Caps hang on to beat the Avs: numbers for the morning after

Wednesday night, the Caps kept us all up late and beat the Avs by a score of 5-3. They have now won six in a row just when they needed to most. The game featured the second consecutive comeback push by the opposition, as well as a lucky charm goal by Jay Beagle and an absurd superstar effort by Nathan MacKinnon. With Pittsburgh getting blown out by the Chicago Blackhawks the Caps have re-established a solid cushion in the Metro division.

After playing a lackluster game just the night before and finding themselves on the road against arguably the worst team in the modern era, this game was the definition of a trap. But the Capitals found their legs and applied good pressure by the end of the second period, taking 23 shot attempts at five-on-five to just nine against in the middle frame. Final shot attempts were 50 to 49 in favor of the Avalanche.

Key Stats

• Caps special teams have been dominant lately, especially the PK. The Caps have not allowed a powerplay goal against in their last five games, and have only allowed one in their last seven. With another two PPGs-for last night, they have eight in their last five games, and nine in their last seven. That’s a special team scoring differential of plus-eight during that span.
• The Caps ran out of steam in the third period, for the second game in a row. After topping the Avs 39 shot attempts to 27 at five-on-five through the first two periods, the Caps were out-attempted 23 to 10 in the third. They just barely hung on to keep the Avs from completing the comeback. On the second half of a back-to-back on the road that is somewhat understandable, but it doesn’t change the fact that every standings point is crucially important in the battle for the top seed in the Metro division.
• The third line flipped the script and had the most five-on-five ice time of any line. Lately, the third line has frequently been the fourth when it comes to ice time, falling behind the Jay Beagle line on the deployment chart. Perhaps partially because they didn’t play much Tuesday night, but likely also because they were skating well, the trio of Lars Eller, Andre Burakovsky, and Brett Connolly was the top five-on-five line for the Caps last night. They ended the game with a plus-six shot attempt differential in 10:23 minutes.

Unsung Hero of the Game

Beagle and Burakovsky both had excellent games, possession-wise (and on the scoresheet), but Eller will get the award tonight. Overall, Eller’s on-ice shot attempt differential at five-on-five was exactly even, and his scoring chance differential was plus-four. His line looked solid all night, and he was rewarded with the empty netter to seal the win. After scoring 13 points in 18 games for the Canadiens in the 2013-2014 playoffs, Eller has a reputation for elevating his game come playoffs. With only 23 points on the season so far it would be nice if Eller can re-find his scoring touch so that he can turn that solid possession into concrete results.

Trend to Watch

Yesterday we got some requests in the comments to give Marcus Johansson a shout-out after his four-assist game, and well, here is that well-deserved spotlight. Mojo is always a smooth skating zone-entry master, who it’s fair to say is more important to the Caps than he gets credit for. But lately, he has been on fire, with four assists on Tuesday night and another two points last night. All in all, he has 11 points in his last 10 games (2G, 9A), providing some serious offense to help fuel the Caps on their much-needed six-game (and counting) win streak. At 54 points he has already surpassed his career high. Overall, Mojo’s stats don’t stand out too much on such a dominant Caps team (he is only ninth in five-on-five scoring rate among Caps forwards and sixth in all situations). Where he does stand out is his penalty differential – Mojo has only taken five penalties and he’s drawn 15, giving him a team-leading +10 differential. In fact, he’s one of only four Caps skaters with a positive differential. The Caps’ third-ranked PP will take that and run with it.

Full Coverage of Caps vs Avalanche

Stats courtesy of Corsica.Hockey, NaturalStatTrick, and Hockey Reference.

Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI.