The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 66: Capitals at Ducks, March 7th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals head west for a three-game trip through California this week, starting with a contest against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night. 

Washington has the best record in the league over the season so far, but their record does not compare to that of the Ducks over the last two months.  No team’s record does.  As late as January 10^th, the Ducks were 17-17-7, fourth in the Pacific Division, and 11^th in the Western Conference.  Since then they are 20-2-1, first in the Pacific Division, fourth in the Western Conference, and they are on an 11-game winning streak coming into this game.

It has not been a fluke for the Ducks.  Of their last 20 wins, 13 were by multi-goal margins, and seven of them were by three or more goals.  They have been an overwhelming force at one end, averaging 3.70 goals per game in their 20-2-1 run, and an impenetrable wall on the other, allowing just 2.13 goals per game on defense. 

Ryan Getzlaf has been at the forefront of the Ducks’ charge over the last two months.  Over a 22 game span from January 8^th through February 28^th, he had points in 20 games, going 6-22-28, plus-15.  Getzlaf has not had a “minus” game since January 23^rd, a string of 17 straight games.  His personal performance has been a good barometer with respect to how the Ducks are doing, the club having a 26-6-2 record when he records a point, 8-1-0 when he records a goal.  Getzlaf is 3-7-10, minus-1, in 10 career games against Washington.

The Ducks might not have a squad of defensemen that are household names, but it is a solid group led in scoring by Sami Vatanen.  With nine goals so far this season he is closing in on a career best (12 goals, set last season), and his 37 points ties a career high set last season.  Vatanen has not gone consecutive games without a point in more than a month (February 2^nd and 4^th), going 3-11-14 in his last 15 games.  He does not have a point in either of his two career games against Washington.

Anaheim has been rotating goalies Frederik Andersen and John Gibson through the schedule lately, each goalie getting two games on and two games off over the Ducks’ last ten contests.  If the rotation holds, it will be Gibson getting the call for Anaheim on Monday night.  Now in his third NHL season after being taken in the second round of the 2011 entry draft, he has established career highs in appearances (28) and wins (16).  He has been, if not a hot goalie of late, then he has been one capable of doing what is needed to win.  Over his last nine appearances he is 7-1-0 (one no-decision), 2.47, .907.  Gibson lost his only career decision against the Caps, allowing five goals on 28 shots in a 5-3 loss to Washington on February 15, 2015.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

1.  Anaheim’s power play has been a juggernaut.  The Ducks have power play goals in 11 straight games, over which they are 19-for-43 (44.2 percent…no, that is not a typo).  In their 20-2-1 run they are 25-for-85 (29.4 percent).

2.  The Ducks have not lost a game in regulation at home since January 17^th (2-1 to the Detroit Red Wings).  They are won eight in a row on home ice.

3.  Anaheim is 29-1-3 when scoring three or more goals, their only regulation loss in such games coming back on October 27^th to the Dallas Stars (4-3).

4.  Anaheim possesses a certain balance when it comes to scoring.  The Ducks have 17 players with at least 10 points this season (by way of comparison, the Caps – the top scoring offense in the league – have 15 such players).

5.  Anaheim is one of the top possession teams in the league, ranking third overall in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 (52.8 percent).  They also rank third in score-adjusted Corsi-for (53.2 percent).   The odd part of that is that their goal differential at 5-on-5 is minus-7 for the season.  They come into this game with numbers that are not indicative of their overall standing, a 40.5 percent Corsi-for over their last three games (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  The Caps have the top scoring offense in the league at 3.22 goals per game, but they have gone eight straight games without scoring more than three goals.

2.  The Caps have a better all-time record against the Ducks on the road (7-6-1) than they do at home (7-7-0).

3.  Only four teams in the league have allowed fewer power play goals on the road than the Caps (18): St. Louis (16), Boston (15), Pittsburgh (15), and the New York Islanders (15).

4.  Most Caps fans know that Alex Ovechkin has 30-goal years in each of his 11 NHL seasons.  What they might not know is only one other player currently with the team has a 30-goal season as a Capital – Nicklas Backstrom (333 goals in 2009-2010).  Evgeny Kuznetsov currently in second place on the club with 20 goals, that number of 30 goal scorers other than Ovechkin since the 2005-2006 season is not likely to change.

5.  The Caps have been under 50 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5 in four of their last five road games, going 48.2 percent overall.  They rank 14^th overall in Corsi-for in road games (49.1 percent; numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Anaheim: Rickard Rakell

It probably surprises no one that Corey Perry leads the Ducks in goal scoring (28).  It might surprise a fair number of people that Richars Rakell is second on the club with 17 goals.  Coming into this season, Rakell had just nine career goals in 93 career games, all of them coming last season.  What makes it a bit more surprising is that he has done so while averaging a little over 16 minutes of ice time a night, fifth among forwards on the team.  It has not been the product of bursts of goal scoring; Rakell has goals in consecutive games only once this season (January 17^th and 20^th against Los Angeles and Minnesota).  And, Rakell has shown little preference for home or road, scoring nine of his goals at home and eight on the road.  He does not have a point in either of his two career appearances against the Caps.

Washington:  T.J. Oshie

Last week, T.J. Oshie reached the 40-point mark for the fifth time in his eight-year career.  His next goal will give him 20 for the second time in those eight seasons.  What has been a bit of surprise is his assist total.  He has 21 assists in 65 games, his lowest assists-per-game output (0.32) in his career to date and by a relatively significant margin (0.39 assists per game in 2009-2010 with St. Louis).  He did have a three-assist game against the Toronto Maple Leafs last Wednesday, but that is the only game in his last nine games in which he has any assists.  His assists per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 (0.99) is not so much greater than that of Tom Wilson (0.90) than one might have thought.  Oshie is 8-7-15, plus-5, in 17 career games against Anaheim.

In the end…

Anaheim head coach Bruce Boudreau just became the fastest coach in NHL history to reach the 400 win mark.  The Washington Capitals are the fastest team to 100 points in franchise history.  What many thought might be the Stanley Cup final matchup when the season started will be featured on Monday night, and with the two teams on a fast track to the postseason in what are historic seasons for both, this might be a preview of such a final after all.  The west coast has not been kind to the Caps over the course of their history, but last year the Caps did go 2-1-0 on their trip through Anaheim, San Jose, and Los Angeles, and they went 2-0-1 on that trip in 2013-2014.  You probably suspect we are thinking along the same lines this season, despite the scalding record the Ducks have posted recently.

Capitals 4 – Ducks 3

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was -- Week 21

Week 21 was like no other for the Washington Capitals this season.  In the space of seven days the Capitals would play five games, courtesy of their adding a game that was rescheduled when Winter Storm Jonas blew through Washington in late January.  But when it was over, it was like just about every other week this season – a winning week.

