Record: 1-0-2
Week 26 could have been so much more, record-wise. The Caps carried a lead into the third period
against the New York Islanders and had a two-goal lead on the Isles with less
than 12 minutes left in regulation time on home ice, as close to a lock on a
win as you could imagine, the Caps having a perfect 36-0-0 record when leading
after two periods to that point this season.
The Islanders then scored two goals in less than two minutes to tie the
game, then grabbed the extra standings point in overtime to give the Caps a
disappointing start to the week.
Then the Caps spotted the Pittsburgh Penguins a three-goal
lead 29 minutes into the middle game of the week before clawing their way back
to tie the contest in the third period.
All the work went for naught when Sidney Crosby scored on a breakaway in
overtime for the Caps second straight extra-time loss and third straight defeat
overall, the first time all season the Caps lost three in a row.
Washington salvaged the week with perhaps their best
performance of the 2016 portion of the season, spotting the St. Louis Blues an
early goal, then roaring back behind five unanswered goals and a bucket of
milestones met to salvage what was, from a standings points perspective, a
winning week.
Offense: 3.67/game
(season: 3.06 /game; rank: 2nd)
The Caps had a big week in the offensive end because the
Captain had a big week. Alex Ovechkin
started the week with 45 goals and was trying to fend off the challenge of
Chicago’s Patrick Kane for the league goal-scoring lead. By the time the week ended, Ovechkin had five
of the team’s 11 goals, hit the 50-goal mark for the seventh time in his career
(third-most all time), recorded his 15th career hat trick (most in
the NHL since he came into the league), and passed Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier
for 33rd place on the league’s all-time goal scoring list.
Five other Caps shared in the other six goals, Marcus
Johansson the only other Capital with more than one for the week, both of them
in the loss to Pittsburgh. There were 13
different Caps sharing in the points for the week. Johansson (2-3-5) and John Carlson (1-4-5)
tying Ovechkin for the team lead with five points apiece. Carlson had quietly put together a rather
impressive season in the offensive end of the ice, despite missing 25 games to
injury. His eight goals in 56 games
(0.14 per game) is his second-best goals per game output of his career (0.15
goals per game last season), and his 0.70 points per game is a career
high. His plus-minus of plus-16 might
have been played into a career high had he not missed so many games (plus-21 in
82 games in 2011-2012).
Meanwhile, Johansson finished the week with 46 points, one
off his career high (47 in 2013-2014), and his points-per-game (0.63) is his
highest in a full NHL season (he had 0.65 per game in the abbreviated 2012-2013
season).
Defense: 3.00/game (season: 2.33 /game; rank: 2nd)
“Defense” was a mixed bag for the Caps in Week 26. On a shots-on-goal basis, it was a good week,
the Caps holding three opponents to an average of just 27.3 shots on goal per
game, a bit more impressive for the fact that two of the games went to extra
time. But the circumstances in which
goals were scored largely reflected breakdowns at inopportune times. The Caps yielded far too many odd man rushes
to far to the Penguins in the middle game of the week, ultimately losing the
game on the ultimate odd-man rush, a breakaway when two Caps were caught along
the right wing wall at their own blue line, a bad thing when there are only
three men on the ice. In the Islander
game the visitors got back into the game when a Capital was late getting back
to defend Kyle Okposo, who took a rebound off the end wall and stuffed it in to
start the Islander comeback. It was not
so much a systemic problem on defense as it was poor moments borne of poor
judgement or effort.
The “moment” hypothesis, as opposed to a systemic problem,
is reflected in the shot attempts at 5-on-5.
The Caps had a solid week in that respect, finishing all three games
above 50 percent and going 54.2 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5 for the week. They won six of the nine regulation periods
of the week in that respect and were especially efficient early in games,
posting a 58.3 percent Corsi-for in the first periods of games and a 54.7
percent Corsi-for in the second periods for the week (numbers from war-on-ice.com).
Goaltending: 2.90 /.890 (season: 2.23 / .921 / 3 shutouts)
The weight of the all-time wins record that goalie Braden
Holtby was pursuing seemed to be a heavy burden this week. Holtby got all the minutes in Week 26 and had
his struggles. It would not have been so
bad but for the two goals on six shots faced in two overtime games that for all
intents and purposes denied Holtby the all-time wins record he was
pursuing. Even in the third periods of
games, in which he stopped 30 of 32 shots for the week for a .938 save
percentage, all was not unicorns and accordions. The two goals he allowed were the two goals
the Islanders scored in the third period to tie the game before the Isles won
in overtime. One of those goals was one
of those “why don’t the hockey gods love us” moments when a puck that rebounded
off the end wall eluded Holtby’s stick and ended up on the blade of Kyle Okposo’s
stick to get the Islanders back in the game in the third period.
Not that his first two periods of play were all that
shimmering. He stopped 21 of 23 shots in
the first periods of games (.913 save percentage) and 18 of 21 in the second
periods of games for the week (.857).
But he did save the best for last.
He allowed a goal by St. Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko 75 seconds into the
game, then slammed the door on the Blues, stopping the last 17 shots he faced
to earn the win that tied him with Martin Brodeur for the all-time record in
wins by a goaltender in one season (48).
