied with Anaheim): Detroit (63), Nashville (69), and Pittsburgh (70). Add to that three bench minors (tied for eighth-most), and it’s a lot of penalty time. Only three teams have been shorthanded more than the Caps (51, tied with Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Anaheim): Nashville (53), Pittsburgh (53), and Detroit (55). The Red Wings and Penguins have played one more game than the Caps through Tuesday.

2.  On the other side, the Caps have had just 37 power play opportunities, sixth-fewest in the league (tied with Winnipeg). And the home power play…woof. It is 1-for-15 (6.7 percent), tied for the fewest opportunities (with St. Louis) and tied for second-worst in efficiency (with Chicago).

3.  This could be a battle of shorthanded goals. The Caps have allowed the third-most of that category (four), while the Islanders are tied for allowing the most (six, with Buffalo).

4.  First periods are putting the Caps in a hole early. Their goal differential of minus-11 (21 allowed, ten scored) is worst in the league by a lot. The New York Rangers are minus-7 (13 scored, 20 allowed).

5.  Washington is dead last in the league in shot percentage-for at 5-on-5 when ahead (39.37). Not that they get much in the way of leads, at least early in games. They have scored first only three times in 12 games (2-0-1), tied for fewest in the league with Carolina (3-0-0) and the Islanders (3-0-0).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

New York: Jordan Eberle

You might not think Jordan Eberle, having been drafted by and having played seven seasons with the Edmonton Oilers before being traded to the Isles last June for Ryan Strome, has a connection to the history of the Washington Capitals, but he does. Turn the clock back to June 20, 2008, at the NHL entry draft in Ottawa. The Washington Capitals had the 23rd pick of the first round of that draft. It was, as it turns out, an impressive draft, what with Steven Stamkos, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo and Erik Karlsson taken among the first 15 picks. But there the Caps were with that 23rd overall pick. Apparently, they had a player in their sights were he to be available. And apparently, they thought the team immediately in front of them in the order – the Edmonton Oilers – were looking at the same player. So, the Caps traded the 23rd overall pick plus the Caps’ second round pick in that draft (54th overall) to the New Jersey Devils for the Devils’ pick in the first round, 21st overall, thus leap-frogging the Oilers. With that 21st overall pick the Caps took Anton Gustafsson. The Oilers took Jordan Eberle with the next pick. Gustaffson played one professional game in North America (with the Hershey Bears in the 2009-2010 season); Eberle has 391 points in 519 regular season games in the NHL. Of that total, Eberle is 1-2-3, minus-4, in nine career games against the Caps. Oh, and as for that 54th overall pick that went to New Jersey…/1

Washington: Alex Ovechkin

After a hot start with nine goals in his first five games, Alex Ovechkin has hit a dry patch with one goal in his last seven games and none in his last four contests.  He does have four assists in his last three games, three of them coming in the 5-2 comeback win over the Edmonton Oilers last Saturday.  That also happens to be the only game so far that the Caps won in which Ovechkin did not score a goal (1-5-1).  As Ovechkin goes, so go the Caps has been, to a large extent, true over the course of his career, but the first dozen games and Ovechkin’s influence on them (or lack of it) and its effects on outcomes is not sustainable if the Caps are to be successful this season.  Another dimension to this is his ice time, which is a bit of a proxy for his influence in an odd sort of way.  The Caps have lost both games in which he logged more than 20 minutes, both of them by multi-goal margins (6-2 to Vancouver and 2-0 to Toronto, although the second goal in that game was an empty-netter).  In 46 career games against the Islanders, Ovechkin is 34-16-50, plus-8.

In the end…

Time’s a’wastin’. The Caps, pending the outcome of Wednesday night’s games, are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, two points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for eighth place (the Flyers face the Blackhawks in Chicago on Wednesday night). It does not sound like much, and all things considered, it isn’t. But the Caps have been: a) mediocre overall, and b) underperforming in their light home schedule to date. In one of the odd coincidences between this season and last, the Caps did not lose their fourth game in regulation on home ice last year until Game 12 on their home schedule, a 3-0 shutout at the hands of these same Islanders. Here we are at Game 5 of this year’s home schedule, and the Caps are in jeopardy of losing their fourth game in regulation…to the Islanders. Well, as the Cowardly Lion put it in “The Wizard of Oz”… NOT no how!

