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Capital Ups and Downs: Week 6

Our weekly look at individual Washington Capitals‘ ups and downs:

Goalies Trend Notes
Jose Theodore A strong performance on Friday night in Sunrise earned him Saturday’s start in which he looked understandably less sharp. Still, a 2-0-0/2.51/.912 week keeps his hold on the #1 spot firm.
Semyon Varlamov To the untrained eye, he looked pretty good in Jersey. But Bruce Boudreau didn’t see it that way (calling two of the three goals allowed “iffy”), so Varly stays in Chez Bow Wow and doesn’t get a start against a bad team in a back-to-backs when the #1 guy has a recent history of back spasms.
Defensemen
John Erskine Shaking off the rust after missing nearly a month, has a plus-five rating over his last four games.
Mike Green Had his nine-game scoring streak snapped in Jersey, then was injured early in Florida. Get well soon, GreenLife52.
Milan Jurcina Ugly minus-four on Saturday night (though his play wasn’t as bad as that would seem to indicate), has still yet to find the back of the net this season and is pointless and averaging just one shot per game in his last ten.
Shaone Morrisonn Didn’t register a single shot last week… except for the boarding late in Friday night’s game.
Brian Pothier Responded to Wednesday’s healthy scratch with a goal, three assists and a plus-six rating over the next two games (which included loads of PP time with Green out).
Tom Poti An assist and a plus-three rating in Saturday’s stat-padder, but wasn’t credited with a shot on goal all week.
Jeff Schultz Injured on Friday night, missed on Saturday.
Swingman
Tyler Sloan Versatility earns him his own position on this list. Had a pair of goals as a forward and played well when shifted back to D on Friday, but struggled on the blueline Saturday.
Forwards
Nicklas Backstrom Seemed to get his groove back once paired with Fleischmann and Knuble, ended the week with three helpers, a plus-three rating and a 56.3% faceoff win rate.
Matt Bradley A beautiful pass to set up Laing’s goal (and some wrestling) on Saturday night highlight his week.
Chris Clark Helpers in each of the week’s three games and a fight in Jersey. Good stuff, Cap’n.
Eric Fehr Finally got back in the lineup Saturday and produced an assist in limited ice time.
Tomas Fleischmann Three goals, one assist and a plus-four rating for the week and five goals and seven points in his last five games overall. We are all, for the moment, seeing Flash as Gabby has always seen him.
Boyd Gordon Still hurt (and the PK still misses him). His games played by season over the last three campaigns: 71, 67, 63. Expect 59 this year?
Mike Knuble Two goals, three assists and a plus-four rating over the weekend is how a veteran rebounds from a couple of bad games in a row.
Brooks Laich 18 points in 17 games on the season, including four last week. Laich also hasn’t taken a penalty in his last nine games and has just two minors on the campaign.
Quintin Laing Had one more goal than and the same number of shots as Alex Semin last week. Another interesting Q stat: he’s been credited with fewer blocked shots on the year than Knuble or Backstrom.
Brendan Morrison Called out by his coach for a bad penalty in Jersey, responds with two goals on Friday.
Michael Nylander Has agreed to be put on waivers, still would have to agree to any loan to another league (KHL, AHL, etc.), but it’s another step closer to what everyone wants.
Alex Ovechkin Of the countless AO vids on YouTube, this has to be just about my least favorite. It’s gonna be a long 4-5 weeks wait
Mathieu Perreault A burst of energy who has made Chris Clark and Tyler Sloan look like serviceable NHL wingers, which is no small accomplishment.
Alexander Semin One down arrow wasn’t enough to capture the disappointment of what Semin is doing with his opportunity to be the team’s top scoring threat. No points and as nearly many offensive-zone minor penalties (five) as shots on goal (six) for the week. Brutal.
David Steckel The only Caps forward still looking for his first goal of the season (minimum seven games played), Steckel was point-less on the week and was on the ice for all three power play goals the Caps surrendered in the three games. He did win 62.5% of his draws overall, however.
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