Caps Sweep Regular Season vs. Pens; Are NHL's Current Hottest Team

So much for "coasting" into the playoffs. That's four wins in a row, tops in the NHL at the moment:

1. basically without even trying,
2. against teams trying their faces off, and
   
3. without their/the NHL's best defenseman (Green) for the past two.

Wishin' you were still in red, Brent?

I should note the Blackhawks have four wins in a row too; but the Caps beat them most recently, so tie goes to the awesome.

Other sweet things about tonight: (and why didn't someone alert me to the simplicity radness of bullet points earlier?)

1. The Caps swept the season series from the Pens.
   
2. The Pens are now 0-9-1 against the Caps (0-3-1) and Devils (0-6) this season, the East's #1 and #2 teams, respectively. But the regular season means nothing. Sure.
3. Ovechkin potted two, and is now tied with Crosby for the lead in the Richard race (48).
4. The Caps continue to get absolutely screwed on the penalty disparity against the Pens, yet equal them in power play goals. 1-4 for the Pens, 1-1 for the Caps. That's 15 games in a row where the Pens have had as many or more power plays than the Caps. Hmm.
5. Jeff Schultz.

As for Schultz. If he remains healthy (quickly, find some wood and knock on it), this will be the first playoffs these Caps have ever had with him. If you recall, he was injured against the Flyers in '08, and broke his rib during game 1 against the Rags last spring and missed the rest of the playoffs.

His presence would be at least a good thing, possibly a great thing. He was a +5 with 2 assists tonight while logging 25 minutes of ice time. He absolutely shut down Crosby (power play goal) and whatever other chumps pass for "scorers" on the Pens these days. My subjective memory tells me that Malkin has a hard time solving Schultz's well-positioned, large body. What I'm saying is, Schultz could just be the secret playoff weapon nobody is talking about. If tonight is any indicator, I am right.

So hooray to the streaking Caps, losing Pens, the magical Mr. Nasty and Ovechkin back where he belongs atop the goal-scoring charts. I cannot wait to see these dinguses in the playoffs.

[Image via REUTERS/Jason Cohn]

Jeff Schultz Doesn't Need Your MVP-Caliber Goal Scoring to Feel Good About Himself

As we've all no doubt seen in the frenzy of recent profiles, tweets, blog posts, TV features and radio appearances, Jeff Schultz fever is (finally) spreading; more ink has been spilled over Jeff Schultz in recent weeks than has been spilled by the Jeff Schultz who spills ink for a living.

It's well-deserved, of course, for a player who, at age 23, has the second-highest plus/minus rating in the NHL, behind only his high-scoring teammate, Alex Ovechkin. It would be easy and perhaps logical to assume that the two statistics are related, that Schultz's +27 owes a great deal to Ovechkin's goal scoring exploits.

Wrong.

What if I told you that even-strength goals by Ovechkin account for only one-third of Schultz's plus/minus total?

What if I told you that even if all of Ovechkin's tallies were wiped from the scoresheets by some cosmic malfeasance, Schultz's plus/minus rating would still stand at +18?

What if I told you that a plus/minus rating of +18 would still place Schultz fifth among all defensemen, ahead of guys named Lidstrom and Pronger?

So while it would be easy to assume that Schultz's boat is being lifted by Ovechkin's high tide, it simply ain't true; Ovechkin has scored only nine even-strength goals with No. 55 on the ice.

Patient Capitals fans believed Schultz to be capable of this type of defensive prowess; his +13 at the end of 2008-09 hinted at it, at least. So what accounts for Schultz's dramatic statistical blossoming? Maturity and experience have to come in to play, for sure; the arrival of Bob Woods might certainly explain some of it, as well.

More likely, however, is that he's being paired with better teammates, specifically Mike Green and Tom Poti. Schultz's QualTeam has risen to .307 this season from .095 last season, placing him second among all blueliners except Green's "regular" partner, Shaone Morrisonn (.337).

With greater talent surrounding Schultz comes greater responsibility as well. Schultz's QualComp value has risen from -.006 in 2008-09 to .042 this season, which, among Caps blueliners with more than five games played, places him behind only Poti.

In short, Schultz is skating with more offensively-gifted teammates than ever before, while facing more offensively-gifted opponents. Put those two conditions into a calculator and the answer is +27, no matter who's scoring the goals.

Thanks to Behind the Net for the advanced statistics; for an explanation of QualTeam, QualComp and other stats, click here.

[Image via here]