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Caps down the Rangers in Shattenkirk’s debut: numbers for the morning after

By Nathan Sick

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March 1, 2017 8:13 am

Last night the Capitals defeated the New York Rangers 4-1 at Madison Square Garden. The game marked coach Barry Trotz’s 700th career win. After spending much of the season with a steady roster, this game featured some unfamiliar faces. As you probably heard, the Caps recently acquired defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, and he made his debut. Additionally, the Hershey callups Riley Barber and Jakub Vrana played in lieu of an injured TJ Oshie and Andre Burakovsky.

The Caps started this game looking out of sync but managed to escape the first period actually up 16 to 15 in five-on-five shot attempts. From there they found their footing and finished the game up 58 to 42 in five-on-five shot attempts.

Key Stats

  • The Caps’ new-look top line featuring Tom Wilson was a smashing success. In terms of five-on-five possession, the Caps’ top line was a stellar plus-15. Wilson had a good night, but Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom were the drivers there. Ovechkin, in particular, was on the ice for an ungodly 31 shot attempts in the Caps favor at even strength alone, and only 12 against.
  • The new guy looked pretty darn good. Kevin Shattenkirk had a solid debut, taking six shot attempts (all situations) with four of them on net. He took on first-unit powerplay duties and from the very get-go his passing was crisp, and he immediately found Ovi for the one-timer and then later had a dangerous shot on goal of his own. His pairing with Nate Schmidt also ended the night above water in terms of possession.
  • Dmitry Orlov and Matt Niskanen are monsters. We’ve been beating this drum for a long time, but it continues to be reinforced that this pairing is unstoppable. They were a plus-15 in shot attempts at five-on-five and Orlov set up Marcus Johansson for the first Caps goal of the game. Their scoring chance numbers were off the charts, and although they mostly had offensive zone starts they were deployed against most of the Rangers’ best players.

Unsung Hero of the Game

The youngster Jakub Vrana gets it for this game. With Zach Sanford traded as part of the Shattenkirk deal, it’s key that Vrana steps up for the Caps as a depth forward in case of injuries. Statistically, Vrana was quietly solid, which is exactly what is needed of him (for now). He finished the night plus-four in shot attempts and plus-two in scoring chances. He was also on for one goal for and none against.

Trend to Watch

During this game, the Caps matched up head to head with the Rangers, generally going power versus power. Well, it’s safe to say that the Caps came out more than a little bit on top, according to this chart by Muneeb Alam. The Caps’ top line went head-to-head against Derek Stepan, Rick Nash, and Jesper Fast – and they destroyed them. This isn’t always the case, as the Caps’ top line is actually one of their more middling in terms of possession. Let’s hope they can keep tilting the ice, even if they don’t find the scoreboard at five-on-five.

Full Coverage of Caps at Rangers

Stats courtesy of Corsica.Hockey and NaturalStatTrick.

Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI.

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