High Ho High Ho It's Off To Chicago We Go ... Hi Ho Hi Ho....

Well fellow Caps fans, tonight I'll be well ensconced on the La-Z-Boy Love Seat/Recliner watching our Capitals take their show on the road and taking on the dull (e.g. without Sharp) Blackhawks in Chicago.  Rumor has it that Dan Snyder will be there, in person, along with progeny of the late "Chief  J Strongbow" and the Washington Redskins mascot(s) trying to show the world that he and the rest of the Redskins organization, while being generally loyal to other Washington teams have divided allegiances when it comes to other major league sports team's that "celebrate" the heritage of Native Americans, indeed as well apparently as with  Australian and New Zealand's aboriginal peoples - I hear Danny is a big fan of the "All Blacks" as well....  But I digress.
Around the interwebs lots of chatter about tonight's' game.

Peerless' prognostication:  A well played hard fought game with the Caps coming out victors in regulation by a score of 3-2.  Sure hope he's right.

Over at Japer's Rink, there is hope that Brooks Laich's return to the lineup and penalty killing prowess will be the spark the Caps need to break their current winless streak.  Also there's the usual Game Day piece there.

Okay here's some news apparently Evgeny Kuznetsov will be a healthy scratch so that Brooks Laich will be dressed.  This is the first time I know that we clearly see how Laich, a $4.5M/year third line center, is being played in a manner that takes ice time from either Kuznetsov or Burakovky.  I'm not in favor of that as you probably can infer from my earlier posts, but as a Caps fan I'm hoping Laich takes advantage of this opportunity and is a spark to get the Ward - Chimera pair going, a shorty or two out of Laich wouldn't stink either.

There's several articles on the web pointing how much imminent future success the Caps are likely to have assuming they stay disciplined, composed and true to their system.  I hope those articles are right and I agree the Caps turn up the energy level a little for all sixty minutes , stay true to the system, AND get a little better goaltending, this could still be a great season. 

In  the meantime I'm rooting for Peerless' Prognostication, a 3-2 regulation road win against a solid team like the Blackhawks would be a really excellent thing for the Capitals right about now.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Today's Numbers: 0.639 and 1.29; A Half Hour Till The Puck Drops In DC

Good Morning! And a lovely morning it is today here on the East Coast of the United States. That said, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention how solemn the images I cannot help but watch and that we all are likely seeing coming out of Japan, as well as the news that as of this minute six nuclear reactors are in a state of emergency in that country. The amount of tragedy in the world of late is truly, truly saddening and are the focus of my larger thoughts and prayers this morning. Of course, now ironically, I will turn my thoughts to the lighter side of life and that which often serves as a diversion from the worries of "normal life" - NHL Hockey in general and Washington Capitals NHL Hockey in particular.

So class, today's numbers are 0.639 and 1.29; when you looked at them did they ring a bell to you? Well they may or may not have but it doesn't matter because I, of course, will now tell you what the are. 0.639 is the number of goals per game, one Alexander Ovechkin has scored so far during his 465 game, 5 3/4+ regular season NHL career; while 1.29 is the number of points per game Ovechkin has amassed over that same period. I generally believe that over time most things like that seek to return to their statistical norm and recent game performances would also seem to indicate that "The Great 8" is also a believer and a "makerer" of that happening. As of this season, Ovechkin has played in 69 games, during which he's averaged 0.406 goals and 1.06 points per game, solid statistics and accomplishments, but somewhat below his overall career numbers. However over the past ten (10) games, the Captain of the Washington Capitals has scored 5 goals, 8 assists, and a shootout goal that won a game for the Capitals. Numbers that are starting to drive this seasons G/G and P/G numbers back up towards the prolific left wing's career statistical norms, even though everyone looking at his play this season is also seeing a more mature, defensively responsible team leader who is clearly more focused on his team's performance and achievements than his personal statistics.

Everyone who reads this blog likely already knows that over the last 10 games the Capitals have amassed a record of 9-1-0 and are basically "the hottest team" in the NHL coming in to today's game against last season's Stanley Cup Champions - the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are 8-1-1 and the second hottest team in the NHL in their last ten (10) games. The Blackhawks are one of eight (8) teams separated by a spread of five (5) points fighting for one of five (5) playoff spots, for them this game is probably even more important than it is for the Capitals. Speaking of importance, how important is this game for the Capitals. Well it's their last home game before a six game road swing; a six game swing where they will be facing teams who are either in the thick of the battle for the post season, or in the case of Ottawa a team that seems to be relishing it's current role of spoiler. So this is an important game to get that stretch off to a good start. Well it's time for the puck drop, so...


LETS GO CAPS!!!

Chicago Wins Lord Stanley's Cup in OT; 2009 - 2010 Hockey Season Almost Over

Well, history was made last night, the Chicago Blackhawks hoisted the Stanley Cup in a victory 49 years in coming. They did so thanks to a goal in overtime off the stick of a young talented hockey player from the blue collar/rust belt town of Buffalo, NY who, thankfully for his family's sake and well being, doesn't have to try and make a living doing something hard, like counting out the right amount of money required to pay for cab fare. In any case, I figured it out, Marian Hossa is NOT a jinx - it's me, the quickest way to have your hockey team lose a playoff series is for "moi" to be rooting for them.

In other big, important NHL news, it was great to see the Chicago Blackhawks in the form of one Adam Burish be so sportmanlike and magnanimous in their victory. You know, showing such respect for their opponents and all - heaping praise on them and their skill, etc. I am of course talking about - this. I am disappointed, I mean I know Pronger may be the most hated guy in the NHL by his fellow players, but I thought Burish was/is classier than he acted here. I mean it's not like he's some sort of overpaid blue-liner tying up over $7M of salary cap and clearly not even being one of the top two defensemen on his own team since he generally isn't trusted by his own coach to be on the ice in tight situations when it really matters. Or a defenseman who clearly plays up the "whinny" "B" angle/card running around saying I got hurt by a cheap shot by Ovie and then going out and laying questionable hits all over the ice himself. Oh wait a minute, I'm talking about the same guy, forget whichever of these two statements you disagree with. Of course if you disagree with both of them, immediately apply for the General Managers job of the New York Rangers as the Blackhawks have a couple of stupid contracts, I mean great players, they'd like to talk to you about before the start of next season. It's also not like he's the most overpaid goaltender in the league who negotiated a sweet deal after the best 20 or so games of his career and then hasn't done squat for his team since he got the deal. No, I thought Burish was one of the guys I liked on the Blackhawks, I still do, but I am finding myself a little more reserved in my feelings about him after that smart PR move. Of course I am glad to see more and more guys around the league start to say what they really think rather than giving us TV viewers the same, bland, canned, perfect meaningless non-insights to NHL hockey that routinely come from guys like Sidney Crosby.

On the other hand, Hockey is still being played in the AHL and the Hershey Bears have come back and regained home ice advantage - wooo whoooo - okay I'm still not into the fact the Caps got eliminated so early this post season. Sue me.

Anyway, we can now all guiltlessly begin thinking and talking about next season, even though it's not September yet. Oh and congratulations to the Blackhawks on a solid series and a solid set of playoffs. I also want to go on record, if Christobel Huet does "the right thing" and donates his Stanley Cup ring to charity so they can auction it off for a good cause, I'll get off his case. I think he should don't you - after all he did play all of 20 minutes in this years playoffs - talk about deserving of glory and accolades ...

On that note - Thank you Jose Theodore, I hope you land somewhere that appreciates you next season.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Game 1 In The Books - Blackhawks 6 - Flyers 5

Here's my random thoughts about last night's Stanley Cup Finals Game 1...

Midway through the first period I thought - if things keep up this way, the final score will be 7-6 and I have no idea who will win. Seriously, no kidding that's why I thought. Things did basically keep up that way and I wasn't far off the mark.

It only shows how little confidence the Blackhawks have in Christobel Huet that Antti Niemi was still in the Chicago net to get the victory. It also once again just resoundingly screams what a waste of $5.5M of Salary Cap Space, Hut's contract is for Chicago. As a Capitals fan I'd like to once again say thank you for the self-discipline of the Caps Management and Ownership and for Jose Theodore, these past two seasons.

Aren't the playoffs, especially when your big players need to show up and deliver big? Flyers: Richards-Carter-Gagne combined for no goals, no assists and a +/- of (-7). Not to be outdone for the Blackhawks: Kane-Toews-Byfuglien combined for zero goals, zero points and +/- of (-9). I'd say this points to a couple of things: a) both the Flyers and the Blackhawks have good coaching staffs and used the time between series to watch a fair amount of video and come up with ways to modulate the impact of the other teams' "big guns" and b) the guys assigned to keep the other teams "big guns" neutralized executed well. That said my feeling is this level of non-production will not continue through the rest of the series and one important factor for who ever wins the series will be that they will make counteracting adjustments faster than the loosing team can react to. Given last night's game it's probably going to be much more about being a "coach's series" than being about a "goaltender's series/duel" - just a hunch on my part.

Don't get me wrong, right now I'd rather be the Blackhawks and up 1-0 in the series, but there's a lot of good things the Flyers have to build on, and I can't believe that Chicago was sitting in their locker room after the game thinking it was going to be easy for them to win their first Cup since 1961. Can't see the Blackhawks sweeping this series right now.

It will be interesting to see who Peter Laviolette starts in goal for game two. Brian Boucher was clearly the best goaltender who played last night, but Leighton wasn't really the problem for the Flyers and it was really his first bad game since he took over for Boucher in the playoffs. No doubt Niemi will be in goal for Chicago and the Hawks will be hoping he has what has become his usual stellar coming back from a bad outing game in game 2. To some degree what happens there with Niemi in game two will drive the amount of swagger the Hawks have when they travel to Philly for game 3 and 4.

32:21 of Ice Time is probably too much for Philly to play Chris Pronger against the Blackhawks, but I'm not sure what choice they have. I guess if they could get it so Lukas Krajicek skated 10-12 minutes in the game and/or Ryan Parent skated 5-10 minutes in a game vice 7:03 and 00:41, they might be able to dial Pronger's ice time back to something on the order of 27 minutes. Seriously, if the game had gone to Overtime it's very conceivable Pronger could have been asked to play 40 minutes and that likely just won't work against the Blackhawks who are so deep. This is something that will likely be a key thing to watch the rest of this series.

I won't make any prediction on who will win but after last night's game it's hard for me to feel the Series won't be at least six (6) games long.

No Flyer penalties last night --- really? Well Laviolette had to be happy, even if the 22,000+ referees in United Center were slightly incredulous at times.

Second star of the game Marian Hossa --- really? Hossa played a good game but in a game where 11 goals are scored the fact that the second star of the game is a guy who didn't score a goal but had two (2) assists in 18:14 TOI just shows how distributed the Chicago offense was last night. Personally, nothing against Hoss, but I would have given the second star to Dave Boland for his unassisted short hand goal, but I always feel a "shortie" provides a team with a bunch of good karma and momentum and tend to overvalue their impact on a game.


Next game tomorrow in Chicago.

Looking At The Blackhawks - Sharks Matchup

Looking ahead to the start of the conference finals tomorrow I decided to look at the Blackhawks - Sharks match up.



First comparison - players head to head:



First Line:

Sharks: Marleau - Thorton - Heatley

Blackhawks: Byfuglien - Toews - Kane



One on one comparisons and musings:

Patrick Marleau vs. Dustin Buyfuglien

Marleau - regular season numbers: 82GP, 44 goals, 39 assists, +21, 22PIM, 12PPG, 4SHG, 6GWG, s%16.1.

playoff numbers: 10GP, 3 goals, 4 assists, -1, 8PIM, 1PPG, 0SHG, 2GWG, s%7.1.

Byfuglien - regular season numbers: 82GP, 17goals, 17 assists, -7, 94PIM, 6PPG, 0SHG, 3GWG, s%8.1.

playoff numbers: 12GP, 4 goals, 2 assists, -3, 12PIM, 2PPG, 0SHG, 1GWG, s%16.0.



Marleau gets the nod: No doubt that Byfuglien has raised his game for the playoffs but he's still -3 and has less potential to positively impact games on his own than Marleau. Further Marleau has averaged 4.2 SOG/game while "Big Buff" has averaged just 2.08 SOG/game so I think you have to give this match up to the Sharks.



Joe Thorton vs. Jonathan Toews

Thorton - regular season numbers: 79GP, 20 goals, 69 assists, +17, 54PIM, 4PPG, 1SHG, 2GWG, S%14.2.

playoff numbers - 11GP, 3 goals, 8 assists, -6, 16PIM, 1PPG, 0SHG, 1GWG, S%12.0.

Toews - regular season numbers: 76GP, 25 goals, 43 assists, +22, 47PIM, 9PPG, 1SHG, 3GWG, S%12.4.

playoff numbers - 12GP, 6 goals, 14 assists, +4, 2PIM, 4PPG, 0SHG, 2GWG, S%17.1



Toews has the edge. In the regular season they looked comparable, but here in the post season the Blackhawks Captain has raised his already excellent game while Thorton has played adequately and as expected, he really hasn't raised his game considerably, yet.



Dany Heatley vs. Patrick Kane

Heatley: regular season numbers - 82GP, 39 goals, 43 assists, +14, 54PIM, 18PPG, 1SHG, 9GWG, S% 13.9.

playoff numbers - 10GP, 2 goals, 9 assists, -3, 10PIM, 1PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%6.5.

Kane: regular season numbers - 82GP, 30 goals, 58 assists, +16, 20PIM, 9PPG, 0SHG, 6GWG, S%11.5.

playoff numbers - 12GP, 7 goals, 8 assists, +1, 4PIM, 1PPG, 1SHG, 0GWG S%20.6.



Kane gets the edge. Kane had a great regular season and has done nothing but raise his game here in the playoffs. Heatley is and has been solid but in truth in order to win this series, the entire Sharks first line likely needs to raise their game.



Overall edge goes to Chicago. So far in the playoffs the San Jose first line has been +/- negative while the entire Blackhawks first line has raised their game and the only one in +/- negative territory is Big Buff at -3. Further both Toews and Kane are at 0.5+ goals/game while Byfuglien is at 0.33 goals/game. The San Jose first line is led by Marleau at 0.3 goals per game ans a combined 0.258 goals/game for all three players.



Second Line:

Sharks: Clowe - Pavelski - Setoguchi

Blackhawks: Kopecky - Sharp - Hossa



Ryane Clowe vs. Tomas Kopecky

Clowe: regular season numbers - 82GP, 19 goals, 38 assists, +/-0, 131PIM, 2PPG, 0SHG, 2GWG, S%10.1

playoff numbers - 11GP, 2 goals, 8 assists, +5, 12PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%6.3.

Kopecky: regular season numbers - 74GP, 10 goals, 11 assists, +/-0, 28PIM, 1PPG, 0SHG, 2GWG, S%10.5.

playoff numbers - 11GP, 3 goals, 1 assist, +2, 4PIM, 1PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%17.6.



Slight edge to Clowe. Clowe gets the slight edge mainly because of his impact on the ice with 8 assists and +5, as well as his 32 SOG so far in the playoffs versus Kopecky's numbers and 17SOG.



Joe Pavelski vs. Patrick Sharp

Pavelski: regular season numbers - 67GP, 25 goals, 27 assists, +1, 26PIM, 3PPG, 1SHG, 5GWG, S%11.0.

playoff numbers - 11GP, 9 goals, 6 assists, +7, 6PIM, 5PPG, 0SHG, 3GWG, S%17.3%

Sharp: regular season numbers - 82GP, 25 goals, 41 assists, +24, 28PIM, 4PPG, 2SHG, 4GWG, S%9.1.

playoff numbers - 12GP, 5 goals, 9 assists, +2, 10PIM, 2PPG, 1SHG, 1GWG, S%11.4%.



Tight call - give the edge to Pavelski, Joe Pavelski has raised his game and his 9 post season goals including 3 game winners vs. Patrick Sharp's 5 post season goals of which 1 is a game winner gives him the edge at the start of this series.



Devin Setoguchi vs. Marian Hossa

Setoguchi: regular season numbers - 70GP, 20 goals, 16 assists, +/-0, 19PIM, 8PPG, 0SHG, 4GWG, S%12.1.

playoff numbers: 11GP, 5 goals, 3 assists, +5, 4PIM, 1PPG, 0SHG, 1GWG, S%11.4

Hossa: regular season numbers - 54GP, 24 goals, 27 assists, +24, 18PIM, 2PPG, 5SHG, 2GWG, S%12.1.

playoff numbers - 12GP, 2 goals, 8 assists, +5, 19PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 1GWG, S%5.6.



Slight edge to Setoguchi. It's hard to go against Hossa, after all as his 5 regular season SHG attest, he is one of the best talents in the game today. However the post season numbers clearly say the current edge and guy having more positive impact to his team so far this post season is Setoguchi, so you have to give him the edge right now.



Overall edge for the 2nd line goes to San Jose. Basically this is the opposite story as the one on the first line. Chicago's second line needs to step it up, though clearly for San Jose to win, their second line needs to continue to play the elevated game they have displayed so far this post season as well.



Third Line:

Sharks: Coutoure- Malhotra-Mitchell

Blackhawks: Ladd - Bolland - Versteeg



Logan Couture vs. Andrew Ladd

Coutoure: regular season numbers - 25GP, 5 goals, 4 assists, +4, 6PIM, 1PPG, 0SHG, 1GWG, S%11.9.

playoff numbers - 11GP, 3 goals, 0 assists, +2, 2PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 1GWG, S%23.1.

Ladd: regular season numbers - 82GP, 17 goals, 21 assists, +2, 67PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 1GWG, S%11.5

playoff numbers - 12GP, 1 goal, 1 assist, -2, 8PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%6.3.



