Photo: Keith Allison
The Washington Capitals got embarrassed by the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.
While the Caps are running away with the division lead and are consensus favorites to win the President’s Trophy for most regular-season points, the Stars are the most exciting team in the league. They’re locked in a duel with the Hawks for the Central Division lead and they’re unbelievably fun. Led by the league’s best scoring tandem in Benn and Seguin. the Stars have an aggressive offense, generating oodles of shots and globs of goals. They look a lot like the pre-2011 Capitals, really.
We all recall how those scoar-moar-goals Caps got handled in the postseason, but their dominance in the 82-game regular season was undeniable. In 2009-2010, they earned 121 standings points. Only the 2005-2006 Red Wings ever did better, with 124.
But here comes the 2015-16 Capitals, who are on pace for 128 standings points. They could become the most dominant regular-season team of the post-lockout era, which would be a tremendous feat, but it still wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans if they allow themselves to be dominated by a team like the Stars in the playoffs.
In this week’s snapshot, first of all, hi, it’s me, Peter, because Pat’s at the beach, but also, let’s talk about how the league’s most successful team might change over these final 30 games.
Player | GP | TOI | SA% | rel SA% | GF% | PDO |
Williams | 54 | 695.6 | 54.9 | 4.0 | 58.6 | 101.0 |
Ovechkin | 52 | 802.6 | 54.0 | 3.2 | 64.6 | 103.2 |
Backstrom | 51 | 747.3 | 53.8 | 2.4 | 69.4 | 104.3 |
Galiev | 15 | 121.9 | 53.2 | 2.2 | 50.0 | 100.4 |
Kuznetsov | 54 | 761.3 | 53.1 | 1.6 | 61.1 | 102.4 |
Laich | 53 | 454.0 | 53.1 | 1.4 | 36.0 | 96.2 |
Latta | 37 | 309.3 | 52.7 | 1.9 | 50.0 | 99.6 |
Burakovsky | 51 | 587.3 | 52.1 | -0.2 | 54.9 | 101.6 |
Oshie | 54 | 764.7 | 51.9 | -0.1 | 64.8 | 103.2 |
Johansson | 54 | 596.6 | 49.8 | -2.8 | 55.3 | 101.4 |
Chimera | 50 | 551.6 | 49.8 | -3 | 52.4 | 101.4 |
Richards | 11 | 102.3 | 49.1 | -3.5 | 56.8 | 100.8 |
Wilson | 54 | 611.6 | 47.6 | -5.7 | 57.1 | 102.9 |
Beagle | 36 | 425.5 | 47.5 | -5.4 | 57.7 | 102.6 |
Player | GP | TOI | SA% | rel SA% | GF% | PDO |
Ness | 8 | 102.6 | 57.0 | 3.3 | 75.0 | 107.2 |
Orlov | 54 | 772.8 | 56.0 | 5.6 | 61.0 | 102.5 |
Schmidt | 49 | 831.1 | 52.8 | 2.2 | 58.9 | 101.7 |
Chorney | 45 | 535.7 | 51.9 | -0.1 | 61.2 | 104.5 |
Niskanen | 54 | 1002.5 | 51.3 | -1.2 | 62.0 | 103.0 |
Orpik | 14 | 231.9 | 50.2 | -6.7 | 43.5 | 103.0 |
Alzner | 54 | 951.1 | 49.8 | -3.5 | 61.2 | 103.1 |
Carlson | 42 | 735.3 | 49.3 | -3.0 | 53.9 | 100.4 |
Mystery Player | 5v5 SA% |
Player A | 45.6 |
Player B | 51.0 |
Player C | 52.4 |
All numbers, unless otherwise cited or linked to, are from War on Ice.
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