Record: 3-2-0

The Capitals played in two separate back-to-back sets of games in Week 21, their 11^th and 12^th such sets this season.  Winning three of the four games in those back-to-backs should not be considered unusual.  Through Week 21, the Caps have a record of 10-2-0 in the first games of those back-to-back sets and a record of 9-3-0 in the back half of those sets.  They swept the first back-to-back set of the week, against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs, their sixth sweep of the season.  They have yet to be swept in any back-to-back with three more sets of such games yet to play in the regular season.

The Caps also have yet to lose consecutive games in regulation time this season, thanks to their 2-1 overtime win over the Boston Bruins to end the week.  The Caps have gone 78 games since last losing consecutive games in regulations time, dating back to March 11^th and 13^th of last season when they lost decisions to the New York Rangers and Dallas Stars in Games 68 and 69 of the 2014-2015 season.

By the end of Week 21 the Caps had 48 wins and 100 points, the earliest the Caps have ever reached either number.  The hit the 100 point mark in the 2009-2010 season in Game 65 and the 48-win mark in Game 72 of that same season.

Offense:  2.40/game (season: 3.22 /game; rank: 1st)

In a way, it was the Matt Niskanen Show on offense in Week 21.  The defenseman scored the game-winning goals in the Caps’ wins over the Maple Leafs and the Bruins, and his power play drive late in the third period against the Penguins became the game-winning primary assist when T.J. Oshie got a piece of it as it sailed by for the game-winning goal.

The Caps did not have a lot of volume on offense this week, only 12 goals scored in the five games, but they did have balance.  Nine different players had goals for the week.  In addition to Niskanen, Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie had a pair.  There were 14 different players recording points, Oshie (2-3-5) and Nicklas Backstrom (0-5-5) leading the way.

What they lacked was accuracy.  Even though the Caps finished the week with four games with 30 or more shots on goal, they managed just the 12 goals.  With a total of 154 shots on goal for the week, they had only a 7.8 percent shooting percentage.

Defense: 2.20/game (season: 2.29 /game; rank: 3rd)

The Caps did a lot of things right on defense in a week in which they faced three top-ten offenses and four of the top-12 teams in scoring offense.  That the Caps lost two of three games to those top-ten offenses was not a product of leaky defense.  They held all three  of those teams – the Chicago Blackhawks (5^th in scoring offense), New York Rangers (8^th), and Boston Bruins (3^rd) to a total of 80 shots on goal in the three games, and they held the 12^th-ranked Penguins – the top team in the league in shots on goal per game (32.7) – to 30 shots.

Overall, the Caps won the 5-on-5 battle for the week, finishing with a combined Corsi-for of 51.5 percent.  That, however, might not be as good as it looks.  Washington finished under 50 percent in two games (against Toronto and Boston) and split the shot attempts for the game against Chicago.  The game against the Rangers bordered on the bizarre.  After splitting the 5-on-5 shot attempts in the first period (13-13), after which the Rangers led, 2-0, the Caps out-attempted the Rangers at 5-on-5 by a 53-25 margin over the rest of the contest but managed only a pair of goals in dropping a 3-2 decision (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

If anyone had a difficult week for the Caps on the defensive side, it might have been Brooks Orpik, who was on ice for six of the 11 goals against, including both power play goals against.

Goaltending: 2.20 /.915 (season: 2.19 / .924 / 2 shutouts)

It was a good, not great week, and in what is becoming a bit of a concern, the performance was quite different between the Caps’ netminders, and not in a good way.  Braden Holtby had a difficult week.  In three appearances he was 1-2-0, 2.71, .895.  Breaking it down by period did not make it look any better.  He stopped 23 of 27 first period shots in the three game he played (.852 save percentage), and his third periods were largely saved by very low shot volumes (12 saves on 14 shots/.857).  It is part of a longer rut in which he finds himself.  In his last 18 appearances, he has a 12-4-1 record, but his goals against average is 2.96, and his save percentage is .899.

At the other end, Philipp Grubauer had a fine week.  In his two appearances, both of them in the second of back-to-back games, he won both games, stopping 50 of 53 shots (.943 save percentage).  He almost single-handedly kept the Caps in their game against Boston to close the week when he stopped seven shots in a 5-on-3 Bruin power play that lasted 1:49.  In his last 12 appearances, he is 6-3-0, 1.60, .946.

Power Play: 5-for-17 / 29.4 percent (season: 23.8 percent; rank: 2nd)

For the first time in quite some time, the Caps did not finish a week with the league’s top power play (Week 14, in fact).  This was despite the Caps having their most effective power play since Week 15, when they were 4-for-6.  They had power play goals in the first four games of the week, extending their streak of games with at least one power play goals to five, their longest streak of games with power play goals for the season, and their longest since they had a five-game streak last March 1-11.

The Caps were a reasonably efficient team in terms of shots recorded on the power play, finishing the week with 22 shots on goal in 24:02 of power play time 0.92 shots per minute).  On an individual level, Alex Ovechkin led the club in shots on goal, which is not surprising.  His share, however (six of the 22 shots on goal) might not have been as high as his usual output.  And, he did not have a power play shot on goal against either Toronto or the Rangers, nor did he have a power play goal in Week 21.  He has gone five games without a power play goal.

Penalty Killing: 15-for-17 / 88.2 percent (season: 84.5 percent; rank: 4th)

Week 21 was a good week for the Caps.  It was, in fact, the best week the Caps have had this season when facing more than ten shorthanded situations (Week 18: 17-for-20/85.0 percent).  Then again, perhaps it should have been.  The Caps faced two top-ten teams on the power play (Chicago, ranked third at the end of the week, and Boston, ranked ninth), but they faced two bottom-ten teams, too (Toronto, ranked 30^th, and the Rangers, ranked 21^st).  In-between they faced the 17^th-ranked team in the Penguins.

The Caps did a good job of holding down shots over the first four games of the week, allowing only 13 shots in 12 shorthanded situations over 19:28 of ice time (0.67 shots per minute).  The Caps might have saved their best for last, though, when they shutout the Bruins – the number three team in the league on the power play – on nine shots on five power plays, including seven shots on goal on a 5-on-3 power play that lasted 1:49.  That might have been a product of the old adage that your goaltender often has to be your best penalty killer. Philipp Grubauer was that on Saturday against Boston.

Faceoffs: 147-for-275 / 53.5 percent (season: 49.9% / rank: 17th)

It was a good week for the Caps in the faceoff circle.  They surpassed 50 percent in three of the five games, and they were better than 50 percent in the offensive and neutral zones for the week.  The defensive end draws were something of a problem, the Caps failing to do better than 50 percent in any of the five games.

