Last Night - The Perfect Illustration of Why I Think They Should ALL Be Three Point Games....

If you understand the title of this blog, and if you are here reading my musings you probably do, you know exactly what the title referees to.  If you don't well here it is, in the NHL during the regular season some games count for two points and some games count for three points in the standings, and well that just , well ... makes no sense at all.  Until a couple of years ago every game counted for two points in the standings, win get two points, tie each team gets one point.  But hey someone decided , we hockey fans hated ties and in every game there had to be a winner and a loser, so the solution was ... now get this, if a game ends in regulation in a tie, each team still splits the two original points, but then gets to play first a 5:00 overtime at 4 on 4 and if that doesn't result in a winner they do a shootout - basically the NHL's version of a layup completion for an extra point and the one who wins that is the "winner" of that game, with the one who loses it getting the consolation prize - keeping the "looser" point they already won. And just to make sure they make it clear how dumb they know we fans think this skills competition to decide the winner of a team sport game is, if at the end of a season two teams are tied in the standings the first "tiebreaker" is the total number of Regulation and 4 on 4 overtime wins in the season.

However this past week in the NHL, especially if you are a Capitals fan, the ludicrousity of the current way things are done couldn't be driven home to you more with an 8# sledgehammer. First our Capitals take part in and loose a 20 round shootout in Florida, now remember one of the so called excuses for the shootout vice a longer 4 on 4 OT or following the 4 on 4 with a 3 on 3 is well it takes too long.  So that really short 20 round shootout, that was the way to go right? And now we had last night, the Caps are "on the bubble" battling the NY Rangers for third in the Division, they basically owned their opponent last night, the New Jersey Devils, especially for the last 40:00 of the game beating them in a 4-0 shutout.  For their efforts they were awarded two standings points and New Jersey got no points.  That makes sense right?  Sure until you look at the game that was played between the Rangers and the Hurricanes last night in Raleigh, NC.  There while the Rangers certainly did enough to earn a win, it too them a 3 round shoot out to get is so they too got two points last night just like the Capitals.  My point is had all games been worth the same weight in the standings the Capitals would have edged one point further in front of the Rangers last night.  In fact if a Regulation win was worth three points while the Metropolitan Division Standings would be the same then the Capitals would have 50 standings points to the Rangers 47  and we wouldn't need to keep track of "ROW" at all. 

 

I could talk about last night's game in Newark more but it's been all over the web and NHLN all day so far.  Here's five quick hit take away points from the game and the coverage: 

1) Braden Holtby played very well and earned his shutout - 21 saves were required of him and several were very difficult to make.

2) Ovechkin's goal was one of those highlight reel Ovi goals we will see many times more and one of his best moves ever.

3) Nicklas Backstrom is an awesome hockey player too and it takes Ovi doing something like 2) above to cast even a small amount of shade on that fact from time to time.

4) This Mike Green guy ... really good at hockey as well, probably time for the Caps to figure out how to extend/resign him.

5)  The entire Capitals team is now wholly invested in the new system under Barry Trotz and basically getting better every game they play at executing it.

But in the end this is just hockey not world peace we are talking about here so moving on to my next hockey musing, "How 'Bout dem Caps! anyways?" Playing 0.700 hockey in their last ten games and looking more and more like a very solid team every game they play.  Next up are the Ottawa Senators, who are solidly on the bubble right now so that won't be an easy game, tomorrow night at DC's Verizon Center.  Then on Tuesday night it's a trip up to Madison Square Garden to face those very same NY Rangers on Manhattan.  Then after Christmas they face the Penguins in Pittsburgh on the 27th and the Islanders in Uniondale on the 29th before coming home for the Winter Classic on New Year's day here in DC.  And I thought I had a busy holiday season planned, wheh!

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Is the Trend Really Our Friend? Are the 2014-15 Capitals Really Harder to Play Against Than the 2013-14 model was?

Good Evening Capitals fans and a fine late, late fall evening it is since this evening the Capitals find themselves playing 0.581 hockey for the NHL Regular season to date and once again "on the right side of the bubble.:  Additionally as one of my mentors used to say, "the trend is our friend," and with a record of 6-2-2 (0.700) in their last 10 games and 5-0-2 in their last 7 games the trend is indeed our friend. 

That said, not to be a buzzkill, it is worth noting that so far this season through 31 games the Caps have 36 points and a record of 15-10-6 with 14 ROW while last year at this point (31 games played) they had 36 points and were 17-12-2 with just 10 ROW.  You'll remember last year  when the end of the regular season came along the Capitals all took off their skates and immediately put on their golf shoes.  That's why it is important that two things we all seem to feel right now are true: 1) the trend is indeed our friend and the Capitals can sustain that trend for the remaining 3 1/2 months in this regular season; and 2) the Capitals of 2014-15 are a harder team to play against than the Capitals of 2013 - 14.  So let's take a look and see if the data and facts support those two anecdotal "feelings."

First are they harder to play against?  and Is the trend indeed our friend? Facts/data - through 31 games the Caps this season have earned a standings point in 21 games (67.7%) while last season they had done so in only (61.3%).  This season they have ROW in 45.2 % of their games while last season at this point it was an abysmal ~30%.  By the ~tens last season games 20 - 31 the Capitals went 6-4-1 with 4 ROW (0.650) ; this season's games 20 - 31 the Caps are 6-2-3 (0.750) with 6 ROW.  Seems like the trend is more our friend right now than last season and the difference in ROW is some indication of the results of being harder to play against - the real driver of that is their overall improvement in Corsi For and Corsi Against, IMO as well.  Team Goal Differential to date is +6, at the end of 8 games last season the Caps team goal differential was -5, that's a huge difference that says the Caps are tougher "on the puck" now then last season, IMO.  So when you look at both the basic as well as the "fancy stats" and then also consider the roster's individual stats  so the Caps have balanced scoring more than they've had in a long time, and it's obvious the offense is starting in the defensive zone with the scoring being well supported by the entire Blue Line Corps, the answers are indeed.  Yes the Caps are a much harder team to play against this season than last, and Yes, the trend is our friend. 

BUT fellow Caps fans don't celebrate quite yet, from what I can tell, the Capitals aren't even close to getting off the bubble and being solidly a playoff team quite yet and they have to keep up their current play of 0.700 for another months to be so, They are solidly in the middle of the "bubble pack" right now and we are only 37.8% through the regular season right now. If you look at the league standings the  Caps are in 8th place in the Eastern Conference: 1/2 game behind the Panthers who are in 7th; 2 games behind the 6th place Maple Leafs, 2 games behind the 5th place Canadians, 2 1/2 games behind the fourth place Red Wings, and three games behind the third place Islanders.  The , Habs, Wings  and Islanders all have 6 more points that the Capitals but really all nine teams from the third place Islanders through the 11th place Senators are within a 10 point spread with 60+% of the regular season still to play.  Even the Second place Lighting and First Place Penguins are theoretically within striking distance for the Caps, Panthers, Bruins and Rangers (10th place). However the reality is Pittsburgh has played awesomely though all sorts of adversity this season and (goal differential +28, overall 0.742 on the season through 31 games played) and the Lightning have been pretty solid across the board as well (goal differential +23, 0.652 on the season through 33 games played).  However if the Capitals can finish out December (13 games total) with at least 19 of the 26 available points, 0.731, which is possible given they have 12 of those 19 points so far and have the opportunity to capture as many as 10 more, so "all" they need to do is "just" keep playing 0.725+ hockey.  Then for the Caps to likely get off the bubble "on the right side" as quickly as possible, they continue playing that style, effort and getting those results through, at least their game on January 16th against the Predators in Smashville, (another 8 games) so they have at least another 11 points and that would give them a total of 54+ points through 44 games and give them a 0.614 record overall on the season.  Then if the Caps can keep that up they would end the season with what I consider a magic number ... 100 points and be solidly on the right side of the bubble and very, very likely NOT need to play the "Wildcard Sweepstakes" to get into the playoffs.

But the quest for all those things starts tomorrow evening in Newark, NJ against those pesky Devils who are always tough for us to play against even though they are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games.  The Devils have a -22 goal differential in 33 games played primarily because they don't score enough goals, they only have 74 goals for (2.24 GFG) so far, as compared to the Capitals' 2.94 GFG so far this season which coincidently is only slightly more than the Devils' GA/G of  2.91.  So, as long as the Caps drive the net as hard tomorrow evening as they did last evening against the Blue Jackets they should come away from Newark with "a two point night."  However, as I said we are talking about the always pesky Devils and that's why they play the games on the ice.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Capitals Hockey 23.2% Into the 2014 -15 NHL Season: Life On The Bubble Exemplified

Well Caps fans our Washington Capitals completed their 19th game of the 2014-15 Season in Denver, CO last evening and achieved a two (2) point regulation win over the Colorado Avalanche.  It was their eighth (8) ROW (Regulation/Overtime Win) of the season.  they are now on pace for a total of  90+ points and notable 34+ ROW.  If this were last season that would place them again "just" on the wrong side of the bubble as they finished last season with 90 points as well but only 28 ROW due to having earned 14 "looser" points which so far this season they've only gotten 3 and are on track for just 12 loser points.  That's the bad news, the good news is "the trend is our friend" and while living life on the bubble trends are everything When last season ended the two "wild Card" teams aka "Winning Bubble Teams" were Columbus with 93 points of which 38 of their 43 wins were "ROW" and they had only 7 "loser points" and Detroit who also had 93 points of which they had 34 ROW and 15 loser points.  That means that in Columbus' case 92+% of their 93 points were "2 point games" while in Detroit's case ~84% of their points were "2 point games."

