Last night the the Capitals blew a multi-goal lead against the Winnipeg Jets, for the second time this week. And for the second consecutive time they managed to pull out the “W,” winning 4-3 in overtime on a record-tying Alex Ovechkin power play one-timer.
Overall the Caps had a solid game at even strength, where they scored all three of their regulation goals. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t allow some dangerous chances. This even strength shot location chart shows the Caps allowing many shot attempts from Braden Holtby’s doorstep.
That said, the Capitals managed to block nine of those five-on-five shot attempts from the slot, and several others missed the net. This was in stark contrast to the other Jets game this week, where they blocked very few of the high-danger Winnipeg shot attempts. Here are some stats breaking down this Thursday night matchup:
- This is the fourth game this season where the Caps have ceded a multi-goal lead. A two-goal lead may be known as “the most dangerous lead in hockey,” but really, it should be a pretty nice cushion, and letting them evaporate would be a bad habit to start.
- Once again, the Jets won the even strength possession battle, out-attemtping the Capitals 47 to 40. The Caps have been a strong 56 percent score adjusted possession team so far this year, but speaking of bad habits, getting outshot at even strength leads nowhere good.
- Dustin Byfuglien outshot Ovechkin 11 to two at five-on-five. Regardless of the underlying stats, a three-point game is a good one, but it bears noting that Ovechkin was a minus-seven in shot attempts at even strength. Byfuglien on the other hand was a plus-nine against Ovi but only a plus-three overall.
- The Capitals demolished young phenom Patrik Laine in shot attempts, besting him 17 to six. It was mostly the Caps’ Andre Burakovsky doing that work, who outshot the Ovi-esque Laine ten to two at five-on-five, and got an assist. Burakovsky also saw 100 percent of his starts in the offensive zone, but still… a strong night for the young Finn.
- John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov were a “high event” pairing. They got the most five-on-five ice time of any defensive pairing at 14 minutes, and they saw a lot of everything. Orlov was on ice for 18 shots for, 14 against; eight scoring chances for, six against; and two goals for, one against. They came out on top in the end, but it was a wild ride for the newly formed pairing.
- Special teams have stabilized, with the Caps having improved to 12th in the league on the penalty kill and 20th on the power play. Call it an “even” night for the powerplay, who scored the game winner in overtime in the most typical way, but allowed a shorthanded goal to Toby Enstrom. The penalty kill is on a nice little run, not having allowed a goal against since they did against Edmonton, four games ago.
After their annual road trip the Caps are back home but won’t get much rest just yet, with a home game against the Panthers on Saturday night.
Stats courtesy of hockeystats.ca, corsica.hockey and naturalstattrick.com
Headline Photo: Patrick McDermott/NHLI
