Hello All,
The Washington Capitals were finally back in action after being forced to postpone three games because of COVID related protocol issues from the Caps-Flyers game last Sunday. Entering today’s game, the Capitals were riding a three-game losing streak since starting the season on a nine-game point streak. The Caps did not look terrible today, but they did not look great either. Let’s call it what it is, they are in the midst of a slump.
Credit to the Pittsburgh Penguins for taking advantage of the opportunities they had throughout the game. The Pens made high IQ passes and shots all game. In addition, they won countless timely faceoffs, two of which directly resulted in goals in the following sequence of events. The Penguins are one of the most skilled teams in the league and they will make you pay when you are not on your “A-game.… Today, they made the Capitals pay dearly. Here are the stats for the game brought to you by NaturalStatTrick.com:
Shots on Goal:
WSH – 31 (8 in the third period)
PIT – 38 (17 in the third period)
Faceoff %:
WSH – 38%
PIT – 62%
Power Play:
WSH – 1/4
PIT – 1/2
Hits:
WSH – 30
PIT – 26
Blocks:
WSH – 8
PIT – 17
Chances For:
WSH – 56
PIT – 53
Scoring Chances For:
WSH – 26
PIT – 25
High Danger Chances For:
WSH – 13
PIT – 10
Overall, it was a pretty even game relatively speaking if you look at the stat sheet.. It was certainly closer than what the 6-3 score indicates at first glance.
Here are my three takeaways from the game: 1. Vitek Vanecek Continue to Struggle – It was only 12 days ago Vitek Vanecek was named the NHL’s rookie of the month for January. He had a pretty incredible January, but the award was not based solely off his statistics. Among rookie goaltenders, Vanecek ranked 2nd with a .918 SV% and 4th with a 2.78 GAA in the month of January. Vanecek won rookie of the month because he put up great numbers and came up clutch when the Capitals were shorthanded with goaltenders. The end result was a franchise record nine-game point streak for the team to start the season. It was and still is an incredible story. The point I am trying to make is that even when Vanecek was playing well and winning rookie of the month, he was by no means playing lights-out. If you compare his SV% and GAA against the rest of the league for January, he actually ranks 21st for SV% and 28th in GAA. Now with the Capitals in the midst of a slump, Vanecek is playing some of his worst hockey of the season.
For the month of February, Vanecek ranks 37th among 40 eligible goaltenders who have played a minimum of two games with a .866 SV%. He also ranks 37th with a 4.22 GAA. The Capitals will not make the playoffs if they continue to get this sort of goaltending. I won’t put all of the Capitals struggles on Vanecek. He did have some positive moments today. In the first period, the Penguins had three or four grade-A opportunities on their first power play and Vanecek stepped up HUGE with multiple point-blank saves. In addition, I thought Vanecek finished the game strong after giving up that four goals on 18 shots. He made some key saves in the third period to keep the Capitals in it. Big picture. The Capitals need some consistency from Vanecek if they want to win a game. 2. Penguins Top-Line Carries the Offense – The Penguins top line carried a bulk of the load as far as their offense goes today. The Penguins top line had seven points total in the six goals they scored. Is it just me or is this line always “on… against the Capitals? Jake Guentzel for example has 10 points (4G-6A) against the Capitals in 11 games. Lastly, I also question Laviolette pulling the goalie again after just giving up an empty-netter to Zach Aston-Reese. The game was over, Laviolette. Yes, it’s possible to score two goals in 50 seconds (the Capitals did it last year agains the Sharks) but all Capitals life left the building when the Penguins made it 5-3. The last thing you want to do is give the opposing team free points and confidence when you play them again in two days. C’mon, man!
3. Faceoffs – The Penguins owned the Capitals in the faceoff dot today. The Capitals won 23 faceoffs while the Penguins won 37. It was not pretty. The Penguins had two timely goals that were direct result of winning a faceoff and just putting the puck down in front of the net. Here are the two goals I am referring to: Goal to make it 1-2 in the first period:
Go to the net and good things will happen.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 14, 2021
Here's a look at some good things â¬‡ï¸ pic.twitter.com/Cjg9z0Rtok
A cut above the Rust.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 14, 2021
Rust has points in a team-best ten of 13 games this season (5G-7A). pic.twitter.com/1aVURYyfWo
Other observations - I thought when the pressure was on the Capitals in the third period to get a goal, they were outplayed. The shots in the third period were 17-8 in favor of Pittsburgh. The Aston Reese-Blueger-Tanev line had some solid shifts in the third period. Other than the Sheary-Eller-Panik line for the Capitals, they could not get much going if we are being honest. To sum it all up, the Capitals played a competitive game today but some poor goaltending and untimely bounces ultimately doomed them. As it currently stands, I do not believe the Capitals will make the playoffs if the goaltending continues the way it has been trending. Don’t hold your breath for Ilya Samsonov. He was recently assigned to the Hersey Bears for some conditioning as he works his way back from COVID recovery. Last week Samsonov said he has trouble walking and breathing when he was battling COVID. In his first start for Hersey, Samsonov gave up five goals on 29 shots. Could we see Craig Anderson in net on Tuesday? I think it is time.
The Penguins have also battled their fair share of goaltending issues so I thought I would create a poll:
I will post the results of the poll on my next blog.
Thanks for reading everyone! GO CAPS!!