Saturday Night Special
- Saturday, Feb.22
Washington Capitals vs. Detroit Red Wings
by Rink Rat
The Rat has maintained over the past few weeks that the Detroit Red Wings are surviving by the skimpiest of margins while playing on the road. Their record on the road is razor thin 13-11-4-1 which works out to 29 points in 31 games. The Wings do do a few things well while traveling - they are the fifth best Western Conference team in scoring with 81 goals (2.79) and defensively they are sixth (2.59, 75 goals against).
But man, the way they go about it. Even strength they are a ratty 50-54. Any team which can stay out of the penalty box and keep these guys playing even strength can beat them. They have potted 24 power play goals and given up 20, meaning they are just breaking even when considering five-aside and odd-man situations. The difference is short-handed goals. They've outscored the opposition on the road 7-1. There it is.
Their overall road goal scoring margin is made up entirely of their short-handed goals scoring prowess. They are 2-3 in their last five road games. The Wings don't draw many penalties on the road (101) and take about an average number themselves (138) Of course with players like Chris Chelios, Kirk Maltby, and Darren McCarty in the line-up, a team is going to take a few. Detroit has looked suspiciously like an old, tired team in recent games. They blew a three goal lead to Nashville and settled for a 5-5 draw, squandered a three goal lead to Vancouver and lost in overtime as the Canucks buried four in 18 minutes, and led into the third period and lost to Colorado.
However, they cannot be dismissed because they still have bite, as the Edmonton Oilers found out Thursday night, hammered 6-2 in Detroit. There is power in the line-up, with Brett Hull and Sergei Federov up front and the sublime Nicklas Lidstrom on defense. They have only three players with better than 20 goals (Hull and Federov with 23, Shanahan 20) and two players with 30 assists (Lidstrom 32, Federov 31) . This club has re-defined the term 'role player' and the rest of the roster chips in with the absolute minimum in scoring. The Wings could be provided a huge lift with the imminent return of Steve Yzerman. He has nearly recovered from a badly hurt knee and could play for the first time this season within days. One continuing cloudy bit is goaltending.
The Wings have throughout their high- octane years never had stellar goalkeeping and this season is no exception. Curtis Joseph looks like a man not on a mission. Against Vancouver he played the winning goal poorly, jumping when he should have gone post to post and the puck went under him while still high in the air. The fans' choice is Manny Legace but coach Dave Lewis is fearful of losing Joseph if he is benched.
The Washington Capitals tuned up for this encounter by playing a howler against the Toronto Maple Leafs, falling 6-2. They are 2-3 in their past five home games. The Leaf game was close, 3-2 Toronto with ten minutes left, but then the Capitals lost their heads late. Washington is an interesting team at home. For one thing, they score. They have a 17-9-1-2 record with a 98-85 goals for and against record. That scoring is 3.38 goals/game, 2nd in the Eastern Conference. Defensively they are 12th, so at least their fans are treated to interesting hockey. The Caps power play is 31/138, 2nd in the conference while the penalty killing overall is 21/128, 83.6% which rates 9th.
However since the All-Star break their penalty killing has been on fire at over 90%. Their odd-man differential is a healthy +12. Even strength they are slightly better than Detroit at 63-62. Washington's dominant player is Jaromir Jagr, with 31 goals and 66 points in 60 games. The only other player close to a point per game is Michael Nylander with 46 in 50. Former flash Peter Bondra is staggering along with 22 goals.
The Caps have been pounded at fairly regular intervals this season, but frequently they have followed a poor game with a good one. After losing 5-2 they won 2-1; a 3-2 win followed a 7-2 loss; 6-1 loss then a 2-2 tie; a 5-3 loss then a 2-1 victory. There have also been a couple of poor losses followed by yet another loss. However their tendency is to batten down the hatches after a bad loss, usually with good results.
The Rat thinks the Caps will follow this pattern Saturday, making for a grim affair. If the Caps keep Detroit playing even strength and Olaf Kolzig has no linger effects from the bashing he took against Tampa on Monday, then they should win it.
