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Have the Caps Found Their Shutdown Five?

It’s early. Real early. Like, “hit snooze on the alarm clock another three times” early. And while you wouldn’t suspect it from a quick glance at the final scores through two games, there’s a sense that the Washington Capitals may, for the first time under Bruce Boudreau, have a quintet of players who are legitimately capable of shutting down opponents’ top lines at even strength.

The “meat and potatoes” line of Brooks Laich between Jason Chimera and Joel Ward, coupled with last season’s top defensive pairing of Karl Alzner and John Carlson, has sparkled at even strength through two games, essentially shutting down the top trios of both Carolina (Eric Staal, Jeff Skinner and Tuomo Ruutu) and Tampa (Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos and Steve Downie). A quick rundown of some of the numbers:

The Caps have dominated their opponents at even strength so far (even if the scoreboard hasn’t necessarily reflected it thanks to a few soft and/or fluky goals), outshooting them 62-39. It’d be overly optimistic to think that the third line will continue to produce at this rate offensively, but if they can continue to do the job they’ve been doing defensively and the Alzner-Carlson duo continues to play like they did last season, the Caps should be one of the League’s best teams at five-aside. Now about those special teams…

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