A NO-Point Night: Washington Capitals -- Game 9: Panthers 4 - Capitals 1

The Washington Capitals took the ice looking to sweep a back-to-back set of weekend games, but they fell behind early, spent too much time in the penalty box, and didn’t have enough late in a 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.

First Period

It took the Panthers just 84 seconds to open the scoring when Christian Djoos gave up the puck behind the Capitals’ net, Jamie McCann picking it up for the Cats and feeding Connor Brickley for a point blank shot that beat goalie Philipp Grubauer.  It was all the scoring until the last minute when the Panthers doubled their lead, the goal coming on a power play.  Vincent Trocheck carried the puck down the right wing wall into the Caps’ zone.  From the edge of the right wing circle he fed Jonathan Huberdeau in the middle, and Huberdeau fed the puck to Evgenii Dadonov steaming down the middle.  Dadonov had room to take a couple of strides, get a better shooting angle, and ripped a shot past Grubauer to make it 2-0 going to the first intermission

Second Period

Penalties killed the Caps in the first dozen minutes of the first period.  They took four penalties in the first 12:20, the middle two giving the Panthers a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:45.  Florida scored on the two-man advantage when Vincent Trocheck one-timed feed from Aleksander Barkov over Grubauer’s left shoulder, and it was 3-0, 8:58 into the period.

The Caps got one back late in the period when Chritian Djoos walked the puck across the high slot, found a space in the Panther defense, and ripped a shot over goalie James Reimer’s left shoulder just under the crossbar to make it 3-1 at the 15:23 mark.  The goal seemed to give the Caps a spark, but they could not solve Reimer for a second goal before intermission.

Third Period

The Caps had their chances late in the period, Evgeny Kunetsov and Brett Connolly both having good looks from deep to Reimer’s left, but both were turned away.  Then, with the Caps having pulled Philipp Grubauer for an extra skater, they drew a penalty on Ian McCoshen with 1:51 left in regiulation.  But with the Caps with a 6-4 man advantage, Barkov scooped up a loose puck in the high slot and backhanded it the length of the ice into the empty net for the final 4-1 margin.

Other stuff…

-- The Caps out-shot the Panthers, 16-7, in the first period (13-2 at even strength) and still trailed 2-0.  Nine of the 18 skaters had at least one shot.

-- Andre Burakovsky had a golden chance late in the second period to get the Caps within a goal when a rebound trickled off the left pad of James Reimer and slid to Burakovsky.  The puck got caught up in Burakovsky’s skates, leaving Burakovsky with only an attempt to backhand the puck back between his skates to the empty side of the net with Reimer down, but Burakovsky could not get his stick on the puck, and it was cleared out of danger.

-- Nicklas Backstrom had five shots on goal over the first 40 minutes, at that point already being his high in shots on goal for any game this season.  He finished with six shots on goal.

-- The shorthanded goal by Aleksander Barkov was the third time in four games the Caps allowed a shorthanded goal and their fourth allowed in nine games so far.

-- The Caps out-shot the Panthers, 34-9, at even strength, 42-23 overall for the game.  They had almost as many shots on goal (42) as Florida had attempts (47).

-- Every Capital skater but Brooks Orpik recorded a shot on goal.  John Carlson led the team with seven.  He also led the club with 11 shot attempts.

-- This was the fifth time in nine games that the Caps allowed an opponent five or more power play opportunities (Florida had six).  Only once this season in nine games have the Caps had more power play chances than their opponent (3-2 against Detroit on Friday night).

-- The Caps did not lose consecutive games on home ice all of last season.  This game was their third straight loss on Capital One Arena ice.  Change the name back.

-- Philipp Grubauer’s record dropped to 0-2-1, but it is not as if he’s had a lot of support.  The Caps have a total of six goals in front of him in three games, half of them coming in his 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

-- The Caps were sluggish in offensive zone draws, winning just 17 of 37 (45.9 percent).

In the end…

Again, it seems if the top six forwards aren’t scoring, the Caps aren’t winning.  And the well-worn route to the penalty box made the task just that much more difficult.  The Caps have a lot to work on and six days to do it before they visit the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.  They had better spend their time well.  This is a team spinning its wheels at the moment.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 9: Panthers at Capitals, October 21st

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

Fresh off their 4-3 overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night, the Washington Capitals return to the friendly confines of Capital One Arena on Saturday night to host the Florida Panthers.

The Panthers are coming off a Friday night match-up of their own, losing 4-3 at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It brought Florida’s record to 2-4-0. Against the Capitals they will be looking for their first road win after dropping decisions in visits to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Penguins, and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Florida has had some trouble keeping pucks out of their own net in the early going. After they allowed 20 goals in their first five games (4.00 per game) before last night, they allowed anotherfour to the Penguins.

Jonathan Huberdeau has been trying to live up to his third overall draft pick status since he was selected in that spot by the Panthers in 2011.  He won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in the abbreviated 2012-2013 season on a 14-17-31 scoring line in 48 games.  But he has just one 20-goal season in this five NHL campaigns coming into this one, that one in 2015-2016.  He topped 50 points twice, his career high of 59 coming in that same 2015-2016 season.  Last year he was held to 10 goals in 31 games but lost 51 games to an Achilles tendon injury.  Huberdeau leads the team with three goals, all of them coming in road games.  In 14 career games against the Caps, he is 4-6-10, minus-1.

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad is another top-three pick on the Panther roster, the first overall pick of the 2014 draft.  He has had little trouble living up to his top-pick billing so far.  In each of this first three seasons he recorded ten or more goals from the blue line, although he hit the ten goal mark last season despite missing 14 games to concussion and neck injuries.  As it is, Ekblad tops his 2014 draft class in games played (233), goals among defensemen (39), and points among defensemen (101).  He is already 2-3-5 in six games this season for the Panthers.  In eight career games against the Caps, he is 1-1-2, even.

1.  Through Thursday’s games, Florida was recording a whopping 41.8 shots on goal per game, although their plus-8.8 shot differential was just second to the Edmonton Oilers (plus-11.5). Not that all those shots matter; Florida is 1-3-0 when outshooting their opponent.

2.  One the one hand, the Panthers have scoring balance; eight players had four or more points through Thursday’s games. On the other hand, they have three players with five points (Evgenii Dadonov, Nick Bjugstad, and Jonathan Huberdeau), tied for 86th in the league. They seem to lack a go-to scorer.

3.  Only four teams had more penalty minutes per game than Florida (14:35) going into Friday’s games, but the Panthers actually had a positive differential in special teams ice time (plus-8:45, seventh-best in the league).

4.  Watch the first period carefully. Through Thursday’s games, the Panthers scored one goal in first periods in five games, lowest first period goal total in the league. Not that they give up a lot; their four goals allowed is stingier than all but four teams.

