Capitals: Top 5 takeaways of the season so far
This was an entertaining Washington Capitals season while it lasted.
While the Washington Capitals season has been in a pause for over a month and a half there’s been several takeaways. We decided to highlight five of them.
Before the pause the Washington Capitals were first in the Metropolitan Division. They were coming off one of their biggest wins of the season which was a road win over the Pittsburgh Penguins though their last game before the break was a shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
The Capitals hold a 41-20-8 record with 90 points, just one point ahead of the red hot Philadelphia Flyers. If the season ended and the playoffs began they would’ve taken on the Carolina Hurricanes in a rematch from last spring.
If the Hurricanes faltered down the stretch they would’ve taken on the Columbus Blue Jackets. The New York Islanders and New York Rangers are just on the outside looking in.
Alex Ovechkin is tied for the league lead with 48 goals. John Carlson leads all defensemen with 75 points and 60 assists. The Caps were the top of the NHL in the beginning of the season but struggled with consistency in the New Year. We’ll cover these topics and more.
#5 Their hot start
In the beginning, the Washington Capitals got off to such a hot start that the concern was what if they went on to win the Presidents’ Trophy. In particular, the month of October was when they really heated up despite a challenging schedule to start the season.
It was challenging in due part to them being the opponent of a banner raising game to begin the season. Plus there was a five-game, 10 day road trip to end the month.
The Caps won that game in overtime and put together nine wins to tie a franchise record that was set in 1991-92 as well as set a new franchise high with 21 points. When the dust settled on the month of October, the Caps were 9-2-3, the Mystics won the WNBA title and the Nationals won the World Series. Man what a month it was.
It wasn’t an easy month as the Caps weren’t quite in full strength. Michal Kempny didn’t enter the lineup until the New York Rangers game a few weeks into the season so they had to shuffle defensive pairings. Plus Washington had to deal with the tight salary cap and even had to get creative on some occasions.
#4 Power play needs work
The Capitals used to be known for an effective power play but this season they are ranked in the middle of the pack at 17th in the league on the man advantage with a success rate of 19.4 percent.
The Caps have two effective power play units and it looked like an upgrade on the surface with the Ilya Kovalchuk addition. The first unit features him, T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson. The second unit boasts Tom Wilson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Lars Eller, Ovechkin and Dmitry Orlov.
Ovechkin leads the team with 13 power play goals. Oshie has 10. Kuznetsov added six this season. Wilson has five. Carlson, Backstrom and Eller each have two. Jakub Vrana and Dmitry Orlov each have one.
Carlson leads the team with 24 assists on the power play. Backstrom is second with 16 power play assists. Vrana is third with 11. Kuznetsov added six. Ovechkin has five. Eller and Orlov each have four. Oshie and Wilson have two each. Travis Boyd and Nick Jensen each have one.
One suggestion I have is to get Vrana more time on the power play since he’s scored just one goal on the man advantage while the rest of his 24 other goals came on even strength.
#3 Inconsistent throughout 2020
If there’s any positive about the season being paused maybe it’s that the Washington Capitals needed the rest. Since late December, the Caps weren’t exactly as elite as they were in the beginning of the season.
Following their shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres on the road which was their last game before the pause the Capitals were 15-14-3 dating back to Dec. 23 and only had back to back wins once since January.
What’s the most glaring about this inconsistency is the Caps will get up for big games. In fact that was exactly the case in their previous game in Pittsburgh against the Penguins which was one of their biggest wins of the season. They couldn’t carry that same momentum against a team coming into the game having lost six in a row in the Sabres.
Todd Reirden told Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic after the Sabres game (subscription required):
“That’s not what we’re looking for. Overall, though, our play in the last few games has been better, even if you go back to games where we didn’t like the result. In the last 10 days it is headed in the right direction in some areas, for certain. But we just got to continue to realize that for us, our best efforts come with getting off to a good start and playing like we did in the third period; we’ve got to do that for a full 60 minutes.”
That will be the biggest goal whether the season resumes in the summer or we shift our focus to next season. The Caps need to play more full 60 minute games.
#2 Ilya Samsonov is the goaltender of the future
We’ve reached that point where the question has long since been answered, Ilya Samsonov is ready for the NHL. With that said, thank you Braden Holtby for everything you’ve done as goaltender for the Capitals.
Holtby’s mark up to this point is 25-14-6 with a 3.11 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage. Those latter two are career-worsts.
Samsonov carries a 16-6-2 record with a 2.55 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Pretty solid numbers for a rookie goaltender. He played in 26 games.
Despite Samsonov having the slightly better numbers, Capitals head coach Todd Reirden has continued to give Holtby plenty of the work. Holtby started 12 of the final 17 games before the season was paused.
Samsonov won his first two games, making his NHL debut on Oct. 4 in Long Island against the New York Islanders. Samsonov stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced for a .962 save percentage in his debut helping the team to a big win to start the season 2-0-0.
He continued that momentum with a win in Dallas stopping 24 of 25 shots for a .960 save percentage. After a loss to Colorado, Samsonov won his next three games. After that, he went on a four-game winning streak and then on a seven game winning streak.
#1 There’s no slowing down Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin continues to defy age and this season was no different. It’s truly a shame that the season was paused in that we won’t know whether or not Ovechkin would have another 50-goal season. Looking at his current numbers leaves little doubt he would be able to reach that number.
In 68 games before the pause Ovechkin scored 48 goals and added 19 assists for 67 points. He also scored his 700th goal when the Caps were in New Jersey back in February and in his career has 706 goals.
Ovechkin’s 48 goals are tied for the league lead with David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins. He also leads the league with 35 of those goals coming at even strength while the other 13 came on the power play.
It’s truly amazing that Ovechkin continues to defy age and father time and it helps out the Caps that he continues to be one of the top players on the team making an impact game after game, night after night.
Hot. Capitals eliminate Penguins in NHL 20 simulation. light
Those are our top 5 takeaways of the season so far. Here’s hoping the season will continue at some point or another. What are your top five takeaways from the season? Let us know in the comments and keep it locked on Stars and Sticks as we wait for hockey to come back.