Looking Ahead - Caps Games 47 - 50 (Week of 1/25 - 31/2015)

Well Caps fans the All Star Game is over. Now, the week ahead means the Caps are in search of six more regular season standings points.  This week the Caps face the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Tuesday, on Wednesday they "host" the Penguins here in DC at Verizon Center and then they finish the week on Saturday in Montreal.  All in all it should be a tough week and an interesting week - a week of good hockey.  For the Caps what they need to do is simple, they need to break a three game losing streak. Lets face it the Caps weren't looking real good the last three games before the break so hopefully the week off has been a time for them to clear their minds, heal, make whatever adjustments they needed to make and be ready to resume the rest of the regular season in a manner that keeps them on track for a 100+ point/40+ROW season.

  The Caps can start the rest of the season off right with a win on Tuesday in Columbus, it won't be an easy two points though as Columbus hasn't been a easy game for the Caps this season two of the first three games have gone to OT sow while the Caps are 2-0-1 in those games each of the games have required the Caps to play a full 60:00+ at 100+% to get the five points they've captured.  The good news for the Caps on Tuesday is that the man who forced those last two games to OT - Sergei Bobrovsky will likely still be out and not in net for the Blue Jackets, the bad news - all the rest of the Columbus team will be eager to show the hockey world they can still win and compete for a playoff spot.

Then on Wednesday evening the Caps host the Penguins and a presumably well rested Sidney Crosby at Verizon Center.  The Penguins will be looking to "repay" the Caps for the 3-0 loss the Caps handed them a couple of weeks ago on December 27th at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. While it would be nice if Braden Holtby could come up with another shutout, it would be even nicer if the Caps played so well it was easier for he and they to come up with another wire to wire three goal victory.  But again it won't be an easy two points - to win the Caps entire team will have to play a 60:00, 200 foot, 110% game.

Then on Saturday afternoon, the Caps play a matinee in Montreal where they get to play Carey Price and surging Canadiens team.  The Habs are on pace for a 111 point/44 ROW Season and were 7-2-1 in their last 10 games before the ASG break.  Additionally the Caps fell to the Canadiens 2-1 in their one other meeting this regular season way back on October 9th when the Haps came to Verizon Center.  So again this game will require the Caps to play solid, "heavy" hockey through all 60:00 if they are to come away from Bell Center with any points.

If the Caps can turn the three game pre-ASG losing streak around and come away from these last three games of the month of January with at least three of the six available points, with a 7-4-2 record and 16 of the available 26 points (0.615) for the month.  They will also finish the month with a total of 60 points and 24 ROW in 49 GP - on track for a 100 point/40ROW season.  I believe it may actually take that be sure to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference this season the way things are going as right now 7 of the 8 teams in playoff positions are on track for 100 point seasons and number 8 - the Bruins are close behind on pace for a 97+ point season.  Additionally of the 8 Eastern Conference teams in playoff spots today 7 of the 8 have player 0.700+ hockey in their last 10 games before the ASG break; only the Penguins are under 0.700 and it doesn't seem likely they'll stay on their current 4-3-3 (0.550) - last 10 games - pace for long.

Well that's the week ahead for us Caps fans ... all I can say is ...

LETS GO CAPS!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Sidney Crosby and Jimmy Howard Mix It Up At the Buzzer...

Well Caps fan, lots of chatter around the inter-webs today about Sidney Crosby's cross-checks of Herik Zetterberg and then mixing it up with Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard as the buzzer sounded at the end of last night's Red Wings - Penguins game. From my vantage point it's all much ado about nothing. Also, if we are ever going to be credible in our defenses of Alexander Ovechkin, then we ought to give Crosby a little slack on this for sure.

I watched the game, it was a good one, and Detroit won by a score of 3 - 1 if you didn't see it. Zetterberg spent much of the game about as close to Crosby as "white" gets on rice. In the last minute of the game, often not included in the pics and videos being posted, what you don't see is the jockeying for position in front of the Detroit net and the mixing it up going on between Zetterberg and Crosby for position. It was a physical matchup and really good hockey to watch, as was Crosby's driving the net and getting in Howard's face often during the night. However, even more interesting to watch was how Detroit in general and Howard in particular handled it all and kept Sid The Kid off the board and pointless all evening long. So I'm sure Crosby was frustrated at the end of the game, but the mixing it up with Zetterberg was all normal, playing hard ice hockey; I'm confident if there was 30 seconds left to play when he did it, he would have gotten a 2 minute minor for it. I'm also pretty sure given Crosby's driving the net all night long, Howard was more than happy to come to Zetterberg's aid and give "#87" a bit of a face-wash with his catcher. From my seat on the settee here in scenic Bristow, the on ice officials handled it all just right.

In the end it all works out and now if Detroit beats the odds and makes it to the Stanley Cup Finals as a #7 or #8 seed and Pittsbugh returns to the finals as well, the NHL will have another bitter rivalry to hype, in the sort of WWE fashion they seem to be gravitating towards. The moves by Crosby, the 22 year old Penguin Captain, weren't well advised. However, nobody got hurt and it was all in the course of a hard fought ice hockey game. If we Caps fans are going to credibly defend the actions of our own team's 24 year old Captain, when his youthful exuberance, passion for the game, and strong competitive nature drive him to make a poor decision, in the normal course of a game, we shouldn't fail to give Sidney Crosby the same consideration. If we act in such a manner, we really aren't credible when we air a legitimate beef. I mean it's not like either did anything universally reviled like punching someone below the belt or such.

My real question is had Zetterberg caught an edge and crumpled to the ice, breaking a bone or something, how many games suspension would Colin Campbell have given Crosby? I'm not being facetious, I think he would have suspended Crosby for the move. However, given the lack of any logic would Crosby have gotten just one game since he's not a repeat offender like Ovie is? My point is once again, in defense of Ovechkin, accidents happen sometimes. When they don't we should be happy and rejoice. When they do, we shouldn't scream for the other guy's head on a platter. Of course, just because you have a lot of money, doesn't make you immune from making stupid statements. Thankfully in the Crosby/Zetterberg tussle, nobody was hurt, no accidents happened and instead Zetterberg woke up named the #1 Star of the night in the league.

Next Pittsburgh, tomorrow at the Phone Booth...