Edge goes to 21 year old Logan Couture. Coutore has managed to play solid hockey both in his 25 regular season games as well as during his 8 post season games, while Ladd hasn't been much of a factor at all post season though his regular season numbers and effort shows he has the ability to deliver the goods as a solid third liner and could be a factor if he steps things up though Coutoure's 8 goals in 34 games puts him just about on a 20 goal regular season and seems to indicate he's in San Jose to stay.



Manny Malhotra vs. Dave Bolland

Malhotra: regular season numbers - 71GP, 14 goals, 19 assists, +17, 41PIM, 2PPG, 0SHG, 4GWG, S%12.6.

playoff numbers - 11GP, 1 goal, 0 assists, +/-0, 0PIM, 1PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%3.3.

Bolland: regular season numbers - 39GP, 6 goals, 10 assists, +5, 28PIM, 1PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%11.5.

playoff numbers - 12GP, 3 goals, 4 assists, -1, 18PIM, 1PPG, 1SHG, 1GWG, S%18.8.



Slight edge goes to Bolland. Manny Malhotra is one of the 7 forwards the coach Todd McLellan gives a fair amount of ice time, and his ability in the faceoff circle as well as his solid two way play is the reason why. However so far in the post season Dave Bolland has made a much greater positive impact and contribution to his team's results.



Torrey Mitchell vs. Kris Versteeg

Mitchell: regular season numbers - 56GP, 2 goals, 9 assists, +6, 27PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%3.4.

playoff numbers - 11GP, o goals, 4 assists, -4, 2PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%0.

Versteeg: regular season numbers - 79GP, 20 goals, 24 assists, +8, 35PIM, 4PPG, 3SHG, 4GWG, S%10.9.

playoff numbers - 12GP, 3 goals, 3 assists, -2, 6PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 2GWG, S%9.4.



Versteeg by a wide margin. Kris Versteeg is far and away a greater impact player than Torrey Mitchell and so far this post season his 2 game winning goals is one more than all three Shark third liners combined and his average TOI is significantly greater than either Mitchell's or Coutoure's.



Overall edge for the third line goes to Chicago by a visible margin. If this series comes down to "the grinders", especially the third liners, unless Manny Malhotra steps up his game in a big way and Torrey Mitchell has at least two or three career best games, San Jose will be in for a tough challenge. If it comes down to that, such a challenge that their blue line corps and goaltender will find difficult to rise to.



Fourth Line:

Sharks: McGinn -Nichol - Helminen

Backhawks: Eager - Madden - Burrish



Jamie McGinn vs. Ben Eager

McGinn: Regular Season Numbers - 59GP, 10 goals, 3 assists, -3, 38PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 2GWG, S%13.2

playoff numbers - 11GP, 0 goals, 0 assists, +1, 8PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%0.

Eager: Regular Season Numbers - 60GP, 7 goals, 9 assists, +9, 120PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 2GWG, S%10.3.

playoff numbers - 8GP, 0 goals, 0 assists, -1, 8PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%0.



It's basically a draw, neither McGinn or Eager have made that big an impact in the post season and as far as potential goes, Eager's edge in +/- is counterweighted by his 120 PIM, other than that their numbers are pretty similar. Eager's got more experience but his performance in 27 NHL post season contests has so far been uninspired. Basically on a college grading scale you'd give these guys both an incomplete.



Scott Nichol vs. John Madden.

Nichol: regular season numbers - 79GP, 4 goals, 15 assists, +/-0, 72PIM, 0PPG, 1SHG, 0GWG, S%4.3.

playoff numbers - 11GP, 1 goal, 1 assist, +/-0, 17PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%5.6.

Madden: regular season numbers - 79GP, 10 goals, 13 assists, -2, 12PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%7.9.

playoff numbers - 12GP, 1 goal, 0 assists, -3, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%6.7.



Another draw and this one is even closer than McGinn vs. Eager.



Dwight Helminen vs. Adam Burish

Helminen: regular season numbers - 4GP, 1 goal, 0 assist, -1, 0PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%100.

playoff numbers - 7GP, 1 goal, 0 assist, +/-0, 4PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%20.0.

Burish: regular season numbers - 13GP, 1 goal, 3 assists, +2, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%11.1.

playoff numbers - 8GP, 0 goals, 0 assists, -2, 0PIM, 0PPG, 0SHG, 0GWG, S%0.



Edge here to Helminen. While Helminen hasn't made much of his 7 playoff games in San Jose, Burish has been invisible in his 8 playoff games this season so far.



