Regular Season:
Playoffs:
Key Stat: Dowd scored the first shorthanded goal of his career and finished the season with three to lead the team.
The Good: In order to score three shorthanded goals, you have to be depended upon to kill penalties, and Dowd was called on often when Washington went down a man. He was a large piece of the Capitals’ highly successful (82.5%) penalty kill rate this season. As the regular season came to its close in March, Dowd was playing some of his best hockey of the season, highlighted by a two-goal and three-point performance in Pittsburgh — the first multi-goal game of Dowd’s career. He was also very efficient with his offense, scoring his seven goals on just 52 shots on net (13.5 S%).
The Bad: Dowd logged a faceoff win rate below fifty percent for only the second time in his career (49.7%). He went cold offensively for a stretch of 19 games early in the new year that coincides with some poor performances from the entire team. And while he was playing very well at the time of the season pause, when play resumed in the bubble Dowd became invisible (except when he made a mistake). He registered as many shots on goal (four) as he did penalty minutes in the five-game series against the Isles, and his -2 rating does not shine either.
The Video: Remember life before the pandemic?
The Charts:
The Discussion: Dowd’s second season with the Capitals looked an awful lot like his first with the club. He brings value when shorthanded and as a body in the bottom six. Does he have anything beyond that or will the next three seasons look the same? Will his game inspire confidence with the new coaching staff this fall?
Other Dowd Season Reviews: Coming soon!
The Vote: Rate Dowd below on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season – if he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.