And here is the remarkable thing about Holtby’s record-tying
season. None of the other goaltenders
with 45 or more wins in a single season recorded fewer than 20 regulation
losses in doing so. Holtby will go into
the season finale on Sunday with just nine losses in regulation this season.
Power Play: 0-for-7 / 0.0 percent (season: 22.2 percent;
rank: 4th)
Woof. If there was a
worse week for the Capitals’ power play, we don’t want to think about it. It was not even the fact that the Caps took
their second “oh-fer” in four weeks (0-for-6 in Week 23). It was the lack of pressure. Washington managed just four shots in 12:25
of power play ice time (Ovechkin (2), Carlson, Kuznetsov). Part of it might have been Nicklas Backstrom
missing the first game of the week against the Islanders (the Caps had no power
play shots on goal in that game), but it was just a week in which the power
play didn’t have enough wattage to light the refrigerator with the door open.
Penalty Killing: 9-for-9 / 100.0 percent (season: 85.0
percent; rank: 4th)
Where the power play failed, the penalty kill sparkled. Not since Week 3 had the Caps faced as many
as nine shorthanded situations in a week and killed them all off. And the Caps were impressively efficient in
killing off all nine power plays. They
permitted only nine shots on goal in 19:25 of shorthanded ice time (0.46 shots
per minute). That included holding the
St. Louis Blues without a shot on goal on their power play in six shorthanded minutes.
Faceoffs: 83-for-166 / 50.0 percent (season: 49.7% / rank: 19th)
The Caps split the week right down the middle for Week 26
overall. They also “split” the week by
games, winning one (against St. Louis), losing one (against Pittsburgh), and
winning 50 percent in the other (against the Islanders). By zone it was equally inconclusive, the Caps
less successful in the offensive end (45.3 percent) than they were in the
defensive end (57.4 percent), while losing the neutral zone total for the week
(48.5 percent).
Among those Caps taking at least ten draws for the week, Jay
Beagle (57.1 percent) and Mike Richards (63.1 percent) were impressive. Richards was the only Capital to win all
three zones for the week (offensive: 6-8; defensive: 6-10; neutral: 9-15). Beagle finished the week with the third best
faceoff winning percentage in the league among players taking at least 500
draws (58.1 percent, trailing only Ryan Kesler (58.5 percent) and Jonathan
Toews (58.6 percent)).
Goals by Period:
It would have been a lot better week if the goal breakdown
by regulation period reflected a different distribution among the games. The Caps had an 11-7 edge in goals scored in
regulation. It is those seven goals
against. Two of them came in the first
period, both of them scored by the Penguins, the first two goals of the game in
a 4-3 overtime loss. There were two
scored by opponents in the third period, both by the Islanders to tie the game after
the Caps took a 3-1 lead, only to lose by a 4-3 score in overtime. Sometimes it’s not the “what,” or even so
much the “how,” but the “when”
In the end…
On one level, you cannot say Week 26 was a good one for the
Caps, not with a 1-0-2 record. But the
team had clinched the Presidents Trophy before the week started, they knew they
would have the top seed in the postseason and home-ice advantage as long as
they were playing. That left the
incentive a number of team and personal milestones, many of which were achieved:
- The 2015-2016 Caps reached the 120-point mark for the second time in seven seasons and are just the ninth team to reach that mark in NHL history. They are one of three teams to have done it at least twice. Montreal has done it four times, while the Detroit Red Wings have done it twice.
- The Caps finished the week with 56 wins, a franchise record and the ninth team in NHL history to reach that mark.
- The Caps became the first team in 39 years to go an entire NHL season without losing consecutive games in regulation, the 1976-1977 Montreal Canadiens being the last team to do it on their way to a 60-8-12 record.
- Braden Holtby won his 48th game of the season, tying Martin Brodeur’s league record, set with the New Jersey Devils in 2006-2007. Holtby is the only player to win 45 or more games in fewer than 70 season appearances (he did it in his 66th appearance) and is the only one to do it with fewer than 20 regulation losses (he has nine).
- Alex Ovechkin recorded his seventh 50-goal season, becoming the first player in NHL history to record two separate three-season streaks of 50 or more goals. In doing so he won the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer for the sixth time, the last four in succession.
- Jason Chimera recorded his 20th goal of the season in the week’s final game, the 5-1 win over the St. Louis Blues. It tied a career-high in goals scored for Chimera, set with the Caps in 2011-2012.
- Nicklas Backstrom had three assists against the Blues, his fourth game with three or more assists this season, tying him with teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson for the league lead. It was his 31st career game with three or more assists, most in the league since he came into the NHL in 2007-2008.
- Backstrom finished the week with 50 assists for the season, giving him six seasons of 50 or more assists since he entered the league in 2007-2008, tied with Ryan Getzlaf, Henrik Sedin, and Joe Thornton for most in the league in that span.
It was quite a week. Bring on the Flyers.
Three Stars:
- First Star: Alex Ovechkin (5-0-5, plus-5, 20 shots on goal, 31 shot attempts, five hits)
- Second Star: John Carlson (1-4-5, plus-6, 4 blocked shots, 3 hits, on ice for one goal against)
- Third Star: T.J. Oshie (1-3-4, plus-3, 8 takeaways, 4 hits, 4 blocked shots)
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