Game 2: Caps Blank Bruins 4-0 In Boston

Well last evening's time watching the Capitals was much more what I was hoping for than the twitter feed vigil I spent on Thursday evening while out of town on business.  Lots of what I was hoping the Caps would be and do under the Barry Trotz coaching regime was in evidence.  The end result was better than I was hoping for as well and that was because Braden Holtby was spectacular last evening else this would have been a different game, one that would have seen the second period start with the Caps up 2-1 at best.  But there is no reason to even go there as Holtby blanked the Bruins even if it did require not one but two highlight reel saves to do it.  So lets get to the things I saw that I really liked.

1) A balanced defense 5 on 5.  As Peerless said over at Japer's Rink and I can say no better:

"Even-strength ice time was parceled out relatively evenly among the top five defensemen, ranging from 15:30 (Green) to 17:19 (Brooks Orpik). Spreading ice time among the three pairs like that (Nate Schmidt was sixth in this group with 13:55) was not something the Caps could do to good effect last season."

In earlier posts this season I highlighted how great a thing this would be - having three pairs of defensemen that the Caps could put on the ice any time in a game without worrying much about matchups to either their own lines or the opponents on the ice with them.  Last night I saw that for the first time in a regular season game.  Unfortunately what we saw doesn't bode well Jack Hillen or John Erskine as far as for either seeing much ice time this season.  What we saw that worked was a FAST and PHYSICAL body of work by all three pairs of Capital Defensemen.  My view is what we've seen in the last two seasons from Erskine likely isn't fast enough and so far Hillen hasn't been either physical or durable enough to  stay in a lineup that plays this game.  However we are seeing that Brooks Orpik is still fast enough to play this game and what he's brought to the Capitals Penalty Kill unit is, IMO, at least enough a part of its success so far this season to be worthy of mention.  Matt Niskanen's play is sublime and clearly the addition of both 2 and 44 are providing the relief that 27, 52, and 74 needed to enable them to play the game better than ever.  And while were on that point, the return of Mike Green to the lineup added significant Octane to the second power play unit but more on that later.

2) Rolling  4 lines.  Look at the TOI numbers on the Event Summary and what do you see.  Forwards even strength ice time ranges from a high of 15:13 (The Gr8: Alex Ovechkin) to a low of 06:12 (23 YO Michael Latta in his first game back from IR).  Take Latta and Liam O'Brian out of the mix and only two other forwards had less than 10:00 of even strength ice time:  NHL Rookies Andre Burakovsky (08:44) and Evgeni Kuznetsov (9:25) but both also had 1:44 of power play time and points on the scorecard.  Burakovsky had two assists on the night and Kuznetsov had one assist on the night.  These number are much different than game one's TOI distribution both up front with the forwards and back on the blue line.  In my view this bodes very well for the Capitals through the season, 82 games is a long haul and this kind of more even TOI distribution should help everyone on the team have a better, longer, healthier season.  That's more important than ever given the tempo of play this system demands through the entire 60 minutes of play.

3) Two for Four on the Power Play; four for four on the Penalty Kill.  Last season the Caps had a great power play but "not so much" on the penalty kill.  I was worried about the power play after the last 2 preseason games and the first game of the season.  Last night BOTH power play units scored.   So Barry Trotz, I think I see what you did there.  The second power play unit - moving Mike Green to basically the same spot Ovi plays on the first unit clearly works.  Green's "half wrister" isn't ass spectacular as Ovi's one timer but it was clearly effective last evening and a shooting Mike Green is a dangerous Mike Green.  With Burakovsky and Kuznetsov on that unit as well, Green isn't the only scoring threat on that unit - not even close to the only one.  As I see it now (hopefully clearly and not through rose tinted shades) Last evening I saw two Power Play units take the ice for the Capitals and on those two units any one of ten (10) skaters could find the back of the net.  Given that and the improvements we've been seeing regularly over last season by the penalty kill units, the Capitals' special teams should finish the season with a pretty solid positive goal differential.  That's something that despite having a lethal power play last season was sadly lacking.

4) Physicality - the Caps had 23 hits (led by Troy Bouwer, Michael Latta, and Alex Ovechkin with 3 a piece), 14 Blocked Shots, and 7 Takeaways.  They did that against a team known for it's physical play and all three of those things.  They clearly were not outmuscled by the Bruins and that's a real start at getting to be the gritty tough team nobody likes to play against that Barry Trotz wants them to be - nice to see things like Ovechkin playing fast, smart and physical; Brouwer being the leader in all facets, we need him to be on the second line and Latta being well Latta - I really have loved his game since that Flyers game last season where he was such a sparkplug.  Smart play NOT taking the bait from Robinson and getting the instigator minor but still going to bat for your teammate, Michael. Also it was nice to see Mike Green and Matt Niskanen giving it to, vice taking it from Milan Lucic.

There's still plenty to worry and work on for sure. 

A) The Caps really haven't controlled the puck as much as anyone would like.  Faceoffs ... a "focus area" for Trotz and staff - last night the Caps were only 36% in the faceoff circle. They need to watch lots of film of how Boston consistently win so many faceoffs, and keep working on this aspect of the game.

B) In shooting attempts (SOG, B/S and MS) the Caps were out attempted by the Bruins 58 - 38, as solid and as hard on the puck as the Caps were last evening, they need to be even more solid and harder. 

C) While the Caps scored 4 on Tukka Rask, a seldom achieved number, and are definitely shooting from closer in and higher percentage areas, they still could and need to generate more traffic in front of the net 5 on 5.  That should come as they also increase and improve their puck possession and attendant offensive zone time but it is still something that needs to be considered by the forwards along with the changes in their approach to a more intense and sustained forecheck.

All in all though the Caps are 1-0-1 after facing two tough opponents and this is a much better start than last season, IMO.  Also three points in October are also three points in April as we all learned the hard way last season.  Next up an opponent the Caps haven't had much luck with the past 20 seasons - San Jose at Verizon Center on Tuesday evening.  Be there or be square...

LETS GO CAPS!!! 

This? Or That? ...

It's getting close to time for the Capitals' Coaching and management staff to start making some real hard choices with regard to roster personnel.  So I figured I'd play "armchair GM" and make some of my own... so all of these guys are listed on the roster per the team's website this evening.  Right now the Caps list 18 forwards on the roster and 11 defensemen on the roster as well as 3 three goaltenders.  Let's do the easy thing first and say we agree with the plan for goaltenders on opening night: that's Holtby & Peters.  Now on to the "this or that's" for the defensemen.

Olesky or Hillen:  Both are 28 year old Journeyman defensemen who bring something to the table.  However in my view Olesky's size, grit, and hockey sense are all greater than Hillen, making it so Olesky is actually the guy with more upside IMO. The only thing I'd give to Hillen is he's a left hand shot.  if you have the feeling that you want a left and right hand shot on each pair that means that Olesky's partners of the guys I think at top 5 on the depth chart are Alzner & Orpik while Hillen's are Carlson, Green, and Niskanen.  Sounds like in that regard you go for Hillen but then think about it it's 1-0 with 10 minutes to play and you are Barry Trotz trying to rest you top pair for a final 10:00 surge, who'd you rather have out there for the Caps on defense Hillen and Green, Carlson or Niskanen or Olesky with either Alzner or Orpik. To me that's an easy call. All of the sudden Olesky with either Alzner or Orpik are who I send out no hesitation.  On the other hand definitely not Hillen with either Carlson or Green - in those situations in the past well it just hasn't been pretty. The 160 K of salary Cap I pick up are gravy but really not a factor at all.

Schmidt or Schilling - Both have upside and I'd keep them both in "the system" I love Schilling's size ... but ... the one closer to being NHL ready is Schmidt.  So then let's ask ...

Schmidt or Carrick - Again both deserve to stay in the system but all last year while I loved the electricity that Carrick brought at times when he was on the ice, he made enough noticeable bad "hockey decisions" that required him to save himself with his skating speed, I say Schmidt. So then let's ask ....

Schmidt or Wey - Again I like them both but I think Wey definitely needs another half to full season in Hershey before I pick him over Schmidt or Carrick and right now to me Schilling vs Wey is a "dead heat." So.. now here's my last this and this or that or that for defense ..

Erskine, Orlov, Olesky or Schmidt pick three of the four ... the question that arises when Orlov gets healthy.  Me, I go with Orlov and Olesky - a Right and a Left Hand Shot, when looking at Green, Niskanen, Carlson and Alzner that's 3 right hand shots and two lefties so I guess it's a good thing that both Erskine and Schmidt are left hand shots as well.  Erskine 6'-4" 220#, age 34, played 37 games last season had 1 goal, 3 assists, 64 hits, 56 PIM and , true grit on ice.  Schmidt 6-0", 194#, age 23, played 29 games last season in a Caps sweater, scored 2 goals, 4 assists, 6 PIM and had 18 hits. Me, I start the season with Erskine as number 8 on the depth chart on defense and let Schmidt mature a little more in Hershey.  But I'm not worried when any of these four guys gets hurt this year with the talent the Capitals have on the roster's blue line and that's the first time I felt I could say that in 7 seasons. I see the opening day roster with 8 guys listed who are blue liners:  Alzner, Carlson, Erskine, Green, Niskanen, Olesky, Orpik, and Schmidt (with Orlov on IR).

Now onto a little "forward" this or that.... Any "this or that" for the Capitals at this stage has to start with looking at the alternatives for second line center ... So then let's ask ...

Laich or Kuznetsov - why Laich - well let's start with the fact that spending $4.5M of your salary Cap (6.5+%) is a lot to spend on someone who would end up on the depth chart below the second line, then lets look at him, 31 years old, 6'-2", 210#, 10 NHL seasons under his "belt", total of 617 games played including "iron man seasons" 70+ games each season 2005 - 2012 but only 9 games played in 2012 - 13, and 51 games 2013-14.  Best seasons 2009-10; 78 games played, 25 G, 34 A, 59 points and IMO 2010 - 11 82 games played, 16 G, 32 A, 48 points (he had more goals in 2008-09 and 07-08 but I think 10 -11 was a better season for him). But the real question is at 31, 32, and 33 years of age will he ever be as good as he was 5 on 5 before he turned 30? There's no doubt in my mind Kuznetsov has more "upside" than Laich had when he was 22 let alone now that Laich is 31.  However, the question is right now, is Laich a better fit for the second line center position than Kuznetsov.  For my money the answer is  - no - I go with Kuznetsov over Laich, I want his speed and creativity at the second line center position a lot more than I want Laich's experience and conservative, safe play.  Also for Laich to reach the levels he did in his best years he has to be braver than he has been since 2010.  He has to get into the grills of goaltenders and risk getting inadvertently hit by an errant shot by a teammate ... again because at 31, even though he's in great shape he's probably a quarter step slower than he was at 26 or 27. Can he do that and durably play 65+ games this season.  Meanwhile Kuznetsov is younger at 22, faster and has creativity and vision with the puck Laich never had.  He also despite being only 22 is used to playing "in the spotlight" with 5 seasons of KHL experience and 40 games of World and World Junior Championship experience and averaging 0.72 point per game. So then lets ask ...

Kuznetsov or Burakovsky: This is a no brainer to me, Burakovsky is 19, has none of Kuznetsov's KHL or WC "creds" and is a natural wing who needs more games at a lower level learning how to be a center if he's going to be the Capitals second line center.  Don't get me wrong he's been awesome this preseason so far and will be a talent in the NHL soon, maybe this season at Left Wing but I'd let him mature another season either in Hershey or in the OHL back in Erie even.  He'll bulk up his 6'1" frame some (he's only 178#) and he could really learn to be an awesome Center and more well rounded 200', 2 - way hockey player with one more season if that's what Trotz and the Caps want from him. So then lets ask ...

Kuznetsov or Johansson: Johansson is 23 years, has played 263 regular season games and 30 playoff games in four (4) NHL seasons.  He's averaged 0.53 points per game in regular season games and 0.33 points per game in regular season games.  So why not Johansson? Well his face off % hasn't been good ever, but to be fair he's not had a lot of chance to practice and develop that skill.  However, given this season will be Kuznetsov's first full season on NHL sized ice rinks and his first season of such long length, I'd pick MoJo to start the season as the second line center. I also think MoJo is better suited to "pair" with Brouwer, the defacto second line right wing.  That means if Trotz desires he can put Laich out as the second line LW and you have three guys on that line who can take faceoffs, and have "not too shabby" footspeed...or you could go a different way for the second line LW.  But my choice as second line center on opening night is Marcus Johannson.

I then go with Kuznetsov or Fehr on the first line as the third forward with Ovechkin and Backstrom.  Fehr can play there or as the third line center between Chimera and Ward.  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Laich but with the skillz at center Fehr has developed the last season and a half, the only thing Laich brings to the table over Fehr, at the price of an additional $3M of salary Cap is a slight edge as on the penalty kill unit. So if it's me I buyout or trade Laich. Going with Kuznetsov and Fehr over Laich to round out the top "9" forwards:  Backstrom, Brouwer, Burakovsky, Chimera, Fehr, Johannson, Kuznetsov, Ovechkin, and Ward. So then lets ask ...

What about the "Energy Line": I go with three Centers: Latta - at center, Beagle at Left Wing and Casey Wellman at Right Wing sending Tom Wilson to Hersehy for more ice time and to speed his development. 

And who should be the 13th forward?  I don't really care as long as Wilson spends some time in Hershey getting 15+ minutes a game of ice time.

So that's my ideas for this or that.  I have no illusions the opening night roster will be different and Brooks Laich will still be a Capital; also the Mike Green trade rumors will persist throughout the season until he's got a contract extension in hand thanks to Sports Illustrated.  All that said I'm getting excited for the upcoming NHL season to start.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Balance ...

Balance is something that when a talented team like the Washington Capitals exhibit it, makes them almost unstoppable. Unfortunately balance is something that is often fleeting, at least so far this season. A lot of folks have talked about the search for the 60 minute game, something that a lot of Caps fans feel we may have seen once so far this season during the 18 games the Capitals have played. To be sure a consistent solid effort by an entire hockey team is a significant part in achieving that thing I am calling balance. Another thing is that the entire team is playing and executing their roles, such that no one or two players need to be on the ice an inordinate amount of time. When a team is balanced and executing a balanced game plan, there's no need for a couple of players to "carry the team." If you are now asking yourself: "What's this guy talking about?" Don't worry I'm ready to make my point and here it is. The Washington Capitals, the team I root for in the NHL, is dangerously close to being a balanced hockey team and in fact often during this season so far they have been a balanced hockey team hitting on all cylinders for 20 or more minutes a game.

What only 20 minutes a game? you say. Yes, I reply, take last evening, clearly during the second period the Capitals were not executing well and were unbalanced. Last night I'd say the Capitals played about 25 minutes of balanced hockey and that was more than enough to beat the Thrashers. Though parity is starting to be achieved throughout the league and the Thrashers are much improved over last season, not all their off season moves this summer are paying off well. Though the pick-up of Andrew Ladd was by far the best move the Thrashers made this summer, at least so far this season. The pickup and transition of Dustin Byfuglien hasn't always been smooth and last evening was one of those times it wasn't pretty for Atlanta when big Buff was on the ice. I say this in spite of his statistics as if you watched the game he was routinely "preyed" upon by the faster and better skaters on the Capitals team.

One of the positives and why I say the Capitals are getting close to achieving balance throughout an entire game is exhibited in their ice time report from last evening. Ovechkin total TOI: 17:52 avg/shift: 0:56; Green total TOI: avg/shift ; those are the numbers you want to see these two guys around every game; they are of course the top forward and top blue-liner on the team. But look at these numbers and also look at the per period numbers of these guys Matt Hendricks total TOI: 14:48 avg/shift: 0:52; Karl Alzner total TOI: 19:53, avg/shift: 0:51; David Steckel total TOI: 15:39, Avg/shift: 0:44; John Erskine total TOI: 12:29 avg/shift: 0:49 (and don't forget Erskine spent 5 minutes in the penalty box for what at least so far this season was the best hockey fight by a Capital. That's a pretty balanced line-up and play, certainly there wasn't a lot of line matching going on by the Capitals coaching staff or if there was it's not all that obvious.

Of course all those good thoughts and things aside. The second period last evening was the worst period of NHL hockey I've watched live in a pretty long time. In fact given last night was the Capitals 70th consecutive sellout and I've been there for around 53 of them, I'd say the second period in last night's game was the most painful period of hockey for me to watch live in at least 52 games. Seriously, from right after Matt Hendricks responded to Andrew Ladds' first tally of the evening at the 2:23 mark of the period until about the 15:00 mark of the period the Capitals had no chemistry let alone balance. At one point or another just about every one of the Capitals looked like they were skating in quicksand for at least one shift. Then the last five minutes of the period, well just when I thought I couldn't get more disgusted at the on ice officiating in the NHL this season, well it got worse in my opinion. There were multiple non-calls of totally obvious penalties and this is going on while the score is tied 4-4. Seriously, if you can trip a guy in the corner so bad that I'm thinking it's a marginal slew-foot, then what's the point of even having a rule? There were nights in the past when I've complained about Kerry Fraser and made fun of his hair; and Stephane Auger - don't get me started; but Dave Jackson, congratulations, you sir are why the NHL must now continue to prohibit the organists around the league from playing "Three Blind Mice..."

Thankfully, the Capitals team that returned to play the third period was much more like the team that played during the first period than the second. The truth is that the first 10 minutes of the third period was probably the best hockey that either team played last evening.

So the guys who had good games last evening, I mean good games for the entire sixty minutes:
- Matt Hendricks (+3, 3 hits, 1 goal)
- David Steckel (+3, 83% FW (19 of 23), 3 hits, 1 takeaway, 1 blocked shot, 1 goal, 1 assist)
- John Erskine (+2, 2 hits, 3 blocked shots, 1 goal (the game winner) and 1 takeaway)
- Mike Green (+2, 6 blocked shots, 1 goal, 1 assist)
- Jeff Schultz (+2, 1 assist, 2 blocked shots)
- Tyler Sloan (+2, 2 assists, 2 hits, 2 blocked shots).

Ovechkin, Semin and Backstrom owned the Thrashers in the first period and were a threat every time they were on the ice in the third period. The second period, as we say, not so much. For whatever reason last night during the second period the Thrashers basically outworked the entire Capitals team. Its hard to stay motivated with a two or three goal lead. The truth is the Thrashers first two lines are good this year. Andrew Ladd and Rich Peverley played well all night and they played hard all night. During the second period the Thrashers other young guns Evander Kane and Bryan Little also played well and came alive. In fact there were at least two instances during the second period when I wondered aloud why Mike Green didn't just stomp on Kane and on one of them he made us pay for not tying him up and neutralizing him when got the primary assist on Little's goal at the 3:07 mark of the second period to pull the Thrashers within one of the Caps. One last note on who fram the Tharshers had a good or bad night last night - statistically this season so far Nik Antropov of the Thrashers can't buy a good night. Last evening Antropov was as much a force in the Thrashers solid play in the second period as pretty much anybody other than Ladd or Peverley but he still managed to finish the evening at -3. I'm not a fantasy hockey guy but think about it so far this season Antropov is pretty much fantasy hockey death while over the last three Capitals games John Erskine has been total money. I'm thinking we'll be seeing that Fu Manchu 'stache that Erskine has been sporting for Movember until the 2011 playoffs are over the way things are going for the 30 year old Kingston, Ontario native.