All the above said, if the series relies on the fourth liners to make a difference it's hard to give too much of an edge to San Jose. I say this because of the paltry amount of TOI that San Jose's fourth has gotten of late. So right now I call the fourth line overall a toss-up.



Defense:

San Jose: Rob Blake, Dan Boyle, Kent Huskins, Niclas Wallin, Douglas Murray, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Jason Demers.

Chicago: Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Brian Campbell, Nicklas Hjalmarsson, Jordan Hendry, Brent Sopel.



Throughout the playoffs so far San Jose has allowed an average of 2.54 goals against per game on an average of 28.1 shots against per game while Chicago has allowed an average of 2.75 goals against on an average of 28.1 shots against per game. Also, you have to take into account that Chicago played Vancouver after opening up the playoffs against Nashville, while San Jose opened against Colorado before playing the second round against Detroit. While San Jose's total average goals against is 2.54, they allowed and average GAA of 3.4 against Detroit while Chicago held Vancouver's potent offense to an average GAA of 1.833.



The edge for the defense corps goes to Chicago by a visible margin at this moment.



Goaltending:

Evgeni Nabakov vs. Antti Niemi

Nabakov: regular season numbers - 71GP, 44W, 16L, 10 OTL SV%0.922, GAA 2.43

playoff numbers - 11GP 8W, 3L, SV% 0.907, GAA 2.43.

Niemi: regular season numbers - 39GP, 26W, 7L, 4OTL, SV%0.912, GAA 2.25

playoff numbers - 12GP, 8W, 4L, SV% 0.909, GAA 2.57.



Another toss-up though if you had to pick right now I wouldn't bet against the veteran Nabakov.



What's all this mean? To means this series is going at least 6 if not 7 games and it's likely too close to call. The reason they play these games on the ice will be to see if the San Jose 1st line will return to above regular season form and Evgeni Nabokov will continue to outplay the opposing goaltender while the 2nd line continues to play as it has for the first two series and the defense continues to play solid hockey; or will Chicago's Antti Niemi and their second line raise their game while the rest of the Blackhawks play as they have so far throughout the playoffs. The answers to those questions will likely decide the series. If all that happens, then it might come down to depth and in that case you have to like Chicago's edge on the third line unless they falter. So once again - no predictions, anything could happen in this one, but it does seem likely it will be a fun series to watch.

I'll take a look at the Canadiens - Flyers match-up but probably not until they've already played their first game. So I'll give you the BLUF - Bottom Line Up Front - once again anything can happen. Neither the #8 seed Canadiens and the #7 seed Flyers were suppossed to be here. Now they both enter the Eastern Conference Finals playing solid team hockey with a lot of confidence. I'll give a minor edge to the Canadiens, for no other reason than Jaroslav Halak's solid play. However, the Flyers comeback win in game 7 of the Bruins Series where they scored four (4) unanswered goals was just tremendously impressive so again it's a really a toss-up with some amazing storylines starting with French-Canadian Simon Gagne playing with a broken foot, to Hal Gill vs. Chris Pronger though I don't know how often they will be on the ice at the same time.



Hey one last thing for us Capitals fans - Is it September yet?

Preseason Caps 6 - Blackawks 2 - That was fun and now free wings! Yeeha!

Preseason Caps 6 - Blackawks 2 - That was fun and now free wings! Yeeha!

Okay so last night I went to my first live hockey game of the season and boy was it fun - reminded me why I love live hockey and not because the Caps pasted the Blackhawks either. Because it was just "good clean fun". First lets not get too excited it was preseason and all but here's what I saw that was what I will class as

"THE GOOD:

1) The Caps that played last night were NOT the same ones that lost on Monday Night to Buffalo - this Caps team remembered how to put Shots On Goal and hey it worked... That's why in the next 7 days I can get free wings at Glory Days - YeeHa - who doesn't love free stuff?

2) The influence of having Mike Knuble on the team is indeed evident - he's not the only one crashing the net and looking to score down low. In fact one of Ovies two goals was from closer in then we've generally seen and to me, that means if "The Great 8" keeps that in his bag of tricks we might even see a 70 goal season. So in this regard a "Good" shout out goes to: Knuble, Ovie, Backstrom, Laich, Boyd Gordon and Captain Chris.

3) Mobile Defensemen and smart play by them - Shoane Morisonn joined the rush twice and had a positive impact; Tyler Sloan nice goal!; Brian Pothier is looking good and Tom Poti had a good game (except the 3 penalties...). Based on last night and the prior preseason games performance I'd say that right now Tyler Sloan is looking like fair possibility to open the season as a Washington Capital, if he does what that means, I believe is that Karl Alzner is in Hershey and the 5 and 6 slot on the depth chart any given night that 1-4 are filled by a healthy Green, Poti, Pothier and Morrisonn is split between the following 3 or 4 guys: Erskine, Sloan, Jurcina, and Schultz. The way these guys have looked in Camp and the pre-season, that would be a nice organically grown upgrade to where the Caps started last season off on the blue-line.