5.  Florida had not scored first in a game until they did so in their loss to Pittsburgh on Friday night, the last team to score first in a game.

1.  When the Caps out-shot the Detroit Red Wings, 41-37, in their overtime win on Friday night, it was just the second time in eight games that the Caps outshot an opponent.  They out-shot the New Jersey Devils in a 5-2 win on October 13^th.

2.  The Caps should outshoot opponents more often.  They are one of eight teams that have not yet last when doing so.  The thing is, though, only the Los Angeles Kings in that group has outshot teams more than twice (the Caps have done so twice).

3.  Only the St. Louis Blues have allowed more third period goals (13) than the Caps (12).

4.  The Caps have the third-worst shot attempts-for percentage in the league when ahead in games (39.18), ahead of only Ottawa and the New York Rangers.

5.  The Caps have some work to do for their top three of Evgeny Kuznetsov, Alex Ovechkin, and Nicklas Backstrom to regain the top spots in league scoring that they held before Friday’s games.  Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov now hold the top two spots, with Kuznetsov and Backstrom tied for third.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Florida: Radim Vrbata

Drafted in the seventh round by the Colorado Avalanche in 1999, spending parts of two seasons with the Avs, then off to Carolina, back to Chicago, out to Phoenix, over to Tampa Bay, back to Phoenix, up to Vancouver, back lone more time to Phoenix (by this time “Arizona”), and now in Florida. Radim Vrbata has put on more miles over 16 seasons, it seems, than some Apollo moon missions. He has quietly assembled an interesting body of work, ranking 11th in games played among active players (1,020; more than Eric Staal or Henrik Zetterberg), tied for 21st in goals (279, with Patrick Sharp), 30th in points (ahead of Claude Giroux and Chris Kunitz), and eighth in shots on goal (3,031; ahead of Joe Thornton and Jeff Carter). Vrbata has yet to score a goal for the Panthers, but with four assists he is in that large clot of players that comprise the team’s leading overall scorers. Vrabata, who at 36 is the second-oldest skater on the team (Derek MacKenzie is two days older), is coming off one of his best years with a 20—35-55 scoring line with the Coyotes last season, and he is 7-5-12, minus-6, in 20 career games against the Caps.

Washington: Brett Connolly

Last season, his first with the Caps, Brett Connolly started slowly, scoring one goal in his first 11 games before finishing the season with a career high 15 goals in 66 games.  This season, he is starting slowly again with one goal in eight games, that goal coming on Opening Night in the Caps’ 5-4 Gimmick win over the Ottawa Senators.  When he recorded a shot on goal against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night, he broke a three-game streak without a shot on goal.  Only once this season does Connolly have more than one shot on goal, that in the Caps’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 9^th.  It follows a similar patter to last season when Connolly recorded only four shots over an eight-game stretch before breaking out with a goal and an assist with four shots in a 3-1 win over Buffalo in late November.  In 13 career games against Florida, Connolly is 0-3-3, minus-3.

In the end…

This is the second straight weekend that the Caps are playing back-to-back games.  The second half of last weekend’s set did not go well, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers, 8-2.  It was, however, the Caps’ third game in four nights.  They do not have that problem in this game, the team getting two full days off after their loss to Toronto on Tuesday before beating the Red Wings on Friday.  And, they are at home for this contest. 

Capitals 4 – Panthers 2

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 8: Capitals at Red Wings, October 20th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals take to the road again, dropping in for their first visit to Little Caesars Arena in Detroit to face the Red Wings on Friday night.  Both teams are coming off losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Caps dropping a 2-0 decision at Capital One Arena on Tuesday night, while the Red Wings lost to the Leafs by a 6-3 margin at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Wednesday night.

Washington will be looking to improve on their 2-1-1 road record on Friday.  It is precisely the same road record they took into their fifth road contest last season.  The Red Wings have split their two games to date in their new digs, an Opening Night win against the Minnesota Wild and a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last Monday.  Overall, the Wings have been reasonably tight on defense, allowing three or fewer goals in their first six games.  Then they gave up that six-pack to the Maple Leafs on Wednesday.

Henrik Zetterberg has set the bar high for performance in the early going for the Wings.  He leads the team in goals (four) and is tied for second on the club in points (eight) through seven games.  His scoring includes a four-point game (1-3-4) in a 6-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, one in which he assisted on the game-tying and game-winning goals.  It is one of 18 games this season in which a player scored four or more points.  It was his 15^th career game with four of more points, third on the Red Wings’ all-time list (Steve Yzerman had 50 such games, and Sergei Fedorov had 19), but only the fourth time in his career he accomplished the feat on the road.  In 20 career games against Washington, Zetterberg is 7-8-15, minus-3.

Dylan Larkin also has eight points for the Wings to start the season.  The start is a welcome development for Wings fans, given what looked like a classic case of a sophomore slump last season.  After a rookie year in which he was 23-22-45, plus-11, in 80 games and finished fifth in the Calder Trophy voting for the league’s top rookie, he was 17-15-32, minus-28 (tied for the sixth-worst plus-minus in the league).  The odd part of his scoring line is that it is light in goals (one, a power play goal in the season opener), but he seems to be shooting in a bit of bad luck, too, scoring that goal on 16 shots (6.3 percent).  He has just three goals in his last 19 regular season games dating back to last season.  Larkin is 1-1-2, plus-1, in six career games against Washington.

Jimmy Howard got the start in goal against the Maple Leafs on Wednesday, but he didn’t finish.  Howard allowed three goals on four shots in 15:46 before he was relieved in favor of Petr Mrazek.  It was the second straight iffy performance for Howard.  After starting the season with a 3-0-0, 1.62, .955 record, he gave up three goals on 26 shots in a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay before his early exit against Toronto, leaving him with a 0-1-0 (one no-decision), 4.86, .800 record in his last two appearances.  Howard did reach an important personal milestone this season.  When he got the win on Opening Night against the Minnesota Wild, he became the third goaltender in Red Wings history to reach the 200-win mark.  Terry Sawchuk (351) and Chris Osgood (317) are the others.  In nine career appearances against the Caps, Howard is 3-2-3, 2.90, .899.

1.  The Riley Sheahan watch resumes.  Sheahan, who famously played in 79 games last season without recording a goal before getting two goals, including the last goal to be scored at Joe Louis Arena, in a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils to end the Wings’ season, has yet to record a goal in seven games yet this season.

2.  The Red Wings have issues hitting the net with shots.  Their 87 missed shots this season is topped by only four teams.

3.  Here is an odd fact.  Detroit is one of five teams to have taken more than 450 faceoffs this season (through Wednesday’s games).  Four of those teams, including Detroit, are under 50 percent in wins. Practice, in this instance, does not make perfect.

4.  Detroit has taken a lead into the first intermission just once this season (they won).  It is not a league low.  Four teams – Boston, Montreal, Anaheim, and Florida – have failed to take a lead after 20 minutes so far. 