In any case despite the ups and downs and ebbs and flows of the game, the Capitals managed to once again rise to the occasion and finish the night with two points as well as find themselves leading the league in the standings. To me the best coaching move of the night was leaving Michal Neuvirth in the net and letting him work his way through an evening that at one point (the end of the second period) saw him in possession of a SV% of 0.769 before recovering and progressing back towards his statical norms to finish the evening with his league leading 11th win of the young season and a SV% of 0.851 for the game. The most questionable coaching from my perspective came during the Capitals power plays late in the second period when after Bryan Little scored short handed for his second goal of the evening, the Caps juggled the power play all around trying all sorts of what to me were odd combinations while Mike Green was in the box. I just couldn't understand what the coaching staff was thinking other than something on the order of "Well since we are looking basically awful right now, let's trow the kitchen sink at 'em and see where that gets us." it didn't get us anywhere but we did manage to get out of the second period tied 4-4 and enabled us to basically play and win two points in what ended up being a 20 minute game.

Oh well, they all can't be pretty and to me the good things about last night were:

1) Michal Neuvirth fighting through his second period, where at least some of the issue was mediocre - not terrible but mediocre - rebound control and getting the victory.

2) Secondary scoring. 50% of the goals and 56.25% of the points the Capitals scored last night were done so by team members other than either top 6 forwards or Mike Green. That's a good night and a team effort by any measure.

3) Once again an active defense that is joining the rush figured in the game in a significant way. The blue line corps participated in five of the six Capitasl goals on the night. The only goal that a blue liner wasn't involved in was David Steckel's empty netter to ice the game at the 19:23 mark of the third period.

4) Alexander Semin's goal. Two reasons: a) it was the prettiest goal of the nice and it's awfully cool to see Ovie make a saucer pass to Semin in a little role reversal; and b) it was for Semin's 13th goal of the season and it moved him in front of this Crosby kid that some people out in Western Pa are always talking about. Also because it's part of the reason we're starting to see what I'd say are silly articles like this one about "the other Alex". So let me be the first or one of the first to say it - Ryan Lambert is most likely an idiot and this article is one of the silliest ones I've seen in a while. Take his statement: "But the year before that he had 14 points in 14 games and in 2007-08 he had eight in seven, right? Well, one or both of Ovechkin and Backstrom were on the ice for all but one of those." Well I was at or watched all those games and you know what you could take Ovechkin or Backstrom's playoff stats from that post season adjust the numbers slightly and move those three names into any of the other two places and say the same thing. Or how about this take Maxim Talbott, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby and their stats from the Penguins last two season they made/won the Stanley Cup finals and in the case of Malkin and Crosby make an argument as to who facilitated whose glory. Most people tend to forget Malkin is the guy who got the Conn Smyth when Pittsburgh last won the Cup. My point/contention is that Semin is one of the top 10 or 15 players in the NHL today. He's an elite talent and paying him $8M or so a season the next couple of seasons won't likely be looked at - even in retrospect say when he's retired and his playing days are behind him in say 2022 or so - as having "overpaid" him. That's why I'm saying the article I linked you too, is dumb. That said I love articles like this. I think they serve notice to ALL the Capitals that until this team wins a Stanley Cup, they are all - including Ovechkin, Green, Semin, Backstrom, Laich, Boudreau all of them - just as likely to have their talents and their exciting style of play questioned or subject to armchair pundits adding footnotes to their accomplishments. That's got to be a great motivator for them all.

5) The race for the crown for Movember is clearly now between John Erskine's lucky Fu Manchu and Karl "Erik The Red" Alzner's full crimson beard. The fact that so far this month both players have been having very good results on the ice, and that hockey players are notoriously superstitious means we are likely to see them keeping their current looks for a while longer. If they do I think I have a suggestion as to know who should be playing Santa at the Capitals Team Christmas Party...

Okay so next up will be the Buffalo Sabres here at Verizon Center on Wednesday evening. I'll be watching the game here at home in Bristow on CSN (HD) but I'll still be Rockin' the Red. How about y'all?


LETS GO CAPS!!!

Here They Are ... Your Washington Capitals

The latest from Kettler per Tarik and Corey, the Caps' walking wounded are looking better. Per Tarik with Mark's Musings added as noted below...

Tarik's Blog Today: "* Tyler Sloan said he's ready to play and is expecting to be in the lineup."
[Mark's Musing: I'm shocked a 27 year old rookie who has his best shot ever at sticking in the NHL is driving hard to get back in the lineup and on the ice quickly. I love this guy, he has heart, he's big and strong, and so far he's played with his head not over it. I hope he's doing the same thing here. Only his next two games will tell though.]

Tarik's Blog Today "* Mike Green said he's "90-percent" and wants to play. But he's going to see how he feels tomorrow morning before declaring himself ready. So I would say he's questionable to doubtful."
[Mark's Musing: Here's a guy who needs to be at least 90% to play "his" game. If he comes back at just barely 90%, I hope he takes it easy and plays himself into the lineup over 2-4 games else re-injury is a real possibility as is the possibility of him getting caught up ice on one of his "patented, super fun to watch" end to end rushes into the offensive zone. That said, he and Poti can't return to the line-up soon enough for my preferences.]

Per Tarik's Blog Today: "* Alexander Semin came off early and only shrugged his shoulders when I asked him if he was ready. I would say he's questionable/doubtful. But Keith Aucoin appears to have been sent back to Hershey. (The team has not confirmed the move, but he was the only packing up a hockey bag). If he has in fact been demoted, based on today's practice, that would make the second line Fleischmann-Nylander-Semin. That, of course, is assuming Semin is ready. But we probably won't know that until tomorrow."
[Mark's Musing: Another guy who can't come back soon enough, but one who apparently learned last season of the pitfalls of trying to play through too many injuries. Sasha is just awesome, can't wait for him to come back and once again bring that "Sidney Who" attitude and world class skills to the ice.]


Per Tarik's Blog Today: "* Tom Poti practice(d) at full strength for the first time today, but said he's going to wait until tomorrow before deciding whether to suit up. "
[Mark's Musing: can't wait till he's back, the call ups have been fairly good but Poti's steady presence and minute munching are as missed as Mike Green's; having the two of them back is the difference between hoping for a win thanks to good games from young, green players and expecting a win from "THE Washington Capitals."]

*Eric Fehr came off after only a few minutes and Boudreau said he doesn't expect him to be ready.
[Mark's Musing: I'm still not sold he'll ever reach his potential, but for his own sake, he needs to get back into the line-up as soon as he can and show he has the "grit" to play through some injuries. I know his shoulder was "filleted" in the injury but it's just a fact of life at his level and this juncture of his career, that's what he needs to do. Professional sports athlete is a very "Darwinian," dog eat dog profession. Right now, his absence is giving plenty of other guys from Hershey a chance to show the Capitals fans what they can do. You have to wonder for example if Qunitin Laing had taken that same hit and had the same injury if he wouldn't have still suited up and played through it on Sunday.]

Per Tarik's Blog Today: "* Alex Ovechkin was taking a "maintenance" day, but will be ready to go tomorrow."
[Mark's Musing: Here's a guy who maybe should take a game off but there's no way he won't be on the ice against the conference leading Bruins. Also maybe someone should tell him that while he's in his current condition, there's no need for him to make a run at leading the team in hits; not that it'll make a difference. Does Ovechkin even have a gear that's 3/4 speed? We DC Metro Area Hockey fans should just be thankful for every day he plays here and every game we get to watch him. Now we know what it was like being a hockey fan in Edmonton from 1983 - 1988 and watching Gretzky and Messier in their primes.]

Per Tarik's Blog Today: "* Sergei Fedorov worked out yesterday, Boudreau said, and reported being sore this morning. So he was held out of practice. He doesn't appear to be all that close."
[Mark's Musing: This impact is subtle but looking at the face offs won% last game - that part of me wants him back on the ice... However, he's not a kid and since we need his leadership and experience for the end of the season and the playoffs, I don't want him back before he's healed fully. Remember the impact of Semin's high ankle sprain in a 24 year old guy last season. ]

Per Tarik's Blog Today: "* John Erskine is up and down but hasn't been on skates in a while. "
[Mark's Musing: I know lots of fans don't think this is that big a deal; I do and can't wait for him to come back. When you look at his stats he's actually having a "mini-breakout" year and is also a lot of grit in the line-up. ]

Next up - Boston at the Verizon Center tomorrow night.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bruised & Battered, Caps Return To DC For Next Two Games

Well assuming you are reading this because you are an avid Washington Capitals fan, it's likely you already know: a) the Caps now have as many at least eight players on their roster who are injured and working to return to the roster: 1) Sergei Federov, 2) Mike Green, 3) Alexander Semin, 4) Chris Clark, 5) Jeff Schultz, 6) John Erskine, 7) Chris Clark, 8) Boyd Gordon and 9) Brian Pothier; and b) only six Caps have not missed games this season due to injury: 1) Alex Ovechkin (who missed a couple to travel to Russia for personal reasons), 2) Nicklas Backstrom (who played several games at the start of the season nursing an injury from the pre-season, 3) Tomas Fleaischmann, 4) Brooks Laich, 5) Milan Jurcina, 6) Matt Bradley. The recent five game road swing, perhaps the most grueling road trip of this year's schedule behind them, the Caps find themselves i) juggling their roster to deal with the injures to: a) one of their best forwards who is their current leading goal scorer, b) three top four defenseman, c) potentially their Captain, and d) arguably their most versatile player - a future hall of famer, and e) yet one other defenseman and one of the solid defensive grinder forwards ii) still off to their best start and in first place in their division.

