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.
Note: 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 6 of the 2023-24 season:
- Record: 1-1-0
- Goals For: 4
- Goals Against: 8
- PK: 42.9% (3-for-7)
- PP: 0% (0-for-7)
Trending Up:
- Dylan Strome. Strome continued to have the hot hand this week, assisting on Tom Wilson’s late game-tying goal against the Sabres before picking up his team-leading eighth goal of the season in the final seconds of overtime. He also posted the second-highest xGF% on the team, behind only…
- Tom Wilson. …this guy right here. Wilson’s quick shot also got the Caps a much-needed and hard-fought point in that Sabres game, tying things up in the final minutes of regulation and setting the stage for Strome’s winner. Could do without the dumb penalty against the Oilers (and another fight against the Sabres) but no one’s perfect.
- Alex Alexeyev. Any week in which you score your first career NHL goal is a good week – congrats, Big Al!
Trending Down:
- Nic Dowd. The Caps’ fourth line was rejuvenated when Dowd returned from injury earlier this month, but lately they haven’t been getting the job done, and if he’s going to get the credit for their success, he probably deserves at least some of the blame when they don’t. Dowd logged the worst even-strength FF% Rel, the second-worst CF% Rel and second-worst (by a slim margin) xGF% Rel among forwards – and that was all at even strength. The penalty kill was another story (and it didn’t have a happy ending), where Dowd led forwards in ice time with over four minutes and having a front-row seat to two of the four power-play goals given up by the team this week. He did get an assist against the Sabres, though, so that’s a positive.
- Nick Jensen. This season has not been a banner one for Jensen, who continues to struggle to find his feet under the new coaching staff. In this week’s two games, Jensen was on the ice for two of the even-strength goals and three of the four power-play goals given up by the Caps, and had the lowest xGF% at evens among the team’s blueliners.
- Alex Ovechkin. The captain is still leading the team in points, but was fairly invisible this week, including on the increasingly frustrating power play – where he logged over 13 minutes of ice time (more than twice than any other forward) and generated just two shots on goal. It wasn’t much better at evens, where Ovechkin fired five shots on goal but was out-attempted 37-28. Bad enough that he was held off the scoresheet in both of the week’s games, but his leadership skills weren’t exactly on full display when he took an unnecessary penalty at the end of the first period against Edmonton (the first of three players with letters on their chests to end up in the penalty box that day).
Lowlight of the Week
Really this whole game could go in the “lowlight” category, but anytime you give up a goal to a scumbag like Evander Kane (and it stands up as the game-winner)…that’s the lowest of the low.
Highlight of the Week
With less than 10 seconds remaining in OT, Dylan Strome calls game: