Your weekly look at individual Washington Capitals‘ ups and downs:
| Goalies | Trend | Rink Rank* | Notes |
| Braden Holtby |  |
 98.4% |
The NHL’s second star for November picked up right where he left off once December rolled around, helping to steal at least two points out of the three earned by his team this week. The team in front of him is having its assorted difficulties at the moment, and Holtby’s performance is allowing them to do so while not losing ground in the standings… which is huge. |
| Philipp Grubauer |  |
N/A | He’s been really, really good at opening that bench door. |
| Defensemen | |||
| Karl Alzner |  |
86.2% |
Picked up an assist on the eventual game-winner in Montreal (aka fired the puck that deflected off of Oshie’s stick) but appears to have tweaked something in the loss to the Jets and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Heal up quick, Karl – that iron man streak (to say nothing of the Caps’ defense) is in jeopardy. |
| John Carlson | |
 10.6% |
Let Paul Byron get past him on the power play, leading to the eventual Habs’ shorthanded goal Thursday night – the first one the Caps have given up this year, by the way – on a night in which nothing seemed to bounce right for the Caps. He also was on the ice for 24 shot attempts at even strength by Montreal (a trend he reversed against the Jets), and added an assist on the Caps’ only goal in Winnipeg. So… mixed bag. |
| Taylor Chorney |  |
21.9% |
Was actually one of the few Caps to be on the positive side of 50% in CF% against the Habs, then dropped to the lowest mark on the team against the Jets. He was also exiting the box for his delay-of-game penalty when Montreal scored their first goal Thursday night. Oops. |
| Matt Niskanen | |
31.1% |
No one was on for more high-danger scoring chances against the Caps at even strength then Niskanen this week (although the eight such chances for the Caps were tied for second-most, so there’s that). Added an assist against Montreal, giving him a three-game point streak that was snapped against the Jets, and now has eight points in his last 11 games. |
| Dmitry Orlov | |
60.3% |
Continues to put up good possession numbers, but didn’t he did get turned around a bit on the play that led to the overtime winner in Winnipeg. And after being red hot in the scoring department, Orlov has been held off the scoresheet for the last four games. |
| Brooks Orpik | |
N/A | Say what you will about his stats when he’s in the lineup, but there does seem to be something missing with Orpik out of the lineup. |
| Nate Schmidt | |
90.7% |
Being on the top pair can take its toll, and Schmidt took the brunt of the Montreal attack Thursday night before bouncing back with a much better effort in Winnipeg – but otherwise a pretty quiet week for Nate. |
| Forwards | |||
| Nicklas Backstrom | |
69.4% |
Tied for the team lead in points over this two-game span, with an assist against the Habs and the game-tying goal against Winnipeg (a game in which he was on the ice for 33 shot attempts by the Caps and just 11 by the Jets). Just keeps rolling along, with a five-game point streak and 14 points in his last 14 games. |
| Jay Beagle | |
29.9% |
Got pretty well beat up in terms of possession in both games, won 38% of his draws in Montreal, and was on for the overtime game-winner in Winnipeg (although not directly responsible for it). |
| Andre Burakovsky | |
27.0% |
When Burakovsky was on the ice, 15 shots went towards the opponents’ nets at even strength while a whopping 33 went the other way. But hey, at least he picked up a point on Backstrom’s goal in Winnipeg, snapping a six-game pointless streak. |
| Jason Chimera | |
24.8% |
A combined CF% under 30% for the two games, on for one goal-against and one of a series of penalties taken by the Caps in Saturday’s opening frame… yikes. |
| Stanislav Galiev | |
25.5% |
Also took a penalty against the Jets (because all the cool kids were doing it) but managed two shots on net – and a CF% of 70% at even strength – in just under seven minutes of ice time. As Burakovsky continues to struggle, it’ll be interesting to see if Galiev gets more time going forward. |
| Marcus Johansson | |
26.9% |
Had a relatively quiet outing against the Habs before injuring something in practice and sitting out the Winnipeg game. |
| Evgeny Kuznetsov | |
73.5% |
His three-game pointless streak is his longest drought of the season, but it’s hard to be all that worried about it considering that he’s still driving possession and getting chances…and is just really, really awesome at hockey in general. |
| Brooks Laich | |
73.5% |
It was Laich’s strong work along the boards that helped set up Wilson’s goal against the Habs, his second assist in the last six games, and had a CF% of 66.7% in each of the week’s two games. |
| Michael Latta | |
70.9% |
Had a relatively quiet two games overall… that is, until he tried to take out a Jet with his knee and ended up starting a line brawl in Winnipeg. The energy is good, but the outlet needs to be smarter. |
| T.J. Oshie | |
84.0% |
When Oshie’s on the ice, exciting things happen. Not always good things, mind you, but exciting nonetheless. Oshie picked up two of the Caps’ three goals in Montreal (which worked out to half of their entire production for the two games combined), but was also on for the shorthanded goal the Caps gave up and then contributed to the runaround that resulted in the OT winner Saturday evening. |
| Alex Ovechkin | |
31.6% |
Picked up a secondary assist against Montreal but was otherwise pretty well shut down by the Habs’ defense, with just a single shot on net (!) and three more that were blocked or missed the target. Of course, he followed that up with a five-shot, 11-attempt (albeit pointless) outing against the Jets, so one can only contain him for so long. |
| Justin Williams | |
89.1% |
Checked in right around 50% in Corsi-For percentage at even strength, but was held off of the scoresheet in both games this week, the first time he’s gone two straight without a point since the first week of the season. |
| Tom Wilson | |
95.0% |
Continued to have the hot hand with his second goal in as many games against Montreal, and is starting to show an opportunistic side by going to the net and making good things happen. |
*Rink Rank number is the percentage of total votes received by each player over the past week that were “thumbs up” – check all of them out here. Stats via war-on-ice.com and Hockey Analysis.