While looking ahead at the start of this month's schedule it appeared November was probably the most important gauge that would for tell how the Caps' 2008-2009 season would go, it can probably now be said that because of the injury situation, as the end of November approaches, that "make or break" period has to be extended through the next 17 games through the end of December as well. In particular, between today and December 13th (a 19 day period) the Caps have another 10 games. Of the 17 games between now and December 31st, 15 are against Eastern Conference opponents of which 3 are against Southeast Division rivals. To be sure, both the Southeast Division opponents and the Caps' traditional rivals will look to these games to capture some standings points against the injury depleted Capitals. It is probably for that reason, that the character the Caps showed in trying to come back and capture a win against Minnesota last night after going down 4-0, is so important.

Once again Coach Bruce Boudreau's familiarity with the Capitals' player development pipeline, and the fact that the Hershey Bears, under Coach Bob Woods, play the same system as Boudreau's Capitals will need to be relayed on to make up for the holes in "the big club's roster." Will it be enough? Who really knows? We won't be able to tell until much until mid-December has come and gone. Further complicating putting solutions in place to address the challenges injuries create for the Caps over the next four weeks are two things: i) the current lack of salary Cap space the Caps have and b) the CBA requirements which mean that once a player plays 10 games on an NHL team's roster, he has to clear waivers to be put back down onto a club's AHL associates' roster. What's that mean? Well in the likely event the Caps call up someone like Sami Lepisto or Karl Alzner up to fill in for Jeff Schultz over his projected 4+ week period on injured reserve, who ever they decide to send down to Hershey to make Cap room for Schultz when he returns will have to clear waivers. Right now it's very possible that any of the Caps likely choices for that trip could get picked up by another NHL team. All three of the development pipeline players: Tyler Sloan, Sami Lepisto and Karl Alzner, as well as the Caps third defensive pair of John Erskine and Milan Jurcina all have various attributes that could easily make them appealing to other NHL clubs. [ed note: I stand by that comment despite what some others might be saying about Erskine and Jurcina, at times.]

As far potential back fills for any required call ups in the ranks of forwards, once again the Caps could face the same situation, loosing a good player in the pipeline when they need to send him back down to Hershey. Even if say, Quintin Laing is recalled to back fill for Boyd Gordon, just because he cleared waivers at the start of the season, doesn't mean he would again. Such would be especially true, assuming he once again makes the best of the opportunity to shine again on the NHL stage, like he did last season. As for the current sharpshooters in Hershey who are lighting the red lights behind their AHL opponents goals with regularity lately, the likelihood of one of them getting picked up as they need to clear waivers is probably even higher. What does that all mean - it probably means that Caps' manager George McPhee and Coach Boudreau will make even more moves then they might otherwise shuttling some additional players back and forth between Giant Center and KCI then they might otherwise to make sure they don't subject some of those prospects to the risk of being claimed by others off the waiver wire.

So if any of us are lamenting the pressures and problems we have to deal with in our day jobs, we'd do well to appreciate the pressures and challenges that McPhee and Boudreau will be dealing with over the next 36 days. Add the fact that they have to do what they do under the glare of media and being routinely challenged by professional journalists, TV analysts and commentators and numerous bloggers and fans and if you're like me you're glad that you don't have their day jobs. Final thoughts: 1) as Capitals fans aren't you glad that from what we all could tell, by and large the Caps came into the start of the season in much better physical condition this year then last? Sure seems like they figured out they weren't going to "sneak up" on anybody this year and lots of teams would be gunning for them, especially on the road. And. 2) If you felt strongly that Bruce Boudreau deserved the jack Adams Trophy last season, what will you think if the Caps stay on track for 104+ points this season over the next 30 days?

Next up Division foe Atlanta Thrashers, tomorrow night at Verizon Center. I'll be driving to Myrtle Beach to spend the holiday with family for at least the first and probably second periods. But, I swear I'll be "Rockin' the Red" in my Caps Sweater while I do so.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caps 4 - Lightning 2; Caps Tied For First In Southeast Division

Ovechkin Ends "Drought" With Score In Third;

Large, Boisterous Monday Night Crowd Has Very Enjoyable Evening

Well, all I can say is WOW! First off a SOLID "2 Point Night" - that's what it was. Last night's nationally televised NHL Game on Versus was the game held at Washington, DC's Verizon Center and it was a very, very good "testament" to why more people ought to become NHL fans. Per the game summary a crowd of 17, 932 attended the game; the crowd included me and one of my USMMA college friends, Rob. Rob and I started last evening off by have a very nice dinner at the bar at Clyde's. I mention this because as we were finishing up our dinner Nicklas Backstrom's father and a group of his friends and family came in to gather and have a drink or two before coming over to the game. Rob and I made it over to the Phone Booth earlier enough to catch the warmups from our seats in Section 103 and I noted Pappa Backstrom did as well from his seat in 102. However, it did appear that a good part of the "Backstrom Party" decided they needed to provide CLyde's with a larger economic stimulus package and didn't arrive until just before the National Anthem. In any case, I digress, back to the WOW - game.

Quick summary: Olie Kolzig returned to Washington, got a short, dignified tribute on the jumbotron during the first major stoppage of play, and then got peppered by the Caps for three goals in the first while his teammates pretty much let the Capital's "Young Guns + 1 (Tom Poti)" do so. After that the Caps played pretty defensively in the second period. Unfortunately at one point they got back on their heels on a Tampa Bay power play and Brent Johnson gave up his first goal of the night and several us in Section 103 lamented for him since the way he's been playing he deserves a shutout. During the third period Caps "ace" Alex Ovechkin ended his goaless streak at nine (9) games when he was set up masterfully by young guns Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom. All six goals scored by both teams "were good ones - no softies". Both Tampa Bay goals were scored on the power play and the four goals given up by Olie Kolzig were all goals where he didn't get much help, if any, from the team in front of him. Every Capital in the game was +/- 0 or better, Poti, Tyler Sloan, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, and Mike Green finished the evening +2. In addition to Ovechkin, the Caps other goals were scored by Tom Poti, Mike Green, and Eric Fehr. The Caps accomplished their mission (proving they could establish themselves early and control a game "start to finish") when the first period ended with the score 3-0. Even more emphatically the Caps' first two goals came on their first two shots of the game. The best player on the ice for the Caps last night though was the game's number one star: Brent Johnson. Johnnie stopped 34 of 36 shots.

More Details follow below.
Last night, the Caps came out for the start of the first period apparently determined to show the world that, despite letting up four goals so far this season on an opponent's first shot, they can establish themselves in the first period and control a game from start to finish. Even though the Lightning tallied the first four (4) shots of the game, Brent Johnson stopped them all with "routine saves", if there is such a thing at the NHL level of play. Then on the Capital's first shot of the game at 8:20 of the first period, with the "energy line" on the ice, Defenseman John Erskine made a solid outlet pass to Donald Brashear. Brashear carried the puck down the ice to the right side faceoff circle hash marks, stopped and did a move Caps fan's are more accustomed to seeing from Alexander Semin or Michael Nylander, got himself enough breathing room to put the puck right on the stick of Tom Poti, who, as they say, "put the biscuit in the basket." The goal was Poti's second of the year and matches his goal total through 71 games last season. The play was truly beautiful, and really goes to show the depth of offensive talent the Capitals. The Capitals second goal followed a short while later, on their second shot of the game. At the 9:55 mark, Nicklas Backstrom found Alexander Ovechkin at the left circle faceoff dot who when two Lightning defenders moved toward him, dished the puck deftly over to Mike Green who was following up as he often does on the right side. Green then put the puck past a "naked" and frustrated Olie the Goalie, his fifth tally of the season. Caps 2, Lightning 0.

The Capitals then "took it" to the Lightning for the remainder of the first period, they had several other solid scoring opportunities and Kolzig responded sometimes with a little help but often alone in keeping the Bolts within striking distance. Then at the 16:24 mark, in a setup that looked like it had probably been played out at least several times on the ice sheet in Hershey, Pa, Dave Steckel and Brooks Laich setup Eric Fehr who had no problem putting a laser beam into the open side of the net. Once again on the Caps third goal, it was solid, while the Lightning did have defenders in the zone they were nowhere near Fehr and had left Kolzig to fend for himself. Finally after the Caps third goal the Lightning tightened up their play and started to go to the net on Johnson. However, it was too little to late. Even though in the second period the Lightning outshot the Caps 18-6 and outscored them 1-0, Brent Johnson came up big when he needed to do so and the Caps never let the Bolts get too much momentum. Also, after the second intermission, it seemed as if the Caps once again began pressing their opportunities and forcing the play as much or more than the Bolts.

From a shots on goal perspective, the Caps and the Lightning each had 12 in the third period. Scoring wise the Caps opened the third period scoring with an even strength goal at the 15:54 mark from ... wait for it .... "CAPS GOAL AT 15:54 OF THE THIRD PERIOD BY NUMBER 8, ALEXANDER OVECHKIN." Jeff Schultz sent an outlet pass to Alexander Semin, who shot and Ovechkin blazed it by Kolzig to put the Caps up 4-1.