Of the six Caps to take at least ten draws for the week, four of them finished over 50 percent.  Nicklas Backstrom took about a third of the total faceoffs for the week, going 53-for-93 (57.0 percent).  Evgeny Kuznetsov took another 55 draws, winning 32 of them for a 58.2 percent result.  Jay Beagle returned to action, but one of the league’s best faceoff men is being eased back into that role. He took just 15 draws for the week, winning eight (53.3 percent).  With Mike Richards on that fourth line with Beagle (he was 27-for-59 for the week), the Caps have the luxury of two experienced players in that role on that line.

Goals by Period:

Slow starts have been a problem for the Caps for a while now, and it carried over into Week 21.  Washington allowed the first goal of the game three times this past week.  The Caps won two of the games (against Pittsburgh and Boston), but this is a trend that needs to be addressed.  The Caps finished the week with a minus-2 in goals for and against in the first periods of games and are now a minus-1 for the season. 

As they have done all season, the Caps were better in the second and third periods of games, going plus-2 and even, respectively, for the week.  Their plus-27 in the second period is better than the goal differential of 27 other teams (not including credit for shootout goals).  Their plus-32 in the third period is better than the total goal differential of every other team in the league.  That is all very nice, but when the competition is stiffer in the postseason, can the Caps count on their ability to grind teams down in the last 40 minutes as they have done this season?

In the end…

Five games, five one-goal decisions.  Only four teams have played games to more one-goal decisions than the Caps (34), and no team has a better winning percentage in those games (24-6-4/.706).  If you think this a good thing, consider this.  A team’s record in one-goal games might not be a determining factor in postseason success, but only one team since the 2004-2005 lockout has had the best winning percentage in one-goal games and gone on to win the Stanley Cup.  The Carolina Hurricanes of 2005-2006 (28-5-8) was the only team to do it.

There is more to this point.  Two teams that led the league in one-goal game winning percentage over the last ten seasons did not qualify for the postseason, and four other teams lost in the first round of the playoffs.  Teams finishing with the best winning percentage in one-goal games over that span won a total of nine playoff series, the Hurricanes winning four them on their way to the Cup in 2006.

The Caps might be a different case, and that is because they have been such a dominating team, whatever the goal margin.  They are 9-2 in games settled by two goals, second in the league in winning percentage (to Anaheim), and they are tied for first in winning percentage in games settled by three or more goals (with Tampa Bay). 

The Caps had a good week in Week 21, a history-making one for the franchise, in fact.  But that does not obscure the fact that there are some things that bear watching over the next  few weeks.  Their slow starts, dependence on one-goal victory margins, and Braden Holtby’s dip in the road are among them.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Matt Niskanen (2-1-3, even, 2 GWG, 25:07 in average ice time, 13 credited hits, 10 blocked shots)
• Second Star: Philipp Grubauer (2-0-0, 1.47, .943, 15 saves on 15 shots faced on the power play)
• Third Star: T.J. Oshie (2-3-5, minus-1, 2 PPG, 3 PPA, 11 shots on goal)

Washington Capitals Recap: A TWO-Point Night: Capitals 2 - Bruins 1 (OT)

The Washington Capitals looked for all the world like a lost cause in their battle against the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.  But a disallowed Bruins goal, some spectacular goaltending from Philipp Grubauer, and an overtime howitzer from Matt Niskanen, and the Caps escaped Boston with a 2-1 win to kick off their four-game road trip.

The Caps once more got off to a slow start, this time allowing the game’s first goal in the eighth minute of the first period.  It was a case of an inability to get the puck out of their own end and then chasing Bruins.  Kevan Miller started the scoring play when he flagged down an attempted clear just inside the Caps’ blue line.  He turned and sent the puck down to Lee Stempniak, who turned and tried to get the puck on net.  Nicklas Backstrom got a skate on the puck for the Caps, but it turned him around, and he could not locate the biscuit to get the Caps out of danger.  It found its way to the stick of Brad Marchand at the bottom of the left wing circle, where he spun and found Patrice Bergeron in the low slot.  Bergeron had only to snap the puck into the far side of the net past Grubauer’s left pad, and it was 2-1, Boston, 7:11 into the game. 

That would do it for the scoring in the first period, and it looked as if Boston added to their lead with barely three minutes gone in the second period when Torey Krug worked the puck past Grubauer.  But the Caps challenged the play for being offside, and they won the challenge, depriving the Bruins of that second goal. 

Whatever momentum the Caps could derive from the favorable call on the review was gone a little over two minutes later when Alex Ovechkin was sent off on a five-minute major penalty for boarding Miller.  It got worse for the Caps three minutes later when Tom Wilson was sent to the box for an interference penalty, giving the Bruins 1:49 of a 5-on-3 advantage.

The game turned in that 1:49 when Grubauer turned away seven shots on the 5-on-3.  It allowed the Caps to get a little more settled in their game, and they finally broke through 13 minutes into the period.  Karl Alzner started and finished the play.  He started it by hunting down the puck in the corner to the right of goalie Tuukka Rask.  Outdueling Dennis Seidenberg for control, he worked it out to Alex Ovechkin in the left wing faceoff circle. Ovechkin move the puck along to Nicklas Backstrom at the edge of the right wing circle, and with Alzner darting down the goal line to the net, Backstrom slid the puck through Zdeno Chara’s legs to Alzner to redirect it into the net past Rask.

Neither team could find paydirt over the rest of regulation time, making it a victory of sorts for the Caps, who put themselves behind the eight ball all too often in the 60-minute portion of the contest.   Mid-way through the extra frame, Andre Burakovsky skated the puck around the top of the offensive zone, drawing Ryan Spooner with him.  It opened up space for Burakovsky to lay the puck off for Matt Niskanen, who had time to wind up for a blast that beat Rask on his glove side to give the Caps a 2-1 win that seemed so improbable for most of the evening.

Other stuff…

-- The win put the Capitals at the 100-point mark at Game 65.  It is the earliest they ever reached the 100-point mark, the 2009-2010 team having done it in Game 69.

-- The 48^th win of the season ties the Caps with the 1983-1984 and the 2010-2011 teams for fourth-place in all time wins in a season.

-- Matt Niskanen scored the game-winning goal on his only shot on goal of the game.  It was his second game-winning goals in three games, the other (against the Toronto Maple Leafs) also coming on what was his only shot on goal of the game.

-- This was the tenth straight one-goal decision for the Caps, over which their record is 7-3-0. 

-- The win allowed the Caps to avoid consecutive losses in regulation.  They still do not have consecutive losses in regulation time this season.  They have now gone 78 games since the last time they did so, on March 11^th and 13^th last season against the New York Rangers and the Dallas Stars.

-- Evgeny Kuznetsov tied a season high with seven shots on goal (versus Edmonton on October 23^rd).  It was one off his career high of eight shots on goal, set last March 16^th against the Buffalo Sabres.

-- Boston had 27 shot attempts in the second period, 20 of them on goal.  Of those totals, 11 shot attempts came on power plays, eight of them shots on goal.