 For the Capitals thus far this season , 85.7 of the 21 points they've accrued to date are a result of "two point nights."  Additionally, they find themselves in third place in the Division and "on the right side" of the bubble right now because with the exception of the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators they've played no more games than the other Eastern Conference "bubble teams".  Additionally 0.550 (4-3-3) at home and 0.5556 (5-4-0) on the road thus far this season.  The Caps, surprisingly find themselves in need of making Verizon Center a harder place for opposing team's to play when for the majority of the past 5 seasons Verizon has earned a reputation of being a hard place to play and beat them and last season the Caps had a 0.598 record.  if the Caps stay on track for a 0.550 road record and raise their game at Verizon back to 0.598, they will end the season with 94 points and at least 35 ROW which should put them "on the right side of the bubble."  Given the trends and what we've been seeing from the Capitals the 5-4-1 record they have thus far in November, should they string a couple more wins together before the end of November, of the remaining four (4) games this month, clearly the "home and home" against the New York Islanders are most important.  However as long as the Capitals win three of the next four games (6 of 8 available standings points) they should close the gap with either the NY Islanders or Pittsburgh Penguins by at least two points before the month of  December starts.  That will give the Capitals 27 points in 23 games - on a 0.587 pace for the season, on pace for a 96 point season and securely in third place in the Metropolitan Division - avoiding the "Wild Card Sweepstakes" altogether.

The Islanders have six more games to play the remaining 10 days this month - including back to back home and home against Pittsburgh this weekend and a home and home against the Capitals bracketing Thanksgiving Day.  In addition to those four games against Division Rivals, the Islanders face the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday (11/24) and the Devils on Saturday the 29th. Truly this last week of November is a key time for the Islanders fortunes and a groups of tough games stacked together, the only break in it is that four of those six games will be home games for them.

The Penguins have also have six games over the last 10 days of November, the back to back home and home against the Islanders this weekend, followed by the Bruins in Boston on Monday and hosting the Maple Leafs on Wednesday before having another back to back home and home against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Pens last six games of November are evenly split between 3 home games and 3 away games though four of the six are played on back to back evenings.

Those are the guys in the Division ahead of the Capitals, but the Devils, Rangers Bruins, Senators, Maple Leafs, Panthers and even the Flyers are all likely to end the season on the bubble with the Capitals.  Looking at the rest of the Metropolitan Division Teams who are on or around the bubble and their schedule the rest of November here's how thing look.  The Rangers have 20 points in 19 games played as of tonight.  They have four more games in November: Montreal at MSG on Sunday, the Lightning on Wed. the 26th in Tampa, the Flyers in Philadelphia on the Friday 28th and then the Flyers again 24 hours later at MSG on Saturday the 29th.  So that's not going to be an easy road for the Blue Shirts.

The Devils start  three game road trip through Western Canada tonight in Edmonton, followed by a back to back tomorrow night in Calgary against the Flames before facing off against the Canucks in Vancouver on Tuesday on the 25th.  They then come back to Newark and play the Detroit Red Wings on Friday the 28th and then finish the month playing the Islanders in Uniondale on Saturday the 29th.  Another bubble team with five tough games to finish the second month of the 2014-15 season.

The Flyers have five more games to play in the month of November starting tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets at home in Philly.  They then travel to Long Island to face the Islanders on Monday evening, then host the Red Wings at Wachovia Center on Wednesday the 26th before finish the month with a back to back/home and home against the Rangers on the 28th and 29th.

Columbus has been struggling recently but as they get healthier they too could threaten other bubble teams.  They have four more games in November, only one of which tomorrow against the Flyers is against a Metropolitan Division opponent. Their other games in November are against Winnipeg, Vancouver and Nashville.

So as you can see the final week of November features a lot of Metropolitan Division games for every team in the  division with the exception of Columbus plays at least as many games against Division rivals as they do against teams in other divisions during the rest of this month.  That might put a little separation between teams in the division (given either Pittsburgh or the Islanders could finish the month with 35+ points and on track for 110+ point seasons) but it could also bunch things up even more.  For the Capitals the key will be winning at least three out of four and not giving any "loser points" to the Islanders in those two games, assuming they can win them.  If the Caps continue to find their grove and capture all eight points available to them in November they'll also be on track for a 100+ point season, that would be a significant step off the "right side" of the bubble compared to where they were just two weeks ago.

All that said you have to play the games on the ice, one game at a time.  The only thing certain about all this is it's going to be an exciting final week of November for fans of NHL Teams in the Metropolitan Division.

For the Caps, next up are the Sabres tomorrow night at Verizon Center.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

November 14th Devils 1 - Capitals 0 at Verizon Center, Look Ahead to Tonight's Game in Saint Louis

As has been well chronicled over at Japer's Rink and The Peerless Prognosticator, last night at Verizon Center we watched a game that ended, unfortunately in a "No Point" night for the Capitals.  That of course meant that this morning if you checked the NHL standings the Capitals are once again "on the wrong side of the bubble" with a mere 17 points in 16 games, fourth in the Metropolitan Division and a 4-5-1 record in their last 10 games.  So that's something I'd sum up as "unfortunate" .. unfortunate indeed as the Caps didn't play poorly last night, loosing 1-0 in regulation on a poorly considered chance taken by Braden Holtby on a night when otherwise he did more than what should have been required by him to secure two points for his team - notch a 0.964 SV%.

 It was a night when I hated being right.  Yesterday musing about the game, I figured that it might take something like  this, in fact I wrote:

"... or fail to play their game well a full sixty minutes, or Corey Schneider has a totally "lights out" night the Devils could win this game so the Caps cannot fail to play hard and smart for all sixty minutes."

In fact that's what happened last night, the Caps slowed their game to New Jersey's 33 1/3 RPM speed and the New jersey team defense and Corey Schneider had a "lights out night" as a result.  It really did only take one mistake and that was because the Caps let NJ dictate the pace of play and didn't score, not even on four power plays.  It hurts more because had the Caps won they'd be 5-4-1 in their last 10 and still on the "right side" of the bubble.  There's really  not much more to be said.  The team knows they needed to want it more and to have worked both smarter and harder against New Jersey.  The good news is the Caps don't have a lot of time to dwell on last night's game as they take on the Saint Louis in the first of a three game road trip tonight under the arch just across the Mississippi River.  The Blues are a red hot 9-1-0 in their last ten games and sit atop the Central Division with 23 points and 9 ROW.

The Peerless is calling for a 3-2 Caps victory.  Me I'm just hoping, hoping for a Caps 2 point night of any kind.  I do think the Caps could win but the Blues are rested after beating Nashville, 4-3 on Thursday.   I just don't see this being a low scoring affair though there's too much offensive talent on both sides of the ice.  The Caps need it more, I hope they want it more and continue to play well.

LETS GO CAPS!!!! 

What A Difference A Week Can Make and Game 16: Caps vs. Devils Tonight at Verizon Lookahead

Well fellow Caps fans it's been a week since my last post and for the Caps and we fans it's been a good week.  Our boys in Red have gone from dropping four in a Row to having won three in a row with a reasonable chance of getting that fourth two point night in a row tonight.  They've gone from having a below 0.500 record on the season to date and being on the outside looking in, to having an overall 0.566 record, 17 points and being on the right side of the bubble.  Granted not where they started the first 6 games of the season but right now the trend is our friend as can bee seen if one wants to look at the various "fancy stats" over at War On Ice. 

Tonight the Caps have a chance to once again make the vast majority of us back into hopeful believers as opposed to cautious skeptics.  Tonight they take on the New Jersey Devils for the second time this season, this is New Jersey's second visit to Verizon Center this season and last time the Capitals were rather rude hosts, handily beating the Devils 6 - 2 in Regulation on October 16th.  Tonight the Devils come into DC rested and confident having beaten the Minnesota Wild in their last game by a score of 3-1 on Tuesday Night at "The Rock" in Newark on the back of some excellent goaltending by Corey Schneider.  Both Washington and New Jersey are 5-5-1 in their last 10 games but the Caps are slightly hotter and are one standings point ahead of their Metropolitan Division Rival Devils with one game in hand having 17 points in 15 games played so far this season.  As a team the Capitals also have a positive goal differential of five goals versus the Devils who are -7 in that department.  Both teams play a puck possession game but at this point you have to give the talent differential to the Capitals and the Devils have a much older team in terms of average age.  Overall this is a game the Capitals should win, assuming they play a full sixty minutes and they play their system very well and very, very hard.  Additionally they should always keep their feet moving and stay out of the penalty box, if they do that they should draw a few penalties as they play the game at a much faster pace than the Devils usually do and if they execute in such a manner it will mean they are forcing the Devils to play the game at their pace and in their style instead of slowing their own game down to "Devil Speed."  For tonight's songs to sound like they have a "Capitals Beat" this game needs to be played at 45 - 78 RPM for all 60 minutes.  The Devils want to sing/play it at no greater than  33 1/3 speed.  Further the Caps should expect the Devils to come into the game hungry, and push very hard in the first period to make sure they don't get embossed like they did in the October 16th game and to take the Verizon Crowd out of the game early.

I belive the Caps are as hungry if not hungrier for a two point night than New Jersey.  So barring a lights out night by Corey Schneider or the Caps failing to play hard for some reason, I see this game being a 4 - 2 regulation win, with a final minute empty net goal by the Capitals.  If somehow New Jersey plays very poorly and gives the Caps more than 4 power plays then it could be a win by the Caps by greater than a two goal margin.

If however the Caps are looking past New Jersey or fail to play their game well a full sixty minutes, or Corey Schneider has a totally "lights out" night the Devils could win this game so the Caps cannot fail to play hard and smart for all sixty minutes.

Assuming I am correct and the Caps finish the night with 19 points and 7 ROW in 16 games the Caps will be on a solid 0.594 pace ~20% into the season and on pace for 35 ROW this season which last season was on the right side of the bubble but still on the bubble last April, so the Caps still need every point and likely will continue to do so for the remainder of the season.

Four key players and key points for New Jersey tonight: Jaromir Jagr, Corey Schneider; Mike Cammalleri, and Marek Zidlicky.  Also not to be overlooked is Patrik Elias.  You might notice of these five payers only the goaltender Schneider is under 30 and the second youngest Cammalleri is a recent off season pick up at 32 and until recent injuries has not been skating more than 15 minutes a game.  Schneider had a relatively inauspicious start to the season but in his last several games has put himself on track.  For the season to date he has a SV% of 0.904 and a GAA of 2.87. At 42, Jagr still seems ageless and leads the Devils in scoring and has really been their on ice leader in may other ways so far this season.  In this his 20th NHL season the future hall of famer has 3 goals and 9 assists so far this season and for some strange reason, pundits like Gord S don't seem to dwell on his current =/- (-2) like they do Ovechkin's nor have they harped on him as any sort of one dimensional player, etc even though he hasn't been nearly as productive or important to his teams since he departed Washington for the New York Rangers in the 2003 - 2004 season, go figure?  In any case he is a key guy for the Caps to make sure they shut down and while he may have slowed a quarter to a half stride over his 20 NHL seasons fastest, his hockey sense is second to none and his on ice presence is still incredibly noteworthy and effective.  Camalleri is currently in his 12th NHL season and is basically the Devils' "sniper"/finisher with 6 goals and 4 assists so far this season.  Some of the other Devils' usual offensive threats like Adam Henrique are out with injuries so the lion's share of offensive load goes to Cammallleri and Jagr right now, aided by 38 year old defenseman Zidlicky who has 3 goals and 6 assists for the Devils and is fourth leading scorer right behind the injured Henrique.  Centers Elias and Travis Zajac are important more from a faceoff, puck possession and distribution perspective in the Devils' current system.

Four key players and key points for your Washington Capitals tonight: Braden Holtby, Alexander Ovechkin, Eric Fehr, and Jay Beagle. Starting from the goal line out the key for Braden Holtby and the Caps in this game as all games this season is a system that limits the opposition to 30 or less SOG and a team defense anchored by a SV% of 0.92+ and that stat/final line of defense is Holtby or Peters.  Holtby needs to get more comfortable with staying patiently in net and not doing things like happy feet, high risk move to keep his head in the game.  Last game the Caps got away with a couple of "loose" moves and defensive plays by both Holtby and the blueline corps.  In tonight's game they cannot do that against the "experienced" (long in the tooth) New Jersey squad.  Any game involving the Capitals top four guys to watch means that either Alexander Ovechkin or Nicklas Backstrom will be on these lists.  For a game against a team like the Devils, leadership on both the offensive forecheck and keeping pressure on the Devils with O-Zone presence and Corsi For to me means of the Backstrom/Ovechkin pair I'm thinking a flying, fast power forward/wing is slightly more key than a solid game by our first line center, only slightly though.  I put Eric Fehr on this list as I still have concerns that Troy Brouwer will be somewhat hampered by the thumb injury he suffered last game so I'm looking for secondary scoring and a spark from a third line of Chimera-Fehr-Ward.  Fehr has been buzzing more and as long as he plays a hard on the puck game, I believe he'll be rewarded against the slower pace the Devils will want to play.  Of the second and third lines I look to Fehr to drive the pace and speed of the third line and I also think that as long as Burakovsky plays smart hockey like he did the last game against the Devils, he and Marcus Johannson should be able to execute smartly on the second line against the Devils.  Final key I have listed is Jay Beagle, it looks like Tom Wilson will still be out of the lineup tonight and Beagle will get another chance to play on the first line with Ovechkin and Backstrom.  He did well and was rewarded last game in this role, tonight the key is for him to again play within himself, make smart decisions and again play his assigned role playing alongside two of the League's elite forwards.  All of the above though ties to the Caps out playing and out "Fenwicking" the Devils so they score three or more goals and the team defense resulting in less than 30 SOG and a team SV% of 0.926+ - that is the top level recipe for success tonight, IMO.

LETS GO CAPS!!!! 

Saturday Is A Great Day to Muse 'Bout Spoilers & "Headshots" In the NHL

Wow, it's Saturday March 26th already, and in some ways it doesn't seem like we are already almost one quarter of the way through with 2011. I mean, hey here I am in Bristow, VA ten days into the season of spring and The Weather Channel is telling me it's going to snow tomorrow so in that respect it seems more like January or February. However, if you're an NHL player you know that's not the case since the All-Star break is well in the rear-view mirror and the end of the regular season are now no more than nine (9) games away for any team. So of course that means when you think about the NHL you can look at the remaining few games and really understand the impact or potential impact of a few simple things: a) three point games; b) "hot" teams at the bottom of the standings aka "spoilers"; c)injuries to teams who are fighting for playoff spots aka "bubble teams" key/star players; and d) injuries to "playoff" team's key/star players. So because I don't want this post to ramble on infinitely I'll only be musing "aloud" about two of those items this morning, "don'tch ya know."

So at the bottom of the standings, teams who are either mathematically eliminated or nearly so from the playoffs sit teams who are to my thinking eight or more points behind the eighth place team in their conference. That means that in the Eastern Conference I consider: Atlanta, New Jersey, the Islanders, Florida, and Ottawa, and in the Western Conference: Minnesota, Columbus, Saint Louis, Colorado, and Edmonton all teams that may as well be cleaning their golf equipment in preparation for late April vacations. Of course between now and then there is a little matter of the basic traits of competitiveness and personal pride that all professional athletes share for those ten (10) teams. That's what can, and often does, make them the biggest threats to the "bubble" teams or anyone else fighting for points these next two weeks in order to get better playoff seeding. So when you look at those ten teams who's shaping up to be the biggest, most consistent spoilers? To answer that question, you need to look at the play of each of them during the past four (4) weeks or so - basically their performance in games since March 1. Based on looking at the results of those ten (10) teams for the month of March to date, there are three teams I'd now classify as "spoilers" - teams who will not make the playoffs, but who will have affected already and will likely continue affect who makes the playoffs and how they are seeded, unfortunately for the Eastern Conference "bubble teams" they are all the East:

1) Islanders 6-2-4, or 0.667 hockey, basically if the Isles played this way all season, they'd be on track for 109 points.
2) Ottawa: 9-5-0, or 0.643 hockey, a 105+ point season pace.
3) New Jersey: 7-4-1 or 0.625 hockey, a 102+ point season pace.

The other seven (7) are all playing 0.500 hockey or worse so facing them is no different, IMO, then playing any other team in the League, in that they meet the criteria of "On any given night ..." Of course, if you are a Caps fan and watched last night''s 2-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators, you knew they were playing very well of late; and if you're a hockey fan of any type who isn't completely/totally "dead" (not nearly dead) then you know the Devils have been pretty much "on fire" since mid-January; however, the late-season play of the Islanders may have escaped your attention. By the way, that's part of the reason why I think Michael Grabner is likely, and should be this season's NHL Rookie of the Year.

So who do the "spoilers" play that matter in particular (i.e. "bubble teams") over the remainder of the season:

a) The Islanders have eight (8) games remaining, six of which are against "bubble" or playoff teams. "Bubble Team" opponents include: the Rangers on 3/31 and the Carolina Hurricanes on April 2nd, both are home games for the Islanders.

b) Ottawa has seven (7) games remaining, five of which are against "bubble" or playoff teams. "Bubble Team" or opponents whose play could affect their seeding include: Tampa Bay on 3/29, Toronto on 4/2, and Montreal on 4/7. The Tampa Bay game is on the road but the games against Senator rivals Leafs and Habs are in Ottawa.

c) New Jersey has eight (8) games remaining, seven (7) of which are against "bubble" or playoff teams. "Bubble Team" opponents include: Buffalo tonight in Buffalo, Montreal on 4/2, Toronto on 4/6 (both in New Jersey at "The Rock), and the Rangers at MSG on 4/9.

So as long as I can I plan on watching or at least channel flipping between the Caps game and the following, as they should be really good games and I have the NHL Center Ice Package:

Tonight: Devils - Sabres
March 29th: Ottawa - Tampa Bay
March 31st: Islanders - Rangers
April 2nd: Senators - Maple Leafs
April 7th: Senators - Canadiens
April 9th: Devils - Rangers.

