A TWO-Point Night -- Game 58: Capitals 3 - Penguins 1

Fans might be forgiven for thinking that the playoffs started in February, because it had that kind of feel to it when the Washington Capitals defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1, at Consol Energy Center on Tuesday night.

The first period looked as if it would end scoreless, then the Penguins' Blake Comeau took a tripping penalty on Nicklas Backstrom to put the Caps on a power play late in the period.  As the penalty was about to expire, the Penguins got lazy.  They managed to chip the puck out of their own end and again to the red line, which gave them the false security that they could make a line change.  But Joel Ward chipped the puck back toward the Penguin end, and Alex Ovechkin was there to pick it up as the Penguins were sorting out the place cards as to who should be on the ice.  Ovechkin broke in alone on goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, deked him to the ice, and lifted a backhander that hit the center bar in the goal and bounced out.  It made for a brief moment when it appeared it might not have been a goal, but a goal it was, and the Caps had a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.

In the second period the Penguins struck back early when Steve Downie batted home a loose puck at the top of the crease.  It would be all the scoring there would be until the late in the third period.  The March of the Penguins (to the penalty box) that began 58 seconds into the period with penalties to Maxim Lapierre and Steve Downie would end with Chris Kunitz taking a boarding penalty and then Kris Letang taking a slashing penalty 11 seconds later to put the Caps on a 5-on-3 power play with 4:45 left.

Nicklas Backstrom took over from there.  It started with a shot by Alex Ovechkin that was muffled in front.  Troy Brouwer took a whack at it, but Marc-Andre Fleury directed the puck to the corner to his left.  Ovechkin ran the loose puck down at the right wing boards and fed Backstrom in the corner.  From there, Backstrom scanned his options and dialed up a pass across the top of the crease to Joel Ward on the far side of the ice to Fleury’s right.  Ward one-timed the puck past Fleury from a severe angle, and the Caps had a 2-1 lead with just 4:13 left in regulation.

The Caps had to kill a penalty late when Brooks Laich was sent off for goalie interference, and the Penguins brought Fleury to the bench to make it a 6-on-4 power play.  The Penguins struggled to gain entry into the Caps zone, and with a clot of players fighting for a loose puck at the Capitals’ blue line, John Carlson grabbed it and flicked it the length of the ice for the empty net goal with 11.4 seconds left to give the Caps the 3-1 win.

Other stuff…

-- There were eight power plays combined in this game, five for the Caps and three for the Penguins.  There could have been more…many more.  Nineteen penalties were called, and there could have been more…many more.  This was not a game that the NHL should use as a teaching device for new officials, because frankly, Kevin Pollock and Justin St. Pierre were awful.  They lost control of the game in the second period and it bubbled over into the third period when 12 of the game’s 19 penalties were called.

-- Fortunately for the Caps, it was the Penguins who melted down on their own ice, taking 11 penalties overall and eight of them in the third period, including two misconducts.  It should hardly have been surprising, given that the Penguins came into the game with the second most penalty minutes per game in the league.  By the time the game was over, after adding 41 penalty minutes to their season total, they had the top spot to themselves.

-- How even was this game?  It was 1-1 on the scoreboard until the 56^th minute of the contest.  Each team had 33 shots on goal; the Penguins had a slim 58-55 edge in shot attempts.  The teams split 52 faceoffs right down the middle.

-- Braden Holtby is now 3-0-0 against the Penguins with a GAA of 0.33, a save percentage of .989, and two shutouts.  When Steve Downie scored in the second period it broke a streak of 155:38 of shutout hockey pitched by Holtby against the Penguins.

-- Alex Ovechkin’s goal and assist give him 19 multi-point games this season, tying him with Nicklas Backstrom for the league lead.  Backstrom, who had an assist on the game-winning goal, and Ovechkin now rank tied for second and tied for fourth, respectively, in points.  Backstrom extended his league lead in assists with his 44^th helper.  Ovechkin’s goal gave him 37 on the season, tops in the league, and 17 power play goals, also best in the league.  He and Backstrom are tied for third in total power play scoring.

-- One might think that the official scorer was borrowed from the Steelers.  A total of 86 hits were credited to the two teams, 50 to the Penguins and 36 to the Capitals.  Nine players were credited with five or more hits, three for the Caps (Troy Brouwer, Tom Wilson, and Brooks Orpik) and six for the Penguins.

-- A somewhat odd stat in this game… three defensemen for the Caps did not have so much as a single shot attempt: Matt Kiskanen, Karl Alzner, and Brooks Orpik.  Jay Beagle made it four skaters for the Caps without a shot attempt.  He did have the only takeaway credited to the Caps, though.

-- John Carlson’s goal was the first shorthanded goal by a Capitals defenseman since Mike Green scored a shortie against the Florida Panthers (the game-winning goal) in a 3-1 win on February 7, 2009.  It was the sixth of what would be an eight game goal streak for Green, an NHL record for defensemen.

-- Eric Fehr won all four draws he took against Evgeni Malkin, sending Malkin to a 5-for-14 night in the circle.

-- The win gave the Caps 16 road wins this season.  All of last season the Caps had 17 road wins.

In the end…

The Capitals won the season series outright from the Penguins for the first time since 2010-2011, when they went 3-0-1.  The odd part of that is that in 2010-2011 the Caps also won three games by shutting out the Penguins twice and allowing one goal in the other win.  In this game there were some things revealed. 

One, the Penguins seem to be desperately trying to mask a lack of depth, especially among their forwards, though chippy play.  Steve Downie (who was expelled for not playing well with others), Maxim Lapierre, Chris Kunitz (who is not the 35-goal scorer he was last season), and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo all were whistled for infractions in this game.  It is not a matter with which they are unfamiliar.

Two, the Caps showed an ability to exhibit equal parts spine and patience dealing with the Penguins’ hijinks.  Alex Ovechkin’s slash of Kris Letang’s skate that sent the defenseman tumbling into the boards probably should have been a penalty, but the Penguins’ response was disproportionate to the offense, one that lasted pretty much the rest of the game.  The Caps took it, to a point, and eventually made the Penguins pay, breaking through against what has been a Penguin strength, its penalty kill.

Three, Braden Holtby appears to be in the Penguins’ heads.  Having failed to find a way to solve him with offensive playmaking in the first two games this season, they took to just being offensive by jostling him early and often in an attempt to throw the goalie off his focus.  If begs the question, with Plan A and Plan B failing, what’s Plan C? 

The teams have one regular season meeting remaining, that coming next Wednesday in Washington.  Can’t wait, can you?

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 58: Capitals at Penguins, February 17th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals wrap up their season-long four-game road trip with a stop-over in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night to take on the Penguins at Consol Energy Center in the third of four meetings between the clubs this season.

The Caps will look to take the season series against the Penguins outright for the first time since going 3-0-1 in 2010-2011 (the Caps went 2-1-1 – two wins, two losses) in 2011-2012).  Both teams come into this game on, if not a roll, then certainly some solid results in recent games to cement their respective positions in the standings in the Metropolitan Division.

Washington is 5-3-1 since they faced the Penguins on January 28^th, a 4-0 shutout for the Caps.  That record includes a 4-1-0 record against the three California teams, usually a bumpy road to travel through in the course of a season. 

The Caps outscored their opponents, 23-21, over those nine games since beating Pittsburgh, but their performances have had an uneven quality to them.  Of their five wins, three of them came when scoring four or more goals, but they also were held to one or fewer goals three times (all losses).  Five of the nine games were decided by one goal, the Caps going 3-1-1 in those games.

Special teams were not overly special in those nine games, the Caps managing five power play goals in 28 chances (17.9 percent), while killing 18 of 22 shorthanded situations (81.8 percent).  The ability to dominate chances on special teams, mostly by denying opponents power play opportunities (three times facing only a single opposition power play) was the key in going plus-1 in special teams goal differential.

The Penguins are 5-2-1 since dropping that 4-0 decision to the Caps almost three weeks ago.  They have done it with defense and goaltending, because their offense has evaporated.  In eight games the Pens have 17 goals, four of them by Sidney Crosby, three more by David Perron.  In 18 games since being traded to Pittsburgh from Edmonton for Rob Klinkhammer and a 2015 first round draft pick, Perron has almost doubled his goal output (nine) from what he had in Edmonton in 38 games (five)  On the other hand, he has been on ice for 16 goals against in those 18 games with the Penguins, by far the most goals against per game of any forward having appeared in at least ten games (0.89/game).

Crosby has been a curiosity of late.  He is 4-3-7 in eight games since being held without a point against the Caps, part of a longer 18-game stretch in which he is 8-12-20.  The odd part about those 20 points is that is seems he scores in bunches or not at all.  He has four games in that span in which he recorded three or more points (4-9-13), but in the other 14 games he has just seven points (4-3-7).  He comes into this game with two points in his last four games, the noteworthy part of that being that he does not have an assist in those four games, his third four-game streak without an assist over his last 22 games.

At the other end, Marc-Andre Fleury might be the hottest goaltender in the league not named Carey Price.  Since he lost the 4-0 decision to the Caps on January 28^th, Fleury is 4-1-1, 1.15, .949, with two shutouts.  Compare that to Montreal’s Price, who over the same span of days is 6-1-0, 1.11, .958, with two shutouts.  Fleury can be streaky, though.  Before going in this recent binge, he was 2-4-2, 3.30, .891 over an eight game span.

Here is how the teams stack up against one another overall:

1.  Pittsburgh has the second best home record in the Metropolitan Division (18-8-3), but the Penguins are only 3-3-2 in their last eight games on home ice.

2.  Only one team in the league has faced more shorthanded opportunities at home than the Penguins (99 times in 29 home games).  Winnipeg has been shorthanded at home 115 times in 28 home games.

3.  Taking a lead into the first intermission is no guarantee of a win for the Penguins, at least by the standards of the NHL.  Only two teams – Edmonton (8) and Winnipeg  (9) – have lost more games when leading after 20 minutes than Pittsburgh (7).  The flip side of that is that no team has played in more games leading at the first intermission (27), and no team has more wins (20).

4.  Pittsburgh has 15 players with ten or more points scored this season.  Of that number, the Penguins drafted only five of them: Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Kris Letang, Simon Despres, and Beau Bennett.  Only Letang was drafted after the first round (third/62^nd overall in 2005).

5.  The Penguins are a rather pedestrian club in possession stats at home.  They rank 19^th overall in Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 (51.0 percent) and 19^th in Fenwick-for percentage (51.9 percent).  They are somewhat better in close score situations, ranking 17^th overall in Corsi-for percentage (52.2 percent) and 19^th in Fenwick-for percentage (52.1 percent).  Their PDO out-performs their possession numbers, to a point.  The Penguins are eighth in PDO overall at 5-on-5 (101.3) but are ranked only 15^th overall in close score situations at home (100.3; all numbers from war-on-ice.com). 

1.  Comparing the drafted proportion of scorers to that of the Penguins, the Caps have 17 skaters with ten points or more so far this season.  Of that number, 10 were drafted by the Caps and one (Jay Beagle) was signed as a free agent from their AHL farm club.

2.  Going into Monday’s games only three teams in the NHL have played more games holding opponents to two or fewer goals than the Caps (29): Nashville, Montreal, and Chicago, all with 34 games.  Washington is 24-2-3 in those 29 games.

3.  Only Tampa Bay (five) has more players with ten or more multi-point games this season than the Caps (four).  For the Caps the players are: Nicklas Backstrom (19/tied for first in the league), Alex Ovechkin (19/tied for first), Mike Green (11), and John Carlson (10).

4.  When the Caps beat Anaheim on Sunday it was the first time that they beat a team when being out-shot (33-28 by the Ducks) since they beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 (while being outshot, 27-17) back on January 10^th.  The Caps were 0-4-1 in games they were outshot after the Detroit win until Sunday.

5.  The Caps are a respectable team in their possession numbers on the road.  They rank 10^th overall in Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 (53.0 percent) and 11^th in Fenwick-for percentage (49.7 percent).  In close score situations the Caps rank 11^th in road Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 (53.1 percent) and ninth in Fenwick-for percentage (49.7 percent; all numbers from war-on-ice.com). 

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Pittsburgh: Blake Comeau

When Blake Comeau was drafted by the New York Islanders in the second round of the 2004 entry draft, he did not give much indication that he would be a top-end goal scorer.  However, after his draft year he posted consecutive 20-plus goal seasons for the Kelowna Rockets in the Western Hockey League.   After parts of three seasons with the Islanders in which he recorded just 15 goals in 107 games, he posted 17 goals in 61 games in 2009-2010.  Comeau followed that up with a 24-goal season in 77 games in 2010-2011.  Then the goals dried up.  He had none in 16 games of the 2011-2012 season, no points for that matter.  He was waived and claimed by the Calgary Flames. 

It was part of a journey that would have Comeau play in three cities – New York, Calgary, and Columbus – in which he would score just 16 goals in 177 games over three seasons after his two 20-plus goal years.  In July 2014 he was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the Pittsburgh Penguins.  He started well, scoring 11 goals in 31 games before suffering a broken wrist on December 22^nd against Florida in his 32^nd game.  He missed 20 games before returning to the lineup on February 11^th and scoring a goal against the Detroit Red Wings in a 4-1 Pens win.  With 12 goals in 35 games his goals per game (0.34) is clustered with those of Sidney Crosby (0.37) and Patric Hornqvist (0.35).  In 15 career games against the Caps he has one assist.

Washington: Marcus Johansson

When Marcus Johansson took a long feed from Matt Niskanen and darted into the Anaheim Ducks’ zone early in the second period of Sunday’s 5-3 win over the Ducks, he had Joel Ward on his left wing on what was almost a two-on-none break.  One might have imagined that in a year gone by, Johansson would have backhanded a pass to his teammate to take the shot.  On this occasion, Johansson snapped a shot past goalie John Gibson’s blocker to give the Caps a 3-2 lead.  It was Johansson’s 14^th goal in 57 games this season, tying his career best 14 goals in 80 games in his sophomore season in 2011-2012. 

It is not that he is shooting more efficiently, he is shooting more.  His 14.3 percent shooting efficiency mark is not a career best; he had better years in 2011-2012 (15.6 percent) and 2012-2013 (15.0 percent).  However, his 98 shots on goal this season projects to 141 shots over a full season, which would obliterate his career high of 107 shots set last season.  Johansson’s goal on Sunday broke a 12-game streak without one and a 17-game span in which he had only one goal.  In 16 career games against Pittsburgh, Johansson is 2-5-7, plus-4.

In the end…

One would think that the Penguins will be particularly motivated for this game, what with not having scored a goal against the Caps so far this season.  On the other hand, the recent history of these teams seems to be alternating streaks.  Starting with the series since the 2005-2006 lockout, the Penguins were 9-1-0 over the first ten games of the series through December 2007.  Then the Caps went 13-2-2 until January 2012.  The Penguins then won eight in a row through last season.  Now the Caps have two straight shutout wins.  The pendulum seems to have swung back in the Caps’ favor.

Capitals 4 – Penguins 3

A TWO-Point Night -- Game 57: Capitals 5 - Ducks 3

The Washington Capitals made it two out of three in the Golden State, defeating the Anaheim Ducks by a 5-3 margin on Sunday night at Honda Center. 

The game had the look of a drag race early on.  The teams exchanged goals 16 seconds apart before the game was two minutes old.  Andrew Cogliano got it started for the home team when he put home a rebound of a Francois Beauchemin shot 66 seconds into the game. 

Alex Ovechkin tied it 16 seconds later when Nicklas Backstrom won a faceoff to goalie John Gibson’s left, drawing the puck over to Ovechkin at the edge of the right wing circle.  Ovechkin settled the puck with his left skate and in one motion fired a snap shot that beat Gibson through the wickets to make it 1-1.

Corey Perry restored the Ducks’ lead at the 5:33 mark when he fired across his body and through a John Carlson screen past Peters’ blocker.  Anaheim could not extend their lead, though, and Ovechkin made them pay on a power play mid-way through the period.  Backstrom circled at the top of the offensive zone and left the puck for Mike Green crossing behind him.  Green laid the puck out to the left wing circle, and Ovechkin pounded it past Gibson on the far side at the 10:26 mark. 

Although the teams would combine for four goals on Despite the four goals on 18 shots in the first 10:26, that would be all the scoring in the first period.  In the second period, the Caps took their first lead in the fourth minute when the Caps took advantage of a slow Anaheim line change.  From the Caps’ blue line, Matt Niskanen found Marcus Johansson in the middle of the ice at the Anaheim blue line, and Johansson had nothing but clear ice in front of him.  He took the puck between the circles, then snapped a shot past Gibson’s blocker, and it was 3-2, Capitals.

Less than six minutes later the Caps put the Ducks in a head lock. Jack Hillen spied Ovechkin skating up the left side with only Cam Fowler back for the Ducks.  Ovechkin circled past him, and as Hampus Lindholm slid across to deny Ovechkin a clear path to the net, Ovechkin sent a backhand pass to Andre Burakovsky skating down the right side.  Burakovsky snapped the puck past Gibson’s glove before the goalie could get across, and it was 4-2.

Andrew Cogliano got the Ducks within a goal with his second of the game, taking a goal mouth feed from Jakob Silfverberg and stuffing the puck into the open side of the net past goalie Justin Peters.

That would be how the third period ended.  The Caps got an insurance goal when Ovechkin and Burakovsky teamed up once more.  It started in the Caps’ end when Anaheim defenseman Cam Fowler could not find the puck in his skates.  Ovechkin jumped up and pushed the puck forward out of the zone.  Skating down the left side he waited until Ben Lovejoy tried to brush the puck off his stick and laid the puck off into space where only Burakovsky could get it. Burakovsky deked to the ice, then slid a backhand past Gibson’s glove for the last goal in a 5-3 Caps win.

Other stuff…

-- The four point night for Ovechkin (two goals, two assists) was his second four-point night of the season, the first coming back on November 2^nd in a 6-5 loss to the Arizona Coyotes.  It was also his 19^th four-point game of his career.  For the Caps it was their third four-point night of the season, Nicklas Backstrom in a 4-0 win over New Jersey on December 20^th.

-- It was Andre Burakovsky’s first two-goal game in the NHL.  He is 4-2-6 in his last seven games and moved into a tie for 11^th in rookie points scoring (9-12-21).

-- Burakovsky (4) and Ovechkin (7) combined for 11 of the Caps’ 28 shots on goal and 17 of the team’s 55 shot attempts for the game.

-- Marcus Johansson broke a 12-game streak without a goal with his tally in the second period.  He also broke a four-game streak of minus-1’s.

-- Nicklas Backstrom had a pair of assists to take over the assist lead (43) over Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek (42).  It was also his 19^th multi-point game this season, tops in the league, and his seventh multi-point game in his last 14 contests.

-- Give Justin Peters credit for his performance in goal.  Early on it looked as if he was going into meltdown mode, giving up two goals on the first eight shots he faced and allowing rebounds on several others.  But, he shut the door, stopping 24 of the last 25 shots he faced to pick up his first win since November 8^th.

-- Peters was a perfect 11-for-11 on the penalty kill.  Considering that he stopped only 16 of 25 shots on the penalty kill (.640 save percentage) coming into this game, that was a remarkable performance.

-- Karl Alzner and Mike Green led the team with five hits apiece.  It is probably the first time in a while that Brooks Orpik was not in the top two in that statistic.

-- The defense had four assists for the game, one each by Matt Niskanen, Jack Hillen, Brooks Orpik, and Mike Green.

-- The Ducks outshot the Caps, 33-28, and they out-attempted them by a 69-55 margin.  However, the possession numbers were closer in 5-on-5 close score situation.  Anaheim had a Corsi-for in those situations of 50.8 percent. 

