Caps Today and Game Notes for @ Pittsburgh

[Bob 0119]

Today’s Storyline

Killing Penalties, Winning Games – The Capitals were a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill against Detroit on Tuesday night, the 22nd game this season the Caps have not allowed a power play goal. The Capitals are 18-1-3 in contests where they are perfect on the penalty kill. Tonight, the Caps will try to keep Pittsburgh ’s power play off the score sheet. The Penguins are 26th in the league on the power play, converting at 16% on the season, but had a season-high four power play goals against the Islanders on Tuesday night.



Caps Care Casino Night & Auction on Jan. 24

Tickets are still available for purchase on WashingtonCaps.com. The event, benefiting Washington Capitals charities, will take place at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center from 7-10 p.m.


NOTE OF THE NIGHT

We meet again – Pittsburgh , the last team the Capitals faced last spring, is the only team in the Eastern Conference they have yet to face this season. The two teams will meet four times in the season’s final 33 games (31 for the Penguins). Last spring’s Eastern Conference Semifinal series was an epic seven-game affair won by the Penguins; it featured 14 points from Alex Ovechkin (8g-6a), a Caps record for a playoff series, including a Game 2 hat trick.



FIVE MORE NOTES NO MEDIA PERSON SHOULD BE WITHOUT

Summit meeting – Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, the No. 1 overall draft picks in 2004 and ’05, respectively, have accounted for each of the last three Hart Trophies and Lester B. Patrick Awards. Add Evgeni Malkin to the mix and these teams have also had the last three Art Ross Trophy winners.



Going Green – Mike Green carries a nine-game point streak into Thursday’s game, which is tied – with his nine-game streak from earlier this year – for the longest point streak by a defenseman this season (3g-9a, +6 in his current streak). He is one game shy of matching the Capitals record for longest point streak by a defenseman (10 games, Robert Picard in '78-79 and Al Iafrate in '92-93). Green is the only player in the NHL with three eight-game point streaks this season.



Green has points in 36 of the Capitals’ 49 games, the most on the team. He leads all NHL defensemen with 12 goals and 50 points, becoming the fifth Capitals defenseman to post three straight 50-point seasons (Stevens, Gonchar, Hatcher, Murphy).



Full 60 – Jose Theodore has won four straight games for the Capitals while posting a 1.67 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage. Tuesday night he made 44 saves, his most as a Capital. Theodore’s winning streak is his second-longest as a Capital, after his six-game streak from 12/23/08 –1/6/09.



Across the board – The Capitals are the only NHL team with:

- 10 10-goal scorers

- five players with at least six power-play goals

- three 20-goal scorers

- four players with at least 44 points

- four players at +19 or better

- three goaltenders with at least five wins



Ovi elevates – Alex Ovechkin has points in seven straight games (4g-11a, +9) and 12 of 14 (9g-18a). He has moved within four goals and two points of the league lead in those categories despite missing eight games and shares the league plus/minus lead (+27). Ovechkin has 35 points (13g-22a) in 20 games since returning from suspension. Ovechkin leads the league in goals per game and points per game.

Puck Fittsburgh!!! This game has me nervous. Hopefully Theo gets the nod again tonight, and continues to play at the high level he did versus Detroit!!

[langleyparkjoe]

right! we must beat the happy feet!

[langleyparkjoe]

Ok, so I know we have 3 more games against Fittsburgh.. I also know we beat the brains out of um during regular season just to lose to them in the playoffs last year.. buuuuuuuuuuut last night was AWESOME!!!! I was pulling my chin hair out in frustration cause the game kept being tied up but that third period, ooooh boy!!!! Great job Caps and it was even sweeter because we beat them in their house.

I looked at the standings and I just wanna make sure I get this right and please correct me if I'm wrong. Points are basically how many scores we get right (like right now we have 70)? Goals forced though, is that like how many total shot "attempts" we had that went in and/or was blocked out? I'm also basing that logic on Goals allowed vs. us, is that accurate?

[Bob 0119]

Ok, so I know we have 3 more games against Fittsburgh.. I also know we beat the brains out of um during regular season just to lose to them in the playoffs last year.. buuuuuuuuuuut last night was AWESOME!!!! I was pulling my chin hair out in frustration cause the game kept being tied up but that third period, ooooh boy!!!! Great job Caps and it was even sweeter because we beat them in their house.

I looked at the standings and I just wanna make sure I get this right and please correct me if I'm wrong. Points are basically how many scores we get right (like right now we have 70)? Goals forced though, is that like how many total shot "attempts" we had that went in and/or was blocked out? I'm also basing that logic on Goals allowed vs. us, is that accurate?

No, points are different. Points are just to determine your standings in the division/conference/league. They summarize your wins and overtime losses making it easier to tell who has the lead. Otherwise you might have trouble telling who's got the edge when the standings look like this

Team A 28-15-7
Team B 28-6-16
Team C 30-18-2
Team D 26-5-19
Team E 10-22-18

You get 2 points for a win, 1 point if you lose in overtime, and no points if you lose in regulation.

So if a team is 1-1-1 they have 3 points; 2 for the win and 1 for the Overtime loss (OTL)

So the standings for the teams in my example would be shown as:

Team B 28-6-16 72-points
Team D 26-5-19 71-points
Team A 28-15-7 63-points
Team C 31-18-2 62-points
Team E 10-22-18 38-points

OTL replaced the "tie" column as now a game will be decided by shootout if necessary, but now the winner in OT gets two points and the loser gets one.

"Goals for" are how many points you've scored in games (not including shootout goals), Goals against is how many you've had scored on you.

Shots are how many times you've hit the opponent's goal tender with the puck or scored. So a shot that misses the net entirely, or is blocked by a defenseman, does not count as a "shot".

[MDSKINSFAN]

That game was awesome last night. It is always good to beat the Penguins and Sidney Crosby. Ovi was amazing as usual. I like how he plays big against Crosby and Malkin just to prove how much better he really is. He is on a completely different level.

[langleyparkjoe]

Thank you sir and I just printed that out for my records cause I'm sure i'll forget everything you said.

[Sir_Monk]

I'm so pissed this morning. I don't get off work until well into most Caps games. Since last season I have been DVRing games and watching them when I get home. Tonight however because the game was on the NHL network, they blacked out the DIRECTV feed from CSN. So I got 30 seconds of pregame and 3 hours of grey screen. AHHHHHH!!

[Bob 0119]

Thank you sir and I just printed that out for my records cause I'm sure i'll forget everything you said.

Sorry Joe, I didn't mean to make it so complex, let me simplify

Points, as it pertains to teams, let you know where the team stands based on Wins (2-points) and Overtime Losses (1-point)

Points, as it pertains to individual players, are a combination of the player's Goals+Assists

Goals For is the total amount of Goals the team scored

Goals Against is the total amount scored on by the team's opponents

(Goals scored in the shootout never count in any category)

Shots is the total amount of times you've either hit the goalie with the puck, or scored. I'm not sure if hitting-the-post (where the puck misses the goalie, but hits the outside frame of the goal) counts as a shot on goal, but I believe it does.

...and as always, if you have any questions, you can hit me up!