Now about "headshots." First there's no question in my mind they are an issue that needs to be addressed by the NHL, there's also no question that it took the injury to Crosby to get the league to do something about it - and that's a bad thing that also should be a subject to ponder by both the NHLPA and the Board of Governors as the CBA approaches. I say this because Mike Green is a star no doubt, at 25 he's been a Norris Trophy finalist twice already; he's been out for a month already with a concussion and outside of the DC blogsphere and MSM there has been little mention of it. Simply put the only other player getting a concussion that might have gotten the NHL's attention to the degree of the Crosby injury has generated would be Ovechkin. I say might because with Ovie's style of play I'm not even sure it would have done so. The issue to me isn't that the Crosby injury is overblown, it's that with 70+ concussions this season, that number alone without an injury to a star or multiple star players should have been enough to get the level of debate going. It wasn't and anyone who says it was, please explain to me the basis for that statement. As for the Matt Cooke suspension, it's a start but frankly, I don't think it was harsh enough - he should have been suspended for the remainder of the season and the entire playoffs, in my opinion. Do I think Cooke can change the way he plays the game as he has indicated he knows he needs to do - I don't have an answer to that other than I think he has the talent and skills to play in the NHL effectively without playing the way he has been these past few seasons that has gotten hi four (4) suspensions since he's joined Pittsburgh. That said, I think two other places the game needs to change to address this and lower the risk to the players, besides stiffer penalties and suspensions are a) The equipment - specifically the shoulder pads, bottom line they are allowed to be too big and too hard; and b) The pace of play - the changes to the rules that have increased the number of interference calls have also increased the speed of the game. The goal was to make the game more exciting and also likely higher scoring. It's more exciting for sure - the increased risk of injury does that; as for higher scoring, the fact that at some point everyone knows defense wins Stanley Cups means that everything is regressing to a norm here and that's not so much the case anyway. The rules re: interference need to be looked at again so when someone does make a hit they have more options that don't result in an interference penalty than hitting them at full speed since the difference between hitting someone who is and isn't able to defend themselves can often be literally a split second. That's just my view but I think the general point that the rules other than just the hit to the head rule need to be considered here. I'm going to end these musings with a final thought - here's hoping both Mike Green and Sidney Crosby a) are out on the ice again soon and b) after the season is over get involved in these discussions and help the NHL come up with some changes that make their workplace a little safer in this regard.

So I'm not doing a recap of the Ottawa game there's several good ones out here in the blogsphere but I will make sure everyone who reads my blog sees that my favorite quote of the evening came from Matt Hendricks when asked about a another particularly bad call by another NHL official - one of the latest of many this season. In this case a blatant 4:00 high sticking call that was waved off was the subject in question. Hendricks response: "My view?” he said. “It was an Easton Synergy in my face.” As for tonight's game in Montreal, as usual I'll be rooting for the Caps from my den here in Bristow and happy that I'll see the game in HD tonight - for some reason my CSN-HD Channel had a poker game on last night, what was that about?

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Capitals 3 - Devils 0; Has The Bell Tolled In New Jersey?

Well last night at Prudential Center in Newark, the Capitals "out-deviled" the New Jersey Devils, winning a game that was likely more important for the Devils that the Capitals by a score of 3 - 0. It wasn't a pretty win. It wasn't even all that fun to watch, However it was two important standings points and an important win at an important time of year. The game was the Capitals 73rd and the Devils 71st of the season; at the start of the game, the Caps were in first place in their Division and 2nd place in the Eastern Conference and the Devils were in 4th place in their Division and 12th place in the Conference - at game's end the standings hadn't changed. In fact, the only difference in the standings at the end of the night was the Caps are now six (6) points ahead of Tampa Bay in the Southeast Division and the same distance ahead of Boston who sits in Third Place in the Conference. So what was so important about last night's game? Two things: a) "runway" - as in something New Jersey, which has been on a tear since changing back to their old coach, is likely to run out of now before the season's end before they leap over the four teams they need to pass to make the playoffs in their remaining 11 games; and b) pride - something the Capitals needed to ensure they continued to demonstrate and grow in the game they are playing leading up to this years post season. The Caps needed to demonstrate pride as mush or more than the Devils last night for two reasons. Firstly, they needed to "bounce back" from their prior game loss to Detroit in order to make sure they stay out of the habit of loosing two games in a row between now and when they are forced to hang up their skates at the end of this season's playoffs. Secondly, the last time these two teams met in New Jersey, things looked a lot differently for both of them and the Caps left "The Rock" on the wrong end of a 5-0 beating.

So how'd the Caps do? Thanks to smart, disciplined play by the entire team, and some EXCELLENT goaltending by Michal Neuvirth, the Caps did very well last night, thank you very much. In a game that was well played by both teams, the Capitals showed they could be as disciplined and patient as any team coached by a guy named Jacques. In a game that was important to win, and was just two night's after loosing to the perennial NHL benchmark that is known as Detroit, "Neuvy" out played "Maarty" - as in future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur - stopping 33 shots and turning in a perfect SV% of 1.000 on the evening to Brodeur's 9 of 12/0.750 performance. The three stars of the game chosen by the local New Jersey media were: 1) Neuvirth (no arguments there); Mike Knuble (2 goals - no arguments there); and 3) Alex Ovechkin (2 assists and all over the ice - deserving for sure but hey NJ MSM didn't you get the memo?). The memo I'm talking about is the John Carlson memo of course. "Captain America" went all out for last night's game apparently. First he had Mama Carlson cook a really good New Jersey Italian meal at his boyhood home in Colonna for a bunch of the guys on Thursday night, then he bought 45 tickets for friends and family to the game, and then he played a superb game both defensively never being out of position, and offensively notching two assists of his own last night. I guess in order to edge out Ovechkin in that voting he should have given them some home cookin' too. Well even though according to the twtter "tweets" of the teammates who attended the dinner at the Carlson's no one left hungry, I'm okay with John Carlson still being hungry or at least a little so, the next time the Caps go to the "Rock" or the "Garden" to play either the Devils or the Rangers.

To be fair I'd guess the media picked Ovechkin over Carlson because Ovie was +3 on the night while Carlson was "merely" +2; and the Cap's first line was the best set of players when they were on the ice all evening long. Ovie was Ovie, MoJo90 was very good, and I don't know who was wearing the 22 sweater last evening, but if it was Mike Knuble he certainly didn't play like a 38 year old man. In fact, Knuble has been playing very well, even better than usual, and with a lot of energy the last couple of games. Is he making the case/trying to determine if he wants another year before he hangs up his skates? or is he playing harder to make sure he goes out with the best year possible sometime after the end of April this year? Stay tuned, hopefully it won't be until sometime in June we bring this discussion up again; and hopefully we all get a lot more chances to see just how awesome he can be between now and then. In any case Knuble scored his 18th and 19th goals of the season last night and is looking like he will probably put up the eighth (8th) 20+ goal season of his 15 year/14 season NHL career. The old man of the Capital's team certainly isn't looking like he is slowing down anytime soon and that's a great thing for we Caps fans to get to see/watch, especially this time of the year. It's yet another one of those things that is making me relish this spring even more than last. Michal Neuvirth, last night's game, one word - AWESOME. That performance, as I think back to the game, I have those silly, long drawn out movie lines going through my head like: "heeee'ssss baaaaaccccckkkkk". etc. Pretty cool. The Capitals do indeed have three young goaltenders, who are all playing very well when they are healthy. But based on Neuvy's last two outings - Detroit and New Jersey - I'm more than happy to say right now and for the rest of the season, the 22 year old Czech with the 23-11-4 record, 4 shutouts, and funny look on his face on his team headshot is the #1 goaltender. Neuvy's season long SV% is 0.916 and his GAA is 2.42 and he looked great last evening against New Jersey - especially when they were "swarming."

Did the Capitals really "out devil" the Devils last night? Hard to say when you look at every aspect of the scoresheet, except one - "the bottom line" - Caps 3 - Devils 0. Oh and the fact that Ovechkin, the third star of the game had ZERO shots on goal, yet had two assists and was +3. Against the Devils that's something. Usually when the Devils shutdown an opposing team's star they do it more effectively than that. If there is just one game we can all point to that demonstrates just how much more important team results are to Ovie this season then ever before, and just how much more mature a player he is now than say two seasons ago, last night's game should likely be "that game." When it comes to the question of out-deviling the Devils - sure the Capitals were out shoot by the Devils 33 -12 and still won the game 3-0. However it's the other aspects of the score sheet that show the Caps out mastered the Devils "at their own game" or perhaps more accurately "at Jacques Lemaire's game": a) faceoff wins: Caps 31 - Devils 28 (even with Jason Arnott out, nice to have you back Nicklas Backstrom!, oh and Knuble was a perfect 1-0 here too); b) Capitals PK unit - perfect - killed 8:00 of Devils power play; c) Capitals: 4 takeaways and 2 giveaways, New Jersey 7 takeaways and 15 giveaways; d) Caps 21 shots attempted 57% on goal. Every other place on the scoresheet the Caps are very close to the Devils as well, so yeah to me it looks like the Caps "out-deviled" the Devils last night. It wasn't all that fun to watch but hey, I liked the results and I love the looks on the faces of the hockey pundits on TV when they talk about this team. I don't really care that the Caps may be scaring other teams when they think about having to play against the Capitals in the playoffs. Nope, what I care about is I truly believe this team is constructed to and ready to make a run deep into those same playoffs.

Speaking of which next up for the Caps 72nd game of the season are the Flyers in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening. That should be a good game and it's nice to see the Caps now have three days to sort some things and/or get healthier.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

NHL Rejects Devil's Kovalchuck Deal - Now What?

Yesterday the NHL rejected Ilya Kovalchuck's 17 year, $102,000,000 contract with the New Jersey Devils, basically on the grounds that it violates those basic tenets of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (Section 26.3) that stipulate no contract should overtly seek to circumvent the CBA. What's that mean - well basically it means the League believes the deal went at least one if not a couple of bridges too far in mitigating the average salary cap hit of the deal by extending it's duration beyond that point which a reasonable person would assume both parties expect to honor it through it's full length. While I think it's fair to say the deal is suspect at best, what happens now should be fun to watch. First Kovalchuck could now ask the NHLPA, his union representation to appeal the decision and take it to an arbitrator.

