Last night the Capitals kept on rolling by beating the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 for their second win in a row (and sixth in their last ten.) Goaltender Philipp Grubauer played a standout game and ticked off the “W” in front of his parents and girlfriend. And the depth chipped in some welcome scoring, with Daniel Winnik and Brett Connolly both finding the back of the net.
Not long ago we discussed some worrying trends after a loss to the Blue Jackets, and while this wasn’t a dominant game, the Caps have continued to climb out of their mini-rut. They have been above 50 percent possession in seven of their last nine games, and have had the better of scoring chances in five of those.
The Caps won the possession battle again, coming in 43-40 at even strength. They were outshot 66-64 overall, however, as the Sabres had a few deadly looking power plays that failed to convert.
- John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov played the bulk of the even-strength minutes with 18 apiece. However, Carlson and Matt Niskanen led the team in ice time by taking on special teams duty for 23 total minutes each. They fared quite well, coming in at above 60-percent possession.
- On the season to date, the Caps have had an egalitarian top-four at even strength. Niskanen, Orlov, Carlson and Karl Alzner are separated by only 10 minutes of five-on-five ice time all season (in that order). Defensive zone starts and quality of competition are also not significantly different.
- Andre Burakovsky was a 34.7 percent possession player last night, his worst performance of the season in that statistic. In four of his last five games he has been below 50 percent, and he only has two goals on the season (both from game one). Burakovsky has mostly escaped the spotlight so far, and it’s fair to say that he is struggling.
- The Capitals allowed nine shots from the middle of the slot, while only taking three themselves. Grubauer’s .970 save percentage was a big part of why the Caps were able to win this game. Grubauer is currently 17th in five-on-five save percentage out of goalies playing 200 minutes or more. First on that list? Buffalo’s Anders Nilsson, who looked sharp last night indeed.
- The Caps won the special teams battle, ending the night perfect on the penalty kill and scoring a power play goal of their own. But their special teams are still mired in mediocrity, with the 17th best powerplay at 16.7 percent and the 12th best penalty kill at 82.8 percent.
- The Caps’ power play continues to be a bit of a mystery, as it is generating five-on-four shot attempts at the second-highest rate in the league. But the Caps are doing so from the 14th-furthest average distance, of all teams. The Caps may be opting to fire from the point too often, or simply not generating the grade-A chances they need.
The Caps have little time to rest, and will need to dig deep to deal with a young and fast Toronto Maple Leafs team at 7pm tonight.
Stats courtesy of NaturalStatTrick.com, Corsica.Hockey, and Hockeystats.ca. Headline Photo: Patrick McDermott/NHLI.
