Monday, April 2, 2018

Capitals clinch third straight Metropolitan Division title

With a huge win in Pittsburgh last night, the Washington Capitals captured the Metropolitan Division title for the third straight season.  This marks the eighth time in Alex Ovechkin's thirteen seasons that the Caps will finish tops in their division (previously the Southeast).

What's more is the performance on the ice last night.  Philipp Grubauer's magical 2018 continued, as he saved 37 shots in the 3-1 victory, nearly pitching a shutout save for yet another defensive breakdown.  Jakub Vrana was the backchecker but missed his mark, forcing Dmitry Orlov to take the low man, which left Patric Hornqvist wide open for a goal that even Patrik Stefan would bang.

In spite of that blunder (and many others), though, Grubauer stood tall.  As we have argued before here at Contrarian Sports, Grubauer has earned the starting job, leading the team when the defense has failed- something starter Braden Holtby has not been able to do this season.

Grubauer was snakebitten to start the season, earning his first win (3-1 home win over Tampa Bay) in his 9th game, and 7th start.  Since then, however, he has been the man, with a .940 save percent and an absolutely insane 1.838 GAA to go with 3 shutouts, going 15-4-2 during his run.  What's more: 18 of his 27 starts are on the road, and he has posted a respectable 9-6-3 record; Philipp is 1-3 when starting the second game of a back-to-back, or 8-3-3 when the team is rested.

His even strength save percent is .935, on par with Sergei Bobrovsky, Marc-Andre Fleury, and likely Vezina winner Pekka Rinne.  Holtby has a respectable .915, which is a far cry from the .930 career even strength save percent he has earned prior to 2017-18.

It is worth noting that despite his woes, Holtby has posted a great record against Eastern Conference playoff teams: 12-5-2.  So all is not lost.  However, we have seen time and time again that the better goalie is not necessarily the winner; the hot goalie is.

And right now, Grubauer is the hot hand.  

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