Yeah, you would expect a drop-off in production, but the Caps seem to play pretty good in the absence of Alex Ovechkin. They won four out of the six games he missed. He returned this week and they have lost two out of the three games he played in since his return.

Now this isn’t an indictment against Ovie; He scored a goal in two of those three games. His teammates however have not played as well since his return.

My thought process is that these guys knew they were going to have to “carry the load” without Ovechkin, but now that he’s back, “we can relax a little bit.”

I think there may be a mindset among players that when their superstar returns, things are going to be easy. They won’t have to try as hard because they got the league MVP back. This past week seems to illustrate my point. The Rangers game last Tuesday was the toughest game on the Caps schedule last week. They were in New York, and the Rangers always play tough versus the Caps. They went into MSG and beat the Rangers.

This weekend however, they were at home versus a struggling Canadiens team, and then on the road versus a Leafs team that had only won three other games this season. The Caps lost to both.

Now I know they have enough players injured that it accounts for roughly a third of their bench roster, but c’mon, our back-ups aren’t exactly chopped liver. They can play well; they just didn’t.

I’m hoping that losing to the Leafs is a wake-up call to those who thought they could come out and just “go through the motions” and leave it up to Ovechkin to win it for them.

And with that, let’s get to some recapping.

Tuesday, November 17^th, @ New York Rangers – With the Caps down 1-0 to New York, it was Matt Bradley who gave the team the spark it was looking for when he took on Aaron Voros of New York (see the fight here at Hockeyfights.com – http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/88826). It was a rare fight for the Capitals since they jettisoned Donald Brashear in the offseason and it was certainly one of their bloodiest of the season. Many can argue whether Bradley “won” the fight, but it was Bradley’s goal late in the third period that was the game-winner as the Caps rolled past New York 4-2.

“Ouch” just doesn’t do it justice – Quintin Laing is known to give up his body for the shot-block, but when he dropped to block a shot from Michal Roszival, he managed to catch the puck with the left side of his face. The full force of Roszival’s slapshot broke Laing’s jaw and he will miss several weeks while he drinks his meals through a straw.

Hardhat Honors – After each game, the players give a red hardhat to the player who they felt worked the hardest in the game. This night the Caps had to choose between Laing who broke his jaw blocking a shot, and Bradley who though bloodied by a fight and stitched up scored the game-winning goal. The Caps elected Brads, and he deferred to Laing.

Friday, November 20^th, vs. Montreal Canadiens – I’m still scratching my head about why Coach Boudreau elected to rest goal-tender Semyon Varlamov for this game. I might understand if he was putting in Jose Theodore, but Theo was gone with a family emergency and the Caps had just called up Michal Neuvirth to replace him. Neuvirth got the start. Now I’m not pinning this loss solely on Neuvirth, because the Caps in general played like they really didn’t respect the Canandiens. There was no sense of urgency as they let the game slip away. By the time the Caps did start skating like the game was on the line, they were down 3-1 late in the third. They lost 3-2.

Introducing; John Carlson – With their first pick of the 2008 NHL entry draft, the Washington Capitals selected defenseman John Carlson. With his proud mom in attendance Carlson did not play like a baby-faced rookie but like an NHL vet, even ringing a shot off the post. Don’t worry, Mom, he’ll get his first NHL goal soon enough.

Saturday, November 21^st, @ Toronto Maple Leafs – Now ordinarily, I include stats and fun facts after a recap of each game. Not this time. The Caps played miserably MISERABLY against this Leafs team. They didn’t skate, and to make up for it, they didn’t pass well either. It seemed like nearly every pass was either too far ahead, or just behind the player they were aiming for. These either lead to turnovers in the neutral zone, or would throw the players offsides. Were it not for the inspired play of Semyon Varlamov, the Caps would have lost this game early in regulation. They carried a 1-1 tie into the shootout, and failed to register a single goal. It was the worst performance I’ve seen from the Caps in as long as I can remember. Caps lose 2-1 in the shootout.

