Week 15 is when the schedule turns for the Washington Capitals. With their season series against both the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils complete, the last few weeks will be devoted to playoff-eligible teams or teams that have some playoff hopes remaining. It is a difficult stretch that will either leave the Caps playoff-ready with this trial by fire, or it will leave them spent as they head into the second season. Fortunately, the first week of this difficult stretch is a lighter workload week with only one opponent and two games on the docket.
The Opponents
New York Islanders (Thursday and Saturday/7:00pm at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum)
The Caps play the first two of a three-game set against the Islanders that constitutes the entire scheduled for the Caps in Week 15. New York heads into Week 15 in second place in the East Division standings, two points behind the Caps and one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The division is so tight, though, that a sweep by the Isles in the two games this week would push them ahead of the Caps in standings points and perhaps drop the Caps to third in the division, depending on what the Penguins do in three games against the Devils this week.
For more than six weeks, the Islanders looked to be an utterly composed, unflappable team that could not be shaken out of the discipline of systems deployed by head coach Barry Trotz. From February 22nd through April 8th, they had the best record in the league (18-4-1/.804 points percentage). They had the fifth-best scoring offense in the league over that period (3.30 goals per game) and the second-best scoring defense (2.22 goals allowed per game). They allowed the third-fewest number of shots on goal per game (27.4). They were tied for third-fewest third period goals allowed (16). They had a plus-27 differential in goals scored and allowed at 5-on-5.
But things have stalled for the Islanders over the last ten days. They are just 2-3-0 in that span, both wins coming in overtime, one against the New York Rangers and the other on Sunday night over the Philadelphia Flyers. They scored only six goals over those five games and were shut out once. They have not been especially leaky on defense, but when they allowed four goals twice in regulation in a three game period, it was unusual, only the second time this season it happened.
The Islanders are 2-3-0 against the Caps this season, but those two wins came in the teams’ last two meetings, outscoring the Caps, 9-4, after dropping the first three meetings this season by a combined 12-6 goal margin in favor of the Caps.
Hot Caps:
Cold Caps:
Weird Facts:
Potential Milestones to Reach This Week (or soon):
Nicklas Backstrom:
Alex Ovechkin:
Evgeny Kuznetsov:
John Carlson:
Zdeno Chara:
Carl Hagelin:
T.J. Oshie:
Anthony Mantha
Dmitry Orlov