"The Difference" ... "What's the Difference?" You May Ask

You hear it all the time, someone asks you: "What's the difference?" its a question asked about so many things. Time for instance: "What's the difference between now and 10 days ago or from now?" Well, a lot ... yes ... A LOT really for example, 10 days ago I was hoping the Washington Capitals would/could make the playoffs, I even still had some hope they might win the Southeast Division for a fifth season in a row, then. Ten (10) days from now I'll hopefully be hoping they win their second playoff series of 2012. So, A LOT will/could be different with regard to that particular item of interest to me. Things for example: "What's the difference between being tied 1 game all in a best of seven series and down 2 games to zip?" Well A LOT really, just ask any of the sixteen teams in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs but most especially ask the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Vancouver Canucks or the Florida Panthers, or better yet watch the Panthers when they play the New Jersey Devils to day and try to avoid the current predicament the Penguins and Canucks are in. Ten days ago if you had told me we'd be here today with the Caps coming home from Boston after 6 periods of regulation hockey, one full period of playoff overtime, and two partial periods of playoff overtime having allowed a total of just two (2) that's TWO goals against and with the series tied one game apiece against the Boston Bruins; while the Penguins and the Canucks were going on the road to LA and Philadelphia trailing their series two games to nil, I'd have said with as surly and sarcastic tone I could muster: "Yeah, RIGHT, sure ...." But I guess that's why they play these Stanley Cup playoff game things on the ice and not in our minds. Oh and let me just say this relative to "What's the difference?" - what's the difference in having Nicklas Backstrom in the lineup and NOT having Nicklas Backstrom in the lineup? Well it's about the same these last two games against the Bruins as not having Alexander Semin in the lineup and playing the best two way hockey of ANY foward in either Boston or Washington's lineup as having Semin in the Capitals lineup and playing the absolute BEST hockey any of us Washington fans have seen him play, ever. That's the difference. Thank you to the young guns, ALL of them Backstrom, Green, Semin, and Ovechkin for totally showing up so far this series. Also thank you to John Carlson, Brooks Laich, Karl Alzner, and Dennis Wideman who have also been BEASTS on the ice in the last 10 games but especially so in the two playoff games so far against Boston. Actually, I'll go so far as to say, the entire team is looking good, even Jeff Schultz who I have been "ragging on" a far amount during games on my twitter twit stream, has played great, playoff hockey, so far this series.

In fact, the Capitals - Bruins series has been absolutely awesome so far. Great hockey. It just goes to show you, you don't need to see a lot of goals getting scored to watch a really great game of sport. (Are you listening - Gary?) For example, take soccer or as the ROW (Rest of World) calls it football, how many games see more than a couple of goals scored? Not many. Now take an NHL Stanley Cup Playoff game which would you rather have watched, yesterday's 2-1 2OT game between the Caps and Bruins or Friday's 8-5 game between the Penguins and the Flyers? Really ... No, REALLY. Think about this right now after two playoff games:

Goaltender SV% GAA
Braden Holtby 0.973 0.83
Tim Thomas 0.964 0.83
Roberto Luongo 0.891 3.59
Ilya Bryzgalov 0.857 3.93
Marc-Andre Fluery 0.804 5.45.

Is Fluery playing hurt? and I'm not just talking about either physically or mentally but perhaps both right now. We know he is a competitor, or as Dale Hunter might say, "battler" - a term that Hunter needs to find a synonym for, but since I'm superstitious, i hope he's wearing the EXACT same blue suit on Monday he wore yesterday and Dale, even if it gets/has gotten all sweaty and stuff whatever you do, do NOT get it cleaned until either the Capitals win the Cup or loose a playoff game. Seriously, though if you are Dan Bylsma, don't you think about giving Brent Johnson a start in Philly in Game 3? Isn't game 4 too late? One can argue that it's not time to change anything if you are the Flyers, and given I'm suggesting that Dale Hunter change nothing, not even his clothes given the way the Capitals are playing, you know what I'd do if i was coaching the Flyers. Now what about Vancouver? After all even though Bobby Lou is the number one goalie and one of the faces of the franchise, and his backup is an American who only played 33 regular season games to Luongo's 55, Corey Schneider did end the regular season with a SV% of 0.937 and GAA of 1.96 to Lou's 0.919 and 2.41 - might it be a time to give him a chance between the pipe when the Canucks faceoff against the Kings in LA tonight? I mean maybe Luongo has a stomach virus or some other contrived illness management can tell their fan base so they don't have to deal with the malstrom such a move would create. But after all isn't it time to do something different for BOTH Pittsburgh and Vancouver? I mean, hey, what's the difference? Two other things on goalies to think about today. 1) I'm rooting for Jose Theodore to have a great game today, Theo's SV% in game one vs. the Devils: 0.921 and he played better than his GAA of 3.05 indicates. 2) The best goalie so far in the playoffs - well I have to say given the results and overall numbers that would be Jonathan Quick in my book, key numbers Two (2) Wins; SV% 0.946, GAA 2.00. If Quick keeps playing that way and the rest of the Kings keep up the pressure on the Canucks like they have been, it really probably won't matter whether the Canucks play Luongo the rest of the series or give Schneider a chance to show what he's got, it's hard to see the Canucks taking the Kings past five, let alone six games this series.

Now about the Caps - Bruins and game three tomorrow night at Verizon Center. I don't think I've anticipated a Caps game as much, ever. True I've really only been a true Caps fan for the last seven years/seasons. However, I haven't anticipated and been into a playoff series this much since I was growing up a Flyers fan and the broad Street Bullies were on their way to their first Stanley Cup. Really. Also Caps fans please don't think less of me, I have seen the light, haven't I? I've been trying to figure out why I'm so into this series and I think it's because of all the uncertainty I have about the teams and also how much I really, really hope the Caps go deep into the playoffs this season because I really LIKE this team and think they have the right mix of talent and grit for the future long haul as well as to win today. I know that Games 1 and 2 were absolutely TOTALLY AWESOME to watch on TV, and just thinking about how awesome it will be Rock The Red on Monday and Thursday evenings has me squirming in my seat. This Hunter Hockey thing might catch on too. I mean who would you rather be this morning Sidney Crosby, Captain of the Pens down 2-0 to the Flyers with 4 points (3 G and 1A) or Alexander Ovechkin, Captain of the Capitals tied 1-1 with the Bruins and coming to home ice with 1 point (1A)? I'm thinking it's a much better day to be Ovie than Sid, but hey that's just me. Also think about this lifetime in the playoffs, Ovechkin has played 39 playoff games and averages 1.31 points per game, so if you think that eventually players regress or progress to the norm, should the Caps get past Tim Thomas and this very stingy Bruins team, things could get even better for Capitals. That said, we are watching Hunter Hockey in the playoffs for the very fist time and there are A LOT of differences to anything we've seen played in the playoffs these last five seasons. It truly is defense first, in every way - from the way players are pulling the puck into their bodies and physical envelopes and getting control of and protecting it, instead of pushing it away, immediately being in the position to move forward, BUT being exposed for a takeaway; to the protective arc that forms around the Caps goal with three or four players blocking shots whenever the Bruins start to really press things. I don't thing the Caps will change a lot regardless of who they face next if they can get by Boston. Why the "if they can get by Boston" you might ask to which I'll reply, there have been a total of four goals scored so far this series and it definitely could go either way. Now for those of you that thought I might continue the comparison of whether I'd want to be Crosby or Ovechkin - Crosby has played 64 games, averages 1.34 points per game, and has 2 goals and 2 assists so far this year, he's not the reason the Penguins trail 2 games to zip though he has apparently made a couple of mental errors against the Flyers, and he has a Stanley Cup Ring. There are just some comparisons that aren't worth making between Sid and Ovie yet and until the Capitals win their first franchise Stanley Cup, playoff stats are one of them.

In any case, this morning I'd much rather wake up a Washington Capital, San Jose Shark, Chicago Blackhawk, Detroit Red Wing or New jersey Devil then a Pittsburgh Penguin or Vancouver Canuck, that's really all I've got to say about that subject. Oh and about tomorrow night:

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Tomorrow, Looking Ahead to the Caps - Panthers Matchup In Sunrise, Well Sort Of ...

So tomorrow evening in Sunrise, FL the Washington Capitals who have been struggling mightily of late to regain their confidence and swagger and their "game" play the Florida Panthers who have basically been doing the exact opposite, the Panthers are about 4/10th's of the way into their best NHL season in several years. It'll be the second of six meetings this season between Florida and Washington. The Capitals won the first meeting 3-0, that game was in a different universe, while it was on the same sheet of ice that tomorrow's game will be played on, it was apparently in a different time-space continuim, on October 18th while the Capitals were on a 7-0 tear at the start of the season. That was before the Capitals started looking even less than human while they were still super-heros who it seemed could do whatever they want and still win hockey games. it was before Bruce Boudreau was replaced by Dale Hunter and it was well before the Panthers amassed anything like their current 14-8-4 record and 32 points to take over the Southeast Division lead for the first time in more than a couple years. It was before the Panthers went 7-3-3 during the month of November.

The difference in current mindset and attitude of these two teams might be best ascertained by comparing their records over the past 10 games - Florida: 6-3-1; Washington: 3-7-0. That said, my thoughts might be going in a different direction than you think though. For Florida, their website is building the game up as the "Fight for First Place" as in the fight for the first place in the Southeast Division. That shouldn't even be a fight of course and it is but it's a meaningless one as we Cap's fans well know. Winning the division without winning the conference has gotten the Capitals little to nothing these past few post seasons. In that regard, it's about having home ice advantage and it's about being in position to "go deep" in the playoffs. So from that regard for Panthers it is indeed important. It's also about making sure they don't get shutout 3-0 again like they did last meeting; its about making sure they make Sunrise, FL a hard place for division rivals play against the Panthers.