Capitals 4 – Islanders 2

1/ The Devils selected Patrice Cormier with that 54th overall pick in 2008. After an on-ice incident in juniors and his subsequent suspension in 2010, he was part of a trade (one that included Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, and a 2010 first round draft pick) to the Atlanta Thrashers for Ilya Kovalchuk.

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was - Week 4

In sports, you are only as good as the last game you played.  In hockey, you are only as good as the last period you played.  By those criteria, the Washington Capitals are a fine team that had a great week.  Unfortunately, Week 4 had two games and six periods.  The Caps were not a fine team over that span, and was a banged-up team, to boot.

Record: 1-1-0

This was Western Canada Week for the Caps, and the 2017 version had a spooky resemblance to the trip the Caps made to the provinces last year. You might recall that the Caps dropped the opener of their trip last year to the Edmonton Oilers, 4-1.  Compare that to the 6-2 drubbing the Vancouver Canucks laid on Washington in the first game of this year’s trip.  In the second game of last year’s trip the Caps made use of a two-goal third period to pull away from the Canucks in a 5-2 win.  In the second game of this year’s trip, Washington scored five unanswered goals on the Edmonton Oilers after falling behind, 2-0, three of them in the third period, to take a 5-2 decision.

Splitting the two games for the week left the Caps in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division, five points behind the surprising New Jersey Devils in first place.  Of more concern is that they are outside the playoff mix at the moment, one point behind the second wild-card team, the Philadelphia Flyers (12 points).

Offense: 3.50 /game (season:3.09 /game, T-14th)

The Caps suffered from a lack of balance in goal scoring over the first three weeks of the season, and if there was a sliver of silver of the lining of the cloud that was Week 4, it was getting some more balance.  Chandler Stephenson scored his first NHL goal in the Caps’ loss in Vancouver.  Jay Beagle recorded his second goal of the season, and Devante Smith-Pelly scored his first as a Capital in the 5-2 win over Edmonton.  Lars Eller got his first of the season on a one-timer in that win over the Oilers.

Then there was the top line and an odd switch in roles.  Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded his first three goals of the season in Week 4, one against Vancouver and two against Edmonton.  It was Kuznetsov’s fifth career multi-goal game and second in Edmonton. He had a hat trick on Oilers’ ice in a 7-4 win on October 23, 2015.  Meanwhile, Alex Ovechkin had a four-assist week, three of them coming against the Oilers in the 5-2 win.  For Ovechkin it was his 12^th career game with three or more assists and his first since he had three in a 6-5 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on November 2, 2014.

Defense: 4.00 /game (season:3.55 /game, 26th)

The Caps started the week as if they had a team case of jet lag, allowing 15 shots on goal and three tallies to the Vancouver Canucks in the first period of the game that opened the week.  Or perhaps it was the rust that accumulated from having no game action from Saturday (a 4-1 loss to Florida at home) to Thursday against the Canucks.  In that respect it was also similar to last season' trip to the west when the Caps dropped a decision to the New York Rangers at home, and then having no game action until the following Wednesday in Edmonton, where the Caps allowed a pair of goals on ten shots in what would be a 4-1 loss.

Shots allowed continue to be a problem.  The Canucks didn’t need many after their 15-shot first period but still finished with 30, the eighth time in ten games that the Caps allowed 30 or more shots. Edmonton recorded 40 shots on goal in the 5-2 Caps win, and it was not score effects.  The Oilers had 16 shots on goal (and both goals) in the first period, 14 more in the second period.  It was the second time this season that the Caps allowed 40 shots to an opponent, the other being when Tampa Bay recorded 40 in a 4-3 overtime win for the Lightning on October 9^th.

If there was a bright spot, it was the job that the Caps did on Connor McDavid in the win over the Oilers.  McDavid went into that contest having recorded a point in each of the Oilers’ first five home games this season (4-3-7, plus-2) with 22 shots on goal (4.4 per game).  Washington did not shut him out (he did have an assist), but did hold him to two shots after the first period and rendered him irrelevant in the outcome.  For that, Caps fans might thank Nicklas Backstrom, whose shifts often overlapped significantly with those of McDavid (shift chart from nhl.com; click for a larger image):

Goaltending: 4.01 / .886 (season: 3.35 / .889)

This is where that whole, “you are only as good as your last game” idea comes into play, because for the first four periods of the week, the goaltending for the Caps was gruesome – 6.00, .826.  But then there were the last 40 minutes of the week in which Braden Holtby stopped all 24 shots he faced and looked more like the confident and aggressive goalie he has been over the last few years.