If Kovalchuck asks the ruling be appealed through the NHLPA it should be interesting to see what the NHLPA does? On the other side, if you're the Devils perhaps you go back and offer Kovy a 15 year deal with the same basic structure and average Cap hit - then what? Many around are touting that this is a good thing for hockey as it puts people on notice of where and when the bounds ought to be set relative to these long term deals, etc. Others cite the inequity these mega - deals create under the escrow requirements of the current CBA for those solid but not superstar players around the league, etc. Me - here's what I think - the whole situation is and will be very problematic for both the NHLPA and the NHL no matter what you feel about this deal. The next set of events regardless of course are not likely to be anything but bad for "hockey" - both owners and players. Here's why - the next steps, either way, are going to lay bare some very real issues - issues that are contentious and ones that will cause discord both between the parties and within their respective groups/leadership during the next CBA. If any of us thought the issues during the next CBA negotiations and leading up to them were going to center on a transfer agreement between the NHL and the KHL; and the NHL's continued participation in the Olympics - I think it will be safe to say after the next two months, we'll all agree that won't be the case at all.

Further if you were hoping the signing would end the discussion of "Kovy-gate" or whatever you want to call it, sorry this will now go on for at least the next 8 or so weeks.

Here's the issues likely to now come into play depending on the courses of action pursued by Kovalchuck and the Devils.

First let's assume Kovy, under the advice of his agent, tells the NHLPA to appeal the ruling and request arbitration. I think that's a fair bet since, it really doesn't cost Kovy anything other than continuing to explore other options besides signing with the Devils - I'd do it wouldn't you? What are the effects and issues, well first lets all realize the NHLPA is currently a headless organization that is run by a committee of player resp from each team - player reps who are largely those solid but not superstar players from each team - also largely Canadian players. As has been chronicled in posts over at SBN - these are the same guys who get hurt by the front end of the Kovalchuck deal, those years that are at or close to league maximum salaries. That said if they don't take up this cause, the farce that is Professional Sports Athletes Unions gets exposed for all to see. Seriously do you think Samuel Gompers and Eugene Debs were thinking about organizing and covering people who under a collective bargaining agreement make 15 - 20 times that of an average wage earner, honestly do they need to organize to ensure they get a fair salary and working conditions? On the other side, does anyone honestly believe the rules and laws governing either the US or Canada's labor force were in any way, shape or form put in place with any sort of considered thought relative to groups such as the NHLPA and the NHL or the NFLPA and the NFL? I don't think so, and in the end do any of us - the fans and citizens of these two nations want professional sports to be anything other than a "pay for performance" meritocracy where in general the average careers are relatively short and the professionals playing the sports on the ice/field, etc. are at the tops of their game? Why do I mention this because it's important to realize all sorts of external considerations that might affect arbitration of other labor disputes, etc. are likely NOT to apply and the basic words of the CBA AND similar prior precedents and how they are playing out would/should very much bear on any arbitration decision. However, before that were to happen all sorts of testimony that would linger and create issues going into the next CBA would have to be brought to the table and argued/discussed. If you think a particular players RFA arbitration ever got ugly, wait till you see this one if it doesn't get settled before then. Because regardless of whether the NHLPA takes up the cause or even more so if they do not, the fireworks would beign on the players side of things between the superstars and everyone else. Not because escrow and these sorts of things hurt one group and not the other - because they hurt both groups significantly but in very different ways.

On the other side, similarly if I'm the Devils, I'm pretty pissed at the league so all I do is go back and fashion a 15 year, $102M deal and submit it. I get Lamoriella and Kovy in front of the media and I say, okay so it was a gimmick, Kovy's number is 17 so we went for the 17 year deal. I mean it's no more stupid/less gimmicky than Sidney Crosby's (#87) $8.7M deal. However, I feel there's plenty of precedent for this deal, after all Chris Pronger has a 7 year deal that has him playing until he is 42;Marian Hossa has a 12 year deal that has him playing through age 42; Rick Di Pietro has a 15 year deal that has him playing and paid by the Islanders until he is age 40; per his current contract Henrik Zetterberg will be playing through age 41; and the list goes on.

Here's what I think I say to the arbitrator if I'm Kovy and the Devils in working to get him to overturn the leagues ruling and compel them to approve the current contract. "Sir, the deal on the table now has Mr. Kovalchuck playing 17 years until he is 44 and it's frankly not without precedent. Further, Mr. Kovalchuck has been a durable player throughout his NHL career so it's not unreasonable for he and the New Jersey Devils to feel confident with proper conditioning and fitness training, which he currently does, he can play to the same/similar age as Chris Cheleos,Rod Brind'Amor, Mike Modano and Ray Whitney. Then let the fireworks begin on the owners side of things. Further he doesn't take near the beating that guys like Pronger take or dish out so we all (team and Kovalchuck) believe he can and will be able to contribute to the organization and want to play for 2 more years than Pronger contributes to the Flyers or Hossa does for the Blackhawks. We believe the most recent and most similar precedents for approval of this deal is the Pronger and Hossa contracts arrived at last season. In both those cases contract terms and structures that are substantially similar when the age of the player both at contract signing and the end of the contract term are considered, were approved with no intervention or issue cited by the NHL. We respectfully submit this agreement is in all ways similar and was indeed negotiated in good faith and with the intention of the entire deal being played out by both parties and ask the Leagues' determination be overturned and the deal be allowed to stand as negotiated in good faith by both parties. Thank you for your due consideration."

Lest we forget that the CBA is basically a series of compromise by all parties that sets in place ground rules that make sure the participants both the Owners/League and the Players don't "kill the goose that lays the golden eggs." Around and within that framework each participant is basically a highly competitive INDIVIDUAL looking to get an edge - a personal edge in virtually every case. Did the Kovalchuck 17 year contract cross the line - probably. Is the league's current action in the best interest of "the game." Despite the overall tone/etc of posts around the blogsphere that it is, I have some serious doubts. Further I think the next two months will provide us the answer. In the meantime, while I think to a fair degree they (the NHL) had little choice if they were to remain relevant in these matters, and in that light their actions were to some degree inevitable; there is no doubt in my mind that the looming expiration of the current CBA just got a whole lot harder for both sides.

On the matter of a transfer agreement - I think the KHL just got more leverage and between now and January, the NHL will really push and get one done. Relative to the Olympics - any change in what's going on just came off the table, unless the owners want to put doing away with the escrow AND removing the reason for it from the next CBA on to the table. That doesn't mean the NHL pushing for other changes in the International Hockey calender, etc won't now become more important to them.

In any case at the end of all this I still see Ilya Kovalchuck wearing a Devils uniform, under a long term contract, with a total value of around $100M and an average salary cap hit of $6.8M or less. There's too many precedents for the NHL to keep that from happening. If I'm Kovy and Lou - I go craft a 14 year deal that's for $95M and pays Kovy $4M between ages 36 and 41 vice $3M between ages 37 and 44 ... and takes another $6M off the earlier years when his likely to loose it to the CBA max salary anyway, then the average Cap hit is ~$6.85M though still very front end loaded so it basically has the same structure both he and the Devils obviously want. In the end he has his blockbuster contract; the Devils have the player they want for as close to the Cap hit they were looking for, and the NHL really would have a hard time saying no to the deal... That or something like it is also how this whole thing could quickly get concluded without creating a total mess for both the League and the NHLPA to have to sort out going into preparations for the next CBA negotiations. Of course if reason always prevailed around the NHL, we'd have someone's names engraved on the Stanley Cup the champions of the 2004-2005 season.

Caps 4 - Devils 1; A Two Point Night That Ends With The Caps Once Again Atop the NHL Standings

Lots of good news for Caps fans today in the vein of taking care of first things first. Before tonight's game the Caps signed a contract extension with Alexander Semin, tying up the 25 year old, 6th year pro to the Capitals organization for another year. Then the Caps came out and played a great game for sixty minutes to down the New Jersey Devils 4 -1 in regulation and capture two more standings points. Now that's a pretty good day by any measure.

Readers here know I've been a proponent for resigning Alexander Semin for some time. Semin reportedly signed a 1 year extension for six million. That's a pretty good deal for both he and the Capitals and it should leave more than enough room to also enable the Capitals to now turn their attention to signing an extension with Nicklas Backstrom, - how's that for focusing on taking things one step at a time. Speaking of Semin, Backstrom and the last link in the SOB line, Alexander Ovechkin, they had a pretty dandy night tonight. Ovechkin started off the scoring at 4:09 of the first period with a laser that he put past Martin Brodeur. a goal that was assisted by Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom scored the Capitals third goal of the evening at 9:52 of the second period assisted by Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin. A strong shift by the Capitals ended with Ovechkin shoveling the puck to the end boards, where Alex Semin chipped it in front to an unguarded Backstrom. Backstrom stickhandled before putting a backhand shot over Brodeur's catching glove for his 15th goal of the season; it was the only goal of the second, and restored Washington's two-goal lead.

Later in the third period Ovechkin and Backstrom each got their third points of the night when they assisted on the fourth and final goal of the evening. The "SOB's" had 7 points and were a combined +9 against the best defensive team in the NHL tonight. Ovechkin had a goal and two assists and was +3. Backstrom a goal and two assists, and went +3. Semin had an assist and was +3 for the evening as well.

The other goals scored by the Caps were potted by Matt Bradley and Mike Green. Bradley scored on a breakaway where his shot was deflected up off of Mike Mottau's stick and then up over Martin Brodeur's left shoulder into the net at 13:54 of the first period. Green's tally came eight seconds after the Devils had killed off Andy Greene's hooking minor just 39 seconds into the third period, when Ovechkin set up Green's eighth of the year. Ovechkin found Green breaking in from the right point for a shot that beat Brodeur's catching glove.

