Alex Ovechkin scored his Russian NHL record 484th career goal again tonight. It was disallowed after a coach’s challenge. Justin Williams was ruled offside upon review.
Ovi talked about it after the game with reporters.
Alex Ovechkin is the greatest Russian goal-scorer of all-time. Ovi scored number 484 on Thursday night to pass Sergei Fedorov and blah lblhqeljksadfjklfdasklasfdkjlf not this shit again.
The Flyers challenged and Justin Williams was offsides.
Photo: Geoff Burke
The NHL has a conundrum on their hands. This season, NHL coaches were given the right to challenge a referee’s call on the ice to try and eliminate controversial goals. The intent was to fortify the integrity of the game. Instead the opposite is happening.
The Washington Capitals have seen two of their goals this season overturned through unbelievably strict enforcement of the goalie interference rule.
Last week in Calgary, TJ Oshie scored a goal in his third consecutive game. After setting up shop in front of the net, Oshie one-timed a pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov to give the Caps a 4-1 lead. Calgary pulled (and later released) Karri Rämö.
Oh his way back to the bench, Oshie celebrated by kissing the blade of his stick. The smooch was a semi-show-boat-y celebration for the American hero, but he had good reason.
By Nathan Burchfiel 5 years ago
Photo: Amanda Bowen
The Caps lost a few really important penalty killers this offseason, meaning Barry Trotz will have to entrust different players with those minutes in 2015-16. Last season, the Caps allowed 79.1 shot attempts per 60 when shorthanded, fifth worst in the league. The Caps three best shot-suppressing forwards when shorthanded were Joel Ward, Troy Brouwer, and Eric Fehr, but all three of these players have moved on to new teams.
This could mean an increase in PK minutes for returning players such as Jay Beagle, Brooks Laich, and Jason Chimera, but Trotz also has newcomers he can plug into the PK vacancies. And, so far, he has. TJ Oshie and Justin Williams have both spent time on the PK during the preseason.
Let’s take a look at what Oshie and Williams have done in the past as penalty killers to see if they’d be viable options for Trotz this season.
By Patrick Holden 5 years ago
Travis Yost recently discussed the utility of individual point percentage (IPP) in forecasting player performance. The article is a great introduction to IPP, so I recommend reading the entire thing if you’re not familiar with the concept.
Here’s a excerpt:
Another metric I like to look at is ‘Individual Point Percentage’ (“IPP“), which shows how frequently a player was awarded a point in an event his team (a) scored; and (b) the player was on the ice. Much like our on-ice save percentage example for defencemen, IPP regresses substantially towards league averages. On average, forwards usually receive a point on about 68 per cent of goals scored when they are on the ice. That number sits at about 30 per cent for defencemen.
Context is key: we simply can’t treat all players as equals in a hockey vacuum. Sidney Crosby(84.8 per cent) and Erik Karlsson (49.4 per cent) lead career IPP and it’s not a fluke – they’re constantly involved in the run of play, and as such, pick up extra points along the way. If we want to identify outliers, we must first observe strong deviations from the league norms, and then observe strong deviations from a player’s career norms.
Let’s apply this to the 2015-16 Capitals.
By Patrick Holden 5 years ago
Photo: @WashCaps
Over the last few weeks, most of the Caps roster has filed back into Kettler Capitals Iceplex for informal skates. TJ Oshie arrived on Wednesday, leaving captain Alex Ovechkin as the last remaining player out of town. Ovechkin is missing a lot, as these pre-preseason skates are very serious affairs.
Let’s summarize.
Photo: Bruce Bennett
On July 1st, the Caps signed Justin Williams, inking the top-six forward to a 2-year, $6.5 million deal. Peter included Williams’ HERO chart in an earlier post, but here it is again in case you need a refresher.
Over the past three seasons, Williams has clearly been a top-six forward. While he’s soon to be 34, so concerns about him slowing down are valid, it’s reasonable to assume Williams will at least be a serviceable top-six forward for the next two seasons. This is a boost to a Caps forward corps that needed an upgrade.
By Patrick Holden 6 years ago
Former Capitals head coach Adam Oates surfaced on Monday morning on St. Louis sports talk radio to provide expert insight into what the Caps’ offseason moves mean for the team.
By Nathan Burchfiel 6 years ago
Photo: LA Kings
Wednesday night, the Caps made a big move signing Justin Williams to an affordable two-year deal. Williams has the reputation of a leader who thrives in big moments. He’s also a darn good hockey player who really does make players around him better.
While Joel Ward had been clutch for the Caps over the last three years, new Caps right wing Justin Williams is even clutchier. They call him Mr. Game Seven after all.
By Ian Oland 6 years ago