4) Seymeon Varlamov was very, very solid last night. He ended the night with a SV% of 0.929 and the two he let in were 1) a Power Play goal on a second shot and 2) a tip in off of one of his defenders (Mike Green). I think that unless Neuvy gets a shutout tonight he'll be starting in Hershey at the beginning of the regular season, backed up by Braden Holtby. Not hating on anybody here - just sayin' Varly's performance was hard to fault in any way.

5) I don't know if you want all that firepower on one line every night but watching the Ovechkin - Backstrom - Semin line was great fun - especially on Ovie's second goal which was the Capitals second of three power play goals of the night. Maybe this we don't really need a heavyweight enforcer approach can work. Semin's primary assist on Ovie's second goal was just classically awesome.

Wierd/Mildly Humourous/Akward Moments-Thoughts:

1) Mathieu Perrault can play at the NHL Level, however a) he's not ever likely to be your "go to face off guy" and b) he ought to know his limitations and NOT try and put moves on/out skate Bryan Campbell - though since it was a preseason game it was fun watching him try to do it.

2) The Caps scored 3 power play goals in 6 chances - nice!; the Caps gave up 2 power play goals in 6 penalties, pretty close to being ironic, eh?

3) Sickly feeling seeing Alexander Semin laying on the ice; ditto Patrick Sharp in a preseason game.

4) Interesting thought - four guys and only four guys who played last night were not +/- positive when the game ended: Mike Green, Oskar Osala, Andrew Gordon, and Kyle Wilson. Of those four only one was a Norris Trophy finalist at the end of last season, as of this morning's news the other three were all sent down to Hershey. Think the competition for roster slots is fierce in DC this fall?

5) I really need someone to give me some ideas as to what we should be "jeering" at Patrick "20 Cent" Kane when he's on the ice. "Hail A Cab" doesn't really have any relevance to ice hockey situations ... AT ALL...

Based on what we've seen so far I'd have to say the inside track for the competition for roster slots right now and the opening night lineup/roster are:

Forwards:

Lines:

1) Ovechkin - Backstrom - Knuble or Semin

2) Laich - Morrison - Knuble or Semin

3) Steckel - Beagle - Clark

4) Laing - Gordon - Bradley

Reserves: Nylander

Defense

Pairs:

A) Green - Morrisonn

B) Poti - Jurcina

C) Pothier - Sloan

Reserves: Erskine, Schultz

Goaltenders:

Theodore

Varlamov.

Take a good look at that lineup, it shows that right now the impact of the extra defenseman the Caps have and a forward who doesn't fit their system means GMGM wil likely move somebody soon so when they go on their first West Coast road trip in mid-december they can take two reserve forwards (likely Nylander + one other) and one reserve defenseman. Also given the great caliber of play the younger guys in camp have shown so far, the Capitals are far more likely to pay Michael Nylander $5+M this year to ride the pine a lot and call up guys from Hershey who fit into the system when they are needed then they are to dress Nyls and have to try and adjust the play/game plan around whatever line he plays on.

So tonight it's the Rangers at MSG and the game is only being shown on NHLN-Canada so I may have to buy Center Ice already this season.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Summer In Bristow...Not So Lazy, But Often Hazy Days...

Well summer goes on here in scenic Bristow, VA.... Wingman was home for a while after his school year ended until last week, actually Friday, the 17th when he left for Long Beach, CA - he caught his first ship for his sea year. He's now on his way to Honolulu which he should arrive at this afternoon our time and this morning his time by my best guess. That is of course, a more educated guess thanks to technology - http://www.sailwx.info/. We haven't heard from him since he left Cali on Wednesday afternoon, I guess his Internet access on the ship while underway is limited if not non-existent due to the high cost of connectivity and that's something that hasn't changed much since I was last at sea 18 years ago. In any case tracking his progress and hoping he's enjoying this aspect of his training at "Kings Point" aka the United States Merchant Marine Academy (see http://www.usmma.edu/) is something I've been doing daily, like the parents of the other ~220 KP Cadets/Midshipmen who have children at sea. It sure beats the daylights out of what he was doing last year this time - "Indoc" - Indoctrination/Regimental Orientation. I'm quite, quite sure working on a ship beats the daylights out of doing push ups, running and getting yelled at by Mids 1, 2, and 3 years your senior for 14+ days, but then again perhaps Wingman is a closet masochist, or not nearly as bright as we two proud parents always think he is - but I'm probably right. I'm hoping to hear from him later today as I know he'll have cell phone service in HI. For us (his mother and I) this sure beats what we'd be worried about if he was returning to the Academy this week or had been an A-Split who was a Drill Instructor at Indoc. It seems there has been a few cases of confirmed Type A Influenza and that of course is just what anyone needed to increase the stress on a situation where elevated stress is always present by design - Indoctrination - NOT.