-- Once upon a time, it seemed Tom Wilson was in a fight a week.  Now, it’s one a month.  He had his “March” fight against Adam McQuaid.  He had one in February and one in January.  It was only his fifth fight of the season.

-- This was the fourth time in his last seven games that Philipp Grubauer allowed just one goal in a game he played from start to finish.  He is now fourth in save percentage among goalies appearing in at least 750 minutes (.930 to Robin Lehner’s .931).

-- It was another case of the Caps lagging in possession numbers early an coming on late.  Boston led in 5-on-5 shots attempts in the first period, 18-16, and held a 16-8 edge in the second period.  The Caps had the edge in the third period, 14-8 (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

In the end…

This was one of those games the Caps looked destined to lose, and a lot of it was their own doing in the first two periods.  But Philipp Grubauer was the difference, holding the Bruins off the scoreboard when the game could have slipped away in the second period.  It might have been enough, under the circumstances, to call it a moral victory just getting to extra time, but Matt Niskanen once more showed that he is capable of raining pain on goaltenders with his cannon of a shot from outside.  It made for a good start to the four-game road trip and a happy end to a long week.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 65: Capitals at Bruins, March 5th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals, having wrapped up their three-game home stand by dropping a 3-2 decision to the New York Rangers on Friday night, head to Boston to take on the Bruins on Saturday evening.

The Bruins are making what looks like a late-season push to solidify their standing as a postseason qualifier.  Boston comes into this game with four wins in their last five games and is just two points shy of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers for the lead in the Atlantic Division.

The Bruins have outscored their opponents by a 16-9 margin over their last five games, the scoring led by Patrice Bergeron (3-3-6).  It is part of a longer run of scoring on Bergeron’s part; he is 6-5-11, plus-5, in his last ten games and has not had consecutive games without a point in that span.  Bergeron remains one of the premier faceoff men in the game.  He has gone ten straight games with a winning percentage of 50 percent of better, andhe hasn’t gone consecutive games under 50 percent since late November.  Among players taking at least 500 draws, Bergeron ranks ninth in the league in overall winning percentage (56.9 percent).

Torey Krug leads the club with five assists in the Bruins’ last five games.  He is another player with a longer span of recent success with points in seven of his last nine games (0-8-8, plus-7).  In his three full seasons to date he has been a remarkably consistent half-point-a-game defenseman (0.51/game in 2013-2014, 0.50 last season, and 0.50 this season with 32 points in 64 games).  He is 0-1-1, minus-5, in eight career games against Washington.

Conspicuous by his absence in Bruin scoring over the last five games is defenseman Zdeno Chara.  At 38 years of age, the big guy is clearly slowing down, even if he does remain a formidable force in his own end.  On offense, though, he is without a point in his last six games, and he has just a pair of assists in his last ten games.  Chara is 7-19-26, plus-9, in 62 career games against the Caps.

Here is how the teams compare overall:

1.  It has not been with special teams that the Bruins won four of their last five games.  Their power play was 2-for-14 (14.3 percent), and their penalty kill was 9-for-13 (69.2 percent) for a rather dismal 83.5 on the special teams index.

2.  Three goals for seems like a threshold of success for the Bruins (it might be for most teams).  They have only three wins in regulation this season in 26 games when scoring two or fewer goals (6-17-3 overall).  They are 30-3-1 when allowing two or fewer games, so from the Boston point ofview, it might be “first to ‘three’ wins.”

3.  The Bruins have a knack for taking a lead.  They scored the game’s first goal in 40 of their 65 games so far this season. They don’t have such a knack for holding those leads.  Their 28-11-1 record, while certainly a fine one in those instances, is the 17th-ranked winning percentage (.700).

4.  Boston has the most efficient power play on home ice in the league (24.5 percent).  They do not get as many opportunities to exploit that advantage as they or their fans might like. Their 98 power play opportunities at home ranks tied for sixth-fewest in the league.

5.  The Bruins are one of those teams whose 5-on-5 numbers are inconsistent.  They have a Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 overall of just 48.5, 19th in the league.  However, their 5-on-5 goal differential of plus-12 ranks sixth (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  If the Caps win this game, they will become the fourth-winningest team in franchise history, tied with the 2010-2011 and 1983-1984 editions.  Only a trio of 50-or-more-win teams would be ahead.

2.  When Jay Beagle scored last night to make it a 2-1 game, you knew the Caps were going to win or at least get a point out of this game.  The Caps were 22-0-4 in games in which Beagle scored a goal over his career until last night.  Now it’s 22-1-4.

3.  Alex Ovechkin was held to one shot on goal last night, just the third time this season he was held to a single shot on goal in a game (December 3^rd versus Montreal and December 12^th versus Tampa Bay).

4.  If you dominate shot attempts at 5-on-5 by an almost 2-to-1 margin (66-38), have a big edge in scoring chances (31-16), and control the shots on goal (34-23), you are supposed to win more often than not in this league.  The 66 shot attempts against the Rangers last night was the second highest total posted by the Caps this season (68 versus Calgary on November 13^th).  That PDO of 93.9, though, was the 11^th lowest of the season.

5.  Two of the Caps’ three highest Corsi-for results at 5-on-5 in a game this season have come at the expense of the Rangers.  On November 3^rd they were 65.3 percent to the good, and last night they were 63.5 percent.  They lost both games, 3-2 last night and 5-2 in November (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Boston: Ryan Spooner

Folks know the names Zdeno Chara, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, and Patrice Bergeron.  Ryan Spooner might not be as well known to Caps fans.  However, Spooner is second on the club in assists (32) and fifth in overall scoring (44 points).  In this, his first full season with the Bruins, his 12 goals is far clear of his career high of eight set last season, and his 44 points is more than his career total coming into this season (29).  He has been something of a power play specialist for the Bruins, ranking second on the team with 16 power play points, six of them being goals.  In five career games against the Caps, Spooner is 0-1-1, minus-3.

Washington: Philipp Grubauer

If you are trying to identify who might be the best among the league’s backup netminders, here is a little thought exercise.  Among goalies with at least 500 minutes but fewer than 1,200, how many have goals against averages under 2.25 and save percentages over .925?  The answer?  Three.  Jhonas Enroth of the Los Angeles Kings (2.10/.931), Penguins (1.98/.933), Al Montoya of the Florida Panthers (1.96/.928), and Washington’s Philipp Grubauer (2.10/.926).  He has been even better of late.  In his last eight appearances totaling 349 minutes of ice time, his goals against average is 1.72, and his save percentage is .941.  Grubauer has never faced the Bruins.

In the end…

The Caps are a “coin-flip” team at the moment, 3-3-0 in their last six games, each game settled by one goal.  In fact, the last nine games for the Caps have been settled by one goal.  This is not the dominating team of its first 50 or so games.  Perhaps it is a product of it being in that dry patch of games in late winter when teams are either fighting for a playoff spot or fighting through the routine of 60 or more games that can cause focus to wander and intensity to wane.  The Caps, as perhaps one of the latter sort of teams, get a chance to refocus by taking their act to the road for four games, beginning with this game in Boston.  “Road trip” might be just the tonic for a team such as the Caps.