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Caps 5 - Penguins 4 (OT) The Most Exciting Game Yet This Season

Today the Caps and Penguins faced off in an almost meaningless regular season game on national TV at the Verizon Center. ... Yeah Right... In the end it was a TWO point game for the Capitals, and man am I ever glad I spent all that time shoveling out my driveway yesterday and my Subaru Outback Sedan has almost as much ground clearance as an SUV so I could get to the game. Truthfully, today's game was about as good as a regular season game could get when it comes to watching a really, really good and exciting hockey game. I'd be saying that even if the Caps didn't pull it out in the end.

I'm a little late pulling the trigger and getting this posted so there's already a set of really great posts on the game and Tarik El-Bashir's WaPo gamer is up and I don't know what I can add but this game was so good. I took some pictures the first one really tells the story and it's kind of the bottom line.

However, this game always had a lot of hype. For me, I was still sorry I missed Friday night's game. So, I spent a considerable amount of time shoveling myself out between Friday night and Saturday to make sure that if it was at all possible I'd see this game live. It was the last home game before the Olympic break, it was nationally televised and of course it was the Penguins. All my life I've backed teams that have a huge rivalry with the Penguins. Back when I was a kid in Philly we lived to beat out cross-state rivals. Then 7 years ago when I started transitioning to be a full fledged 100% Caps fan, well the rivalry with the Pens was a very easy thing for me to continue. This game was going to be a good one and I was going to be there. of course that might take a little bit of "dedication" and a strong back. If that meant yesterday I had to spend ~8 hours shoveling the drive and freeing both cars on the drive - so be it. With the drive fully shoveled the next thing was to figure out if I could make it out of the un-plowed subdivision. When it became apparent VDOT wasn't going to get to the side streets in subdivisions, I hacked through the last ~ 4' between the driveway and the street. Then at ~11:30PM last night I walked the "block" to figure out if the trusty Outback had the ground clearance required. I returned to the house and went to bed thinking it was at least a 50/50. At 8:00 this morning I got the snow shovel and all the recommended materials layers, etc. to make a run at it. I knocked down the snow bank between the drive and street some more and made a dash for it. The 5 miles to RT 66 from the house were ... well "interesting" but the roads were passable. In the end I got to Verizon Center and parked in Gallery Place at 10:30. I had to admit, my wife was probably right, "this", you know hockey and the Caps, has become a bit of an obsession and not entirely healthy. After my breakfast - a buffalo burger - medium - with Swiss Cheese and sauteed mushrooms at RFDs I got into Verizon in time to see the last half of warm-ups. The fun began, and if you were a Caps fan by the end of the game you were pretty happy.

The game was a good one in that when somebody made a mistake it usually cost their team or their team's goaltender needed to come up with an awesome save to prevent such an eventuality. When you have two teams loaded with so many talented players you're going to see at least 3 or 4 plays that make you shake your head and say - how did they do that? This game, I lost count at how many of those moments I had. To be clear, I'm a Caps fan so that means I "sports hate" the Penguins. However, their first two goals, Crosby's first two goals were all about him, one of the four or five best players in the world, showing up with his A game and somebody making a mistake he capitalized on. The first one, everyone and I mean everyone in Verizon, had to be saying to themselves - "Tyler, (Sloan) what were you thinking?" The second one was another misplay where 3 out of 4 penalty killers went to Evgeni Malkin, another of the best players on either team, and left Crosby open to receive the pass and with room to maneuver. Maybe if it's a different set of guys or a different team, Jose Theodore stops those, but these guys are just too good that they aren't going to score 85+% of the time when your team let's them move like that. End of first period Penguins 2 Caps 0.

The second period started out better for the Capitals, they didn't make any big mistakes and they got several shifts of sustained pressure in the Penguins zone. Additionally, they seemed to come out from intermission pretty jacked up, surly and playing with an edge but not over it. However for the first ~8:45 Pittsburgh kept the Caps off the board and maintained their 2 goal lead. Then Jeff Schultz found Alex Ovechkin with an excellent stretch pass that sprung Ovie on a breakaway. Ovie flew in on Fluery and rifled it past him, the shot actually was so hard it broke the protective cover on the camera in the net. Score Penguins 2 - Caps 1. At this point life was breathed back into the crowd and we Caps fans present started thinking ... "here we go"... alas that wasn't what was really going on though, because just over 2:00 later Jordan Stall combined with his line-mates Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke to score his first goal of the afternoon and restore the Penguins 2 goal advantage score Penguins 3 - Caps 1. The only consolation is unlike the first two Penguin goals, there really wasn't any "bonehead" moves by the Caps to set this goal up. Stall, Kennedy and Cooke just all played solid hockey and got just enough ahead of the Caps on the ice at the time (Pothier, Sha-Mo, Bradley, Ovechkin and Backstrom) after it looked like Pothier had broken up the play, the puck just seemed to catch back side of Theodore's pad as Stall threw it at the net and went in. So there we Caps fans are thinking it's okay, " it's hockey, things like that happen, at least we aren't still making stupid mistakes." Ah but wait... just 1:24 later Tom Poti, Poti - the guy who has been playing so, so well and so smart lately, botches a breakout pass putting it right on Evgeni Malkin's stick (you remember him, dontchya?) Malkin, ends up with he and Staal going in on Theodore, makes a great pass - Staal bangs home his second goal of the game at the 13:07 mark. Score Caps 1 - Penguins 4, ugh...but hey we're the Caps faithful and we persevere, continue cheering our team on, but I have to admit at this point I had my doubts about the outcome of this game. "Spoting" the current Stanley Cup Champions 3 goals didn't really feel like a winning plan, especially with the penalties the Caps seemed to be taking, etc. Enter one Eric Fehr - at the 17:12 mark of the second period, Brendan Morrison put the puck on Fehr's stick, he drove the net, shot and followed it in to his own rebound, putting "the biscuit in the basket" - a real hockey players goal. That's the way the period ended Score Caps 2 - Penguins 4.