For the Capitals the game is even more important and it is so for at least three really big, good reasons:

1) It could be the difference between knowing they might still have a season because they can win games against their Division foes on the road, heck right now it's important they beat anybody on the road. The worst loss of the recent face-plant in my book was in some ways, probably when they went up to Uniondale on November 5th and lost 5-3. The Capitals road record is 4-7-0 so far this season, for the Capitals to get their season back on track they need to start playing at least 0.500 hockey on the road and 0.600 hockey at Verizon Center. The time for that to get started is sooner rather than later, so what better time for Dale Hunter to get his second win and first win on the road as coach of the Capitals than tomorrow night at Sunrise, FL?

2) The Capitals need the two points a win against Florida will give them more that the Panthers need them. Right now the Caps are actually "the bubble team"in the Eastern Conference. They sit with a precarious hold on the eighth and final playoff spot with 27 points. the same point total as ninth place Ottawa and tenth place Montreal.

3) A win, especially a win in regulation would be put new Coach Dale Hunter's record at a respectable 2-2-0 and would also be the first win in regulation for the Capitals under Hunter. it would also be another brick in the rebuilding of a wall of confidence in the Capital Team's collective psyche' as regards the "Hunter Era". It could get even better if the Capitals top six forwards hit on all eight cylinders and get their offense as well as the defense in gear.

The other interesting battle that will likely play out tomorrow at Sunrise, FL will be Jose Theodore vs. Tomas Vokoun. Theo wasn't in the net the last time the two teams met, Jacob Markstrom was, as was the Vokoun who stopped 20 shots and was the first star of that game. During the Panthers last ten games Theodore has played in eight games posted a 5-2-1 record and a 0.933 SV%. The recent performances by both Theodore and Vokoun and the importance of the game for both teams make a showdown by the two against their former teams very likely tomorrow night... I'm looking forward to it, I hope you are two. I'm also looking very forward to seeing the Capitals forwards continue their return to the scene and to the job of scoring goals too.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Caps best Blue Jackets in Columbus 3-2 in Regulation for Historic 51st Win

Well it wasn't always pretty last night but the Capitals jumped out to a 3-0 lead early and then held on firmly to win against a determined Steve Mason and Blue Jackets squad earning two more points as well as their best in franchise history 51st win last night in Columbus.

Alexander Semin opened the scoring with his career best tying 38th goal of the season at the 5:54 mark of the first period, with a blistering slapshot that virtually wet through Matieu Garon, an even strength 5 on 5 goal, assisted by Brooks Laich and Tyler Sloan - Caps 1, Blue Jackets 0. Then at the 10:42 mark Tomas Fleischmann made it 2-0, on another even strength tally, when he received a picture perfect feed from Mike Knuble, while both players aggressively attacked the net; Caps 2 - Blue Jackets 0. Shortly after that, Blue Jackets starting goaltender Mathieu Garon left the game (with 11:51 left to go in the stanza) after he was knocked to the ice when former teammate Jason Chimera crashed the net, bringing 2009-2010 Calder Cup winner Steve Mason into the net or Columbus. Mason's welcome to the game by the Caps me just slightly over 1:30 later when Mike Green put his 19th goal of the season into the net while the Caps were on the power play. The goal by the highest scoring defenseman in the league was unassisted as it came when the Blue Jackets, normally an excellent penalty killing team, made a mental lapse while they were two men down on a 5 on 3 penalty kill, tried and failed to clear the puck out of their own end right up the middle of the slot. Green smartly stepped up, intercepted the puck and rifled it past Mason through a very wide, clear lane from about the middle of "the slot." Caps 3 - Blue Jackets 0. At this point you had to be thinking this was going to be a blow out filled with really nice hockey plays as both Semin's and Green's goals were highlight reel stuff. However, not to be out done and to keep his team in it, Columbus Captain Rick Nash, while still killing the second of the two overlapping penalties, got a breakout going and rushed the puck down the ice, then frankly because no one on the Caps team other tan Mike Green made a solid enough attempt to get back and back check, Nash found a streaking Antoine Vermette who scored what seems to have become the obligatory, when these two teams meet, short-handed goal by the Blue Jackets. Score Caps 3 -Blue Jackets 1.

At this point a couple things seemed pretty obvious to me, 1) if/when the Caps stayed focused and played with intensity they were clearly able to dominate as Columbus really only could field one line that could keep up with and score against the Caps and one other line that could contain the Caps first and or second line. The only other way they were able to slow things down and keep the game from getting away from them was to play the boring, damnable trap that they are so darn good at; 2) if Jose Theodore stayed on his game like he had been during the first period when he stopped 8 of 9 shots including a couple really good scoring chances, that wasn't going to be near enough for the Blue Jackets to come back and win against this Caps team. Of course there was the fear, the fear that the Caps would get bored with the game and not play a full 60 minutes. In fact at times that fear was realized and that's how over the remaining 40 minutes of the game the defensive minded Blue Jackets out shot the offensive minded Capitals 27 - 16. However, in what I hope to presage his caliber of play in the upcoming post-season, Theo was absolutely superb stopping 26 oft hose 27. The one exception was a sweet second goal by Vermette, an even strength tally where Vermette was given too much time and space on Theo's doorstep and masterfully set-up by Nash and defenseman Marc Methot to draw the Blue Jackets within a goal at the 12:17 mark oft he third period. After that it seemed like the Capitals once again clamped down and tightened up their play. The only thing the Caps didn't do in the final ~8:00 of the game to ensure their 51st win was score an insurance goal.

After the game a couple of Capitals, including Tomas Fleischmann, noted that they weren't happy with their or the team's play peciuficlly the Capitals filure to score the knockout punch and put the game away late in the first or early in the second period. Seemingly everyone in the Caps organizatin, rightfully credited Jose Theodore's play (stopping 34 of 36 for a SV% of 0.944) with driving the win. Theo's performance was also recognized with the game's first star. The second star went to Vermette who had two goals and the third to Rick Nash who had two assists.

The fact that the Caps won and I still totally agree with the MSM selections of the Stars of the Game says something. That said I am still pretty surprised at post game comments by Blue Jackets center/former Flyers' Left Wing R.J, Umberger; per WaPo's Tarik El-Bashir, Umberger was quoted after the game saying "I don't think any team in the West would be overmatched by them. Umberger told the Columbus Dispatch. They play the wrong way. They want to be moving all the time. They float around in their zone, looking for breakaways and odd man rushes. A good defensive team is going to beat them [in the playoffs] he added. If you eliminate your turnovers and keep them off the power play, they're going to get frustrated because they're in their zone a lot." Wow, interesting quotes and worth some thought and response. First let me say my surprise comes from the fact I had never really thought of Umberger as either foolish or classless and to make these statements after your team is bested 3-2 in a game where you never really had much of a chance is probably one or the other. To make the statement about a team that looked up their conference several games before they played your team and leads the league overall, who sits in 14th in your Conference, is currently 24th out of 30 in the league and is already mathematically out of the playoffs is, IMO, definitely one or the other.

I'll get off this thought and on to others with three final comments. A) Enjoy your golf vacation after next week R.J. B) Also based on the faceoff report R.J., it doesn't look like you spent too much time out on the ice against the Capitals top two lines, since you had no faceoffs against Backstrom and only one against Fleischmann, you might remember it - it was one of the 6 (out of 11) you lost last night. C) Grow up dude, put on the big boy pants and take some responsibility for the absolutely awful season your team is having. You get paid at a salary cap hit rate of $3.75M (tied for third highest on your team). Your team has, just 77 points, and over the 59 games of the season has played horribly after having a fairly decent start the first 20 games of the season. Don't you think it might be more constructive to point to what and where the Blue Jackets need to build and improve for next season after a solid performance, but still a 3-2 loss to the leading team in the league. I mean you know rather than trying to deflect attention from the fact that once you guys were down 3-0, it was going to be pretty hard for you, a team that averages only 2.68 GF/game to come back against a team that averages 3.8 GF and an average GF vs GA differential of +0.9+, even if they do, you know how did you put it again...oh yeah, "play the wrong way." I understand frustration, all of us Capitals fans understand frustration - it's pretty obvious to see. So I'll ask you, a 27 year old pro in his 6th NHL season, what is more demonstrative of frustration: i) a team who plays a tight game, gives a lesser team who has and plays an effective trap a few too many chances in a game where they take a total of 3 minor penalties and come away with a 3-2 victory, or a 6th year pro spouting off, what probably were ill-considered comments, after his team looses a game where they gave the team with the best power play in the league 6 extra man opportunities and they spotted them 3 goals, all while that same player himself had a game that was basically unspectacular enough that his stat line is devoid of much in the way of entries despite having 22:56 TOI.



That said Umberger's comments do substantiate my feeling this wasn't the Capitals best 60 minutes so there are/were some good and bad things to note. Here they are. The good:

1) Already mentioned, but deserving of another shout out: Jose Theodore's play, especially the couple he stopped on close in solid Blue Jacket chances. Coming on the heels of a solid outing by backup Semyon Varlamov, the Caps goaltenders are returning to form at exactly the right time of the season.

2) Mike Green's play, again especially defensively, despite not being on the ice for either of the Cap's even strength goals,Green also wasn't on the ice for either of the Blue Jackets goals. His stat line other than notching his 19th goal of the season on the power play included 4 SOG, 1 hit and 3 blocked shots in a team leading 24:25 TOI.