5.  Slow starts have plagued the Red Wings so far.  They have two first period goals in seven games, while allowing eight.  Only Florida has fewer goals scored in the first period (one), and only five teams have allowed more.

1.  We noted that there have been 18 four-or-more point games by NHL players this season.  No team has more such performances than the Caps, who have three –Alex Ovechkin (4-0-4) against Montreal on October 7^th, Evgeny Kuznetsov (0-4-4) on the same date, and Nicklas Backstrom (1-3-4) against New Jersey on October 13^th.

2.  Whatever the Caps are doing in the first periods of games, they need to bottle it and drink it for the second and third periods.  They have outscored teams by a 9-4 margin in the first periods of games, but they have a minus-2 goal differential in the second period and a minus-4 differential in the third.

3.  Only two teams – New Jersey and Toronto – have more wins by three or more goals (three apiece) than the Caps (two).  That’s your “it’s early” fact.

4.  The Caps are one of six teams to have outshot only one team, fewest occurrences in the league.   That was in the 5-2 win over New Jersey, when the Caps out-shot the Devils, 28-23, which also happens to be the only instance so far in which the Caps held an opponent under 30 shots on goal.

5.  Alex Ovechkin has now been outscored by every team.  He has nine goals; the Montreal Canadiens are 31^st and last in the league with ten.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Detroit: Mike Green

Caps fans will remember him as a “Young Gun,” along with Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, and Nicklas Backstrom.  Now, only Niklas Kronwall among Detroit Red Wings defensemen has appeared in more NHL games  (799) than Green (728).  He is fifth among active defensemen in goals scored (135), eighth in points (440).  This season, Green leads the team in points overall (1-8-9) and power play points (0-4-4), while averaging a team-high 22:48 in iced time per game.  Green got off to a hot start with eight assists in his first four games, including one of those 18 four-point games across the league this season, that coming when he had four assists on Opening Night against Minnesota.  Even with the hots start, though, Green appears not to be the offensive difference maker from the blue line with the Wings that he was with the Caps.  Since arriving in Detroit in 2015-2016, Green ranks 18^th in goals (22) and 27^th in points (80).  Good numbers, but no longer the elite level he displayed in his best years in Washington.  Green has not yet recorded a point against his old team in five games and is a minus-4.

Washington:  Tom Wilson

It has been a whirlwind start to the season for Tom Wilson, although perhaps not in the best way.  Wilson has already been suspended twice, the latter resulting in his missing the first four games of the season, and in the three games in which he appeared so far, he has four shots on goal, 15 penalty minutes, 35:18 total minutes of ice time.  He is also without a point.  He will apparently get to remedy that with an opportunity on a scoring line, moved to the left side of the Nicklas Backstrom line with T.J.Oshie on the right, Andre Burakovsky taking Wilson’s old spot on the third line.  It is a chance for him to break a one goal in 24 regular season games dating back to last season.  This is an opportunity for Wilson in another respect.  The Red Wings are one of three teams in the NHL (not counting the Vegas Golden Knights, a team that he has not yet faced) against which he has not recorded a point.  He is 0-0-0, minus-1 in 12 career games against Detroit.  Oddly enough, Wilson has only six penalty minutes in those 12 games against the Wings, the fewest he has against any opponent except San Jose (four in six games) and Vancouver (four in seven games).

In the end…

These are two teams that are not what they were.  Detroit is far removed from the Stanley Cup contending clubs, last appearing in a Cup final in 2009 and last winning a playoff series in 2013.  They have dropped standings points in each of the last three seasons, from 100 to 93 to 79 last season, missing the postseason for the first time since 1990.  The Caps are coming off consecutive Presidents Trophy-winning seasons, but are thought of this season as more of a middle-of-the bracket contender than on a short list of serious Cup contenders.  Both teams are bringing two-game losing streaks into this contest at the moment (through Wednesday’s games), the longest in the Eastern Conference.  It might be early in the season, but the Red Wings are a club against which the Caps might be fighting for a playoff spot.  It makes the two points available here an important commodity.

Capitals 3 – Red Wings 2

A NO-Point Night: Washington Capitals -- Game 7: Maple Leafs 2 - Capitals 0

When the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs took the ice on Tuesday night, they averaged nine goals a game on offense between them.   That alone made the matchup one that could feature a lot of goals. Things did not turn out that way as the Leafs took a low-scoring duel by a 2-0 margin at Capital One Arena.

And even that final score did not capture how close to the vest this game was played. The teams went scoreless for the first 45 minutes before Toronto took the lead. The Caps were unable to clear the puck out of their own end, and Morgan Rielly settled the puck just inside the Caps’ blue line. His shot bounced through to goalie Braden Holtby, who made the original save. He left the rebound just out of reach, though, and Connor Brown stuffed it between the pads at the 5:53 mark of the period to make it 1-0.

That was all the Leafs needed, but they added an empty net goal by Nazem Kadri in the last minute, and Frederik Andersen stopped all 30 shot he faced for the win in the 2-0 shutout.

Other stuff…

-- The last time the Capitals were shutout on this ice sheet was also a 2-0 score, that coming in Game 7 of last spring’s Eastern Conference semifinal against the Pittsburgh Penguins to end their season. Ironic, ain’t it?

-- Brooks Orpik had almost half the blocked shots (four) that the Caps recorded for the evening (nine).

-- This was the first time in Capitals history that they were shut out by Toronto on home ice. The last time the Maple Leafs shut out the Caps was in a 3-0 Leafs win in Toronto on March 6, 2007.

-- The Caps did hold Auston Matthews to one shot on goal and just three shot attempts in 17 minutes of ice time.

-- Tyler Graovac got a sweater for this one, but it might not have to be laundered. He skated just 3:19 before he left in the second period with an upper-body injury.

-- Hey kids, buck up.  The Caps were 3-2-1 after six games last season, just as they were before this game to start this season.  Then again, the Caps didn’t lose their second home game until their sixth contest on home ice in Game 12 of the season.  They are just 1-2-0 on home ice at the moment.

-- John Carlson had seven shot attempts.  That’s the good news; he’s being active from the back end in the offensive zone.  The bad news is, only two of those seven attempts made it to the net.  Five were blocked.

-- Andre Burakovsky showed signs of life.  He had four shots on goal, a number not seen since Opening Night in Ottawa.  He had a total of two shots on goal in his last four games before this one.

-- The Caps hit the 30-shot mark for the first time this season.  And wouldn’t you know it would come while getting shut out.  The hockey gods have an odd sense of humor.

-- Braden Holtby has brushed off that iffy game against Ottawa to open the season.  Since then he has a goals against average of 1.77 and, after stopping 28 of 29 shots last night, a .945 save percentage in four appearances.  Unfortunately for Holtby and the Caps, his record in those four games is 2-2-0.

