The players have the day off today, and boy do they need it. They played three games in four nights, and I’m sure they are exhausted.

The Caps played four total games last week and went 2-0-2, netting six of a possible eight points. Atlanta was their only divisional opponent, and they won that game in regulation.

Washington is 8-2-4 for the season and currently holds a commanding lead in the Southeast division with 20 points, followed by Tampa Bay in second place with 12, and Atlanta with 11.

We got a lot of games to cover, so let’s get to the recap!

Tuesday, October 27th vs. the Flyers – The Caps have been a “strike first” team this season, but after being held scoreless in the first period they found themselves down 2-0 after allowing Philly to score twice in the second period. Washington bounced back by scoring four unanswered goals and carried their win streak to five games.

It wasn’t for lack of effort – Philly peppered the net with 43 shots on goal, but it was “No Way” Jose Theodore that slammed the door shut stopping 41 of those shots including 20 in the third period alone. Even though Theo’s career record for shots faced in a game is 47, the 43 he faced Tuesday night were the most he had ever faced as a Washington Capital.

Can’t keep a good team down – The Caps have only had to come from behind on multifocal deficits twice this season, and in both occasions they have come back to win it. The previous time was the game immediately preceding this one where they found themselves down to the Islanders. Brooks Laich scored the game winner in OT.

Thursday, October 29th @ the Thrashers…again – It had to feel like déjà vu for the Caps who had just faced this Thrasher team the previous Thursday…also in Atlanta. It had to feel like déjà vu for the Thrashers as well as they fell to the Caps again on home ice. The Caps, who knew they had to play another game in less than 24 hours tried to put this game away early so they could start resting up their players for Friday night’s game. In a classic example of why you never “look past” you current opponent the Caps watched a three-goal lead evaporate in the third period. Atlanta, being down 3-2 pulled their goalie in favor of the extra attacker. Mike Knuble had no idea his empty net goal would be the game winner (it made the score 4-2) as the Thrashers got what would have been the tying goal in the last 1/2 second of regulation, but by then it wasn’t enough and the Caps held on for the 4-3 win.

Define: “Four Point” game – When you beat a division opponent in regulation, it is referred to as a “four point” game. You gain two points in the standings for the win, and at the same time cost your opponents two points by preventing them from winning. To really see it, you need to look at the season standings. Washington held a 7-point lead in the Southeast division going into Thursday’s game. Two teams were tied for second; Atlanta and Tampa. At the end of the night, the Caps still had a seven point lead in the division (Tampa won their game), but now had a nine point lead over Atlanta.

Back on Track – After a short slump where he was held without a goal for two games Alex Ovechkin came back and scored four goals in two games including two here versus Atlanta to give him 13 goals in 12 games.

Friday, October 30th vs. the Islanders – While the Caps were in Atlanta tangling with the Thrashers, the Islanders were in Washington helping themselves to whatever the Caps had in the fridge and kicking their feet up onto the coffee table. The Caps may have had the home ice advantage, but considering that they had just finished playing a game the night before, it was New York that had the advantage. The Caps kept it close and even held the lead a few times throughout the game, but just couldn’t seem to shake the Islanders and ultimately fell to them in OT by the final score of 4-3.

THN on Ice – Our own Jake Russell was at the game Friday night posting a live blog from the press box. Click here to check out his blog and video interviews after the game.

Sunday, November 1^st vs. the Blue Jackets – Even though the Caps lost Alex Ovechkin early in the second period, they weren’t going to go down without a fight. After scoring the game’s first goal, they found themselves trailing 2-1 at the beginning of the third period. Brooks Laich stepped up and scored the game tying and go-ahead goals putting the Caps up 3-2. A short while later Raffi Torres tied it up, but the Caps regained their lead when Quintin Lang scored with a little more than three minutes left to play in regulation. With less than half a minute to go in regulation, it was Torres who brought the score even at four and forced overtime where the Caps would fall 5-4.

Sometimes, it’s just not going to be your day – Jose Theodore played a great game, but was victimized by two unfortunate incidents that lead to goals. The first of which was in the second period when Theo went behind the net to play the puck, only to have the puck take an unusual bounce away from him, back towards the front of the net and straight to R. J. Umberger who stashed it home. The second came midway through the third where Theo had his stick knocked out of his hand as he slid left to protect against the wrap-around he had nothing to defend his right side where Raffi Torres was waiting to tap the puck in on the now stickless stick-side.

Coming Up – The Caps have three games this week starting Wednesday night in New Jersey. They then go to Florida to face the Panthers on Friday, and bring them back to DC for another meeting on Saturday.

In the meantime, we’ll all be crossing our fingers on Ovechkin!

C-A-P-S, Caps! Caps! Caps!

The New York Islanders come into the Verizon Center looking to avenge a 3-2 overtime loss to the Capitals just six nights ago in Nassau Coliseum. Making his first trip to the Verizon Center is 19-year old John Tavares. The 2009 No. 1 overall draft choice is second on the team with points and goals scored. The Capitals will also welcome a familiar face back to the rink when Brendan Witt hits the ice. Witt spent 10 seasons in Washington from 1995-2006. He was traded to the Nashville Predators in the second half of the 2006 season for Kris Beech and the Predators’ first round selection, which the Capitals used to select goaltender Semyon Varlomov.

1st Period Overview:

Not surprisingly the Capitals struck first with a goal from none other than Alexander Ovechkin, who is on pace for a third straight MVP season. The Capitals did a great job getting themselves out of jams by clearing the puck from behind their own net to across the rink on several occassions. That was until the Islanders were able to capitalize off of that pressure they forced and retaliated with a goal by Kyle Okposo (his third on the season) with an assist coming from Witt.

Goals: NY – 1 WAS – 1
Shots: NY – 11 WAS – 9
Power Play Goals: NY – 0 WAS – 1
Hits: NY – 9 WAS – 4

2nd Period Overview:

The second period was a tale of two scorers. There was not much defense to be had, especially in the final minutes. The Islanders struck first with a goal from Frans Nielson to go up 2-1, Tomas Fleischmann, who made his season debut last night against the Thrashers after missing the start of the season with deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot) in his leg, delivered his first two goals of the season to give the Caps their second lead of the night at 3-2. His second came with a little over three minutes to go. Just over one minute later, Nielson closed out the period with his second goal of the season as well with 2:10 remaining to tie it up at 3.

Goals: NY – 2 WAS – 2
Shots: NY – 9 WAS – 13
Power Play Goals: NY – 0 WAS – 1
Hits: NY – 2 WAS – 9

3rd Period Overview:

The Capitals spent most of their time as they did in the first period, trying to clear traffic out from goaltender Jose Theodore’s way. This period was a battle of defenses. The contest ended in regulation as it did on Satruday night with a tied score headed into overtime.

Goals: NY – 0 WAS – 0
Shots: NY – 8 WAS – 17
Power Play Goals: NY – 0 WAS – 0
Hits: NY – 8 WAS – 6

Overtime Overview:

The Islanders earned their first victory over the Capitals since February 2008 in the same fashion the Capitals earned their win last win against the Isles Saturday night; in the first minute of overtime. This time, Mark Streit is the hero of the night for New York, who shocked the crowd by taking advantage of a puck-handling error by Capitals defenseman Mike Green just 0:53 into overtime.

Goals: NY – 1 WAS – 0
Shots: NY – 2 WAS – 0
Power Play Goals: NY – 0 WAS – 0
Hits: NY – 0 WAS – 0

Tom Poti – Postgame Interview

Tomas Fleischmann – Postgame Interview

Bruce Boudreau – Postgame Presser

It’s another Monday, so it must be time for another Caps Recap!

After suffering through four straight losses, the Capitals have bounced back and added two more games to the win column last week and have now won four straight. This is certainly worth celebrating, but the fact is, the Caps are still not playing really good hockey. To say their power play is not performing would be an understatement; their power play has proven to be a liability as their opponents scored two shorthanded goals while the Caps went 0-11 on the power play last week alone.

I suppose you could say the Caps went -2 for 11 on the PP.

Something else that is interesting is that Caps superstar Alex Ovechkin was rendered without a goal in both of this past week’s contests. You might say that a large part of the teams woes have to do with the slump that Ovechkin finds himself in, which could have something to do with the absence of Alex Semin on the second line.

Superstars not withstanding; the Caps have seen their B-liner’s step it up and that’s what you need from a good hockey team. Their wins may not have been pretty, but you get no extra points for style.

Let’s get to the recap

Thursday, October 22^nd – Caps @ Atlanta – In keeping with their trend, the Caps jumped out to an early lead when Eric Fehr scored on an early breakaway just 2:02 into the game. Atlanta matched them step for step in the first period and both teams went into the locker-room tied at 2 goals apiece. In the second period, the Caps victimized Thrashers’ goalie Ondrej Pavalec by scoring three goals in :88 seconds and ending his night early. The Caps’ special teamers gave up a shorthanded and a power-play goal in the third period, but the team managed to hang on and eek out a 5-4 victory.

Dialing Long Distance – Midway through the second period, Jeff Schultz got the gift of a lifetime scoring a goal from 190 feet away. As he rounded his own net, he received a pass from Caps’ netminder Semyon Varlamov, and tried to pass the puck up the ice to Mike Knuble. As far as passes go, it wasn’t a very good one and never connected with Knuble, but it skipped it’s way up the ice taking an extremely lucky (or unlucky, depending on whom you were rooting for) bounce a mere seven feet from Thrasher’s goalie Ondrej Pavalec shooting right up over his glove and into the net.

Noticeably Absent – The Capital’s “Young Guns” (Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin and Green) were each held without a point in Thursday’s game versus Atlanta (to be fair, Semin wasn’t playing due to injury). The Caps were 0-1 this year when their young stars were held scoreless, and went 1-9-1 in the few times that it happened last year.

Maybe it’s the name Alex… – With Alexander Semin out with an injury, and Alexander Ovechkin having trouble finding the back of the net, it fell to Alexandre Giroux to get an Alex on the score sheet. Giroux’s goal in the first period was his fourth ever NHL goal and it comes against the organization that let him slip away in the minors. Giroux played for the Thrasher’s AHL affiliate in Chicago for the first part of the ‘07-‘08 season where he was coached by the Thrashers’ current head coach, John Anderson.