3) Ice time was well and evenly distributed once again, the only Caps with 20:00 TOI or more were: Green - 24:25; Ovechkin - 23:50; and Backstrom - 20:02.

4) Faceoffs - the Capitals won 59% of the faceoffs (30 of 51) on the evening. In fact oddly the only Caps center NOT to win more than 50% of his faceoffs was David Steckel: Fleischmann 75% (6 of 8); Belanger 73% (11 of 15); Backstrom 57% (8 of 14); Steckel 30% (3 of 10). Of course most of Steckel's faceoff losses came against Umberger and Derick Brassard and neither of them are known to be "slouches" in that department.

5) The Caps second and fourth lines were very solid all night long. The second line of Semin - Fleischmann-Laich was very solid and when Belanger was rotated in as pivot the line also looked good as well.

The Bad:

1) The first line was held off the board by an effective forechecking and backchecking 5 man Blue Jackets team all night. When the Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble or Ovechkin-Backstrom-Mr. X line did get a shot through Steve Mason had a solid bead oin it and didn't generally yield a rebound at all. It still seems like this line is holding back a little bit and perhaps even more so, it seems like Ovechkin is gripping his stick a little hard while he works his way through his current slump. In the end this is, currently, bothersome as fan but I'm not overly worried. If this sort of stuff goes on for, I don't know, say six more games, then I'll worry. However, given Ovie's career history, that probably won't be the case.

2) The powerplay unit was just too loose and that's how Columbus got their obligatory shortie. I'd sure like to see Joe Corvo get a lot more in synch with the Caps system and his Caps teammates on both special teamsand 5 on 5 BEFORE the playoffs start. Since Corvo only had 16:49 TOI on 18 shifts, I suspect the Caps Coaching staff feels the same way.

3) The Caps third line Chimera-Belanger-Chimera displayed lots of energy but wasn't very effective. When he's on Fehr is always on the doorstep and in the thick of things, last night wasn';t one of those nights. When he's on Chimera is much more "in your face" perhaps it was the familiarity of the opposing team with his MO, but again that just didn't happen. Given their pivot won 73% of his faceoffs the 3rd line just didn't have enough time in the Blue Jackets zone, that's something they need to work on, but in the long run, this is a line that ought to work and be more effective. I have a feeling these three will be spending some time together with the video coach before the faceoff tomorrow evening if they are going to be kept together.

4) Over at "Alexader Ovejtjkin" the comment made today is: "Bruce needs to sit down with Ovi and challenge him. He did it before and Ovi responded." I don't know if that's the answer or not but somehow Ovi needs to let thefun and energy back into his game and start having some fun on the ice. If challenging him does that so be it, whatever Ovi needs to once again let himself be Ovi. Maybe it is the Russian Olympic experience, maybe it's all this misplaced festoosh about the Campbell hit. Maybe it's just the pressure of a slump while in a race for his third NHL goal title, again whatever. My 2 cents - as far as individual awards and honors, Ovechkin has nothing to prove. Go out have fun playing the game like you always played it - if you're not the best player in the world when you do that, your easily one of the top five, in this day and age for sure, if not of all time. That's how you led this team, from long before you were actually given that C to wear, till now. [ed note - imagine a Bela Karolyi accent if you will] "You KAN Do EEt, Go Ovie, Go, weee rrr wit you!" Like I said, whatever it is, just forget about and play the game like you enjoy playing it, everything else will fall into place. Oh and now we know you are indeed a great playmaker too, it's okay to be selfish every now and then too.

Well, next up, the Boston Bruins at Verizon Center tomorrow night. The Bruins are in a five way battle with the Rangers, the Flyers, the Canadiens and the Thrashers for the last three playoff spots in the East so they will be coming into the phone booth very motivated.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Last Night, Tonight, It's All Good....

Well last night was a two, that's a TWO Point night for the Capitals once again at Verizon Center. Those were points #107 and One-Oh-Gr8, as in a club record 108 regular season points for those of you that might be counting. So as I said, it's all good. Last night was another "never say die" night for the Capitals and it was a very good game to watch. First good thing - no one on either team got hurt, and had they that would have been a shame since the Caps are fighting for the virtually meaningless President's Trophy and the Penguins are fighting for the Atlantic Division Crown which will likely mean the difference between the 2nd and 4th seed in the Eastern Conference First Playoff Round. Certainly worth fighting for, but not worth having a good player injured for. Of course there is that other thing to fight for - Pride and/or bragging rights - and in a rivalry, that is something.

The Caps and Penguins will face each other once more this regular season, and now the Caps have are 3 for 3 in this regular season on the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Of course we all remember last season and last year's playoffs, so how much is that really worth come late April/Early May? Not much - there I said it, and we all should too. Sure rejoice, another victory on the way to that 50 win milestone, it's great! So is playing a solid game and executing on your game plan, that's how you ensure you are ready for the playoff quest that is upcoming. In the end I had three high points in the game,

#1) When Semin scored, right after I said to Jasper, our oldest Tibetan Terrier: "We could really use a shortie, right now." - I have a feeling, given my superstitions, Jasper might be hearing that after every Cap goes to the "Sin Bin" during the playoffs.

#2) When Theo stopped Crosby on the doorstep, stoned him solidly, on a powerplay in the third period keeping the Pens from going up by 2. I said it earlier this week, I'm over my "I hate Crosby, stage, really. I was just psyched that Theo kept the Caps within one, I had a funny feeling, it was "our turn" to hang around all night and come back and win against them. Oh, and there's still that "mancrush" I have going on Theo, too. and

#3a & #3b) Mike Knuble's TWO goals, don't make me pick between them. I can't.

Tied back for fourth would be Ovechkin and Semin's shootout goals. Fifth was watching Fleury slam his stick against the goalpost after Knuble's game winner, even though I suspect that will only fuel MAF's intensity against the Caps in upcoming games. It is a rivalry after all.

Tonight, the Caps take on the Hurricanes and they are playing well, they also match up well against the Caps. Sure the last game was all Caps but I wouldn't count on it this time. Still I see the Caps getting points 109 and 110 tonight, though not by more than a goal or two. I suspect we'll see the Caps have a good night and I also expect we'll see former Cap Brian Pothier have a good game too. Why? I don't know, just a hunch.

Prediction: Caps 4 - Hurricanes 2. Game Winner off of Corvo's Stick and Winning Goaltender: Varlamov.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

The Last Week - Where Does The Time Go...

Wow, it's been a week since I made a blog entry? Was I brain dead? Was my mind on total hold, I mean no musings for a week? Well, no not really, it's just been a pretty busy week and it started with the hit by Ovie on Campbell and then deciding to wait and see what the NHL would do about it. Then, the disappointment in those decision and then, well then my real life took over and I was out of town from Wednesday until late last night. So here goes a quick recap and summary musings about the last week, now that the heat of the moment and all that other stuff are over.

1) Ovie's hit on Campbell was in my opinion the following: a) The result of a bad decision by a 24 year old young man who also happens to be the Captain of the Washington Capitals and one of, if not THE, best ice hockey players in the world. b) To some degree rooted in everything you might both like and dislike about "the new NHL." Some may argue, but there is a general "lack of respect and meaningful repercussions" in the NHL today, and one of the two main roots of that is the ill considered "instigator rule." The other main root of that is that over the past several years, the NHL has made numerous rule changes that have increased the speed of the game.That has had two main very adverse unintended consequences both of which were on clear display during last Sunday's incident: i) injuries occur more frequently and when they do, they are often worse then in the past and ii) the game is now often too fast for the officials to be able to keep up and be in position to see the plays and penalties properly, thus they make poor calls or miss calls more often. In the end, I'd have to say that the way things played out, if you're a Caps fan, and I am, you feel the reaction and suspension was excessive. If you are a Blackhawks fan, or don't like Ovechkin's style of play, you probably feel he should still be in the Press Box. So, in the "logic" of NHL discipline, which is often Hammurabian in nature, all things considered the NHL probably got this as "right" as possible. The real issue is when will some of the rule changes that are really driving these things be "rolled back"? and the game returned to it's more physical but slower roots? In the end that's really the only thing that will fix this without trying to turn things into a "no contact sport" which certainly isn't going to happen. There, how's that for a musing?

2) Well the Caps have played 4 games since my last posted musings and they went 3-0-1 on a four game road trip, two games of which were without the league's leading scorer and their Captain. At the start of the week the Caps had 99 points and now they have 106, they are leading the league, in fact as I write this they are leading the Blackhawks for the President's Cup by 9 points, though Chicago has a game in hand. In the Eastern Conference the Caps lead the Flightless Birds from Pittsburgh by 16 points (8 games) while both teams have just ten (10) games to play - one of which is the Caps next game on Wednesday evening against none other than those same Penguins. The Pens first play the Red Wings in Detroit tomorrow night before coming to DC for Wednesday's contest. That means that when the two teams face off on Wednesday evening it might be possible for the Caps to lock up the Conference depending on what happens in Detroit on Monday, New Jersey on Tuesday evening, and Buffalo on Wednesday. To my minds eye, that would basically be the beginning of the real journey towards this season's real goal, a journey that hopefully won't be over until June.