In the end…

It was a solid win and a nice present to wrap up the Fathers’ trip.  The team  worked hard to give Justin Peters a chance out there, something that has not always been the case when he has been in net.  And he made the best of that opportunity, fighting off some early yips to finish strong.  At the other end, Backstrom’s two-point night lifted him into a tie for third in points (with Dallas’ Tyler Seguin), and Ovechkin’s four-point night left him in sixth place in points, one behind Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby.  But the Caps got secondary scoring from Andre Burakovsky and Marcus Johansson and some solid offensive support from the blue line.  They did so while preventing the Ducks from building on an early advantage.  It was not the sort of California trip Caps fans are used to seeing, although this year’s 2-1-0 effort builds nicely from last season’s 2-0-1 left coast record.  All in all, it was not a bad stay in California.

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 19

In Week 19 the Washington Capitals hit a pothole on their way through their schedule.  A disappointing loss to a rival, an extra-time win in a place where success has been rare, and a flat performance to close the week made for what was an unusual result for the Caps lately -- a losing week.

Record: 1-2-0

The 12-week streak of non-losing weeks came to an end in Week 19.  Over those 12 weeks the Caps went 21-8-7 and likely cemented a playoff spot.  Week 19 was disturbing, though, for the manner in which the Caps came to lose two games this week.  They were flat as a crepe against the Flyers, a team against which the Caps are just 1-1-1 this season and only four goals scored in the three games (a 3-1 loss this week).  They were similarly flat against the Los Angeles Kings, getting their only goal from Alex Ovechkin and more than a third of their total shot attempts from Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov.  Teams go through dead spots over the course of an 82-game season, and a 12-week streak of non-losing streaks might have made Caps fans (not to mention the team) a bit complacent.  The trick will be to avoid another “red” week in Week 20.

Offense: 2.33/game (season: 2.88 /game; rank: 9th)

When Jay Beagle ties for the team lead in goals for the week, it is not a very productive week overall.  No insult meant for Beagle, but fourth line offense is not what the club is going to be able to count on from game to game.  As for Beagle, his pair of goals and an assist against San Jose in the middle game of the week represented his first career three-point game in the NHL.  Alex Ovechkin also had two goals for the week, oddly enough each of them being the only goal the Caps scored against Philadelphia and Los Angeles in losses.  Nicklas Backstrom had three assists to lead the team in that column, but the odd part there was Brooks Orpik recording a pair to tie for the second-highest assist total. He tied with Evgeny Kuznetsov, who provided the primary assist on each of Ovechkin’s goals for the week.

Defense: 3.33/game (season: 2.46 /game; rank: 8th)

It was not the shot totals that did in the Caps in Week 19.  They allowed an average of 28.3 shots per game for the week and did not allow more than 30 in any of them.  They were out-attempted for the week, though, by a 174-164 margin.  It was worse at even strength.  The Caps were Corsi minus-30 at 5-on-5 over the three games and only 44.6 percent Corsi-for.  Fenwick was worse still, minus-28 and 43.1 percent.  It was not an especially good week for either John Carlson or Alex Ovechkin, both of whom were on ice for six of the ten goals against, Ovechkin for five of the eight even strength goals against.

Goaltending: 3.02 / .893 (season: 2.40 / .915 / 6 shutouts)

Braden Holtby did not have the best of weeks.  He had all the minutes played by goaltenders and had what for him was a difficult time of it.  He had a Jekyll and Hyde (and Hyde) week of it.  Stopping all 28 first period shot he faced in three games, he was just 27-for-32 in the second periods of games (.844 save percentage), made worse by allowing three goals on 13 shots in the second period against San Jose.  In the third periods of games he was slightly worse, stopping 19 of 23 shots (.826).  The odd stat for him this week was facing only two power play shots, one in each of the last two games of the week.  He allowed a goal on the first of them, against the Sharks, and stopped the only one he faced against the Kings.  After a stretch in which he was 17-3-6, 1.90, .936, with five shutouts over a 26-game stretch of appearances, this might have been due.

Power Play: 2-for-10 / 20.0 percent (season: 23.2 percent; rank: 4th)

The ten power play opportunities in Week 19 was just the eighth time in 19 weeks that the Caps enjoyed ten or more man advantages.  It was a middle-of-the road sort of week, even with the comparatively large number of chances.  There was a sameness in the goals – Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom had points on both (Troy Brouwer recording a goal and Evgeny Kuznetsov an assist to round out the point total), but otherwise it was a power play that lacked for efficiency.  The Caps recorded only 11 power play shots on goal in 16:15 of power play ice time.  Alex Ovechkin had six of them, while five other Caps had one apiece.

Penalty Killing: 3-for-5 / 60.0 percent / (season: 80.3 percent; rank: 20th)

Part of effective penalty killing, especially for an inefficient penalty kill such as that the Caps have had for most of the season, is limiting opportunities.  Twice in Week 19 the Caps held an opponent to a single power play chance.  Twice they allowed a goal.  Twice they allowed a power play goal on the only shot on goal by the opponent.  Not that it mattered a great deal in the overall scheme of the week.  One power play goal was an empty net power play score by the Flyers in their 3-1 win over the Caps, the other was against the Sharks in what would be the Caps’ only win of the week.  Overall the Caps allowed two goals on five shots on three power plays covering 6:49 of shorthanded ice time.  Given the empty net power play goal scored on them in the first game of the week, it wasn’t as bad a week on the penalty kill as it might seem.  That does not, however, make it good.

Even Strength Goals for/Goals Against: 5-8 / minus-3 (season, 5-on-5 goals for/goals against ratio: 1.08; rank: 12th)

Week 19 turned on the even strength goal differential.  Washington was outscored, 2-0, at even strength by the Flyers and by a 3-1 margin against the Kings in the two losses for the week.  In those games the Caps were outshot by a 50-34 margin at evens.  In their lone win the Caps were outshot by a one-shot margin (29-28) at even strength and outscored the Sharks, 4-3.   The top line was largely absent at 5-on-5, recording only one point for the week, an assist by Nicklas Backstrom against the Sharks (Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kunzetsov combined for an Ovechkin goal against the Kings at 4-on-4).

Faceoffs: 73-172 / 42.4 percent (season: 50.9 percent; rank: 13th)

The Caps lost Week 19 in the circle in a big way.  They lost all three games and both the offensive (31.0 percent) and defensive zones (43.1 percent) for the week.  The offensive zone performance was especially poor, given that their 10-for-24 effort against the Kings was the high-water mark.  The Caps were a combined 8-for-34 against Philadelphia and San Jose (23.5 percent) in the offensive zone.  No Capital taking ten or more draws for the week finished as high as 50 percent overall. Eric Fehr came closest at 22-for-47 (46.8 percent).

Goals by Period:

The Caps were fine for one period in Week 19, scoring the only first period goal over the three games.  The second and third periods were another story.  Even with the second period of the San Jose accounted for (the Sharks outscored the Caps, 3-1), it was a minus week in the middle frame, scoring one other goal and allowing two others.  The third period was utterly forgettable, allowing two goals to the Flyers (one empty-netter), one to San Jose, and two more to the Kings.  The Caps finished the week having allowed the fourth-fewest first period goals in the league (35), but they fell out of the top third in rankings for goals allowed in the second period (11^th) and were on the verge of falling out of the top third in goals allowed in the third period (tied for 10^th).

In the end…

Week 19 was going to be a difficult week.  They opened against one of their oldest and most bitter rivals, a team against which they have had an odd difficulty scoring against this season (the Flyers are 24^th in scoring defense).  Then it was off to California, which has not been kind to the Caps over the years, especially in San Jose and Los Angeles.  The Caps broke a string of more than 20 seasons not beating the Sharks in regulation or overtime with their 5-4 win in overtime, but they fell for the fifth straight time to the Kings in Los Angeles.  The Caps did not play above expectations in Week 19, and given their two month run going into this week probably did not meet them, either.  Week 20 does not get appreciably easier, a four-game week that will include Anaheim, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, and the New York Islanders, all of which are playoff-eligible.  It might be among their toughest tests of the season.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Jay Beagle (2-1-3, plus-3, no goals scored against on ice, goals on his only two shots on goal for the week)
• Second Star:  Alex Ovechkin (2-1-3, points in all three games, 16 shots on goal, 30 of the Caps’ 164 shot attempts for the week)
• Third Star:  Nicklas Backstrom (0-3-3, recorded his 18^th multi-point game of the season (tied for most in the league))

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 57: Capitals at Ducks, February 15th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals wrap up their California tour on Sunday evening when they visit the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center.

The Caps will be jumping back on the ice after dropping a 3-1 decision to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night, while the Ducks will be taking the ice for the first time since breaking a three-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

This will be another of those games for the Caps against a team they recently faced.  In this case, the Caps topped the Ducks in a Gimmick, 3-2, nine days ago.  Neither team has been particularly successful since that meeting.  The Caps are 1-2-0, dropping a pair of 3-1 decisions, one to Philadelphia and the other to Los Angeles, while grabbing a 5-4 overtime win over San Jose.  As for Anaheim, the Ducks are also 1-2-0 since meeting the Caps, losing both ends of their trip to Florida – 5-3 to Tampa Bay and 6-2 to Florida – before beating Carolina last Thursday.

For the Caps, the problem since the win over Anaheim has been two-fold.  First, there is just the general inability to generate consistent offense.  A single goal scored in two of the three games is the first time they were held to one goal or fewer in two of three games since mid-November when the Caps lost consecutive decisions to New Jersey (1-0) and St. Louis (4-1) scoring one or fewer goals.

Then there are the late game antics.  The Caps held opponents scoreless in the first period of all three games, but they allowed a total of five goals in each of the second and third periods of those games.  The odd thing about that, however, is that three of the second period goals were scored by San Jose, the opponent the Capitals defeated.

For the Ducks, the problems have been keeping the puck out of their own net and keeping goaltenders healthy.  Against the Tampa Bay Lighting, Frederik Andersen left the game in the third period when the net was upended and landed on his neck.  He left that contest and is out for this game on injured reserve.  Ilya Bryzgalov came in and shut the door for the last eight minutes (more accurately, the defense did the shutting down, allowing only one shot on goal) in the 5-3 loss.  Bryzgalov started the next game for the Ducks and “duck” might better have been used as a verb.  Bryzgalov allowed three goals on eight shots in 26 minutes before giving way to John Gibson, called up in Andersen’s absence.  Gibson allowed three goals on 18 shots in mop-up duty in the 6-2 loss.  He was much better in the 2-1 win over Carolina, allowing only one goal on 36 shots.  On the other hand, the Hurricanes have the second-worst scoring offense in the league (2.15 goals/game), so it is hard to say just how much Gibson represents as a solution in the near term for the Ducks.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

Since there isn’t a lot of movement in the teams’ relative statistics since the last time they met, we will go right to…

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Anaheim: Ryan Getzlaf

Ryan Getzlaf missed the meeting of these teams on February 6^th with a lower body injury. Nevertheless, since the all-star game break he has had an interesting time of it.  He is 2-2-4 in seven games, but the points were recorded in consecutive one goal-one assist games.  He also happens to be minus-5 in those games, on ice for 12 of the 25 goals allowed by the Ducks over those seven games (he missed games against Nashville and the Caps in that time).  He is still tied for ninth in overall scoring and is still plus-7 for the season.  Despite playing in his tenth season, this will be only Getzlaf’s tenth appearance against the Caps.  In nine appearances thus far he is 3-7-10, minus-1.

Washington: Justin Peters

Braden Holtby is in, for him, a slump, having lost two of three games, with a 3.02 goals against average and a save percentage of .893.  It might be time to get Justin Peters a start.  With two appearances since November and having been passed over for a start against Anaheim in favor of Philipp Grubauer, Peters has almost as much rust on him as the Titanic.  Nevertheless, Holtby probably can’t play all the back-to-backs (this will complete the Caps’ sixth back-to-back set of games in their last 19 contests).  In his last contest, a 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues, Peters tied the most shots faced by a Caps goaltender this season (40), so it wasn’t as if the defense gave him much of a break.  Still, these are the situations for which Peters was signed, and he is going to have to step up against a tough opponent with the Caps looking to avoid back-to-back losses and keep in contact with the three teams ahead of them in the Metropolitan Division. He is 1-0-1, 1.85, .940 in two career appearances against the Ducks.

In the end…

The Caps are seven points behind the New York Islanders for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division and three behind the New York Rangers for third.  The three teams ahead of the Caps have done well recently, all of them on winning streaks.  The Caps are in no imminent danger of being challenged for a playoff spot (they are nine points ahead of Florida, but the Panthers do hold two games in hand), but they do not want to give teams behind them hope, either.  Honda Center is one venue in California where the Caps have had some consistent success.  They take a four-game winning streak on Anaheim ice into this game.  Making it five in a row would keep them in sight of the group ahead of them in the standings.

Capitals 3 – Ducks 2

A NO-Point (NO-Post) Night -- Game 56: Kings 3 - Capitals 1

The Washington Capitals lost to the Los Angeles Kings last night, 3-1.  We missed it because, if you haven't heard, we had some powerful winds blowing through that knocked out power.  It seems as if the Caps sort of missed it, too, based on the subdued comments of head coach Barry Trotz after the contest.

Back on the horse Sunday, boys.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 56: Capitals at Kings, February 14th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals will descend upon the City of Angels for the second of their three-game California (and four-game road) trip on Saturday night and face the Los Angeles Kings.  The Caps faced the Kings less than two weeks ago, goalie Braden Holtby authoring a 4-0 shutout at Verizon Center.

