An Ugly Two Points In November Counts The Same As a Smooth Two Points In March ...

Well last night's Capitals - Maple Leafs game ended with the Caps garnering two points while allowing the Maple Leafs to escape the District of Columbia with one. The game ended during the shootout with Alexander Semin winding up and looking like he was trying to blast the puck with a wicked slap shot through the net in a little sliver of the goal that existed between Jonas "Monster" Gustavsson's left arm and the left goalpost. Semin's final game ending goal came after he tied the game at 4 all on the power play at the 14:22 mark of the third period. I'm not sure what Alexander Ovechkin would actually say about that tying goal by Semin, his seventh of the season, but I'll hazard a guess - "sick, absolutely SICK" - though of course if they were talking to each other it would be the Russian translation of "sick, absolutely, totally SICK, Sasha." Seriously it was the move of the game to me. Semin was able to pull the puck back from behind the goal line just past the right side post and "roof it" under the crossbar in what was literally fractions of a second. As Caps coach Bruce Boudreau was quoted in today's Washington Post "When he scored his goal on the power play, there aren't too many guys in the National Hockey League that have hands like that - that can put it there that quickly."

While it was unfortunate the Caps ever got themselves into a situation that required them to come back and tie the game at 4 after leading 3-1 at the start of the third period, I'm not one of those folks who feels like there was any sort of total let down by the Caps at the start of the third period. It wasn't a total let down, it was a poor reaction to the adjustments made by the Maple Leafs at the intermission and a failure to properly match the intensity of the Leafs at the start of the game's final stanza though that gave Toronto the "room" and opportunities they needed to take the lead with three unanswered goals in 7:17 though. It was also a night where the hockey gods didn't smile on the Capitals young goaltender Michal Neuvirth. Neuvey didn't have a bad game but this was certainly his own worst game in a while. None of the goals scored on him were total failures on his part, and at just 22 years of age giving up three even strength goals and one power play goal to a much improved over last season Toronto Maple Leafs team isn't a bad night. Not at all. It's just that Neuvy's last several games have probably spoiled me. Even with last night's game he is 8-3-0, has a GAA of 2.31 and a SV% of 0.920. Contrast that with last night GAA 4.00 and SV% of 0.857. On a positive note for the season going forward I think last night's game might mean that Caps coach Bruce Boudreau might actually let the NHL's October Rookie of the Month have at least one game off this coming weekend, even if Semyon Varlamov isn't back and healthy. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally down with Nevey and the way he is playing but it is a long season and we are only twelve games into it.

Last night's first star according to the press was Alexander Semin, I couldn't agree more. Semin was awesome, even taking into account his two minor penalties. I can't really complain about the refereeing last night - it was consistent - I mean just as I thought the first slashing penalty called against Semin was weak, I also thought the tripping penalty against Luke Schenn on Ovechkin could have gone either way too. The linesmen on the other hand, in particular Tim Nowak ... well if you're going to call icing like he did on two, not one, but by my count two occasions where Alexander Ovechkin beat the Leafs to the puck, then it may as well be an automatic. In fact, given the potential for what is/are basically often pointless injuries to defensemen because of racing to the puck; I am actually all for no-touch icing as a rule change. Yes last night's game was a showcase for why my first two rule changes if I were able to make them would be: 1) every game is worth three points (Regulation Win = 3 points; OT/SO Win = 2 Points; and OT/SO Loss = 1 point); and 2) No Touch Icing in the NHL just like everywhere else in the ice hockey universe today. So in addition to Alexander Semin, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that last night's #2 Star of the Game was, deservedly, Jason Chimera. I could easily go on as to how well both Chimera and Semin have started this season but I'm choosing to reserve judgement and grading performance trends until at least 25% of the season has been played. That said, last night both Chimera, Semin and Mike Green all had very solid games, as did John Carlson, in my opinion, even though Green finished the evening at -2, he did have 30:20 TOI after all.

The one thing I'd close with relative to commentary on last night's Caps-Maple Leafs game is I had wondered until last night "if the Leafs were for real" this season. They started the season out of the blocks extremely well but have "sputtered" a little of late. That said after watching last night I'm feeling pretty confident in saying they are indeed for real this season. They played pretty well last night and could have won. To be sure, they forced the Capitals to play or attempt to play 60+ minutes and anytime the Caps let up a little, the Maple Leafs were there trying to capitalize on the openings Washington afforded them. The other thing you can get looking at the event summary is that the Leafs are playing as a balanced team - just look at the TOI distribution for them versus the same stats for the Capitals. The Caps need to be able to get more minutes and productive minutes from their third and fourth lines as well as their third defensive pairing then they got last night. The Leaks were playing a full bench last night while the Capitals played a short one, that's why the game went all the way to a shoot out, even though the Capitals had 1:55 of a 4 on 3 man advantage in overtime, in my view.

Well that said two points is two points regardless of whether they are pretty or "gritty" and whether they are obtained in early November or late March. Because of the other action around the league, the Capitals are now tied in points and 1/2 game behind both Tampa Bay and Los Angeles for the lead in the NHL standings. Speaking of which tonight Tampa Bay takes on the Kings in LA that should be a good game to watch, I'm glad I got the Center Ice package...

Elsewhere around the other eight games played in the NHL last night here's what my understanding is of what happened:

Boston @ Buffalo: Bruins 5 - Sabres 2
- Tim Thomas gave up more than one goal against in a game for the first time this season but still skates out of Buffalo with a 7-0-0 start to the season and a league leading 0.720 GAA, a 0.977SV% and 3 shutouts so far this season. The only goaltending category Thomas isn't leading in is Wins, his 7 are one less than Capitals rookie Michal Neuvirth's 8.
- Buffalo gave up two short handed goals in the game, maybe Lindy Ruff would like the option to refuse penalties like you can in football be discussed as a possible rule change?
- The Sabres are now 0-5-1 at home this season.

Pittsburgh @ Dallas: Penguins 2 - Stars 5
- Gotta highlight this hockey fight Sidney Crosby vs. Matt Niskanen. So how's this exchange work - the Penguins loose the services of one of the premiere players in the world and a key to their offense for five minutes while the Stars loose the services of a second pairing d-man for five minutes. How do you guess Dan Bylsma felt about that trade-off?
- The number one "Star" of the game was Loui Ericksson who had two goals and an assist on the night. Both of the twenty five year old Swedish Left Wing's goals were unassisted in that he scored his first on a penalty shot and his second was an even strength unassisted goal.
- Last night's win over Pittsburgh means the Stars are off to a solid 7-4-0 start this season.

Detroit @ Calgary: Red Wings 2 - Flames 1
- Mikka Kiprusoff bounced back from his pasting by the Capitals but it wasn't enough.
- Jimmy Howard's regular season unbeaten streak continues.

Tampa Bay @ Anaheim: Lightning 2 - Ducks 3 (OT)
- Tampa Bay is for real, but even more so than the Maple Leafs.
- Stating the obvious, Stamkos is one of those pretty special players and can make some pretty "sick" moves himself.
- Both Dan Ellis and Jonathan Quick played solid games.
- Selanne to Getzlaf for the game winner in OT, now that's a combo.

