Washington Capitals are back on track after early season struggles
Despite enduring a three-game losing streak at one point, the Washington Capitals are having a strong start.
The Washington Capitals have taken 16 out of a possible 22 points so far during the 2019 NHL season. They sit at second in the NHL in points and atop the Metropolitan Division through the NHL’S first few weeks of the season.
They did, however, endure a three-game losing streak dropping back-to-back overtime decisions 3-2 to the Hurricanes and 4-3 to the Stars before falling 6-5 in Nashville on October 10. At that point in time, the all too common Capitals twitterverse panic had set in. Calls to trade Braden Holtby, play Samsonov every night, and even consider a change behind the bench were out in full force.
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Holtby really struggled to start the season giving up 16 goals on 95 shots after his season opening 20 save performance in a win over the St Louis Blues. Since then, however, Holtby has stopped 99 of 107 shots while buoying the Caps to a three-game winning streak. While the overall season optics still don’t look great, the Capitals netminder has recovered nicely.
This doesn’t mean that the young upstart Samsonov should not see more work. We all know the Caps have some major decisions to make in regards to Holtby coming up in the near future as the 30-year-old is set to hit free agency.
It is imperative for the Caps to see what they have in Samsonov and I expect he will continue to see a good percentage of the starts in DC. He is 3-1-0 on the year with a 1.84 GAA and a .933 SV%. The starts will be there.
And in regards to Rierden… Many folks were frustrated when he unveiled his new line combinations in the wake of the three-game losing streak. The move of Jakub Vrana to the third line, the elevation of Carl Hagelin to the second line, and the reunion of Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie have worked out swimmingly so far. The Caps have tallied 19 goals in the four games since the wholesale changes.
It certainly helped that the Caps were able to get Michal Kempny back and get their defense pairings set up in the manner they desire. Kempny has rejoined John Carlson on the top pairing with Dmitry Orlov playing with Nick Jensen on the second pair while Jonas Siegenthaler teams up with Radko Gudas to round out the pairings. The left right desire pairings are together and the Caps have looked better defensively since they have gotten the groupings they wanted.
I say all this to remind Capitals fans of this: 82 games is a long season. There will be ups and downs, bumps and bruises, and peaks and valleys throughout the journey. John Carlson isn’t going to score 149 points as he’s on pace to do right now.
Ovechkin, Oshie, and the other big guns might have a lapse where the puck just won’t go in the net. Three game slides will happen. Holtby’s game might go to hell for a few weeks. The revamped bottom six might struggle to provide secondary scoring. Injuries will come up at some point unfortunately as well.
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But remember, 100 points teams make the playoffs in the NHL more often than not. Most 100 points teams lose 30+ games in a season. The idea is to remain in the hunt and make it to playoff hockey. And the Capitals have done so in five straight seasons and 11 of the last 12. Ride the wave folks, they’ll be alright.