In between Bradley and Backstrom's goals, the Devils cut the the Caps lead in half on Rod Pelley's marker late in the first period. However after that it was basically "All Caps". Overall the Capitals played a solid game top to bottom of the roster though some special mention is probably due Michael Neuvirth who stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced for a 0.967 SV%, as well as Karl Alzner and John Erskine who both had good evenings tonight Tom Poti and Brian Pothier were both out tonight.

Next up the Carolina Hurricanes at Verizon Center on Monday.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Caps vs. Devils Tonight at Verizon Center; If Every Game Were Worth Three Points Week 12

The Caps take on the Devils tonight at Verizon Center in a match up of Eastern Conference heavyweights. It's gotten pretty crowded atop the Eastern Conference as the top four teams in the Conference make a move to separate themselves from the rest of the conference before the Olympic break. The Devils are currently in first place with 53 points in 35 games played (0.757); their division foes, the Penguins also have 53 points but have played 38 games (0.697) and so are in fourth. The Capitals are in second place with 52 points in 37 games (0.703) and the Buffalo Sabres are in third place with 47 points in 36 games (0.653). There is currently 4 points between the North East Division leading Sabres and the fifth place North East Division Boston Bruins who have 43 points in 36 games (0.597); while the sixth place Atlanta Thrashers have 40 points in 36 games (0.556). So tonight two of the four Beasts of the Easts face off in DC; a contrast of styles and a good game should be at hand. Both teams come into the game rested and ready to execute. The Caps are looking to win their third game in a row, while the Devils come into the game riding a 5 game winning streak and having just helped Martin Brodeur achieve his history making 104th shutout. Wingman and I will be "Rockin' the Red" in Section 103 and hoping the Caps finish tonight in first place in the Eastern Conference for no other reason then it will mean the Caps had a two point night and took on the Devils - one day and one game at a time.

Before we finish this blog post up in traditional fashion it's time for the "If Every Game Were Three Points" - Week 12 Edition. Remember in these standings a win in regulation is worth three (3) points; a win in OT or the Shoot Out is worth two (2) points; and a loss in the OT/SO is worth one (1) point; a loss in regulation is of course a goose egg - zero (0) points. So here's what the standings would look like going into tonight's games:

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

I really don't think any commentary on who is where in these rankings versus in the actual standings at this point. Over 20% of the NHL's games continue to be decided in overtime and/or by the shoot out, and there has been some discussion of doing away with what is erroneously being classified as "the looser point." I couldn't be more against something in hockey then making taking an opponent to a tie in regulation worth nothing. The problem is this whole erroneous idea that it's the "looser" whose getting the extra point - that's because it's the "winner" who is getting the extra point, not the looser. What really needs to happen is that if you want to address this whole debacle properly is to make every game worth the same amount of points - three (3), and if a game ends tied in regulation you split the points. then things would make sense again - the way they did back when teams who finished a game in regulation in a tie, split the points. It's quite simple isn't it? If anything as things stabilize in this post salary cap era more games will go to OT not fewer. If you want the world to make sense then just agree that a game ought to be worth three points - every game.

So now it's time for us to get ready for tonight's game...

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Another Crazy Week At Work But I've Managed To Squeeze In Some Time For the Caps...

It's been another crazy week last week at work but I did manage to attend the Devils Game on Monday and the Sharks game on Thursday. Last night's game wasn't mine, it was one of my STH partners' games. Overall, the Caps have accomplished what they needed to do to get things back on track. As of now the Caps have played 8 games - 7 against 2009 playoff teams and they have 10 points - that's 0.625 hockey and on pace for 103 points. Being on pace to break 103 points while playing against the better teams in the league, "ain't too shabby," as they say.

Last week, I figured the Caps needed 11 of 16 points during the final 8 games in the month of October. This past week, they've captured 5 of the 11 points and now need to capture at least 6 points of the possible 10 available. Through their first 8 games of the season, the Caps have been playing 0.625 hockey and if they at least stay on that track they'll capture 7 points which would give them 17 points for the month. However, given the strength of schedule it's entirely feasible for the Caps to capture 8 or even run the table and get all 10. Even more important than the recent results is the fact the Capitals are doing what they need to do to ensure they get two points in every game.

Prior to the game against the Devils, I thought to win the Caps needed to stay out of the box and take what the Devils give them, the Caps also needed to out shoot the Devils in all three periods and out score them in at least two of the three periods. Finally I said "the Caps can't give up any softies and play all 60 minutes." The Caps didn't stay out of the box - taking 5 minor penalties; out shot the Devils in only one of the three periods in regulation, and outscored the Devils in only one of the three periods of the game - the result, they managed to come away with just one point in a shootout loss; but it wasn't for lack of trying as Martin Brodeur had to lasso some real good scoring chances so the Devils could "win" the second period.

Prior to the game against the San Jose Sharks, I felt the Caps needed to contain Dany Heatley and play smart hockey. My conclusion was "San Jose won't beat themselves, the Caps need to beat them." The Caps did all that, the line of Semin - Backstrom - Laich kept Heatley - Thorton - Setoguchi bottled up all evening. Heatley finished the game -1, 3 SOG, 1 miss and 2 takeaways in 20:27 TOI; Thorton -1, 1 attempt that missed the net, 1 blocked shot, 12 of 21 in the faceoff circle in 20:02 TOI; Setoguchi 2 SOG, 2 attempts blocked, one hit, +/- even in 16:36 TOI. After taking 5 minor penalties in the first period, the Sharks settled down and did not beat themselves. Further in spite of giving the Caps 5 power plays in the first and yielding a power play goal to the Caps, the first period ended tied 1-1. The Sharks still made the Caps work to beat them in the second and third periods. The Caps responded as needed and won both periods and the game. The end result Caps Win 4-1 and get two points.

Looking ahead to last night's game against the Predators, I forecasted "It'll be important for the Caps to strike first, keep the home crowd in it and outwork the Preds, it'll also be important for the Caps to stay focused on hockey and that can be hard during an extended home stand like this coming week will be." The Caps held to the plan and script out working and out shooting the Preds until Pred Goalie Dan Ellis decided to become a stonewall in the second period and Caps phenom Semyon Varlamov had a minor lapse and gave up two goals, at least one of which he'd want back every time. In the end though this hard fought tight game ended in a shoot out victory for Caps when Varly came through stopping all three Preds shooters while Alexander Ovechkin got a gimmick hat trick. The result two points Caps, one point Nashville.

Overall last week I said "Five of the six available points from these next three opponents - all 2009 playoff teams - would go a long, long way to getting back on track but it's probably too much to ask, " - well all I can say is thank you hockey gods; thank you Caps! If I had an Aircraft Carrier around I'd be tempted to post a banner saying "Mission Accomplished", nah probably premature on that eh given it's only October - though being premature never seemed to be an issue with posting such banners on warships around this town before. Now a four day break before taking on the resurgent Atlanta Thrashers who are just two points behind the Capitals and are playing 0.800 hockey having started the season 4-1-0. Should be a good SE Division opener for the Capitals as it will be the first of two meetings against the Bluebirds this month.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Capitals Repeat As Southeast Division Champions

Last night was a one point night at Verizon Center for the Capitals as the had a "One Point Night," they also as Coach Boudreau explained in his press conference after the game, anticlimactically clinched the Southeastern Division title, there second in a row. The feat was anticlimactic, not because it isn't a solid accomplishment, but rather because it was a clear intermediate goal set at the beginning of the season, and a goal that was well within reach for some time.

If not for the excellent play of the Carolina Hurricanes since mid-February (16-4-2 since February 15) and a solid second half of the season by the Florida Panthers (22-16-6 since January 1st), the Capitals would have easily clinched the division a couple of weeks ago. As it is last night's 5-4 overtime loss to the Sabres puts the Capitals 9 points (4 1/2 games) ahead of the Hurricanes and 15 points (7 1/2 games) in front of the Panthers with each team having only 4 games left to play in the season..Clinching the division means the Capitals are now free to concentrate on staying ahead of the New Jersey Devils as both the Caps and Devils play their remaining four games as well. Finishing second in the conference would guarantee the Capitals home ice advantage in both of the first two rounds of the playoffs. Given the Capitals are 0.738 at home so far this season and 0.566 on the road this season, and Verizon Center has turned in to one of the hardest buildings in the league to beat the home team this season, a game 7 home ice advantage in at least two of the four series between the Capitals and their ultimate goal would figure to be pretty desirable.

Before delving deeper into that discussion though it would seem a closer look and deeper discussion about the second half play of what is supposedly the weakest Division in the NHL is in order. Presently it's a real possibility that the Southeast Division teams will finish the regular season next week with three teams qualifying for post-season play: Washington, Carolina, and Florida. If the Panthers manage to move up from 9th to 8th and qualify for the playoffs in the four remaining games that would likely mean that the Rangers dropped out of the playoffs. If that's how the Panthers get in to the playoffs that would mean the Eastern Conference playoff teams would consist of: 3 Atlantic Division Teams, 2 Northeast Division Teams and 3 Southeast Division Teams - who would have forecast that makeup at the start of the season? Of course in the season ended tomorrow the Eastern Conference playoff mix would consist of 4 Atlantic Division Teams, 2 Southeast Division Teams and 2 Northeast Division Teams.

However, another note on who you do and don't want to play right now (i.e. who's hot vs. who's not) as you drive to the close of the season looking at each team's performance over the past ten games gives you a decidedly different perspective then looking at the overall season records. Right now the hottest team in the NHL over their last ten games is Western Conference's Anaheim Ducks who are playing 0.800 hockey who are 8-2-0; in the Eastern Conference both Carolina and Pittsburgh are also playing 0.800 hockey by virtue of their 7-1-2 records in the last 10 games as well. After that there are 4 teams that are playing 0.750 hockey, 3 Western Conference Teams (San Jose, Vancouver, and Saint Louis) and 1 Eastern Conference Team (Boston).

At the end of the season it'll take 90-92 points to make this post season that's an overall pace of 0.556 - 0.568 hockey, so it would figure that as you drive for a playoff berth and every point counts a hot team would certainly be any team that is playing 0.650 hockey or better. Besides the aforementioned teams the following teams have been 0.650 or better through their last 10 games, in the West: Columbus, Nashville, and Phoenix; in the East: Washington, and Atlanta. That's a total of 12 "hot" (0.650 or better) teams. Their Divisional Breakout is: Pacific Division - 3 Teams, Southeast Division - 3 Teams, Central Division - 2 Teams, Northwest Division - 1 Team, Northeast Division - 1 Team, and Atlantic Division. This is not a case about who's the toughest and/or weakest division to play in over the course of the season or overall - that's not what this analysis is about. This analysis is about whether or not the Capitals who conventional wisdom a couple of weeks ago said had the weakest schedule remaining in the drive for the playoffs do/did in fact have that "advantage" over New Jersey. The current data would suggest that this supposition and prior conclusion is/was in fact just about dead wrong. Right now it's true the Capitals control their own destiny, with each team having four games remaining, the Capitals one point ahead of the Devils, and games tomorrow (at home against Atlanta), Tuesday in Atlanta, Thursday in Saint Petersburg, and next Saturday in Florida, while the Devils play today in Buffalo, take on Toronto in Newark on Tuesday, play in Ottawa on Thursday and finish the season at home in Newark against Carolina. Assuming the Capitals and the Devils each win today and tomorrow the Caps will remain in control of their own destiny however right now using their last 10 game records as a gauge of strength of opponents things look like the list below:

>>>>>>>>Capitals >>>>>>>>>>Devils

SAT/SUN: Atlanta (0.700)-H/ Buffalo (0.600)-A

Tuesday: Atlanta (0.700)-A /Toronto (0.500)-H

Thursday: Tampa (0.400)-A/ Ottawa (0.600)-A

Saturday: Florida (0.600)-A/ Carolina (0.800)-H.

Looking at those matchups in that light and taking in to account that right now when the meet their opponents only two are "bubble teams" Buffalo and Florida, along with the "extra" road game the Caps have to play a purely qualitative view would be if the strength of schedule favors either team it's New Jersey. However, the Devils only managed to squeak by Tampa Bay (5-4 OT) last night in Newark to break what had been a 6 game/1 point loosing streak. While back up goaltender Kevin Weekes started and exited the game with an injury so that means Scott Clemmensen should return to New Jersey as the backup, that won't slow the Devils down assuming Clemmensen resumes where he left off this season if needed in Newark. The big question mark is was this recent loosing streak and the issues it exposed in the Devils game rectified once and for all. On Washington's side the questions at hand center on focus, and the other factors contributing to the intermittent defensive miscues. Those unknowns and how they play out over the next week may well totally overshadow anything to do with strength of schedule but a few things are clear and bear keeping in mind:

1. Atlanta seems to be fine with their role as spoiler and will play every remaining minute for pride and to win, the Caps cannot take the next two games lightly or they may well NOT be in control of their destiny when Wednesday morning dawns.

2. Buffalo will play "with a vengeance" tonight at home in their struggle to stay alive and that may well be the Capitals best hope at getting some daylight between themselves and the Devils before their season finale against Carolina.

3. Given all the attention and controversy surrounding Alex Ovechkin's 50th goal celebration, along with the fact that Mike Green also broke the consecutive goal scoring record for defensemen in Tampa this season, you have to think the Lightning will play "extra hard" against the Caps in what should be their best chance for victory in their final three game road trip of the season. Proving, their are no "gimmes" in the NHL and "that's why they play the game on the ice."

4. In a strange turn of events depending on how things go for Florida and the Caps between now and next Saturday, the final regular season game for both teams may actually mean more for the Capitals then it does for the Panthers.

5. Depending on the next 6 days, it's entirely possible the final season games between the Caps & Panthers and the the Devils & Hurricanes could be the two most important games for the playoff implications in the NHL next weekend. At the beginning of the season who would have thought that Southeast Division teams would be 3 of the 4 teams involved in a situation like that?

Coming up later musings about a look ahead to tomorrow afternoon's Caps - Thrashers game, then on Monday some musings on do the Caps have what it takes to get to and possibly through the Stanley Cup Finals.

In the meantime, congratulations to our Washington Capitals for clinching their second consecutive Southeastern Division Title. Next up Atlanta at home tomorrow so, now let's get back to work and clinch home ice for the first two rounds of the playoffs.

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Let's Hope for No April Fools Day Letdowns - A Lookahead to onight In the NHL

First things first, Caps Fans like me will be watching, or better yet, at tonight's game at Verizon Center where the Eastern Conference 2nd place Capitals take on the 15th (last) place NY Islanders. There's some good pre-game analysis and prognostication already available online thanks to The Peerless and a nice summary by Reed-CK of Capitals Kremlin. Reed's sentiment's: "The key to tonight's game will be focus, not just because the Capitals should easily walk over this Islanders club, but because a momentarily lapse of focus could turn an easy win into a disappointing loss" capture mine very well too. For some reason the Caps haven't had the easiest of times in their recent games against the Islanders, despite holding a 3-0-0 lead in the season series this year. The Islanders have managed to take the Caps to overtime in each of the last two meetings and will be looking to not be swept tonight. Both statistically and because of injuries and trade deadline moves, the Capitals are stronger in every category than the Islanders team they will face tonight. The Islanders are no higher than 12th in the league in any major statistical category and in most categories are in the bottom third in the league. However as their last two meetings against the Capitals show, that's why they play the games on the ice. The Capitals are coming off of four days rest and hopefully the Capitals "Flu Epidemic has run it's course. According to Tarik over at his WaPo Capitals Insider Blog, Mike Green is set to play after battling it, and Kieth Aucoin and Simeon Varlamov have been recalled from the Hershey Bears for tonight's match up. Aucoin will be in for an injured Donald Brashear who is still recovering from a sprained knee. No word on the started in goal but after four days rest you have to believe it will be Jose Theodore in net for the Caps and Varly backing him up as Brent Johnson is still on IR from his hip surgery. The Capitals "Magic Number" to lock up the Southeastern Division is 3, a win tonight gets them 1/3rd there. See you at Verizon tonight when it's time to Rock the Red.... just keep thinking

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Elsewhere around the league there are five other games to be thinking about as the drive for the playoffs continue and just 5 points separate 4th place from 9th place in the Eastern Conference, and 6th place from 9th place in the Western Conference. For the Capitals and we Caps fans, who now sit just one point in front of the New Jersey Devils in the standings, thanks to the continuation of their recent loosing streak at the hands of the Rangers on Monday night, in addition to urging the Caps to victory against the Islanders, we'll be watching Devils at the Penguins. as the Devils try and halt their loosing streak at five against a hot Penguins team who now seem focused on making another run deep into the playoffs. In other Eastern Conference action 10th place Buffalo, who hasn't given up hope of the playoffs yet, basically have a must win game against a resurgent 13th place Atlanta team; and 4th place Philadelphia hope to keep the heat on the Devils for the Atlantic Division crown by beating the 12th place Maple Leafs in Toronto tonight. In Western Conference action the the red hot Saint Louis Blues who have won five in a row travel to Chicago to take on the 5th place Blackhawks who have lost their last two; and in a battle for pride the 14th place Phoenix Coyotes visit the 15th place Colorado Avalanche. A win in Chicago would vault the Blues into 7th place, 1 point ahead of both Anaheim and Nashville in a 3 way dogfight for the last two playoff spots in the West.

Wow....when was the last time as a Caps fan you ever saw yourself rooting for the Rangers and the Penguins to win in a span of less than a week?

I just wish I didn't have so much going on at work right now so I could think about this some more but it's time to get to work now... And just because I never seem to tire of sayin it...

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Caps Got Robbed But It Didn't Matter - They Won Anyway

Last night at Verizon Center was a solid TWO POINT night for the Capitals. Don't get me wrong, the Caps had to earn their two points, the Tampa Bay Lightning played a solid game after a rocky start. For all the hype about possible retribution, Tampa Bay tried to get back at Alexander Ovechkin and his teammates, the right way, by beating them in a physical hockey game, fairly. There was a minor matter of the Caps having a goal disallowed in the third period for "incidental contact with the goaltender." From my vantage point the contact was of a nature that was so incidental that I'm sure there might be as questionable call made somewhere sometime in the history of the rule but there probably aren't any that will be more questionable. Thus the title of this post since the final score was Capitals 5 - Lightning 3 since in the end it didn't matter the Capitals got a 2 point win in regulation over the Lightning and the New Jersey Devils finished the evening with only a one point overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, putting the Caps one point ahead of the Devils in second place in the Eastern Conference with 99 points. So now I'm watching the Villanova - Pitt game and occasionally checking the score of the Carolina - New Jersey game thinking of all things ... "Go 'Canes"?!?

