The first full week of November is a light work week for the Washington Capitals, with just two games on the schedule. The opponents will be an up-and-comer that has known frustration in recent seasons and another that has known little but success in its short history, one that features the Capitals prominently.
The Opponents
Florida Panthers (Thursday/7:00pm)
The Capitals open the week visiting the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. There are teams in the NHL that have had years, even decades of frustration. And sometimes that frustration gets a lot of attention. The Toronto Maple Leafs, with their more than half century without a Stanley Cup, comes to mind. Other teams suffer in relative media silence. The Florida Panthers are such a team. After entering the NHL in 1993-94, they were a Stanley Cup finalist in their third season, swept by the Colorado Avalanche in their quest for the title. Since then, the Panthers reached the playoffs four times in 22 seasons, winning only six games and failing to get out of the first round all four times. The last time that Florida won a playoff game to clinch a playoff series – a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on June 1, 1996 – gasoline was $1.26 a gallon, a loaf of bread cost 88 cents, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 5,643.18. It has been a while.
This year’s edition of the Panthers are keeping within reach of two of the more successful teams in the early going, their 7-3-4 record in the Atlantic Division still within two points of the surprising Buffalo Sabres (9-4-2) and within four points of the streaking Boston Bruins (10-1-2). One feature of Panther Hockey to date has been giving fans value in minutes played. The Panthers have gone to extra time six times in their last 11 games, winning twice and losing four times in the extra time contests. What might be noted here is that only one of the six games was played on home ice. Something else to note as well, four of the six extra time decisions were settled in the shootout, Florida losing three of them. Reversing that record would have left the Panthers tied with Buffalo for second place in the Atlantic as this week begins, an illustration of how close to the margin teams can play in the league these days.
The Panthers have played five games on home ice through five weeks; only Tampa Bay has played fewer (four). Through those five games on the road schedule, Florida is 3-1-1, and those games have not lacked for offense. The Panthers are averaging 3.80 goals per game and are allowing 3.20 goals per game at BB&T Center. That scoring offense for the Panthers has a lack of even strength scoring, though. They have only 13 even strength goals in those five games, while almost a third of their offensive production on home ice comes from special teams (five power play goals, one shorthanded goal). Florida is also a team that has been rather ordinary managing shots on home ice. The Panthers’ 52.45 shot attempt-for percentage at 5-on-5 in road games ranks 16th in the league. They have been especially adept in situations in which they are behind, their 64.71 percent mark on home ice being second in the league only to Carolina (65.22 percent).
This will be the 127th game in the all-time regular season series between these teams, the Caps holding a record of 64-42-11 (nine ties). In games played in Florida, the Capitals are 30-25-4 (four ties) in 63 games played against the Panthers. Since 2005-06, the Caps are 36-24-10 in 70 games overall against Florida and 17-14-4 on the road.
Vegas Golden Knights (Saturday/7:00pm)
The Capitals renew their short but intense rivalry with the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday when Vegas visits the Caps at Capital One Arena. The Stanley Cup final foes of 2018 will lock horns for only the fifth time in the regular season, matching the total of games played in the 2018 Stanley Cup final won by the Caps, 4-1. The Caps are just 1-3-0 in the four regular season games to date, 1-1-0 at Capital One. Vegas will visit Washington for the third game of a four-game road trip, the Knights’ longest in the 2019 portion of the season (they have an eight-game trip in late-January/early-February).
The Golden Knights open the week heading to the road after a disappointing four-game home stand in which they went 1-1-2. It was the defense that let them down, allowing four or more goals in each of the losses, one of them a 6-1 pasting by the Colorado Avalanche.
Vegas has had success on the road, though, going 4-2-0 in six games to date. And despite their recent leakiness on defense at home, they have been holding teams in check on the road, allowing only 14 goals in six road games (2.33 per game). No Western Conference team allowed fewer road goals through the first five weeks (although Edmonton is allowing fewer on average, 1.89 per game). The 14 goals allowed is particularly impressive since Vegas has done it while allowing 200 shots on goal in six road games (33.3 per game).
Part of the defensive success on the road has been penalty killing. The Golden Knights lead the league in road penalty killing (91.3 percent) and have allowed the fewest power play goals (two, tied with the Avalanche and Islanders) as the new week starts. They have killed off their last 16 shorthanded situations on home ice since allowing both of their road power play goals to date against the Philadelphia Flyers in a 6-2 loss on October 21st. They are also dangerous in killing penalties, their three shorthanded goals scored on the road tied for the league lead (with Washington). They are one of two teams in the league to have scored more than one shorthanded goal without allowing one in away games (Dallas has two shorthanded goals scored).
The Knights have been all over the place in terms of shot attempt differentials on the road at 5-on-5. They opened their season getting the better of San Jose, 36-32 in 5-on-5 shot attempts (52.9 percent), but fell off quickly thereafter, going four straight road games under 50 percent, going 43.13 percent over those four games. They rebounded with a dominating performance in their last road game, out-attempting Chicago at fives, 42-29 (59.2 percent).