The odd part of the goaltending situation is how different the two goaltenders have been.  Holtby, despite a 2.75 goals against average, has the 15^th best save percentage among 42 goalies with at least 200 minutes of ice time (.919).  Not quite up to his recent standard, but not bad, all things considered.  Philipp Grubauer has just not found a comfort zone yet.  Among those same 42 goalies with at least 200 minutes he is 41^st in goal against average (4.67) and dead last in save percentage (.850).  With seven saves on eight shots in 25 minutes of work in Week 4, he actually improved that save percentage.

Power Play: 0-for-3 / 0.0 percent (season: 22.9 percent / 8th)

In Week 4, it was all about the opportunities.  The Caps had three, all of them in the loss to Vancouver, two of them coming in the third period of that game, after the competitive portion of the contest was settled.  The Caps could only draw what was a coincidental delay-of-game penalty against Edmonton and did not have a power play in that contest.

The Caps did have their chances against Vancouver, recording six shots in 4:31 of power play ice time, and they got the shots from players they want to take them – two from Alex Ovechkin, two from Evgeny Kuznetsov, and one from John Carlson (Alex Chiasson had the other).  But the opportunities were spare and the timing of them was not particularly relevant to the outcome. 

Penalty Killing: 7-for-10 / 70.0 percent (season: 75.5 percent / 28th)

Week 4 was the bad and the good.  Going 3-for-6 on the penalty kill against the Canucks in the first game of the week was, if not the difference in its entirety in the decision, then the largest part of it.  It was a case of taking too many penalties (eight that resulted in six power plays) and allowing too many chances (11 shots on goal in 7:28 of ice time).

Things improved, to a degree, against the Oilers.  The Caps still allowed Edmonton four man advantage opportunities (two of them in the odd occurrence of Lars Eller being whistled twice for shooting the puck over the glass; combine that with his goal in that game and “shooting” was his theme for the night), but they allowed only six shots on goal in eight minutes of shorthanded ice time, none of them from Connor McDavid.

Faceoffs: 54-for-129 / 41.9 percent (season: 49.5 percent / 21st)

There is no sugar coating that it was a bad week for the Caps in the circle.  They were under 50 percent in both games and managed only as much as 50 percent for the week in the defensive zone (22-for-44).  On an individual level it was, for the most part, just as bad as one would expect.  Of the four skaters taking ten or more draws, three of them were under 40 percent – Nicklas Backstrom (3-for-13/23.1 percent), Lars Eller (11-for-29/37.9 percent), and Evgeny Kuznetsov (14-for-39/35.9 percent).  Only Jay Beagle was over 50 percent (17-for-28/60.7 percent).  But, in a nod to the “faceoffs don’t matter” school, the Caps are 3-2-1 in games in which they were 50 percent or better, 2-3-0 in games in which they were under 50 percent, and both of those wins came in games in which the Caps were under 41 percent (40.9 percent in a 5-2 win over New Jersey and 39.3 percent on Saturday against Edmonton).

Goals by Period:

Allowing multiple goals in the first period in both games for the week is not a recipe for success.  It brought the Caps’ string of games allowing multiple goals in the first period to three, two of those games ending in losses. They did manage to stop the bleeding against Edmonton, shutting out the Oilers over the last 40 minutes of that game, but early porousness on defense is putting the Caps in too deep a hole to be able to win consistently.  In a way it is a bit odd, though.  Even with the five goals allowed in the first period in Week 4 (seven over their last three games), they have allowed only 11 goals in the first period in 11 games.  Only seven teams have allowed more, but this might be a correctable element in the Caps’ game.  It had better be.

In the end…

The Caps were without arguably their top defenseman (Matt Niskanen) and a top-six forward (Andre Burakovsky) for both games.  Nicklas Backstrom missed the Vancouver game due to illness, while Brett Connolly left the Vancouver game early under a concussion protocol after being checked into the glass and missed the Edmonton game.  That is a lot of offense missing.  But the Caps are still allowing far too many shots on goal to anyone’s liking (more than 33 per game).  They still have to demonstrate they can achieve a measure of balance in scoring.  They need more consistent goaltending.  These are the problems of a team that might be bouncing along the margin of playoff eligibility all season unless they can make progress in finding solutions.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Evgeny Kuznetsov (3-0-3, plus-2, GWG, 11 shots on goal, 16 shot attempts)
• Second Star: Alex Ovechkin (0-4-4, plus-3, eight shots on goal, 13 shot attempts, first three-assist game in almost three years)
• Third Star: Chandler Stephenson (1-0-1, plus-2, first NHL goal)