Since then, the Caps have continued on their slow and steady pace, inching closer to the top of the Metropolitan Division with a 3-1-0 record.  In those four games, what is striking about the Caps’ offense is where it comes from.  Evgeny Kuznetsov leads the Caps in points in those four games (1-3-4), and he and Brooks Orpik are tied with Nicklas Backstrom with three assists apiece to lead the club.  Jay Beagle and John Carlson have two goals apiece, tying Alex Ovechkin for the lead among the ten goals scored over those four games.  In all, 14 players have contributed points for the Caps in those four games.  It was the lack of that support scoring that led to their one loss, a 3-1 decision against the Philadelphia Flyers when the only Caps goal was an Ovechkin tally, assisted by Backstrom and Kuznetsov on a power play.

Meanwhile, the Caps continue to get good goaltending, but with a twist.  Braden Holtby is 2-1-0, 2.32, .913 over the four-game span.  While it represents a bit of a cooling off from the torrid pace he had been setting over his previous three games (two shutouts and a one-goal-allowed game), it is still a respectable level of performance.  The twist was Philipp Grubauer getting promoted from Hershey for a start against the Anaheim Ducks.  After a bit of what appeared to be nervousness early on, he settled down nicely and finished up stopping 23of 25 shots and two of three in the Gimmick for a 3-2 win.

The Kings, who had been struggling before meeting the Caps with a 2-4-4 record to close January, have a 3-1-0 record of their own since losing to the Caps.  They have done it with a bit more offensive punch (15 goals in the four games) and also from surprising sources.  Tyler Toffoli took over the team lead in goals with five over his last three games, including a hat trick in the Kings’ 5-3 win over Calgary on Thursday.  Jeff Carter, who has been much more of a finisher than a playmaker over his career, led the team with four helpers over four games.  Right behind him was defenseman Robyn Regehr, who nearly doubled his assist total for the season with three assists over four games.

As a team, the Kings have been much better about tilting the ice in their favor since they lost to Washington. They averaged 37.3 shots per game in those four outings (twice recording over 40) while allowing an average of just 23.0 shots per game.

In goal, Jonathan Quick played all the minutes in the four games, extending his appearances streak to 11 straight contests.  In the four games Quick is 3-1-0, 2.76, .880.  The disturbing thing about Quick’s recent performance is that it not any distinguishable from a stretch amounting to about a quarter of the season (or a third of a starting goalie’s work load).  In his last 22 appearances, Quick is 8-8-5 (one no-decision), 2.96, .877.

1.  Los Angeles certainly likes the friendly confines of Staples Center.  They have the fourth largest swing in goal differential between that at home (plus-20) and that on the road (minus-12).  The net change is larger than every team except Philadelphia, Toronto, and Tampa Bay.

2.  No team has scored fewer goals in overtime than the Kings.  They are stuck at “1” with seven other teams.

3.  Shots don’t seem to matter much to the Kings (recent trends notwithstanding).  They have a winning percentage under .500 when they outshoot opponents (.486/17-11-7), a winning percentage under .500 when they are outshot (.467/7-3-5), and they have yet to win when shots are equal (0-4-0).

4.  Home cookin’ seems to help special teams, too, at least for the power play.  While the Kings are a measly 13.5 percent in road power play conversions (23rd in the league), they are at 23.3 percent at home (6th).

5.  As for the penalty kill, it gets a lot of work at home.  The Kings have been shorthanded 95 times at home this season, third most in the league.

1. The Caps will come into this game having faced only four shorthanded situations over their last three games. Oddly enough, it is not the first time this season that happened.  The Caps faced four in three games, November 20-26, allowing two goals, both to the New York Islanders in three chances.

2.  Only four teams have allowed fewer first period goals than the Caps (35).  The flip side of that is that the Caps have allowed the seventh-highest share of total goals scored against after the first period (74.1 percent of the total of 135 allowed).

3.  The Caps have the best record in the league in games decided by one goal (8-2/.818).  Conversely, they are one of just two teams (Ottawa being the other) with at least ten onegoal losses in regulation and at least ten one-goal losses in extra time.

4.  Four Capitals defensemen have appeared in more than 50 games – Brooks Orpik, Matt Niskanen, Karl Alzner, and John Carlson.  Orpik has brought a dimension that the others don’t have.  His 208 hits not only leads all NHL defensemen by a comfortable margin (Toronto’s Roman Polak is second with 179), but he has almost as many as the other three Caps defensemen mentioned, combined (218).

5.  The Caps have the third-best net plus-minus in the league (plus-13).  Maybe that is significant, maybe it’s not, but they neighborhood in which the Caps play here is significant.  The top five are Nashville, the New York Rangers, Vancouver, Anaheim, and the Caps.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Los Angeles: Drew Doughty

It only seems as if Drew Doughty never leaves the ice.  Skating 29:25 in ice time per game he averages in excess of six minutes more than the next player on the Kings’ ice time scale among defensemen (Jake Muzzin: 23:18/game).  He leads the league in ice time (Ryan Suter: 29:17).  He has logged more than 30 minutes a whopping 24 times this season, nine more than Suter and 18 more than Erik Karlsson and Shea Weber, who are tied for third-most on that list among NHL defensemen.  Here is another way to look at that number.  Doughty has had 24 games skating more than 30 minutes; there have been only 24 defensemen who have done it at all this season.  One wonders if it is too much.  Consider that coming into this season, Doughty had skate more than 30 minutes in the regular season only eight times.  He has never skated more than 30 minutes in eight career games against the Caps, but he is 1-2-3, plus-3 in those games.

Washington: Mike Green

We are 17 days from the NHL trading deadline, which means that the heat is going to be turned up on all the Mike Green trade rumors.  He is not making it easy on the Capitals to trade him.  Since he had a six-game streak without a point in late November into early December, Green is 2-19-21, plus-6, in 24 games.  What is almost more amazing is that he has been shooting in a little bit of bad luck.  Those two goals have come on 50 shots, a 4.0 shooting percentage.  His career shooting percentage is 8.3 percent (even if one includes only his post-Norris finalist years it is 6.8 percent).  As it is, despite ranking 110^th in total minutes by defensemen this season and 119^th in average ice time per game, Green ranks eighth in points per game 0.72), between Erik Karlsson in eighth and Shea Weber in tenth.  He is 2-2-4, minus-1, in seven career games against Los Angeles.

In the end…

The Caps played a solid game against the Kings in their meeting at Verizon Center on February 3^rd, but this is another instance of having a poor record in the west coast half of the all-time series.  The Caps have lost their last four meetings against the Kings in Los Angeles, their last win coming in December 2005 when Jamie Heward scored a pair of power play goals, and Brian Sutherby scored a shorthanded goal in a 3-2 win. 