In the end…

There was good and bad to take away from this game.  The good…they stopped a very productive offensive team cold.  One goal allowed against a goaltender 45 minutes into the game against a team averaging more than five goals a game can’t be considered bad.  But the bad…failing to score on home ice against a team allowing almost four goals a game.  At some point, the bottom six and defense have to show something on offense.  Not every night, but from time to time.  They haven’t done much so far, and it was on display last night.

The early schedule for this season is not kind to the Capitals, and it gets more difficult over the next two weeks.  Four of their next five games are on the road, three of them coming in their annual trip to western Canada.  What is more, four of those games will be played in two back-to-back sets, at Detroit and against Florida, and at Edmonton and at Calgary next week.  If the Caps cannot find a way to put more pieces of their game together over more games, they could find themselves looking up at a lot of teams by the time they wrap up their first dozen games of the season in Alberta next week.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 7: Maple Leafs at Capitals, October 17th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

After taking two days to lick their wounds after being throttled by the Philadelphia Flyers, 8-2, on Saturday night, the Washington Capitals return to the familiar ice sheet at Capital One Arena on Tuesday to host the Toronto Maple Leafs, the squad they defeated in six games in last spring’s first round playoff series.

This will be only the third home game of the young season for the Caps, the club having split their first two decisions, a 6-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens and a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.  The Maple Leafs are coming off a 4-3 overtime win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.  Their visit to Washington will be their first visit to the American side of the border this season.

Toronto brings a still young roster to Washington, and the three youngest players on that roster might be their three most promising skaters.  Autson Matthews (20), Mitch Marner (20), and William Nylander (21) might be the future of the franchise, but they are a large part of the present.  Matthews, the first overall pick in the 2016 entry draft, brings a five-game points streak to open the season in to this contest.  That streak extends to nine games, counting the last four games of the Leafs’ opening round series with the Caps last spring.  Whereas last season he started with a band – a four-goal game in his NHL debut – he has been consistent in his goal scoring so far, recording a total of five goals in five games and held without a goal just once.  Matthews, who last season became just the 16^th player in NHL history to record at least 40 goals in his rookie season (he finished atop the rookie class with 69 points), and first since Alex Ovechkin did it (54 goals) in his 2005-2006 rookie year, shows little sign of slowing down, although his 29.4 percent shooting percentage is unlikely to be sustainable.  He is 1-2-3, even, in three career games against the Caps.

Marner and Nylander might have been caught up in Matthews’ wake as rookies last season, but they each had 61 points, finishing tied for third in rookie scoring last season (Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine was second with 64 points) and finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, in the voting for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie (won by Matthews).  They have had productive starts, Nylander with five points (1-4-5) and Marner with four (1-3-4), and each have a pair of power play points.  There the similarities so far this season end, though.  Nylander is a team-best plus-8 (tied with Nikita Zaitsev), while Marner is a team-worst minus-6.  Nylander has points in four of five games so far, and Marner has points in his last two outings, making this a formidable trio the Caps will face.  Nylander is 0-1-1, minus-3, in three career games against the Caps, while Marner is 2-3-5, minus-2, in three career contests against Washington.

Being a run-and-gun sort of team, the Maple Leafs leading the league in scoring offense (5.20 goals per game) is not surprising.  Neither is the flip side of that, their 3.80 goals allowed per game being third-worst in the league.  It has made for a difficult start of the season for Frederik Andersen, who has played every minute in goal for Toronto so far.  Only six of 58 goalies to dress so far this season have faced more shots than Andersen (158), and his goals against average (3.76) ranks 46^th in that group, while his save percentage (.880) ranks 47^th.  Like Capital goaltenders so far, the barrage has been more or less constant, his having faced more than 30 shots in four of the five games in which he appeared so far.  In two career appearances against the Caps, he is 1-0-1, 4.00, .875.

1.  Toronto already has 13 different skaters with goals, more than half the total they had all of last season (24).  Of the 20 skaters to dress for the club so far, only former Capital Eric Fehr is without a point.

2.  The Maple Leafs spread their power play scoring around.  Ten different players have at least one power play point so far.  Six different players share the eight power play goals on what is the league’s most efficient power play (30.8 percent), none of them with more than two (Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk).

3.  Protecting the puck has been something of a casualty of the Leafs’ high-octane style.  Only four teams have been charged with more giveaways than Toronto (65), and their ratio of takeaways-to-giveaways (0.58) is poor.

4.  Toronto opens and closes fast.  Their 12 goals scored in the first period is most in the league, while their nine goals scored in the third is ranked third in the league.

5.  The Maple Leafs lean heavily on one defensive pair in killing penalties. Ron Hainsey (6:32) and Nikita Zaitsev (5:35) are one-two in the league in shorthanded ice time per game among defensemen.

1.  The eight goals the Caps gave up to the Flyers on Saturday night was the sixth time since the 2004-2005 lockout that they allowed eight goals (they have not allowed more in any game over that span).  Every instance was on the road, and four of them were against teams from Pennsylvania, both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh applying the suffering twice.

2.  Playing within the rules has been a struggle for Washington.  They are sixthin penalty minutes per game (14:39), fourth in penalties taken (33), tied for fifth in minor penalties taken (27, with the Nashville Predators), tied for second in misconduct penalties (2, with Nashville), and tied for second in bench penalties (2, with eight other teams).

3.  The Capitals will provide an interesting foil for the Maple Leafs in one respect.  While Toronto is first in first-period goals scored (12), the Caps are ranked third with nine of their own first period markers.

4.  Washington has the top three point-getters in the league through Sunday’s games: Nicklas Backstrom (3-8-11), Evgeny Kuznetsov (0-11-11), and Alex Ovechkin (9-1-10).

5.  Kuznetsov is the second player over the last 30 years to record 11 assists or more in his first six games and do it without the benefit of scoring a goal.  Peter Forsberg was 0-12-12 in his first six games of the 2005-2006 season with Philadelphia.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Toronto: Patrick Marleau

Patrick Marleau has been a “left coaster” of sorts all his life.  Born in Aneroid, Saskatchewan; he played amateur hockey for the Swift Current (Saskatchewan) Legionnaires and the Seattle Thunderbirds; and then he spent 19 seasons with the San Jose Sharks.  Now, he is spending the latter part of his NHL career as the troop leader, in a manner of speaking, to a young and precocious Maple Leaf squad.  Marleau has a fine body of work, having passed the 500-goal mark in his career last season with the Sharks and finishing last season with 1,082 career points, one of 86 players in league history to top the 1,000 point mark.  But one amazing aspect of his game is his incredible durability.  In 19 seasons before this, Marleau missed a total of 31 games and never more than eight in any one season, that one being his rookie year in 1997-1998 with the Sharks.  He has dressed for every regular season game in each of the last eight seasons, a streak he is adding to with the Maple Leafs this season.  Marleau is 9-13-22, plus-5, in 27 career games against the Capitals.

Washington: Lars Eller

When folks talk about sustainability, they usually speak in terms of a player’s ability to keep a run of goal scoring going or maintaining a shooting percentage above a certain level or keeping a streak of points going.  Lars Eller presents a bit of a different look in terms of sustainability.  In eight seasons before this one, Eller never posted a faceoff winning percentage over 53.2 percent and had a career winning percentage of 49.2.  However, this year he has been beastly in the circle, winning 61.7 percent of his 81 draws, seventh in the league among 86 players taking 50 or more draws.  But what has not changed from last season is a dry hole in goal scoring.  Eller had one goal in his first ten games last season and two in his first 29 contests; he has none in six games so far this season.  His third line center duties would, conventionally speaking, tilt more toward defensive responsibilities and being an effective possession player.  He has been that for the Caps.  But the team also needs some more bottom-six production than it is getting, and Eller needs to be a part of that.  In 32 career games against Toronto, he is 7-10-17, plus-3, the 17 points being the most he has against any team in the league. Whether he plays or not is an open question as he was reported to be ill this morning and not certain of being able to go on Tuesday.

In the end…

The Maple Leafs look a lot like the 2009-2010 Caps – young, fun to watch, not terribly concerned with the dull stuff like “responsibility in their own end.”  There might be teams that can skate with them, but few if any can outskate them.  And the depth of their offense might be unmatched.  This is precisely the sort of team that would give the Caps fits if Washington iced a healthy group.  But with Matt Niskanen – arguably their best defensemen – out for the foreseeable future, the Caps are going to have their hands full trying to contain this group.  If ever there was a need for “system” to trump “skill,” this will be it.  These teams seem likely to trade chances all night in what might be the highest total scoring game of the season the Caps will play.

Caps 6 – Toronto 5

Washington Capitals: That Was The Week That Was - Week 2

Last season, the Washington Capitals did not have a losing week until Week 5.  This season, with a 1-2-1 record, the Caps experienced the bitter taste of a losing week in Week 2.  And it Week 2, the Caps’ issues and problems were on display.  So, too, were their strengths, but in displaying them, they illustrated the difficulties this team might have in reaching the postseason.

Record: 1-2-1

The Caps were 1-2-0 in Week 5 last season in what would be one of just three losing weeks in the 2016-2017 season.  The disturbing aspect of Week 2 and the Caps’ 1-2-1 record – their first losing week this season – is that the record came entirely against Eastern Conference teams, and the Caps were 1-2-0 against fellow travelers in the Metropolitan Division.  Disappointing as it was, it was not far from being a lot better, the Caps dropping a pair of one-goal decisions, one in overtime to the Tampa Bay Lightning on a power play.

Offense:  3.00/game (season: 3.67/game, 9th)

Three goals a game over four games might be considered an “average” week for this team.  How they got there was not, and it was not an especially confidence-building experience.  Five Capitals shared the 12 goals scored for the week, and the distribution is what is of note.  T.J. Oshie led the club with four goals, and 11 of the 12 were scored by forwards on the top two lines.  Christian Djoos had the other for the defenseman’s first NHL goal in his NHL debut against Pittsburgh in the second game of the week.  It also happens to be the only goal scored by a Capitals defenseman through six games so far this season.  As it is, Nathan Walker and Brett Connolly are the only forwards outside the top-six to record a goal so far among the 21 scored by the club.

Defense: 4.25/game (season: 3.67/game, 24th)

If Wayne Gretzky was right about not scoring on 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, opponents have taken that adage to heart against the Caps.  The Caps allowed more than 35 shots to three of their four opponents in Week 2, giving them five games with more than 30 shots against in six games this season.  That they merely rank 22^nd in the league in shots against per game might be a reflection of more offense across the league at this early stage of the season.  Digging into that number, the Caps finished the week ranked 24^th in 5-on-5 Corsi (46.2 percent; numbers from Corsica.hockey) and 17^th in shots attempts against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 (55.22).

Goaltending: 4.23 / .875 (season: 3.60 / .894)

Goalies get the wins, and often the praise that goes with it, and they get the losses, and the often the grief that follows along.  The numbers paint a portrait of a bad week for Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer.  Holtby took Game 2 and 3 for the week and did not fare all that poorly.  His 1-1-0, 2.54, .915 record for the week was not at the standard of overall production one has come to expect of Holtby, but stopping 43 of 44 shots at even strength was (.977 save percentage).  That 9-for-13 in facing power plays was another matter (.692 save percentage), including all three goals scored by the Penguins in their 3-2 win over the Caps.

The best that can be said of Philipp Grubauer’s week is that he took one for the team, and over the course of a long season, there is a lot to be said for that.  He did not get much in the way of support in front of him.  He faced 40 shots against the Tampa Bay Lightning to start the week, 22 of them in the third period and overtime, and had to face a Lightning power play on the game-deciding goal.  Against the Philadelphia Flyers to end the week, the team in front of him was playing its third game in four nights and the back half of a road set of back-to-back games.  It might not be as grueling a run as it might be in February or March, when the grind of the season takes its toll, but it was no skate on the pond, either.  And Grubauer was left in to face the whirlwind – 37 shots, eight goals.  It was the most goals allowed by a Caps goaltender in a single game since Olaf Kolzig gave up eight in an 8-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 25, 2006.

Power Play: 5-for-15 / 33.3 percent (season: 30.0 percent / 2nd)

Going 5-for-15 is a very good week, but what is odd about that kind of efficiency was that the Caps alternated games with power play goals (two against Tampa Bay, three against New Jersey) with games without a goal (against Pittsburgh and Philadelphia).  T.J. Oshie had a particularly productive week, posting three of the Caps’ five power play goals.  And then there was Nicklas Backstrom, who recorded an points on all five goals with the man advantage, a goal and four assists.  That output put him at the top of the league’s power play scoring list for the week and at the top of that list for the season (1-5-6).  Overall, the Caps were an efficient group, scoring those five goals on 25 power play shots (20.0 percent) and recording those 24 shots in 24:00 of power play ice time.

Penalty Killing: 11-for-17 / 64.7 percent (season: 76.9 percent / T-21st)

And yet… the Caps ended up on the short end of the special teams scoring for the week, going minus-2 off five goals scored and seven allowed.  Six of those special teams goals against came on the opponents’ power play (one other a shorthanded goal against) in what would be charitably be called a difficult week.  The Caps allowed three power play goals to the Penguins in the second game of the week, the first time they allowed that many in a single game since they allowed three power play goals in a 4-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on March 13, 2015.  Overall, the Caps spent entirely too much time killing penalties.  The recorded 28:38 in shorthanded ice time for the week, and that despite only 1:32 recorded against the Flyers to end the week (they scored on that power play).  Allowing 27 shots in that time logged wasn’t a bad result in terms of shots per minute, but the cumulative effect was hardly what the Caps were looking for.