New Jersey @ Chicago Devils 5 - Blackhawks 3
- Kovy two assists and looked really good quarterbacking the Devils power play last night.
- Broudeur left the game in the second period with a bruised right elbow but says he will be back in the net next game.
- Hedberg comes in and was victimized for two goals before the Devils battled back.
- Two of the Devils five goals were into an empty net, during the other three when you look at the highlight reel see if you aren't wondering as was I, why Marty Turco was playing so deep in his net at the time.
- The Devils leave the Windy City with a much needed win, does this mean they will start to turn things around? They are now currently 27th out of 30 in the NHL.

Nashville @ Phoenix: Predators 3 - Coyotes 4
- A quick goal by Nashville had the Predators up early.
- The Coyotes battled back and got four goals, all by their blue liners to win the game.
- Three of the four Coyote's goals came off the stick of veteran all-star Ed Jovanovski who got his first career hat trick.

Atlanta @ Florida: Thrashers 4 - Panthers 3
- The Panthers fail to get a point at home despite firing 55 shots on goal.
- For the night Thrashers goaltender Dan Ellis stopped 52 of 55 Panther shots for a SV% of 0.945; Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun stopped 19 of 23 for a SV% of 0.826.
- Even though I'd say at least two of the Thrasher goals were gritty, I'd pin this failure to win on the Panther's star goaltender. I'm not saying vetren center Freddy Modin isn't good but Vokoun allowed the 36 year old Swedish winder to put two goals past him and into the twine - including those two goals, Modin has scored just 76 goals in 283 NHL games since the lockout and he's not known as the high scorer he was earlyier in his career, of course much of his post lockout play was in the wide open Ken Hitchcock system in Columbus too... Bottom line is this season for Florida to win, Vokoun needs to play better than he did last night.

New York Islanders @ Carolina: Islanders 2 - Hurricanes 7
- Isles loose their 5th in a row.
- Islander goaltender Rick DiPietro has had much, much better games than he played last night.
- The fast skating Hurricanes went out to a 5-0 lead before the slanders seemed to even start skating with them.
- I'd put the goal by Hurricane's Captain Eric Staal as one of the "prettiest" of the night.

Well there are six games on tap in the NHL tonight. I'll be watching "The Big Bang Theory" - sorry I just love those guys and "she's not bad to look at/watch either - as well as part of the Rangers @ Flyers and Tampa Bay at Los Angeles Kings games. Next up for the Capitals the Bruins return to Verizon Center tomorrow night to take on the Caps for the third time this season. The Caps will be looking to begin to try and split this season's series with the Bruins by besting them for the first time this year. I'll be there for that game as well as Sunday's contest against the Broad Street Bullies.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

The Irony Of It All...

Well here's the irony of currently being a Caps fan - ITS JUST SOOOOO CONFUSING right now - life as a Caps Fan that is. Here';s why - Saturday the Caps basically got lit up by the Toronto Maple Leafs ... 6-3 in case you missed it. I didn't - watched the whole thing there in the La - Z - Boy on the new 52" Plasma in sunny, scenic Bristow, VA. I don't think I've mentioned yet in this blog post how much i love my wife for that early Christmas present. Yes there it was the night started off so wonderfully the first period ended Caps 2 - Leafs 0 with the Caps basically imposing their will relentlessly on the Leafs and only some lights out goaltending by Vesla Toskla keeping the period from ending at least Caps 4 - Leafs 0. I imagine the discussions in the locker rooms during the first intermission went something like this:

Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau: Okay guys, don't let up, this guy Toskla has been keeping them in the game. We need to continue to dominate these guyys and make sure they don't get any easy, free shots on Michael. We need to convert some more of those scoring chances, we had 8 in the first period, how we don't come away with 4 goals I don't know. But I do know we need to keep pressing and controlling the puck like we have been. We're on national TV and these guys will make some adjustments and be trying to take it to us. They're not 7-3-1 in their last 11 games because they don't know how to play. Also we need to keep pretending we didn't play last night, we need to keep our feet moving and make these guys work harder then they've ever worked before. If we do, no reason we can't crack Toskla's armour a few more times and then with a 3 or 4 goal lead it's a whole different game - these guys are then likely to take a few penalties and make the rest of the night easy for us. Until then though, these guys are only two goals away from making this a realy tough game for us. Okay, lets go out there and show the Canadian Nation we know how to play this game just like we did the first period.

Coach Ron Wilson: Okay guys Toskla you keep doing everything you've been doing. The rest of you guy, forget about that first period, the Capitals made you guys look silly. Look there's no reason for that, you guys know how this game works, you're 7-3-1 in the last 11 and if you stop doing all the stupid things that have let these guys turn 12 shots on goal into 8 quality scoring chances you can still win this thing. These guys are taking some silly chances and making some poor bets - you need to make them pay for it. Toskla is playing a great game, the rest of you guys can and should as well. Now let's go out there and forget about the first period and play these guys like I know you can.

The problem for the Caps is assuming anything like that was said in wither locker room, the Leafs came out in the second period and executed, the Caps did not. Give the Leafs their due, they played good, solid hockey the last 40 minutes of the game, they deserved to win and boy did it hurt at times to watch for this Caps fan.

The irony of course is prior to the Game the Caps were first (1st) in the league standings and the Maple Leafs were either 28th or 29th. However as i pointed out here and in my pregame discussion the Leafs were 7-3-1 in the prior 11 games and had demonstrated a solid ability to play the rest of the league, save the Boston Bruins, competitively.

Another irony is as a Caps fan should I be elated, happy or totally depressed? Both you say? Are you saying that because with 20-7-6 record and 46 standings points the Caps have the fewest losses in the NHL and are still sitting atop the standings; AND the Caps are 1-2-0 in their last three games, including a 1 goal win, despite having all 6 of their top 6 forwards in the lineup for the first time in a long while and playing 2 of those three games against teams that are 29th and 30th in the league right now? Okay I get it but hey let's cut it with the negative waves man, the Caps are on the road the next three games.

Tomorrow night the Caps face off in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche; I'm betting Jose Theodore has an outstanding night against his former club and the Caps stick to their game plan after the embarrassment in Toronto on Saturday. No predictions other than this ... c'mon you know its going to be:

CAPS 4 AVALANCHE 2

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Caps vs. Hurricanes Recap/Caps vs Leafs Look Ahead

Last night was a two point night for the Capitals though I doubt many who watched the game came expecting to see the one that was played. There were some pretty plays and you can't say the Caps didn't deserve to win this one, at least I don't think you should say that; however, if the Hurricanes had won their second road game of the season last night that too wouldn't have been undeserved on their part either.

The Hurricanes got out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on two "interesting" goals. I think we've all watched Jose Theodore enough now to know he is a fiery competitor and there is no goal, he wouldn't want back. That's probably especially true of the Hurricanes second goal last night, scored by Eric Stall, when Theo didn't play the left post tight enough or tall enough. That said, unlike some other's who have commented that the second goal was on Theodore, I'd say it was only partially on Theo.

However, let's start with first things first. The guy who had the worst game, at least the first 60:30 of it, last night for the Capitals had to be Mike Green. The official score sheet shows him at +/- even on the night with his GWG and 5 SOG, 3 hits and 2 blocked shots, but no giveaways. Don't get me wrong, I love Mike Green as much as the next Capitals fan or more, but even in his post game interview with Lisa Hillary he said he didn't have a good game. In the post game talks, Coach Bruce Boudreau said Green was having a bad night until somehow, like all great players, he found a way to do something great. Green's talent is only really exhibited by the fact that in spite of what I'll describe below, he managed to be elected the games second star of the night. Here's Green's night in rough chronological order:

1) Pushed off the puck and taken out of the play during a 2 on 1 break by the Capitals he is on the ice but out of position and out of the play when at 2:01 of the first period Jiri Tlusty opens the scoring when during a 2 on 1 the other way his defensive partner John Erskine fails to cut off the setup pass from Brandon Sutter. Clearly not his finest moment on a hockey rink.

2) He decides that like Ovechkin, the best defense, to being targeted for "hits", is a good offense and he makes two good hits on the Hurricanes himself. He makes clean hits and his point without taking any penalties and also puts some energy on the ice. However in so doing he did find himself out of position. Overall though I'd call these moves a good point. The way the Caps play now and the fact they don't have an "enforcer" means the rest of the league needs to know Green can dish it out as well as they can.

3) At about the 13:40 mark Green is covering Eric Staal in the Caps end of the rink. Stall retreats behind the net to shake Green. Green opts to go in front of the net instead of following Staal. Staal goes for the wrap around and is initially rebuffed by Theodore. Neither Green or his defensive partner Jeff Schultz latch onto or clear either the rebound or Staal. Staal lifts the puck into Theo's mask the puck bounces off the mask and rolls over Theodore's shoulder. Score another on for the Hurricanes. You can't say Green misplayed that one but he didn't play it well either when you see where he is as the puck goes in the net. I'm not getting on Schultz either (more on that later) as even though he could have played that one better, he had another good night.

4) At 13:07 of the second period Green is on the ice with Jeff Schultz as his partner. He plays the shift within himself and Schultz passed the puck to Ovechkin with a solid outlet pass, Ovechkin passes across the ice to Alexander Semin. Semin lets loose a laser fast wrister through a screen into the net past Cam Ward from the left circle. Score Caps 1 Hurricanes 2. Nothing fancy and clearly the type of shift you expect when your team's highest paid blue liner is on the ice, but hey put one in the plus column for Mike Green so at this juncture he's only minus one on the night.

5) With less then a minute left in the second period, Green is on the ice and playing smart hockey when Nicklas Backstrom finds Alexander Semin with an awesome outlet pass behind the defense. Tim Gleason of the Hurricanes almost gets back in time to save it but Semin gets just enough of the puck while Cam Ward is in "no man's land." Ward's weak poke check puts the puck back on Semin's stick with just a fraction of a second left in the period so Semin scores his second goal of the night and knots the game at 2 all from "the paint." That puts Green at +/- even and means that he has been on the ice at this point for all four goals scored last night.

6) Green is NOT on the ice when Tomas Fleischman puts the Caps up 3-2 with an even strength goal at the 2:52 mark of the third period.

6) At the 13:30 mark of the third period, the Capitals are on the power play with Jonni Pitkanen in the box for interference. Green misplays a pass across to the point. Tim Gleason intercepts it, races down the ice and blasts a slap shot over Theo's left shoulder for a shorthanded score. As explained in this article in wikipedia that since Green was on the ice when a shorthanded goal was scored against the Capitals that would mean at this juncture of the night he would be -1. Game is tied at 3-3; Green has been on the ice for 5 out of 6 goals, 2 Even Strength by the Caps; two even strength and one shorthanded by the Hurricanes at this point. Also another less then stellar play by Green who isn't having a good night at this point.

7)The game ends tied, the Overtime period starts and for about a minute the first thirty seconds is going back and forth, then the Caps make a line change. On this ice for the Caps are Nicklas Backstrom, OV, Mike Green and .. wait for it .... John Erskine; not who you were thinking right? Me neither, I guess that's why Boudreau gets the big bucks instead of you or I. With Erskine minding the store as the backstopper. Backstrom and OV take the puck into the zone and hold it. OV passes to Backstrom for what looks like a give and go to create some space for Ovechkin. Two Hurricanes descend on Ovechkin to make sure the Caps #1 sniper doesn't get the GWG. Backstrom passes the puck though traffic and finds a waiting Mike "Game Over" Green who has joined the rush in the low slot. Green puts a solid, goal scorers wrist shot into the open side of the net past Cam Ward's right shoulder for the Game Winner at even strength. That goal made Green +/- even on the night.

Last note on Mike Green - Boudreau's post game comments ring true, and he did get the GWG in the end, but would you like the MSM voting last night have given him the game's second start of the night over Cam Ward who stopped 36 of 40 shots including robbing several Caps a couple of times last night - not the least of which was another laser wrist shot by Semin for what would have been a hat trick? In any case if the award for Star of the Game is for the guy who was most notable and most involved, both positively and negatively in last night's game, there is no argument that Mike Green was one of the top three. Again not getting down on him, just emphasizing how important it is for a guy who generally plays 25:00+ per game to play well.

On a related point if you are wondering why John Erskine was out there for the GWG in overtime, then you should watch this game. It was one of Erskine's best efforts, he finished the night legitimately +1 as he was on the ice for two Caps goals Fleishmann's and Green's after failing to cut off the pass from Sutter to Tlusty during the Hurricanes' first score.

Other Caps who had great games: Semin once again munched on the Hurricanes. Ovechkin and Backstrom both had solid outings and the SOB line was very good; OV had two assists and missed on one he'd definitely like to have back and would normally score on. Mike Knuble had a good night, but his game sense and timing were a little off coming off his injury. However, he had two good chances that he'd normally score at least one of last night. Jeff Schultz had a very good night, with an assist finishing +1. I am no longer at all anti-Schultz, in fact I am now por-Schultz. He is one of two guys I feel on the team who totally compliment Mike Green when paired with him, the other being Shaone Morrisonn. Mathieu Perrault - the score sheet show #85 at -1 on the night, with 1 assist, 3 SOG, 1 takeaway and a 29% face off winning percentage. Perrault's, the energizer bunny, assist and takeaway so overshadow the -1 and the FOW that it bears mentioning. Fleischmann's goal was the result of Perrault's effort, determination and smart play, this guys brings so much to the team in so little TOI, you have to love him.

Okay on to Toronto, tonight. Here's the short and sweet. The Maple Leaf's overall record - forget about it, they are 6-3-1 in their last ten games. The Caps have played them twice this season and are 1-0-1 against them. The Leafs are looking for their third straight home win tonight and have been playing solid hockey. Over their last ten games the Leafs have outscored their opponents 34 - 33 despite two one sided losses to Boston.

Toronto should be well rested and ready for their Hockey Night In Canada showing. The Caps - eh, not so much... apparently after last night's game the Capitals boarded their charter only to find out when it hit the runway, the plane had mechanical problems. The plane was repaired overnight and left Dulles at about 10AM this morning per Tarik, however between getting on and off the plane, sorting things out, etc, it's probably likely none of the Caps got a full eight hours sleep last night. Additionally, the Caps had an optional morning skate scheduled at 11:30AM today at Air Canada Centre that didn't happened. What all this means, we'll see. For my two cents it'll mean, what it'll mean and given this is the second half of back to back nights for the Caps and the Leafs are rested and don't play again till Monday evening in Ottawa it probably isn't much worse than it would have been. I believe that the second of back to backs means two things all the time - to win you need 1) a solid night from your defense and goaltender and 2) a couple of forwards to step up and leverage some adrenalin to make things happen, tonight I'm looking for that to be Ovechkin, Knuble and Laich.

