Washington Capitals: Three Keys to a Better Game 4

Yes we know how badly the Washington Capitals played in Game 3 in both the general game sense and the analytical side but I’m here for a solution for Game 4.

Everything went wrong for the Washington Capitals in Game 3. The Capitals were shutout 5-0, only registered one shot in the entire second period and were just flat out dominated. In order to avoid a repeat performance in Game 4, the Capitals need to do the following three things on Thursday night: score early, control and shoot the puck, and regain the power play mojo.

Score Early

The Washington Capitals need score first, if possible, score early and get off to as fast of a start as they can if they want to have a better showing in Game 4. In Game 3, the Capitals did not get off to the start they wanted. In the first two games of the series, the Capitals were the first team to score. They scored first each occasion in the first 20 minutes and have taken a three-goal lead in Game 1 and a two-goal lead in Game 2 into the first intermission. The Capitals ranked fourth in the NHL with 87 goals in the first period.

In last season’s run to the Stanley Cup, the Capitals posted a 13-4 record when scoring first. Dating back to last spring, specifically Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Capitals came into Game 3 scoring the game’s first goal in each of their last five playoff games games. The Capitals scored first in five of their six first round games last year against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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Control and Shoot the Puck

In Game 3, the Capitals allowed a whooping 45 shots while only putting up 18. That’s just a small sample size of how bad that game was. While they had 10 shots in the opening period, the Capitals registered a combined eight shots in the final 40 minutes. The second period was the worst of all, with just one shots. That is the fewest shots in a period in a road playoff game in Capitals franchise history as well as the fewest shots the Hurricanes had allowed in a period in both Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers playoff history.

The advanced numbers, as we noted in more detail in Andrew’s piece, show the Capitals having a disadvantage in Corsi as well. For those unfamiliar with the term, Corsi is a stat used to measure the shot attempt differential at even strength. The Hurricanes had the edge in Corsi 51-28 a split of 64.5-35.44 percent.

The Capitals were also outhit 52-34 and had 14 giveaways. They need to do a better job with puck possession and the physical aspect. Andrew also noted the Capitals getting killed by one of the best teams in High-Danger scoring chances, which was the case in Game 3 14-4. That simply cannot happen if the Capitals want to regain control of the series.

Regain the Power Play Mojo

The Capitals scored two power play goals in Game 1 but hadn’t found the scoresheet on the man-advantage since. In fact those two power play goals came on their first two power play attempts of the spring. Since then, the Capitals have gone 0-for-10. The Capitals went 0-for-4 on the power play in both Games 2 and 3.

Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin were the ones with the power play goals. The Capitals need others such as Evgeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie and John Carlson to step up.

The Capitals power play during the regular season had a success-rate of 20.8 percent, good for 12th in the league. During last year’s Stanley Cup run, the Capitals were ranked second in the NHL with a 29.3 power play percentage in the playoffs. They need to regain that form if they want to go back to Capital One Arena with a 3-1 lead.

A Sneak Peek of the Lineup

The Capitals help a practice at PNC Arena on Wednesday afternoon and unsurprisingly, there’s been changes to the lineup both on the forwards and defense. We’ll have another article tomorrow about this new lineup but here’s a general outlook.

T.J. Oshie moves up to the top line while Tom Wilson drops to the second. Andre Burakovsky and Carl Hagelin switch places in the bottom-six, the former moving up to the third line and the latter dropping to the fourth. Also on the fourth line is Travis Boyd on the right wing with Chandler Stephenson the odd man out.

There are no changes to the first two defensive pairs but Jonas Siegenthaler will make his playoff debut as he’s paired alongside Brooks Orpik in place of Christian Djoos. We’ll see Thursday night if the Capitals follow the keys stated above and if the new lineup changes work out.