Later in the period at 17:51 Caps Defenseman John Erskine was whistled off for roughing, on a call that never would have been a penalty even a couple of years ago. Erskine was simply clearing the crease and mixing it up a little, "old time hockey style" with the Lightning in traffic. Like the marginal calls against Caps Left Wing Donald Brashear in the second for high sticking and the uncalled for "unsportsmanlike conduct" he, an alternate captain got for objecting to that call against him, it was a penalty that I call all part of Bettman's ruination of the sport. Hockey is a physical, contact sport and if Mr. Bettman really wants to see more goals scored he should do two things: 1) outlaw "the trap", and b) further restrict the size/width of a goalie's equipment. Instead he and his band of henchman at NHL headquarters want to outlaw or otherwise hamstring good, solid physical defensive play. Once again in the final two minutes of the game the Caps found themselves shorthanded and despite a pretty good night for the Caps penalty kill unit, yielded a goal to Gary Roberts, his second of the night. The game ended 4-2, with Barry Melrose, smartly and classily NOT pulling Olie Kozig while he was down three and two goals respectively.

The three stars of the game were:
3. Eric Fehr, 13 shifts, 10:13 TOI, 4 SOG, 2 Hits, 1 goal, +1 for the night - truly a solid
outing and demonstrative of the promise he has for the future.
2. Tom Poti, the 31 year old defensman, logged 21:04 of TOI in 27 shifts including 5:57 of PK time, had 2 SOG, 1 goal and was +2 for the night. Poti was only on the ice for one of the Lightning's two power play tallies and with 3 points in the last three games is playing far above his 2007-2008 offensive production and on track to have similar TOI and +/- numbers.
1. Brent Johnson: Johnnie had a save percentage of 0.944 turning away 34 of 36 Lightening shots. The only two goals he let in were when the Caps were a man down and in heavy traffic. His play in the second period when the Caps seemed to set back slightly on their 3 goal lead and were outshot 18-6 was even more excellent than his play in the first and third periods.

A couple of side notes, interesting facts and other thoughts related to last evening.
- 1. I'm just no longer a fan of Steve Eminger. When he was a Capital, I felt he had the promise and could maybe one day even be on par with a guy like Mike Green. After last night, I've decided he just doesn't have the character or class to ever reach his athletic potential. When he got frustrated in the second half of the game he just played lazy and dirty. For the life of me, watching from my seat in the stands in the right corner, lower lever, I have no idea how he wasn't called for at least three minors for holding/slashing and yes interference.
- 2. Contrary to what I've seen written elsewhere in the blogsphere - NONE of the goals were Olie Kolzig's fault and while the ultra-competitive Kolzig always wants "every one of them back" and occasionally, even at age 38, makes super-human saves, it's hard to see how he could have stopped any of the Caps goals even with a second chance. I couldn't agree more with Barry Melrose's reported quote when referring to the skaters on his team: "If I’m those guys, I can’t look Olie in the face. Probably the biggest game he’s played in years and they show up and do that for him. Those guys should all be hiding their eyes when they walk by Olie Kolzig tonight.”
- 3. My friend Rob, a Redskins' season ticketholder commented very positively on the size of the crowd, the energy level of crowd and the large % of fans in the stands with Caps Jerseys, particularly Red Sweaters. I couldn't agree more and note that an attendance at just shy of 18,000 folks at a Monday Night game against a Southeast Division Team when it's not April with the Caps fighting for that last playoff berth is indeed a positive commentary on what the Caps are doing right and how much the region is embracing these Capitals, this Coach and it's management. For my professional sports entertainment dollar there is no better value to be had. - 4. When the game was over, the Caps found themselves with a 1/2 game lead for the Southeast Division lead, tied at 18 points with the Carolina Hurricanes but with a game in hand. This situation should make for an interesting Wednesday Night @ the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC when the two team next meet. So far for November, the Hurricanes are 3-3-0. The Caps are 3-1-1 so far in November including a 3-2 win in regulation at Verizon Center in DC on November 5th.
- 5. For the game the Caps as a team were +20 on the night; they out hit the Lightning 20-15; and they were 51% in the faceoff circle. But statistically they lost the SOG category 36-30 and the giveaways/takeaways battle. The Lighting had 12 giveaways and 16 takeaways, while the Caps had 22 giveaways and 5 takeaways. Tampa Bay also has 17 blocked shots to the Caps 8.
- 6. So far on the season counting last night's victory the Caps have 18 points in 14 games. From a points available - points captured perspective that is 0.643 hockey and on pace for a 105 point season. That's not as great as it sounds given that so far this season so many games have ended in "3 point nights" that it may take as many as 100+ points to make the playoffs. However, it's infinitely better than being on pace to compete for the lottery pick like the Caps were on pace to do last season at this point in time.

Next up: Coralina Hurricanes, at the RBC Center, in Raliegh, NC, tommarrow night. I'll be "Rockin' the Red" from my seat in the ol' den in Bristow, VA.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An Up & Down Week for the Caps In Review

[ed note: Where's this blog been all last week? Well this blogger has traveled over 8, 500 miles and had a hectic week on his day job that's why the blog hasn't had a post in 7 days - a record since I started blogging, given the NHL season is in full swing. I started the week at meetings Monday morning in Tyson's Corner. Tuesday morning found me at meetings in Anchorage, AK. I watched parts of Tuesday's Caps-Flames game while working at a desk in a business partners offices in Anchorage on my laptop - thanks to NHL GameCenter. I had meetings on Thursday morning in Seattle, WA but did catch the last half of the second and the third period of the Caps-Coyote game from my usual recliner in Bristow, VA upon my return home, though it was through bleary eyes and a bit painful. Isn't the modern marvel of air travel wonderful? Well maybe not all that wonderful but that's an entirely different story and one of relatively little interest. I did catch the shootout at the OK Corral fka American Airlines Center in Dallas last night, as the Caps avoided going 0 fer the road trip. As much has already been said and covered elsewhere on all three games last week, this blog entry will offer commentary on 5 things: i) a brief summary/recap of last week's roadtrips 3 games; ii) a review and commentary on the arrival and play of Tyler Sloan - another Caps feel good story in the making? iii) yet another different perspective on John Erskine's two year $2.5M contract extension; iv) a random thought on the already large number of 3 point games thus far in the NHL season and v) a quick-look at the month ahead (November) for the Caps. Oh and yes the crazy roadtrip I did last week was all business related, and worth the effort. Growing and making money, like ICx Technologies continues to do, takes a lot of hard work in this economy, even if you're not "Joe the Plumber." Something that isn't likely to change real fast no matter who we all elect come 9 days hence. But at least our Washington Capitals are tied in points for first in the Southeast Division once again.]

I capped off a crazy week watching the Capitals - Stars game on Saturday Night. A two point night for the Caps, almost in spite of themselves, or perhaps more fairly, because Jose Theodore outplayed Marty Turco over the length of the game and the Caps offense kicked it into gear in the OT period. Doesn't Alexander Semin have an absolutely awesome wrist shot? It sure looked like Marty Turco didn't see it until it was already past him. That is not to take away from either Sergei Federov or Tomas Fleischmann's two goals or Tyler Sloan's first NHL goal. If your keeping track based on simple extrapolation, here's some really awesome things to think about. Alexander Semin is on pace for a 72 goal, 144 point, + 6 season; Federov is on pace for a 31 goal, 72 point, +7 season; and "Flash" is on pace for a 31 goal, 51 point, +/- 0 season. Following last night's 2 goal performance "The Other Alex" is tied with Evgeni "Geno" Malkin for the NHL scoring lead with 14 goals (7 goals, 7 assists); Semin is also tied for third in goals scored with Saint Louis' Brad Boyes. So looking at the first 8 games of the season, especially the three game Western Conference/National Horseshow road trip the Caps just completed there's some things, good and some things "that are otherwise" to note. First the bright spots - a) Goaltending has been solid lately - Jose Theodore's save percentage over the three game road trip was .905; while Brent Johnson has a save percentage of 0.915 in his last two games. b) Throughout the season thus far, despite sparse first line scoring, as other teams "key" on Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom basically plays himself into shape, and first line right wing Viktor Kozlov has been slowed by injury, secondary scoring has been present in full force. So far in the first 8 games of the season, the Capitals have had 12 different players light the red light a total of 28 times scoring an average of 3.5 goals a game. c) Overall the Caps have captured just over 50% of the available points in 8 games played, and are keeping pace with their Southeast Division rivals, the Carolina Hurricanes. There's also a few areas for concern and nail biting: a) The inconsistent play of the defense exacerbated by early season injuries. The value of Tom Poti to the Caps team can no longer be denied, nor can the stress the current salary cap puts on things when any of the six regular defenseman are injured. b) The inconsistent "energy?" (probably not the right word) level with which the Caps approach forechecking during parts of what has been every game, except the game against the Canucks, so far this season, is also troubling.

Overall not a bad start, though not up to the expectations built by the drive to the finish last season or the off season efforts by the Caps. It's early and no need for panic at this time, but the Caps need to pick it up to ensure they don't find themselves "on the bubble" in late March. The team has the talent to "kick it all up a notch", but the defense needs to really tighten up and the forwards need to provide that relentless forechecking that has been their trademark since last Thanksgiving. As the Caps have found out so far this season, there's a lot of talented guys in the NHL and nobody's going to just roll over. Next up the Nashville Predators at Verizon on Tuesday Night. I'll be watching from my comfortable chair here in Bristow, while my ticket partner Tom is present and "Rockin' the Red".

I really didn't get much chance to think or talk hockey last week. So on Saturday morning, when I went to see my barber Scott at "The Barber Shop" in Manassas' Westgate Shopping Center, I enjoyed the lively conversation we had about our local NHL Team - the Washington Capitals and their most recent lineup addition, Tyler Sloan. Following Sloan's turnover in Phoenix that resulted in a game deciding goal, Scott was openly questioning why the 27 year old rookie was in the lineup while "stud prospect" Karl Alzner was still in Hershey. I, on the other hand, pointed out that even including Sloan's faux paux, at that moment, he was +/- 0 with an average of 9:27 time on ice, had not taken any stupid penalties (like puck out of the rink/delay of game), and had put a masterful hit/hip check on NHL veteran center Daymond Langkow. I felt that given he had barely had time to get off the plane, lace his skates and show up to play his first NHL game in front of his hometown friends, he wasn't doing bad. Yes, I too could have done without his turnover in Phoenix, but those things have to be expected from any rookie, even a 27 year old one. We had seen some of those same sorts of things during the pre-season from both Karl Alzner and Sami Lepisto, hadn't we? Add the fact that bringing up either Alzner or Lepisto would create salary cap issues that need not be dealt with if Poti and Erskine will soon be returning to the line up and, giving Sloan, a seventh-year pro in his third season with the Bears, and who had recorded three assists in the first five games with the Bears this season, a shot to fill the Caps short term needs on Defense doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Additionally, when he joined the Bears during their run to the Calder Cup in the 2006 AHL playoffs, Sloan demonstrated a maturity and ability to jump into tough situations and quickly contribute. That maturity and trait was something the Caps needed last week. Suffice it to say, at the end of my haircut, Scott remained unconvinced. However, the discussion had clarified my own thoughts and reaffirmed my feeling that Tyler Sloan might have what it takes to play in the NHL. Well last night in Dallas, Tyler got his first NHL goal and it should have been, could have been, a game winner. Alas that was not to be, as once again this year the Washington Capitals are vying for the NHL title as "Cardiac Kids." After his fairly solid play in the first two games of the road trip, Sloan capped off the three game trial with "the big team" with a 13:48 TOI performance and was +1 for the game. Over the three games last week, after scoring his first NHL tally, a follow-up goal as a result of staying with the play and crashing the net, Sloan's statistics are solid for a rookie. For his three games with the Caps, he has now averaged 10:54 TOI, is +/- 1, has a goal and no assists, and 6 hits. Given his $475,000 price tag, Mr. Sloan continues to more than earn his money here in Washington while Tom Poti heals and gets ready to return to form. Having Sloan and Erskine back in the lineup last night allowed Sergei Federov return to his natural center position, where he scored two goals, and the reunited duo of Tomas Fleischmann and Michael Nylander combined for two more. So I'll be curious to see what Scott has to say, the next time I need my hair cut. That said apparently Japer has a similar view to Scott. I say, once again having a coach who really knows the "guys down on the farm and what their strengths and weaknesses are", is paying dividends for the Caps like it did late last season when Bruce Boudreau introduced most DC Hockey Fans to a guy by the name of Quntin Laing.

As I caught up on my blog reading following my return from sunny Anchorage, I noted a lot of opinions floating around on the John Erskine contract extension. A lot of folks are questioning the timing of the extension and also the amount. Erskine reportedly will receive $1.25M a season for each of the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons. At 6-4, 216, the 28 year old Eskine, is a gritty, physical defenseman, whose strong points are the intensity he plays the game with and his willingness to sacrifice his body when he needs to and whose weak point is generally seen as his skating agility. So why now for the resigning? and why $1.25M/season? are the general questions being directed towards Caps GM George McPhee. First - why now? - because it likely needed to be done and could be done now. Not counting Erskine or any of the folks down in Hershey or South Carolina, at the end of this season, the Caps will have 9 U/RFAs to sign or replace. Two of whom will be 39 year old Sergei Federov and 36 year old Donald Brashear. Three others will be RFA Defenseman: Shoanne Morrisonn, Jeff Schultz, and Milan Jurcina. Not to mention that Sami Lepisto will also be an RFA and Tyler Sloan an Unrestricted Free Agent in July. Compounding the defensive uncertainty looking ahead to next year is the still uncertain status regarding Brian Pothier's return - chronic concussions are not to be taken lightly. So why not extend a contract to a guy who has some versatility and if necessary might fill the shoes of Brashear as protector of scoring phenoms such as Semin, Ovechkin, etc. even if they are relatively big guys who can take care of themselves. Why so much more than he's making this year - $537, 500? Because it's a fair number in light of his perfromance last season and his start this season. Looking around the league, at guys who are routinely playing top six defense minutes, a salary of $1.25M each of the next two seasons doesn't look too bad. Last season Erskine, played a career high 51 NHL games and finished the season with 2 goals, 7 assists and was +/- +1 averaging 21 shifts and 15:42 of TOI/Game. Those are solid NHL numbers so why not sign him to an extension now. Whether $1.25M is too much or a bargain - in actuality only time will tell but given his numbers last year along with the fact he has started out this season in better shape and displaying more mobility than ever before, it seems like a reasonable bet. Further, in light of the look ahead at the Cap's situation on defense at seasons end locking in one of the current six defenseman on the roster seems like a smart move before the Free Agency period kicks in.

While the debate continues on the merits of the three point game, no one can argue that they are not having an effect on the standings so far this season. So far this season out of the approximately 120 games so far (15 x 8), by this blogger's quick count 30 have been 3 point games. That's an extra 12.5% of points available that wouldn't have been there "in the old days." The key point here to note is it's not the "loser" who ends up with the extra point, compared with the old days when a tie was a tie, but the "winner." Once again, this writer's opinion is the only fair way to handle this is to change the system so a win in regulation is "a three point" game. That way there are no "extra points" - every game is a three point game, the only question is who gets 1, 2, or 3 points. To that end as the season progresses, my intent is to do an analysis as to what the standings in each conference would look like after 20, 41, 60 and 82 games - if all games were "three point games." What's your thoughts on the subject?

So after the first month of the season, the Caps are at 0.500 and tied for first in the Southeast Division. The month ahead will not be any easier for them then the first month of the season. During the month of November, the Caps will play 15 games, 9 away games including another 5 game road trip that includes a 4 game Western Conference swing on the heels of a home-home against the New Jersey Devils. Four of the games are against Southeast Division rivals, 3 home games and 1 away game. The Caps play the Carolina Hurricanes twice next month - once at home and once in at RBC Center. They also play Tampa Bay and Atlanta once each at Verizon Center. Five of the 14 games are against Western Conference opponents. The six games against Eastern Conference opponents from divisions other than the Southeast are two games against New Jersey and one against: Buffalo, Ottawa, the Rangers, and Montreal. Washington's Western Conference opponents will be: Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Minnesota and Columbus. All five games against Western Conference teams are away. Of the thirty available points in November, 14 are against teams that failed to make the playoffs last season, though eight (8) of those fourteen are from games against Southeast Division foes and Carolina has clearly started this season in a far better fashion then they finished last season, as have the LA Kings and the Buffalo Sabres. In fact the Sabres are 6-0-2 so far this season. So the easiest games the Caps will play in November will likely be against Atlanta and Tampa Bay at home. Other than that the next "easiest points" will be their November 29th game in Columbus, and that game is right on the heels of a home game the day before against the Canadeans; in fact that game comes at the end of a four day Thanksgiving stretch when they play 3 games. The Caps are currently 1/2 game behind Carolina for the Southeast Division lead and are in seventh (7th place) in the Eastern Conference with 9 points. They need to take it up a notch and capture at 20 of the 30 available points in November to clearly establish themselves in the Division lead including ideally taking all 4 available points from Carolina and at least 2 of the 4 available points from Tampa Bay and Atlanta. Of the 12 points available from non-Southeast Division, Eastern Conference foes, once again ideally, the Caps need to capture at least 8 points, at this juncture no points available seem much more valuable then the others, given the opponents on tap. That would be the best source, from a look ahead perspective, of 14 points, then once again looking at the Western Conference opponents, the Caps need to win at least three of the five games. Of course this all won't be an easy task and to do it the Caps will need to start the month off well and finish it even better. This team has the talent to rise to the challenge though a return to the line-up by Tom Poti, more production from the first line, and a more consistently intense forecheck will all make it a lot easier a goal to attain.

Finally, here's a goofy Mike Green piece - 20 questions with Mike Green from the Calgary Sun.
My favorite goofy answer is: "13) Where do you like to vacation? Tofino. I like to surf."
I had to google it to find it, but when I did wow, once again "Game Over" hits it right on - though I think if I had his paycheck I'd be looking to surf somewhere where the water temp was a little warmer than "B.C." as in British Columbia. Though apparently Tofino does have an active surfing community.

Once again - next up the Nashville Predators at Verizon Center on Tuesday night

--- LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caps 4 - Blackhawks 2; Home Opener Recap & Summary

Last night was a 2 point night for the Capitals, they beat Chicago 4-2, so for the season opening weekend they are 1-1-0. Before getting into the recap and game summary three other items are worth mentioning over and above the Caps own excellent play. Number one, the atmosphere and attitude of the sellout crowd of Caps fans at the Verizon Center. Simply put, it was awesome!!!! The "Phone Booth" was alive with energy and, from what I could see from my vantage point in section 103, the sellout crowd of 18,277 was truly Rockin' The Red. The Caps Fans and Faithful clearly are determined to continue to make Washington DC a Number One Hockey Town. Number two, NHL hockey fans and players everywhere should not expect officiating this year to be any different, i.e. better, than it has been the past several seasons. Last night the officiating was just as bad as on any other night; however, the Caps didn't let it get them down and played hard through the bad calls, most of which, though not all, last night favored the Blackhawks. The Capitals will need to continue to react the way they did last night to bad calls, that is ignore them and play hard "Caps Hockey" throughout the game, regardless of the officiating, if they are to go as far as they are capable of, into this year's playoffs. Number three, thirty-five year old Nickolai Khabibuhlen is a very good goaltender, without whom the game could have been very ugly for the Blackhawks.

