Our weekly look at individual Washington Capitals‘ ups and downs:
Goalies | Trend | Notes |
Jose Theodore | ▲ | A 2.12 GAA and .929 save percentage in four-plus periods for the week deserves better than an 0-0-1 mark and an injury. |
Semyon Varlamov | ▲ | Everything about the second goal he allowed to Nashville – how quickly it came after the first, the goal itself – was troubling, but a 2-0-0/1.14/.949 week sure is encouraging. Varly has still yet to lose a regular season game in regulation in his career (7-0-1). |
Defensemen | ||
John Erskine | ▲ | Plus-two in just 6:39 of ice time for the week before heading to the IR with an upper body injury. |
Mike Green | – | Points in three straight, including his first goal of the season, but the consistency is still not there yet. |
Milan Jurcina | ▲ | Playing solid defense (plus-one on the week, plus-six for the season) and led the team in hits and blocked shots on Saturday night. |
Shaone Morrisonn | – | Playing with a snarl. Or rather, he was playing with a snarl, before missing Saturday night’s game with an undisclosed injury. |
Brian Pothier | ▼ | For a puck-mover like Pothier to have more minor penalties (two) than points and shots on goal combined (one – a shot) in three games isn’t a good thing. |
Tom Poti | ▲ | The Caps killed all 12 power plays they faced in the week’s three games, so good on Poti as the shorthanded ice time leader. |
Jeff Schultz | – | If a coach has enough confidence in a guy to give him first-pairing minutes with Mike Green, why is he ever scratched? A couple of miscues in the Nashville game stand out, but so does a solid effort against San Jose |
Tyler Sloan | – | Filling in admirably, but not doing much. |
Forwards | ||
Keith Aucoin | ▼ | Hasn’t shown anything yet during this call-up other than a lack of desire to backcheck against San Jose’s fourth line after being out of position on the forecheck. |
Nicklas Backstrom | ▼ | Has gone five games without an even strength assist and has only one helper overall during that span. |
Matt Bradley | ▲ | Still the only non-top six forward with a goal, he potted his second of the season against San Jose and played his 500th career NHL game on Saturday. |
Chris Clark | ▼ | No points, just two shots on goal and a minus-two rating for a week perhaps highlighted by his questionable fight in the Jersey game. |
Eric Fehr | – | Lousy backcheck on San Jose’s goal, strong first period against Nashville followed up with… a cut in ice time? |
Tomas Fleischmann | – | Placed on Long-Term Injured Reserve retroactive to the beginning of the season, which means the Caps didn’t need to lose Chris Bourque on waivers when they did. |
Boyd Gordon | ▼ | Another penalty in the Jersey game, followed by a couple of games in the press box (ostensibly with an injury) during which the penalty kill has been superb. Uh oh, Gordo? |
Mike Knuble | ▲ | Six points (five at even strength) and a plus-five rating in three games playing with AO. Predictable, perhaps, but you’ve still gotta go out there and do it (right, Viktor?). |
Brooks Laich | ▼ | Hasn’t scored a goal since the second game of the season and doesn’t have a point in any of his last four games (during which he has a minus-four rating, including minus-three last week). |
Quintin Laing | – | Q’s doing what Q does. |
Brendan Morrison | ▲ | Three helpers in two games with Ovechkin and Knuble after a bad game with Laich and Semin. He was switched back to center that second pair of wingers in the third period against Nashville, so stay tuned. |
Michael Nylander | – | Since every passing week is one week closer to the end of this whole mess, one could argue that Nylander’s trending upwards. We won’t, though. |
Alex Ovechkin | ▲ | Ovechkin had as many points this week (six) as the Redskins did, and he scored the game-winners in both of the Caps’ wins on the week. Four goals, two helpers, a plus-four rating and 26 shots on goal in three games without taking a single penalty. MVP-like week. |
Alexander Semin | ▼ | Scored a goal and drew three penalties in the first period against San Jose, but was brutal in the week’s other two games. The inconsistency is maddening. |
David Steckel | ▲ | With the Caps’ penalty kill in the top ten in the League, kudos go out to the top PK forward (by minutes), who won 68.5% of his 54 draws on the week. Stecks is still looking for that first point of the season, but at least he’s contributing elsewhere. |