Caps make it eight in a row against Bruins: numbers for the morning after

February 2, 2017 9:31 am

Wednesday night the Washington Capitals beat the Bruins 5-3, making it their eighth victory in a row against Boston. The win streak stretches back to October 11, 2014.

The milestones just keep on coming for Alex Ovechkin, who scored his 550th career goal and moved into 27th in all-time goal scoring. The game also featured some pretty scoring plays by Nicklas Backstrom, one of which led to an all-too-easy TJ Oshie breakaway goal for his 19th of the year.

While the final shot count of 33-22 Bruins doesn’t look great for the Caps, some of that is the result of a 10-shot Boston binge (one of which went in) in the last few minutes. The possession battle at five-on-five was fairly even, ending up at 50 Bruins shot attempts to 41 by the Caps.

Key Stats

During the Caps’ eight-game win streak against Boston the C’s have outscored the B’s 27-10. This is despite being outshot by a slight margin of 235 to 224.
With Justin Williams injured, Jay Beagle found himself on the second line with Marcus Johansson and Evgeny Kuznetsov. Possession-wise, they did not have a good night. In around 12 five-on-five minutes together they were a minus-five in shot attempts. Beagle was even worse overall, coming in at a minus-nine (24 percent) on the night.
John Carlson had 22:40 of total ice time in his second game back from injury, his most since December 29. He spent most of his time paired with Karl Alzner, and possession-wise the two held their own against the Bruins’ absurdly dominant top line of Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron. Against Bergeron, Carlson was plus-three in shot attempts and saw one goal for and none against (at five-on-five).

Unsung Hero of the Game

Brett Connolly had a strong night. Besides scoring a goal, he saw nine five-on-five shot attempts in favor of the Caps and seven against. He spent most of his time with Andre Burakovsky and Lars Eller, and the third line continues to be the Caps’ strongest in terms of possession. Honorable mention goes to Chandler Stephenson and the fourth line, which also had a solid night.

Trend to Watch

Ovechkin has continued to be productive on the scoreboard, but if it seems like he’s been opting to pass a bit more and shoot a bit less… it’s because he has been. Over the last ten games, Ovi has taken 15.9 shot attempts per 60 minutes, his lowest rate of the season to-date. His score-adjusted possession has also dipped to around 45 percent, down from his ten-game maximum of 54 percent. It’s not a slump per se, but Ovi is not tilting the ice in favor of the Caps as much as he normally does.