[12-FEB-2016] #OviWatch, #HoltBEASTWatch, and Notes on the Wild Game in Minnesota

#OviWatch

Our beloved Captain recorded a hat trick last night. This was his first hat trick since 13-Dec-13 (way back in the Dark Ages), but it was enough to propel him past Jean Béliveau and into sole possession of the #39 spot in the all-time goal-scoring list. Next up for Captain Chaos is Gilbert Perreault (no relation to Mathieu), who scored 512 goals in 1191 games played.

Perreault played his entire professional career of 17 seasons in Buffalo for the Sabres.  Selected first overall in the 1970 draft, by luck of the roulette wheel, his career would span from the 1970-71 season through the first twenty games of the 1986-87 career, at which point he retired. His number 11 was also retired by the Sabres, and Perreault is therefore the only player ever to wear that number for that team. Ovi is another hat trick of goals away from catching him, and is en fuego! right now, storming his way up the list. With 29 games remaining in the season (next on Saturday night in Dallas), he's on a good pace for scoring 50 this year yet again. 

 33 - Brian Trottier - 524 G, 1279 GP
34 - Pat Verbeek - 522 G, 1424 GP
35 - Dale Hawerchuk - 518 G, 1188 GP
36 - Pierre Turgeon - 515 G, 1294 GP
37 - Jeremy Roenick - 513 G, 1363 GP
38 - Gilbert Perreault - 512 G, 1191 GP
39 - Alex Ovechkin - 509 G, 811 GP
40 - Jean Béliveau - 507 G, 1125 GP
41 - Peter Bondra - 503 G, 1081 GP
42 - Joe Mullen - 502 G, 1062 GP
43 - Lanny McDonald - 500 G, 1111 GP
44 - Glenn Anderson - 498 G, 1129 GP

#HoltBEASTWatch

Meanwhile, between the pipes, Braden Holtby has won another game for the Caps. This brings his total for the season to a league-leading 35. 

Holtby's net saw three Wild pucks in the 3-4 victory, the last one with a Wild Man suspiciously hanging onto his right leg pad while he tried to slide to the left... but the review did not go our way, although an earlier one granting Ovi his hat trick did. Holts stopped 33 of 36 shots faced; the Caps lead the league with 40 wins in 53 games played (a 40-9-4 record), and all is right with the world.

 

Stick-tap to NHL.com for the leaderboard graphic.

[10-Feb-2016] #OviWatch #HoltBEASTWatch and some notes on Nashville....

Last night in Nashville, Alex Ovechkin scored his 31st goal of the season, a power play goal into an empty Nashville net. They still count... 

With goal #31, Ovi now has 506 goals. When he gets his 507th, he ties Jean Béliveau.



33 - Brian Trottier - 524 G, 1279 GP
34 - Pat Verbeek - 522 G, 1424 GP
35 - Dale Hawerchuk - 518 G, 1188 GP
36 - Pierre Turgeon - 515 G, 1294 GP
37 - Jeremy Roenick - 513 G, 1363 GP
38 - Gilbert Perreault - 512 G, 1191 GP
39 - Jean Béliveau - 507 G, 1125 GP
40 - Alex Ovechkin - 506 G, 810 GP
41 - Peter Bondra - 503 G, 1081 GP
42 - Joe Mullen - 502 G, 1062 GP
43 - Lanny McDonald - 500 G, 1111 GP
44 - Glenn Anderson - 498 G, 1129 GP

Also last night, Braden Holtby won his league-leading 34th game of the season.

Chasing Marty Brodeur's record of 48 wins in a season, The HoltBEAST has 30 games left in which to win 16 games, a rate of just over .500 - and quite achievable. He won't get every start, but he'll get most of them.

As for Nashville, the Caps welcomed back Marcus Johansson after the forward missed four games to injury. MoJo responded to that welcome back by scoring a goal and assisting on two others. Welcome back, MoJo!

As if that were not enough, Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded his 100th career point (another primary assist) on Justin Williams' goal. Kuzya leads the league in primary assists this season with 32.

Justin Williams notched his 17th goal of the season last night, pulling even with Nicklas Backstrom, and there are a whole lot of Caps who have more than 10 goals with 30 games remaining:

• 31 - Alex Ovechkin
• 17 - Justin Williams & Nicklas Backstrom
• 16 - TJ Oshie
• 15 - Evgeny Kuznetsov
• 14 - Jason Chimera & Marcus Johansson
• 10 - Andre Burakovsky

On the other side, we have Brooks Laich, who has played in all 51 games so far, and has one goal - one lowly goal - to show for it. Of players playing in more than a handful of games, only Taylor Chorney has fewer goals in his 43 games - and he's a defenseman, not a forward. I feel bad for Brooksy; he's been on the schneid so to speak for so long he's probably forgotten what it feels like to score a goal. Hopefully, he'll get another one soon. 

[09-Feb-2016] Wayne Gretzky on Alex Ovechkin...

"You know though, he's got the one thing that you've got to have to get to 894, you've got to have a passion for scoring goals. He has that passion for scoring goals. ...  If he can sustain his pace, there's no question in my mind that he has the ability and the talent and the work ethic to be able to do it. And if he does it, I'll be the first guy there to shake his hand. If there is one guy out there that can do it, there's no question it's him. Records are made to be broken."

~Wayne Gretzky on Alex Ovechkin

Gretzky also said the first 500 were the easy ones... But we're on #OviWatch here at IRTR, and Ovi has another chance to climb the ladder tonight in Nashville.  

This week, we have:

• 09-Feb: At Nashville Predators (First encounter) 25-20-8 record
• 11-Feb: At Minnesota Wild (First encounter) 23-20-9 record
• 13-Feb: At Dallas Stars (Caps lost 3-2 in first encounter) 33-15-5 record

so it will be very interesting to see how this plays out.  All three of these teams are in the western conference, so the Caps will play them only twice each this season. Dallas is sitting comfortably behind the Chicago Blackhawks (36-16-4) for second place in the Western Division, and Minnesota is currently out of the playoff picture. Nashville has the first wildcard spot in the western conference at the moment, with Colorado on their heels (27-24-4, Colorado is tied with Nashville in points at 58, but Nashville has done it in three fewer games played.

 
 

[08-Feb-2016] He is Iron Man... #AlznerWatch

At the end of last season, Washington Capitals defenseman Karl Alznr had played in 376 consecutive games. To date this season, he is still standing, and has surpassed John Carlson, who had to sit down for a dozen games due to injury. Alzner's consecutive game streak has extended by 51 games since the end of last year, and now stands at 427, five more than former Capitals' Iron Man Bob Carpenter, whose streak was halted at 422 games. 

Alzner needs 73 more consecutive games to break the 500 consecutive games plateau, which has happened only 22 times, according to Wikipedia, in NHL history. 

2015-16 = 376 + 82 = 458
2016-17 = 458 + 82 = 540, good for #14 on the list, ahead of Brendan Morrison (542) and Keith Yandle (521)
2017-18 = 540 + 82 = 622
2018-19 = 622 + 82 = 704
2019-20 = 704 + 82 = 786, good for #4 on the list, ahead of Craig Ramsay (776)
2020-21 = 786 + 82 = 868
2021-22 = 868 + 82 = 950, good for #2 on the list, ahead of Gary Unger(914)
2023-24 = 950 + 82 = 1032, surpassing Doug Javis for the longest career streak (currently standing at 964, from the start of his career.)

It will be well into next season before we see if Alzner makes the 500 club. I can see it happening, though... I'll put the Weagle counter together if his streak stands through this year.

[08-Feb-2016] More #OviWatch

It's very rare when I find myself agreeing with Washington Post columnist Neil Greenberg. He's pretty much a raw stats guy, and I'm a gal who leads her stories with gut instinct. Yes, I've studied some journalism - back in the Dark Ages of the late 1980s - but this blog is a pure fan site, plain and simple. I have trouble wrapping my head around advanced numerical stats and quantitative analysis. That is why, when I read this article in the Washington Post, I effectively dropped my teeth on the floor.