To be sure last night's game, which started with the Capitals jumping out to a 2-0 lead and pretty much dominating the first period before Martin St. Louis put the 'Bolts on the scoreboard at 15:48 of the first period on a goal that Jose Theodore can't be faulted on, was "scrappy" and physical. But there really weren't any cheap shots and the game showed how close Tampa Bay is to being a "contender." Without a doubt the best player in a Tampa Bay uniform last night was Martin St Louis, but Steven Stamkos shows each game more and more how much he is "the real deal" too and former Capital Matt Pettinger had a good game as well. In the end though the Caps just had too much for the 'Bolts last night.

The "coolest" statistic of the night you ask. For me its that Nicklas Backstrom was 14 for 16 (88%) in the faceoff circle to lead the Caps in that category on a night when they were all pretty solid in the faceoff circle (59% overall). The sophomore first line center also had two (2) goals and an assist and three (3) shots on goal. Backstrom is now tied for #3 in the league in assists with Pavel Datsyuk of Detroit behind only Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, pretty good company, eh? Alexander Ovechkin had a four point night last night with two goals and two assists but Backstrom got the first star of the night while OV got the second. Defenseman Brian Pothier, who as has been well chronicled recently returned after being on the IR list for 14 months, scored the game winning goal, his first of the season and earned the third star of the game. Caps goaltender Jose Theodore put in a reasonable night's work stopping 36 of 39 shots he faced for a SV% of 0.923 and his 27th win of the season in 49 starts. Overall, it wasn't the best night by the Capitals but it was a good night. The first goal Tampa Bay scored was the result of a misplayed clearing attempt by the Caps skaters and the second Tampa Bay goal came from a shot the Theodore no doubt wanted back. The third goal was the result of a solid effort by the 'Bolts and again the five skaters on the ice will no doubt watch that section of tape and the 40 seconds preceding the goal a couple of times to understand how they got burned. However, in the end the Caps can look at the third period as an example of what they can do when they decide it's time to take control of a game, despite being out-shot by a count of 15 - 10 by the Lightning.

The Capitals are now only three points behind the Bruins in the Conference standings for first in the East. Of course the Bruins still have 3 games in hand on the Caps and the third place Devils have two games in hand on them, the Bruins and the Devils are each playing one of those games tonight. Last night's win means the Capitals finish the month of March with a 6-5-2 record (0.538 hockey) after dropping the first three games of the month. It also means Washington is 6-2-2 in their last 10 games (0.700 hockey). Much is being made relative to the motivation and drive, or seeming lack there-of by the Caps of late but from a W-L perspective, "the trend is once again our friend." The Caps have just six (6) games remaining, two against teams working to "play their way into the post season - Florida and Buffalo currently in 9th and 10th place in the Conference respectively. The Capitals other four remaining games are: the pesky New York Islanders who are playing for pride and challenging playoff teams, including Detroit who they beat tonight; a home and home against Atlanta who at 7-3-0 in their last ten games are one of the hottest teams in the league right now; and Tampa Bay one final time in Tampa who will be working hard to ensure they are not swept by the Caps this season.

The Caps seem to be on track for a 104 - 107 point season with 49 or 50 wins. That would be a pretty good bar to set and will position them well as a "legitimate contender" this year. The Devils now appear to be on track for a 105 - 107 point season and the Bruins are now seemingly on track for a 110 point season. So it certainly still appears the Capitals and the Devils are in a dogfight for second place with Boston though "slowing down" on track to hold on to the Conference lead. Last night was a good start at making sure the Caps don't get too lax during these last three weeks of the regular season while they are playing teams behind them in the standings. Next up the 15th place NY Islanders on Wednesday evening at Verizon Center...

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Caps Down Bruins In OT - Finish February 9-3-1

February has been a good month for the Washington Capitals and yesterday in Boston, they finished the month the same way they started it, by beating an Eastern Conference foe. Today was a two point win for the Capitals and even though they let Boston get a point, they did manage to finish out the regular season series against the Bruins 3-0-1. Given Boston's overall record to date is 42-12-9, you probably won't be surprised to learn the Caps are the only team in the league with a winning regular season record against the Bruins so far this year.

Between this afternoon's victory over the Bruins in OT and Thursday Evening's 4-3 win in regulation over Atlanta the Caps find themselves with the fourth best record in the league; firmly set for a solid run in the playoffs. Right now the Caps are in second in the Eastern Conference, they are 8 points behind the Bruins with 19 games left to play; they are also just two points ahead of the New Jersey Devils in the Conference standings but the Devils have a game in hand. If the season ended today the Caps would face the Florida Panthers in the first round of the playoffs, though there will likely be some churn between the # 6 and #10 teams in the division between now and April.

The Caps remaining 19 games break down like this:

- 9 home and 10 away;

- 18 against Eastern Conference Teams and 1 against a Western Conference Team;

- 12 against SE Division Teams and 7 against out of division opponents.

So far this season the Caps are 9-3-0 (0.750) against Southeastern Conference foes; and 33-8-5 (0.771) against Eastern Conference foes. Assuming the Caps play 0.700 hockey against the East in their remaining 18 games the Caps will finish with 110 points even assuming they loose their remaining contest against the Western Conference Nashville Predators. One hundred and ten points (110) in an 82 game regular season - not too shabby at all. Yet despite being on that trajectory, the Caps are in a dog fight for second place in the East, New Jersey is also on a tear and is also on pace for a 110 point season; Boston is on pace for an astounding 121 point season. So the Caps have to continue to play hard and not give up anything at all. The good news is that the Caps of 2008-2009 are that kind of team - a team who strives to live to their motto: "Good is not Good Enough." That's bad news for the teams they will play between now and the end of the season; likewise for the teams that will face the Bruins and Devils, as well as the Philadelphia Flyers who are 7-2-1 and as of this minute are beating the Devils 1-0. Don't expect the Bruins to continue to languish on the 3-4-3 pace they have had over their past 10 games; the Bruins' final includes 11 home games and 14 games against teams that are either "bubble teams" or teams whose playoff hopes are at most extremely dim right now.

Today's game at the "phone booth" against the Florida Panthers is for the Panthers what yesterday's game against the Bruins was for the Capitals - as close to a must win as possible if the Panthers are to have any hope of catching the Capitals for first place. The Caps have 85 points in 63 games and the Panthers have 70 points in 62 games played, even if the Florida Cats win today they till be 13 points (6 1/2 games) behind the Capitals, however if the Capitals win the Caps will be 17 points up (8 1/2 games) on the Panthers. Counting today's game the Caps and Panthers will play three more times this season so Florida still needs a lot of help from the other teams that will play the Capitals between now and April 11th when the two teams wrap up the season against each other at Sunrise, FL for that game to really matter. However, just as the Capitals have been the one team to be a thorn in the the Bruins' side this season, Florida has been a tough opponent for the Capitals; in their five meetings so far even though the Caps lead the series 2-1-0; the Panthers are one of the few teams to beat the Capitals at Verizon Center this year (December 1st 5-3). The last time they met was February 15th at Sunrise and the Caps won 4-2; the game where the Panthers ended Mike Green's record setting goal scoring streak. In that game, league leading scorer Alexander Ovechkin got a hat trick, including an empty netter to ice the victory, Eric Fehr also scored and Jose Theodore stopped 29 of 31 Panther shots to earn the win for the Capitals.

Today is a bit of a strange one for Caps fans, I suppose we should be rooting for the Flyers to beat the Devils in regulation and also rooting for the Flyers against the Bruins on Tuesday evening as well. There is no doubt we'll be looking for a regulation win ourselves against the Panthers. Carolina our opponent for Tuesday night lost last night to the Atlanta Thrashers and now have 69 points in 64 games. That puts the Hurricanes on pace for an 88 point season, they like Pittsburgh (on pace for 88.5 point season as well) and Buffalo are truly a "bubble team." Amazingly if the Hurricanes do get in and Florida who is 6-4-0 continues on the pace they are on, the "lowly" Southeast Division could find themselves with three teams in the playoffs, and the Penguins who went to the Stanley Cup finals last season could very easily find themselves on the outside looking in.

The Penguins will face Southeast Division teams 8 times during their remaining 19 games, including playing Carolina and Florida 4 times and the Caps once, so it's very likely that if the Panthers and the Hurricanes make the playoffs, the Pens would not do so. Clearly no one would have predicted that possibility before the start of this season. All of that of course is getting way ahead of ourselves. To be sure, the Caps Coaching staff won't let that happen for the team and we shouldn't let ourselves as fans get that way either.

There is no way to forecast whether the Caps will likely finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in the division right now; likewise it isn't possible with any level of confidence to forecast who they will face in the first round of the playoffs the Canadiens, Rangers, Panthers, Sabres, Hurricanes or Penguins. So it is important for the Caps to continue to play hard and dominate them all, if for no other reason then to reinforce the message they have been sending all year to their Eastern Conference brethren - "this is our year, this our time, and we're going to take it." That is important this time of year, this is the time of year to solidify your position if you are part of the league's elite and sow doubt in the minds of those you will possibly face in the playoffs. That's what the Caps have been doing, and that's what they need to continue to do.

Today, Florida will bring their "A" game, they got embarrassed yesterday in New Jersey and they will be working hard to make sure that doesn't happen to them today here in DC. The Caps went to Boston and beat the big, bad Bruins in OT yesterday. For the Caps to win today, they'll need to play just as hard if not harder against the Panthers. Today's game is a lot more important for Florida from a standings point perspective than it is for the Capitals; however, from a mindset perspective, today's game may well be more important for the Caps. By today's performance, the Caps have a clear opportunity to show the Panthers, the rest of the conference and even the entire league, that this year's Capitals' team has that killer instinct needed to put opponents away, not just in an individual game but in a series.

Two minutes to face off....

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!