3) So far the Capitals are 7-1-2 since the Olympic break, that's 0.800 hockey with respect to points captured vs. points available. For the Caps to reach that lofty 120 point season level, the level that historically has been viewed as some of the best seasons ever, they have to play 0.700 hockey for the season's final 10 games. The remaining 10 games are 8 games against Eastern Conference foes and 1 game against the Calgary Flames. Additionally 7 of the 10 remaining games are on home ice here at Verizon Center where the Caps are an amazing 26-4-4 (0.824) so far this season. That said it won't be easy pickings, nine (9) of the 10 games are against teams that all still have something to play for and games that might have ramifications on post season positioning or if the opponent makes the post season at all.

First on Wednesday, they face the Penguins here in DC - the 2nd place Pens are dueling with Devils for the Atlantic Division Championship, a loss to the Caps could make the difference for the Pens of a first or second place seeding in the Conference and a fourth place seeding. The Caps then travel to Raleigh, NC to face the 12th Hurricanes who are 5-4-1 in their last ten and still have a possibility of sneaking into the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

On Sunday the 28th the Calgary Flames come to Verizon Center, the Flames are currently in 9th place in the Western Conference "duking it out" with the Red Wings for the final playoff spot in the West. Then on Tuesday the 30th, the Ottawa Senators come to DC, the Senators have been struggling of late going just 2-7-1 and have lost heir last 5 games, however, they are in 5th place in the East though have the same 79 points that the 6th place Flyers and 7th place Canadiens have, so every game is once again a big one for the Sens.

Next month the Caps close their season out with 6 games. Two (2) games against the surprising Atlanta Thrashers, two against the Boston Bruins, the fourth regular season game against the Penguins, and a game in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. The game against the Blue Jackets in Columbus on April 3rd is the only game of the Caps' final ten (10) against an opponent that isn't fighting for a playoff berth or post season position. The Thrashers have won their last four games including today's game against the Flyers, a 3-1 victory in Philadelphia. The Thrashers are currently in 9th place in the East, just one point behind the Bruins. The Caps play the Thrashers in two games here in Verizon Center first on April Fool's Day (really) and then seven days later on Friday April 9th. The Caps play the currently 8th place Bruins who now have 76 points and 10 games remaining twice more here in DC as well. The first of the final two regular season games against the Bruins is on Monday April 5th and then the final game between the two is the final game of the regular season for both teams here at Verizon on Sunday April 11th. While the Caps final regular season match-up with the Penguins in Pittsburgh on April 6th will likely be hyped by the media much more, the four games against the Bruins and Thrashers will likely have a much greater potential impact on this year's post season.

In any case, the road between now and the end of this regular season, will not be easy for the Capitals. To my mind, that is a good thing as it should help ensure they are well prepared and ready for the even harder road the playoffs bring.

4) Looking at the Eastern Conference standings right now it seems entirely possible the Caps could face any of seven different opponents in the first round of the playoffs: Ottawa, Philadelphia, Montreal, Boston, Atlanta, the Rangers, or Florida. It's also still mathematically possible for three others to sneak in - the Islanders, Tampa Bay or Carolina though each of them need to make up 8 points in just 10 games remaining and they are all currently slumping, so it doesn't seem likely any of those final three will make the playoffs.

5) Finally, during the past week, indeed actually since January, Jose Theodore's performance has, in this blogger's opinion, made him the clear number 1 goaltender on the Capitals. I hope he continues to do so through June, as well.

As the week ends, the world is indeed in order but, next up, Pittsburgh. The journey continues, one game at a time.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Caps Quell 'Canes 4-3 in OT

It was a 2 point night once again at Verizon Center last night as the Washington Capitals calmed the storming Carolina Hurricanes to capture points 98 and 99 of their 2009 - 2010 regular season. In many ways it wasn't pretty as once again Bruce Boudreau and the coaching staff juggled the line-up to see how and where "the trade deadline new guys" fit and play best with the rest of what has been a relatively stable line-up since early this season. Don't get me wrong, I think these are the types of issues and challenges we as fans want the team to be having right now, except of course the Penalty Kill units.

My overall impressions and thoughts from the game since other more detailed recaps have already been posted and are being discussed around the net follow. First before getting hyper-critical here let's acknowledge that since the resumption of play and the pickup of Corvo, Belanger, Walker and Jurcina at the trade deadline the Capitals are 3-0-1 and that's 0.875 hockey in terms of points captured vs. points available; further they stretched their lead over the rest of the NHL to 6 points. Say what you will about the SE Division/Quality of Competition, etc. all you want the Caps accomplishments and overall strength of team is impressive, regardless of any editorial qualifying statements. Put in 50,000 foot level perspective, as of today, season overall the Capitals have played 0.734 ice hockey in terms of points captured vs. points available and even if they only play 0.500 hockey the rest of the season they will finish with 114 points. Clearly that's not what they or we fans want them to do nor is it what I think they will do, I'm just putting things into perspective before taking a hyper-critical look at the team in light of the good, bad, and ugly from first last night and then actually the last four games.

First the good from last night:

1) Jose Theodore played well, in my opinion, a) no softies, b) answered the call and made a couple of big saves when needed to keep the Caps in it, and had a save percentage of 0.903 against a resurgent, confident, well playing Hurricanes Team during a tight game, and of course he stopped the Brandon Sutter penalty shot.

2) Mike Green's two goals.

3) Tomas Fleischmann's game winner got him off "the schneid."

4) The Caps first and second lines looked good and most shifts they dominated and controlled the play and pace of the game.

The some good/some bad from last night:

1) The Caps power play unit scored two goals in four man advantage situations so it was 50%. However they gave up too many shorthanded chances/shots to the aggressive Hurricanes penalty kill and there seems to be a book developing around the league on the Caps about that. Going into the playoffs the power play unit needs to step back and watch the video of those games where they've played folks with an aggressive PK and make some adjustments in this regard.

2)The PK unit clearly made adjustments and at times was very good. The D-Pairing of Poti - Sha-Mo was especially effective on the PK unit. However, the Hurricanes Power Play unit was still able to go 1 - 5 and the end result was the PK Unit was 80%. As Craig Laughlin covered in the pre-game on CSN, you'd really like to see that number up at around 85%+ when you are looking at comparable performance by recent past Stanley Cup Winners.

The bad & ugly:

1) Overall, the Caps played a solid disciplined game but at least two and in my view three of the five penalties they took could have been avoided. The easiest way for them to improve the PK is to avoid these sorts of short handed situations entirely, the game is changing and at this stage of the season guys know certain things that will be called - "every time" - those are the penalties that ought to be avoided. Of course the 5 penalties also doesn't take into account the sixth because it was a penalty shot....

2) Mike Green's "assist" on the Carolina's power play goal by Jossi Joikenen in the second that tied the game at 3-3.

3) Regardless of their dominance at times, the Caps first and second lines failed to get the puck by Manny Legace and put the game away during the second period when they had chances to do so. From my perspective, watching on the CSN Broadcast, it seemed they needed to crash the net more and harder as they took many of their shots on the perimeter and didn't get either traffic or a rebound chance.

Bottom lines:

A) Based on the pre- and post-game comments by Coach Bruce Boudreau, I'd expect the line-up juggling and shuffling to continue for 5 or so more games. That's not a bad thing in my view. It should give everyone a chance to get to know each other and how they might interact if a brutal series results in injuries that require such shuffles in the post-season.

B) If the playoffs started tomorrow you'd have to go with Jose Theodore in goal. Personally, I don't have a problem with that - AT ALL. Since January, Theo has been consistent, confident, and very good. I think he's ready for the playoff run and I don't have any of the concerns or fears relative to him being able to shoulder the load required throughout the playoffs that many of the pundits seem to have.

C) While last night wasn't pretty and I don't expect the next five or six games to be so, the results certainly seem to be saying this team has what it takes and knows how to win, let's all continue to think good thoughts and hope that holds through June.

Next up: Tampa Bay tomorrow night at Verizon Center the last game of the five game post-Olympic home stand.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Canadiens 6 - Capitals 5 (OT); A One Point Night in Montreal; Streak Ended At 14

Last night at Le Centre Bell in Montreal it was a ONE Point Night for the Washington Capitals. Yes the injury depleted Canadiens stopped the Capitals winning streak at fourteen (14), but the Caps didn't let Montreal do so easily. The good part of the streak being over is "Caps Nations" can go back to thinking and talking about hockey instead of history. The bad part about the streak being over, is well it's over. I have a couple of things I'm pulling together to keep my Caps Juices flowing during the upcoming Olympic Break, one of course, is a review of the Caps season to date. Even with the streak being over, the numbers the Caps have been putting up during the entire first sixty (60) games, but especially since January 1st, are pretty awesome. This is a very well working, well coached, talented and confident team for good reason.

All that said, last night, the team that played better, more of the game, won. That's not to say, the Caps were overpowered, or they didn't dominate during several stretches. Further, even though they were outplayed at times during the game, it never seemed like Montreal dominated the Caps. Another thing, and I'd guess this is the same for every game that ends a streak, in this blogger's opinion, none of the bounces went the Capitals way.

Once again last evening the Caps allowed their opponent to strike first and this was a game in which the Capitals never led. They came back and tied the Canadiens three times during the evening but in the end, in overtime, the Canadiens scored their sixth goal of the night to take the two points. It was a two points that is currently more important to the Habs then to the Capitals, but it's clear the Caps wanted to win and keep the streak alive as well.

