Just under Lavs we do. Defense already suspect in his system, but even more so when we drop down to 3v3. I wonder if there's a way to tell if this is true during regulation 4v4's as well.
Not sure if you’re familiar with Natural Stat Trick, but it’s a great site for hockey stats. You can sort by a lot of filters…except for 4 on 4. But if you take even strength numbers, subtract by 5 on 5 numbers, you get 4 on 4 and 3 on 3 numbers. Between last season and this season, Caps are second worst in fenwick against (all unblocked shots allowed). They are tied for 26th in scoring chance shots against. Tied for for 24th in high danger shots against (pretty much in front of the net).
Worse than the Caps across the board in those stats are the Panthers who finished with two more points last year, and off to a 7-0 start this year. Canadiens also worse at high danger shots allowed…went to the finals last year.
Haven’t analyzed it enough to see what correlates most to points on the season. A lot of different variables in hockey to go through. Maybe it sticks out right now cause they have 3 OT losses in 7 games. But maybe big picture the correlation isn’t strong compared to other things like PP, PK, etc…