Capitals’ Blue Line Breaks Loose: Defense Drives Offense in Win Over Jets
The Washington Capitals made sure to keep the good times rolling after celebrating their captain ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets. The Caps didn’t have any ceremony hangover this go around, downing the Jets 4-3 at Capital One Arena.
Good win against a veteran team. Hopefully, they do it again to the Maple Leafs on Friday.
- The five-on-five stats from NaturalStatTrick and I are still fighting from last game’s post. I don’t know where the Jets get six high-danger chances in the third period from, nor do I get where they recorded more expected goals (3.15-2.42) in this game than the Capitals. I went to check the numbers, expecting to see a shutdown third period from the Caps because that’s what it sure felt like, and I was greeted with that. I don’t know, folks. My eye test says this one wasn’t close.
- Alex Ovechkin scored his 11th goal of the season and the 908th of his career in the second period. Ovi absolutely hates the Jets/Thrashers franchise, scoring 10 goals in his last nine games against Winnipeg and recording 103 points (58g, 45a) in 76 career games against them.
- Jakob Chychrun is absolutely on fire, recording a point in his ninth straight game and a goal in his fourth straight. Per the Capitals, Chychrun is the fifth different defenseman in franchise history to record a goal streak of four or more games, joining Mike Green, Sergei Gonchar, Al Iafrate, and Calle Johansson. Green famously set the NHL record for the longest goal-scoring streak by a defenseman at eight games during the 2008-09 campaign.
- John Carlson also scored again, giving him six goals on the season, which already tops his goal total (5) from last season. Carlson now has 22 points (6g, 16a) in 23 games this season.
- The scoring in the win was spread evenly across the roster, as nine different Capitals players recorded one point. I’ll pick out Connor McMichael as one who I thought had a very strong game, scoring the game-winning goal and recording six shots on goal, three individual scoring chances, two individual high-danger chances, and one shot block. He also went 9-7 in the faceoff circle.
- Charlie Lindgren earned his fourth win of the season, making 18 saves on 21 shots faced. Per MoneyPuck, he saved 1.65 more goals than expected. At the other end, Eric Comrie allowed 1.56 more than expected. I thought Lindgren was great, but again, I don’t totally buy the expected goals numbers from this game.
- The Capitals currently sit third in the Metropolitan Division with 28 standings points, but the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers are only one point back and have two games in hand on the Caps. The Flyers have six total regulation wins this season, which just tells me the league needs to rework how many points are awarded for OT/shootout wins, but that’s a discussion for another day.
- Happy Thanksgiving, my dear readers of these posts.
Defensive Spotlight: Calen Bullock earns his game ball for TNF masterpiece
To start, I want to fill you in on a little secret. A couple of months back, when this Defensive Spotlight series was in its earliest stages, I mapped out the players I wanted to put a spotlight on each week of the season moving forward, and this was supposed to be the Tommy Townsend week.
Yes, Tommy Townsend is a punter, so he more accurately falls under the 'Special Teams' umbrella than he does the 'Defense' umbrella, but I had this plan where I would make the joke that because Tommy Townsend looks like he could've been a pilgrim at the first Thanksgiving, it's only fair that I covered him on the week of Thanksgiving.
But then Calen Bullock's Thursday Night Football masterpiece against the Buffalo Bills happened, and I decided to pivot. And boy, I've gotta say that I'm very proud of myself because I was still able to work the pilgrim joke into this week's spotlight anyway, and now I get to write about Bullock instead. It's a win for all parties involved, including you, because even with as much faith as I have in myself as a writer, Calen Bullock is just a bigger draw than Tommy Townsend will ever be.
Well, except for back in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Calen Bullock's 2025 Season to Date
What the stats are saying: 37 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 6 passes defended, 4 interceptions, 1 forced fumble, 65.8 PFF Grade (40th among 94 qualified safeties)
What DeMeco Ryans said about Calen Bullock after last Thursday's win: "The way our defensive line hunted, of course, that was great, but Calen Bullock is the guy for me,” Ryans said, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 Houston. “The way he went out and intercepted the ball two times, forced a fumble to get us in plus territory there. My favorite play is the one that ended it. A lot of emotions going on on the sideline through that entire drive. For Calen to come down with the interception, that was my favorite play because it meant it was over.”
What Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair said about Calen Bullock after last Thursday's win: “He’s a ball hawk. It’s just who he is. He’s one of the best in the league in being able to do that. He’s just in the right spots.”
What Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke said about Calen Bullock back in August: “I think we all know how good he is in the deep end of the field and how valuable he can be getting the ball. But I think he’s really shown growth to me, and he's putting it on himself to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to try to play down here a little bit more, do this or tackling.’ We keep stressing working on tackling with all these guys. So, I really like the way he’s attacked the offseason coming from February on.”
What the tape is saying: The tape is saying that even though this was clearly Calen Bullock's best game of the season, this is not an abberation. While the PFF grade doesn't paint the picture of a player who is among the best at his position, it feels like both the tape and the raw numbers do.
As Azeez Al-Shaair noted, Bullock is an absolute ballhawk who utilizes fantastic instincts, his 6-foot-3 frame and long arms to routinely disrupt passes downfield. Even though Burke suggested over the summer that he was entertaining the idea of moving Bullock around a little bit more, the 22-year-old has been so effective in the deep-third of the field that Houston just can't afford to lose his presence in the back end.
This season, Bullock has lined up in the deep third on 616 of his 683 snaps. He's been targeted just six times this season while playing in the box or in the slot. But again, this makes sense that Houston wouldn't be eager to move Bullock around that much, because he's been an eraser at his more natural position.
In just 28 career games, Bullock has already picked off 9 passes. According to NFL analyst Doug Farrar, Bullock has been targeted 49 times and allowed only 21 catches and 3 touchdowns, and has an opponent passer rating of 41.4.
Calen Bullock knows that much of his success -- and much of the success of the Texans secondary as a whole -- can be partially credited to a pass rush that was at its absolute best against the Buffalo Bills. But pair that pass rush with one of the most technically sound and talented secondary's in the league, and you have a defense that is capable of being the best in the National Football League.
"We know we got some bad guys on our team in front of us, and our D-line know that we’re going to do our job in the back end," Bullock told ESPN's Scott Van Pelt following the win over the Bills. "So it’s just all of us, we’re going out there, we trust each other. We trust each other. We’re the best defense in the NFL.”