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 10: Capitals at Canucks, October 26th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

Washington Capitals head back on the road for what will be their longest trip – in both games and distance traveled – so far this season when they head to western Canada for three games.  The trip begins with a visit to British Columbia and the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

Washington will be looking to notch their first win in regulation time in almost two weeks, since a 5-2 win at New Jersey over the Devils on October 13^th.  Since that win, the Caps are 1-3-0, their lone win coming in a 4-3 overtime decision at Detroit against the Red Wings last Friday.

Vancouver opened their 2017-2018 season with a four-game home stand that was less than successful (1-2-1), and then they went on a five-game road trip that ended with a 1-0 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night, giving them a 4-1-0 record on their trip. 

Scoring has been a bit hard to come by for the Canucks, who rank 22^nd in scoring offense through Tuesday’s games.  Tied at the top of the points ranking is rookie Brock Boeser (2-4-6, minus-1).  A former first round draft pick of the Canucks (23^rd overall in 2015) out of the University of North Dakota, Boeser, who appeared in nine games in 2016-2017 in his first NHL tour, is tied for seventh among rookies in total points.  The odd thing about his scoring so far is having it come in losing efforts.  The Canucks are just 2-3-0 in games in which he registered a point, 2-0-0 in games in which he was shutout.  He also has an odd pattern to his ice time.  Vancouver has not won a game in which Boeser skated more than 15 minutes (0-3-0), but they are perfect when he skated less than that (4-0-0).  This will be his first chance to face the Capitals.

For a 27-year old, defenseman, Michael Del Zotto has been around.  Drafted 20^th overall by the New York Rangers in 2008, Del Zotto spent parts of five seasons with the Rangers before being traded to the Nashville Predators in January 2014 for Kevin Klein.  The following summer he signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers.  After spending three seasons with the Flyers, he signed another free agent deal last summer to arrive in Vancouver, leaving only the Mountain time zone as the one in which he did not call home in his career to date.  At the moment, Del Zotto occupies an odd place in the team rankings among defensemen.  He leads the group in points (0-5-5), but his minus-3 is worst among that group.  He leads them in total shots on goal (23) but has yet to hit the back of the net.  Only 11 players in the league (six of them being defensemen) have recorded more shots on goal without having lit the red light.  Del Zotto is 2-8-10, plus-3, in 29 career games against the Caps.

If the Canucks are going to go with the hot goalie, it is hard to figure out which one to go with on the heels of their three game winning streak coming into this contest.  Jacob Markstrom stopped 40 of 43 shots (.930 save percentage) in wins over the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings.  Then, Anders Nilsson went Markstrom one better, stopping all 29 shots he faced from the Minnesota Wild in a 1-0 shutout on Tuesday night.  Markstrom has had more chances this season, appearing in seven games to Nilsson’s three, but Nilsson has the better numbers – a 1.84 goals against average to Markstrom’s 2.48 and a .949 save percentage to Markstrom’s .908. 

It is an interesting goaltending situation for the Canucks.  Both natives of Sweden got their starts with other franchises (Markstrom drafted by Florida in 2008, Nilsson drafted by the New York Islanders in 2009, both are of the generation of tall goaltenders (both are 6’6”), neither have ever appeared in as many as half of their team’s games in any season (Markstrom appeared in 33 games with the Canucks in 2015-2016, Nilsson in 26 games with Edmonton in 2015-2016 and with Buffalo last season).  This could be a season-long battle to see who emerges as the team’s number one netminder.  Markstrom is 0-5-0, 3.51, .889 in five career appearances against the Caps, while Nilsson is 0-3-1, 3.64, .882 in six appearances against Washington.

1.  The difference between the home and road portions of the Canucks’ season had been in scoring defense.  In their four home games to open the season they allowed an average of 3.25 goals per game.  On the road, that number is 1.80 goals per game, and they have two shutouts.

2. Vancouver is 30^th of 31 teams in credited hits with 137 (Carolina has 105).  The also rank 27^th in the league in blocked shots (108).  If there was a “grittership index” of hits plus blocked shots per game, Vancouver would rank 30^th of 31 teams with a 27.22 rating (Carolina is at 27.14).