Saturday, October 24^th – Caps @ NY Islanders – Caps’ fans who tuned in late may have been surprised to see their team behind after the first period. It’s the first time the Caps have trailed to start a game this season. The Caps struggled to find an answer all game and rotated several different forward through the Ovechkin-Backstrom line. The Caps still struggled on the power-play, and gave up their second short-handed goal in as many games. The Caps dug deep and finally found their goal scorer mentality and it was Mike Green that led the charge. Keith Aucoin tied the game up, and it was Brooks Laich that won the game in overtime.

That was ugly – This game should not have been as close as it was. The Caps came in with a 5-2-2 record to face an Islander team with only one win for the season. Senior Writer for WashingtonCaps.com had it right when he said “wins are like goals; you don’t ask ‘how,’ you ask ‘how many.’” If the Caps don’t figure out the ‘how’ and soon it’s going to be a long week.

For more Caps Coverage – check out this blog by Bosshog “Caps Steal One in Overtime”

Coming up, the Caps are bringing home the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night, and then it’s going to feel like Déjà vu as the Caps square off against the Thrashers (in Atlanta on Thursday) and Islanders (at Verizon Center on Friday) again.

With both of Washington’s teams facing a Philadelphia opponent (Redskins tonight, Capitals tomorrow, both televised nationally) it’s going to smell an awful lot like cheese-steak around here for the next coupla days.

Something tells me it’s going to be up to the Caps to split the difference.

C-A-P-S Caps! Caps! Caps!

Atlanta started the game looking pretty nervous against the confident Capitals, and it was Washington who drew first blood, technically. Brooks Laich redirected a high shot down through the 5-hole of Atlanta goaltender Kari Lehtonen only to have it immediately waived off by the officials.

I’m thinking that the refs were given new “flavored” whistles (I’m guessing strawberry) for tonight’s game as they couldn’t seem to keep them out of their mouth. I suppose if I were impartial I would say they called a tight game; but since I just hate them so much, I’d have to say that they were pulling some of those calls from a place you would have to point to on a doll in court (“show us on the doll where you came up with that holding penalty”).

The Thrashers scored first if you believe what the stat sheet tells you, and that seemed to help them overcome their initial jitters.

Jose Theodore gave up three goals in the first period. On the third goal it looked like he was trying to avoid getting hit by the puck (“Hey, careful! That almost hit me!”).

Alex Semin finally answered with a goal of his own 0:29 seconds after the Thrashers third goal to make the score 3-1 Atlanta at the end of the first period.

The Caps began the second period by pouring on the pressure. Jose Theodore almost added insult to injury by mishandling the puck a few times and coming dangerously close to playing the puck outside of the trapezoid.

Mike Green got knocked a little silly early in the second period as he caught a helmet with his chin and actually left the game for a few minutes. While he was gone though, David Steckel managed to add to Semin’s goal with a shorthanded bid bringing the Caps to within 1.

Steckel’s goal was followed by a goal from Kozlov…not Victor; Slava. Yeah, it caught me off guard at first. I wasn’t paying attention I hear from the TV “Kozlov’s in and he scores!” and I start to celebrate until I realize that the horn is blowing and everyone in Atlanta seems really happy. Slava isn’t even related to Victor. The Thrashers should not be allowed to have players with the same names as our players.

Unfortunately the Thrashers had returned on that same power play that Steckel had just gotten his shortie on with a 2-1 break and made the score 4-2.

“No way, Jose (pronound HOSE-ay)” was what I would have said if I were Boudreau, but either way that was the end of the night for Theodore who had surrendered 4 goals on 17 shots.

Brent Johnson came in and put an end to the Thrasher’s scoring nonsense.

The game seemed to turn around when Tom Poti caught a high stick just above his right eye and drew a 4-minute double minor. Mike Green, who had managed to shake loose the cobwebs, made good use of that double minor by scoring on both penalties to tie the game at 4.

Entering the third period the Caps had outshot (30-22), outhit (12-8), and outscored (3-1) the Thrashers in the second period.

The third period started out looking good for the Caps who were showing that the best defense is a good offense…until that defense broke down with a little more than six minutes to go in the game. I know I made it sound like Brent Johnson had come in and saved the game, and for a while it looked like he had, until he surrendered three goals in 2:14.

The Caps went down swinging as John Erskine, Donald Brashear, and Matt Bradley were all involved in fights with the game’s final two minutes. Final score: Thrashers 7 Caps 4.

All in all; not a good start for this Caps team who don’t have very long to figure out what went wrong as they face Chicago tomorrow night at Verizon.

Game Notes:
—Alex Semin looked really good tonight with 1 goal and two assists. He just seemed to be everywhere.

—Alex Ovechkin was scoreless, and assistless. I phrased it that way because the alternative was pointless. Alex had one penalty shot and missed and spent a lot of time on the PK.

—Mike Green should catch a helmet with his face every game. I thought he was going to get a hat-trick this evening.