#CapsRangers Postgame Notebook: Point Taken

Caps goaltender Philipp Grubauer has a rough-looking record at 2-5-3 on the season, but he's played far better than that record would indicate. That's especially true recently, and it's also especially true that Grubauer is criminally under-supported offensively by his teammates.

On Wednesday in New York, Grubauer was criminally under-supported by his teammates defensively as well, but he still stopped all 37 shots he faced only to lose a 1-0 shootout decision to the Rangers.

"He played great," says Caps defenseman John Carlson of Grubauer. "He's been really good the past couple of games. It just stinks that we couldn't come away with some more points. He deserves a hell of a lot of a lot more than what his record is this year."

In 10 starts this season, Grubauer has received a grand total of 19 goals worth of offensive support. Earlier this season, he played nearly 400 straight minutes without the Caps owning a lead of any kind.

"It was okay," says Grubauer. "I think I've got to do a better job in the shootout there. Overall, it wasn't our best game. We gave up a lot of chances. We've struggled a little bit with a couple of plays lately. I think we've got to play a little bit smarter, and we've got to turn it around [Thursday] and get going again."

Grubauer has been excellent in his last nine appearances (seven starts). Even including a game in which he surrendered six goals against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Nov. 16, Grubauer has a 1.86 GAA and a .936 save pct. over those last nine outings, covering nearly 500 minutes of work, but he is just 2-3-2 over that span.
Video: Caps Postgame Locker Room | December 27Back-To-Back Blanks - It had been nearly six years since the Caps were shutout in consecutive contests, but Washington will go into Thursday's home game against the Boston Bruins with that dubious distinction.

Prior to losing their last two games via the shutout route to Vegas and New York, respectively, the Caps had not gone without lighting the lamp in consecutive games since March 2-4, 2012 when they were blanked in successive home games, losing 5-0 to Johan Hedberg and the New Jersey Devils and then going down 1-0 to Ilya Bryzgalov and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Caps lost both of those games on home ice.

Washington is now without a goal in its last 145:01 of playing time, dating back to early in the third period of Friday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Coyotes in Arizona.

Back-To-Back Blanks, Part Deux - Rangers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec began his NHL career with the Atlanta Thrashers, and over the years he has faced the Capitals quite a few times. His shutout of the Caps on Wednesday night marks the fourth time in his career that he has whitewashed Washington, and he has done so in consecutive starts; he also blanked the Caps by a 3-0 score back on March 21, 2015 in Winnipeg, when he was still with the Jets.

In his first nine career appearances against Washington, Pavelec went 1-7-0 with a 4.10 GAA and an .876 save pct. In his next 11 appearances after that against the Capitals, Pavelec went 7-2-1 with a pair of shutouts, a 1.53 GAA and a .926 save pct.

Pavelec's shutout of the Caps on Wednesday is the 18th of his NHL career and his fourth against Washington, the most he has registered against any opponent. Only Ken Dryden (nine) and Martin Brodeur (six) have blanked the Caps more times than Pavelec, who joins Marc-Andre Fleury, Dominik Hasek, Henrik Lundqvist, Chico Resch, Dwayne Roloson, John Vanbiesbrouck and Cam Ward as one of eight goaltenders who own four career shutouts against the Caps.

Fleury notched his fourth career shutout over the Caps in Washington's previous game, on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Nothing Doing -The Caps and Rangers were obviously scoreless after 40 minutes of play in Wednesday's game at Madison Square Garden. For Washington, Wednesday's game was its 38th game of the season, and it marked just the third time they'd gone into the third period in a scoreless tie.

The Caps and the Toronto Maple Leafs started their Oct. 17 game with 40 scoreless minutes, with the Leafs prevailing 2-0 at night's end. Less than a month later, on Nov. 12 against the Edmonton Oilers, the Caps and the Oil also played 40 scoreless minutes to start the game. Washington won that one, 2-1 in a shootout.

Road Woes - Washington started this season with three wins in its first five road games, and points in four of those five (3-1-1). Since then, the Caps have managed to win only five of 14 road games (5-7-2). Washington scored 18 goals in its first five road games (3.6 per game) but has totaled 33 goals in its last 14 road games (2.36 per game).

Down On The Farm -The AHL Hershey Bears spent Wednesday night on the road as well, and not far from the Capitals. The Bears were in Bridgeport to face the Sound Tigers, and although they jumped out to a quick and early lead, the Bears ended up on the short end of a 3-1 score at night's end.

Liam O'Brien started the scoring with his eighth goal of the season at 1:38 of the first period, Chris Bourque collecting the single assist. But unfortunately for the Bears, that was as good as it got on this night as they came out on the short end of a 3-1 final score.

The Sound Tigers owned a 2-1 lead before the first period was even six minutes old. Bridgeport added an insurance strike in the second period to account for the 3-1 final. All three Sound Tigers goals came on the power play as Bridgeport went 3-for-7 with the extra man.

Vitek Vanecek made 17 saves in a losing effort as his record falls to 5-4-0 on the season.

By The Numbers - Carlson led the Caps with 25:03 in ice time … Alex Ovechkin and Jakub Vrana led Washington with four shots on net each … Ovechkin, Madison Bowey and Matt Niskanen each had three hits to lead the Capitals … Niskanen and T.J. Oshie each blocked three shots to pace the Caps … Washington won only 19 of 51 draws (37%) in the game.