How did the injury depleted Canadiens beat the high flying Capitals? After all by the end of the game they were missing six (6) of their regular lineup including over 40% of their offensive punch. Well, throughout the game they adapted, and they also showed everyone watching just how good they can be. During the first period the Canadiens came out strong and fast looking like they intended to work hard and win the game. The Capitals came out looking somewhat tentative, again. It took just 0:36 seconds for the Canadiens to take their first lead of the game. Brian Gionta made a very smooth hockey play and an even better pass to Scott Gomez who notched his 9th goal of the season via a wrist shot past Michal Neuvirth. Score Canadiens 1 - Caps 0. Not to be outdone the Capitals responded, though not immediately. At the 6:23 mark of the period, Brooks Laich scored his first of three goals for the night, knotting the score for the first time of the evening at 1-1. That's how the period ended, the Caps attempted a couple more surges after Laich's first goal but each time the Canadiens responded in kind or better. In fact by the end of the first period the only reason the Caps had out shot the Canadiens was because they had given the Caps three power play chances. However, the Habs penalty kill unit was very good last night and they successfully killed off all three of those Capital power plays in the first period.

In the second period, the Caps played far better than they had in the first. However, Canadiens' goaltender Cary Price proved up to the task and because to a reasonable degree of his efforts he was able to skate off the ice at the end of the period with his team having a 5-2 lead. The Habs scored the first goal of the period when rookie center Tom Pyatt scored his first NHL goal off a tip in of a Ryan O'Bryne shot from the high slot during the first minute of the period. Once again the Caps trailed by a goal. That didn't remain the case for long though, just 30 seconds later Nicklas Backstrom knotted the game for the second time at the 1:11 mark. Backstrom combined with fellow young guns Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green banging the puck home at the end of a "tic-tac-toe" play scoring his 26th goal of the year, score tied 2-2. Shortly after that, Michal Neuvirth went to the bench, apparently injured and Jose Theodore replaced him in net at the 6:11 mark. The Habs tested Theo quickly but he came into the game heads up and repelled their initial thrusts. The about the midway point of the period it appeared things were looking up for the Caps and we Caps fans, when it seemed Alex Ovechkin had scored one of those amazing goals and put the Caps into the lead. However it was not to be, they didn't remain that way, as after a conference among the officials the goal was waived off. Then the Canadiens took over, first at the 12:45 mark veteran center Glen Metropolit scored for Montreal while they were on the power play with Bredan Morrison in the penalty box for hooking. Score Canadiens 3 - Caps 2. Then just 12 seconds later at the 12:57 mark, Maxim Lapierre scored of a well placed puck from Sergei Kostisyn. Score Canadiens 4 - Caps 2. To cap off the scoring for the second period, at the 18:56 mark Kostitsyn feed the puck to another one of the Habs' sharpshooters - Tomas Plekanec. Plakanec scored his first of the game and 16th of the season, putting the Canadiens up by three and ending the periods scoring. Score at the end of two Canadiens 5 - Caps 2.

The Caps kept in character and came out and turned things around in the third period, as they have been able to do much of the season and especially since the New Year. Jose Theodore tightened things up as did the general team defense, with just one great save by Theo, the Caps were able to hold the Canadiens scoreless throughout the third period. They were also able to score three unanswered goals and tie the game up a third time. In keeping pace with the tempo of the game, Mike Green scored his 14th goal of the season with the Caps on the power play just 16 seconds into the period. Score Canadiens 5 - Caps 3. Then at 9:02 mark, Brooks Laich's scored his second goal of the game and 19th of the season unassisted to pull the Capitals within one goal, score Canadiens 5 - Caps 4. At this point, I, like every other Caps fan watching, am just shaking my head, thinking, can it be, are they really going to pull this game out and continue this crazy winning streak after being so outplayed for the first 40 minutes? At the 17:28 mark, Glen Metropolit is whistled off for a 2:00 minor for hooking. Caps coach, Bruce Boudreau, pulls Theodore, the Caps have a 6 on 4 power play for over 1:30 but fail to score while Metro is off the ice. Though they keep momentum and pressure up and they keep the extra skater on the ice. Then at the 19:41 mark, less than 20 seconds remaining, Laich finds the back of the net for the 20th time this season, scores his first career hat trick and knots the game for the third time of the night at 5-5, and taking the game into Overtime. At this point, if you were a Caps fan, you had to be thinking, "my gosh, they are going to do it again, it's pretty unbelievable."

Through the bulk of the overtime period the Caps were outplaying the Canadiens. However, once again, like in the second period Carey Price was good when he had to be. So after repelling Ovechkin and Backstrom, a slightly slow shift change to Semin and Fleischmann allowed Montreal to get a little room, and once again Sergei Kostitsyn found Tomas Plekanec and threaded the needle by a slightly out of position Jeff Schultz giving Plekanec a wide open back side of the net to send home the game winner. Score 6-5, streak over at 14 games; it's a one point night for the Capitals.

It was a great 14 games, but now the Caps can settle in and start everything all over. Further, they no longer have to think about history, they can get back to just playing hockey. That's not a bad thing for example it looks like several guys who were pushing themselves and playing "nicked up" will sit out tonight's game. It also looks like Semyon Varlamov will get his first NHL start tonight since being injured in early December. All those things are good things. Now all we need is for the Caps to forget about the last streak entirely and start a new one tonight in Ottawa. The Senators are the other very hot team in the Eastern Conference, tonight's game promises to be a good one, as long as the Caps forget about their prior 15 games, keep things simple and play with a high energy level. Ottawa will be up for the game, regardless as they are in the middle of a great "push for the playoffs" and are working hard to overtake both Pittsburgh and Buffalo. They just came off an 11 game winning streak of their own, until they ran into a stonewall named J.S. Giguiere on last Saturday night and were shutout by the Maple Leafs 5-0. The Senators bounced back from that loss and beat the Calgary Flames Tuesday evening 3-2 in regulation. That's what the Caps will hopefully do tonight, bounce back from a streak ending loss.

Prediction Caps 4 - Senators 3. GWG: Mike Knuble

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Caps 6 - Rangers 5; That Makes Twelve (12) ...

Well the Caps and their dads had to have a lot to talk about on the plane ride home last night after the game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It was a two point night for the Caps and they extended their current club record winning streak. I doubt too much time was spent talking about the impending "Snowpocalypse II," though it may have come up if any of the Caps need bread, milk or toilet paper at their places.

You know as in say Mike Green to his dad: "Oh by the way Dad, you're not gonna believe this but, we're out of toilet paper back at the house and we're going to need to borrow some from the neighbors since, get this, in Washington, DC for some reason when it's going to snow the folks there feel the need to run out and buy every roll of toilet paper, every drop of milk and every loaf of bread in the supermarkets." ... "Yeah, I know it makes no sense, if we did that back home in Calgary every time snow was in the forecast, we'd have to build an extra room for all the TP, Milk and stale bread we'd have."

See, I'd guess the topic would quickly change to any one of the 11 goals scored by either team last night or the several amazing saves that Lundqvist, Theodore, or Ovechkin made. Wait a second --- save, Ovechkin? How's that work? you ask. Well, with the Caps up by one, eleven seconds left in the game, the Rangers with the goalie pulled for an extra skater, and Ovie on the ice in basically a checking role; the Capitals Captain made an awesome shot block in the crease that kept the Caps in front of the Blueshirts. It's probably, unfairly in some regards, the most memorable moment in a game that had many memorable moments. To me it's the most memorable because it was then and only then that I felt the Caps twelfth win in a row was going to "happen." Other key things the Caps likely talked with their fathers on trip home were, in no particular order:

- Nicklas Backstrom's five point night (1 goal, 4 assists) including a really awesome pass that set up Mike Knuble's goal.

- Tom Poti's great night. Poti led the Caps in ice time (26:36) and scored his 3rd goal of the season.

- Ovie's sick move on his even strength, second goal of the game at 19:51 of the second period to bring the Caps back within one and make the score Rangers 5 - Caps 4.

- The Caps inability to hold the Rangers' power play in check. The formerly anemic Ranger extra man unit went 4 for 6, moving the puck crisply and purposefully and basically scoring 4 tallies on which Jose Theodore had little to no chance to stop, no matter how many times someone gave him those four back.

- The fact that despite allowing the Ranger to score five goals during the first two periods, Theodore didn't have a horrible game. Even more notable was his play in the first period where the Rangers out shot the Caps 18 - 6 and if not for Theo the score could easily have been 4-1 Rangers at the end of that stanza. In the second period, the only goals Theodore allowed were three power play tallies. I've already mentioned, that for some reason changes to the Rangers' extra man unit, with the addition of Olli Jokinen, meant they were able to really move the puck around inside the Caps zone and set up excellent scoring chances, on which they capitalized with routine efficiency. In the third period, Theodore only did what he had to do - be perfect and stop all sixe of the shots the Rangers managed to put on goal. So while statistically last night's game won't help Jose's numbers - SV% 0.868, GAA 5.00, the one key stat that matters he got - the W to extend his own winning streak. He also won last night's goal tending duel with King Henrik. Lundqvists' numbers on the night: SV% 0.813, GAA 6.00, and he also didn't look nearly as poor as those numbers might lead you to think.

- The Caps scored three of their own power play goals during the nine (9) extra man chances the Rangers gave them. A power play effectiveness of 33.33% isn't too bad at all. It just didn't seem all that impressive because the opposing Rangers unit had an effectiveness of 66.66% on their six (6) extra man chances.

- Both David Steckel and Boyd Gordon were beasts in the face off circle. Steckel won 7 of 10 draws; while Gordon won an almost perfect 8 of 9.

- It was a physical game, the Caps registered 28 hits while the Rangers totaled 33 hits for the night.

- Ovie's 498th, 499th, and 500th NHL points.