Injured for the Maple Leafs are: goalie Jonas Gustavsson who practiced Friday as he aims to return soon following a procedure to correct an elevated heart rate. Forward John Mitchell (knee) and defenseman Carl Gunnarsson (hyperextended elbow) are out indefinitely and defenseman Mike Van Ryn is out for the season following knee surgery. The Caps are healing though still list the following as out: goaltender Semyon Varlamov, the Capitals remain without forwards Boyd Gordon (back) and Quintin Laing (broken jaw) and defenseman Brian Pothier (ribs).

Prediction: Caps 4 - Leafs 2 (hey I figure if I keep predicting it, sooner or later it'll happen and I'll look ohhh sooo smart...not really, I figure OV scores 2, Knuble 1, and Laich 1 in front of a Canadian Nationwide TV Audience and just to spite Don Cherry. I can't wait to hear his comments during intermission, what xenophobic, humorous garbage will he spew tonight?

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Toronto A One Point Night for the Caps on HNIC

Well another not so fun night for Caps fans. The Caps didn't play horribly but they didn't play great either. In the end, Vesla Toskla had a solid game and a "flukey" goal got by Semyon Varlamov so the game ended regulation tied 1-1. In overtime the goaltenders continued to be tough and that too ended with the score knotted at 1 all. Then it was time for the gimmick and well the Leafs won with 2 goals in 3 attempts (Phil Kessel and Nicklas Hagman) while the Caps didn't score at all - Eric Fehr broke a stick and Alexander Ovechkin missed the net.

The goal scorers in regulation - for the Caps it was Alexander Ovechkin #16 on the season off a really awesome setup pass from Mike Green. For the Leafs the goal was credited to Nicklas Hagman as it bounced off his arm last.

In my pregamer I missed the fact that Mike Knuble is still out as well as everyone else I had on the list. Man will I be glad when some of the guys start coming back and the roster starts to stabilize again...

Next up Ottawa at ScotiaBank Place on Monday night.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Looking To Tonight's Game In Toronto...

Well last night wasn't a fun game to watch. It was a "no point" night for the Caps at Verizon Center - of late an infrequent occurrence. However give the Canadeans their due, they played well and they played hard. The Caps really didn't seem to get going until well ... until it was too late and then with too little. Say what you want and everyone will to me the difference maker in last night's game was Carey Price and his 32 saves. In the end the Habs bested the Caps 3-2, no joy in "Muddville" last night.

Last night's loss was followed by a quick flight to Toronto and tonight on Hockey Night In Canada (HNIC) the Caps will face off at Air Canada Center against the Maple Leafs, a storied NHL franchise that is struggling. Now that could be a recipe for joy ... or more heartache. The Caps will again be fielding an injury depleted roster, all be it a talented group it won't be their usual group, or perhaps more accurately the group that was the Caps roster when the season opened. Missing from tonight's lineup for the Caps will be: Alexander Semin, Boyd Gordon, Shoane Morrisonn, Tom Poti, Milan Jurcina, and Quintin Laing. Michael Neuvirth was sent back down to Hershey to make room for the call-up of Andrew Gordon. It appears the starting goaltender will be Semyon Varlamov and Jose Theodore will be on the bench if necessary. There are some interesting gaps in the lineup. On defense, despite starting the season with 8 defensemen on the roster it appears the Caps defensive pairings will consist of a mix of: Mike Green, Brian Pothier, John Erskine, Jeff Schultz, Tyler Sloan and John Carlson. The Caps roster page now shows nine defensemen, and for some reason it appears the gene pools of Calgary and Massachusetts are the overwhelming sources of Capitals blueline talent. On the front lines tonight we'll have: Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Knuble, Brendan Morrison, Brooks Laich, Thomas Fleischmann, Eric Fehr, Chris Clark, David Steckel, Matt Bradley, Mathieu Perreault, Andrew Gordon, and Jay Beagle. Missing from tonight's lineup will be over $17M of salary cap - Semin: $4.6M, Nylander: $4.875, Poti: $3.5, Sha-Mo:$1.975, Jurcina:$1.375, Boyd Gordon: $761K, and Laing: $500K - those 7 players are the equivalent of about a third of an NHL team at this season's Salary Cap $56.8M. Perhaps given the injuries, etc. it's time to start thinking about giving Michael Nylander a sweater and getting something for his salary hit? I really don't understand how the cap works to that degree but doesn't his salary cap hit start counting again soon?

In any case tonight's game will give the Caps a chance to begin anew following the loss to Montreal, they should be able to win, even with the injuries and juggled line-up. They'll need to raise their game across the board, actually they'll need to raise the energy level from what they had last night. As this game is on HNIC, the Leafs will be up for it however, I like others, think they'll have a harder time bottling up the Caps then the Canadeans did last night.

Prediction: Caps 5 - Leafs 3 - I expect solid, excellent games from Backstrom, Ovechkin, Green and Laich on the Caps side of the Red Line - big games elicit big efforts from big players. For Toronto I also expect the usual suspects to have solid nights Kessel, Kabrele and the "Monster" will have good nights but I expect the Caps to have 40+ SOG.

Oh and I'm counting on Don Cherry to look and act like the unmitigated a$$ he is at the intermission, what kind of asinine comment will you make about Ovechkin tonight, Don? Please enlighten us all with your open minded, forward thinking, knowledge, please, please, please...

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Day 2 of the NHL Season Is Complete - Day 3 Brings Us The Capitals Home Opener - SWEET!

Last night there were three games in the NHL:

1) The Penguins beat the Rangers in Pittsburgh's last home opener at the Igloo 3 - 2 in regulation (more on this one later in this post).

2) The Florida Panthers bested the Chicago Blackhawks 4 - 3 in Helsinki, FIN. I covered this in an earl er brain dead post when I thought it was played on Thursday in Chicago. The rest of my comments do remain my opinion and valid in my opinion.

3) Carolina lost their home opener to Philadelphia 2 - 0. Apparently from the highlights and games stars it appears the Flyers outplayed the 'Canes, though statistically the 'Canes bested the Flyers in most categories. Philadelphia took eight penalties, they were able to kill them all. The Hurricanes took six minor penalties including a double minor top Sergei Samsonov at the end of the first period which proved to be the catalyst for the Flyers two power play tallies within the first minute of the second period. Ray Emery's return to the NHL was also apparently a solid one, the 27 year old stopped all 28 shots on goal Carolina threw at him and earned his third straight shutout against the Hurricanes. In the end the two goals by the Flyers' extra man unit proved to be one more than enough for the Flyers to earn their first two points on the road this season.

4) The Saint Louis Blues bested the Detroit Red Wings 4 - 3 in regulation in Stockholm, SWE. The Blues 34 year old left wing, Paul Kariya, scored two goals and earned the games first star. Blues goalie Chris Mason stopped 31 of the 34 shots the Red Wings threw at him to earn the games second star and the victory. Kirk Maltby of the Wings had a goal and an assist to earn the third star of the game. From the recap, it looks like the game had its ups and downs and it's ugly patches but would have been a fun one to watch.