Capitals 3 – Bruins 2

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 64: Rangers at Capitals, March 4th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals return to the ice on Friday night for the first in a set of back-to-back games when they host the New York Rangers at Verizon Center.

The Caps have completed three games in their five-game week and have won the last two – against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs – after dropping the first game of the week to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.  The Rangers are coming to D.C. on quite a run of late.  It has been more than two months – since December 18 and 20 (the last two in a three-game losing streak) – that the Rangers have lost consecutive games, and they are 10-2-1 in their last 13 contests.  They bring a three-game winning streak into this game, pending the results of their game in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

In that 10-2-1 run, the Rangers have outscored their opponents by a 35-27 margin.  They are 6-for-31 on the power play (19.4 percent) while going 27-for-36 killing penalties (75.0 percent).

Although the Rangers are not, Mats Zuccarello is not.  He has one point in his last five games, a goal against Columbus in the Rangers’ 2-1 win over the Blue Jackets on Monday.  It is unusual, coming on the heels of what was a eight-game stretch in which he was 2-9-11, plus-7.  He is 0-7-7, minus-1 in 14 career games against the Caps.

Keith Yandle is the prototypical playmaking, power-play quarterback sort of defenseman.  At least he is this season. In 63 games he has just four goals, but his 31 assists is tied with Andrei Markov for 11th among the league’s defensemen, and 12 of his total points have come on Ranger power plays.  His goal scoring has been in decline in recent years since he set a personal high of 12 goals with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2009-2010.  Since then he either repeated his previous year’s goal total or saw it drop in every season.  He is on a pace for five goals this season, which would continue that trend.  Yandle is 0-10-10, even, in 15 career games against Washington.

Only one goalie over the past 11 seasons has more than 300 wins, a goals against average under 2.50, and a save percentage over .920. Toss in 59 shutouts, and Henrik Lundqvist has a claim on being the best goaltender of the post-2004-2005 lockout period. What he has not been lately is consistent.  In his last 12 appearances he has good overall numbers – 9-3-0, 1.91, .931, with two shutouts.  Underneath, he has five games in which he had a save percentage under .900.  When he was good, though, he was superb – two shutouts and three other games in which he allowed a single goal.  He remains the rock on which Ranger success depends, and his smoothing off the rough edges while maintaining those strong overall numbers will be the most important factor as the Rangers chase the Cup.  Lundqvist is 9-4-3, 2.65, .906, with four shutouts in 32 career appearances against the Caps.

Here is how  the teams compare overall:

1. Despite their 10-2-1 record since February 3rd, the Rangers have lost three points to the Caps in the standings in that span (the Caps are 12-3-0 over the same span).

2.  In that 13-game span, the Rangers allowed five goals in each of the three losses (5-4 in overtime to Los Angeles, 5-2 to Chicago, and 5-2 to New Jersey).  They did not allow more than two goals in any of their ten wins.

3.  The Rangers have done well lately when avoiding penalties.  In their last 13 games, they faced two or fewer shorthanded situations seven times, although it has not been a measure of success.  The Rangers were just 3-for-9 killing penalties in those games (33.3 percent), and twice they avoided any shorthanded situations at all.   Probably a good thing.

4.  The Rangers have the worst penalty kill on the road in the league (72.4 percent).  They have allowed at least one power play goal in 20 of 31 road games and two power play scores seven times.  In their last 15 road games they are just 28 for 42 (66.7 percent).

5.  The Rangers are not an especially effective possession team on the road, either.  Their 46.3 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5 ranks 24^th in the league.  They have been below 50 percent in eight of their last nine games and under 40 percent three times (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

1.  The Caps have 13 wins this season in games that ended by a 3-2 margin, the most in the league, four more than the New Jersey Devils.  Eight of the Caps' 26 wins at home this season have been by 3-2 margins.  Each of the last four Caps wins have been by that margin, and eight of their 12 wins since the All-Star Game break have been by that margin.

2.  One-goal decisions agree with this team, and it might be the biggest difference between this team and the 2009-2010 team that won the Presidents Trophy.  This team is 23-5-4; that 2009-2010 team lost 21 of 41 one-goal decisions (eight in regulation and another 13 in extra time) and ranked just 17^th that season in one-goal winning percentage.

3.  Power play efficiency for the Caps manifests itself in ways other than the share of chances they convert.  The Caps lead the league in 5-on-4 goals scored (45), but they spent just 323:50 in power play time doing it.  The Caps have, by far, the best minutes-to-goals scored ratio in the league.  They have spent an average of 6:57 of power play time for each goal scored; the Los Angeles Kings are next at 7:23 of power play time per goal scored.

4.  Only two teams in the league have two goaltenders who have appeared in at least 15 games, have a goals against average under 2.25, and have a save percentage of .90 or better.  Florida (Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya) and the Caps, with Braden Holtby (2.22/.923) and Philipp Grubauer (2.26/.926).

5.  The Caps rank just 11^th in Corsi-for at 5-on-5 in the third periods of home games (52.7 percent), but they have a goal differential of plus-18, tops in the league (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

New York: Eric Staal

Eric Staal was traded to the Rangers by the Carolina Hurricanes for prospect Aleksi Saarela and second round draft picks this year and next.  In one game so far with the Blueshirts he has yet to register a point.  But it’s early, or so you would think.  Perhaps the change and the possibility of a playoff run will reenergize him, but Staal has been in productive decline for several years now.  After going 18-35-53 in 48 games for the Carolina Hurricanes in the abbreviated 2012-2013 season (a 31-60-91 scoring pace over 82 games), he had 21 goals an 61 points the following year, 23 goals and 54 points in 2014-2015, and he has 10 goals and 33 points in 64 games this year (a 13-30-43 scoring pace).  Having more talent around him in New York will no doubt take some of the pressure on him from facing the opponents’ best defenders in Carolina, but it remains to be seen just what effect he will have on the Rangers in the home stretch. Staal is 27-44-71, plus-5, in 71 career games against the Caps, the team he has faced more than any other in his career.

Washington: Barry Trotz

OK, we’re doing coaches again.  When the Caps defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, Barry Trotz won 649^th game as an NHL head coach, passing Ron Wilson for eighth place on the all-time list of NHL leaders in wins among head coaches.  He already had established a first in Capitals coaching history earlier in the season that not a lot of people took notice of.  When the Caps beat the Minnesota Wild on February 11^th for their 40^th win of the season, Trotz became the first coach in Capitals history to win 40 or more games in each of his first two seasons behind the bench (including partial seasons).  And, if the Caps win 13 of their last 19 games, a longshot perhaps, but not an impossible task, Trotz would set a franchise record for wins by a Caps coach in consecutive years (currently held by Bruce Boudreau, who won 104 games over the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons).

