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While much of the buzz around the Washington Capitals’ eventual 5-0 shutout victory over the Dallas Stars centered on their former starting goaltender Braden Holtby facing his longtime club for the first time, and perhaps overshadowed in the aftermath of the dominating performance by Washington’s offense and energized power play, was the strong play by their starting netminder for the night, Vitek Vanecek.
While the 5-0 victory on Friday evening might indicate otherwise, the Capitals’ performance over their last 12 games tells a different story. With players out of the lineup due to injury and COVID-19 protocol, the team’s lineup has been somewhat unstable, however the performance on the ice from game-to-game has varied to the tune of a 4-6-2 record, allowing 37 Goals Against, while scoring 29 goals themselves, and a power play that had struggled mightily until going 2-2 against Dallas.
Vanecek, while certainly having some moments during that stretch, has played extremely strong, playing in seven games while going 4-2-0 and boasting a Save Percentage of .929, and recording two shutouts, including his 29-save performance against the Stars.
The best from @vitacz15 stopping all 29 shots faced in Dallas to pick up his second shutout of the season#CapsStars | #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/JkqMv3w8OP
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 29, 2022
Over his previous four games, Vanecek’s advanced statistics show just how strong his play has been despite the overall team’s struggle to find a consistent groove.
Vitek Vanecek has a combined goals differential (xGA-GA) of +5.76 over the past 4 games. He’s given up a total of 6 goals in those 4 games and a combined sv% of .943% #ALLCAPS
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 29, 2022
During the tilt against Dallas, Vanecek stopped all seven High-Danger chances presented by the Stars’ offense, continuing his strong play when it comes to facing shots in that situation on the season.
Vanecek stopped 7 of 7 high-danger chances at 5v5 last night, improving his HDSV% (5v5) to .871 for the season, which is the third best in the league among goaltenders with 400 or minutes played. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/QxfQCYdkPv
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 29, 2022
On the season, Vanecek has played in 23 games (starting 22 of them), going 10-6-5, with a Goals-Against Average of 2.35 and Save Percentage of .916 and two shutouts. By comparison, fellow netminder Ilya Samsonov has played in 22 games (starting 20), and gone 13-5-3, with a Goals-Against Average of 2.79, a Save Percentage of .903, and three shutouts.
However, Vanecek also holds an advantage in Quality Start Percentage (.455 to Samsonov’s .350) and in that 12-game stretch mentioned earlier, Samsonov has gone 0-3-1 in four Games Played, with an .876 Save Percentage and allowing 14 goals. OVer his past six games, Vanecek has been the definition of lights-out between the pipes.
Vitek Vanecek stopped all 30 shots faced, recording his second shutout of the season and the fourth of his career. Over his last six games, Vanecek has stopped 160 of 170 shots (.941 save percentage) and has recorded a 1.67 goals-against average.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 29, 2022
While the Capitals’ strong showing in the Lone Star state offers some promise for the overall team performance, Vanecek’s play will no doubt continue to bolster the team’s chances each night he takes the crease.
By Michael Fleetwood
Playoffs start today no question Vitek is your starter.
Lets begin the debate – keep Sammy and trade VV for Fleury for the playoffs? I would want more than Fleury for VV as the Hawks would save a $$… I would go for VV and Hags for Fleury plus a D… not sure the money works out
I have said many times that the Caps have an excellent record of drafting G so get 1 every year assuming they think he can place
Why trade the better of the two? That makes no sense.
VV is a UFA and Fleury would start…
Fleury’s not on the team.