11/15 A No Point Night In Saint Louis - Not The Start To A Three Game Road Trip Anyone Rocking the Red Was Hoping For ...

Another Caps Hockey Game, another disappointing slow start that ended in more disappointment.  The Caps rolled in to Saint Louis off a 1 - 0 loss the prior evening at Verizon Center.  They apparently decided that since New Jersey successfully beat them by slowing the pace of the game, they'd try and do the same thing against Saint Louis.  One could talk fancy stats or simple stats or "olde tyme hockey" or whatever you want and by every normal measure, especially the scoreboard, the bottom line is it didn't work. As the final seconds of the game wound down last night the scoreboard showed Blues 4 - Capitals 1.  

Blues goalie Brian Elliott wasn't all that great, and that makes the final score even tougher to take - the goalie wasn't unbeatable, but he didn't have to be.  Add to the fact the Capitals forwards didn't make it hard for Elliott to turn in a 0.960 SV% on the night the fact that in addition to having brain freeze similar to Holtby's faux paux on Friday night that Justin Peters turned in a SV% of just 0.882 last night and the final score of 4-1 can only be attributed to the Caps limiting the Blues to just 34 SOG.
  The Caps are now 0.500 on the season with 17 games (21%) of the 82 game season played so far.  That's not good enough, by any measure to be confident in this team's chances of returning to the playoffs.  They need to settle down, play the system much harder for 60:00 of every game and move things forward.  On the GM side of things, some things need to happen, and one of them is resign/extend Mike Green now not later.  A second is clear Cap space of guys who will never again be even close to what George McPhee signed them for - for example one should not be paying $4.5M of cap space for a guy who if/when he gets healthy is a third line center for your team or $2M for a guy who might sometime later this season be your #7 D-man... . A third thing is that between the GM and the coaches they need to facilitate some stability in the top three lines and let the players work out their issues as long as they play hard for 60:00 of every game.  The musical chairs on the lines isn't helping provide any of the needed spark IMO.  

I know last night was game 2 of a back to back but you know what, just like the Saint Louis Blues, I don't care, nor can the Capitals afford to care or think about that either.  Basically what this Capitals team needs to do is play the entire first 50:00 of every game with the same drive, speed and urgency like they seem to be playing the last 10:00. Last night they didn't do that and it cost them another two points.  Will they look inward and decide enough is enough during these next two days before facing the Phoenix oops Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday in Phoenix oops Glendale?  We can only hope and cheer for them to do so, at least we Caps fans can only do so.  In that vein I shout out:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LETS GO CAPS!!!! 

Caps 3 - Blues 4 (SO); A One Point Night For The Caps In Saint Louis

Well it was another less than two point night for the Washington Capitals in Saint Louis tonight, and as much as the fan in me wants to scream, it's hard to do tonight. Tonight's game was a well played game and many of the issues and mistakes that had been creeping into the Caps game these past five outings were rectified. However, Saint Louis is also playing well and their goaltender, Chris Mason came up big when he needed to; for that matter so did Jose Theodore, in fact Theo made a couple of saves in the third period and one in overtime that took the game into the shootout. If not for an unfortunate bounce in the fourth round of the shootout, who really knows how many rounds the shootout would have gone the way both Theo and Mason were playing. Alas it was not to be and in the fourth round after seeming to stop David Perron's backhand the puck came off the post and the Theo's back and went into the net. So the game ended with the Caps getting just one point.

The Caps seemed to come out with more determination than they have in the last two games. The Blues also came out with "spring to their step." Unfortunately, one of the ugly moments that occasionally occur in hockey games. At 5:52 into the game, Cam Janssen made a savage, cheap hit on Matt Bradley and took Brads out of the game. Quintin Laing came to Brads' defense while he was down. For their efforts, Laing was given 2 minutes for instigating, 2 minutes unsportsmanlike conduct (because he didn't raise his visor before Janssen swung at him); a 5 minute fighting major and a 10 minute misconduct; while Jannsen received a 5 minute major for fighting, a 5 minute major for interference, and a 1 minute Game Misconduct. As a result the Caps and Blues played 4 on 4 for four minutes. Personally, I think this set of calls along with the numerous cheap interference calls that were totally disruptive to the flow of the game were just yet another example of the horrible officiating I'm coming to expect in the NHL. In this case, there is no way the Blues shouldn't have skated a man down for at least - at least a full 2:00. Given the fact Jannsen threw the first punch before Laing could lift his visor, it's entirely possible the official could have used his leeway and not penalized Laing for either the unsportsmanlike conduct or the instigator penalty. Further in addition to the interference major, the official could have hit Jannsen with an additional minor for a number of things not the least of which would be elbowing. Bradley left the game and did not return. In the end, the Blues took advantage of this set of calls that went their way as it was them, not the Caps who scored the first goal of the game during the ensuing 4 on 4 play.

The Blues struck first at 9:13 when Patrik Berglund got a great feed from Roman Polak. It was a play made possible by horrible back checking by Tomas Fleischmann. "Flash" basically let Polak skate freely around him and then rather then picking up the guy he should have moved over to - Berglund - he was standing by himself 12 feet away from his man, when Berglund got the setup from Polak and scored his 9th goal of the season. The Caps responded just 1:27 later at the 10:40 mark when Mike Knuble scored his 22nd goal of the season on the power play. The period ended with the socre tied 1 - 1.

The second period was a good one with both goaltenders and the teams in front of them "amping it up." Blues sharpshooter T.J. Oshie broke the 1-1 tie at 10:52 of the second period when he scored his 13th goal of the season at even strength. Once again the Caps responded quickly, at 13:26, Alexander Semin scored his 30th of the year when Brendan Morrison got the puck to him after Brooks Laich battled to bring the puck into the zone and start the play. Score tied at 2-2. Then at 13:41 Tomas Fleischmann was sent off for hooking and Blues Defenseman Erik Johnson scored his 6th of the season on the resultant powerplay at the 15:23 mark to once again put the Blues up by 1. Then Blues Veteran Paul Kariya was sent off at 16:59 for Tripping and Mike Knuble got his second power play goal of the night at the 17:43 mark. The period ended Caps 3 - Blues 3.

There was no scoring in the third period thanks to some excellent goal tending by Theodore and Mason, and a solid penalty kill by the Caps during a 5 on 3 for 1:18. Both Goalies also kept the scored tied with some very good sanes through the overtime 4 on 4 play.

So the Caps go into the Olympic break with a league leading 90 points and 41-13-8 record in 62 games. That's on pace for a total of 119 points. The Caps need this break, they have a number of guys who are ding'ed up and they have a few bad habits to break themselves of during the next two weeks.

Now it's time to watch the Olympics until March 3rd...

Last One (Caps Game) Before the Olympic Break Tonight In Saint Louis

Caps At Blues Tonight at 7 PM CST

The Eastern Conference leading Washington Capitals (89 Points, 41-13-7) will meet the Western Conference 12th place Saint Louis Blues (63 points, 27-25-9) tonight at ScottTrade Center in Saint Louis tonight at 7:00PM Central Time. For both teams it is their last game before the 2 1/2 week break for the Olympics. It's also likely the only meeting this season between the two teams as it is the only regular season game between them and the only way they will play each other again before next season is if they meet in the Stanley Cup finals.

Before anyone decides to take the Blues lightly consider that if they were in the Eastern Conference they'd be a bubble team in the thick of fighting for one of the final playoff spots, AND they have won their last two outings: a 4-3 shoot out victory over Detroit on Tuesday Evening and a 4-0 shutout of the Toronto Maple Leafs last night. Like tonight, both the Blues' last two games have been on home ice. The Caps well if you read this blog you know the Caps have actually lost their last two games: a 5-6 Overtime loss to Le Canadiens in Montreal on Wednesday evening and a 5-6 loss in Regulation to the Senators in Ottawa on Thursday evening. While the Caps have scored 10 or more goals in back to back games before, earlier this season, this is the first time they've allowed 10 or more, let alone 12 in back to back games. The fact this eventuality comes immediately following their 14 game winning streak is, thankfully, apparently of little consolation to the team. Per Tarik El-Bashir's blog yesterday 14 of the Caps turned out in Ottawa for their optional skate/practice. What's all this mean, well that's anybody's guess but I think it means we'll see a good game tonight. A game by a group of Capitals determined to show they haven't checked out for the break regardless if they are going to Vancouver or if they are going to have the break to recuperate, practicve and get ready for the push for the Cup that starts again on March 3rd in Buffalo. A game by the Blues where they all look to win their third game in a row for only the third time this season and where they look to rejoin a cluster of Western Conference bubble teams battling it out for the last three available playoff spots with a win tonight.

Word out is that Jose Theodore will start in goal tonight for the Capitals, Semyon Varlamov will be on the bench as his back-up. Defensemen Tom Poti and John Erskine will be out with injuries tonight. John Carlson has been called up from Hershey and word is he will get a sweater tonight. Jason Chimera has been placed on IR today and Chris Borque has been sent back down to Hershey after an unremarkable performance on Thursday evening in Ottawa. Shoane Morrisonn is recovering from "flu like symptoms" but is probably going to be in the line-up tonight. I'd expect the backline to consist of: Mike Green, Brian Pothier, Shoane Morrison, Jeff Schultz, John Carlson and Karl Alzner. I'd also expect to see the only one of those guys with anything close to a free ticket to join or lead the rush be Green.

What other moves get made in this last game before the break remain to be seen but to say the Capitals defense has been porous of late is probably kind. The Capitals have allowed a whopping 23 goals against during their last 5 games (that's a GAA of 4.60), during that period they have dropped from 11th in the league in Goals Against to 20th. Based on comments by Coach Bruce Boudreau after the Senators game this unacceptable performance is something that will be the subject and focus of the team and coaching staff tonight and during the break. What changes get made a result remain to be seen, the only thing for sure is things will change. Based on the send down of Bourque and the placement of Chimera on IR, I'd also expect that Quintin Laing will play tonight for the Caps, or perhaps Tomas Fleischmann will move back over to Left Wing, given his abysmal performance in the faceoff circle the last two games. In fact it's possible both things could happen though with the exception of the faceoff circle the second line of Laich - Flash - Semin certainly hasn't looked too bad of late. I also expect to see the Caps forwards look to move the puck up the boards through the neutral zone and not start pushing the puck towards the center of the rink until they've gotten into the Blues' zone.

On the Blues side of the ice it's hard for me to guess what they'll be looking to do other then play sound hockey and proactively try and keep the Caps many offensive weapons from having much time and space at all. So I expect them to play a relatively straight-forward game, I definitely don't see the Blues trying to get into a track meet with the Caps like the Senators did on Thursday evening.

Prediction: Caps 4 - Blues 2; GWG: Mike Green.

LETS GO CAPS!!!