Last season the Washington Capitals had a great fourth line. It was a line that you couldn’t help but notice. It was a line that was physical and worked hard every shift. That’s an easy combination to like. On top of those two things, it was a fourth line that spent a good amount of time in the opponents zone.
This line is anchored by two guys, Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway. Last season they played over 364 minutes together. While together they posted some impressive numbers. They had a 56.73 Corsi%. They also had 57.95 scoring chance percentage and a 57.98 high danger attempts percentage. All of that contributing to an expected goals for percentage of 60.36%.
Some people don’t care about the fancy numbers though. Bottom line the game is about scoring goals while denying your opponents goals. Well, this line did that pretty well too. The combo of Dowd and Hathaway scored 16 goals and allowed 10 goals while 5v5.
It was a line that looked very good on most nights last season. We’re early into this new season, just three games in. However, the results look good. Both for the entire team, and once again, for this fourth line.
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It’s a line that is once again led by Dowd and Hathaway, but so far they have been joined by Carl Hagelin. This trio did not get much time together last season. They played just over 18 minutes together. The stats looked good however. They had a Corsi% over 56%, their scoring chance percentage was over 52% and their high danger attempts percentage was all the way up over 71%. They scored one goal and allowed zero goals at the same time.
So far this season the stats do not look as good. So far, this version of the fourth line has a Corsi% of 53.57%, their scoring chance percentage is 61.54% and their high danger attempts percentage is 66.67%. They have also scored a goal and allowed zero.
It’s a small sample size, these numbers can fluctuate pretty widely. For example, the high danger attempts sit at two for and one against. Just one attempt against and that 66% drops down to 50%.
We have a long way to go. We’ve played just three games out of fifty-six. There is a lot of hockey to be played this season still.
There has been a lot to like in this early season though. The team is scoring goals, their young goaltenders look solid early, their special teams look good, several key players look good, and they haven’t lost a game in regulation.
You can add another great fourth line to that fairly long list of things to like in the early going. While some of the numbers may not look as impressive if they continue to play they way they have been it looks like the Capitals have another terrific fourth line.
Dowd line eating 😤 pic.twitter.com/IDBFmL44F1
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 17, 2021
While the big names get all the attention and press, deservedly so, this fourth line can change games. While they obviously won’t score a ton of goals, they can still score. As we said earlier, the Dowd-Hathaway combo had 16 5v5 goals last season.
But as we’ve also said, this is a physical line that spends a bunch of time in the offensive zone. If the team is having a good game this line won’t lose momentum. If the Caps are having an off game this fourth line can come in, be physical, get some zone time and turn a game around.
That’s the benefit of having a line like this. They can score, they don’t allow a lot of goals, they spend a bunch of time in the other teams zone and they can turn games. This is a fourth line that causes issues for other teams, and it causes a lot of good things to happen for themselves.