Five-On-Five Alive - Pittsburgh has scored 83 goals at five-on-five this season, two more than the Capitals' total of 81. The Pens rank fourth in the league and the Caps fifth in that department.
Washington is also fifth in five-on-five goals against, having surrendered 60. Pittsburgh has permitted 72 goals at five-on-five, ranking 21st. The Caps' plus-21 five-on-five differential is second best in the league, trailing only Toronto (plus-27).
"Obviously we want to be a lot better on special teams," says Caps defenseman John Carlson, "but the foundation is at five-on-five. You can look at it two ways. When it gets to the end of the year, they start calling a lot less penalties - four-on-four even, too. Those are the two big differences.
"Our special teams needs to be big because there isn't that many opportunities. But to have that base foundation at five-on-five and accomplishing along the same lines of what we want to, I think there is room to grow and a lot of room to get better in certain areas. But certainly it has been great for us, and it's not just keeping us in games, but winning us games."
In winning 12 of their last 14 games, the Caps have outscored the opposition by a combined 43-26 at five-on-five. Carlson has been on the ice for 24 of those goals for, and only nine of those goals against at five-on-five over that span.
"With special teams, you can be terrible one game and the next game be amazing," says Carlson. "I think the five-on-five play takes a little bit longer to make corrections or to make changes that amount to something tangible, and we certainly want to focus on that point in our game right now."
Last weekend, the Caps yielded half a dozen special teams goals in just two games, giving up multiple power-play goals in both games. Yet they were able to sweep the set of back-to-backs - taking both games in the shootout - because they outscored Carolina and Buffalo by a combined 7-2 at five-on-five in those games.
In Friday's 6-5 win over the Canes in Carolina, the Caps gave up three power-play goals and a shorthanded goal, winning under those circumstances for just the second time ever in franchise history, and for the first time in more than 32 years.
"I think we're winning games with it right now, and that's important because that's one thing you can control," says Caps goaltender Braden Holtby. "You know there is going to be a lot of five-on-five play every game, you never know of there are going to be special teams or which way they're going to be. So with five-on-five being a big strength of ours right now, that breeds, consistency and I think that's why we are having success right now."
