Caps Steal One In Overtime

It Was Over When:
Mike Green decided that it was – see the goal notes on the overtime winner by Brooks Laich.

THN Turning Point:
Green’s goal in the third period – it gave the Capitals life, and seemed to subsequently put the Islanders back on their heels. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Brooks Laich, Bruce Boudreau, Jose Theodore, Keith Aucoin, Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals

Caps Recap 10/12/09

Wow, what a difference a week makes, huh?

The Caps, who came out swinging in their first two games, went down flailing in their last three going from 2-0-0 to 2-2-1. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Caps Recap, Jose Theodore, Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals

What is in a Name?

While traversing the web today reading up on the Washington Capitals, I stumbled across a piece by Chris Needham on NBCWashington.com. The article was mainly a response to a blog written by our friends at OnFrozenBlog.com, regarding the possibility that the Caps’ current top line of Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin could be one of the greatest of all time. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals

Caps Clipped In Overtime

Danny Briere celebrated his 32nd birthday with a game winning goal in overtime, and gave the Philadelphia Flyers a 6-5 win over the Washington Capitals. The Flyers’ home opener looked like it might be a pretty conservative affair after a scoreless first period, but seven goals in the second frame turned it into a barn burner. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, matt carle, mike richards, Nicklas Backstrom, Philadelphia Flyers, Semyon Varlamov, Washington Capitals

Caps Continue To Impress

Turning point…

Alex Ovechkin scored just over a minute into the game. While the Toronto Maple Leafs may have had 59 minutes to get back into the game – they never did. The Capitals were able to capitalize on the home crowd energy right from the start, and their three unanswered first period goals were the difference in the 6-4 win. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Brooks Laich, Caps Recap, Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals

Varlamov Dazzling in Defeat

In a game with few bright spots for Washington Capitals fan, Simeon Varlamov continued to shine.

Varly faced 42 shots on the night – many of them quality chances – and turned away all but 3. The Caps were outplayed and outworked most of the night, but the outstanding young Russian kept the Caps in the game, allowing them to force overtime, and ultimately, put themselves in position to steal a win.

History was not on their side last night. The Capitals have pulled out to a 2-0 lead in a best of seven series five times in franchise history. All five times, the Caps have gone on to lose game 3, and in all but one, they have gone on to lose the series. Notably, the series they did win, they won in 5 games en route to the Stanley Cup finals.

As for last night’s game, the scoring got started early for the Caps. Mike Green dumped the puck into the Penguins zone to facilitate a line change. Alex Ovechkin drove in on the forecheck as Pens netminder Marc-Andre Fleury left the crease to corral the puck, dropping his stick in the process. Somehow, the puck bounced off the boards out in front of the net, directly in front of a charging Ovechkin. Ovie had the whole goal to shoot at, and didn’t miss on a diving shot, past a diving Fleury.

Initially, it seemed to stun the Penguins, and Washington’s offense began to press, culminating in a wrap-around attempt by Nicklas Backstrom that slid across the crease past a wide-open net. From that point forward, the Penguins dominated the game, with the formula used in the regular season by teams like the San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets to beat the Caps: an ultra-aggressive forecheck and relentless physicality. If not for the Caps’ 21-year-old netminder, this game could easily have been a blow-out.

The entire second period looked as if the Capitals were on the penalty kill. The Pens seemed to have possession of the puck for 70% of the period. When the Caps did get possession, they were lucky to get it out of their own zone, let alone create quality chances.

On top of the offensive woes, the Caps couldn’t stay out of the penalty box. It seemed every time Evgeni Malkin touched the puck, the Caps were called for a penalty. The Penguins had six straight power plays, and again, Varlamov was there to save the day, stopping point blank shots, making diving saves and frustrating the fired up Pens at every turn. His magic ran out in the sixth, after Alexander Semin was called for hooking, as Evgeni Malkin, who dominated the Capitals all evening, finally found the back of the net.

The Capitals finally got their chance with the man advantage for the second time with just under two minutes to play in the third period, and boy did they take advantage. Caps sophomore Nicklas Backstrom made up for his earlier miss with a goal off the back of Fleury, and just like that, the Caps found themselves tied at 2, in a game that could easily have been 6-1 at that point.

The Caps came to life, and had several quality chances in the last two minutes of regulation, and in overtime, Ovechkin had two quality chances within seconds of each other, but fanned on one and lost the puck on the other.

Unfortunately for Simeon, at 11:23 of the first OT, he made a stop on a full-court pass that just missed a driving Malkin, and the ensuing face-off was his undoing. In a play eerily similar to the one Ovechkin scored his second goal of game 2, Sidney Crosby beat David Steckel on the face off for only the third time all evening. The puck trickled back to Mark Eaton, who sent a cross-ice pass to the waiting Kris Letang. Letang, who had fanned on two quality chances of his own in OT, nailed this one. The puck careened off of defenseman Shaonne Morrisson over the glove of Varlamov, off the cross bar and in to end game 3.