The Penguins - Rangers game last evening was a fun one to watch and I did on NHLN-US. Both Marc-Andre Fluery and Henrik Lundqvist made some super-human saves each of which were worth the price of admission. In the end the Penguins power up front was just too much for the Rangers though they were well prepared for the game and looked like they were intent on spoiling the Penguins Stamley Cup banner raising night on several occassions. The other thing I noted is that it sure seems that once Marian Gaboriak gets fully assimilated into the Rangers lineup they will be even more solid then they were last night - his timing was a little off on two chances he had that I think later in the season - he nets at least one of them. Donald Brashear played his first game as a Ranger and had his first fight as a Blueshirt versus Eric Godard - you can check it out at hockeyfights.com here. My only question is why the three stars of the game are 1) Crosby; 2) Kennedy; 3) Goligoski? Oh year those are determined by the Pittsburgh press since they are the majority of the media in attendance. Me I'd have scored it: 1) Kennedy; 2) Crosby; and 3) Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers.

Today is a big one for NHL fans. There will be 15 games, involving all 30 teams in the league, with games being played in four nations: the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden. It should be a hockey blockbuster. For Caps fans the place to be though is Verizon Center at 7PM for the Caps home opener against the updated/upgraded Toronto Maple Leafs. Both the Maple Leafs and the Caps will be playing in their second game of the regular season. Toronto will be coming into the game 0-0-1 having lost in overtime to their arch rivals - the Canadeans on Thursday in Toronto. The Caps come into the game 1-0-0.

One final thing before turning the attention to tonight's game at the VC. Rumours are that both Flash and Fehr are getting better. Rumblings are that folks think Fehr could be back soon and Fleischmann will get cleared for full practice soon as well. If the top six forwards/top two lines keep playing like they did on Thursday, I hope that only means moving things around with the third and fourth lines and though it's only one game even that isn't a given to me.

It looks like the only change to the Capitals lineup from Thursday will be that tonight will be that Semyon Varlamov will get the start in goal. From the notes by Tarik and Corey it appears the three healthy scratches will again be: Tyler Sloan, Jeff Schultz, and Michael Nylander. Sure makes me wonder how many other teams in the NHL have $6.23M of salary cap hit sitting in the press box, how about you? How long can this go on?

Here's the lineup projected by the Washington Times' Corey Masisak:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin
Laich-Morrison-Knuble
Laing-Steckel-Clark
Kane-Gordon-Bradley

Morrisonn-Green
Poti-Jurcina
Erskine-Pothier

Varalmov
Theodore.

Toronto looked pretty good on Thursday against the Canadeans but the Capitals looked even better against the Bruins. Like others I expect the Leafs to try and counter the Caps skill with "physicality" and intimidation. As long as the Caps display the maturity they had on Thursday again st the "B"s that won't work. I look for a Caps 4 - 2 victory in regulation. I expect big nights from Semeyon Varlamov, Alexander Semin, Mike Knuble and Matt Bradley. I also expect points on assists from Ovechkin, Backstrom, B-Mo, Mike Green, and Brooks Laich. All in all I expect the Caps to come out flying and the Leafs to try and counter-punch unsuccessfully in the first period, then things will likely settle down some.

My wife and I will be Rockin' the Red in our seats in Section 103 - loving life.

LETS GO CAPS!!!

Looking Ahead to Tonight's Caps - Leafs Game

Well even though tonight's game is the first of two games over ten days I've got nothing for you sports fans, other than this fans hopes and dreams the Caps win so they can overtake the Devils in the Conference standings. Sorry I'm just too swamped with work today as I'm off to ICx Technologies' Stillwater, OK location tomorrow afternoon. That said I expect tonight's game to be a good one, the Leafs have been playing some good hockey lately and seem to be relishing or at least embracing their role as spoilers - just ask the Canadiens....and the Flames...

In response to some recent chat in the blogsphere I'm putting together some comparative statistics about Tom Poti vs other first tier defensemen in the league. I'm of the opinion Mr. Poti more than earns his money for the Capitals and I want to see if the statistics over this season and last season back me up. I should have that done and post it after I get back from Oklahoma (Where the wind comes a whistling down the plains....)

Till then it's:

LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Caps 4 - Maple Leafs 1 - Summary, Recap & Notes On Another 2 Point Night At Verizon Center

Last night the Washington Capitals took on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Verizon Center, the Caps retired Hall of Famer, Right Wing, Mike Gartner's number 11. [ed note: As I wasn't feeling well, I watched the game on Comcast instead of attending, though it looked like a great game, I'm sure given the sellout crowd, my physical presence wasn't missed. The CSN coverage seemed it's usual, pretty good, though it does limit your perspective.] At the end of regulation, the final score was Capitals 4 - Maple Leafs 1, in short it was a two point night for the Caps. It was another two point night and the third win in a row for the Caps at Chinatown's Verizon Center. The Capitals are now 15-1-1 at home on the season, are currently atop the Southeast Division by 10 points, and sit alone in second place in the Eastern Conference with 49 points. In the NHL's Eastern Conference standings, the Capitals are now 9 points in back of the Boston Bruins who beat the Atlanta Thrashers 2-1 in Atlanta in tonights only other Eastern Conference action. m


Both Mike Green and Jeff Schultz returned to the Capitals lineup after multiple game absences tonight. They predominately played as a defensive pair and this was apparently an effective way for Coach Bruce Boudreau to manage both of their playing time, as they work their way back to mid-season shape. Through the first period each players respective Time On Ice (TOI) was: Green -7:44 ; Schultz - 6:44. During the second period their respective TOI was: Green -8:12 ; Schultz -6:13 . In the third period, Green had 5:57 TOI and Schultz had 5:34 TOI. Overall through the entire game Green had 21:53 and Schultz had 18:31 TOI; Green finished with 2 assists, 4 blocked shots and was +2 on the night, Schultz had 2 blocked shots and was +2 on the night as well. Clearly, their presence in the lineup helped against Toronto and it will only be even more valuable on Tuesday night in Buffalo when the Capitals try and make it four (4) wins in a row against the Sabres. Mike Green came out "firing on all cylinders," and made an impact from early on. At 14:06 of the first period Green "rang the bell" by hitting the post on what otherwise would have been his first goal after his hiatus with a really sharp snapshot. Unfortunately just under 20 seconds later, the Caps gave up the puck to the Leafs and Niklas Hagman got a nice bounce when the puck came through three Washington Capitals onto his stick and he put the puck past Jose Theodore to put the Maple Leafs up 1-0. Then right after that, in another of this seasons,really bad calls, the teams found themselves playing 4-on-4 hockey, instead of a Caps 5 on 4 power play, because according to the referee felt Jose Theodore was guilty of diving when he was tripped up by Lee Stempniak. How this conclusion was arrived at since Theodore never went all the way down to the ice and was back in position within less than two second is anyones guess. However, as the evening progressed and it became clear that the Caps were a better 4 - on - 4 team than Toronto tonight, Caps fans stopped worrying about wether it was a 5 on 4 or 4 on 4 situation.