As has been the story over most of the season and particularly these past 14 games, the third period was the Caps best of the game. This time it was because their Captain, a two time NHL MVP, Alexander Ovechkin along with fellow "young gun", Nicklas Backstrom and line-mate Mike Knuble, a longtime "Penguin Hunter/Killer" decided "this is our house". They seemed to feed off the crowd and vice versa as the period went on. Don't get me wrong the rest of both teams also decided that "it's showtime" however, the Caps first line made it happen during this games final 20 minutes of play. First at the 6:51 mark Ovechkin displayed great hand and netted the puck after a shot by Tom Poti had been knocked down by Brooks Orpik, score Caps 3 - Penguins 4. Then at 11:06 he buried an off speed shot from the face off that beat Fluery cleanly. Score Caps 4 - Penguins 4 - new game. How did that happen, well in the third period both teams played a cleaner game AND the referees pretty much let them skate. During the first two periods there were a total of 15 penalties doled out, and there were questionable calls on both sides of the ice, as well as missed calls on both sides too. To say that this wan another really poorly officiated NHL game would be an understatement. For the Caps it's hard to say what was the worst call or non-call was it the lack of a penalty when Jose Theodore got kicked in the head? The 10 minute misconduct to Nick Backstrom for nothing? The lack of a call against the Penguins when Ovechkin got charged into the boards? All bad calls or non-calls to be sure. However, the worst call of the game if you're a Caps fan - that would have to be the one penalty called in the third period, a slashing call against Jeff Schultz for merely being in the vicinity of Matt Cooke when his stick broke. Seriously, I don't know what folks watching on TV saw but at Verizon while Schultz was in the box they showed the replay on the jumbotron and Sarge didn't even touch Cooke or his stick. Thankfully the Caps killed of the penalty and regulation ended with the score tied 4-4.

I know what call against the Penguins both Bill Guerin and Brooks Orpik think was the worst of the game. Uhh, that would be the call against Orpik in Overtime for high sticking Alexander Semin. Orpik's quote per Tarik El-Bashir's WaPo gamer following the game: "He sells it all the time. The kid's a baby. I've got zero respect for the kid. But the kid does that all game long. It's tough to lose on that." Wow, interesting let's dissect this, all of it. First Brooks, it's not hard to "sell" a high sticking call when you put your stick into another players face between their face and face mask, this I saw first hand from my perch in section 103 about 100 feet from the infraction. I'm comfortable making that statement since I was at least 50 - 75 feet closer to it than referee Fredrick L'Ecuyer was to most of the calls he made today. Second, re the "kid" statement Orpik age 29, Semin age 25...uh "kid" huh... yeah, I guess you don't have any respect for him, but you know what I'm pretty sure he doesn't care all that much. "Sells it ll the time" - I don't think so. Semin is one of the best forwards in the NHL, and as such he gets targeted and hacked on, like Ovechkin, Zetterberg, Kopitar, Gaborik, the Sedins, Marleau, Backstrom, Thorton, Crosby and Malkin as well, and his ability to draw penalties and "sell it" are but a few things he isn't known for doing well or often on a hockey rink. Orpik is on of the NHL's most well known "tough guy" defensemen, that means he's known for hacking on guys early and often. Today he did just that, no issue here that's what he gets paid for but come on guy, don't whine when you get a penalty for doing it, especially in a game where you got away with at least 3 slashes and 2 elbows before you put your stick into Semin's face. Personally, if you're a Penguin fan I think the worst call of the afternoon is the non-call against Shaonne Morrisonn when he knocked Crosby into Theodore and then pinned him to the ice. I loved it from an old tyme hockey perspective, making Crosby pay for that real estate in front of Theo so maybe he's thinking about it "next time" but I have to say i was pretty amazed Sha-Mo didn't get 2:00 in the sin-bin for it.

In any case if I had to hazard a guess at Orpik's post-hockey aspirations, I'd say law school as the irony of the whole thing is if anybody is trying to "sell" anything or plead a case here it was Orpik. Personally, I really get a kick out of the bulletin board material "Old Man" Mr. Orpik has now given Semin for both the upcoming Olympics, the two remaining regular season games, and if it happens another Caps - Penguins playoff series. Personally, I hope Sasha uses the material well and lights Orpik and his teams up for a goal or two a game. In the meantime I pretty much feel the whole Orpik post-game diatribe is just a cover up for taking a stupid penalty, and in the end a stupid penalty that cost his team the game and a point. I haven't looked at the Penguins faithful commentary on their blogs and message boards but in anticipation of their usual banter I'd just like to say "Stay Classy..."

As for the Caps since they were given a chance to put away the game, even though it was/is just a meaningless regular season game, they must have just said why not? Or maybe the just wanted to get home and settle in before the big super bowl game. In any case following Brooks Orpik's entering the penalty box, it only took the Capitals 13 seconds to score the game winning goal. So basically right about the time Orpik got his "wrongly" penalized butt settled into his seat in the box he had to get up again and skate off the ice. Of course he couldn't just do that he had to mouth off to the referees so he earned himself a game misconduct, that of course is an all but meaningless penalty but it makes his post game statement all the more comically ironic.

Thank you, Brooks Orpik. You loaded the gun, then Ovechkin passed it to another experienced Penguin Killer, you're just used to seeing him in a different uniform. Perhaps you've been wondering what happened to him on your last few trips to South Philly...




So just a couple more thoughts and pictures from the game since today was the last home game until March 3rd.

The first star of the game ... Team Captain Alexander Ovechkin.

Do you think they'll leave it like this until March 3rd? Why have the Zamboni resurface the ice after a game when the next one isn't for almost a month? I like the lighting though how about you?

Me Too!!

Next up, the Canadiens in Montreal on Wednesday Evening.



LETS GO CAPS!!!

Tonight - Game 2 - Will Crosby & Maltby Go At It "Mano e' Mano?" and Other Musings

Well the blogsphere and the main stream media are storming to find something to stir interest and even more hype in tonight's Red Wings - Penguins game 2; as if a rematch of last year's finals between two teams loaded with talent isn't enough. Greg Wyshynski aka "Puck Daddy" over at Yahoo Sports and a bevy of commenters over at TSN.com's story on the game were suitably unimpressed by Sidney the wonderful Crosby's moves and post games comments to post a lot on the matter. Of course the Penguin's faithful just shrugged it off by the rest of hockey fandom for either a) being jealous at not having Mr. Wonderful on their team, b) being jealous that they are not as talented or wonderful as young Mr. Crosby or c) part of the grand conspiracy against the Penguins and a diversion from the fact the biased, poor officiating cost them the game because they didn't get a penalty shot when Henrik Zetterberg almost closed his hand on a puck that was sitting atop Chris Osgood's back in the crease. But the real story is as Red Wing's coach Mike Babcock is noted to point out over at NHL.Com - the battle, the game within the game between Zetterberg and Crosby or at least the game between them last evening.