As mentioned before, the Capitals have had little success in series in which they hold a 2-0 lead, but as the history of this post-season has shown, the Caps are routinely re-writing their history. Hopefully the boys in red, white and blue will come back for game 4 a little more fired up and continue to distinguish themselves from previous Caps teams, en route to the finals. For now though, they need to focus on game 4.

There’s a pretty good chance that Bruce Boudreau is telling his team that at this very moment. That, and telling George McPhee to sign Varlamov for a long, long time.

Tags: 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Bruce Boudreau, Evgeni Malkin, George McPhee, hockey, Kris Letang, Marc-Andre Fleury, Mark Eaton, NHL, Nicklas Backstrom, Pittsburgh Penguins, Sidney Crosby, Simeon Varlamov, Washington Capitals

We’ve Got A Series

It took a scintillating performance from a goaltender who isn’t even old enough to drink and a pair of goals from the second best Alex on the team, but the Washington Capitals finally found a way to beat the New York Rangers.

Simeon Varlamov, who was making just his seventh career start and second of the playoffs, couldn’t have been sharper in his inaugural road playoff appearance. The young Russian spent the early part of the first-period turning away shots while the fans at Madison Square Garden showered him with taunting chants. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Simeon Varlamov, Washington Capitals

Caps Recap 2/23/09

On the face of things, the Capitals record of 2-1-0 for the week seems pretty good. However, when you consider that the Caps one loss came at the hand of their weakest opponent for the week, it really makes for some head scratching.

 

Any other time you might see a line-up involving the Canadiens, Avalanche and Penguins as a tough stretch of opponents. Not only were they slumping, but they were playing the Caps in Chinatown, where the Caps have only lost four times this season.

 

Colorado was the only team the Caps faced this week that had lost more games than they’d won (28-31-1), yet Colorado looked like the team bound for the playoffs while the Caps skated around like they were still looking for the answer. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Caps Recap, Nicklas Backstrom

Caps Recap 1/12/09

It was a rough week for the Washington Capitals who went 1-2 on their three opponents. The Caps suffered only their second regulation loss at home and saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end.

 

I’m going to do things a little differently for this week’s recapping by giving you the good and the bad.

 

That’s good! – No Fly Zone – After the 7-1 thrashing the Caps had taken from the Flyers in their last meeting the Caps played a much more solid game of hockey this time. It quickly became apparent that the Caps were stressing defense this time around. After three periods, and the overtime the shots on goal were 34 apiece, and the score was still locked at 1-all. It was Victor Kozlov that scored the only goal in the shootout that sent the hated Flyers home with an OTL.

 

That’s Bad – Love for Ovie – Alex Ovechkin had scored a goal in each of the previous nine home games prior to the Flyers game where he did not notch so much as an assist.

 

That’s Good! – The All-Star Nod – Alex Ovechkin was officially named to the Eastern Conference All Star team this week. It was more of a formality as most knew he was going to be in last week, even if he was snubbed from the starting line-up.

 

That’s Bad – 8 is not enough – Ovie was the only Capital to get an All-Star invite, even with the great play of Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green this season. It’s still amazing to me that the Canadiens get four players in the starting line-up while they are ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference, and the Caps are lucky to get the League MVP on the team while they are ranked second only to Boston.

 

That’s Good! – Record shatters Record for Best Record – The Caps 27-11-3 and 57 points qualify for the best first half of a season in Caps’ history.

 

That’s Bad – What’s worse than getting a tie for your birthday? – Getting a loss. The Caps got blanked 3-0 on the 54^th anniversary of their bench boss’ birth when they faced Columbus at Verizon Center last week. I know you can’t get ties in the NHL anymore, but an OTL would have been better than a loss. Hopefully they do better when they play on my birthday on the 19^th.

 

That’s Good! – Healthy Returns – The Caps saw the return of Thomas Fleischmann and Sergei Federov this past Friday. Fleischmann apparently had the flu, and Federov was listed as injured for so long that he probably forgot why he listed as injured in the first place. I know I did. Was it something to do with his ankle?

 

That’s Bad – Check that net for shrink wrap – The Caps may have been shut out versus Columbus but it certainly wasn’t for lack of effort. Washington poured the shots on goal, and outshot Columbus 45-23. They had at least four shots ring off the post but nothing seemed to bounce the Caps way.

 

That’s Good! – The Capitals bounced back from their 3-0 loss by hanging four goals on their next opponent; The Montreal Canadiens.

