During Wednesday night’s victory over the Boston Bruins, Matt Niskanen was hurt on a terrible, no good, very bad hit by Patrice Bergeron. Niskaken did not return to the game and the Caps announced today that he won’t travel with the team to Buffalo.
According to John Walton, it will be the first game Niskanen will miss as a member of the Washington Capitals.
By Patrick Holden 4 years ago
In the first period of Wednesday night’s victory over the Bruins, it felt like the Caps were back. The pace was good, the passes were crisp, and Evgeny Kuznetsov was doing Evgeny Kuznetsov things. As a result, the Caps were up 2-0 after the first and then took a 3-0 lead in the second period.
And then, it happened. “It” depends on your perspective. “It” is probably a combination of a lot of things, including the Bruins proving why they are a top possession team and the Caps getting complacent. Before going HAM at the Caps for the blown lead, a perspective worth considering:
Random quote from Matt Niskanen: "I've never seen a 60-minute game. … That doesn't exist unless the other team's not on the ice." #Caps
— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) December 30, 2014
This isn’t to excuse the Caps. After all, they went what seemed like seven years without a shot and, as a result, almost lost the game. Let’s take a look at the numbers
By Patrick Holden 4 years ago
It’s Wednesday and the Boston Bruins are coming to town. You may remember the Bruins from such classics as game seven of the 2012 Eastern Conference quarterfinals. The Bruins are led into town by goal-scoring wizard David Pastrnak, who has 15 goals through 21 games this season.
For the Caps, despite a win on Monday against Buffalo, they are still looking to work out a lot of kinks in their game. There’s no time like the present for the Caps to get their game unkinked. Maybe tonight is the night that Evgeny Kuznetsov starts dazzling again, Alex Ovechkin stops taking 73 penalties per game, or someone from the blue line decides to score a goal.
Good news: TJ Oshie is back!
Heads up: 8:00 pm game tonight and NBCSN has your coverage.
| Team | Record | SA% | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Boston Bruins | 15-10-1 | 54.5% | 99.1 | 13.8% | 86.4% |
| Washington Capitals | 14-7-3 | 53.5% | 101.7 | 15.2% | 83.1% |
By Patrick Holden 4 years ago
The Caps are 24 games into the season and are barely hanging onto a playoff spot. Guys like Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky, and Justin Williams haven’t been producing as expected. There’s been a lack of offense from the blue line, as the offensively talented trio of John Carlson, Matt Niskanen, and Dmitry Orlov have combined for one goal. The special teams, generally a strong suit among recent Caps teams, rank in the middle of the pack.
Meanwhile, Barry Trotz has stayed cool, calm, and collected through it all. He’s been given plenty of reasons to take away ice time from guys like Kuznetsov or Burakovsky, or scratch Orlov after his mistakes in the third period against the Islanders. But, instead of running out of patience with certain players, Trotz has gone to bat for his guys. He kept a level-headed approach in reacting to Orlov’s miscues against the Isles and expressed confidence that Williams will soon break out of his slump.
In other words, much like Buck Showalter, Trotz likes his guys. And, while some may mistaken his calm for complacency, I think Trotz deserves credit for the approach he’s taken through the bumps of the first 24 games.
There are reasons to be concerned about this Caps team. But there’s also reason to think things will get better. While the former approach may be easier right now, that’s not where the snapshot is headed today. Let’s take a look at the numbers, with an attempt to focus more on what’s gone right and why things might get better.
By Patrick Holden 4 years ago
Jakub Vrana is set to make his NHL debut tonight when the Isles come to town and presumably lose to the Caps. The Caps selected Vrana in the first round, 13th overall, of the 2014 entry draft. He’s posted 16 points in 18 games with Hershey this season and is the Caps top offensive prospect. Maybe he’ll do great! Maybe he won’t! But this definitely adds some extra intrigue to tonight’s matchup.
Speaking of things that are defininite, Tom Wilson will definitely do something tonight that will cause the Isles, as well as a portion of their fans on Twitter, to lose their minds.
The action starts at 7:00 pm on CSN.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| New York Islanders | 8-10-4 | 45.6% | 100.0 | 12.1% | 80.8% |
| Washington Capitals | 13-6-2 | 53.4% | 102.5 | 15.6% | 82.6% |
By Patrick Holden 4 years ago
Peter introduced the weekly snapshot during the 2013 season. The snapshot is a weekly look at Caps players in a few key statistical areas. Looking at these numbers can help us not only analyze what has happened but also allow us to take a more educated guess as to what is going to happen in the future.
People have told me they feel intimidated by advanced stats or think they aren’t good at math, and so they’ve never tried to understand them. Here’s the good news: the stats are really easy to understand and use elementary school-level math.
By Patrick Holden 4 years ago
All power plays go through slumps over an 82-game season. When a slump happens at the start of the season, it’s a lot more noticeable because they’re the only numbers we see. This is the case with the Caps power play, who, with two goals on 19 opportunities, is currently 28th in the league.
We know this slump won’t last. There’s too much talent on this team for the slump to last. But just because the numbers are likely to go up and the sample size is small doesn’t mean there aren’t other things going on.
By Patrick Holden 4 years ago
We are six games into the season and the Caps are 3-2-1. But oh boy, after losing 4-1 Wednesday night to Edmonton you’d think this team was coming down the home stretch and in danger of missing the playoffs. Braden Holtby stated that the team was facing adversity while Matt Niskanen said the team was looking average. It’s not a bad thing that the team is recognizing parts of their game could get better.
But can all of us non-Caps players pump the brakes on being concerned about this team just yet? For one thing, it’s only six freaking games into the season, so regardless of how the Caps have played, it’s too early to make sweeping judgments about this team. And here’s the thing, they’ve actually played decently in the six games.
So, let’s all take a deep breath and talk about why, even when not accounting for sample size, there is no reason to be down on the Caps.
By Patrick Holden 4 years ago
The Caps visit Edmonton tonight, where the Oilers are off to a scorching hot start. The Oilers have been in rebuild mode since around the time Burr and Hamilton dueled in Weehawken, New Jersey. Could this be the year that they start to show signs of rejoining the ranks of respectable NHL franchises? With a talent like Connor McDavid, it’s certainly possible. I still think the Oilers are at least one big piece away from becoming a competitive club. Some say, oh I don’t know, like Taylor Hall. If they could acquire a talent like Hall, and put him with the maturing nucleus led by McDavid, this team might really have something cooking.
Puck drop is at 9:30 pm on CSN.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Edmonton Oilers | 5-1-0 | 48.1% | 101.8 | 16.7% | 87.0% |
| Washington Capitals | 3-1-1 | 55.9% | 104.3 | 12.5% | 71.4% |
By Patrick Holden 4 years ago
Opinions vary widely on Tom Wilson. Many fans around the league think he’s a dirty player while Caps fans forever debate whether he’s a bust or not. To all of this I have the following to say: who cares?
Today, our purpose here is not to make sweeping judgements for or against the Caps fourth line forward. We are also not going to compare Wilson to other first round picks and assess the judgement of selecting him in the first round.
Today, we are here to recognize Tom Wilson for being one of the Caps most trusted and effective penalty killers.
By Patrick Holden 4 years ago
