Oilers look to exploit reeling Capitals
Champs allowing too many goals
Braden Holtby, the pride of Lloydminster, Sask., has struggled in the Capitals’ net this season.
With a pedestrian .888 save percentage and 3.62 goals-against average, Holtby looks like the goaltender who had his troubles most of last season before the Caps turned to backup Philipp Grubauer.
This year’s backup, Phoenix Copley, could be up next.
Holtby, of course, rebounded mightily in the playoffs and wound up hoisting the Stanley Cup.
Edmonton’s Cam Talbot, meanwhile, has seen his normal workload reduced substantially thanks to the sterling work of backup goaltender Mikko Koskinen, who has a .935 save percentage and has three wins in three starts.
Talbot has been better than Holtby this season with a .904 save percentage and a 2.81 goals-against average. And Talbot was very good in a 4-1 win over the Caps in the last meeting.
Here are five things to watch when Washington hosts Edmonton on Monday:
1
Spread the wealth
Connor McDavid figured in the first nine Oilers goals during the first four games but since then, he’s picked up points on only nine of the last 31. He’s tied for second in NHL scoring with 21 points and has points in all but one of their 13 games, but it’s not like they need him to be all-world every night now.
2 Get puck to Chiasson
Alex Chiasson has six goals on his first 12 shots and the former Cap also hit the post three times in the eight games he’s played. Hottest stick in the NHL. There’s streak scorers and then there’s Chiasson, who has played only two games where there hasn’t been a G beside his name.
3
Third-line woes
Milan Lucic hasn’t scored in 12 games since popping one on Keith Kincaid in the season-opening loss to New Jersey in Sweden. He has had only 13 shots. His centre, Ryan Strome, still has a bagel, no goals, no points in 13 games. 0-forOctober and nothing in the first two games of November. Jesse Puljujarvi, their right-winger the last two games, has one goal and one point in eight games. The fourth line, in considerably less ice time, is out-producing the third.
4
Stay out of the penalty box
The Capitals have only five wins in their first dozen games and if they didn’t have the No. 1 power play in the league (35.9 per cent), maybe they wouldn’t even have five victories. The Oilers took only one penalty in their 4-1 win at Rogers Place and not only killed it off, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a shortie.
5
Turnover machine
The Caps are having a Cup hangover. They keep saying they will turn it around, but they’re scoring four goals a game and are 5-4-3. Their power play is saving them and they’ve made scores of mistakes when they don’t have the puck. The Oilers kept saying they’d get it back on the rails last year and they never did.