3.  The Caps might be able to jump on the Canucks early.  Only three teams have allowed more first period goals through Tuesday’s games than Vancouver (11).  And perhaps they had better.  The Canucks have allowed only 11 total goals over the last two periods of games.

4.  Vancouver has an interesting and, perhaps for them, troubling shot attempts profile.  They rank just 26^th in the league in shot attempts-for percentage when ahead in games (42.86), but they are eighth in the league in shot attempts-for percentage when behind (58.08).  They always seem to be playing to regress to a mean.  This might be true for most teams, but it seems exaggerated with Vancouver.

5.  The Canucks have at least spread their scoring around.  Of the 21 skaters to dress this season, 19 of them have at least one point on their ledger.  Only defensemen Alex Biega (in two games) and Erik Gudbranson (in eight games) have yet to record a point.

1.  The Caps are 4-1-0 when Alex Ovechkin scores at least one goal, 0-3-1 when he doesn’t.

2. John Carlson is second in the league in average ice time, averaging 26:43 per game.  Only Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is logging more – 27:39 per game.

3.  Only nine players in the league have logged more total shorthanded ice time than Jay Beagle (35:21 in nine games).  All of them are defensemen.  In fact, Beagle is the only forward in the top 19 in total shorthanded ice time.

4.  Brooks Orpik is back among the leaders in credited hits.  He is tied for fifth with 30 and is fourth among defensemen.

5.  Another random John Carlson fact…through Tuesday’s games, no player in the league recorded more shots on goal without scoring one than Carlson (34).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Vancouver: Daniel/Henrik Sedin

And now, they are the grand old men.  Daniel and Henrik Sedin are the oldest players on the Vancouver roster, Henrik the older by six minutes.  They are first, second, or first and second in every meaningful franchise ranking: games (Henrik: 1,257; Daniel: 1,234); goals (Daniel: 372/1^st); assists (Henrik: 786; Daniel: 618); points (Henrik: 1,023; Daniel: 990); plus/minus (Henrik: plus-185; Daniel: plus-166); game-winning goals (Daniel: 82); power play goals (Daniel: 130); total minutes played (Henrik: 22,127; Daniel: 21102); and on and on.  But now, with both of them at the age of 37 and in the last year of their respective contracts, one wonders if this will be their last season with the Canucks.  There has been comment on their perhaps stalling a youth movement with the club. 

Add to this that the twins are off to something of a slow start scoring-wise (Henrik has one point in his last seven games; Daniel has a goal and an assist in his last six contests) and are near the bottom of the team’s plus-minus rankings, and the end seems not to be over the horizon any longer.  Daniel is 7-6-13, plus-3, in 18 career games against the Caps, while Henrik is 3-11-14, plus-2, in 19 career games against Washington.

Washington: Jakub Vrana

One of the things one might watch for with young players with offensive skills is streakiness.  So far this season, Jakub Vrana has been streaky in an almost metronomic way, if that makes sense.  He had points in his first two games, went without one for a pair, then had points in two more.  He continued the pattern with another pair of games without a point, but when he went without one in the 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers last weekend, it extended his streak without a point to three games.  He also came within one second of logging his lowest ice time of the season (12:07; he has 12:06 in the Caps’ 5-2 win over New Jersey on October 13^th).  The ice time has a bit of the canary in a coal mine character to it.  The Caps are 3-1-0 in games in which he skated more than 14 minutes, 1-3-1 when he skated less than 13 minutes.  Oddly enough, both of his goals so far were in games in which he skated less than 13 minutes.  And perhaps odder still, he is 2-2-4, plus-1, in road games, while he is 0-1-1, plus-2, at Capital One Arena.  He is without a point in his only career appearance against the Canucks.

In the end…

The western Canada trip is often one with which the Caps have difficulty.  However, last season the Caps went 3-1-0 on their trip, beating Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg after dropping the first game of their trip.  This time around the Caps do not get Winnipeg on the trip, but what they will be getting is three surprising teams.  Vancouver (5-3-1) and Calgary (5-4-0) are perhaps doing better than expected in the early going, while the Oilers (2-5-1) are underperforming. 

What the Caps will be getting on this trip is, oddly enough, a chance to break out of their offensive doldrums.  Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary are among the dozen worst teams in the league in goals allowed on home ice.  In this contest, Vancouver returns home after a long road trip, but with neither Canuck goaltender having any great success against the Caps over their respective careers, Washington might just be able to ruin the home cooking.

Capitals 5 – Canucks 2

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was - Week 3

The Washington Capitals could not win a game in regulation in Week 3 and sustained a pair of losses that left them in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division and tenth in the Eastern Conference standings to end the week.  By any measure, it was an unsuccessful week and one where problems they had in Weeks 1 and 2 seemed to remain problems in Week 3.

Record: 1-2-0

Recording consecutive weeks with losing records has been a rare occurrence for the Caps in recent years.  In fact, the last time it happened was in Weeks 24 and 25 in the 2013-2014 season.  What made Week 3 difficult and concerning was that the Caps lost both contests they played at home.  They have just two standings points earned in four home games so far and have not won on home ice since the home opener against the Montreal Canadiens.  What has been the surprise is that despite a difficult road schedule so far, the Caps are 3-1-1 this season, including their 4-3 overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.

Offense:  1.67/game (season: 3.00 /game, 17th)

One of the problems the Caps had coming into Week 3 was a lack of balance in scoring, getting contributions from the top-six forwards but little from the rest of the lineup.  And there it was again in Week 3.  The Caps were shut out by the Toronto Maple Leafs and managed only a goal against the Florida Panthers in losses. Against the Red Wings in their lone win for the week, the Caps got goals from top-six performers (T.J. Oshie and the game-winner in overtime from Alex Ovechkin) and got goals from players whose contributions have been meager to date (Jay Beagle and Andre Burakovsky).

The twist in Week 3 was not so much that the Caps got little production from the bottom-six forwards and the defense, but that the Caps couldn’t seem to put it together consistently.  The Caps did get points from 13 skaters over three games, but only Andre Burakovsky had two points for the week, both (goal and an assist) against Detroit.  Christian Djoos scored his second goal of the season for the defense – the only two goals from the defense through nine games – but for the second time his goal came in a loss.

Defense: 3.00/game (season: 3.44/game, T-21st)

Despite allowing nine goals in three games in Week 3, the Caps did tighten up on defense in one respect.  They held opponents to an average of 30.0 shots per game for the week, allowing only the Red Wings more than 30 shots (37 in the Caps’ 4-3 overtime win).  And, they held the Florida Panthers to just nine even strength shots on goal on their way to outshooting opponents at even strength by a 90-59 margin for the week.

One of the problems with being a minutes-eating defenseman is that you might be on ice for a good share of the bad things that happen.  Such was the case for John Carlson in Week 3, who averaged more than 29 minutes per game for the week but was on ice for seven of the nine goals scored against the Caps.  Not that he was alone.  The Caps did have balance on defense with 16 skaters on ice for goals against.

Goaltending: 2.38 / .920 (season: 3.20 / .902)

The best goaltending tandem of last season has been something less than that this season, and an uneven week did not do much to improve on that.  There was the good, the not so good, and the bad that didn’t seem as bad as it was or was worse than it looked.  Braden Holtby got the call for the first two games of the week.  In the first, he held the Toronto Maple Leafs to one goal on 29 shots, a superb effort against the top scoring offense in the league.  Nevertheless, he took the loss.  Hioltby was a bit less efficient in the middle game of the week, allowing three goals on 37 shots in the Caps’ 4-3 overtime win over Detroit, allowing two goals on 15 shots in the third period being the concern. 

Philipp Grubauer wrapped up the week in what was a fairly strange performance.  He allowed a goal on the first shot he faced less than 90 seconds into the game then settled down against a light shot load until he gave up a power play goal late in the first period against Florida.  Another power play goal did him in for what was his third loss of the season (0-2-1) and a disappointing .848 goals against average for the season.  This was a part of the Caps’ profile that one would not have thought would be a problem.  But whether is it a case of poor goalie play or lack of defensive support in front of them, the goaltending numbers are not what one expected.

Power Play: 2-for-12 / 16.7 percent (season: 25.0 percent / 7th)

Score power play goals…win.  Don’t score power play goals…don’t win.  The Caps were 2-for-5 on the man advantage in their only win of the week, the 4-3 overtime win over Detroit that featured a power play game-winning goal from Alex Ovechkin.  The Caps were 0-for-7 in their two losses that started and ended the week.

