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WSH 5, SEA 2 - Ovechkin Scores Goal #764, Vanecek Heating Up |
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Hello All,
The Washington Capitals defeated the Seattle Kraken by a score of 5-2 last night. The Capitals have now won both games in the month of March and seem to be picking up some great all-around momentum at the perfect time of the season. Are the Caps back?!
Here are the stats from the game:
Shots on Goal:
WSH – 25
SEA – 31
Shots on Goal (5v5):
WSH – 15
SEA – 23
Corsi For %:
WSH – 37.5%
SEA – 62.5%
Corsi For % (5v5):
WSH – 39.62%
SEA – 60.38%
Power Play:
WSH – 2/2
SEA – 0/3
Hits:
WSH – 35
SEA – 18
Blocks:
WSH – 22
SEA – 12
Scoring Chances For:
WSH – 23
SEA – 27
Scoring Chances For (5v5):
WSH – 18
SEA – 22
High Danger Chances For:
WSH – 13
SEA – 9
High Danger Chances For (5v5):
WSH – 8
SEA – 7
My Takeaways:
The Capitals Power Play is Heating Up – The story on the Caps power play is that for a majority of the season and certainly all of 2022, the Caps PP has been abysmal. In a previous blog, I broke down the Caps season stats in a month by month comparison. One thing that jumped out to me then was that while the Caps may have had the 30th ranked PP in the league at one point in February, they did actually finish the month of February ranked 13th in the league for the that month. Translation: The Caps power play has been improving…consistently. In fact, since 02/11/22 the Capitals have the 2nd ranked power play in the league at 31% (9 goals on 31 power plays). Overall, the Capitals power play has simply looked fundamentally better. The zone entries are consistently successful which is leading to more overall time to set up and move the puck around. The shot quality continues to be strong. The Caps are consistently generating 4+ high danger chances a game on the PP. Lastly, the Caps are essentially at full health with Oshie and Mantha back. In a game where the Capitals were largely outplayed at 5v5, the power play ended up being one of the key differences tonight. Let’s hope they can keep this up moving forward!
Alex Ovechkin - After having a fairly average February, Ovechkin is starting to heat up again. He scored a PP goal from his office for the second game in a row. Here is the goal:
Ovechkin finished as the 1st-star of the game after posting a 1G-2A-3P stat line. In the month of February, Ovechkin scored 3-goals in eight games played. That ranked him 83rd in the league for goals scored in the month. Granted, some other guys in the league played 4-5 more games than Ovechkin. Anyhow, the slump appears to fading as Ovechkin has four points total in two games for March. I know it’s a small sample size but he is consistently getting open and firing off plenty of scoring chances. Ovechkin is now 3-goals away from passing Jagr for 3rd all-time. He is 38-goals away from passing Gordie Howe for 2nd all-time. Lastly, he is only 131-goals away from passing Gretzky for the most in NHL history.
Vitek Vanecek – Since returning from injury, Vanecek has been essentially lights out for the Capitals. Vanecek replaced Samsonov in the 2nd period on Monday against the Maple Leafs. This was his first game since February 1st against the Pens when he got injured. Vanecek posted a shutout on 01/28 against Dallas. Since Monday, Vanecek has stopped 81 of 84 shots and only allowed three total goals in three GP. His .964 SV% since returning ranks 2nd in the league over that small window. Vanecek was incredible last night. I was at the game live and he made save after save to keep the Caps in this game. I am a huge fan of VV and I think the Capitals should roll with him for the rest of the season for a majority of the starts.
Honorable Mention – ICYMI Tom Wilson scored a highlight reel goal last night. Check it out here:
Wilson is having one of his best seaons ever! He is on pace for a career high in goals and assists! Let’s go!
Final Thoughts – The Capitals have played some really amazing hockey this week. They played arguably their best two games of the season against two of the best teams in the league in Toronto and Carolina. This game against the Kraken was not their best. As shown by the “Corsi For %” at all strengths, the Caps were outplayed pretty significantly last night. It took the power play and a superb game from Vanecek for the Caps to pull this one out. The Caps are certainly trending in the right direction, but I'm not completely sold on that all of the January/February woes are a thing of the past. The potential is there for this team but I just need to see it more consistently over a larger sample size. The Capitals next six games over the next two weeks should be pretty telling. They play a balance of very competitive and very desperate teams. Here is the upcoming schedule:
Tuesday 03/08 @ Calgary
Wednesday 03/09 @ Edmonton (another back-to-back ending with EDM? C'mon, man!)
Friday 03/11 @ Vancouver
Tuesday 03/15 vs New York Islanders
Thursday 03/17 @ Columbus
Friday 03/18 @ Carolina
That is all for today, thanks for reading and GO CAPS!
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Stats/Facts/Video Clips Provided By:
nhl.com/stats
hockey-reference.com
naturalstattrick.com
@CapitalsPR Twitter page
@Capitals Twitter page
@HerseyBears Twitter page
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Follow me on Twitter @HB_Capitals
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