Each Monday throughout the season, we’ll take a look at the previous week to see who is on the upswing and who stumbled, and reflect back on a highlight and lowlight from the week.
Disclaimer: If a player is listed as “trending up”, that does not mean they have been perfect; if they are “trending down”, it doesn’t mean they had the worst week ever. So don’t come for us. Please.
Here is how things went for the Washington Capitals in Week 11 of the 2023-24 season:
- Record: 2-2-0
- Goals For: 13
- Goals Against: 18
- PK: 45.5% (5-for-11)
- PP: 40% (4-for-10)
Trending Up:
- Alex Ovechkin. Man, it’s nice to put this guy in this section again. It wasn’t a perfect week for the captain, who had his struggles like the rest of the team and was clearly a little banged up after getting twisted with Jordan Staal on Friday – but it feels like maybe he’s starting to find his way. He had five points in the team’s four games this week, including – fittingly – the game-winning goal against the Penguins for #830.
- John Carlson. Another of the team’s veteran leaders and members of the core starting to find his offensive stride again, Carlson picked up his first goal in 32 games against the Devils and then added his second goal in three games with his last-minute game-winner over the Kings on Sunday afternoon. And, oh yeah, he scored career assist #500, the first Caps’ blueliner to ever hit that milestone and one of just six active defenseman in the league to reach that mark.
- Beck Malenstyn. The fourth line has, for better or for worse, been one of the team’s best lines lately, and Malenstyn’s gritty, hard-nosed style of play has been a big reason for that success. So it’s nice to see him also get rewarded on the scoresheet, with a point in three of the last four games (including a very weird but still very satisfying goal against the Penguins right after the new year).
- The power play. Don’t look now, but the Capitals’ power play is no longer dead last in the league! …okay so it’s only ranked 27th, but getting out of that bottom spot and moving into double digits? We’ll take those baby steps. It was clicking right along this week, probably the only part of their game that was doing so somewhat consistently, with the third-best rate on the circuit (in more games than the other teams on the list) at a stalwart 40%. Now they did give up a shorthanded goal in the process…but again. Baby steps.
Trending Down:
- The penalty kill. It’s amazing how the second one thing starts to improve for this team, the other goes downhill, and that is what has happened with the penalty kill. No one gave up more than the six goals given up by the Caps this week, in 11 times shorthanded, or had a higher PPGA/game rate of 1.50 – and gave up 14 high-danger shot attempts in that span.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov. Look, at some point the Capitals just need to figure out something to do with this guy, and it’s a shame, because he has the talent and we have the memories of that talent being on display. But it’s clear that Spencer Carbery hasn’t found the answer (and no shade to him for that fact) and it’s also likely that Carbery has no choice but to find a spot for him in the lineup anyway. Yes, Kuznetsov had a two-point game against the Devils, and that was great. But before and after that? A black hole in the lineup, and one that is still getting a pretty significant chunk of ice time.
- The team defense. The Caps gave up 18 goals this week. 18. That’s a lot of goals in four games – especially considering the fact that this team was top-10 in goals-against per game at 2.79 in calendar year 2023. Over the last week? 4.50 goals per game, second-highest over that span. And the blame for that doesn’t just fall on the goalie, or even just the goalie and the defensive corps. That’s on the whole team that’s responsible for the recent string of lopsided losses and blown leads.
Lowlight of the Week
This Devils goal, scored less than a minute after the Caps had clawed their way back to a tie (and just seconds before the end of the period), was a heartbreaker.
Highlight of the Week
A new-look top line, cobbled together partway through Sunday’s matinee win over the Kings, combines hard work and skill to not only tie up the game less than two minutes after LA jumped ahead but also to mark the first point as a Cap for Mr. Max Pacioretty:
We’re throwing in an honorable mention – because we can – to this goal by Nicolas Aube-Kubel from that same game, because it was a really beautiful individual effort by #96: