Survive and move on to the next one: numbers for the morning after

The Washington Capitals held on long enough to send the Vegas Golden Knights packing on Friday night. The 3-2 win was Washington’s third in a row and keeps them in the hunt for the final playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.

• This game was really weird five-on-five. I don’t think the Capitals were as bad as the numbers suggest, particularly being down 13-5 in high-danger chances at the end of regulation, but they weren’t good either. For example, in the second period, Natural Stat Trick had the Golden Knights up 6-1 in high-danger chances, which I thought was the exact opposite of what my eyes saw. Still, that doesn’t excuse the absolute turtle shell the Caps shrank into for the whole third period. Needed the two points, though.
• Let’s just get this out of the way early. This season’s power play has been an immense failure, and the club seems to have no appetite for anything drastic to change that. At this point, I would be legitimately okay with them just rolling their five-on-five lines and defense pairings while up a man. If they do that, they’ll at least give up fewer shorthanded chances to their opponents. They went 0-for-5 in this one, including a decently long 5-on-3 chance. They are tied for 31st in overall power-play effectiveness (15.8 percent) with the Utah Mammoth. Only the Colorado Avalanche (15.1 percent) are below them.
• Logan Thompson was the difference again and is the best Canadian goaltender in the world. He made 24 stops on 26 shots faced and, per MoneyPuck, saved 2.12 more goals than expected. Akira Schmid, another Olympian, saved 0.25 more goals than expected at the other end.

• Great three-point night (2g, 1a) from Pierre-Luc Dubois to give him five points (3g, 2a) in three games since returning from injury. He scored his two goals within a 3:23 span to start the second period, which, per the NHL, was the fourth-fastest two goals from one Capitals skater to start a period in the past 15 years.
• I wrote this same bullet point in the recap, but here are some numbers to back it up. The Capitals desperately need to find a better winger solution for their line with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome. With Ovechkin on the ice five-on-five in this one, the Capitals posted severely negative differentials in shot attempts (-18), shots on goal (-6), scoring chances (-8), and high-danger chances (-5). They didn’t record a single high-danger chance of their own. That is with zero defensive-zone shift starts. A trade or recall is needed. Will they do that? I’m becoming less and less sure, and that’s not really on the front office. The trade market is really weird in this growing cap environment.
• Another great night from Rasmus Sandin. The slick Swede skated 21:30 of ice time and recorded two assists, two shots, two hits, and two shot blocks. The Capitals scored three goals with him on the ice and allowed not a one.