The one disturbing thing of note through the period for the Caps was the Maple Leafs were playing a more physical game then the Caps and using that to create opportunities. For example, at the 16:51 mark Nik Antropov basically decked Michael Nylander as he entered the Leafs zone, took the puck and led a solid breakout that turned into an odd man rush for the Maple Leafs and then crowded Jose Theodore when he made the stop. Brooks Laich did step in to the fray after the stop but Antropov had a clear size and attitude advantage. Donald Brashear was sent out for the next shift tried to get something started with the Maple Leafs but none of the Leafs wanted to take him on, and they continued to "finish" their plays and checks a little late for the remainder of the period.

Jose Theodore probably would have liked to have another chance at Hagman's goal but he played well all night and kept the Capitals in it a couple of times during the first period. For example, or perhaps most pointedly at 18:02 mark of the first stanza, Theo robbed Jeremy Williams, to keep the Caps just one goal behind. The save was a solid one but the Maple Leafs probably should have never had that particular scoring chance. The only reason they did was because once again they "out-muscled" the Capitals. The Caps did respond and tried valiantly to tie the game up before the end on the first period, but it was to no avail. At 18:30, the Caps first line set up nicely and had another scoring chance but they failed to "get in Vesla Toskla's face" like Antropov and the Leafs were doing at the other end of the ice. Once more at the 19:20 mark the Caps had another scoring chance turned back by Toskla, though again they didn't really get a second or third shot on net. If they had done so, maybe that scoring chance would have gone in. After one last save, at 19:50 by Jose Theodore when Milan Jurcina gae the puck up to the Leafs, the period ended Caps 0 - Maple Leafs 1.

The Caps didn't play a bad period of hockey though at this juncture it did seem worrisome that they hadn't ended the period leading on the scoreboard. Had they run into a hot goaltender who was going to steal a game for his team? After all they were playing well enough to be tied or winning the game. The statistics at the end of the first period were:
- SOG: Caps 12, Maple Leafs 10;
- Hits: Caps 3, Maple Leafs 8;
- Goals: Caps 0, Maple Leafs 1.
It seemd the major differences were the Maple Leafs were playing a much more physical hockey than the Caps and Vesla Toskla had robbed the Caps a couple more times than Theo has robbed the Maple Leafs.

Through the second period, the Caps played a much more physical game by a fair measure and the results were noticable both while watching the game and on the scoreboard. At 6:39 of the second period, Mike Green was called for interference and the Maple leafs got their first power play opportunity of the game. During the next two minutes, Karl Alzner was all over the place and the Caps killed of the man advantage very effectively. During the period, the Caps had a lot of good first chances, but they needed to get grittier, and make stopping their scoring chances harder for Tesla. Tesla had a solid game, no doubt, but through the 11:07 mark of the second period with the score still 1-0 Leafs @ 11:07, and the second period SOG Caps 7, Leafs 6, the Caps were making him look even better by giving him a fair amount of room to both play the inital shot and manage the rebounds. Indeed through that point the Caps first line of Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov were being well handled by Leafs and tightly played by the Leafs. then at the 12:06 mark, it was the Caps chance to go on the power play as a result of an interference call on Pavel Kubina when he stepped in between Donald Brashear's legs. This time the Caps power play unit quickly got control of the puck and the ice, set things up in classic fashion, moving the puck laterally with Brooks Laich setting up on the doorstep. Then the play went Mike Green to Nicklas Backstrom to Brooks Laich. Laich then took the puck across the front of the crease from the right post, and used the room the Leafs gave him to put the puck nicely into the left side of the net when Toskla couldn't follow him fast enough. Tie Game 1-1 at 12:54 of the second period, lets' go Caps.

After the Caps tied the game they worked hard to try and take the lead. There were several times when they worked hard and got their noses dirty in those attempts including at the 15:40 mark when the third line of Brooks Laich - Dave Steckel - Eric Fehr dug hard and went for the gusto but Toskla denied them once more. That attempt was quickly followed up by a nice patented Mike Green rush at 15:45, as well as another nice Mike Green rush and scoring attempt at 16:30 that was foiled once more by Toskla. Then at the 18:02 mark another 4 on 4 started after Chris Clark mixed it up a little with Jonas Frogren - it appears that "the Captain is back" since from the replay it looked like Frogren was trying to take some libertties with him along the boards, so he figured he wanted to mix it up to make sure the Leafs understood he wasn't going to let that happen in his house without retaliating. It was during this second 4-on-4 of the night that it became apparent the Caps knew how to use the open ice as well or better than the Maple Leafs. First at 19:05, with Michael Nylander and Ovechkin out as forwards for the Caps Nylander made a nice play and scoring attempt but shot it wide of the net. Then at 19:45, in another of those at least once game moments when he shows why he alone is often worth the price of admission, Alexander Ovechkin decided he wanted to make something happen and lays two quick solid hits on the Leafs in their own end, causes the Leafs to turn over the puck to backstrom who puts the puck back to Ovie. Ovie then missed that attempt but five seconds later ends up with the puck in the neutral zone, comes back into the zone at 19:50 and he uses Ian White for the screen and puts the puck past Toskla 5-hole before Toskla can squeeze the door shut. The Caps 4-4 quartet on the ice at the time was Ovechkin, Backstrom, Laich and Green; a pretty awesome array of firepower and puckhandling skill given all the injuries to their opening day line-up. The period ended with the Caps leading 2 - 1 and owning all the momentum. The top level second period statistics were: SOG Caps 12, Maple Leafs 6; Hits Caps 5, Leafs 2; Goals Caps 2, Leafs 0. Score: Capitals 2, Maple Leafs 1.

The Capitals in general and Jose Theodore in particular played the third period like men on a mission, a mission for two points. For example, at 1:25 Mike Green tries to get too cute with an outlet pass that was too long by a zone, turned over the puck, but Theodore stepped up and made an excellent first save on Tomas Kabrele and made sure there was no rebound. Then at 3:59, Milan Jurcina gives the Maple Leafs their second 5 - on -4 power play of the night when he was whistled off for a weak, inadvertant hook, However, the Caps Penalty Kill unit is superb and allows Toronto only one shot on goal, successfully smoothering the Maple Leaf power play. After that the Caps try hard for an insurance goal to no avail. At 8:25 Toskla robs the Caps again, when Boyd Gordon and Brooks Laich dig hard and manufacture a solid, gritty scoring chance. Then there were a couple of times when it seemed the Caps got some "divine intervention" to stay up by one goal. For instance at the 9:25 mark the Caps got a lucky break when the Leafs hit post and Ghrobovsky and Hageman couldn't finish it, most Caps fans watching had to be thinking at that point something on the order of "Whew, thanks for that clear, Jeff Schultz, better a little late then never." At the 10:35 mark, the teams got to play another 4 on 4 when Sean Collins was whistled off for interference and Andre Deveraux was called for diving, in a call on Deveraux that could easily have been a make-up call for the Theodore diving call in the first period. That 4-on-4 passed without incident.

The one possible piece of bad news from the night for Caps fans occured at the 14:45 mark. Play was stopped with Matt Bradley down on the ice after he missed a check and found himself down, and apparently out, on the ice. Bradley left the game after that and per Tarik El-Brashir's blog "Word on Matt Bradley is that he's "ok" after going head first into the boards in the third period, but no one seemed very sure of his status. We'll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings."