Perhaps the biggest topic of conversation might have been how weird and different the game they played in/watched was from the picture the night's statistics would likely lead you to think. If you're a Rangers fan you have to be frustrated. It's not often the rangers score more than 3 goals in a game or have their power play unit execute with ruthless effectiveness, how both those things occur and your team looses is hard to imagine.

How did the Caps win last night? Well, Jose Theodore kept them in it during the first period so at the end of one stanza the score was only Rangers 2 - Caps 1. Next, during the second period, the teams kept pace with each other each scoring 3 goals so once again at the end of two periods the Rangers only led by one (Rangers 5 - Caps 4). Then in the third period, the Caps came out, settled down, taking only one penalty, and out played the Rangers, as well as out scoring them 2 goals to none so the final was Caps 6 - Blueshirts 5. Why did that happen, well first as undisciplined as the Caps were giving the Rangers 6 power plays, the Rangers were more so giving the Caps 9 power plays. Henrik Lundqvist was merely human last night and the Caps high octane offense was what it usually is - this season the Caps are averaging 3.93 GF/game through 59 games. That leads the league and is pretty good even compared to some of the most high scoring teams ever. But, through the last 12 games the Caps have scored 58 goals, an average of 4.83 GF/game. So far during the 12 game winning streak the Caps have scored five or more goals seven times, however this was only the second time they had to do so to gain the victory. The other two reasons the Caps won were a) they won the third period to close out the game, and b) they won the 5 on 5 game 3 - 1 - they did that simply because though the Rangers are a good team with lots of talent, right now the Caps are better, especially when Henrik Lundqvist decides to look human and Marian Gaborik also has a night which though solid was also just looking human. The Caps now lead the regular season series with the Rangers 2-1, and they don't see each other again until the Boys from Broadway travel to Verizon Center on March 6th for their final 2009-2010 regular season meeting.

Once again we find a lot of folks, this time my self included, saying this wasn't the Caps best effort but good teams find a way to stay in games and win. That's what happened last night. Tonight, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, the Caps face the Atlanta Thrashers at Verizon. Given the Thrashers now find themselves without their former Captain and number one scorer Ilya Kovalchuk who was traded to New Jersey last night, I'd say that probably evens out the fact the Caps are playing the second of two on back to back nights and the Thrashers will be coming into tonight's game fresh. Hopefully, the Caps will not get caught looking past the Bluebirds. It will be interesting to see if Braden Holtby gets the nod to mind the net as well. If the Caps keep their eye on the ball and do play it one game at a time, the Caps should win. However, for the superstitious, i need not reminding you, this is for lucky number 13.

Prediction: Caps 5 - Thrashers 2.

Lets Go Caps!!!

Caps 3 - Lightning 2 - Streak Continues ... and Lot's Of Hockey News This Weekend to Muse About Too

Well this afternoon at Verizon Center, the Washington Capitals made it 10 in a row and came away with two points. The Caps closed out the month of January with a 13-2-0 record, their best month of the season, and their best month in a regular season ever. The Caps now have 80 points in 55 games; they are in first in the Eastern Conference, eight points and 3 games ahead of the second place New Jersey Devils. They are on pace for a 119 point season. What else is there to say really... some game highlights and low lights follow, as well as a few other hockey musings this last day of January.

Highlights:

+++ If there was a more exciting save by Jose Theodore recently than his reach back and sweep out of the puck after so and so hit the post at about the 9:30 mark of the first period, someone needs to point it out to me.

+++ Nicklas Backstrom is awesome this season. He is just so much more physical and stronger than he used to be. His hit on Wilson at ~16:30 of the first period was a great example of how much he is maturing both physically and as a hockey player. He is truly a first line NHL center on pretty much any team in the league's roster.

+++ Speaking of Backstrom, he opened the scoring for the Caps on a power play at 00:57 of the second period. Backie just did what comes naturally - he went to the net and banged the rebounding puck between Bolt's goaltender Mike Smith's pads into the net. It was a great goal with assists by Ovechkin and Fleischmann.

+++ The Caps second line of Semin - Fleischmann - Laich continues to look pretty good. On the Caps second goal of the game, Brooks Laich's 16th of the season, was a great example of how the line continues to gel. It was a goal that was set up by great puck movement; great puck movement that was facilitated by and capitalized on by the great puck handling skill and hands of these three complimentary pieces of hockey talent.

+++ Theodore's glove save at the 9:22 mark of the third period was key. It gave the Caps a chance to catch themselves and get back on to playing "their game" after the Lightning scored two goals in a short time span (2:42).

+++ The Caps first line of Ovechkin - Backstrom - Knuble was solid all game but they were exception during the final 8:00 minutes of the game. From Ovechkin's goal at 13: 36 to the great play along the boards in the corner at the Caps end of the ice at the ~16:00 mark, their play was almost perfection.

+++ Ovechkin, I could have probably just written that one word and left it be at that but Captain Ovie was +1 with 1 goal (the game winner) and 1 assist in 20:35 TOI. In addition to 6 shots, 1 hit, 1 giveaway and 1 takeaway, he also had 11 attempts blocked and 2 misses. Truth be told the Lightning coaching staff did an awesome job of juggling lines and defensemen and making sure that they had Ovie, Knuble and Backstrom properly covered all game.

+++ In Mike Green's absence, the rest of the blueliners stepped up and played good smart hockey. The Caps as a whole played disciplined hockey and only took two penalties today, none were taken by Caps defensemen. Both John Erskine and Shoane Morrisonn stepped up their games and Tyler Sloane came in played 16:30 TOI on 20 shifts including 00:59 shorthanded and did well. Neither Sloane nor Sha-Mo were on the ice for either of the Tampa Bay goals and even though both Erskine and Tom Poti were on the ice for both Tampa Bay tallies, they played solid games otherwise.


Low Lights:

--- The PK Unit got verklempt during the third period and that's what led to the Lightning's second goal. The unit on the ice just got out of position and broke down. Tampa Bay just has too many offensive weapons on the power play unit to let them move the puck around like that. I'm not sure who made a bigger impression looking at the replay, how good the TB powerplay was at moving the puck or how bad the Caps PK unit looked in the ~15-20 seconds prior to the goal.

--- Joe Beninati. I mean could the guy have mentioned the win streak more often during today's CSN broadcast? I mean, think about it, how many people watching the Washington Capitals on local cable on a Sunday Afternoon didn't know they were going for their 10th win in a row? Talk about tedious, 'nuff said.


Other Musings During The Game:

+++ Forget getting into the alleged Vinnie Lecavilier sweepstakes, the big name from Tampa Bay I wouldn't mind seeing in a Caps sweater is Martin St Louis. At least during today's first period St Louis was all over the place and he is the kind of guy that could make an even bigger impact on a team using Bruce Boudreau's system. Oh and St Louis' lift check on Knuble at ~7:30 of the second period was just an awesome play and it saved a goal. Finally look at his St. Louis' goal and his hustle back to make sure the icing gets called with 2.4 seconds left to play. Not that I think either Lecavilier or St Louis are going anywhere soon. I think Tampa Bay would be crazy to trade either of them. The 34 year old St. Louis is signed through the end of the 2011 season and with a Cap Hit of $5.25M and a salary of $4.0M is a bargain. Lecavalier signed through 2020 with a cap hit of $7.727M/year and a No Movement Clause, despite numerous and on-going trade rumors, is perhaps the most unmovable guy in the league.

+++ Speaking of Lecavalier and the faceoff with 2.4 seconds left to play. Let's talk about it. Let's say you're making, oh I don't know say about $10M to play hockey, you're the Captain of your team, you're having what for you is basically an off season, and you are behind in a 3-2 game and you get whistled out of the faceoff circle. What's the biggest bonehead move you can do, yeah I'd say it would be to loose it and end up not only being thrown out of the faceoff circle but getting 2:00 unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and basically ending the game since the face off moves back to your end of the ice. I haven't understood the whole dynamic going on between Lightning Coach Rick Tochett and his team Captain Vinnie Lecavalier but if I were Tochett, I'd do two things after that great show of leadership. 1) I'd bench Lecvalier for at least a game if not two. 2) I'd take his "C" and have him trade it for St. Louis' "A" making St. Louis the team Captain. I'd also give the team's third available "A" to either Stamkos or one of the other regular TOI leaders like Mike Lundin or Ryan Malone. He may not be tradable without his consent but two things need to be made clear to Vinnie - regardless of any individuals salary Hockey is a team sport, and everyone has to do their job, play the coach's system, and play smart. It's one thing to have a guy like Steve Downie get a penalty while stepping slightly over the edge playing gritty hockey and trying to agitate the other team. It's another thing entirely to loose your cool and rob your team's last chance to tie up a game entirely. I've always respected Lecavalier and St. Louis as two of the best players in the league, well at least one of them came to play today and did so with class, and it just wasn't the one wearing number 4.

+++ In the "lots of times I'd rather be lucky than good" department, the Bolts managed to put three really good scares into we Caps fans with thre of the loudest post hits of the season.

+++ Another two guys who are going to really good for the Lightning in coming seasons are Viktor Headman and Steve Stamkos. Yhese two guys look a lot more older and experienced than they are when they are out on the ice.

--- It sure seems to me that this season, referees do not call an even handed game in the third period. I've felt this a lot this season and not just when watching the Caps play with a lead. For example, rather than talking about the call against Backstrom at the 5:07 mark of the third period in this game, I'll point to the goaltender interference call against Matt Cooke in the third period of the Penguins - Red Wings game and say I didn't see that one either. At least it wasn't consistent with the way the game was called for the first forty minutes of the game. In the end the Backstrom call was in my opinion unwarranted and it changed the complexion of the game and it certainly wasn't consistent with how the rest of the game had been called. What's worse is that after the score was tied there were at least three times that if we were seeing a consistent two way game called, the Lightning should have found themselves shorthanded. To me that's just bad officiating, sorry gotta say it.