I think about those parents of this year's Plebe Candidates - most of whom are relatively unfamiliar with the Academy and many of whom live much farther away then we do so they will be feeling more helpless, detached and as such worried then we were last year about our son and wonder about what I might be able to do, say or write to ease those parts of that concern that might be unfounded and find myself with - nothing, nada, nichts, nutin' sorry. All I can say is the USMMA Medical Staff and the professionals from North Shore-LIJ got me through my four years (1979-1982) in fine form and my son seemed well cared for last year. Now I'll go back to being self-centered and hoping the phone rings and it's "our mid" from HI later today. In the meantime, there's been work and searching for news about "my Washington Capitals".

Last Saturday, since Wingman wasn't around ZI went to the last scrimmage of Development Camp at KCI (Kettler Center Iceplex). It was - well great for an Ice Hockey fan such as me and since it was packed I didn't feel like a jerk for going to KCI to see a bunch of prospects, also since the Caps have one of the better talent pipelines in the NHL and these guys were good and admission was free I didn't feel dumb either. Several guys stood out - one of whom was Joe Finely because as I arrived a little late - about midway through the first period - he laid a monster check on someone (I think it was Andrew Gordon but I'm not sure as I was still looking through the crowd for a good place to watch the rest of the game at the time). At 6-7 Finley is hard to miss, he made a few other good plays and a couple of missteps - again hard to miss; I was excited about him until this past week when he was busted in ND for basically being 22 and well stupid, as well as I suspect a little inebriated. Hopefully he'll quickly grow out of that and continue to develop this season in either SC or Hershey and we'll see if he has what it takes to play in the NHL. Others were really all four goaltenders, John Carlson, Dmitri Orlov, and Gordon and in general about five other forwards who made some pretty good plays. Fortunately we aren't far from the start of training camp, it's been a quite week for Caps news. The big news on the blogs is that Ovie started his summer training routine back in Russia and he still wants to meet Maria Sharapova. See the gratuitous picture of the stunning, blond Russian tennis star to the right if you can't figure out why. Personally. I'd have thought the Bondarenko sisters more AO's type - they have more of that "worldly look" while Maria is more "good girl next door" - with AO's scruffy bad boy look I'd think Alona Bondarenko's tattoo would be somewhat intriguing and seductive to AO. Of course perhaps it's the height that has AO wondering.

" Wait, stop get back to hockey butthead! Oh yeah forgot, lazy, hazy Sunday and all..."

Coming up this week we have Milan Jurcina's arbitration hearing or whatever other resolution that gets reached in that piece of the roster puzzle. That could make for a few days discussion, banter, etc.

Consensus around the hockey blogsphere is that Florida will have a hard time staying even close to the level they had last season given their moves, or lack there-of this off season and that Carolina is probably well poised to make a battle of it for the SE division for the Capitals. Many also agree that after last summers disastrous moves during the short "Melrose Era" Tampa Bay also have had a very good off season and Atlanta is making good, steady progress with their rebuild. On Long Island besides Swine Flue and Indoc at KP, the NY Islanders seem to be collecting goaltenders to compliment their first round pick of John Tavares - interesting moves and a commentary on the likely health of Rick DiPietro for the start of the season at least. In Chicago - could these guys in the front office have made any more bonehead mistakes, this off-season - maybe, but they would have had to really, really work hard at it - amazingly it's clear the ripple of their mistakes will haunt them for at least another year, if not longer and they are still likely to be a solid playoff team - that's how good Toews, Kane and Campbell are (IMHO).

Well I don't know about you but I just can't wait for the season, or at least Camp to start. When do you think Caps GM, George McPhee should start talking to Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom about their contract extensions? How about right after the Jurcina arbitration is settled? I say no later than Thanksgiving to start talks and have them inked no later than February. Come on, let's talk about that with some comments here boys, we need some grist for the mill. Talking about Finely throwing a kitchen table out in the street in ND doesn't cut it for me.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!