With the Caps up by just one goal the Leafs played them very tightly throughout the third period, hoping for a mistake Washington. However, the next mistake was by the Leafs when at 15:43, the Leaf's normal go to defenseman Tomas Kaberle gave up the puck in the Leafs zone, the Caps got real gritty, and Brooks Laich made them pay when he scored his 10th goal of the night (unassisted.) Score 3-1 Caps. They needed that goal at this juncture.

Down by two goals, Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson pulled goalie Vesla Tesla at the 18:45 mark and for about 20 seconds the Leafs mounted excellent pressure on the Caps with their extra skater. The Caps responded well thought with nice protection on Theodore and the goal. Theo stopped the puck and held to force a faceoff in the Caps end at 19:16. After the faceoff the Capsgot control of the puck and Backstrom sent a nice cross ice pass to Ovechkin on the right boards. Ovechkin apparently tried to slow up and get the puck to Laich so he might get the first hat trick of his career but Tomas Kaberle responded pretty quickly and that option really wasn't available to the Caps superstar so he netted his second goal of the game, his 25th of the season to ice the score Caps 4 - Maple Leafs 1.

It was a good night for the Caps in general and Brooks Laich, Alexander Ovechkin and Jose Theodore, the three stars of the game, in particular. Next up, the Sabres in Buffalo on Tuesday night.

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

Looking Ahead to Tonight's Caps - Maple Leafs Game & A Review of the Southeast Division Action Since The Christmas Break

Around The Southeast Division Since Christmas: Tampa Bay 2-0-0.....

- Tampa Bay beat the Florida Panthers twice in their home & home series on Friday at Sunrise (4-3 in OT) and last night at Saint Pete Times Forum (6-3 in regulation). For Caps fans who follow former Caps play it was a very good weekend for Steve Eminger. Eminger had a goal and two assists and was +1 in 24:48 TOI during Friday Night's OT win for the Bolts. Last night he was held off the score sheet but finished the night +4 in 22:30 of Time On Ice. Last night's game was also the 700th NHL game of Richard Zednick's career. While neither Zednick or Tampa Bay's Jeff Halpren had great games in either of the contests they both turned in solid efforts on the back to back nights.

- The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena in Atlanta on Friday evening 5-4 in regulation and then dropped their game against the Boston Bruins tonight at RBC Center in Raleigh. Canes' star center Eric Staal had a hat trick in their win over Atlanta but was held off the score sheet and finished the game against Boston at -1.

- Like the Capitals, Atlanta was idle last night. Tonight, they host the red hot Boston Bruins for the fourth and last game of their regular season series against the Bruins this regular season. The Bruins have beaten the Thrashers all three prior meetings this season and are currently on a seven game winning streak. In fact, the last team to beat Boston was the Capitals on December 10th at Verizon Center.

Through the completion of last night's games the Southeast Division standings are as follows:

Team Games Played Points Last 10 Games
1) Washington Capitals 36 47 8-2-0
2) Carolina Hurricanes 37 39 5-3-2
3) Florida Panthers 35 37 5-3-2
4) Tampa Bay Lightning 35 29 4-5-1
5) Atlanta Thrashers 35 28 4-5-1.

A Look Ahead To Tonight's Caps - Maple Leafs Game

While when you look from the top level at the tonight's match-up between the Capitals and the Maple Leafs the likely outcome looks to be obvious, don't be fooled. The numbers comparison between the two look like this:
1) Standings: Capitals - 2nd in the Eastern Conference with 47 Points in 36 games played (0.653 hockey); Maple Leafs - 11th in the Eastern Conference with 34 points in 35 games played (0.486 hockey).
2) Goals Scored vs. Goals Allowed: Capitals - 116/108 (1.07); Maple Leafs - 110/126 (0.873). Avg Goals/Game & Avg Goals Allowed/Game: Capitals - (3.22 & 3.oo); Maple Leafs (3.14 & 3.60).
While the list of top level comparisons could go on like this for several more categories of statistics, their are two other items which could level the playing field. A) The Maple Leafs have on several occasions shown themselves to be able "Giant Killers." B) The Capitals have on more than one occasion this season shown themselves to be supremely capable of playing up to OR DOWN TO the skill levels of their opponents and allowing lesser teams to stay in games they should not have been in.

Intangibles:
A)With a win at home tonight against Toronto, the Caps would enjoy a real double-digit separation from the rest of the Southeast; as they have a game in hand over Carolina who is idle tonight and currently 8 points back. With a win tonight the Caps home record would go to 15-1-1 but still remain second to San Jose's home record of 18-0-2 in the league.
B) So far it appears that it's possible that both Mike Green and Jeff Schultz could be returning to the line-up tonight on the Capitals blueline. Assuming both are healthy and that Green doesn't try and play outside his abilities while he plays himself back to full season strength, and somehow doesn't go more than 20-21 minutes TOI; the Maple Leafs should be in some trouble. How this makes the possibility of seeing a direct comparison of Luke Schenn vs. Karl Alzner look is for the "capologists" to figure out. Bottom line is assuming one or both return to the lineup the Maple leafs will be facing a much stronger blueline corps than the Caps beat the Sabres with on Friday evening.
C) Jose Theodore will get his third consecutive start tonight and will likely face Vesla Toskla at the other end of the ice. Assuming Jose continues the trend he's had over the past five periods of hockey this will be a decided advantage for the Capitals.
D) The Caps will have a large, likely sellout crowd behind them tonight and be wearing their white (normally road) jerseys as they retire Mike Gartner's number before the game. Maybe the Leafs should start 41 year old veteran backup Curtis Joseph as Cujo played against Gartner in his heyday.

It should be a good night to "Rock the Red" as long as the Capitals play their game and don't play the Leafs game.

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

Caps 2 - Maple Leafs 1; Alzner Gets His First NHL Goal

December 6th Scores to Remember: Caps 2 - Maple Leafs 1; Navy 34 - Army 0 ; Hershey Bears 4 - Hartford Wolf Pack 2; Villanova 27 - James Madison 31...

Well tonight in Toronto it was a two point night for the Washington Capitals, despite all the help the help the referees tried to give the Maple Leafs. The lack of a call on Toronto when Alex Ovechkin was interfered with, hooked and basically pulled down on a breakaway in the last minute of the second period was a bad piece of officiating. However, the two penalties given to Ovechkin, especially the second holding call by an official who couldn't see the play while the ref who could didn't call any penalty was actually worse. Also, you couldn't tell from the replays that Brooks Laich did or didn't kick the puck in into the net, so since the call was a goal how was it overturned? I guess the guys in the booth had some video we didn't see. Finally since the Caps won 2-1 in regulation and ended a four game road losing streak, none of that matters, life is good. Well sort of good, since another Cap got injured tonight, Eric Fehr - that makes 9 + Brian Pothier, if your counting.

