For most of the regular season, the Capitals have played a pretty disciplined game, a nice change from previous years where the parade to the penalty box was a constant. Since the start of the season, only the Penguins (shockingly) have a lower penalties-taken-per-60 rate than the Caps’ buttoned-up 3.12, and the Caps have the fifth-best Net Pen/60 rate at .40 - meaning they’ve drawn almost a half a penalty more a game than they’ve taken.
Lately, however, they’ve been trending in the wrong direction. Over their last 15 games, they’ve taken 59 penalties for a Pen/60 rate of 4.