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Back-to-back sweep: numbers for the morning after

By Chris Cerullo

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March 1, 2021 7:01 am

The Washington Capitals went into Newark, New Jersey for a back-to-back with the Devils and came away with all four points. A successful Sunday saw the return of Ilya Samsonov and a 3-2 Caps win.

The Caps outshot the Devils 23 to 21 but were out-attempted at five-on-five 41 to 34.

  • That heat map is pretty gosh darn ideal. The Caps limited the Devils to only two five-on-five high danger chances in the entire game and that’s even with the third period that saw New Jersey out-attempt the Caps 12 to 3 at even strength. The Caps have seemingly turned a corner with their play as they are not only defending the front of their net, but they are also punishing teams at the other end of the rink. In February the Caps are second only to the Islanders when it comes to their score and venue adjusted, high danger chance for percentage which sits at 57.7-percent.
  • The Caps continue their ownage of the Devils as they are now 8-2 in their last ten against New Jersey and that includes going 4-1 while inside the Prudential Center.
  • Nicklas Backstrom is still looking for assist number 700 but he grabbed his tenth goal of the season in only his 21st game played. That is the quickest Backy has ever got to 10 goals in his entire career.

  • Ilya Samsonov sure looked shaky to start his return to an NHL net but I thought he settled down and looked much, much sharper in the third period. The Caps sure needed him to as they spent a whole lot of time in their own zone in the final frame. Sammy made 19 stops in his second win of the season.
  • Here is a list of players that Garnet Hathaway played more than at five-on-five in this game. Zdeno Chara, Nick Jensen, Nic Dowd, Carl Hagelin, Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, Tom Wilson, Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik, and Daniel Sprong. Peter Laviolette relies on that fourth line far too much. The Caps are winning games though so maybe I am wrong to question it. Just something to keep in mind.
  • I really, really like the Justin Schultz and Dmitry Orlov pairing. They really get this team into motion starting from the backend and they seem to have fun playing with one another. With Schultz on the ice at five-on-five in this game, the Caps saw 56.5-percent of the shot attempts, 71.4-percent of the scoring chances, and 83.3-percent of the high danger chances (plus-four differential).

Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.

RMNB Coverage of Caps at Devils

Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington

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