The Caps’ took the ice last night with their first opportunity in franchise history to sweep a seven game series. And what a deserving foe for the distinction of being Washington’s first such potential victim. Alas, it was not to be, as Michal Neuvirth stood strong in his first playoff start since 2011 and pretty much single-handedly forced a Game 5. Congratulations Caps fans, you’ve got Friday Night plans.
Here’s a look at our breakdown from Game 1, Game 2, and Game 3.
Now let’s have a look at what worked and what didn’t in Game 4.
What Worked
If you’re not versed in the chart, understand that upward ticks are shot attempts. The Caps owned that third period, and if not for a great showing from old friend Michal Neuvirth, we’re probably looking at some free hockey, at the least.
WSH-PHI G4: Caps got a lot going against Streit-Schultz. Entire Corsi diff came in 3rd tho—gotta be better in 1st 40 pic.twitter.com/0Tg7zYZIH4
— Muneeb Alam (@muneebalamcu) April 21, 2016
That yellow in the top three rows? That’s the Ovechkin line (along with Matt Niskanen and Karl Alzner) against Claude Giroux‘s trio and those differentials are significant – the Caps outshot the Flyers 24-12 in the 12:49 of five-on-five time that both Niskanen and Giroux were out there (16-8 in Oshie’s 11.5 minutes against Giroux, and so on).
What Didn’t
Still, the scoreboard favored the bad guys after twenty in this one, and about halfway through the period the shots were an ugly 10-2. A little bit of bad habits reminiscent of the dog days of February rearing its head? Nothing to get too worked up about yet, whatever it is.
- Special Teams
For this one, the trend reversed and the special teams battle, minimal as it was, favored the Flyers.
How many extra passes did the Caps make tonight? How many worked out? For sure this is a team that’s cobbled together its fair share of highlight reel moments — for which a goal light is generally a prerequisite– but tonight it seemed like that trigger-puller was never at the end of the play, and too many great opportunities culminated in pucks trickling lazily out of the zone, or an open look at the net passed over for a chance at the cherry on top. Maybe this sort of chaff floats to the top as a result of a 3-0 series lead, but it quite certainly didn’t work tonight.