Caps Take on Avs in Denver
Caps go up against Avs on Monday in midlle match of five-game trip
Washington's road journey continues in Colorado on Monday night when the Caps make their first visit to Denver in over 26 months to take on the offensively prolific Colorado Avalanche. Monday's game is the middle match of a five-game trip for the Capitals, who split the first two games of the trip.
After falling 7-3 to the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Thursday, the Caps took it out on the Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday, doubling up the Habs by an 8-4 count. In their three games last week, the Caps won two of three while outscoring the opposition by a combined total of 20-13.
With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, there are a bevy of high-scoring games going on around the NHL these days, and the Caps have found themselves embroiled in several of them. Saturday's game was the second straight Caps game to turn on a two-minute stretch of 4-on-4 hockey in the middle of the second period.
In Thursday's loss to the Leafs, the Caps pulled to within a goal of Toronto with a John Carlson goal at 4-on-4, only to give up two goals in the same 4-on-4 sequence to the Leafs, enabling them to pull away for the win.
Saturday's game was deadlocked at 1-1 when Anthony Mantha scored a pair of 4-on-4 goals for the Caps, who also gave up a 4-on-4 goal to Montreal just 14 seconds after the second of Mantha's markers.
In their first 73 games of the season, the Caps scored just one goal at 4-on-4 and yielded three. In their last two games, they've scored four goals and they've been dented for three goals against while playing at 4-on-4.
"I think 4-on-4 is obviously more high eventful because there are less players on the ice and there's less systems involved," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "Creativity comes more into play, odd man rushes; it's just like 3-on-3 in overtime. It can be one of those games that moves quicker. And so when you take a player off of each side, more can open up.
"We talked about it from the [Toronto] game, we had a quick review on it because we're heading into the playoffs. Oftentimes in the playoffs, [the officials] will just take both players and you'll be in a 4-on-4 situation. So there's some good things that we did, and then one that we'll go back and teach on and talk about, and try to get better."
With five goals scored at 4-on-4 this season, the Caps are now tied with five other teams for second in the League in that department. But with half a dozen goals against at 4-on-4, the Caps are now tied with Ottawa for the League lead.
It isn't just the 4-on-4 that's been fueling the high scores in Caps' games - and in games around the NHL - as of late. Typically, as the season wanes and the playoffs draw nearer, games around the League become tighter and lower scoring. That doesn't seem to be the case this season, however. On nightly basis, we are seeing teams around the circuit roll up some higher goal totals than we are accustomed to seeing at this juncture of the campaign.
"I can't explain it," says Laviolette. "[The Canadiens are] a high-octane team. I think Montreal is quick and they're skilled and they're trying to push the pace and to push the attack. If we can be tight defensively, we'd like to do the same.
"You get to see skill come out at 4-on-4; I think there were three goals out there at 4-on-4 and there were [two] power-play goal[s]. Different things factor into a high-scoring game."
While the Caps were crushing the Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday, the Avs were doing the same to the Carolina Hurricanes in Denver. Colorado razed the Canes by a 7-4 count, the Avalanche's ninth straight victory. Colorado is 31-4-3 on home ice this season, easily the best home ice record in the NHL this season.
The Avalanche is averaging 3.87 goals per game this season, and it is averaging 4.18 goals per game at home in 2021-22.
Colorado is in the driver's seat in the race for the Presidents' Trophy for 2021-22. With seven games still remaining on their schedule, the Avs have already rolled up 116 points, and they have the opportunity to max out at 130 points and 62 victories.
In recent seasons, only the Tampa Bay Lightning have been in that stratosphere. The 2018-19 Lightning went 62-16-4 for 128 points, only to be unceremoniously swept aside in four games by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs that spring. Tampa Bay went on to win the Stanley Cup in each of the next two seasons.