The problem, as it seems to be on California trips, is scoring goals.  The Caps have only six goals in their four straight losses to the Kings in Los Angeles.  Of more recent concern, the Caps had scored only five goals in three road games before breaking out with five in their win over San Jose on Wednesday.  Getting the kind of secondary scoring the Caps had in that win in San Jose is something that can’t be counted upon on a night-by-night basis (it is secondary scoring for a reason), but it is nice to know they have it in them to get it.  In this one, the stars might need to show up.

Capitals 4 – Kings 2

A TWO-Point Night -- Game 55: Capitals 5 - Sharks 4 (OT)

The Washington Capitals got their California trip off to a good start on Wednesday night, shrugging off a late game-tying goal by the San Jose Sharks to grab a 5-4 overtime win.

It was secondary scoring deluxe for the Caps, who got goals from Jay Beagle (twice!), Troy Brouwer, John Carlson, and the game-winner from Joel Ward. Beagle got the Caps started late in the first period when he batted home a rebound of a Brooks Orpik shot.

The Caps took that one-goal lead into the second period, where is lasted all of 21 seconds, Brent Burns scoring on a power play to tie the game. Just 22 seconds after that, the Sharks scored again on another Burns tally.

Troy Brouwer got the Caps back into the game in the seventh minute of the period when he tipped in a pass from Alex Ovechkin disguised as a wrist shot from the left wing circle on a power play.

The back-and forth continued when Logan Couture gave the Sharks a lead before the second intermission on a wrap-around goal that beat goalie Braden Holtby before he could cover the post to his left.

The third period scoring was packed into a three-minute stretch of the third period, Beagle opening the scoring with his second of the game. Beagle was the recipient of good fortune as San Jose’s Mirco Mueller was blocked by the linesman from closing in on Beagle as he broke into the Sharks’ zone. With Mueller blocked out of the play, Beagle had a clear path to the net, where he cut across the low slot and backhanded the puck past goalie Antti Niemi.

John Carlson gave the Caps the lead when he took a no-look pass from Marcus Johansson, stepped up, and wristed the puck over Niemi’s glove and inside the post to make it 4-3.

The lead lasted barely a minute, though. Joe Thornton tied the game once more when he took a cross-ice pass from Joe Pavelski and flipped the puck over Braden Holtby’s left shoulder and under the cross bar.

Tied it would remain in regulation. In overtime, the Caps broke into the San Jose zone on a 3-on-2 rush. Ward started the play by carrying the puck into the Sharks’ zone and leaving it for Jay Beagle in the middle. Beagle seemed not to have full control of the puck, but still managed to slide it over to Mike Green skating in on the left side. Green’s backhand was stopped by Niemi, but Ward had inside position on Brent Burns at the top of the crease, putting him in perfect position to sanp the puck past Niemi’s left pad and into the back of the net for the 5-4 win.

Other stuff…

-- Jay Beagle… Three points (first three-point game of his career), two goals (second time in his career), first star of the game, first NHL star of the night.  Nice night’s work.

-- More Beagle… the two goals gave him nine on the season, almost as many as he recorded in the previous three seasons combined (10), and the three points put him at 17 points, a career high and equal to his previous two seasons combined.

-- Defense: “The Good.”  John Carlson had a goal and an assist and was a plus-3.  He is now tied for sixth in scoring (7-31-38) among defensemen with Nashville’s Roman Josi and is tied for eighth in plus-minus (plus-16).

-- Defense: “The Bad.”  Matt Niskanen had a tough night.  Three giveaways and a minus-2.

-- The Defense: “The Good.” Brooks Orpik had a pair of assists, his first two assist game since he recorded a pair of helpers in the Caps’ 6-2 win over New Jersey on October 16th.  He had six hits for a bit of normalcy in his stat sheet line.

-- The Defense: “The Weird.”  Back to Carlson.  He was on ice for six of the nine goals, four for the Caps, two for the Sharks.

-- Nicklas Backstrom just keeps rolling along.  Two assists, his fifth multi-point game in his last 12 contests over which he is 3-12-14 overall.

-- All of a sudden the Caps are avoiding the penalty box.  Holding San Jose to a single power play was the second consecutive game and third in their last five in which they held an opponent to a single man advantage.  Maybe it’s a good thing, too.  San Jose scored on its power play, making the Caps just six for nine killing penalties over those five games (66.7 percent).

-- Andre Burakovsky had an odd night.  In 9:52 of total ice time his score sheet is completely blank save for one thing.  He was a plus-2.  Thank you, Jay Beagle (Burakovsky was on ice for both goals).

-- Burakovsky did not have a shot attempt for the game, which is not all that surprising given he was getting fourth line minutes.  But Evgeny Kuznetsov not recording a shot attempt?  That is a bit more odd, given Kuznetsov gets second line minutes.

In the end…

It was an “old school” sort of game, if by “old” you mean the days of Bruce Boudreau (pre-trap).  Coaches and old-old school types might cringe as some of the hijinks, but for fans it was about as entertaining a game as it gets in the NHL.  For the Caps family it had to be especially satisfying, the win being their first in the hockey portion of a game (regulation or overtime) in San Jose in more than 21 years (October 30, 1993).  More important in the here and now, it was the sort of game the sons can talk over with their dads on this trip and for years to come.  If they can do as well in Los Angeles on Saturday, even better.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 55: Capitals at Sharks, February 11th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

This week it is “Westward, ho!” for the Washington Capitals as they head to the Golden State for three games.  First up is a visit to San Jose, where the Caps hope to build on the one-in-a-row winning streak against the Sharks at the SAP Center at San Jose.

The idea of “one-in-a-row” is hardly insignificant for the Caps, who before beating the Sharks in a 3-2 trick shot decision last March had gone winless in 12 straight games dating back to December 1995 (11 losses and one tie).  The arena had as many names (three: San Jose Arena, Compaq Center, HP Pavilion) as the Caps did in San Jose, all-time, before the win last March.  As it is, the Caps have not won a game in the hockey portion of the contest (regulation or overtime) in San Jose since October 30, 1993, when Keith Jones, Mike Ridley, Peter Bondra, and Craig Berube scored goals, and Rick Tabaracci stopped 25 of 27 shots in a 4-2 win, the last of five straight wins overall for the Caps to open their franchise series against San Jose. Since then, the Caps are 5-20-2 against the Sharks, with one tie.  The Caps have been little more than surfboarders on the Great Barrier Reef as great white sharks feast on them.

February 2015 has not been kind to the Sharks, however.  After wrapping up January with a three-game winning streak to push them to a season-high ten games over .500, the Sharks are 1-3-1 in February, exhibiting a leaky defense (17 goals allowed) in the process.  That leaky defense ends with Antti Niemi in goal, who is 1-2-1, 2.96, .907, over those five games.  Those are not particularly bad numbers, but neither are they good.  He has allowed four or more goals in three of those four contests, all losses.

Niemi has been one of those goaltenders who is perfectly capable of doing his job well, if not at an elite level.  For example, since the 2009-2010 season, when Niemi played in 39 games in his first full season with the NHL (with Chicago), 35 goaltenders have appeared in at least 150 games (Niemi has appeared in 317).  In that group, Niemi ranks tenth in goals-against average (2.37), but he ranks smack in the middle – 17th – in save percentage (.916).  That he should rank third in wins (180, behind only Henrik Lundqvist with 192 and Marc-Andre Fleury with 202) speaks to a certain amount of good fortune in having played for teams that surrounded him with talent, as was the case in that 2009-2010 season when he and the Blackhawks won a Stanley Cup.  Not that this has hurt his history against the Caps.  Niemi has not lost to the Caps in regulation time in seven career appearances (5-0-2, 2.19, .922, 1 shutout).

At the other end, Joe Pavelski leads the Sharks in scoring for February, both in goals and total points (3-2-5).  A guy who suffers something of a “west coast curse” when it comes to getting credit, Pavelski has become a very reliable goal scorer.  He has 116 goals over his last four seasons spanning 267 games, a 36-goal pace per 82 games.  And, he is durable, not having missed a game in those four seasons.  His 15 power play goals is tied for the league lead (with Alex Ovechkin), and his 22 power play points is tied for fifth in the league.  He is 6-4-10, plus-4, in ten career games against the Caps.

Brent Burns is the only defenseman to have played in all 55 games for the Sharks this season.  He leads the blue line in scoring in February (1-3-4) and is tied for third overall in league scoring by defensemen (12-28-40).  He has been alternating games with and without points over his last eight contests, so if the pattern holds it will be good news for Caps fans.  He is 2-4-6, even, in nine career games against Washington.

Here is how the teams compare overall…

1.  San Jose has won 486 games over the last ten-plus seasons.  Their per-82 game season record over that span is 48-24-10.  Only the Detroit Red Wings have won more games (494).  And here is the odd thing.  For all the ink spent on documenting the Sharks’ woes in the post season, only Boston (60) and Detroit (70) have won more playoff games over that span of time (58, tied with Pittsburgh).

2.  Games involving the Sharks tend to be a bit one-sided.  San Jose has only 24 one-goal decisions in 55 games (tied for ninth-fewest in the league).  Their record in such games is not especially successful (11-6-7, 20th in winning percentage).  They are somewhat better in games decided by more than one goal (17-14).

3.  Don’t bet on shutout for either team. San Jose is tied for the sixth fewest number of times shut out this season (twice), the same as the Caps, and have not been blanked since dropping a 2-0 decision to Calgary on November 26th.

4.  San Jose is not the most effective team at 5-on-5.  Their 0.93 ratio of goals scored to goals allowed is 24th in the league, and that would appear to be a product of what is happening at the defensive end of the ice.  Only six teams have allowed more than the 106 5-on-5 goals allowed by the Sharks.

5.  The Sharks make up for a certain 5-on-5 defensive deficiency by avoiding shorthanded situations, especially at home. Only four teams have been shorthanded fewer times than the Sharks this season (71 in 28 home games).

1.  The 71 shorthanded opportunities faced by the Sharks at home this season has a nice symmetry with the Caps’ power play opportunities on the road – 71 in 27 games, fourth-fewest in the league.

2.  Only Dallas has more second period goals scored (71) than the Caps (59, tied with Toronto). Only five teams have allowed fewer second period goals than the Caps (35).

3.  The Caps have three losses in extra time when leading after two periods.  Only Edmont (4), Winnipeg (5), and New Jersey (6) have more.  Only Colorado (9) has more losses in extra time when trailing first than the Caps (6).

4.  Your weird shootout fact.  The Caps have taken the fourth highest number of shots in the shootout on the road so far this season (20).  They all came in one game, that against the Florida Panthers in a 2-1 loss on December 16th.

5.  Washington is one of three teams to have two defensemen with more than 30 points (Joh Carlson: 36; Mike Green: 32).  Calgary (Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie) and Nashville (Roman Josi and Shea Weber) are the others.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

San Jose: Joe Thornton

Sometimes it just seems Joe Thornton has been forgotten when it comes to discussions about elite players, especially since the 2005-2006 lockout.  However, only Jaromir Jagr has more assists (1,068) among active players than Thornton (886), and only Jagr has more points (1,784) than Thornton (1,239).  Thornton is 13th among active players in goals scored (353).  Although he is in his fifth straight season averaging less than one point per game, he is still in the top-20 in points per game over those four-plus seasons overall (0.90/game; 19th, minimum 200 games).  He does not seem to be slowing down much at age 35.  He comes into this game 4-19-23 in his last 22 games.  In 38 career games against the Capitals, Thornton is 12-26-38, plus-9, and he has been effective on the power play (6-10-16 in those 38 games).

Washington: Joel Ward

Back on December 9th, Joel Ward recorded an assist against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 5-3 win.  It marked consecutive games with points for Ward and a 9-7-16, plus-2 start to his season over 27 games.  Since then, Ward is 2-3-5, minus-1 over his last 27 games.  Getting Ward to contribute some more in the offensive end would go a long way toward clinching a playoff sport for the Caps and perhaps finishing at or near the top of the Metropolitan Division.  He does have four of his 11 goals against Pacific Division opponents, though, three of them on the power play (three of those four goals came over two games against Calgary, so Cheerless advised me not to make too much of that, even as good as Calgary has been this year).  It isn’t really for lack of shooting that the goals have not been coming.  He had nine goals on 48 shots (18.8 percent) in his first 26 games, and he has two goals on 54 shots (3.7 percent) in his last 27 games.  One would like to think that the pendulum swings both ways, but one would also like to see that pendulum swinging to the other side pretty soon for Ward.  He is 5-2-7, minus-3, in 16 career games against San Jose.

In the end…

California has not been kind to the Caps over the last 20 years,  but the games are on the schedule, so you have to play them.  And it’s not like any of the California teams have an aura of invincibility about them.  The Caps have already beaten both the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks this season (in the last eight days, although both games were at home), and the Sharks have been beatable of late, losing their last three games on home ice (to Edmonton, Carolina, and Calgary…go figure).  Washington broke the jinx in SAP Center at San Jose last year; now it’s time to take care of the streak in regulation time.

Washington will need more offense than they have been able to generate lately (12 goals in their last six games), which means more contributions from players like Joel Ward, Brooks Laich (no goals in his last 15 games), Jason Chimera (two goals in his last 21 games), and even a Matt Niskanen (no even strength goals this season).  As the Caps approach the last third of the season, getting everyone rowing in the same direction is going to be important.  Wednesday night would be a good time to start.

Capitals 4 – Sharks 3