 

That’s Bad – Unfortunately the Canadiens scored five. The Caps entered the third period with a 2-1 lead, but let the Canadiens score four goals in the third while only scoring two themselves. The game appeared to be headed to Overtime, but that chance slipped away with 00:21 seconds left in regulation.

 

That’s Good! – A pattern of Hope? – The Caps have been shut out three times this season. They have lost the next game after each shutout, but have gone on to win six of the next seven after that.

 

That’s Bad – Unfortunately the Caps face the Bruins (twice) and Redwings as three of their next seven opponents. Boston is currently ranked second in the league standings followed by the Detroit Redwings at third, and Capitals at fourth.

 

That’s Bad – Part Two – Who’s this friggin’ Guy? – The Caps only had to register a point to send their Coach Bruce Boudreau to the All-Star game as an assistant coach for the Eastern Conference. Montreal had to win to send their coach Guy (pronounced “Ghee”) Carbonneau. Bruce is going to watch the game at home with the rest of us; While Montreal gets yet another All-Star nod.

 

Funny how the All-Star game is being played in Montreal; The Montreal Canadiens already have four starters for the All-Star game even though they are the fourth place team in the conference. The game that decides which coach gets the nod is decided in Montreal. The Canadiens are given two 5-on-3 power-plays after the Caps get the go-ahead goal in the second period and convert for two goals to start the third period….

 

…I’m calling shenanigans!

 

The Wrap up – Even though the Caps lost their last two games, they really didn’t play all that bad. There were a few times where a guy might be out of position, and a couple of times where guys bumped into each other, but some of that is to be expected when you shuffle up the line combinations as the Caps did when they got Fleischmann and Federov back.

 

I’m not quite ready to hit the panic button just yet. Yes the Caps lost two in a row, but nobody wins them all. They are still in good shape and none of their rankings slid (they are still first in their division, second in their conference and fourth in the league). Their opponents did get to catch up on them a little though so they will need to get back on the winning track to keep their conference and league rankings in place. Otherwise, they are in no real danger in the Southeast as they still hold a 10-point lead there.

 

Coming up – The Caps start their week off tomorrow at Verizon Center when they welcome in the 21^st ranked Edmonton Oilers. Immediately after that they head up to Pittsburgh on Wednesday to face a Penguins team that has lost eight of their last ten games. They finish their week on Saturday by welcoming the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins to Verizon Center.

 

Final Thought – The Capitals are one superstar goalie away from being the best team in the league. It’s hard to say anything bad about the work that Johnson and Theodore have been doing as of late, but I’m not ready to consider them “franchise goaltenders” just yet. My blood boils when I consider the burn left by Cristobal Huet as he spurned the Caps for Chicago. The thoughts of what could’ve been will really drive you crazy.

 

The fact that Johnson and Theodore are playing so “on the bubble” makes it difficult to say the Caps should bring Varlamov up from the AHL for good, because he is still technically an unknown. So unless Caps GM George McPhee has any other magic tricks up his sleeve that can pull in a guy like Steve Mason or Roberto Luongo, I don’t think the Caps are true cup contenders this year.

 

This doesn’t mean that they won’t be fun to watch in the meantime, and you never know when it comes to George McPhee, we’ve seen him pull rabbits out of hats before.

Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Bruce Boudreau, Caps Recap, Mike Green, Nicklas Backstrom

Capital Observations 12/8/08

The Washington Capitals had an up and down week, going 2-2 in their four games. Even though the Caps only came away with four of the possible eight points from last week, they still managed to improve their lead in the Southeast by one point.

 

The Caps also increased their already impressive injury list from eight players to ten; adding Eric Fehr and Tyler Sloan to the ranks of the walking wounded. Considering that the Caps injured list contains Alex Semin, Mike Green and Chris Clark most (rational) people find it easy to forgive the Caps if they drop a few games here or there; as long as they continue to win more than they lose.

 

Vs. Florida vs. Versus 12/2/08 – The Caps were blacked out on Tuesday night thanks to the Versus channel’s exclusivity agreement with the NHL. The Caps started off their December with their first regulation-loss of the season at home.

 

In a game that was very reminiscent of their loss to the Minnesota Wild, the Caps spent most of the game losing only to get two quick goals in the third period to bring the game to within a goal of overtime by a score of 3-4. The Caps pulled Jose Theodore to gain the extra attacker with 1:19 left, only to see their hopes dashed when the Panthers scored on the empty net.

 

The Caps almost seemed cursed as two of Florida’s initial four goals came off Caps players; one of which was scored when David Steckel made an unwise cross-ice pass only to hit Karl Alzner in the skate and watch the puck rebound to beat Theodore, five-hole.

 

The Best of What’s Left – As if to prove my point that most (rational) people are ready to forgive the Caps the occasional bad game, the media tried to supply Coach Boudreau with all the excuses he needed for their loss. Their questions were about the “bad luck” of having two goals scored off Caps players, and the impact of so many injuries.

