The Washington Capitals are currently a playoff team in the NHL. Nothing about this team’s underlying statistics would tell you that they’re a playoff team but…they are right now and that’s really all that matters.
A winning road trip after some tough travel. Let’s go Caps.
- I didn’t love certain stretches of this game for the Capitals including the first eight minutes or so of the first period and a lot of the third but they found a way to win yet again. This time through two power-play goals from the GOAT and some really sharp shooting in dangerous areas from Dylan Strome and Hendrix Lapierre. I think the Flames despite their trade deadline losses are a better team than their record indicates at least from a roster perspective so you’ll always take a win like this at the end of a long road trip. The boys are heading home with their spirits high and that’s a non-calculable positive for them. After being outscored 10-2 in the first two games, they outscored their opposition 9-4 over their last three.
- There are a lot of single-game MVPs on the team lately but in the month of March overall, we have to talk about Charlie Lindgren. The Capitals’ starting netminder has a 6-2 record in eight March starts with a 1.76 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. Per MoneyPuck, he stopped 1.71 goals above expected in this win and now is at 14 total on the season which is good for ninth-best among all starting goalies in the league.
- Alex Ovechkin put two goals away to give him 21 total on the season. Ovi’s 170th career multi-goal outing made him the first player in NHL history to notch 19 consecutive 20-goal seasons, beginning from the start of a player’s career.
Wolf marks the fifth new goaltender Ovechkin has scored on this season, joining Joseph Woll (10/24/23 vs. TOR), Yaroslav Askarov (12/30/23 vs. NSH), Alex Nedeljkovic (1/2/24 at PIT) and Samuel Ersson (3/1/24 vs. PHI).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 19, 2024
- Per Capitals PR, Hendrix Lapierre’s eight points since he was recalled before a February 26 game against the Ottawa Senators rank third among NHL rookies, trailing just Connor Bedard (13) and Logan Stankoven (9). The Capitals were at their best at five-on-five in this game with Lappy on the ice, posting positive differentials in shot attempts (+9) and scoring chances (+4)
- I’m still a hardcore skeptic of this team’s actual viability moving forward this year but I’m definitely going to enjoy the ride. They are currently sat in the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and are just one point away with a game in hand from jumping over the Philadelphia Flyers for third in the Metro.
- The next six games are going to be a big test. Feels like we’re saying that a lot this season but it doesn’t make it untrue. They have Toronto, Carolina, Winnipeg, Detroit, Toronto again, and Boston all in a row. Not one easy game there.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