Faceoffs: 125-for-257 / 48.6 percent (season: 51.6 percent / 12th)

It was a mediocre week in the circle overall and one that was very different among players in their particulars.  The 48.6 percent was spit roughly into a good week in the defensive end (49-88/55.7 percent) and a poor one in the offensive end (28-73/38.4 percent).  At the individual level, two of the Caps taking ten or more draws finished the week over 50 percent – Nicklas Backstrom (35-68/51.5 percent) and Lars Eller (32-52/61.5 percent).  T.J. Oshie (11-27/40.7 percent) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (18-55/32.7 percent) were well under 50 percent, while Jay Beagle has what was for him an off week (15-33/45.5 percent).

Goals by Period:

Allowing three goals in four first periods is not great, but it’s not especially bad, either.  But as time went on in games, the worse if got for the Caps, who were outscored, 14-8 over the last 40 minutes and overtime for the week.  The Caps finished the week with only the Penguins (10) allowing more second period goals than the Caps (9) and only Calgary and St. Louis (nine apiece) allowing more third period goals than Washington (eight). 

In the end…

Everything the Caps might be concerned about came to pass in Week 2.  An injury to an important player; Matt Niskanen will be out for at least ten games and 24 days with a hand injury after being slashed by New Jersey Devil forward Jimmy Hayes.  Lack of defensive depth – the Caps iced Aaron Ness, Christian Djoos, and Madison Bowey (in his NHL debut) against the Flyers to end the week.  Their lack of experience showed and was exploited by the Flyers.  Lack of bottom six scoring – it helped doom their postseason last spring, and things have not improved with the start of the new season. The competition – if the Caps wanted to measure themselves against potential postseason rivals, they came up short against Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, although both of those games were decided by one goal, one of them in overtime on a power play.  The schedule – the Caps played three of their four games in Week 3 on the road, making it four of six games on the road to start the season and part of a eight games in 12 on the road in October.  It is a trial by fire the Caps are on that will temper them and make them stronger or burn their early season playoff hopes to a crisp.

Three Stars:

• First Star: Nicklas Backstrom (3-6-9, plus-2, points on all five power play goals, 51.5 percent faceoff winning)
• Second Star: T.J. Oshie (4-3-7, plus-1, three of the Caps’ five power play goals, four power play points)
• Third Star: Christian Djoos (1-1-2, plus-2, first rookie defenseman to record two or more points in a season since the Caps had four blueliners do it in the 2013-2014 season: Alexander Urbom, Patrick Wey, Connor Carrick, and Nate Schmidt)

A NO-Point Night: Washington Capitals -- Game 6: Flyers 8 - Capitals 2

The Washington Capitals were buried under an orange wave on Saturday night as they dropped an 8-2 decision to the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center.  It was the first time the Caps surrendered eight goals to the Flyers and the first time in Philadelphia since they dropped an 8-1 decision to the Flyers on November 3, 2005.

First Period

The Flyers dominated possession to open the game, out-attempted the Caps overall by a 9-5 margin into the eighth minute.  They scored on their tenth shot attempt when Sean Couturier took a Jakub Voracek  feed as he was barreling to the Caps’ net.  Couturier split the Caps defense and got two whacks at the puck, the second one finding the back of the net at the 7:18 mark.

Jakub Vrana tied the game just over two minutes later when he helped dig out a loose puck along the left wing wall, then went to the net.  He got there just in time as Evgeny Kuznetsov was taking a feed from John Carlson, and as he was crossing in front, backhanded a pass to Vrana for a tap-in at the 9:25 mark.

It might have been a good thing had the Caps made it to the first intermission tied, but the Flyers upset that thinking on an odd play late in the period.  With the Caps on a power play, Scott Laughton blocked an attempted pass by John Carlson just outside the Caps’ blue line.  While Laughton got behind Carlson to chase the loose puck sliding into the Caps’ end, goalie Philipp Grubauer came out to play it.  He tried to sweep it to the side boards, but Laughton was there to gather it up, curl behind Grubauer, and dump the puck into the back of the net to make it 2-1, 18:58 into the period.

Second Period

The Flyers ended the competitive portion of the contest in the first 11 minutes, Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux potting goals to give the Flyers a 4-1 lead.  Nicklas Backstrom got the Caps back within a pair just 13 seconds after Giroux’ goal, but Valeri Filppula slammed the door on any comeback with a goal with 2:55 left in the period to give the Flyers a 5-2 edge at the second intermission.

Third Period

It was a case of the Flyers adding some decorative roses on the cake in the third period, scoring three goals in a seven-minute span mid-way through the period to send the Flyer faithful into the night in a happy mood.

Other stuff…

-- Philipp Grubauer allowed eight goals on 37 shots and became the first Capitals goaltender to allow eight goals in a game since Olaf Kolzig allowed eight in an 8-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 25, 2006.

-- That 2006 blowout feature defensemen Ivan Majesky, Bryan Muir, Nolan Yonkman, Brendan Witt, Shaone Morrisonn, and Mathieu Biron.  This Caps defense was about as effective, although it was hardly their fault.  The forwards as a group played an indifferent game in terms of defensive support.  As Barry Trotz put it in the postgame, “Giroux’ line ate up Kuznetsov’s line.”  That would be the Evgeny Kuznetsov – Alex Ovechkin – Jakub Vrana line.  It might be noted that Ovechkin played just 3:29 in the third period, Kuznetsov played just 5:27, and Vrana was demoted to the third line by that time and played 5:00.

-- Alex Ovechkin was minus-4, and that equals the total number of times he was that minus-y in the 2016-2017 season when he had a minus-4 in the Caps’ 8-7 overtime loss to Pittsburgh on January 16^th.

-- Another game, another 30-plus shot performance for the opponent.  The Flyers had 37 shots making it five times in six games the Caps allowed an opponent more than 30 shots.  For themselves, the Caps had 23 shots, the third time in six games they had fewer than 25 shots.

-- Tom Wilson…two games, 24 minutes of ice time, 15 minutes in penalties… one shot on goal.

-- Madison Bowey made his debut and finished the game with a blank score sheet.  Except for that minus-2.

-- Half of the skaters did not have a shot on goal.  Five others had one shot.  Of the 23 shots on goal, 18 came from four players: Ovechkin (6), Dmitry Orlov (4), Jakub Vrana (4), and Devante Smith-Pelly (4).

-- Brett Connolly led the team with five credited hits.  No shots on goal.  Caps might be better off if those numbers are reversed.  John Carlson had four minutes in penalties.  No shots on goal.  Caps would certainly be better off if those numbers were reversed.

-- Fourteen of 18 skaters finished in minus territory for the Caps.

