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The Capitals are about to start playing hockey once again. Thanks to the new bye week that the NHL and NHLPA implemented, it’s been about a week since Washington’s team has hit the ice for a game. Whether you like the bye week or not, it’s irrelevant right now. It’s here and it’s happening. Fans probably aren’t crazy about it, coaches aren’t high on the idea but players love it, who wouldn’t love five days off from work? 

You would think the bye week and off days would be great. Players have been playing hockey for three to four months and they get a rest. Great, they can get that rest and come back flying and get on the wining track right out of the gates. That hasn’t been the case.

The new NHL bye-week:

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) February 15, 2017

There have been 13 teams so far that have had their bye week and played their first game. The record for these teams after their vacation is 2-8-1. I obviously need to clarify something, 2+8+1 does not equal 13 it equals 11. The Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers both had their bye weeks at the time same and played each other coming out of them. If you count that game bye weeks teams then go to 3-9-1.

Looking at all these games it doesn’t seem off teams are getting destroyed. Here I’m going to show you all the games and all the stat lines from those games.

LA Kings lost to Arizona 5-3
LA outshot AZ 44-22, Corsi was 69-32 in favor of LA, LA won the faceoff battle 55-45, LA’s power play was 1/3 and their penalty kill was 2/3.

Calgary lost to Arizona 5-0
Calgary outshot AZ 36-32, Corsi was 53-40 in favor if CGY, AZ won the faceoff battle 46-53, CGY’s power play was 0/5 and their penalty kill was 1/1.

Pittsburgh beat the Lightning 6-2
Pittsburgh outshot TB 40-30, Corsi was 63-61 in favor of PIT, TB won the faceoff battle 52-48, PIT’s power play was 1/3 and their penalty kill was 3/4.

Philadelphia lost to New Jersey 4-1
Philadelphia outshot NJ 36-29, Corsi was 85-48 in favor of PHI, PHI won the faceoff battle 58-42, PHI’s power play was 0/6 and their penalty kill was 5/7.

New York Islanders lost to Colorado 2-1 in OT
The Isles were outshot 39-36, Corsi was 49-46 in favor of NYI, Col won the faceoff battle 65-35, NYI was 1/4 on the power play and 3/4 on the penalty kill.

New Jersey lost to San Jose 4-1
NJ were outshot 38-22, Corsi was 43-37 in favor of SJ, Faceoffs ended at 50-50, NJ was 0/2 on the power play and 6/6 on the penalty kill.

Ottawa lost the Washington 1-0
Ottawa outshot WSH 30-20, Corsi was 45-40 in favor of OTT, WSH won the faceoff battle 53-47, OTT’s power play was 0/3 and their penalty kill was 2/2.

Florida lost to LA 6-3
FLA outshot LA 39-26, Corsi was 37-36 in favor of FLA, FLA won the faceoff battle 63-37, FLA was 0/4 on the power play and 2/3 on the penalty kill.

Colorado lost to Anaheim 4-1
COL outshot ANA 34-32, Corsi was 51-45 in favor of ANA, COL won the faceoff battle 56-44, COL was 0/3 on the power play and 1/1 on the penalty kill.

Edmonton lost to Chicago 5-1
EDM outshot CHI 31-25, Corsi was 62-37 in favor of EDM, EDM won the faceoff battle 57-43, EDM was 0/2 on the power play and 0/2 on the penalty kill.

Arizona beat Winnipeg 4-3
AZ was outshot 37-29, Corsi was 49-40 in favor of WPG, AZ won the faceoff battle 55-45, AZ was 1/3 on the power play and 2/2 on the penalty kill.

I have once again left out Toronto vs New York on the 13th of January.

Teams coming off their bye weeks are 2-8-1, they are getting outscored 19-41, power plays are 4/38 and penalty kills are 27/35.

In eight of these 11 games I showed you the bye week team outshot their opponent and in eight of the 11 games the bye team also won the Corsi game. Those two things tell me that these teams aren’t really coming out flat.

What do you think? Why is the record of bye teams so bad? Do you even like the bye week as a fan?

The Capitals are going to have to find a way past these bad stats. On top of having their bye week and not playing a hockey game in a week they have to play two early games back to back possibly knocking them out of their routine even more. It’s going to be an interesting weekend for the Caps.

By CJ Witt
Follow @CJWittTHL25

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