Interestingly, even NHL.com can't avoid mentioning that some noted hockey people, including Babcock, aren't too thrilled with Crosby's behaviour and style of play of late. The story over at NHL.com includes the following verbiage: "And what of Babcock's statement that Crosby was head hunting on his hit on Zetterberg? ... He can say whatever he wants," Crosby said. "I don't think I've been known as a head hunter throughout my career. He's the first one to ever say that, so it's pretty interesting stuff." Well perhaps Crosby's defense is true enough he only had 80 hits this regular season despite his earlier claim that he finishes every check so maybe he's not a head hunter. I sort of think more about his nut seeking fisticuffs moves when I think of Mr. Wonderful and his quest for the Lady Byng Trophy. So when the Penguins fans talk about a conspiracy against their team and Captain, please pardon my rant on their hypocrisy. How can you just shrug off stories and stuff like the ones after his nut punch in the national media just 6 short months ago and make like Sid the Kid is the role model you want every Canadian hockey player to emulate because Ovie did a really silly post #50 goal celebration?

I do confess though I have less an issue with Crosby then the disrespect that Christobel Huet showed the Caps Organization and fan base after we all embraced him last season - that said I am so much happier the Caps have Jose Theodore in the goal tending mix than Huet right now. In fact I can easily think of like 1 million reasons why I feel that way right now and 5.5 million I'll feel that way in 2010, but I digress. Back to Sidney Crosby the fifth or sixth best guy on the ice last night for the Penguins vs. Henrik Zetterberg the Red Wings No. 1 forward. Yes, that should be quite a battle. Latest out of Detroit is that Pavel Datsyuk and Kris Draper will again be scratched tonight due to injury. Instead the Wings will dress Ville Leino and Justin Abdelkader. The urgency for Datsyuk to get back was alleviated somewhat by the effectiveness of Detroit's fourth line, a unit featuring Kirk Maltby, Leino and Abdelkader. If Crosby's poor form move did anything real last evening it was to add emphasis to the effectiveness on Detroit's fourth line last night, of course so too did the fact Abdelkader got his first playoff goal.

Bottom line is tonight's game should be a great one. Key players for each team's success will be: for Pittsburgh Marc-Andre Fluery; for Detroit whoever Coach Mike Babcock has shadow Sidney Crosby - I don't think that will be Zetterberg, at least not during the first period, I'm thinking it actually might be Maltby. As for other key match ups/players I'm looking for Brian Rafaleski to be on the ice a lot of the time when Malkin is out there. For Pittsburgh Bill Guerin, Maxine Talbot, or Ruslan Fedotenko could be the key "second tier" guy to make or break the game. For Detroit in addition to Rafalski, watch Franzen, Cleary and Helm, as well as Marian Hossa of course, any one of those guys had chances to notch a few more tallies last night and could do so tonight.

Well it's not watching the Capitals but at least it's very, very good ice hockey and the best we're going to see until next October.

LETS GO WINGS - LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Another Look at The Caps - Pens Game; Quick Hits

So after cruising the "blogsphere" I was getting ready to put together some analysis and thoughts on the Caps 3-1 start but instead I watched the replay of last night's game on Comcast. Here's some quick hits on both, I'll use my brain and actually analyze a few things about the first four Caps games of the season tomorrow. But hey, let's enjoy the good for a few hours longer before confirming the good, the bad, the ugly and all that's in between tomorrow by looking at statistics both straight-forward and more obscure. Here's my quick hits.


- The most under appreciated play of last night may well have been Mike Green's AWESOME hip check on Evgeni Malkin with 1:11 left in the third period and Malkin breaking out of his zone while the Caps led 4-3. I haven't seen a hip check executed that well in an NHL game since Brad park retired. Green finished the game with 26:23 TOI, +2 over 27 shifts and 5 shots on goal, 4 attempts blocked, 2 missed attempts, and 1 hit. Pretty good night for a guy who is once again the top scoring defenseman in the league so far this year with three (3) goals in four games, along with two (2) assists.


- A lot is being made by some folks about Alex Ovechkin's slow start. I don't share this worry though, like Lumpy over at the Peerless Prognosticator, I note Ovie has had "only" two goals in the first four games, each of the last two seasons as well. To date this year he has 20 shots on goal and a shooting percentage of 10%. It's also true that last year over the entire season he had 446 shots on goal and a shooting percentage of 14.6%. So while he does need to pick up the pace a little, it's only slightly since last year he average 5.46 shots on goal per game and this year he is only averaging 5.0. Also each year Ovie has had to adjust his game slightly to accommodate the changes opponents make to try and counteract his extraordinary talent, like all pro stars, opponents work hard to "bring their A game" when they are matched up against them. Ovechkin is certainly no different than other stars in that he's generally out there against the best other teams have to offer 110% of the time. Also the minutes on the penalty kill, while the right thing to do for the team, will certainly most likely drag his shots per goal down slightly. But he is on track even with this current "slow start" for 410 shots on goal and 41 goals this season. As the season moves along look for his shooting percentage to again approach 15% and that means even at an average shots on goal of "only" 5, he will again have a 50+, closer to or even over 60 goal season. Truly, we Washington DC area hockey fans are lucky to be able to watch him every home game.


- A real lot is being made of the Ovechkin - Crosby/Malkin rivalry and especially of Ovie's focus and hits on Malkin last night. Why wouldn't he be focused on Geno last night. Malkin was in my opinion, and the guys who picked the stars of the game, the best Penguin on the ice. Malkin had the puck enough to get off 9 shots on goal, had a goal and two assists, and 3 hits of his own. When a guy is that active, especially when he's as good as Malkin, he deserves extra attention. If he didn't end up -1 last night, the Caps would have lost the game, and Malkin would have been a big part of the reason.


- The Malkin hit on Semin deserved a 5 minute major, he drilled "the other Alex's head into the boards". In old school hockey, yeah it's a 2 minute boarding call not the 5 minute major in the Gary Bettman/Colin Campbell NHL, like last night. But in the old school NHL, well lets just say the retribution would have hurt Geno a lot more than Ovie's hits and Green's hip check - that's why in the "old school NHL" stars like Malkin and Ovechkin didn't get into situations like this - third and fourth liners did that stuff.


- Fan sentiment is definitely very positive on Alexander Semin's play these first four games and so it should be. Semin has been "the man" much of the time so far this season and he leads all Caps scorers with 4 goals, 4 assists for 8 points, he's also +5 so far this season, and is playing two way, unselfish hockey all the time. He's been very good when he's been paired with either Michael Nylander or Sergei Federov. At his current pace Sasha is on track for a really awesome season himself. Though the simple mathematical extrapolation, 82 Goals, 82 Assists, seems unlikely, 50+ goals and over 100+ points appears very possible if he continues to play the way he has so far and stays healthy.