In the end…

We get ahead of ourselves with talk about games left and records to be chased, but that is a luxury fans can indulge.  As for the Caps, they will face a Ranger team with serious flaws (i.e., their penalty kill) and serious strengths (best 5-on-5 goal ratio in the league), but one that is also on a serious run of successful games.  The Caps lead the season series, winning three straight after dropping the first game between the clubs.  The Caps have faced challenges such as those presented by the Rangers, and they have offered no indication that they will do anything but handle this one successfully, too.

Capitals 3 – Rangers 2

Washington Capitals Recap: A TWO-Point Night: Capitals 3 - Maple Leafs 2

It was a bittersweet evening for fans of the Washington Capitals as they said goodbye to an old friend, then watched their team capture another win in what is becoming an historic season as the Caps defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2, on Wednesday night at Verizon Center.

Fans had their chance to say goodbye to Brooks Laich, traded to the Maple Leafs last weekend after appearing in 807 regular season and playoff games over 12 years with the Caps. Then the Caps tended to business.

They opened the scoring late in the first period from a very unexpected source. Martin Marincin tried to bang the puck up the wall and out of danger, but the attempt was flagged down by Evgeny Kuznetsov, who worked it to T.J. Oshie skating around the top of the right wing circle. Oshie kicked the puck to his stick, then slid it over to Taylor Chorney skating down the left side. Chorney wristed a shot that sailed over goalie Jonathan Bernier’s left shoulder, and it was 1-0 at the 18:15 mark.

The Caps made it 2-0 just 27 seconds later, this time from a much more familiar source. Oshie got it started when he beat a Leaf to a loose puck and directed it to the right wing wall. He followed it up, pestering Nazem Kadri long enough for Nicklas Backstrom to grab the puck and move in through the faceoff circle. With two Leafs bracketing him, he slid a pass past a third Leaf where Alex Ovechkin one-timed it past Bernier at the 18:43 mark.

Toronto got one back early in the second period when Nikita Soshnikov rang a shot off the pipe and behind goalie Philipp Grubauer for his first NHL career goal at the 1:37 mark. The Caps held off the Leafs for the rest of the period, but Toronto tied it in the third when Colin Greening took a pass from Peter Holland in the high slot and fired a shot over Grubauer’s glove to make it 2-2 at the 8:16 mark.

Then a Toronto rookie made a mistake.  Soshnikov, who scored his first NHL goal earlier in the game but also took a double minor penalty in the second period, was sent to the box for his third minor penalty of the game for boarding Karl Alzner.  The Caps needed just 11 seconds to make Soshnikov and the Maple Leafs pay.  Oshie, who had an excellent game in all, won the ensuing faceoff, and the puck found its way to the stick of Nicklas Backstrom.  Looking to thread a pass across to Ovechkin on the other side of the ice and finding that path blocked by a Toronto defense leaning in that direction, Backstrom eased the puck out to Matt Niskanen at the top of the zone. Niskanen fired a shot that Marcus Johansson, screening at the top of the crease, jumped away from at the last instant, and the puck sailed over Bernier’s glove to put the Caps ahead for good, and the Caps skated off with a 3-2 win. 

Other stuff…

-- After Matt Niskanen scored with 10:29 left in the game, the Caps would record the next nine shots, depriving the Maple Leafs of a shot on goal for 9:01 after the Niskanen strike.  Toronto did close with a flurry – three shots in the final 1:28 and a lot of commotion around the Washington net in the last seconds – but it was too little, too late.

-- Brooks Laich logged 14:17 in his return to Verizon Center, 4:10 of it on the power play.  It was the first time this season he recorded any power play ice time.

-- Nicklas Backstrom had two assists.  That makes 15 multi-point games this season, tied for tenth in the league.  It was the 109th time in his career he recorded a multi-assist game.  Since he came into the league, only Sidney Crosby (111), Joe Thornton (115), and Henrik Sedin (126) have more.

-- Maybe you can see the signs that the Caps are starting to get ready for the playoffs by not pushing their big guns too hard.  Case in point.  Alex Ovechkin logged 17:40 in ice time in this game, the second consecutive game he finished with less than 19 minutes of ice time.  The combined 36:17 of ice time over his last two games is his lowest in consecutive games in almost two months, having logged 35:45 in consecutive games on January 5th and 7th against Boston and the New York Islanders.  It is something that bears watching.

-- What a game T.J. Oshie had – three assists (a personal best as a Capital), plus-2, two shots on goal, a shot attempt blocked, a missed shot, a hit, three takeaways, a blocked shot, and he won two of three draws.  He gets the all-you-can-eat buffet coupon.

-- Daniel Winnik played in his first game for the Caps and had modest success against his old club.  He logged 13:11 in ice time, 2:07 of it killing penalties, had a shot on goal, three hits, and a takeaway.

-- Evgeny Kuznetsov might get a buffet coupon of his own.  He was not quite as evident in his all-around impact as Oshie, but he was all over the ice.  An assist, a shot on goal, two shot attempts blocked, a missed shot, a hit, a takeaway, and he won half of the 12 draws he took.  He has points in four of his last five games and has not gone consecutive games without a point since January 7th and 9th against the Islanders and Rangers.  Since then he is 7-22-29, plus-11, in 22 games.

-- Connor Carrick recorded an assist against his former Capital teammates and recorded a pair of hits in 14:18 of ice time, 1:57 of it on the Maple Leaf power play.

-- Philipp Grubauer continues to shine when called upon.  His 27-save performance was solid, continuing a fine run.  In his last 11 appearances he is 4-3-0, 1.68, .943.

-- The Caps seemed to fight off a touch of boredom, or perhaps distraction given they were facing former teammates for the first time.  They dominated possession in the first period with 12 shot attempt to five for Toronto at 5-on-5.  Toronto turned the tables in the middle frame, out-attempting the Caps 19-10 at fives.  Washington carried the third, 14-13, aided by a fine defensive effort after the Niskanen go-ahead goal (numbers from war-on-ice.com).

In the end…

No, it wasn’t as pretty at one might have expected against a team as young and struggling as much as Toronto is.  On the other hand, this is the sort of the “we can’t seem to get up for teams like this” kind of game the Caps would have lost outright in previous years.  They got a chance to give Brooks Laich a proper send-off, and they won the game.  Frankly, that’s usually considered a pretty good night.  But now it’s time to stiffen up and buckle down.  Back-to-back games against the Rangers and in Boston against the Bruins are sure to pose a considerable challenge.  The “B” game won’t do against that pair of opponents.

Another Eagerly-Anticipated Matchup

Last night, the long-awaited, eagerly-anticipated, first-ever matchup of last summer’s top two draft picks finally arrived.  Connor McDavid, the first overall  pick in the 2015 NHL entry draft taken by the Edmonton Oilers, faced Jack Eichel, taken second overall in that draft by the Buffalo Sabres.  One versus two, Canada versus the United States, two teams looking to their precocious rookies to be the spark that lights the fire to launch them back into the Stanley Cup conversation.  It did not disappoint.

Bot McDavid and Eichel logged more than 20 minutes of ice time, both recorded five shots on goal.  But in this game, Edmonton beat Buffalo, in part because Canada beat the United States.  It was McDavid recording both Oiler goals, the second one in overtime, in a 2-1 win, Eichel being held off the score sheet. 

It was reminiscent of another inaugural matchup between a pair of highly thought-of rookies more than ten years ago.  One born and bred in Canada, the other a native son of Mother Russia.  Sidney Crosby, taken first overall in the 2005 entry draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins, faced Alex Ovechkin, picked first overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2004 draft.  If there was one thing (and there might have been only one thing) good to come out of the 2004-2005 lockout, it was that these two players, both thought to be generational talents, would meet for the first time as rookies.

The first meeting of Ovechkin and Crosby took place on a Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, November 22, 2005.  For both teams, the struggles before the 2004-2005 lockout that had them finishing at the bottom of their respective divisions in the 2003-2004 season carried over into the first six weeks of the first season after the lockout. 

Pittsburgh lost their first nine games of the season, going 0-4-5 (it did not prevent the league from naming Crosby its “rookie-of-the-month” for October), and had won just three of their last eight games before facing the Capitals, all of them by one goal, two of them in the new gimmick of the shootout.  The Caps were hardly better.  They lost four of six games before facing the Penguins, including an 8-5 pasting at the hands of the Sabres in Buffalo five days before they headed to Pittsburgh.

The rookies, though, were living up to the hype and then some.  Crosby was 11-15-26 in 21 games before facing the Caps.  Ovechkin put an opponent through the glass on his first NHL shift, scored two goals in his NHL debut, and had a whopping 15 goals in his first 20 NHL games before leading the Caps to Pittsburgh.

The outcome of this game would resemble that between Edmonton and Buffalo that featured McDavid and Eichel, but how the teams got there was very different.  The Penguins jumped on the Caps early, scoring four goals in the game’s first 15 minutes, one of them by Crosby, who split the Capitals’ defense at the blue line and snapped a shot under the crossbar that popped the water bottle off the net. 

That opening 20 minutes could have doused the flame of intensity surrounding this game, but Pittsburgh was a young team prone to mistakes.  The Caps took advantage of the Penguins in the second period with goals 14 seconds apart by Chris Clark and Brooks Laich.  Then it was the Caps’ turn to let their youth show.  They could not get any closer after grabbing the momentum, and the Penguins got one back late in the period on a goal by Zigmund Palffy, set up by Crosby and Brooks Orpik. 

The Caps had one more push in them, though.  Matt Pettinger scored with an assist from Ovechkin early in the third period, and Brian Willsie scored a shorthanded goal less than two minutes later to get the Caps within one.  Then, with just under seven minutes left, a shot by Brian Sutherby was stopped by Pens goalie Sebastien Caron, but not cleanly.  Ben Clymer jumped into the crease and jabbed at the puck as Caron was trying to close his glove over it.  The puck, Clymer’s stick, and Caron’s glove all crossed the goal line.  The referee gave a quick “no-goal” signal before jumping in to break up a scrum that developed in front of Caron.  The play was reviewed, and the call was upheld, the Caps’ last chance to make a new game of it going by the wayside.

Pittsburgh won the contest, 5-4, but in the larger scheme of things it would not matter a lot.  Pittsburgh went on to finish last in their division again, recording no more standings points than they did in the 2003-2004 season (58).  Washington finished last in their division again as well, although they did improve by 11 points from their 2003-2004 season and finished 12 points ahead of the Penguins (70).

What mattered was that this was the first contest between two extraordinary rookies who would go on to carve out a large place in the history of the NHL in the ten years since that first meeting.  Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel have taken that first step on a journey that will see them cross paths several times, each of them hopeful that they will carve out their own significant places in NHL history alongside those of Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

Photo: Reuters/Ron Schwane

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 63: Maple Leafs at Capitals, March 2nd

The Peerless Prognosifator…uh, Progtakinator…Progfusticator…

...aw heck…he ain’t here, anyway.

Hi…my name is Cheerless, and I ‘spect you folks have seen me in these parts from time to time.  Yer usually readin’ Peerless and his prognostifications, but he was up late last night celebratin’ the win over the Penguins, so y’all get me this morning.

Now, I ain’t got all Peerless’ learnin’ (even if he got most of it at “Moo U”), so this ain’t gonna be as long as his meanderin’s.  The Caps are playing the Toronto Blue Jays, or Rap Tors, or Maple Leafs, or whatever two-name mascot they have for their hockey team.  Must be a Canada thing or somethin’. 

There’s probably just one thing you have to know about the Maple Leafs.  They’re bad.  It weren’t always like that this season.  They were 16-15-7 just last January 6th after they shut out the Anaheim Ducks, 4-0.  But since then?  They’ve stunk like an outhouse in July.  Just 5-15-3 since then, and they are just 2-8-1 in their last 11 games.

The have two problems.  They can’t score, and they can’t keep the other team from scoring.  Other than that, things are pretty good.  Here is one of the truly weird facts about this team…

In their last 23 games, they scored more than two goals…six times. They scored just one goal or got shutout 10 times.  Just 43 goals in those 23 games.  I’m guessin’ the goal judge doesn’t remember where the switch is to turn on the lamp when they score a goal.

Now, as for the scorin’ against…78 goals allowed in their last 23 games.  That’s 3.39 goals against per game.  Now, that was pretty good for the 1980’s, but these days it makes swiss cheese look like a brick of velveeta.

As you probably figgered out by now, their power play wouldn’t keep the refrigerator bulb lit for two seconds.  Those same 23 games?  They’re 5-for-75.  That’s 6.66 percent, which seems right fittin’.

Too bad, too, because the penalty killers aren’t that bad – 67 for 82 (81.7 percent).  Trouble is, they just have to do it a tad too much – 3.6 shorthanded situations a game.

Now, you probably think all those Toronto fellas have names like Brendan or Clarke or some such thing, but they actually have a guy named “Nazem Kadri.”  Pretty good player, from what I hear.  Second on the team in scorin’ overall (12-22-34), and he’s got points in four of his last five games (1-5-6).  What he don’t have is a goal against the Caps, ever.  In 13 games he’s got five points, all of them assists.

Then there is this kid named “Nylander.”  Guess all you Caps fans know his dad, Michael, played for the Caps – twice in fact – but they say this kid William’s gonna be better.  Eighth overall draft pick in 2014, Maple Leaf fans have been waitin’ on seein’ this kid play the way Caps fans were waitin’ on that Kuznetsov kid, just not as long.  He played his first game on Monday against Tampa Bay.  Didn’t seem fazed by it, but hey, he’s represented Sweden in six international tournaments.  He’s been on the big stage.  Didn’t get a point against the Lightning, but he skated almost 19 minutes.  Guess the team will give him a long look-see now.

Of course, Caps fans will be seeing blue when they see Brooks Laich take the ice (see what I did there?...and Peerless thinks he’s the clever one).  He played his first game with the Leafs on Monday, and he got 12 minutes of ice time.  No points, but they’ve been hard comin’ to him this season (1-6-7 in 61 games with the Caps and the Leafs).  This’ll be the first time he ever faced the Caps, ‘cept in practice…aw heck, I can’t go on…

As for the goalies, James Reimer is gone to San Jose (he might still be celebratin’), and Garrett Sparks played on Monday, so it might be Jonathan Bernier.  If it is, it might not end well for the Leafs.  There are 47 goalies in the league that have at least 1,000 minutes of ice time.  In save percentage, Bernier ranks 46th (.898).  He’s 45th in goals against average (3.12).  He’s allowed three or more goals in seven of his last nine appearances, including one in which he allowed three goals in 20:57 (against the Flyers, 22nd in scoring offense in the league…not the 1985 Edmonton Oilers, although the 2016 Oilers lit him up for four goals the last time he saw them).

Anyway, the only way the Caps lose this game is if they admire all the press clippings (do they do clippings anymore?) from last night’s game against Pittsburgh, or they can’t get the tears out of their eyes from the tribute they’ll play for Brooks Laich in the arena.  They could win this game by a touchdown.  Well, maybe not with the extra point.

Capitals 6 – Maple Leafs 1

Washington Capitals Recap: A TWO-Point Night: Capitals 3 - Penguins 2

For the Washington Capitals, the third time was the charm on Tuesday night as they converted on their third power play opportunity of the evening to break a tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins and skate off with a 3-2 win at Verizon Center.

The game was a preview of a potential first-round playoff matchup, and it was played as closely as a postseason game. The Penguins took an early lead on a goal by Evgeni Malkin, who led a 3-on-1 break and finished it when he chipped the puck past goalie Braden Holtby from the top of the crease at the 6:14 mark of the first period.

The Penguins doubled their lead early in the second period when they smartly broke down the Caps’ defense. Sidney Crosby started the play by skating the puck into the offensive zone and curling off to his right to create an opening. Olli Maatta filled in and took a pass from Crosby as he was skating down the middle. Maatta slid the puck under Matt Niskanen’s stick to Patric Hornqvist, who freed himself behind everyone. Hornqvist had only to backhand the puck under Holtby’s right pad, and it was 2-0, Penguins, 3:45 into the second period.

Less than a minute after the Hornqvist goal, the Caps started their comeback. A shot by Nate Schmidt was muffled by Malkin at the top of the right wing faceoff circle, but Mike Richards was first to get to the loose puck. Richards turned and fired, his shot sailing through a maze of bodies and eluding goalie Matt Murray to make it 2-1 4:24 into the period.

Washington tied the game late in the second period with speed. Andre Burakovsky stormed the Penguins’ zone carrying the puck down the left wing along the boards. He left it for Justin Williams, who skated past Nick Bonino and circled around the Penguin net. Coming out the other side, Williams backhanded a shot that Murray stopped but could not control. Evgeny Kuznetsov was quick to pounce on the loose puck and chip it past Murray’s right pad to tie the game with just 3:57 left in the second period.

Mid-way through the third period, each team had been the beneficiary of two power play chances, none of them successful. Then, Malkin took a high-sticking penalty. A familiar face did them in on the ensuing power play. With the Penguins unable to clear the puck, Matt Niskanen and Nicklas Backstrom played catch with it at the top of the zone. A pass from Niskanen was returned by Backstrom, and Niskanen’s one-timer off that pass flew through a Marcus Johansson screen and Murray’s glove to give the Caps their first lead of the contest.

The Caps held the Penguins to one shot on goal in the final 6:22 of the contest after the Niskanen goal, and Washington had their 3-2 win.

Other stuff…

-- The Caps’ 46th win ties the club with the sixth-most wins in franchise history, the 1984-1985 team that finished with a 46-25-9 record.

-- This was the tenth time in 46 wins that the Caps won by a 3-2 margin and their 13th 3-2 decision of the season (10-2-1).

-- It was the 18th time this season that the Caps won when allowing the first goal, by far the most such wins in the league (Los Angeles has 14 wins when allowing the first goal). Last season the Caps had only eight wins when allowing the first goal.

-- The Caps spread their scoring around, getting goals from three different players –Matt Niskanen, Mike Richards, and Evgeny Kuznetsov – and single points from eight skaters overall.

-- If 16 of 18 skaters recorded a shot on goal, you might think it was the “defensive defensemen” who did not get a mark on that column of the score sheet.  And, you would be right.  Brooks Orpik and Mike Weber, the latter playing in his first game as a Capital, did not record a shot on goal.

-- Dmitry Orlov was sent to the box twice, once for embellishing a hook by Ian Cole, and again for a tripping call.  It was the first time he was charged with two penalties since January 10th against Ottawa.  The four minutes made it 20 penalty minutes for the season, a new career-high, eclipsing the 19 minutes he had in 54 games last season.

-- The embellishment call on Orlov was one of two such infractions called on the Caps.  Jason Chimera was given the Oscar for his role in “Kris Letang: Holding” just 1:29 before Orlov’s turn on the stage.

-- Jay Beagle is easing back into one of his roles slowly.  He took only two faceoffs against Chicago in Sunday’s loss, losing both, and he took only three faceoffs in this game, losing two of them.  He did record four shots on goal, though, to tie Andre Burakovsky for the team lead.

-- Braden Holtby faced 30 shots in this game.  It makes him 16-1-2, 1.80, .947, with two shutouts when facing 30 or more shots in a game this season.

-- The Caps never quite grabbed an advantage in the shot attempts battle, but they did slowly tilt the ice as the game wore on.  At 5-on-5, the Penguins out-attempted the Caps, 22-11, in the first period, and they held a 20-19 edge in the second period.  The Caps had the edge in the third period, 14-12, and they held the Penguins two just three attempts (two blocked, one shot on goal) in the last 6:22 after what would be Matt Niskanen’s game-winning goal.

In the end…

On a night where most of the attention seemed to gravitate to the first ever Connor McDavid/Jack Eichel matchup in Buffalo, the two veterans of the head-to-head matchup went at it.  Sidney Crosby got the point (an assist), but Alex Ovechkin got the win.  How many times over their respective careers was the outcome reversed?

We like it this way better.