Capitals survive Islanders onslaught: numbers for the morning after

November 3, 2017 10:51 am

The Caps were back in DC for some much needed home-cookin’ and on the menu was a date their Metropolitan Division rival, the New York Islanders. The home team came out victorious 4 to 3, but not without taking an absolute shelling shots wise.

The Islanders out-attempted the Caps 58 to 38 at five-on-five and overall outshot them 38 to 19. Thank you, Braden.

The Capitals continue to get shelled with shot attempts night in and night out and this game did not end that trend. In fact, it was a direct showcase of the team’s poor possession. Through 13 games, this team now has a five-on-five, score and venue adjusted shot attempt percentage of 47.65 percent. That puts the Capitals around teams like the Sabres, Coyotes, and Avalanche, some of the worst teams in the league. This number is also just a tad shy of the 47.46 percent mark that Adam Oates’ 2013-14 Caps put up over 82 games. This is a smaller sample size this year obviously, but it’s still horrible hockey.
Taylor Chorney scored a goal. He is only the second defenseman on the team to do that this year – the other being Christian Djoos who has scored twice this season. Strangely enough, through 13 games last season, only Karl Alzner had scored from the blue line. So… I guess this is an improvement?
Brooks Orpik is completely drowning with his new workload that includes bigger minutes and more responsibility. Color me shocked. The veteran played a team high 17:45 at five-on-five and also had a team-low shot-attempt differential at minus-15. I’m not sure what the solution will be here, considering who is currently in charge of coaching the team.
The line of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Devante Smith-Pelly is not working. It’s actually downright horrendous. The trio all hovered at around a 30 percent shot attempt percentage five-on-five during Thursday’s contest, something they have now accomplished multiple times. DSP being on this line is almost as bad as Joey Crabb playing with Ovechkin under Oates. I would rather have present day Craig Laughlin slide in next to the two Russians.
Thank Braden Holtby for these two points, because this man was under siege for relentless stretches of the game. He ended up with 35 saves total. If the current play continues to trend like this, the Caps are going to need more superhuman efforts between the pipes to have a winning record.
After a sea of rather negative bullets, here’s a positive one. If you want to find a hero after Holtby, you’d turn to Lars Eller. The only Capital to keep his head above water shot-attempt differential wise (+1) also scored two goals and drew three penalties. I think he needs more minutes, what say you?
The Houston Astros World Series win was their first in their franchise’s 55 years of existence. The Caps are “only” 12 years away from being 55 years out from their first season. Lets all pray we do not have to wait that long for the team’s first Stanley Cup.