Capitals Regular Season Recap

My prediction for the Capitals season was not quite what transpired.  On September 30, I predicted a 57-17-8 regular season for 122 points and 1st place in the East, which includes winning the Southeast Division.  The Capitals finished 54-15-13 for 121 points and 1st in the Southeast, 1st in the East plus 1st in the League.  I also predicted the Capitals would play Ottawa in the first round, Philadelphia in the second round and Pittsburgh in the third round.  As usual, my western prediction was wrong, I picked Anaheim to play in the Final. 

 The President's Trophy

The Capitals set team records for the most wins (54), most points (121), most road wins (24), most road points (55), most home points (66), and tied for most home wins (30).  The led the league in goals (313) and goal differential (+85).  They has the league's best powerplay by far (25.2%) and scored the most powerplay goals (79).  They led the league in goals in each period of play (92, 103, and 112).  The finished second in overtime goals (6).  They led the league in home wins (30-5-6) and tied for the lead in road wins (24-10-7).  This marked a dominating season by the Capitals. 


In the final game of the season, Jason Chimera played his 500th career game and Alexander Semin scored his 300th career point.  

Jeff Schultz (+50), Alexander Ovechkin (+45), Mike Green (+39), Nicklas Backstrom (+37) and Alexander Semin (+36) recorded the five highest plus/minus totals in the league and in team history; all are career highs. 

Many Capitals set personal career bests:

-Nicklas Backstrom recorded his first 30-goal and first 100-point season.  He set new career highs in goals (33), assists (68), and points (101).  His 68 assists is good for 3rd best in Capitals history and 3rd in the league and his 101 points is good for 7th best in tam history and 4th best in the league.  He has now played every game in his career, including playoffs. 

-Eric Belanger set new career highs in assists (26) and points (41).

-Matt Bradley set new career highs in goals (10), assists (14) and points (24).  He also scored 5 game winning goals, nearly doubling his career total.

-John Erskine set a new career high in +/- (+16).

-Eric Fehr set new career highs in games played (69), goals (21) assists (18), points (39) and +/- (+18).  This was his first 20-goal season. 

-Tomas Fleischmann set new career highs in goals (23), assists (28), points (51), and +/- (+9).  This was his first 20-goal season and his first plus season.

-Mike Green set new career highs in assists (57) and points (76).  His 57 assists are good for 4th all-time among Capitals defensemen and his 76 points are good for 3rd.  It marks his second season at better than a point per game.

-Brooks Laich set new career highs in goals (24), assists (35), points (59), powerplay goals (12), and plus/minus (+16).  It was his first plus season. 

-Quintin Laing set a new career high in goals (2).

-Brendan Morrison set a new career high in +/- (+23).

-Shaone Morrisonn set a new high in +/- (+11).

-Alexander Ovechkin set a new career high in assists (59).  That total is good for 6th in the league and 8th in team history.  He also finished third in the league with 50 goals, which is also good for 8th in team history.  He finished tied for second in the league scoring race with 109 points. 

-Tom Poti set a new career high in +/- (+26).

-Jeff Schultz set new career highs in gsmes played (73), assists (20), and points (23). 

-Alexander Semin set new career highs in goals (40) and points (84).  He scored his first two shorthanded goals of his career this season.  This was his first 40 goal season and his first 80 point season.  His 40 goals was good for 7th in the league and his 84 points was good for 13th. 

-Tyler Sloan set new career highs in games played (40), goals (2) and points (6).  He tied his career high in assists (4).

-David Steckel set new career highs in games played (79) and plus/minus (+4).  He tied his career high in assists (11).  He finished second in the league in faceoff win percentage (59.2%).  He also scored his first career powerplay goal this season. 

-Karl Alzner set a new career high in assists (5).

-Capitals rookies Jay Beagle, Mathieu Perreault, and John Carlson all scored thier first career goals and assists this season.  Carlson finished 4th among rookie defensemen in +/- with +11.  All three will be rookies again next season.

-Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore recorded 30 wins for the 4th time in his career.  That total is 8th best in team history.

-Rookie goalie Semyon Varlamov recorded 15 wins, 3rd best in team history among rookies.  His 2 shutouts are 2nd best.