Week 14 is another four-game work week for the Washington Capitals. Perhaps they will be energized by the 8-1 thumping they put on the Boston Bruins to end Week 13. They could use the jolt for a week that includes two games against an old, if fading rival, and a rematch against the Bruins in Boston.
The Opponents
Philadelphia Flyers (Tuesday/7:00 at Capital One Arena and Saturday/12:30 at Wells Fargo Center)
Last season, the Caps had their problems with the Philadelphia Flyers, losing their last three meetings of the season (two at home) after winning their first encounter and being outscored, 15-6. Things change. The Flyers won the opening match of this season, a 7-4 loss for the Caps after Washington got out to a 2-0 lead that suggested things would continue going the Flyers’ way in this rivalry. But since that first contest, the Caps have won three in a row against the Flyers, outscoring them by a 13-8 margin.
When the calendar flipped from February to March, the Flyers were, well, flying. Their 11-4-3 record was the fifth-best points percentage in the league at the time (.694). Things took a dark turn starting in March, though. Since March 1st, the Flyers are 8-12-3, their .413 points percentage ranking 24th in the league. It has left the Flyers on the outside looking in at playoff eligibility, starting the new week four points behind the Boston Bruins for the last playoff spot in the East Division (Boston has two games in hand).
There is little mystery to what ails the Flyers. They cannot put pucks in the net, and they cannot keep pucks out of the net. In their 11-4-3 start, Philadelphia was scoring 3.39 goals per game, sixth-best in the league. But since March 1st, that scoring offense collapsed, to 2.61 goals per game (21st).
Applying that comparison to the other end of the ice, their scoring defense was middle of the pack (2.89 goals allowed per game/16th in the league) through February 28th. Since then, the Flyers have allowed 4.00 goals per game, dead last in the league since March 1st. The change in goal differential of plus-0.50 per game to minus-1.39 goals per game, a swing of almost two goals per game overall in the wrong direction, has put the Flyers in a bind from which they seem unlikely to escape this season.
Buffalo Sabres (Thursday/7:00 at Capital One Arena)
The Caps will wrap up their season series with the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday in Washington. The Caps carry a 6-0-1 record against Buffalo into this contest, although the series has not been as dominant for the Caps on the scoreboard as in the win-loss columns. Among their six losses to the Caps, Buffalo suffered three one-goal losses (one in a shootout), and another game featured an empty net goal by the Caps in what was a one-goal game with just over a minute to play (January 14th, a 6-4 Caps win).
The Sabres made a bit of a go of it by winning three of four games (3-0-1) after coming out of a ghastly 0-15-3 slump that left them at the bottom of the league standings. But they stumbled since, going 1-2-0 in their last three games heading into the new week. The Sabres have already started clearing house as the Monday trading deadline approaches, sending defensemen Brandon Montour to the Florida Panthers, goalie Jonas Johansson to the Colorado Avalanche, Eric Staal to the Montreal Canadiens, and Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar to Boston, draft picks being the primary return in all of those deals.
It is the last bit of excitement that Sabres Nation might have this season, one that has been just so uniformly awful The Sabres are a bottom-five club in so many statistical categories – scoring (2.32 goals per game/29th), scoring defense (3.46 goals allowed per game/29th), shots per game (28.7/28th), shots allowed per game (32.6/28th), winning percentage in one-goal games (.294/27th), winning percentage in three goal or more games (.176/30th), overtime losses (six/tied for 27th), winning percentage when scoring first (.357/31st), and winning percentage when leading after two periods (.556/31st).
If there has been one ray of sunshine for the Sabres, though, and one that the Caps should pay attention to, it is the power play. The Sabres’ 21.6 percent power play ranks 13th in the league heading into the new week, although even here there is despair. Since March 1st, that power play, at 7.3 percent, ranks last in the league.
Boston Bruins (Sunday/12:00 at TD Garden)
It has not been quite like a playoff series, but three games in ten days against one opponent qualifies as close. The Caps and the Bruins will meet for that third game in ten days on Sunday afternoon after the Caps demolished the Bruins, 8-1, on Sunday night. The Bruins enter the new week in good, but not certain position to win a playoff spot, holding down fourth place in the East Division by four points over the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers with two games in hand on both teams.
But Boston is still just 9-7-4 since March 1st, ranked 17th in the league in points percentage over that span (.550). It is a thin lineup with which they are playing at the moment, missing both goaltenders – Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak – as of Sunday as well as defensemen Brandon Carlo, Charlie McAvoy, and Matt Grzelcyk. All but Grzelcyk (day-to-day) are on injured reserve.
Perhaps the addition of Taylor Hall from Buffalo will provide some needed energy to a moribund offense that has averaged only 2.45 goals per game (25th in scoring offense) in 20 games since March 1st. And perhaps the change in scenery will invigorate Hall, who after posting a 39-54-93, plus-14, season with New Jersey in 2017-2018 in which he won the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player, has gone 29-79-108, minus-41, for three teams (New Jersey, Arizona, and Buffalo). The Bruins are entering an add part of their schedule. Of their next 11 games starting with Week 14, they play the Buffalo Sabres six times, and the Islanders, Penguins and Caps five times. When Boston hosts Washington on Sunday, it will be their third game in four days, following a back-to-back set with the Islanders. They do not have an easy week ahead of them.
Hot Caps:
Cold Caps:
Weird Facts:
Potential Milestones to Reach This Week:
Nicklas Backstrom:
Alex Ovechkin:
Evgeny Kuznetsov:
John Carlson:
Zdeno Chara:
Carl Hagelin:
T.J. Oshie: