A Second Look: Capitals 4, Panthers 3

The Short Story

After a scoreless first period, Alex Ovechkin scored on the power play with just over a minute gone in the second, his 19th. The Panthers answered with goals from Vincent Trocheck (4) and Dylan Olsen (2) less than two minutes apart. The second half of the period would see the Caps tie the Cats then take the lead on goals from Brooks Laich (4) and Karl Alzner (3).

Andre Burakovsky scored to double the Panthers, 4-2 early in the final frame, and Florida could only muster one more marker, by Nick Bjugstad (15) with two minutes remaining. Florida’s power play was 0-for-5, marred by a failed five-on-three for just under a minute in halfway through the third period. The game also saw Alex Ovechkin in a scary collision with Roberto Luongo. Lou stayed in, but Al Montoya came on in relief to open the last period.

The above chart shows that the Panthers got out to a good start through the first six minutes, followed by two long flatlines while the Caps generated a lot of offensive threats towards the Florida goal. The period ended with Washington enjoying a 26-to-10 lead in Corsi events. The Caps would hold onto that edge in the second, but not extend it. Although the period ended with the Capitals up 3-2, the Panthers actually led in Corsi, 25-to-24 through the frame. The third period would again see the Cats let their desperation dictate the terms of their offense, getting 26 shot attempts towards the Washington goal while only surrendering 12 chances. Still, each team added one marker in the final period, leaving the Cats just short.

The 5-on-5 Even Strength Corsi tells a quite different story. The Caps still owned a sizable lead in the first, generating 15 attempts to only six for Florida. Washington racked up almost half of their 50 even-strength shot attempts in the second period, outmuscleing the Cats, 24-to-14. Florida trailed the Caps in the third period as well, 11-to-9.

Corsi Stats (All Situations)

Florida Panthers

Name	TOI	ES TOI	Corsi For	Corsi Against	Corsi Diff	Corsi%	ZS%	C-ZS
Brian Campbell	25:57	17:23	35	11	24	76	62	14
Aaron Ekblad	25:07	17:44	36	10	26	78	71	7
Jonathan Huberdeau	15:34	11:50	22	13	9	63	64	-1
Jimmy Hayes	16:25	12:41	25	11	14	69	73	-4
Nick Bjugstad	16:55	12:28	24	13	11	65	69	-4
Brad Boyes	15:21	12:35	14	13	1	52	57	-5
Jussi Jokinen	16:03	10:14	20	17	3	54	60	-6
Dylan Olsen	14:09	10:47	6	25	-19	19	30	-11
Dave Bolland	14:57	13:08	10	23	-13	30	44	-14
Shane O’Brien	10:34	9:57	5	22	-17	19	33	-14
Derek MacKenzie	12:45	10:45	6	22	-16	21	36	-15
Scottie Upshall	12:58	11:02	7	23	-16	23	38	-15
Brandon Pirri	12:36	10:56	12	9	3	57	75	-18
Sean Bergenheim	13:55	13:01	8	9	-1	47	67	-20
Aleksander Barkov	17:15	14:03	19	14	5	58	78	-20
Dmitry Kulikov	22:39	19:31	19	28	-9	40	62	-22
Vincent Trocheck	12:27	10:17	13	10	3	57	80	-23
Willie Mitchell	21:00	19:06	19	30	-11	39	65	-26

You probably already knew this, but the Panthers had a pretty bad game, even beneath the surface. The only two Florida players to finish with a Corsi% higher than their ZS% were first defensive pairing Brian Campbell and Aaron Ekblad. Campbell was on ice for 46 Corsi events, an incredible 35 of which were positive. Ekblad enjoyed a similar night, with 36-of-46 Corsi events of the good variety. Only Campbell’s ZS was markedly lower. So, in short, Soupy had a 76% Corsi, which compared favorably to his 62% zone starts. You’d think that his stats on the night would be helped by his time with the man advantage, but you’d be slightly wrong. He managed a 72% Corsi at even strength, with only 46% of offensive zone starts, a slight improvement over his all-situations stats.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Jimmy Hayes, Nick Bjugstad, Brad Boyes, and Jussi Jokinen finished with C-ZS in on the negative side of the AS scoresheet, but not embarrassingly so. All five of them had Corsi%’s over 50%, and zone starts only slightly higher, respectively.
Dylan Olsen, Shane O’Brien, Scottie Upshall, and Derek MacKenzie each had Corsi%’s of less than a quarter, and between 30% and 38% zone starts.
Sean Bergenheim, Dmitry Kulikov, and Willie Mitchell earned Corsi%’s below half while starting over half of their shifts in the positive end of the ice surface.

Washington Capitals

Name	TOI	ES TOI	Corsi For	Corsi Against	Corsi Diff	Corsi%	ZS%	C-ZS
Troy Brouwer	14:56	10:50	15	16	-1	48	23	25
Nicklas Backstrom	18:55	15:22	25	12	13	68	44	24
Karl Alzner	18:57	16:05	21	17	4	55	33	22
Alex Ovechkin	17:08	14:42	24	8	16	75	54	21
Matt Niskanen	22:03	16:44	30	23	7	57	41	16
Andre Burakovsky	12:55	12:05	18	7	11	72	58	14
Marcus Johansson	14:47	12:21	18	14	4	56	44	12
Tom Wilson	10:16	10:16	10	7	3	59	50	9
Evgeny Kuznetsov	12:35	11:45	16	14	2	53	44	9
Brooks Orpik	24:18	19:23	16	32	-16	33	25	8
John Carlson	24:25	18:40	19	33	-14	37	29	8
Joel Ward	12:46	10:22	17	9	8	65	58	7
Brooks Laich	15:05	10:54	13	24	-11	35	31	4
Eric Fehr	13:55	10:49	14	15	-1	48	50	-2
Jay Beagle	14:23	10:47	10	17	-7	37	42	-5
Jason Chimera	10:55	9:26	10	7	3	59	50	-6
Mike Green	17:18	12:45	21	12	9	64	80	-16
Jack Hillen	12:23	12:19	15	8	7	65	88	-23

Nicklas Backstrom had probably the best night for the Caps in terms of positive and negative shot generation in relation to his relative zone starts. He finished with 25 positive Corsi Events and 12 negative, good for a 68% Corsi despite starting just 44% of the time in the Florida zone.
Troy Brouwer, Karl Alzner and Alex Ovechkin finished the game with similar metrics.
Jack Hillen had the worst night of anyone outside of Willie Mitchell. He started 88% of his shifts in Florida’s zone, but only 65% of all Corsi events with him on the ice were positive. Mike Green’s AS’s also looked pretty grim.
The rest of the Caps finished with a generally average game, aside from Matt Niskanen, Andre Burakovsky and Marcus Johansson, who were slightly above average.

Thanks for reading more about the Panthers’ unfortunate Sunday afternoon outing. Next up for the Cats, the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

Corsi Stats (All Situations)

Talking Points