 

To their credit, Coach Boudreau and the team would have none of it. The players took responsibility for not stepping up for the injured players and Coach Boudreau refused to take the bait on the offered excuses and instead seemed angry at the loss.

 

Is there any question why Coach Boudreau wins so many games and why he’s so loved by the fan base?

 

Vs. New York Islanders and vs. Hot Dogs Everywhere 12/4/08 – The Caps came into Thursday’s game hungry for a win; the fans came to “Dollar Dog Night” just plain hungry; both came away satisfied. The Caps pasted the Islanders by a score of 5-3 and the fans devoured a record 13,700 hot dogs.

 

The Caps jumped out to a two goal lead, and ended the first period with a score of 2-1. New York scored the lone goal in the second period to tie the game at two all, but the Caps unleashed the fury scoring three goals in the third and sending the Verizon faithful home fat and happy.

 

Heeeeeere’s Johnny – Brent Johnson broke his four-game losing streak by having a solid performance against the Isles. Johnny stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced. The Caps helped Johnny’s cause by playing sound defense and peppering Islanders Goaltender Joey MacDonald with 47 shots on goal.

 

And another one bites the dust – The New York Islanders were the only team in the Eastern Conference not to have been beaten by Coach Boudreau prior to Thursday’s game. The Caps had not beaten the Islanders in Verizon since March 6^th, 2006.

 

Sharing is caring – The Caps final goal came on the empty net. Alex Ovechkin took off with a rebound and skated through center ice two-on-one against Mark Streit with Nicklas Backstrom as his wingman. While most players might try and take the risky shot around the defenseman, Alex simply passed the puck over to Nick and let the young Swede get the goal.

 

@ Toronto vs. the Past 12/6/08 – The Caps came into Air Canada center and found their former Coach Ron Wilson and his Maple Leafs. These two teams showed how evenly they were matched as the game came right down to the wire with the go ahead goal of a 2-1 game being scored in the third period.

 

Way to go, Rook – Karl Alzner scored the game’s first goal, and the first of his career, on a shot from the blue-line that would’ve made Mike Green proud.

 

Canadian for BS, eh? – Brooks Laich scored a goal shortly after Alzner and looked to have the two-goal lead, only to have it waved off after review. The Refs claimed Laich “kicked” the puck into the net. Now, I have a copy of the Official Rules, and it does say that kicking the puck is a no-goal, but it also says “a distinct kicking motion.” In the Laich’s case he was on top of the goalie, and swiveled toward the net trying to address the puck on the rebound. The puck bounced off his skate as he was moving towards the net, but his foot never left the ice, which I feel, would be an essential part of a “distinct kicking motion.”

 

Heeeeeere’s Johnny; part two – Brent Johnson had a relatively quiet night stopping 19 of 20 shots and getting his second consecutive win. Johnny was obviously having fun Saturday night and even registered a shot on goal!

 

First Star, with no goals and no assists – Alex Ovechkin. If that doesn’t give you an idea how big a star he is in Canada, nothing will.

 

@ Carolina vs. Jet Lag 12/7/08 – By the time the final horn sounded on the Caps and Maple Leafs the Caps had 19.5 hours before their next game in Carolina; Less than that if you count all of the other post game stuff they do. To add insult to injury, the Caps added more injuries to their list with Tyler Sloan (who took a nasty shot to the skate boot) and Eric Fehr (who jammed his shoulder while finishing a check).

 

The Caps came into Carolina with a six point lead in the division, unfortunately they left with only a four-point lead as the ‘Canes dropped the Caps 3-1.

 

Carolina held a 1-0 lead throughout most of the game until the third period when the caps really turned up the heat. Washington came out of the dressing room fired up and launched a salvo of shots at Carolina goaltender Michael Leighton. The Caps persistence paid off when Nicklas Backstrom finally scored just shy of the midway mark of the third period to make the game 1-1.

 

The Caps looked like they were on the power-play for the first 15-minutes of period three; unfortunately they looked exhausted for the final five and allowed Carolina to score the go-ahead goal, and the game ending goal in those five.

 

It doesn’t get any easier – The Caps have only three games this week, with their first being at home versus Eastern-Conference-leading Boston (18-4-4) on Wednesday, then a home and away Friday and Saturday which will feature Ottawa (10-10-4) at Verizon and 2^nd-place-in-the-Northeast Montreal (15-6-5) on the road.

 

It’s amazing the Caps are doing as well as they are with as much talent as they have injured, but they will need to get healthy soon as they get ready to face the toughest team in the Eastern Conference in the Boston Bruins.

Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Brent Johnson, Capital Observations, Dollar Dog Night, Nicklas Backstrom