- Another Cap off to a super start is Michael Nylander. Nylander has 2 goals and 4 assists and is +2. Last night his face off win and setup back to Semin for the Caps second goal was masterful. Even more notable is the 36 year old Swede's overall solid play and fact he isn't "over-stickhandling so much but still generally controlling the tempo of the game when he is on the ice.


- The biggest surprise on the Caps so far might well be Sergei Federov. If the season ended today, Feds would be my guy for the player in the NHL with the most heart and drive. The thirty eight year old Russian future Hall of Famer has been solid when he's played center and even more valuable to this years Caps when he's been on the blue line. Right now his $4M salary looks like a bargain. If I was a young Cap I'd be inspired to do whatever I could just to win a Stanley Cup for him to get one more. Last night he started the game at center but moved to defense. He logged 22:17 on 23 shifts, had one assist and was +2. How he keeps doing it, after 19 NHL seasons, is something I can't fathom, but I'm sure glad he does.


- Tomas Fleischmann's play to date has been solid, well actually better than solid and last night was his best game yet. I could become a believer, in another game or two.


- The biggest difference in the Caps opponents face this year and last is clearly secondary scoring. The Caps have a total of 17 goals - and 3 or more in all four games so far this season and that's good news. The fact that 10 different players have scored those goals is even better news.


- Jose Theodore seems to be settling in and while his first period stats are an early issue (actually as I'll look at tomorrow the entire Caps teams first period stats are an issue), his play in the second period last night kept the Caps in the game and he came up big when he needed to in the third when he needed to. I continue to be bullish on Jose. There was only one time last night when it looked like the communications between he and the defense went awry.


- Bruce Boudreau looks really funny when he gets really pissed. last night his entire face "Rocked the Red" a couple of times.


- Evgeni Malkin's English has gotten a lot better, I swear I heard him drop an "F-Bomb" after one of Ovechkin's bigger hits. LOL


- After his first scoring chance of the night, on which Jose Theodore came up with a solid save, the Capitals pretty much owned Sidney Crosby, especially at 5 on 5. Sid the Kid did get 2 assists and did a good job of quarterbacking the Penguins power play but he ended the night at -3. He also was only 48% on face offs.


- CSN's broadcasting team of Koken and Laughlin missed a few things last night and need to work on the details a little bit. Of particular note, Tom Poti left the game in the first period with a groin injury, didn't take a shift in the second period at all, but it wasn't till 17:43 left in the third that Koken and "Locker" realized it and said anything about it.



- Finally, Matt Bradley may be a middleweight vice a heavyweight but he's another guy with total "heart" and he's fearless. All I can say about his performance last night is....WOW.


Next up Marty Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils at Verizon on tomorrow.


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

Let's Go Caps! - Caps 4, Pens 3

Well the Caps clawed and scratched their way back to a victory and two point night in Pittsburgh tonight. I watched the game on CSN and also looked at stats and chatted with many obnoxious Pens fans on-line in the NHL Gamecenter chat room for the game.

Through the first five minutes of the second period the Caps allowed the Pens to get out to a 3-0 lead on three powerplay goals before Tomas Fleishmann made it 3-1 at 5:45 of the second period. The game was a very physical one and Alex Ovechkin, though held scoreless and without a point, along with Brooks Laich, led the team in hits with three. Ovechkin was often on the ice playing against Evgeni Malkin and the two continued the "tit for tat" play they exhibited during last seasons match-ups. At 9:55 of the second period, Malkin made a vicious hit on Alexander Semin and was called for a 2:00 minute boarding penalty on a hit, many including Caps color analyst Craig Laughlin felt should have been a five minute major. Despite the penalties, powerplays and intense play by both teams the Second period ended with the score 3-1 and the Penguins had outshot the Caps 20-9. At the start of the third period the Caps juggled their lines in an attempt to shake things up and generate more offense. These adjustments worked and through the third period the Caps outshot the Pens 21-6 (yes the Caps had 21 shots in the third period alone). When the dust settled the score was Caps 4, Pens 3 and once again Alexander Semin had a very good game notching a goal and assist for two points, a +2 rating and 2 shots in 17:02 of ice time. In addition to Semin and Fleischmann, Michael Nylander and Boyd Gordon also scored. All four of the Caps goals were at even strength. Despite having the man advantage for 6:57 the Caps powerplay did not score. In the bad news department Defenseman Tom Poti logged only 4:23 of ice time and did not play during the second and third periods, no information yet on his injury.

The three stars of the game 1) Semin; 2) Malkin, 3) Nylander.

Next up the New Jersey Devils at Verizon Center on Saturday.

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

It Was Inevitable - the Beatification of Sidney Crosby Begins

It Was Inevitable - the Beatification of Sidney Crosby Begins

USA Today Writer Kevin Allen First To Start NHL Star On Road To Being Recognized As The Deity He Must No Doubt Be.

(Editorial Note: This may be as ill-advised as my rant about Comcast's Lisa Hillary (sorry once again Lisa, but I think I've atoned and hopefully learned from that information age/web 2.0 mis-step. Here we go. I was working on a much more interesting piece on the Caps and wasn't going to post again till tomorrow prior to the start of the Stanley Cup Finals, but I saw this little comment/gaffe made by Kevin Allen in today's USA Today, a paper with a circulation of over 2Million - America's largest and I couldn't resist my urges to comment. So here goes.)

With the Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals it was likely inevitable. Since his team is in the finals, and Sidney Crosby would be the youngest player to Captain an NHL team to it's championship IF they win, it was likely inevitable that rather than describing him as what he is, media from the broader markets and more traditional sources would slip into hyperbole and declare him the undisputed best forward and/or player, etc. Calling that one and confirming that hype must sell papers sure didn't take long. In his "Finals Preview" on page 9C of today's USA Today, Kevin Allen states: "Key matchup: Lidstrom vs. Crosby. This is best-on-best, the game's best defenseman against the NHL's top forward."

Calling Lidstrom the game's best defensemen is as problematic as calling Crosby the NHL's top forward. Using "the game" as the predecent to the statement implies the best of all time, to be sure the 38 year old Swede is a future Hall of Famer and the likely winner of the Norris Trophy as the best defensemen in the league this year; but the best of all time? - clearly open to debate since now the group expands to include the likes of stars from bygone eras such as Bobby Orr. Nicklas Lidstrom's career is long and storied enough to warrant consideration and inclusion in that GROUP of players who could be considered the best of all time, but why do we need to declare him the best other than to sell copies of today's USA Today, which a hockey story on page 9C clearly isn't likely to do anyway.

Calling Crosby "the NHL's top forward" or even "the NHL's top center" right now is also clearly premature; and, by objective measures, probably just plain wrong. One of the best - yes again, he is definitely in that GROUP of players who are the elite in the NHL today. However, Crosby's play this season, prior to the playoffs, in the position of center had even been eclipsed by his teammate Evgeni Malkin. There are 30 players who finished with more points them Crosby overall; granted his season was shortened by injury, but even on a points per game basis, Crosby, a center, tallied 1.36 points per game (.45 goals per game and .91 assists per game). That puts him slightly behind scoring title winner Alexander Ovechkin who averaged 1.37 points per game (a whopping 0.79 goals per game and 0.58 assists per game). Also, Many consider Goals vice Points, the measure by which forward's contributions to their team should be gauged, if that's your measure of a forward's worth/value, "Sid the Kid's" 0.45 goals per game put him behind approximately 14 other NHL forwards this year. Crosby's +/- is +.34 per game (overall +18). His +/- performance per game puts 8 players ahead of him for the year including Ovechkin, Defenseman Lidstrom, and forwards Jarome Iginla, and Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg, who with 1.23 points per game and .57 goals per game also puts him in the group. Teammate Evgeni Malkin's per game stats this year: 1.29 points, 0.57 goals, and overall +/- +18 while playing 100% of the regular season games and logging an average of 21:19 per game.

My point - Sidney Crosby is very good, and if he has a reasonable length career, the 20 year old Center from Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia, will indeed likely be in that group of all time greats that includes Wayne Gretzky and Crosby's mentor in Pittsburgh - Mario Lemieux. However, the risk of early deification of Crosby, who played only 53 games in this year's 82 game regular season, is three-fold. First, it cheapens the achievements of those who match or actually exceed Crosby's current performance, for example Ovechkin, and arguably Malkin, Iginila, Pavel Datsuk, Zetterberg and a few others. Second, it clearly cheapens the accomplishments of the "all time greats" like Gretzkey, Lemieux, and numerous other including "Rocket" Richard, etc. Third, since so many of the other players in the current NHL who are in the ranks of the elite are European, it is fuel for the claims that the "Hockey Press" favors Canadians; regardless if this is fact or merely perception it is fuel for these claims.

On the overall plus side, thanks USA Today, the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs got a picture and inset headline on the front page of the Sports Section on a Friday edition along with a story about the NBA playoffs and this weekend's Indianapolis 500. Not bad for a sport The Onion frequently pokes fun at and usually doesn't get it's due in the MSM. LETS GO CAPS!!!!! Can't wait for next season at the phone booth. Now it's back to work - seriously, this was just a diversion from putting the finishing touches on a proposal update due on Tuesday morning, here at ICx Technologies.

Caps Travel to the Igloo in Search of an Elusive Win vs. "Crosby-less" Pens

Tonight's Caps game against the Pittsburgh Penguins will be nationally televised on Versus. No doubt the talking heads will be disappointed in not being able to compare Crosby to Ovechkin for three hours. However, there will be a lot of exciting match ups to fixate on in any case.

How will Malkin stack up against Ovechkin and Semin? Who will play goal for the Caps - will it be Brent Johnson whose last outing in the Igloo saw him go down and out for several weeks in the first period or traditional #1 Olie Kolzig who is coming off several days rest? Will the Caps break a six game losing streak vs. the Penguins or will the Pens again find some way to thwart the surging Caps just as they did in the last meeting? Both teams are playing very well in spite of having several key players injured.

I was pleased to see the Pens put Sidney Crosby on IR - not because I don't like him but because I do. Now he might have the time to see that high ankle sprain heal to 100% before returning to the Pens lineup. One note to the Caps defense for tonight's game - in case you need any refresher in basics - Please Clear the Slot - ESPECIALLY the Low Slot - stats like THIS don't lie. Here's where the Caps got beat the on Saturday when they played the Panthers; and Thursday night by the Oilers. Notice anything? The last several games opponents have gotten the better of the Caps from that area of the Defensive zone that guys like Tom Poti, Jeff Schultz, Milan Jurcina and John Erskine get paid to turn in to "No Man's Land". Clearing the slot has to become not just a priority but an imperative for the Caps, especially when Penalty Killing. I'm not suggesting getting tied up in the corners with foolish two and three on one checks that let guys roam free in the Caps zone. I'm suggesting what everyone who has played hockey from mites on ice knows - setup the box then collapse one awesome D-Man to the low slot to tie up the inevitable opposing forward whose camped out on the doorstep. Of course, in this era of Gary Bettman, lets turn in basketball and football scores era, the rules work against that, but frankly these stats show the more things change the more they stay the same. Just to make a point here's where the Pens scored from in their last game, which they won without Sid the Kid in the lineup. Jeff Taffe scored a wrister in the first period from? You guessed right if you said low slot in the first, Danny Sabourin made 31 saves to shutout the Canadiens and Evgeni Malkin iced it with an empty netter in the third period. The Pens showed no lack of confidence against the Habs on Saturday and killed 4 of 4 penalties though their own power play was 0 for 3 without Crosby.

If the Caps play the Pens with the same intensity they played them the last game between the two - a 4-3 OT loss for the Caps at the Igloo on 12/27/2007, the Caps should win. In that last game, the Pens needed 2 assists by Crosby on 25 shifts and 24:43 of ice time; along with an awesome OT goal by Sergi Gonchar and 22 solid saves including a couple of amazing ones by Alaskan born veteran Ty Conklin who has had an amazing season so far. The best part of tonight's game is that without continual banter comparing Ovie and Sid the Kid; the TV folks might talk about the bigger stories like the great play by both teams since Thanksgiving or maybe the coming of age of Evgeni Malkin and/or Mike Green or Alexander Semin. One thing for certain is that if this game is like the recent contests between these two team it'll be a good one. LETS GO CAPS!!!

1/1/2008 - A New Year and A Tale of Two Games

There were only four games in the NHL today.