-- The Caps allowed the Flyers only two power play opportunities, the first time this season the Caps allowed fewer than four power play opportunities in a game.

In the end…

This game was captured in a lyric describing the Grinch of Christmas lore…

“The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote,

‘Stink, stank, stunk’!”

Or, as Barry Trotz put it… “we were absolutely stupid with the puck.”  It was as if the Caps were working the line at Geno’s Steaks at lunch hour…”here’s a puck, here’s another puck, here’s one for you, you want a puck?”

But it is one game.  After the Caps gave up eight goals to the Penguins in an 8-7 overtime loss last season (not coincidentally, the second of a back-to-back set of games, played on the road, and their third game in four nights, like this one), they went 26-10-2 to end the season.  Not that this team is as good.  It’s not.  But the point is that giving up eight goals or losing, 1-0, is one loss.  Move on.  Do better.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 6: Capitals at Flyers, October 14th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals wrap up their I-95 back-to-back road trip on Saturday night when they visit that peaceful meadow of brotherly love, Wells Fargo Center, in Philadelphia when they face the Flyers in a Metro Matchup that is the season home opener for the Flyers.

The Caps are coming off a 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Friday night to push their record to 3-1-1 and to the top of the Metropolitan Division.  Meanwhile, the Flyers are coming off a three-day hiatus, off since dropping a 6-5 decision to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. It extended the Flyers alternating wins and losses to arrive at a 2-2-0 record on their road trip to start the 2017-2018 season. The Flyers, who struggled with the 19th-ranked scoring defense in the league last season, at least started the season on a higher note, allowing only seven goals in their first three games. But then they almost had that total doubled when the Predators dropped a six-pack on their heads.

Scoring has been uneven on a game-to-game basis for the Flyers, who scored five goals in their season opener (a 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks) and in that last contest against Nashville. In the two game in-between, they have a total of three goals, all of them in a 3-2 overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks last Saturday.

Scoring has also been strange for the Flyers at the player level of production. Both of their leading point producers – Jakub Voracek and Shayne Gostisbehere – are at the top of the skater rankings without the benefit of having scored a goal. Voracek, who led the club in points last season (20-41-61), has six assists to top the Flyers points list. He has been kept off the score sheet only once when he, and the rest of the squad, was held without a point in a 2-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on October 5th. Voracek could crack the top-20 in all-time point production for the Flyers if he records another 34 points. His 360 points in what is now his seventh season with the club trails Dave Poulin in 20th place with 394. Voracek is 11-8-19, plus-1, in 29 career games against the Capitals.

Gostisbehere is trying to rehabilitate a reputation for being a scoring defenseman that he established in his rookie season two years ago (17-29-46), one in which he finished second in the Calder Trophy voting for top rookie, and that sustained a hit last season when he slumped to 7-32-39 in 76 games and was a team worst among defensemen minus-21. So far, the results are mixed. Yes, he is second on the team in points with five (all assists), but they came in bunches – three assists in the 5-3 win over the Sharks to open the season and two more in the loss to Nashville in the Flyers’ last contest. Four of those five assists came on power plays, all three he had against the Sharks and another against the Predators. The plus-minus is looking better though; he was “even’ in all four games to date. “Ghost” is 0-3-3, minus-3, in seven career games against the Caps.

The Flyers have a situation on the blue line that resembles that of the Caps, perhaps even more so. They are a young group. Only one of the seven defensemen to dress so far is past 30 years of age (Andrew MacDonald is 31), and four of them are younger than 25 – Gostisbehere (24), Ivan Provorov (20), and rookies Travis Sanheim (21) and Robert Hagg (22). Sanheim is a former first-round draft pick (17th overall in 2014) who had a fine season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL last season (10-27-37, plus-7, in his first full year in the AHL). Hagg is a former second-round pick (41st overall in 2013) who was up for one game with the Flyers last season and going 7-8-15, plus-10, for the Phantoms.   Both Sanheim and Hagg will be looking for their first points for the Orange and Black in what will be their first appearances against the Caps.

1.  The Flyers are one of just two teams to have scored and allowed the same number of goals. Philadelphia has scored and allowed 13 goals, while the Ottawa Senators have both scored and allowed seven goals (through Thursday’s games).

2.  The Caps might be able to take advantage of the Flyers’ penalty killing. It is not that they have faced a lot of shorthanded situations, although they have the tenth-highest number (17). It is that they rank 28th of 31 teams in efficiency (70.6 percent), although they have yet to test their penalty killers at home.

3.  Then there is the matter of the Flyers’ propensity for late swoons. Only the St. Louis Blues have allowed more third period goals (eight) than the Flyers (six).

4.  If Claude Giroux gets three assists (perish the thought), he will reach the 400-assist mark in his career. Less likely is Jakub Voracek getting to the 500-point mark in his career in this game. He needs a six-point night to get there.

5.  Only one team in the league has more penalties this season than the Flyers without having taken a major penalty. Philadelphia has been whistled for 17 penalties without a major so far. Washington has 20 penalties and no majors.

1.  Nicklas Backstrom recorded his 20^th game of four or more points as a Capital on Friday night (1-3-4).  Only one player in the league has more such games since Backstrom came into the league in 2007-2008 – Sidney Crosby (22)

2.  T.J. Oshie had two goals and an assist for his 12^th game with three or more points as a Capital.  Since he joined the Caps in 2015-2016, only Backstrom has more three or more point games (18).

3.  Evgeny Kuznetsov had a pair of assists to give him four multi-point games in five played so far.  His ten assists leads the league, and his ten points is tied for the league lead with teammates Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin.

4.  Alex Ovechkin became the fourth player in league history to record nine goals in his first five games with his goal on Friday night.  Mike Bossy, Patrick Marleau, and Mario Lemieux are the others.

5.  Andre Burakovsky had his first NHL fight in Friday’s win over the Devils; in fact, his first fight in pro hockey.  His scrap with Blake Coleman was his first fight since he mixed it up with Nick Moutrey back in March 2014 as a member of the Erie Otters.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Philadelphia: Brian Elliott

Perhaps nowhere in the NHL are goaltenders treated as “plug-and-play” devices more than in Philadelphia. Steve Mason out, Brian Elliott in. If Mason put up okay, if not extraordinary numbers for the Flyers last season (26-21-8, 2.66, .908, with three shutouts in 58 games), Elliott is doing little to improve on that in the early going. After what was a disappointing, statistically, one-year stay with the Calgary Flames last season (26-18-3, 2.55, .910, with two shutouts in 49 games) and signing a two-year/$5.5 million contract with the Flyers last July, he opened the season with a 2-1-0 record but a goals against average of 3.67 (34th of 52 goaltenders to dress so far) and a save percentage of .876 (42nd). That’s what allowing six goals on 31 shots in one of three games he’s played so far will do to the GAA and save percentage, though. Not that his career numbers against the Caps are any better: 6-5-0, 3.31, .888 in 13 career appearances.

Washington: Dmitry Orlov

Through four games, only one Capitals defenseman has a goal, and he’s a rookie (Christian Djoos). Three do not yet have a point. It is not surprising that neither Brooks Orpik nor Taylor Chorney have any points thus far; they are generally regarded as defensive defensemen. Dmitry Orlov is another story. Not that he has had explosive starts in his still young NHL career – he had one point in the first four games of each of his last two seasons (both assists) – but a good deal is expected of the 26-year old this season. In other respects he is assuming more responsibility, particularly in penalty killing where he is averaging 4:03 in shorthanded ice time per game, 3:30 more than he averaged last season (and that was a career high). What he has been slow in doing so far is unleashing shots. He has three shots on goal in four games, and while it is a very small population of games so far this season, he had 125 shots in 82 games last season. You get the feeling it will come, but sooner would be better than later as the Caps seek to fill in the spaces left with the departures of three starters on defense from last season. Orlov is 5-1-6, plus-4, in 13 career games against the Flyers.

In the end…

The Patrick Division days are long gone, but it is still possible to spin up some anger at the prospect of facing the Philadelphia Flyers. And it especially satisfying to beat the Flyers on their home ice. The Caps have points in four consecutive games in Philadelphia (2-0-2), both losses coming in trick shot competitions. One thing the Caps will be looking to do is to reduce the volume of shots they have been facing (first four games featured more than 30 shots against), a task made harder by the fact that in each of their last three visits to Wells Fargo Center they allowed the Flyers to put up an average of 35.3 shots per game.  It will be a chance for the Caps to put some early distance between themselves and the rest of the Metropolitan Division.

Capitals 3 – Flyers 1

A Different Season, the Same Sad Ending

“They say we're young and we don't know

We won't find out until we grow…”

-- Phillip “Sonny” Bono

Sure, you recognize that lyric.  It’s in that song that gets played over and over in the film, “Groundhog Day.”  Over and over and over, relentlessly.  Like the disappointment Washington sports fans endure with the blossoms of the cherry trees or the falling leaves of autumn.  Every year.

The song played again late last night as the Washington Nationals lost Game 5 of their National League Divisional Series to the Chicago Cubs.  It was an outcome familiar to Washington Capitals fans over the years and now all too familiar to fans of the Nationals.  The game-ending scene had an eerie feeling of sameness to it.  For this Caps fan, watching Bryce Harper – the tying run at the plate – strike out to end the season looked all too much like Alex Ovechkin foiled on a breakaway early in Game 7 of the 2009 Eastern Conference semi-final that would have given the Caps an early lead, or T.J. Oshie having the puck bounce over his stick with a yawning net in front of him in Game 7 of last spring’s conference semi-final that would have given the Caps momentum, or Ovechkin in that same game firing a shot at what looked like an empty net, only to have the puck click of the shaft of the goalie’s stick and out of harm’s way.

Wins and losses in team sports are, by definition, a team effort, but there are moments of opportunity for an individual that occur with some regularity that can define a team as a winner or a disappointment.  It reminds me of a moment almost 35 years ago that enabled a team that had failed to win a championship since World War II to end a 39-year drought.  It was the sort of moment that lifted a single player from memorable to beloved.  Any Washington Redskins fan claiming to be one knows it.

Nursing a three-point lead in the fourth quarter of the 1982 Super Bowl, the Redskins were confronted with fourth down at the Miami Dolphins’ 43 yard line with one yard to earn a first down and a choice.  All three of the options they had were risky.  They could attempt a field goal, but 60 yards was outside the reliable range of kicker Mark Moseley.  They could punt, but a touchback would not only give the Dolphins the ball with ten minutes left on the clock, but would only net 23 yards of field position.  Or, they could go for it, although failing to gain the yard would give the Dolphins superb field position and lots of time left.

The Redskins went all in, choosing to go for the first down.  There was nothing fancy about the play they chose.  In team parlance, it was called “70-chip,” but it was basically a straight-forward, smash-mouth play set up to isolate the ball carrier on a single tackler to beat.  The ball carrier was John Riggins, and the poor soul the Redskins targeted with their blocking scheme was defensive back Don McNea.  The object was to gain one yard, Riggins size advantage and brutish running style creating enough momentum to gain that before engaging McNea.  But here was that moment, that instant of engagement that turned a well-designed and executed play into legend.  McNea met Riggins and desperately tried to wrap him up or grab onto something, anything on his uniform to bring him to the turf.  Riggins, having none of it, exploded through the tackle, casting off McNea as if he were a bit of lint picked off his sleeve and sprinted the 43 yards to the touchdown that clinched a Super Bowl win and ended decades of frustration for Washington Redskin fans.  The Redskins became winners, the reputation for which echoes to this day, despite their descent back into mediocrity over the last two decades.

Other players in this town since have had that moment presented to them.  Alex Ovechkin has had such a moment.  Bryce Harper had his.  And their not taking those moments by the throat conjures up a depressing and infuriating thought as Washington heads into its 20th straight year without any team among its four major pro sports so much as reaching a conference final.  Year after year, the Caps and Nats are like Sisyphus, pushing that boulder up the hill over the course of a regular season, only to find that at the top – where championships are won – that boulder comes crashing back down the hill.  We are told that all those efforts do not matter, that those teams were different, that this time will be different.  Caps fans, you know the drill… 

“Which history? I don’t know anything about the past. I’m looking forward here to the next game on Sunday.” – Nicklas Backstrom

“I don’t think this team has any playoff history. This is our first playoffs together, so, in my opinion, no. Sorry to be cheeky, but that’s the truth I think.” – Karl Alzner

“It doesn’t really matter. … Everybody talks about all the past, the past, the past. The only pressure that we’ll have is on ourselves. We’ve got to go into Philadelphia and we’ve got to play really well and get a win there. If we don’t accomplish that, then it will go to Game Seven. I thought tonight we played excellent.” – Head Coach Barry Trotz

Nats fans got a taste of that attitude in time for this series… 

“I've kind of said this all year: I don't believe [the team history of disappointment matters] in that because it's a different team every year.  You play different teams, different players, trades, free agents, whatever it may be. We didn't play the Cubs last year.  So who knows what would have happened if we did or didn't. Doesn't really matter. For me, I don't believe in it. Whoever plays better, whoever executes more, you're going to move on.” – Trea Turner

“Once you get out there, that stuff doesn't really matter, what we did last year; doesn't help or hurt us once we're in between the lines.” – Michael A. Taylor

This is nonsense.  With each passing year and disappointment, the Caps are that same team.  The Nats are that same team.  The new players merely add a chapter to the sad tale.  And perhaps not until someone finds his “Inner Riggo” will the last line of that book finally be written and a new one – ‘Winning” – be opened.