That's right last night the Caps faced the Nickolai Khabibuhlen NOT the Christobel Huet led Chicago Blackhawks at Verizon Center in front of an energized, sellout crowd, some of whom were just waiting for the opportunity to get down on Huet. Apparently after losing their season opener Friday night at Madison Square Garden, Christobel Huet now has his tail between his legs; or the Blackhawks management has seen an error in their ways and decided to give the veteran Khabibuhlen, consistently one of the worlds best goaltenders, and a 2004 Stanley Cup winner, back the job of leading Chicago to the promised land. Chicago currently is slated to spend over $12,000,000 of Salary Cap room on goaltenders. Prior to the season start they had tried unsuccessfully to get someone else to pick up Khabibuhlen's salary. The 35 year old Russian born veteran of 12 NHL seasons, 637 NHL regular season games, and 57 NHL playoff games sports a career GAA of under 2.68 and a save percentage of over .908 when you add in his excellent playoff stats; the only strike against him is his 6.75M salary. Khabibuhlen's only NHL seasons with a save percentage under 90% were his rookie year (.895) in Winnipeg (1994-1995) and his first year in Chicago, (.886) with a new, shakey team in front of him (2005-2006). He has been as consistent as the 33 year old Christobel Huet (salary $5.625M) has been during his 5 NHL seasons, and Nickolai has 44 more games of playoff experience under his belt, as well a Stanley Cup that Huet lacks. Why all the buzz and pixels on an opposing goaltender (Khabibuhlen) on a blog devoted primarily to the Washington Capitals? Simply because he played an excellent game last night. He stopped 30 of 34 shots from the Capitals including several awesome scoring chances from some of the best sharpshooters in the world - "the Alexes" or in Russian "the Sashas" (Ovechkin and Semin), as well as a group of very strong secondary scoring threats including Nylander, Federov, Clark, Steckel, Backstrom, Fleischmann, and Kozlov. Kahbibuhlen basically robbed Oveckin (3 times), Semin (2 times), Clark (1 time), as well as Fleischmann (2 shots, 1 a great one), and Federov (2 shots, both good to great saves). One was only left to wonder what the score would have been if a shakey Huet was in the net for the Blackhawks instead of a well playing, unflappable Khabibuhlen.
[ed note: Please forgive the Christobel Huet bashing, the author is still trying to get over the lack of opportunity to boo and otherwise cackle at the former darling of Capital fans everywhere. This was an especially painful realization, since with the departure of Jaromir Jagr from the North American hockey scene, Mr. Huet, has become in the author's eyes the poster child for what is wrong with free agency in sports in general and hockey in particular. After this posting, the next time Caps fans will read anything about Christobel Huet is when there is something truly newsworthy to comment on and it will likely be of a far less partisan and more objective tone.]

Highlights, there are many, though the first minute of play was not one of them for Caps fans. Twenty six (00:26) seconds into the game Kris Versteeg , the lowest paid forward on the talented, young Blackhawks' roster, came down the right side and let loose a fair, but clearly stoppable shot from 20 feet out, from a very playable angle in the middle of the face off circle and found "pay dirt" through Jose Theodore's "five-hole" (assists to Toews and Havlat). After the goal, Nicklas Backstrom skated over tapped Theodore on the pads and said something that must have been encouraging because that was the last "softie" that the 32 year old French Canadian net minder let by. At 1:44 Caps D-Man Milan Jurcina was whistled off for a two minute "Boarding" call, that was a tribute to the Gary Bettman led NHL. The hit was clean, Jurcina coasted into the hit for a good ten plus feet, and the only reason boarding was called was because, despite Jurcina playing solid, clean hockey, he delivered a crushing, great check. The Caps killed of that penalty and Theodore really settled down and made a couple of very nice saves. Even though later in the first period, at 11:41, Jack Skille put the Blackhawks up 2-0 with a nice wrist shot from 18 feet out in the right center of the slot, by that time, the Caps and Theodore were settled down and beginning to play like the team from last spring. Just under two minutes after Skille's tally, the Caps "checking line" of Bradley-Steckel-Brashear narrowed the Blackhawks lead to 2-1 on a nice, gritty goal by Matt Bradley (assists to both Steckel & Brashear). My section-mates and I, in section 103 were treated to a great vantage point for this one as we got to watch the whole play develop and it was a beauty by a group of gritty, solid hockey players. At 19:08, the Caps got what might have been the make-up call for Jurcina's earlier boarding penalty or for several earlier missed calls on Brent Seabrook, when Seabrook was sent to the sin bin for hooking. The first period ended with the score 2-1 in favor of the Blackhawks, the Blackhawks had out shot the Caps 10-6 as well, but it did seem the momentum had turned and was in the Caps favor. The crowd was clearly and happily behind the Caps and there were no concerns with the capabilities of new number one net minder Jose Theodore.

The second period started with the Caps on the Power Play for the first 1:08; though the Blackhawks held them and killed off the penalty pretty well. At 5:08 into the period the Great Eight took an outlet pass from Tom Poti, sped down the left side, and let loose [ed note: in Boston terminology & accent please] a "wicked fast" wrist shot from 46 feet out that found the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2. At 6:15, the Blackhawks got a bench minor for too many men on the ice and despite the Capitals powerplay swarming and peppering Khabibuhlen with shots, the 35 year old Blackhawks goaltender turned them back and the boys from Chicago killed off the penalty. Starting around the 8:00 minute mark of the period, the "physicality" of the game begin to escalate even more. Lots of checking and "old time hockey" began to bubble up and since both Chicago and Washington boast rosters full of big, young, strong players there was a lot of exciting hockey played for the last 12:00 minutes of the second period. As often seen last year, when the tempo of a game picks up and the checking starts to rattle the boards more often, 2008 MVP Alex Ovechkin and Washington's "other Alex", Alexander Semin, along with 2008 21 goal scorer Brooks Laich, all raised their games a few notches. Chicago responded by trying to up the physical nature of the game even more at the other end when at 16:41 Adam Burish went to the net and pushed in on Jose Theodore for the third or fourth time of the night and Shoane Morrisonn and David Steckel decided that was just one time too many for the night. The end result was Burish and Morrisonn went off with coincidental minors for roughing and Steckel also found himself in the box for two minutes for tripping. The Caps stayed perfect on penalty killing for the night and staved off this Chicago man advantage. The physical play continued throughout the period and the second stanza ended with the game in a 2-2 tie with Mike Green in the penalty box for tripping.

The Caps started the third period like the Blackhawks started the second, successfully killing of a penalty for just under 1:30. The game continued to be played at a fast and furious pace, though in the third period Theodore, like Kahbibuhlen at the other end, began to freeze the puck more and enable the Caps to stay slightly more disciplined. The Caps were clearly playing with the confidence they exuded during the end of last season, something that was not present on Friday night in Atlanta. They were flying, swarming and routinely muscling their way to the net. After having outshot the Blackhawks 12-6 in the second period, they continued to dominate with "the best defense is a relentlessly checking and shotting offense" in the third period. The result was that at 15:33 with Laich and Semin swarming around the Chicago net like the two men with a purpose they were, Brooks Laich scored his first goal of the season after Semin bulled his way to the goal and around the net and fed the puck to Laich who was "waiting" on a very crowded doorstep. Then at 18:34 Alexander Ovechkin scored his second of the night in classic Ovechkin fashion. Goaltender Jose Theodore cleared the puck out to defensemen Jeff Schultz who found the Ovechkin streaking out through the neutral zone between two Blackhawks. Ovie did a toe drag and a head fake, then unleashed a [ed note: once again Boston accent please] "wicked, sick, fast, awesome" snapshot that found "nothin' but net" from 39 feet out. The crowd respond with a standing ovation and about a minute long chant of "M.V.P.; M.V.P.; M.V.P." With the Caps up by two, the Blackhawks pulled Khabibuhlen with just under two minutes remaining and the Blackhawks started doing some swarming of their own. Jose Theodore responded with a couple of good saves and then the Caps got a little out of synch. When they did Alexander Ovechkin tried to make a play that even he, the greatest player on the planet today couldn't quite make without a little "help", and was sent to the penalty box at 19:34 for tripping. While this was a "good penalty" it gave the Blackhawks a two man advantage and meant that Ovechkin wasn't going to have a chance at getting his first hat trick of the season on an empty-netter. For the last 26 seconds of the game the Capitals kept things solidly under control and Theodore made two more good saves to ice the home opener victory.

The three stars announced for the game were: 3: David Steckel; 2: Brooks Laich and 1: Alexander Ovechkin. As readers can tell from this posting the author felt that despite having only a .882 save percentage Blackhawks goaltender Nickolai Khabibulen played a game and was the best player on the ice last night for Chicago. That is not to say that others on the Blackhawks had a bad game, the Blackhawks definitely did not loose this game, they played well, though despite that the Capitals managed to get off 34 shots on goal and kill off 5 penalties where Chicago had a man advantage. Other Capitals playing good games, in addition to the three stars of the game, to note: Jose Theodore; John Erskine; Alexander Semin; Matt Bradley, Donald Brashear, Tom Poti, Mike Green, Chris Clark, Nicklas Backstrom, Sergei Federov, and Shoanne Morrisonn. [ed note: This is probably a longer list than is prudent, but there really wasn't anybody on the Caps roster who had a bad game last night.]
Jose Theodore, despite letting in an "oh nooo softie" in the first minute of the game came back and had a save percentage of .905, coming up big a couple of times and helping the Caps dictate the pace of the crucial third period. If Theodore plays the way he did last night for 55-60 of the remaining regular season games; and Caps solid backup Brent Johnson delivers 15-20 games, playing like he did for the first 25 minutes he played last night, the Caps will easily finish with over 100 points and there will be no reason to rush any of the three good prospects the Caps have in the system to the NHL level.
John Erskine has looked more mobile in the first two games of the season than at any time in his career to dat, and has played solidly. Right now he probably should be considered number 4 or 5 on the Caps depth chart. Last night he had 16:00 of ice time, including 0:53 of penalty kill, 2 hits, a blocked shot and 2 attempts blocked. He even raced back and caught speedy Patrick Kane on one shift that had he not done so would have resulted in an excellent scoring chance for Kane. Not bad for a guy, who along with David Steckel is one of the two lowest paid guys on the team.
Alexander Semin had another good game, Friday night he was one of the few Caps to deliver a good game. Last night despite not scoring he was a force to be reckoned with all night long. The Caps second line of Semin-Federov-Laich was really fun to watch play hockey last night. They have skill along with size and when necessary deliver either really awesome flair/playmaking or really rougish, bullish grit. They can skate with anybody or they can play "old time hockey" with anybody. All three, 38 year old Sergei Federov, 24 year old Alexander Semin, and 25 year old Brooks Laich will have great years this year, if they continue to play the remaining games this season, the way they started out of the gates in the first two of this year. The "second line" finished last night with the game winning goal and with all three members doing a great job on "special teams" especially the Penalty Kill.
The checking line of Matt Bradley-David Steckel-Donald Brashear all had banner nights as well. Bradley had a goal, a takeaway and was +2 in 12:05 TOI. Steckel, the number three star of the night, had an assist, 2 shots, a blocked shot and was +1 in 13:41 of TOI. "Brash" had an assist, one shot, one hit and three takeaways and was +1 in 8:56 of TOI.
Mr. "Steady Eddy" - Tom Poti - had another solid game, bringing discipline and leadership through example, on the ice. Poti, in 22:05 of TOI, got an assist, was +1, and had 1 takeaway and 1 blocked shot. He was on the ice for 6:22 of the penalty kill time.
Despite not scoring a goal last night while scoring two power play goals Friday night, Mike Green had a much better night. Green was solid, and the clear number 1 on the defense depth chart with 25:50 TOI and +2 on the night.
Shoanne Morrisonn had a very solid night and was clearly, after Green and Poti, the best defenseman on the ice for the Caps. Morrisonn logged 16:20 TOI, two blocked shots, two hits and was +1 on the night.
While statisticly last night wasn't either Nicklas Backstrom or Chris Clark's best game, they both made their presence known in other more subtle ways. While "Captain Chris" only had one shot, it was a beauty of a one timer on the Caps powerplay, that had Khabibulen not been having a sensational night, would have been a goal. [ed note: in a Brooklyn accent please] In other words "Dat captain guy, he was robbed, robbed dats what I says." Backstrom's night, though unexceptional, was a solid one with 14:44 TOI and ended with him collecting a takeaway and +1; but perhaps more importantly it was clear that opponents will find a bigger stronger Nicklas Backstrom as the pivot between Ovechkin and Kozlov. This dynamic gives the Caps first line an even more imposing presence for opponents to consider.
As far as Alexander Ovechkin's perfromance last night, one could write a book on it's awesomeness but it speaks for itself, so if there is a replay of the game watch it. Suffice it to say both his goals last night were/are on the highlight NHL Network today.

Things to work on for the Capitals. Despite the 4-2 victory, the Caps are now only 0.500 and there are obviously things for them to work on. One would suspect that two of the areas/things Caps coach Bruce Boudreau is pondering are 1) how to get the Caps to improve their Faceoff won percentage and 2) how he might get Milan Jurcina to learn and play position like and have the wrist shot and passing touch of Jeff Schultz; as well as how he might get Jeff Schultz to learn how he might play more physically and use his 6-6, 215# body like Jurcina uses his 6-4 223# body to check, clear the crease and launch his strong, solid slapshot from the point. The Caps faceoff perfromance last night was less than "all star" - overall it was 50% but when you scratch the surface you note the only two guys who could and did consistantly win faceoffs were Michael Nylander (3 of 4 - 75%) and Sergei Federov (13 of 17 - 76%). For some reason, David Steckel, whose faceoff won percentage last year was respectable, is routinely getting beat these first two games in the face off circle. That said as long as the team that played the Blackhawks last night is the one the Caps bring to their games the rest of this season, instead of the one that played Atlanta on Friday night, all the issues are things the Caps can and will improve on throughout the season.

Next up the Vancouver Canaucks at Verizon tomarrow night. As I'm splitting my tickets this year, if anyone has a load of grain they need to charter a ship for stop by Section 103 tommarrow night and look for my classmate Tom and his friends from Phoenix Chartering and they'll hook you up. Even though things continue at a hectic pace for me over at ICx Technologies and we are busy with program startup for the JNBCRS2 program as well as several other major program pursuits, I expect I'll somehow find the time to watch both the Canaucks Devils and Preditors games either on TV or over the net. Tom has those games since I'll be busy and not readily able to see them in person. My next live Caps game will be the one against the Carolina Hurricanes after we've all voted for our next President on November 6th. Hopefully by then, I'll have the stuff I need to do for work well under control or, like our JNBCRS Start of Work meeting the end of October, totally finished.

Can't wait to watch tomarrow's game against the Roberto Luongo led Vancouver Canaucks -

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Caps 5 - Panthers 3; Caps Are 7-2-1 in Last 10 Games

It's an awesome evening - because of the weather and other commitments I watched tonight's Caps game on TV from home so can only comment from the vantage point one gets via Comcast.

Tonight's game was exciting to watch and I'm not sure that was such a good thing. When the Panthers scored their third goal of the evening I felt exactly like Coach Boudreau and if my lip reading skills are any good - we said the same thing too. But this isn't the same team it was in early November so instead of folding the Caps came back to take the lead 4-3 on another beautiful goal by Alexander Semin on a rebound off an AO wrist shot after a great setup pass by Nicklas Backstrom.

The Caps were dominate except for the first 10 minutes of the second period, and how the Panthers got back in to the game during that time is a testament to their offensive capabilities. The Caps ended the first period leading 3-0; at the end of two it was 4-3 and of course at the final horn it was 5-3 Caps. For the evening Victor Kozlov had two goals on 4 shots; Ovechkin had goal and an assist on 9 shots; Backstom had 4 assists and 3 shots, 3 takeaways and won 9 of 20 face offs - the four assists tied a Caps rookie record according to Laughlin and Bennati; and Semin had a goal on two shots and put on two stick handling clinics for the Panthers defense. Brent Johnson had a solid night between the pipes for the Caps turning back 25 of 28 shots. Collectively the Washington pucksters out shot their Florida foes 35 - 28, won 61% of the face offs, killed 4 of 6 penalties (66.6%) and scored 3 power play goals on 5 chances (60%). Tom Poti logged 29:27 of ice time and according to super stats had a hit. I didn't see the hit and didn't see him finish a check all evening. From what I saw this wasn't number 3's best game, though he did end up +/- +2 for the night and he led the Caps in ice time by more than 4:00 on a night where they got a two goal win. Mike Green logged 25:10 of ice time had 2 assists but was +/- -1 for the evening since for the statistics he was on the ice for 1 Panthers goal at even strength and all three Caps power play goals. One of two pleasant surprise of the night was John Erskine's play. Erskine logged 18:31 of ice time on 30 shifts, scored a goal, and was +/- +2 for the night. Additionally Erskine did a good job playing a physical game and holding his own. The pleasant surprise was Jeff Schultz's play and his willingness to mix it up when the Panthers started taking liberties with Brent Johnson. The sixth defenseman tonight was Milan Jurcina (vice Steve Eminger); Jurcina had a decent night logging 15:16 of ice time on 21 shifts, 3 hits and a blocked shot.

Tonight's win means the Caps have played 0.654 hockey (a 107 point pace) since the coaching change; and when they wake up tomorrow, they will wake up in 11th place in the Eastern Conference with 47 points one point ahead of both the Florida Panthers and the Buffalo Sabres who both lost tonight. They will also be two points out of the playoffs, behind the eighth place Boston Bruins, the ninth place ninth place New York Rangers and the tenth place Atlanta Thrashers, all of whom have 49 points. They also now find themselves only three points behind the Southeast Division leading Carolina Hurricanes; however the Hurricanes have played 50 games so far this season, and Atlanta 49 games while the Caps have only played 47.

Things are getting interesting around the "Phone Booth" and they are also getting more fun to watch every game. If you were counting the Caps went 4-1 during this home stand and they are 6-1-1 versus Southeastern Division opponents and 13-7-3 against Eastern Conference opponents. Even more promising, if you are looking to be optimistic is the fact that of the 35 remaining games, the Caps will play Eastern Conference Teams 30 times (none of which will be against the best team in the east, the Ottawa Senators who the Caps beat 4-0 in this years series.) Additionally of the 35 remaining games, the Caps play Southeast Division opponents 13 more times (Atlanta: 4 times - 2 home, 2 away; Carolina: 3 times - 1 home - 2 away; Florida: 3 times - 1 home, 2 away; and Tampa Bay: 3 times - 1 home, 2 away) . Finally should the Caps find themselves really surging to solidify a playoff berth or the Southeast Division lead they finish the season with a three game home stand at Verizon Center against Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida during the first week of April. Given the fact that this season they are 9-8-2 overall against Southeast Division rivals (even including the horrible month of November where they went 1-7-2 against SE foes), you have to at feel the Caps a realistic chance of making the playoffs.

Next up: Pittsburgh (without injured Sidney Crosby) in the Igloo in Steeltown on Monday; then a home & home against the Toronto Maple Leafs who have won their last three on Wednesday and Thursday. The next home game is Esskay dollar dog night on Thursday against the Maple Leafs. It's all good - LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,