Which Hardworking Teams Should The Capitals Worry About
Just a little bit less than halfway through the NHL regular season the Washington Capitals have only six regulation losses.
Six regulation losses in thirty-five games played. That’s pretty impressive. The Washington Capitals lead in the NHL in points and could be well on their way to another Presidents’ Trophy.
Out of their six regulation losses two have come in the last week and a half. Both of those losses came against the same team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Since the start of last season the Capitals are 1-4-1 against the Jackets. The Blue Jackets, while playing better than most assumed, aren’t a very good team and are likely not playoff bound.
Yet the Capitals have had issues with this side. I don’t think it’s hard to figure out why really. Columbus is a hardworking team that brings pressure the whole game for the most part. That’s a hard thing to deal with no matter what team you are. Teams that don’t have that much skill can play well and teams that do have skill and play that game can do very well. Example being the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 & 2017.
This is a style that has given the Capitals issues in past seasons. They lost to the Penguins in 2016 and 2017 who played this style and they lost to the Carolina Hurricanes last season who brought a ton of speed and pressure.
I don’t know the exact recipe to beating the Capitals, but I do know that speed and pressure are two crucial ingredients to taking down one of the best teams in hockey. We’ve seen it in past seasons and we’ve seen it twice so far this year.
As I said before, most don’t expect the Capitals to have to play the Blue Jackets in the playoffs. Columbus isn’t expected to get that far. You never know though.
If the Capitals don’t have to worry about the speed and pressure from Columbus, who should they be concerned about? Well…
The Boston Bruins
I think I might have just heard a bunch of Caps fans rolling their eyes already. The Capitals have absolutely owned the Bruins for nearly this entire decade. The last seventeen games against Boston the Caps have won sixteen of them. I get that, you don’t have to remind me.
With that being said, the playoffs are a different beast. You may get focused to play a team in the regular season. That’s likely for a day or two. The Bruins will get to pick apart the Capitals for a few hours then head off to the west coast for a road trip or play a huge division game vs. Montreal or Toronto.
In the playoffs you have days, even weeks to figure teams out. The Bruins have a bit of a reputation as a hardworking team and a hard team to play against. That and the fact that they made the Stanley Cup Final last season and are a top team this season shows this is not a team to take lightly.
Nothing screams threatening when you look at stats. The only impressive thing is they’ve scored 80 goals this season, which is third most in the league and they’ve allowed 55 goals, that’s fifth best. Both of those are 5v5 by the way.
To compare the Capitals have scored 76 5v5 goals and have allowed 70 goals. The 76 goals is fifth best and the 70 allowed is nineteenth in the NHL.
Ownage or not, going through the Bruins is not something I think most Capitals fans should be thrilled about.
The New York Islanders
The Islanders are like a better version of the Blue Jackets. I don’t know how he does it but Barry Trotz is somehow working his voodoo Trotz magic and has a team that has nearly no names near the top of the Metropolitan division.
This is the same team that took out the Penguins in last years playoffs in four games.
It will be interesting to see the Capitals and the Isles play again this season. They’ve only played once so far this year and that was the second game of the season. Ilya Samsonov’s NHL debut where he nearly recorded a shutout if not for a fluke bounce.
Again, the stats don’t tell you to fear very much. New York is one of the worst teams in Corsi% and their scoring chance% is well below 50% as well. They don’t give up that much though. They’ve allowed 51 5v5 goals so far this season. That’s the best in the league.
In contrast they’ve allowed 747 scoring chances, which is 21st in the league and they’ve given up 306 high danger attempts, that’s 23rd in the NHL. So far they have given up 817 shots and they have the third best save percentage while 5v5 at .937%.
There is nothing that sounds that threatening about this team. They don’t have big name players, their stats don’t look that great and they don’t have a winning recent past that scares you. They do have a hardworking reputation though and of course they have a head coach who knows how to get the most out of every team he’s had. A coach that knows a ton about the Capitals too.
I want to see the Capitals play this team more before I flat out say WATCH OUT! But this is a scary team come playoff time and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them do what they did to Pittsburgh in the first round again.
The Pittsburgh Penguins
Speaking of the Pens, while they’re not as scary as a few seasons ago and it may be tougher to keep their playoff streak going now more than ever, this is still a team to not look past. This is a team and franchise that has had the Capitals number, especially in the playoffs, at least until a couple of years ago.
From the small amount I’ve seen them though this is still a pretty fast team. They are also one of the best defensive teams according to the stats. Up to this date the Penguins have allowed 61 goals while 5v5, seventh best in the league.
All the other stats point to this team being an in your face team as well. They have the fourth best Corsi% in the league at 52.98%, and they have the fifth best scoring chance percentage at 53.41%. Pittsburgh has allowed 628 scoring chances that’s fourth best in the NHL. Their 239 high danger attempts against are also towards the top ranking third.
Just to let you know, the Capitals have allowed 724 scoring chances, 17th on the circuit and 305 high danger attempts which is 22nd.
It might not be the Penguins of a few years ago but they will still have Crosby, Malkin and Letang. We’ll see how the rest of the season goes and we’ll get to see these teams head to head a couple of times so those will be games to watch to see if this is a Penguins team that can give the Capitals some trouble.
The Carolina Hurricanes
Last but not least the team that ousted the Capitals in the playoffs last season. As much as things change they stay the same. While the expectations might have been raised this is still a good Canes team. It’s a fast team that can pressure you and we saw that a ton last spring.
That speed and pressure usually leads to Carolina controlling play. So far this season Carolina is in their usual spot at the top of the shot attempts percentage, right now they’re 54.77%. They also lead the league in scoring chance% at 55.41% having 779 chances for (tied for 4th) and 627 against (3rd in the league).
The Canes are sixth in the NHL in high danger attempts% at 53.78%. They’ve had 320 high danger attempts (4th) and allowed 275 (11th).
I don’t feel like I have to say too much about this team. If you’re a Capitals fans you know how this team plays and you surely remember the long stretches that the Caps had trouble keeping up. Maybe a rematch will bring out the best in the Capitals? Then again it could be a repeat of last season.
We have a long ways to go this season. We’re not even half way done with the 2019-20 season. Some of the teams we just mentioned might not even make the playoffs. That would probably be a good thing if you ask me.
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The Capitals have a reputation of a team that can get outworked. We’ve seen it before and we’ve seen it recently. Based on reputation these are the teams that can cause the Capitals some trouble in April or May. Will they? Well only the future can tell us that, and as much as I’ve asked it won’t tell me what it holds.