It was not a problem of getting shots on goal; the Caps had 21 shots in 17:26 in power play time.  It was not a problem of who got the shots.  Alex Ovechkin had seven of them, scoring on one.  John Carlson had five.  All in all, eight different Caps recorded power play shots on goal. 

What was worst about the power play was the goal differential.  The Caps allowed two shorthanded goals in Week 3, giving them three shorthanded goals against in their last four games and four shorthanded goals against in nine games.  Only the Buffalo Sabres (six) have allowed more.  It was not a bad power play in Week 3.  It was just, as a lot has been for the Caps so far, inconsistent and less than expected.  On the other hand, given the two goals for and two against, it was bad.

Penalty Killing: 10-for-13 / 76.9 percent (season: 76.9 percent / 23rd)

The Caps did themselves a favor by limiting the Toronto Maple Leaf power play chances in the first game of the week by giving the Leafs just two power plays to work with.  In that context, it worked, the Caps shutting out the Leafs on those two chances in the 2-0 loss to Toronto.  The last two games of the week were another matter, the Caps giving Detroit five power play chances (the Red Wings scoring once) and Florida six chances (two goals). 

What the Caps were was inefficient in those last two games of the week.  In 16:36 of shorthanded ice time against Detroit and Florida, the Caps allowed three goals on 24 shots.  It was quite a heavy shot load faced by Holtby against Detroit and by Grubauer against Florida facing those power plays.  That the Caps did get a shorthanded goal from Jay Beagle against the Red Wings helped, but it could not erase that this was a bad week for penalty killing.

Faceoffs: 95-for-188 / 50.5 percent (season: 51.2 percent / 14th)

The Caps had what was a virtual 50 percent week in the circle (50.5 percent), but there were differences by game and zone.  Washington dominated the faceoff circle against Toronto (54.9 percent) and against Detroit (55.0 percent), but were controlled by Florida in the last game of the week (44.2 percent).  The Caps did well in the ends of the ice, winning better than 50 percent in the offensive (52.5 percent) and defensive (57.7 percent) zones, but they had a tough time in the neutral zone (41.1 percent).

Individually, the Caps were split among the most frequent occupants of the circle.  Nicklas Backstrom (53.3 percent) and Jay Beagle (69.4 percent) were on the good side of 50 percent for the week among Caps with ten or more draws. Lars Eller (40.0 percent) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (31.7 percent) struggled. Eller’s numbers were mitigated by being better in the ends (7-for-14) than in the neutral zone (1-for-6). The best Kuznetsov could muster was his 8-for-22 (36.4 percent) in the offensive zone.

Goals by Period:

By period, you could say that with the exception of the overtime game-winning goal against Detroit, the Caps started poorly and ended games, at least in regulation, worse.  They did not score a first period goal all week and allowed five third period goals (including two by Detroit that helped send that game to overtime).  The best thing that might be said about giving up five third period goals for the week was that two of them were empty netters.  "Best," in this context, is a relative thing.

In fact, the Caps did not score first in any of the three games of the week, putting themselves behind the eight ball early.  What is means is that looking at the Caps by period through three weeks, their position deteriorates across the periods – a plus-3 goal differential in the first period (down from plus-5 after Week 2), minus-2 in the second period, and minus-5 in the third period.  Not much good to see here, either.

In the end…

We would maintain that the circumstances surrounding this team with the roster changes, new line combinations, and young defensemen working into the lineup argue for looking at the first 20 games as something of a “shakedown cruise” to see what combinations work and to give the young defensemen a chance to acclimate themselves to the pace and rigor at the NHL level.  In that context, a .500 record in standings points through three weeks is not a terrible state in which they find themselves.

However, they have persistent issues with a lack of balance in scoring, are subject to breakdowns, allow far too many shots, are inconsistent on both sides of special teams, and they don’t put teams away.  And now, the Caps embark on what could be the most difficult part of their early schedule.  They will not resume action until Thursday of Week 4, but it begins their annual western Canada trip that will conclude with back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday in Edmonton and Calgary.  Perhaps getting on the road will focus their attention on things that need work.  And there are a few things that need work.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Alex Ovechkin (1-0-1, GWG, 29 shot attempts, 15 shots on goal, became all-time leader in overtime game-winning goals (20))
• Second Star: Andre Burakovsky (1-1-2, 15 shot attempts, 10 shots on goal)
• Third Star: Christian Djoos (1-0-1, second career NHL goal in his fifth game)