With these two teams coming from different conferences, we will not worry about the tie. Take the CAPS on the MONEYLINE !!!
the Rat can be reached via email @ rsbookiekiller@hotmail.com
- Saturday, Feb.22
Washington Capitals vs. Detroit Red Wings
by Rink Rat
The Rat has maintained over the past few weeks that the Detroit Red Wings are surviving by the skimpiest of margins while playing on the road. Their record on the road is razor thin 13-11-4-1 which works out to 29 points in 31 games. The Wings do do a few things well while traveling - they are the fifth best Western Conference team in scoring with 81 goals (2.79) and defensively they are sixth (2.59, 75 goals against).
But man, the way they go about it. Even strength they are a ratty 50-54. Any team which can stay out of the penalty box and keep these guys playing even strength can beat them. They have potted 24 power play goals and given up 20, meaning they are just breaking even when considering five-aside and odd-man situations. The difference is short-handed goals. They've outscored the opposition on the road 7-1. There it is.
Their overall road goal scoring margin is made up entirely of their short-handed goals scoring prowess. They are 2-3 in their last five road games. The Wings don't draw many penalties on the road (101) and take about an average number themselves (138) Of course with players like Chris Chelios, Kirk Maltby, and Darren McCarty in the line-up, a team is going to take a few. Detroit has looked suspiciously like an old, tired team in recent games. They blew a three goal lead to Nashville and settled for a 5-5 draw, squandered a three goal lead to Vancouver and lost in overtime as the Canucks buried four in 18 minutes, and led into the third period and lost to Colorado.
However, they cannot be dismissed because they still have bite, as the Edmonton Oilers found out Thursday night, hammered 6-2 in Detroit. There is power in the line-up, with Brett Hull and Sergei Federov up front and the sublime Nicklas Lidstrom on defense. They have only three players with better than 20 goals (Hull and Federov with 23, Shanahan 20) and two players with 30 assists (Lidstrom 32, Federov 31) . This club has re-defined the term 'role player' and the rest of the roster chips in with the absolute minimum in scoring. The Wings could be provided a huge lift with the imminent return of Steve Yzerman. He has nearly recovered from a badly hurt knee and could play for the first time this season within days. One continuing cloudy bit is goaltending.
The Wings have throughout their high- octane years never had stellar goalkeeping and this season is no exception. Curtis Joseph looks like a man not on a mission. Against Vancouver he played the winning goal poorly, jumping when he should have gone post to post and the puck went under him while still high in the air. The fans' choice is Manny Legace but coach Dave Lewis is fearful of losing Joseph if he is benched.
The Washington Capitals tuned up for this encounter by playing a howler against the Toronto Maple Leafs, falling 6-2. They are 2-3 in their past five home games. The Leaf game was close, 3-2 Toronto with ten minutes left, but then the Capitals lost their heads late. Washington is an interesting team at home. For one thing, they score. They have a 17-9-1-2 record with a 98-85 goals for and against record. That scoring is 3.38 goals/game, 2nd in the Eastern Conference. Defensively they are 12th, so at least their fans are treated to interesting hockey. The Caps power play is 31/138, 2nd in the conference while the penalty killing overall is 21/128, 83.6% which rates 9th.
However since the All-Star break their penalty killing has been on fire at over 90%. Their odd-man differential is a healthy +12. Even strength they are slightly better than Detroit at 63-62. Washington's dominant player is Jaromir Jagr, with 31 goals and 66 points in 60 games. The only other player close to a point per game is Michael Nylander with 46 in 50. Former flash Peter Bondra is staggering along with 22 goals.
The Caps have been pounded at fairly regular intervals this season, but frequently they have followed a poor game with a good one. After losing 5-2 they won 2-1; a 3-2 win followed a 7-2 loss; 6-1 loss then a 2-2 tie; a 5-3 loss then a 2-1 victory. There have also been a couple of poor losses followed by yet another loss. However their tendency is to batten down the hatches after a bad loss, usually with good results.
The Rat thinks the Caps will follow this pattern Saturday, making for a grim affair. If the Caps keep Detroit playing even strength and Olaf Kolzig has no linger effects from the bashing he took against Tampa on Monday, then they should win it.
With these two teams coming from different conferences, we will not worry about the tie. Take the CAPS on the MONEYLINE !!!
the Rat can be reached via email @ rsbookiekiller@hotmail.com