Before reviewing the Caps game and play in Toronto, a comment has to be made about the depth of the Capitals organization. With the Capitals injury situation, so far this season 30 different players have played for the Caps. Over the past two weeks, the Caps have called up numerous players from the Hershey Bears, tonight in Toronto, the Caps lineup included Kieth Aucoin, Sami Lepisto, Karl Alzner, Bryan Helmer and Sean Collins. Add to that the fact that Tyler Sloan is still on the Caps roster but is injured and you have 6 players that started the season as Hershey Bears (5 Defenseman), that haven't been around Hershey much in the last week or so. Yet Hershey beat the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-2 tonight, that was the Bears 10th straight win. The call ups of course go all the way down to and affect even the Caps ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays, the Stingrays played the Charlotte Checkers and dropped the game to them 3-2. Looking at the Stingrays - Checkers score sheet, it was a hard fought game (3 fights in the first period and one fight in the second). It also doesn't look like Charlotte outplayed the Rays, the difference of the game was a power play goal by the Checkers at the tail end of a 5-3 man advantage. So the depth of the organization is without question, just well ... pretty amazing.

How does a team plagued with so many injuries win two games in a row and break a four game road losing streak? Well first they play passionate hockey for sixty minutes and focus on the basics - that's probably the biggest thing the Caps did tonight. No we're not talking about "the system" here, though that's part of it, we're talking about simplifying the game plan to enable a lot of new faces to work well together and focusing on the basics. Combine that with the passionate play, and the high general talent level of the many young players in the Caps organization and you have the fundamentals required to facilitate winning hockey. The injury replacement call ups played well tonight. The defense pairings played within themselves and there appears to be good chemistry between the pairings put on the ice tonight. The Jurcina - Alzner pairing seemed to work especially well [ed note - I guess that's pretty easy to say since they scored both goals and Alzner had a goal and an assist.] Karl Alzner was second in ice time tonight at 23: 06 only to Ovechkin. Alzner had a goal, an assist, was +2, blocked 3 shots and had 1 hit - not a bad nights work for a 20 year old rookie. Sami Lepisto played 20:37 and had 3 hits, turning in a solid night's work. In 13:29 TOI, Kieth Aucoin played well he took 1 shot, had 2 takeaways and was 56% in the face off circle. Aucoin frequently generated traffic in front of the net and at least one scoring chance for the Caps. Bryan Helmer was very solid and confident, especially on the penalty kill, and his partner Sami Lepisto looked like the prototypical, big, mobile, two way Scandinavian/European defenseman that Peerless talks about here (see his discussion of Tomas Kaberle).

As for the other Caps on the roster, nobody had a bad night. The Maple Leafs scored their only goal on the power play, as such no one on the Caps roster was +/- negative, Alexander the Great had a good night leading the team in hits (6), shots on goal (7) and attempts blocked (8) as well as PIM (4) - he worked hard during every second of the 23:17 he was on the ice, trying to create and capitalize on opportunities. Tonight could easily have been Milan Jurcina's best game so far this season. In 19:56 TOI, including 1:31 of PK, Jurcina was +2, had a goal, blocked 4 shots, and had 2 hits; also, he was NOT on the ice when Antropov scored the Leaf's only goal in the third period. Brooks Laich, Nicklas Backstrom, Fleischmann, Nylander and Kozlov all had solid outings and contributed very positively to the game. Overall, the Caps played a solid 60 minute game of two way hockey. Brent Johnson was solid in net all night long despite facing only 20 shots. It was a fun game to watch as well and not just because the Caps won in regulation.

In Philadelphia today, Navy beat Army for the 9th time in the last 10 meetings. The score was 34 -0. President Bush attended and both teams debuted new uniforms.

Next up...

For Navy it'll be the EagleBank (formerly Congressional) Bowl at RFK Stadium in Washington DC on December 20th (at which time the Capitals will be playing the Philadelphia Flyers in Philly). It looks like Navy will take on Wake Forest but this is apparently not definite yet.

For the Caps it's the Carolina Hurricanes at RBC Center in Raliegh, NC - tomorrow. Yep it's another of those "fun" back to back road games for the Capitals. The 'Canes are coming off a 2-1 home overtime loss to the Flyers tonight.

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

Back on the Beat...Sort Of

After enjoying the Caps - Islanders game on Thursday I had to get up at 4:30 and go to meetings in North-Central New Jersey for meetings at ICx - Control Systems (formerly known as DAQ Electronics. In any case I'm now watching the Caps-Leafs game while getting the house ready for our annual Christmas Part which is next Saturday. Well right now it's 0 - 0.

Recap Caps @ Toronto Maple Leafs 1/23/2008

The Caps two game road trip concluded tonight in Toronto, the Maple Leafs have a new General Manager, earlier this week they replaced John Ferguson with Cliff Fletcher - a "new" old face. Fletcher is 72 years old and in the Hockey Hall of Fame in the founders category. A former President, COO & GM of the Leafs, Toronto signed Fletcher to a 19 month contract while they sort out what they want to do with their hockey operations management.

The last time these two teams played was October 29th in Toronto and the Caps beat the Leafs 7-1 during a period when the Glen Hanlon era team was not doing well. Tonight's game was nothing like that, for whatever reason the energy level of both teams seemed muted. In a relatively slow paced game the Caps never led, Toronto scored early Chad Kilger had a tip in from the low slot at 7:12 of the first and the Caps didn't answer until AO scored on on a nice 26 foot wrister at 2:27 into the second period. The Maple Leafs returned the favor at 18:44 of the second shortly after Antropov steamrolled the Caps Defense and Olie Kolzig. I'm still not sure how there was no goaltender interference call but I'd rather the game be called like it was tonight rather than how the last (Caps-Pens) game was called. At the end of 2 periods it was 2-1 Maple Leafs. The Leafs played hard throughout the third period and definitely worked for the win, however at 13:07 Alexander Semin scored off a pretty sweet feed from Dave Steckel and it looked like the Caps might pull this one out. As the rest of the period proceeded it was clear the Leafs were pressing (double shifting Mats Sundin, etc.) but for the most part it seemed like it was going to be the Caps night. Then at 19:30 Alexander Steen made a break and took a nice shot that Olie Kolzig stopped with a kick save that sent the rebound out to Mats Sundin who netted the game winner. Olie made some very good stops tonight but the Leafs worked hard to clog the low slot and succeeded pretty well. All three goals came from shots on the left side of the low slot. For the most part even though I was disappointed that Olie didn't smother the rebound on the last goal, the Caps weren't playing for overtime at that point, they were still playing for the win in regulation and to a large degree the bounce to Sundin was as much luck as a goal scorer knowing where to be. The game did have some highlights, John Erskine had a great game and made the highlight reels with one of the sweetest open ice checks this year - by anyone. Steve Eminger had a solid game as Jeff Schultz was a healthy scratch and got some rest. The Caps outshot the Leafs 32-24 and did a pretty good job of clogging the low slot too but couldn't get the goals. Opposing teams have definately been watching films and are clearly no longer even thinking about letting either Mike Green or Nicklas Backstrom skate around any freer than they let Ovechkin or Semin skate. The Caps have to figure out a way to make that work for them, in the Penguins game, Victor Kozlov did so but tonight nobody seemed able to do that. Ovechkin was the strongest player on the ice for the Caps and Sundin was clearly the backbone of the Leafs. There was some talk of a trade for Sundin, something I can't understand, he's the backbone of the Leafs and has a no trade clause.

Tomorrow's game at the Verizon Center is the back end of this home and home series and hopefully both teams will have higher energy levels in the Caps last game before the All Star break and we'll see a return to some more secondary scoring. The loss tonight stopped the Caps win streak at four (4) games; tomorrow night the Caps will be working to start a new winning streak. Let's Go Caps!!!!