Capitals Playoff Positives: Offense

The Washington Capitals are well on their way to capturing the Metropolitan Division title and the Eastern Conference title, and find themselves in the running for the Presidents’ Trophy. While their season has not been without stumbles, there are plenty of positives about this team as they head into the postseason. Let’s talk about ’em.

First up? The scoring touch.

This Capitals team has been tremendously productive offensively this season, one of the biggest constants in their game being their ability to score seemingly at will (with a few slips here and there, as is to be expected).

The Caps currently lead the league in total goals scored, having potted 275 – a robust 3.62 goals/game. That is the most goals, and best goals-per-game rate, for a Capitals team in the Ovechkin era since 2009-10…but don’t freak out, because while both teams are offensive powerhouses, this year’s squad has produced far more at even strength while the 2010 Caps were buoyed by their power-play goals.

Consider that the ill-fated team of 15 years ago scored 79 power-play goals in 82 games, .96 goals per game – the second-most by a Caps team in the Ovechkin era. By contrast, this year’s team has, as we all know, struggled with the extra man, to the tune of just 47 power-play goals (.62 PPG/game), which rank 15th and 14th in Ovi era, respectively. Bad for the power play, of course, and there’s certainly a conversation to be had there…but getting that many goals overall, and having a significant percentage of them be at even strength, is definitely a plus going into the postseason when more is let go, penalty-wise.

So the Caps are scoring a lot, and doing so at even strength, which is great. Even better? The fact that they’re not relying on one or two guys to carry their offense. You won’t see any of the Caps in the top two or three in scoring leaguewide, and that’s because the offense is being pretty evenly distributed through the lineup.

There are currently three 30-goal scorers on this Caps squad – Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, and Aliaksei Protas – which is second-most in the league, behind only Tampa’s four. They have six 20-goal scorers, tied for first overall with Tampa and the Maple Leafs. Eight of their players have at least 45 points, which is the most in the league (no one else has more than six).

The top-six forwards have combined for 172 goals, and 388 points; the third and fourth lines (consisting of players still in the lineup), 51 goals and 119 points. All of the forwards who have skated at least 100 minutes at even strength have averaged at least one point/60, with only Duhaime checking in below even 1.5 points/60 (and not by much).

But it’s not just the forwards driving the offense. Obviously Jakob Chychrun’s 20-goal season isn’t hurting things, as one of just three blueliners to hit that mark so far, but the defense has combined for 38 goals and 197 points. In fact, not only have all six blueliners have hit 20+ points for the first time in franchise history, but they are the only team with six defenders at or above 20 points.

All of these factors combine to build a team that really is strong offensively. And while goal-scoring does tend to drop in the playoffs, starting from a higher point to begin with does help. Of the 14 teams to go into the playoffs over the last three seasons with a GF/game rate of 3.5 or above, only about half of them saw as much as a .50 goals/game drop, and only two of those teams saw it go down by more than a goal.

All in all, this is a pretty lethal offensive team – and given the first playoff concern we raised, that’s a huge positive for sure.