The Capitals are 3-1 in their last four games, and one of the main reasons for the mini-hot streak has been other guys stepping up. Since up until Saturday Ovechkin was mired in a career-long goalless drought, it was up to the rest of the team to find their offensive touch - so it's no wonder that when that happened, the wins started to come.
Here's where the points have come from in the last week:
Brooks Laich - 4G, 2A
Matt Bradley - 2G, 2A
Matt Cooke - 1G, 2A
Donald Brashear - 2G
Eric Fehr - 1G, 3A
Tomas Fleischmann - 2A
10 goals, 11 assists in the last four games from guys not named Ovechkin, Semin, Kozlov or Backstrom, and during that stretch the Caps have outscored their opponents 20-6. On top of the boost from the third and fourth line the Caps have also gotten some assistance from their blueliners, with defensemen chipping in an additional two goals and thirteen assists - six of them from Tom Poti alone.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Secondary Scoring, Primary Wins
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Extinguishing the Firepower
One of the so-called hot button topics we're supposed to care about this season is the lack of scoring going on in the NHL. The average goals per game is down, we're told. Goals equal exciting games, they say. It needs to be fixed - so sayeth the league.
All due respect to the NHL, who always seem to make the right decisions based on what they think the fans want...but that's crap.
Yes, the odd 7-0 game is fun. The occasional 6-5 game can be thrilling.
It can also be boring and miserable and predictable, whereas a good old-fashioned 0-0 or 1-1 game can be an edge of your seat, nailbiting thriller. (Even moreso back in the days before the gimmicky shootout came along...but that's an argument for another day.)
It's also not as though goal scoring has disappeared completely, evidenced by the scores we've seen just in the last week. The Sabres have had three games in the last two weeks where the winning team has scored at least 7 goals. The Caps beat up on the Thrashers just a few days ago to the tune of 6-3. Colorado rolled over the Blues by plastering them for 9 goals - and by "rolled over" I mean still allowed 5 goals against. The Flyers demolished the Pens just last night, putting up eight goals in a game that included back to back hat tricks.
So it's not that goal scoring is down, per se. The difference is actually found not in the league but in teams - in other words, teams that scored a lot of goals last year are, well, not so much. Tonight's game is the perfect model for this.
At this time last year the New York Rangers had 99 goals, tied for sixth in the league. This year they have a total of 64 goals - that's a 35 goal differential over the course of a year. But those big buck contracts handed out to Gomez and Drury were totally worth it, right?
Then there's the Caps. A year ago they had begun their descent but were still 10th in the conference and had racked up 95 goals. That's 21 more than their total this year. A lot of that is coaching, chemistry and injuries - but it's enough to send the Caps to the basement.
And it's not just the Caps and Rangers, either. Last year the Islanders had 88 goals. This year they've scored 62. Buffalo went from 124 to 86; Nashville went from 99 to 70. Anaheim was the most dramatic dip, going from 121 goals a year ago to just 77.
On the other end of the spectrum, Carolina is just one goal off their pace from last season. Toronto, Montreal, and a few other teams are also hovering around the same mark. Ottawa continues to rack up points. Detroit has actually scored more goals than this time last year, and by a large margin.
So maybe it's not that goal scoring is down leaguewide but rather that some previously offensively powerful teams are simply not anymore. Maybe the issue is that with true parity comes the decline in offensively-loaded teams. Maybe it's because some teams are underachieving (i.e., the Caps). Maybe goal scoring isn't a trend that can be measured year to year but rather over a decade or a generation.
In the end does it really matter? Would you really stop going to games just because the final score was 2-1 rather than 3-2? Statistically speaking, goals are down. But on any given night any team can explode for 7+ goals and on any given night a goalie can shut down everything. It has nothing to do with how strictly the refs interpret the rules or how big the net is - all any fan wants to do is be entertained and, hopefully, see their team come out on top.
The rest is just numbers.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Nothing But a Number
Looking at the stats to this point there are a few things that catch your attention immediately, even with the admittedly small sample size of five games:
- Chris Clark has already racked up 8 penalty minutes, tied for the team lead with big-time scorer John Erskine. A few of those were cheesy calls, but it's not good when your captain is spending more time in the box than anyone else.
- Five of the top ten scorers on the team to this point are defensemen - Green (1-3-4), Poti (0-2-2), Erskine (1-1-2), Pothier (0-1-1) and Jurcina (1-0-1).
- Think Ovechkin is doing okay so far? Yeah, me too. He's got three goals and two assists, 22 shots on goal (which by the way is more than the Caps got in either of their last two games), and only one penalty...although admittedly a badly-timed one. Even better is the fact that he's +1 to this point.
- Nylander is a team-leading -3...and that's with two goals and two assists. Yikes.
- Through five games, Fleischmann has no goals, no assists, five shots and two minors. I'm not one to call for roster changes this early in the season but since I've been saying this since training camp I'll continue - send him back to Hershey. Now. If we wanted someone in the lineup who didn't produce offensively we'd dress Sutherby...and at least he doesn't get pushed off of the puck as much. (No disrespect to Brian - you know I love him.)
- Even after giving up 7 goals, Brent Johnson's save percentage is still above 90%, although his GAA of 4.00 is a little cringe-inducing. But come on...7 goals, whether your fault or not, will still hurt the stats. He's been very solid in net.
- Sidney Crosby has four points in four games and is a -3. Mike Green has four points in five games and is even. Just sayin'...
- After seeing pieces of Maple Leafs games over the past week and seeing all of their scores, you have to ask yourself an important question: how are three of the Leafs (including Hal Gill) in the top 15 in +/-? Just another reminder that numbers don't always tell the tale...thus rendering this entire post pointless.
Thank you and good night!
