Analyzing the Month of November for the Capitals

“The Washington Capitals have a brutal month to start the season.”

That was a pretty common thought among people who analyzed the Washington Capitals first month of games. There were fourteen games in the opening month of the season, nine of them were on the road and they had two back-to-backs. To make it even worse nine of their opponents in the month of October made the playoffs the previous season.

Whether or not the opening month was truly “brutal” or not one thing is true, the Capitals played very well. The Caps played well enough to be able to say they’re at the top of the NHL standings going into the month of November. The record for the month of October was 9-2-3. Not bad for having a “brutal” schedule.

Fourteen games have come and gone, Fourteen games are now coming up in the month of November. How many wins do the Capitals need to get in order to consider November a good month? Lets go ahead and look at the schedule and see if we can determine that.

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The month of November is a home friendly month for the Capitals, out of the fourteen games this month nine of them will be played in D.C. If you still want to talk about last season, the Caps will play a team that made the playoffs last season only four times. A lot of these teams have gotten off to good starts this season however, and it’s still the NHL, there are no gimme games.

The first week could be a little rough but three of the four games are at home and the Capitals should be able to beat anybody on home ice. They start with Buffalo on the first. The Sabres have gotten off to a terrific start going 9-2-2 in October. They will then play Calgary on the 3rd, go to Florida and play the Panthers on the 7th and finish the week against Vegas on the 9th. Three wins is what I would expect out of the first week in November.

Washington then goes into a very back and forth part of the month. Home, away, then home and away. They start against Phil Kessel and the Coyotes in Washington, then head to Philadelphia to see old friend Matt Niskanen and his Flyers. They then go back home to play the Montreal Canadiens and play the Boston Bruins the next night in Boston. Odd schedule but not a ton of traveling.

The game to worry about here is vs the Bruins on the 16th. It’s the second game of a back to back, it’s on the road and currently Boston is 9-1-2 and they’re 5-0-1 on home.

The other games that week are all winnable. Two wins at least should be picked up that week.

The next week starts out with Anaheim coming to the capital. Then the Capitals head to the “Big Apple” to play the Rangers a couple of days later. They wrap up the week at home where they’ll start a three game home stand against the Vancouver Canucks.

The game against the Canucks should be a doozy. On the 25th of October the Canucks had a 5-1 lead late in the second before the Caps stormed back and scored 4 goals in about eight minutes to tie the game. Washington won that game in a shootout. I’d guess Vancouver wants a little payback and wants to beat the Caps in their own building.

Still, based on the way the team is playing right now that could be another two wins that week.

After the Canucks the Caps will get a three-day break before hosting the Florida teams, first the Panthers on the 27th and then the Lightning the day after Thanksgiving. The very next night the Capitals then head to Detroit to play Mike Green and the Red Wings.

The game against the Lightning is the one to watch here. I’d still consider both the Capitals and the Lightning top eastern conference contenders. Tampa hasn’t gotten off to the best start so far they’re 6-4-2 and currently sitting outside the playoffs. They’ll be in the playoffs though and you’ll still need to get past this team to make a run in the playoffs.

Based on the rest of November, one win would be fine with me to finish the month. The back to back to close the month could be tricky.

That totals to eight wins is what is needed to be a good month in my mind. A record of 8-6 doesn’t sound that great, then again 8-3-3 sounds a lot better doesn’t it? Or 8-2-4 sounds even better. An 8-3-3 month would mean the Capitals got 19 points out of a possible 28. That is a very good month.

You never know how a game will go, let alone a week or an entire month. Looking at the schedule this is a month where the Capitals should be able to rack up the points and potentially expand the lead in their division and conference in the month of November.