The late game was the only Western Conference matchup in Los Angeles between the Chicago Blackhawks and the LA Kings. The Kings came into the matchup with the worst record in the league but a solid talent pipeline and hope for the future. The Blackhawks came into the game with 41 points and in the thick of the fight for a playoff spot in the Western Conference as the season approaches the halfway mark. In the Western Conference, similar to the Eastern Conference, the race is tight, only five points seperate the Blackhawks in 11th and the Wild in 5th with 46 points. That game ended with the Kings blowing out the Blackhawks 9-2 in a game that saw Chicago take 14 penalties and starting goalie Nickolai Khabibulin allow 4 goals on 9 shots before being pulled in favor of backup Patrick Lalime at 15:04 of the first period. In all the Kings scored 5 power play and 4 even strength goals in the game. Kings Left Winger Ladislav Nagy netted his third career hat trick with two at even strength and a power play goal. Welcome to the NHL's version of salary cap driven parity.

There were three Eastern Conference Matchups in the NHL today. The Toronto Maple Leafs played the Tampa Bay Lightning in front of 19, 347 at Maple Leaf Gardens. To most folks, except for Lightning, Maple Leaf and Washington Capital fans that game probably had little signfigance. Entering the game, the Lightning had the worst record in the East with 33 points and were 2-8-0 in their last 10 games; the Maple Leafs were 13th in the Conference and 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. Beleagured Maple Leafs coach Paul Maurice "opened the second envelope" this week and annouced he is spreading the wealth around and reshuffling the lines to distribute the scoring and take some heat of the defense and goaltending as the Leafs headed into their matchup with the Lightning. With 112 goals for in 39 games coming in to tonight, the Leafs do have some offense to spread around, they have three players with more than 10 goals and seven others with 5 or more a piece. Maurice appeared determined to shake things up and get the storied Maple Leafs franchise back on track today, also announcing that 30-year old vetren backup goalie Scott Clemmesen would start tonight over Andrew Raycroft. For Tampa Bay whose coach John Totorella is also under the gun, as the Bolts with two of the top scorers in the NHL but currently sole occupants of the Conference cellar, none of what the other team does matters - he to is focused on getting his own team back on track as well. Tampa Bay has had goaltending issues and Finnish Rookie Kari Ramo called up two weeks ago from the AHL Norfolk Admirals will start. The rest of the Lightning story appears to be re-emphasizing the basics of their style of play that is anchored by aggressive forechecking. Over the past three seasons, the Bolts have a "post January record of surging into playoff contention with a combined record of 82-39-13, the game just underway will start to indicate whether once again Tortella's team responds as they did last year. Overall from the final scors and game summary - Leafs 4; Lightning 3 in a shootout it appears the Clemmesen decision was a smart one by Maurice and the 30 year old responded by holding Tampa's sharpshooting trio of Vinnie Lacavalier; Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis to 1 goal in the shootout. Tampa rookie goalie Karri Ramo was tagged for goals by Tomas Kaberle and Mats Sundin in the shootout; Sundin got the game winner.

Perhaps the real story of the day is a tale of two games, the so called Winter Classic played outdoors in Buffallo and the game here at Verizon Center. The Winter Classic was played in front of 71, 217 fans between the hometown Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins with NHL media darling Sidney "Sid the Kid" Crosby. The other game here in the nation's Capital between the hometown Washington Capitals with last week's NHL player of the week and one of the most exciting players to watch in the game today, Alexander Ovechkin and the Eastern Confernce leading Ottawa Senators was played in front of an announced attendance of just 14, 547. Adding insult to injury (the attendance figure on New Years Day at VC) for the Caps is the fact they have just completed playing their best month of hockey since 2003 finishing December 7-3-3, and they beat the Senators in Ottawa on Saturday night scoring 8 goals to the Senators 6. Why the Penguins-Buffallo matchup can draw over 70,000 people to an outdoor game in horrible, cold, snowy weather is probably testement to the novelty of the so called "Winter Classic". However, why after over thirty years of having an active viable franchise in place, and after the past three years of having the ability to regularly attend home games where they can witness one of the games current premier players work magic on the ice, only 14, 547 fans came to see Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals play the division leading Ottawa Senators, defies logic. It also defies logic why in a city with so many tech savey folks Ovechkin is currently fifth in voting for forards for the Eastern Conference All Star Team, also defies logic. Caps fans need to start coming out to more home games AND need to start voting early and often for Ovechkin; Kolzig and logging "write in" votes for Defenseman Mike Green so everyone can tell how much a hockey town DC really is.

The Caps have started winning and it's time for local fans and media to respond. While it's nice the Redskins have made the playoffs as a wild card and the Division they are in the NFC East, is once again one of the premier divisions in the league, what the Caps have done over the past month also deserves coverage AND support. The Caps with 40 games complete and 42 left to play in the season are now 5 points out of a playoff spot they have 37 points and the eighth place New York Islanders who have completed 38 games, have 42 points. More importantly the seventh place Flyers also are only 5 points up on the Caps with 42 points, after starting the season as on fire as the Caps started it ice cold. Right now there is only and eight point spread between the second place New Jersey Devils with 45 points and the 14th place Washington Capitals with 37 points. Additionally, over the past four days the Caps have proven to themselves and everyone else, they can play with any team in the league, having beaten the division leading Senators by a combined score of 14 - 9 (8-6 and 6-3). Projecting the Caps record since the coaching change over an 82 game season and they look like a 114 point team. That's an elite level of play, and should explain to the Caps Fans who've been coming to the games, why they've been so much fun to watch lately.

