Washington Capitals Playoffs: Observations From The First Two Games

David Pastrnak Has Been Very Quiet

So far this series I have seen quite a bit of Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. The third and final part of the “perfection line” has been a bit harder to find. He does have two points in two games both are assists. They are both primary assists as well.

He is goalless though, and that’s where you expect a guy like Pastrnak to hurt you. I personally haven’t seen too many great chances from him yet. But when you look at his advanced stats I would say it’s just a matter of time.

Pastrnak has a 67.17 CF%, a 57.69 SCF%, an 80% HDCF%, a 75.49 xGF% and finally he has 8 individual scoring chances which is tied for the team lead.

“Pasta” is going to be a hard player to hold down for an entire series. It’s going to be even harder if his numbers look like that. I would say he’s been pretty quiet so far, but if the Capitals can’t bring down some of those numbers, he may not be quiet for long.

The Bruins Are Dominating The Dot

Faceoffs are not just a way to get the play started or restarted, they are a very important part of the game. We all saw that in game number one when the Bruins won a faceoff and Jake DeBrusk fired a shot past Vanecek. That tied the game and also knocked Vancek out of the game.

That play came in the first period, a period in which the Bruins won 21 of 26 draws. The Capitals did recover in the next two periods, they won 58% of the faceoffs in the second period and 55% in the third. They won just 1 of 4 in overtime in Game 1.

The Bruins rebounded themselves in Game 2. They won 15 of 23 in the first period, 11 of 19 in the second, and 14 of 22 in the third  before winning the one and only faceoff in OT. In total, in Game 2 Boston won 41-65 faceoffs, or 63%.

So far the Capitals are winning just 38.5% of the faceoffs. Washington was ranked 22nd in the league at faceoffs this season winning 49.2% of their draws. Boston was ranked number one at 55.3%.

You never know what could be the difference in a series. I remember in a series vs the New York Rangers several years ago, overtime in Game 7. The Capitals lost a faceoff in the defensive zone, a hard shot came from the blue line and Derek Brassard put in a rebound. All off of a faceoff.

It may not be the first thing you look at, but it is still very important. It may just be unfixable as well. The Capitals are not a great faceoff team, and they are going against the best. We’ll see how this one plays out.