"Ovechkin has already overtaken Gretzky during their age-30 season, 595 adjusted goals to 579. And that includes Gretzky playing an extra season in the NHL as a 19-year-old — Ovechkin didn’t make his NHL debut until he turned 20." ~Neil Greenberg

Yes, I said it earlier this season: I believe Ovi can surpass Gretzky - and I don't mean just with adjusted goals; I mean for real, with raw numbers. Yes, he needs to score 389 more goals in his career to get there, and yes, in this era, it is much more difficult to score goals. I'd love to see what his numbers would have been if we'd had Coach Trotz instead of Coach "I'm the Smartest" Oates for those two seasons... people - including Neil Greenberg, Stats Dude Extraordinaire - have said the odds were stacked against Ovi doing so (in 2011), and not to bet on the odds of Ovi scoring 50 again (in 2013, the season Ovi hit 51 goals, and followed up in the 2014-15 season with another 53). 


Even fancystats(tm) geeks like Neil are starting to say so. See?



I do not believe Ovi is done with the 50 goal seasons, either. He has 31 games left this year, and has 30 goals in his first 49 games played (he missed two games). That puts him needing another 20 goals in 30 games, and I believe he can do it.

It'll certainly be fun watching him try.

[07-Feb-2016] Caps win vs. Devils, Flyers! 80 points (38-9-4)

The Capitals entered this weekend #1 in the League, two points ahead of the #2 Chicago Blackhawks, with six games in hand. At the end of the weekend, they are still #1 in the League, five games in hand, and a four-point lead over Chicago.

<-- This is what the League standings look like after today's games.

As of today, the Caps are up 2 games to 1 over the Philadelphia Flyers, with one game left to play (on 3/30). As for the New Jersey Devils, the Caps are up 2 games to 0 in the series, having won both games played, with two game left to be played (on 2/20 and 3/25). The Flyers sit at #20 in the League, and the Devils at #13.

After the Break... #HoltBEASTWatch and #OviWatch!

GP=Games Played
W=Wins
L=Losses
OTL=Overtime Losses
Points=(2*W)+OTL
GR=Games Remaining
Max Points=Number of points achievable if the team wins all remaining games.

[05-Feb-2016] Dammit, I lost my draft!

#HoltBEASTWatch

Braden Holtby has 31 wins! The record, held by Martin Brodeur, is 48.

I'll be adding a Weagle every time Holtby gets another win, in the hopes that he will beat Brodeur's record this season. So far, Holtby has completed  40 games this season, and has a record of 31-5-3-2 (W-L-OTL-SOL), including the games he's been pulled from (either voluntarily due to a migraine, or not).




#OviWatch
 
33 - Brian Trottier - 524 in 1279 games
34 - Pat Verbeek - 522 in in 1424 games
35 - Dale Hawerchuk - 518 in 1188 games
36 - Pierre Turgeon - 515 in 1294 games
37 - Jeremy Roenick - 513 in 1363 games
38 - Gilbert Perreault - 512 in 1191 games
39 - Jean Beliveau - 507 in 1125 games
40 - Alex Ovechkin - 504 in 807 games
41 - Peter Bondra - 503 in 1081 games
42 - Joe Mullen - 502 in 1062 games
43 - Lanny McDonald - 500 in 1111 games
44 - Glenn Anderson - 498 in 1129 games

Jean Beliveau - One of the 100 Greatest Players in NHL History

Gilbert Perreault - One of the 100 Greatest Players in NHL History

I had written up a nice bio on Jean Béliveau (b. 31-Aug-1931 - d. 2-Dec-2014) and Gilbert Perreault (b. 13-Nov-1950, no relation to Mathieu), but I accidentally closed my browser window. Stinkface. Both of these players were one-team guys, with Béliveau playing his entire career for Montreal, and Perreault for Buffalo. Ovechkin needs nine more goals to surpass them both and tie Jeremy Roenick, 10 to surpass him as well. 

Roenick (b. 17-Jan-1970) played for several teams during his 1,363-game career, including the hated Philadelphia Flyers; he now works for NBC, and is infamous among Caps fans for his constant criticism of Ovi, particularly when he finished the 2013-14 season at a minus-35. Because +/- is all about one player on the ice, right?! We don't like Roenick here at I Rock the Red. At all. 

The large Weagles each represent 100 goals. Ovi is currently at 504 goals in 807 games played. I'm looking forward to that total reaching 514 (at least!) this season. Roenick did his 513 in 1,363 games. Let's see how fast Ovi can surpass him. I can't wait.