Washington Capitals Stars Of The Week: 10/7-10/13
Here are our Washington Capitals three stars of the week for week two.
Another week, another set of games to analyze. That means more good performances and more praise to be handed out. If you didn’t catch last weeks edition of our stars of the week be sure to do so. We’ll be doing this every week and you can’t miss a single edition. In fact I think it might be a law, or at least they’re working on it becoming a law. Don’t. Break. The law.
It was a pretty up and down week for the Capitals. Both in terms of results and how the games went. The overall team record was 1-1-1. It was a week where the Capitals performed well then fell off, that resulting in a couple of blown third period leads.
A few disappointing results shouldn’t cloud the fact that there were some impressive individual or line performances. We’re going to look at those performances now.
John Carlson
I don’t think John Carlson was the most noticeable Capital this past week. There is something impressive about his week however and that is his stats. This week there was a couple of Caps who scored four points in the teams three games. That ranks second behind Carlson who had seven points. Carlson nearly doubled the second most amount of points this week and he also scored two goals. Not bad.
His advanced stats look pretty good as well. His shot attempts percentage was a good 56.52% and that led to some good scoring chances with his scoring chance percentage 65% which was second of the team behind Brendan Leipsic.
Carlson also had five individual scoring chances for which was first among Caps defensemen, the next highest being Dmitry Orlov with two.
Another thing to note from Carlson’s week was his seven blocked shots. That was second on the team to Nick Jensen.
Was Carlson unstoppable and on a rampage this past week? No, but he was good. He put up a ton a points (over two a game) and his advanced stats look good. In a week where not a ton of guys stood out I think Carlson is deserving of one of our stars of the week.
Tom Wilson
Like I said, I don’t think a ton of guys stood out this past week. Last week it was Jakub Vrana who was clearly a star of the week. This week, nobody jumped out like that. But there was one noticeable line pretty much all week and Tom Wilson was a part of that line.
We mentioned Carlson’s seven points last week, Wilson was one of the guys who tied for second place with four points and all of his points were primary points (no secondary assists). That includes one heck of a shorthanded snipe against the Predators on Thursday night. He had a pretty good week on special teams burying a power play goal early vs Dallas on Saturday.
Wilson honestly had average advanced stats posting a 49.35 shot attempts percentage and just a 50% scoring chance for percentage.
Individually he had a pretty good week though. He was one of the five guys tied for second in individual scoring chances with 6. He also tied for first with Brendan Leipsic in individual high danger attempts for with four.
He was also, unsurprisingly, among the team lead in hits with six. The leaders being Tyler Lewington and Radko Gudas, both with seven hits on the week.
It’s not the best week you’ll ever see for a player. Wilson however did put up points, goals and was noticeable pretty much all week. What more could you ask for? I think he deserves one of our stars of the week.
Alex Ovechkin
This will make it two straight weeks we mention the Capitals captain and that probably won’t be a rare thing. It wasn’t Ovechkin’s best week, he can play better. That being said he still scored three goals. Pretty much Alex Ovechkin in a nutshell.
Ovechkin’s advanced stats, as you’d expect weren’t that great. He plays with Wilson, you can’t expect a big numbers difference when you play on the same line as someone. Ovechkin’s shot attempts percentage was a pretty poor 47.22% and his scoring chance percentage was just like Wilson’s at 50%.
While the advanced stats might not flatter Ovechkin and might not be stars of the week material his scoring chances were. He led all Capitals in individual scoring chances with eight.
A couple of other things to mention, Ovechkin drew two penalties this past week, could have or should have been more, and he also blocked three shots which was more than a couple of penalty killers on the team.
By the way, shocking, Ovechkin tied for the lead in shots with 10 with Tom Wilson.
It might not have been his best week, but he and his line were still noticeable and they put up points. Pretty good to not have you’re best week and still put up 3 goals in three games. I think the great eight deserves to be one of the stars of the week.
A couple of honorable mentions I think are in order this week. The fourth line has been a very good line all year and they are incredibly fun to watch. We’ve mentioned Leipsic a couple of times here already and I think he and his linemates deserve some recognition for their week.
I thought Lars Eller also had a pretty good week. He put up some good advanced stats as well and scored a goal vs the Predators.
Evgeny Kuznetsov had a heck of a week as well making his debut this week. He scored two goals, both against Dallas, one in D.C. and one in the lone star state. The only reason I didn’t put him as a star was a noticed him a lot less than the other two forwards I mentioned.
light. Trending. How much has the PK improved this season?
There you have it. Wasn’t the easiest week as there wasn’t many standouts, but there were still a couple of impressive performances. Who were your stars of the week?