Musings about other news around the league:

1) The Penguins beat the Red Wings 2 -1 in a shootout. It really wasn't as close as that score would indicate; the truth is Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard almost stole one from the Crosby/Malkin led flightless birds. The 25 year old Howard stopped 46 of 47 today, including several robberies from the Penguins. Seriously though it pains me to admit this the Penguins looked very good and disrupted pretty much any offense the Red Wings were able to generate for most of the game. However, the Red Wings still managed to get a point out of a game that had "a playoff like atmosphere and tenor." In the end both Crosby and Malkin scored in the shootout to get the two points Pittsburgh deserved.

2) Well everyone wondered when Toronto GM Brian Burke would pull the trigger and what sort of deal he would do to remake the Maple Leafs next. Little did we suspect he'd do two major deals in one week and that he would do them before the Olympics break. Yesterday the Leafs did two big deals. First they sent Matt Stajan, Ian White, Nicklas Hagman, and Jamal Mayers to Calgary for Dion Phaneuf, Fredrick Sjostrom, and Keith Aulie. Then they sent Vesa Toskla and Jason Blake to Anaheim for Jean - Sebastien Giguere. That's moving 7 players out of the Maple Leafs organization and picking up 4 to replace them. It also means the Maple Leafs will now build their organization around Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf, Luke Schenn, and ... On the Blue Line, Toronto now has Dion Phaneuf (Cap Hit:$6.5M); Tomas Kaberle (Cap Hit:$4.25M); Mike Komisariek (Cap Hit:$4.5M), Luke Schenn (Cap Hit:$2.975M), Francois Beauchemin (Cap Hit:$3.8M) and Jeff Finger (Cap Hit:$3.5M). That's a total Cap Hit of ~$25.5M or ~45% of the team's available salary cap on six D-Men. Add Mike Van Ryn ($2.9M) and Garnet Exelby ($1.392M) and I'd guess the Maple Leafs are not yet done and a few more defensemen might get dealt for some more talent up front before the March 3rd trade deadline. All things considered, I think the Flames - Leafs trade makes sense for both teams. Stajan and Hagman should help the Flames up front and they weren't getting the value they needed out of Phaneuf since they picked up Jay Bouwmeester. On the other hand, I'm not so sure I think the Ducks - Maple Leafs deal is a good one for either team. If Giguere can find his "mojo" again in Toronto it might work for them, they sure weren't getting anything much of value out of either Vesla Toskala or Jason Blake for the combined $8M of salary cap they tied up. However, even though JS Giguere's numbers are clearly better than Toskla's and he has proven in the past a clear ability to lead a team as a number one goaltender, the way things have been going for him this season, you have to wonder ... "will he?" In order to be worth his $6.0M cap hit and his $7.0M salary next season, he hast to return to form AND he has to do some mentoring of Jonas "Monster" Gustavsson. Those are two pretty tall orders. However in the end these deals have actually freed up some more space and room for Burke both in the near and mid-term for the salary cap, and on the roster. What Brian Burke and Ron Wilson do with that will be fun to watch the rest of this season and next off-season for those of us who follow the NHL Eastern Conference closely.

3) Do the Maple Leafs' latest moves take them out of the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes? Maybe/ maybe not. The Leafs still need a good foil for Phil Kessel... but they really don't have cap space unless they deal Kaberle and/or Jeff Finger. However, if I were Brian Burke the next guy I'm looking to dump off my roster is Colton Orr, plain and simple, there's no room under the salary cap for a traditional enforcer in today's NHL. Enforcers are clearly the highest salary cap cost guys if terms of TOI around these days. Also as is being proven with good team toughness and a solid power play, you don't need them.

4) Finally, I know this will sound like a "homer" kind of comment, and it probably is, but why do I look at the 3 game suspension to Mike Green and wonder why it just seems to me that the NHL Discipline Gods seem to really like to make examples of Caps' Young Stars?... Okay, I watched the replay and Green's elbow was a careless play but where's the consistency? I mean he's not a repeat offender and it sure didn't look like a hit with any intent to injure, and it's not like he himself hasn't been a victim of similar or worse hits this season... Okay I guess that's why I titled the blog Mark's Musings, even I think that last thought sounds "whiny"...

Next Up: The Bruins on Tuesday in Boston. Here's to hoping the commentary on Tuesday's CSN broadcast is about a hockey game that's actually in the process of being played and not about any sort of "history making streak." Seriously CSN guys - live in the moment and talk about the actual game in process. Hockey is exciting enough to watch, we don't need any editorial drama.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Caps 3 - Red Wings 2 Late Post Game Recap/Report

Pardon this late game recap of a well covered topic, I just can't resist recaping the Caps-Red Wings game though, it was one of the more interesting games I've been to in a long time, especially for a regular season game. I know a lot of the posts have gone over how slow the Caps came out of the game based on the numbers and for sure the Caps didn't actually get a shot to the net that Chris Osgood had to stop until well past the middle of the first period. However, it didn't seem like the Caps weren't skating hard during the period, it's just that the Red Wings had the Caps offense totally off balance from where I was sitting. In the end of course the Caps pulled it out. They did that because two things that were well played and worked for the Caps all night - those two things being Jose Theodore and the Capitals Penalty Killing Unit. Both of those things are what kept the game close while the Caps were being otherwise totally stymied by the Red Wings for the entire first period. I have been a general contrarien and supporter of Jose Theodore since he arrived here in DC so I couldn't be happier that he had a fantastic night. I also echoed Bruce Boudreau's thoughts apparently - The Capitals Coach said of Theodore after the game. “I’m watching him thinking ‘this must be how he looked when he won the Vezina and the Hart Trophy in Montreal that year because without him, it very well could’ve been 6-0 at the end of the first period’.”


Also as I''ve indicated it didn't seem like the Caps lacked any enthusiasm or effort during the first period, the Red Wings just "had their number" again the Coach summed it up far better than my words could. “It was like men versus boys,” Bruce Boudreau said afterward. “I don’t think we touched the puck. They came out with a vengeance, and I’m sitting there thinking this is what Stanley Cup champions that are desperate do. ... And it’s a bar that we have to get to. We were just fortunate our goalie was great in the first period.”


You couldn't have watched Jose Theodore and not have been impressed by his play on Tuesday night. He was truly "on another plain" - or as Ted Leonsis was quoted after the game "lights out". He was truly so good that, and I shouldn't say it because I'm superstitious, that if he could play 16 games like that in the playoffs he could single-handily win Lord Stanley's Cup. Of course that's precisely why winning the Stanley Cup is the hardest championship to attain in professional sports, it would take 16 games (48 periods or 960 minutes) like that if the Capitals allowed themselves to be outflanked like they were in the first period on Tuesday. I could babble on but I'll just once again cite someone else who summed it up better than I usually can. As Peerless said in his recap: "Theodore stopped 44 of 46 shots – too many of them quality chances – and gave the Caps a chance to win late, which they did when David Steckel scored the game-winning goal with 5:59 to play." Clearly Tuesday night, the Caps cobbled together a win from great goaltending and a couple of opportunistic plays that took advantage of a goalie at the other end who wasn’t as sharp as their own. Tuesday Theodore stole a win for his teammates, stopping 44 of the 46 Detroit shots he faced (including all ten power play shots), keeping the Caps in the game long enough for the offense to show up, and then skate off with a 3-2 win. He also picked up an assist (his first since February 5 of last year), and was about as easy a first star selection as one could imagine. Theo's play of late has been stellar, in his last four appearances, he's 4-0-0 with a 1.68 goals against average and .951 save percentage.


Other notes and musings from the game:

- A lot of commentary about how Alexander Oveckin had no shots on goal for just the third time in his career. Tariq El Bashir explained it best in his post game blog. The Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski led Wings' defense did a good job of bottling up Ovie, that's the bad news; the good news doing so kept Lindstrom so busy he really did little else all night long.


- Say what you want about Tood Bertuzzi but he definitely knows how to "man up" and take responsibility for his actions good or bad. Bertuzzi's post game quote on his performance last night: "I can't give them that power play there. Stupid, stupid penalty by me. Just careless with my stick at the wrong time, then they come back and score right away. It was pretty deflating." Bertuzzi conceded. Along similar lines, Caps right wing Mike Knuble took two penalties tonight both in the offensive zone and one late in the game...

- I was hard on Caps defensemen Tom Poti while watching the game because his two mistakes were right in front of us Section 103'ers during the second period. However, after the game and looking at the statistics it's clear Mr. Poti played a solid game, in fact a very good one Tom. I doubt you heard my reaction when you inadvertently caused Theo to loose his stick during the second period but here's saying "Sorry man, chalk the emotion and passion up to the vowel at the end of my family name...I take it all back."


- Playoff hockey, actually both Sunday Afternoon, even though the Flyers are currently on the bubble in 9th, as are the Red Wings, both games sure seemed like playoff games in style, form and intensity. In games like that you've got to play a little different and the team noted it, “Obviously we are not going to hit the score sheet every night, and Detroit pretty much outplayed us for the entire game,” said David Steckel. “But, when you get in games like this your fourth line is vital whether it’s creating energy with a hit or scoring a timely goal, and we were fortunate enough to do both tonight. .... The third period was like a playoff game, it was tight and we need to know how to win games like this with everyone contributing not just our superstars, ... They're [Detroit] battling for a playoff spot right now. I thought we could have played better, but to their credit they prevented us from doing that.” In a playoff game it's often the play of the third and fourth line, as much or more, that drive the outcome. Tuesday night, that was the case and Steckel brought his A-Game, he scored a really nice goal from in the paint and plus two rating and six hits each were team highs. He's clearly working to show everyone he IS the Caps third-line center, and very capable of matching up with the NHL's other "name" pivots.


