
Photo: Rob Carr / Getty Images
It’s been six months and eighty-two games, but finally, it’s time for the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. In preparation for the Caps first round series with the Maple Leafs, NoVa Caps is providing a several part series, looking at various aspects of the series. This post takes a statistical look at the two teams and how they did head-to-head.
The Caps have put themselves in a good position, winning the Presidents’ Trophy and securing home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
It’s Capitals vs Maple Leafs. The veteran Capitals, with Stanley Cup or bust expectations, vs. a team that is ahead of schedule in their rebuild and probably shouldn’t be in the playoffs just yet.
The regular season may be gone and already forgotten by some, but we can always look back at how the teams did against each other during the 82 game schedule. Here is how the Caps and Leafs did against each other.
- Washington was 2-1-0 against Toronto this season.
TEAM OFFENSE:
- The Capitals averaged 4 goals per game against the Leafs, they let up 3.33 goals per game against Toronto.
- The Caps averaged 34 shots per game this season vs Toronto, The Leafs averaged 30 shots against the Caps.
- Washington was 2/9 on the power play which put them at 22.2%. Toronto was 4/15 or 26.7% on the power play.
- The Capitals 5v5 shooting% was 11.7% vs Toronto this season. The Leafs 5v5 shooting% was 9.2%.
Possession:
- The Capitals Corsi% was 53.12 vs the Leafs this season making Toronto’s % 46.79.
Next thing I’ll point out is line combo’s and their Corsi and Scoring Chances For%. This is against the entire league for the whole season not just against each other.
- Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie: 50.25 Corsi%, 51.35 Scoring Chance For%.
- Williams-Kuznetsov-Johansson: 53.69 Corsi%, 56.03 Scoring Chance For%.
- Connolly-Eller-Burakovsky: 58.57 Corsi%, 52.83 Scoring Chance For%.
- Winnik-Beagle-Wilson: 50.20 Corsi%, 55.37 Scoring Chance For%.
- Alzner-Carlson: 45.94 Corsi%, 49.02 Scoring Chance For%.
- Orlov-Niskanen: 56.49 Corsi%, 50.44 Scoring Chance For%.
- Orpik-Shattenkirk: 54.59 Corsi%, 55.93 Scoring Chance For%.
Toronto’s line combo’s.
- Hyman-Matthews-Nylander: 55.37 Corsi%, 57.07 Scoring Chance For%.
- Komarov-Kadri-Brown: 50.49 Corsi%, 51.89 Scoring Chance For%.
- van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner: 51.55 Corsi%, 51.38 Scoring Chance For%.
- Martin-Boyle-Kaspanen: 55.32 Corsi%, 62.50 Scoring Chance For%.
- Rielly-Carrick: 53.24 Corsi%, 65.96 Scoring Chance For%.
- Gardiner-Zaitsev: 47.97 Corsi%, 52.70 Scoring Chance For%.
- Hunwick-Polak: 48.55 Corsi%, 52.76 Scoring Chance For%.
Faceoffs:
- The Capitals won over 55% of the faceoffs this season, They won 105 faceoffs and lost 84 draws.
Individual stats:
The Capitals played the Maple Leafs 3 times this season, interestingly enough no one on Washington scored more than one goal against Toronto this season.
The Maple Leafs individual stats vs Washington this season.
GOALTENDING:
- Washington’s 5v5 save% was .908% vs Toronto. The Leafs 5v5 save% was .883%.
- Holtby this season vs Toronto was 0-1-0 and had a 5.39 goals against average and .844 save%.
- With Holtby in net the Capitals allow 5 high danger shots per game. Holtby has a 82.22 high danger save%.
- Andersen was 1-0-0 against Washington this season and had a 4.00 goals against average and .875 save%.
- With Andersen in net the Maple Leafs allow 5.09 high danger shots per game. Andersen has a 82.74 high danger save%.

Chart: Reddit:/u/dangshnizzle
The Capitals and Maple Leafs drop the puck on their playoff series on Thursday, April 13th. (Complete series schedule here) Who do you got and in how many games?
By CJ Witt
Follow @CJWittTHL25
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