This afternoon's 6-3 victory over the Senators started out shakey. At 1:54 of the first period Ottawa Senator's number two tough guy, Chris Niel, who used his face to blodgen Donald Brashear's fist with eighteen unanswered hits when he "won" his fight against Brashear in the last meeting of thes two teams, scored on a wrist shot with a goal that was assisted by Christoph Schubert and Dean McAmmond. Subsequently, at 4:46 McAmmond was sprung on a slight breakaway and cut across the front of a net scoring on a backhander that put Ottawa up 2-0. In less than 5 minutes into the game it looked like Ottawa was destined to take revenge for their past two defeats at the hands of the Caps. However, since the coaching change in late November, the Caps have developed a level of self-confidence that has enabled them to make opponents fight for every point from them and they didn't hang their heads and give up. Instead, they responded with five unanswered tallies over the next 16:06 of play through the start of the second period to find themselves in firm control of the game with a 5-2 lead. The Caps first goal came on a beuatiful play set up by an Alex Ovechkin break pass to Nicklas Backstrom, who then stickhandled around two Senators and put a sweet pass onto the waiting stick of Victor Kozlov in the mid - high slot. Kozlov put the puck in the net, at 5:15 of the first, breaking his drought and the fans in the Verizon Center began to get into the game (the first few chants of Gerber being called and a lot more enthusiasm entering into the LETS GO CAPS cheers.) At 6:59, Michael Nylander netted his 10th goal of the season assisted by Jeff Schultz and Brooks Laich. Then, at 7:34 Caps Defenseman Mike Green went end to end and got his 9th goal of the season when he capped his rush off with a crisp wrist shot; apparently Senators coach John Paddock felt the shot by Green was one that starting goalie Martin Gerber should have saved as at this point he pulled him in favor of a cold Ray Emery. So before the midway point of the first period the Caps found themselves up 4-2 against the division leeading, visiting, Senators and proceeded to control the pace of play until at 15:45 of the first, in the midst of a melee in front of the Senators goal, Brooks Laich pulled the puck back away from Emery and scored on a wrist shot - while Laich was on his knees just to the right side of the low slot - in the move of the game. As the period wound down, Senators RW Shean Donovan was called for elbowing at 19:16 and the Caps power play found themselves with a one man advantage for the third time in the game; then at 19:36 Senators Defenseman Christoph Schubert was whistled off for slashing Alexander Ovechkin and the Caps ended the period with a two man advantage and having outshot the Senators 15-10 for the period. The only negative of the first period was Caps DMan Tom Poti an "Upper Body Injury" and was sidelined for the rest of the game.

Starting the second period up 4-2 on the scoreboard and with a two man advantage 5 on 3 power play on the ice, enabled the Caps to once again come out of the locker room flying. However it seemed to take them about the first 30 seconds of the period to get organized. After a couple of broken up rushes on the third setup of the period the Caps power play led by Ovechkin came into the Senators zone, passed the puck to Michael Nylander who then found Mike Green pinching in just to the left of the low slot. Green put a smooth snap shot into a pretty wide open left side of the net for his second goal of the game at 00:52 for what turned out to be the only score of the period. If Olie Kolzig had anything to atone for from the two goals he let in during the first period, he certainly did that during the second period when the Senators had 11 shots to the Caps 4 and Olie made several very good saves. The Senators tried to turn it on during the second period outshooting the Caps while Emery made a key save robbing "snakebitten" Matt Pettinger of what was his second good scoring chance of the game. However, each time the Sens tried to "kick it up a notch" the Caps responded, absorbed the Senators onslaught and responded back with an attack of their own. Though with a 5-2 lead the Caps seemed to be saving the puck for better scoring chances rather than throwing in soft shots at Emery. As the second period ended the Caps picked up a penalty for too many men on the ice at 19:06 and the Senators had a power play for the last minute of the period. Again during the second period the Caps lost the services of one of their leading players when Alexander Semin went down early with a "tail bone" injury and did not return.

The third period started with the Senators on the power play for the first 1:04 of the period. The Senators came out flying but didn't convert on the powerplay. However at 1:10, Senators Defenseman Andrej Meszaros scored on a snapshot on a play that virtually mirrored Mike Green's second goal, assists on the Senators third red light of the night were awarded to Mike Fisher and Daniel Alfredssonn. For the rest of the period the play was fast and exciting but the Caps generally held off the Senators and made some very good rushes and setup plays of their own in the Senators end of the ice. At about 17:30 Paddock pulled Emery in favor of an extra skater; subsequently about a half minute later the Caps gained control of the puck and Boyd Gordon netted his third goal of the season on an empty netter from Matt Bradley and Mike Green. This closed out the games scoring at 6-3 leaving the Caps fans in attendance jubulantly thinking about the free wings they'll be eating tomarrow at Austin's Grill.

Overall the quality of play for the game by the Caps was very good and after the Senators settled in following the end of the first period they delivered a solid 40 minutes of good hockey. The only folks on the ice that consistantly under performed were the officials. Several offisides calls were missed, several were late and several just blown. However, the linesman's performance was nothing compared to the referees poor officiating throughout the game. The play that resulted in Semin's injury came from a crush check, push down, old and general mugging by frustrated Senator Captain Daniel Alfredsonn early in the second. While slightly behind the play the whole purpose of having a second ref is to catch calls like this penalty should have been. Also, unless there has been some sort of rule change that pplies only to teams who are based in the capital city of the country where the sport of ice hockey was concieved (i.e. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) there were numeorus missed calls for elbowing, a totally blown lack of a call for delay of game, and a blatent slash in addition to Alfredsonn's mugging of Semin. Finally, I know it's not specifically pointed out in the rules but when a guy uses the hometown press to basically call out an opposing player - don't you think that should qualify him for the two minute instigating penalty? I think the instigator rule is a farce and the lack of application of it on Brian McGratten for the fight with Donald Brashear proves it. Come on, ref...

For 2008 the Caps are playing 1.000 hockey - LETS GO CAPS!!!!! Perhaps the Caps should play the Senators every night for the rest of the season. Despite totally dominating the Senators in their last three meetings, Ottawa's hockey press still seems to regard the Capitals as really not worthy to be on the same rink with their revered Senators. Don Brennan slammed Jeff Schultz in one post game story and couldn't tell the difference between Boyd Gordon and Mike Green in his second post game story. Of course the overly partisan Brennan failed to mention that in the Caps 6-3 win over the Senators, while Schultz was indeed victimized by Chris Niel for the Senators first goal of the game, he played 23:34 due to Poti's injury in the first and finished the game +/- +1 with an assist. Nor did Brennan mention that in Saturday's 8-6 win over the Senators Schultz logged 14:17 of ice time, finished +2 and had an assist. Of course I'm sure if league officials are as confused about who scored one goal and who scored two for the Caps Boyd Gordon would gladly take the extra score and Mike Green wouldn't object as long as they didn't decrement his total so far this season from 10 back down to 9. Of course had Brennan gotten that fact correct he might have felt compelled to include the fact that Green also scored two assists on Saturday evening in Ottawa as well. That fact along with Michael Nylanders two goals on Saturday and one goal today along with the goals by the five other Caps who contributed to the 14 goals they scored in the last four days against his revered, division leading, home team Senators might have clouded his perspective that the Caps won ONLY because 1) Ovie played very well (which he did - both nights) and 2) the Senators were I dunno tired after so much rest or ruty/lulled into blase' by their prior 4-1 loss to the Caps in November??? When you figure out what Brennan is thinking or even what planet he's on please comment and let me know.

Well enough rambling for now time to go get ready for work - LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!