Where are we? – The Caps gained three out of a possible six points last week. They are:

13-5-5 (31 points)

1st in Southeast Division – Caps 31 points, Tampa Bay is 2^nd with 25

1st in Eastern Conference – Caps 31 points, Pittsburgh is 2^nd with 30

3rd in the League Overall – San Jose is first with 36, followed by Chicago with 32, Caps with 31 and Pittsburgh with 30

Coming Up – The Caps continue their tour of the Northeast division starting tonight as they stay in Canada and face the Ottawa Senators (11-6-3, 15^th in the league). They come home Wednesday to face Buffalo (12-6-2, 11^th in the league), and return to Canada on Saturday for a rematch versus Montreal (11-11-1, 22^nd in the league).

The Caps need to wake up and play a better game tonight or it’s going to be a long flight home with a very unhappy Coach Boudreau…

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

Game Summary:

The Washington Capitals defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-1, to end a couple of ’skids’ on Thursday night. Most importantly, the Caps ended their 4-game losing streak with the win; it was also the first time the Capitals have beat the Sharks in their last twelve meetings – a phenomenal run that dates back to February 2oth, 1999. Two Ovechkin goals less than half a minute apart at the beginning of the second period, proved to be the difference.

There was a tremendous tempo from the Caps to start the game, and they forced some early penalties from the Sharks. Washington found themselves with a two-man advantage, and Alexander Semin opened the scoring at 7:21 of the first period. Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom deftly played the puck back and forth, until Backstrom beautifully picked out Semin sneaking down the back-side, who slapped the puck into a yawning net. Mike Green also assisted. 1-0 Caps. Video.

San Jose spent a large part of the opening frame in the penalty box, with five minors in the first eighteen minutes. Their penalty kill units did a great job of keeping them in the game and they were rewarded when Benn Ferriero scored his second of the season at 14:07 to even the score at 1-1. Kent Huskins and Scott Nichol assisted on the goal.

When the Capitals came out for the second period, Semyon Varlamov had taken over in net, due to (later disclosed) back spasms for Jose Theodore.

The young Russian goaltender didn’t have to wait long for his team to get him support and a lead; Alexander Ovechkin crashed the net and tipped in a gorgeous backhand pass that Mike Knuble saucered on to his stick – Brendan Morrison picked up the second assist. Ovie ended a three-game scoring drought with his sixth goal of the season, and Washington had a 2-1 lead. Video.

Just twenty-eight seconds later, Ovechkin made it seven on the season. Knuble took a Morrison pass at the top of the right circle, and fired a quick shot on Evgeni Nabokov; Nabokov let an awful rebound get away, and Ovechkin was there to slap it into the net. 3-1 Caps just 3:23 into the second period. Video.

The outburst from the Russian sensation seemed to suck the wind out of the sails of the San Jose Sharks. Washington really controlled the game from there on out, and stretched their lead to 4-1 at 5:11 of the third. Matt Bradley was parked at the side of the net, and snapped in the rebound from a Milan Jurcina point shot, to give the Caps an insurmountable three goal lead. Video.

Varlamov was a perfect 15-for-15 in relief of Theodore, and earned a big, confidence building win.

Game Notes:
Ovechkin’s goal(s) were his first ever against the Sharks, the only team he had never scored against… Washington only drew three penalties – a much more disciplined effort… there were actually chants of, “Varly, Varly, Varly…” late in the third period – he didn’t really have that much to do, but it was novel nevertheless… Bruce Boudreau juggled the line-up and considering that they got scoring from three lines and played exponentially better defensively, you’d have to call the first game with the new lines a success.

Ovechkin Summary:
2 Goals; 13 shots; 20:53 minutes of ice time

For the Caps, Tomas “Flash” Fleischmann opened the scoring 6:21 in the first period, just seconds into the team’s first power play. The Caps acting Captain Matt Bradley tallied just 64 second later to close out the first period scoring.

The ‘Canes Joni Pitkanen opened the scoring in the second period with a power play goal 7:58 in. Four minutes later, Matheiu Perreault scored in his first NHL pre-season game, at the 11:57 mark. Flash closed out the scoring 17:06 into the period with his second power play goal, this time just 9 seconds into the extra man advantage.

For a good read regarding last night’s victory, be sure to check out Mike Vogel’s Postgame Notebook on WashingtonCaps.com.

Carolina travels to the phone booth this evening for the re-match. You won’t be able to find it on TV or radio, but you can watch and listen live on WashingtonCaps.com. Let’s get ‘em!