- You think Caps defenseman Mike Green wasn't up for the game and working to compare favorably to fellow 2008-2009 Norris Trophy Finalist Nicklas Lindstrom (a prior two time winner)? Green led the Caps in blocked shots with a whopping seven. He also extended his point streak to nine games and was on the ice for two goals for and only one against.


Other comments and notes worth mentioning relative to the Hockey Blogsphere yesterday:

+ I find the Blog "Alex Ovetjkin" is usually well worth the read and every once in a while it has a really poignant, great post. The recap and commentary on last night's game is one of those that I found really, really good and well worth the read, so rather than highlight it or otherwise quote it I figured I'd just post the link.


+ Perhaps the best bottom line for Tuesday Evening's game came from Detroit Red Wings Captain Nicklas Lidstrom. Referring to Jose Theodore: "I thought he saw a lot of the shots, but he made some great saves down there. He got two points for them tonight."



+ If you're wondering why there are so many Ovechkin Jersey's being worn around the DC Metro, or even by fans in other arenas just look at this statement by a true hockey guy and hockey hall of fame member. From Sunday's game with the Flyers where Sovetsky Sport interviewed former Flyer Captain and Hockey Hall of Fame Member Bobby Clarke:
SS: Would he have fit in with Philadelphia in the 70's? Clarke: "Easily! Ovechkin could have been the best player on any team at that time. SS: "Even better than you?" Clarke: "Much better! There's no way I could compare myself with him. Look how he skates, how he fights for the puck. Look at how much strength and drive he has. I'll say it again- he's a big bull. He just runs over people on the ice. It's really difficult to play against Ovechkin."

Well on Tuesday night when Backstrom scored I kiddingly chanted and joked to my seatmates "Our Swede is better than your Swedes, nah, nah, nah..." Tonight we Caps fans should be hoping and sending good vibes towards Pittsburgh so at the end of the night we'll be able to say: "Our young guns are better than your young guns, nah , nah, nah." So remember NO NEGATIVE WAVES MAN. ... And:

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Reaction and Commentary Caps 6 - Avalanche 1

Well last night's game seemed to be the continuation I thought I was going to see of the first period in Toronto during that game. It was a two point night and a good one by every measure save one for the Caps and Caps fans. The Caps seemed to play their game plan in just about, if not every manner, except maybe Alexander Ovechkin's shift length during the second period.

It was a storybook night for Kyle Wilson. Making his NHL debut on his 25th birthday the rookie center had quite a good first night in "the show" and made quite an impression on both Caps and Av's fans watching alike. The just 25 year old Oakville, ON native posted a full stat line: 2 Assists, 2 Points, +2, 11:15 TOI, 15 shifts including 1:30 on the Power Play; 1 SOG, 3 attempts blocked, 2 missed shots, 1 hit, 2 for 7 (29%) in the faceoff circle. The stat line is impressive in itself however even better was the quality of Wilson's second assist - a primary assist as well as his breakaway even though he didn't score. For his first night's work in a Capitals sweater Wilson was awarded the game's third star. Way to make a solid first impression and "Happy Birthday" - Kyle. Though I expect your performance last night means you won't be getting out of paying your "fair share" of the rookie dinner tab this West Coast road trip.

Jose Theodore had an almost storybook return to Denver, unfortunately he didn't get his first shutout of the year but his 27 saves of 28 shots and 0.964 SV% on the night were his best outing in at least some time. Theo's record on the season is now 19 Games Played, a GAA of 2.93 and a SV% of 0.903. With two nights off between last night's game in Denver and Friday's game in Vancouver, I anticipate we'll see Theo in the net against Luongo and the Canaucks and then Neuvrith will get a chance to recover his dignity against Edmonton on Saturday night, before the Caps return to DC for a three game home stand over Christmas. My expectation given he just started skating with pads yesterday is we won't see Semyon Varlamov in the nets again until the Capitals return to Verizon Center on the 23rd to face the Sabres at the earliest. In conjunction when I give kudos to Theodore this season, there's always a 50/50 chance I'll take the opportunity to point out how much happier I am that the Caps have Theo and his 2 year/$4.5M contract than what the Blackhawks have with Christobel Huet. I still feel that way though I won't bash Huet given his current season record is now 14-7-2 with 1 shut out in 24 games played. I will say that given that record Huet is clearly Chicago's #1 goaltender however, I have to be me and say that to the extent Huet's career numbers - SV% of 0.916 and GAA of 2.42 justified his salary and contract he is performing to and above his career GAA since his season to date GAA is 2.18 (5th in the league) however Huet's SV% has been below his career average season to date SV% is 0.909 and 25th in the league. Once again Huet's performance aside, given Varlamov's development and Neuvirth's potential, Theodore's deal clearly has and continues to make more sense for the Capitals from a strategic perspective, and with more performances like last night GMGM will really, really look like a hockey genius.

Tomas Fleischmann had his fourth two goal night of the year. His total distance from the net for the two goals was at most 11 feet. That's net presence and hands and you have to be happy about that regardless of wether you are a "Flash" fanatic or not. Flash is now on pace for a 30+ goal season. Last year the 25 year old Czech natural center scored 19 goals in 73 games, last night he scored his 12th and 13th of this season. He also was +2 in 13:36 TOI and earned the game's first star last night.

Matt Bradley scored his 6th goal of the season and got his 6th assist of the year on David Steckel's tally. "Brads" has now exceeded his total offensive production for the entire last season when he played 81 of 82 games. At his current pace this will easily be the 10th year pro's best in terms of offensive production and his play is as responsible defensively as ever. Last night's performance was one of his best so far this season. In addition to the goal and an assist, Bradley was +2 in 14:28 TOI, had 3 SOG, 1 hit, and 1 take away.

Clock and shift management were solid for the Capitals last night in the "mile high city." Only two players - Tom Poti and Jeff Schultz logged more than 20:00 TOI. Given the fact thanks to Dave Koci the Caps played a significant portion of the game with just 4 defensemen Poti's 25:59 TOI and "Sarge's" 22:43 TOI are clearly understandable. Poti finished the night + 2 with an assist and Schultz finished the night with 1 hit, a 2:00 minor and no negatives on his stat line, pretty solid nights for both blueliners. Even Brooks Laich who dropped back and played the blue line after Mike Green was injured and left the game and John Erskine was serving a 10 minute misconduct only had 19:35 TOI. Laich had a solid night though he put the puck in the net once it was disallowed as it was judged he had intentionally kicked it in.

I haven't mentioned it yet but another positive in general was the play of Karl Alzer in addition to that of Kyle Wilson. Call-ups and moves enabled by the assignment of Michael Nylander to Grand Rapids in the AHL. The Capos still pay Nyls salary however he is not counted against the allowable number of roster slots nor is his cap hit counted againt the Caps. That is of course another real positive for the Capitals as they drive through the rest of this season. It enables the un-cap-constrained call-up of whoever the Caps coaching staff wants from Hershey the rest of this season and will enable GMGM to acquire any rental player(s) deemed necessary and desirable at the trade deadline. It should also enable the negotiation and signing of extensions with both Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin before they become RFAs.

So the only real blemish to being a Caps fan since my last blog post are/were the injuries last night to Mike Green and Shoane Morrisonn. I could overlook the hit by Koci on Sha-Mo but the hit on Mike Green was truly a blatant "cheap-shot". Koci should get the maximum reasonable suspension for the hit on Green, there's no way you can watch the hit once and not conclude Koci just didn't care what happened at that point, he knew he was going to hit Green in the back, he knew Green was at least a foot away from the boards. He was just frustrated at the state of the game and he made at best, a dumb, blatantly illegal hit from behind at best. At worst he was pissed and had an intent to injure though to be sure of that you'd have to be a mind reader. It was just a dumb play and hit by a team's resident "goon" - one goal in six years ... One positive to note is the local Denver newspaper's reaction to the incident so far has been fair and balanced and doesn't defend or endorse the hit in any way.

John Erskine had a solid night and finished +3 with an assist and a blocked shot, in addition to taking Dave Koci on after Koci's frustration driven cheap shot on Green. As you would expect in a 6-1 game where the only opposing team goal was scored on a power play, a lot of Caps look good on the Event Summary - and this is a case where you'd have a hard time finding much fault with any Capital players execution last evening if you watch the game again. A very solid night indeed.

It is a shame that the best goaltending bargain in the NHL so far this season, Craig Anderson, had such a poor showing against the Caps last night. Despite last night's outing Anderson is 16-8-5 on the season to date despite facing a league "leading" 954 shots on goal. He's stopped a league leading 874 for a very respectable 0.916 SV% - including last night's thrashing by the Capitals. The 28 year old Park Ridge, IL native definitely deserves to be on the US Olympic Team along with Ryan Miller of Buffalo, IMO. But since I'm a Caps fan it wasn't too much of a shame...

Last night was the Caps 21st win of the season they now have a League Leading 48 points and a record of 21 - 7-6.

Next up the Vancouver Canucks in British Columbia on Friday Night. Let's all think positive thoughts on quick recoveries for Green and Sha-Mo and continued against the trend performance the rest of this road trip.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!