Capitals 4, Maple Leafs 1

What a great night for the Caps organization!  Mike Gartner’s number was lifted to the rafters prior to the game.  I remember seeing Gartner play when I was a kid, although I was particular to Bobby Carpenter at the time.  Scott Stevens and Rod Langway, among others, were also there.  That must have been a fun dinner to attend!

The Caps started slowly and I am sure it was due to the delay in the start of the game as the Caps had to stand at the bench while Toronto waited in the locker room.  However, the Caps skated well in the last two periods with Laich scoring twice from the front of the net.  This is where he usually gets his goals and they are much needed.  I read that he was told to simplify his game and that appears to be working as he has 5 goals in the last 8 games.  Very cool.  Ovie had another two goals of which one was an empty netter.  His first goal was a savable shot by Toskala, but it got by him.  Ovie created the goal courtesy of his hit on the defenseman which led to a turnover.  Nice work Ovie!

Isn’t Theo playing much better of late?  He looks more confident with his saves as rebounds go into the corners and there are no more bobbles of the puck.  He also looks quicker and more fluid in the net.  Hopefully, this is the Theo of old but it is still way to early to tell.  Let us hope it is.  Also, it appears Bradley is fine after going head first into the boards during the game.  It was a little scary at first.  Those who watched the game on TV saw Bradley say, “What happened?” when they got him up.  I was thinking concussion because that is usually the case.  However, I am reading that he is shaking it off.  How tough is this guy?  Finally, wasn’t it refreshing to see Clarkie playing like Clarkie?  He instigated and finished his checks and was a general nuisance to the Leafs.  I really enjoyed seeing it and hope he keeps it up.  The Caps need more toughness.

The Caps won 55% of the faceoffs during the game of which Steckel was 10 of 12.  That is why he kills penalties.  The Caps always win the faceoff battle which goes a long way toward winning the game.  They also outshot the Leafs 29-24.  Overall, another good win at home.

Thoughts?

Capitals 3, Sabres 2

If you have not seen the replay of Ovie’s goal last night, then do yourself a favor and watch it on YouTube.  This was a fantastic play as he went around three guys and scored while laying/falling on/to the ice.  Very cool!  It turned out to be the game winner.  Boyd Gordon had a nice tip in goal and Kozlov continues to impress with a laser shot that went 7 hole.  He has four goals in four games now.  I am very happy with his play over the past month.  The Caps outshot and outhit the Sabres and had a slight advantage in the faceoff circle.  The best news was that Theo looked good from the beginning of the game.  I don’t know if that has happened this season.  Maybe he is feeling confident from the Rangers win?  Finally, Backstrom continues to pile up the points with another three assists.

The Caps are still dealing with injuries, but word is that Green and Schultz are close to coming back.  Federov is on LTIR while Poti  and Semin are on IR.  The Caps continue to win despite all the injuries and that is fantastic.  Clarkie returned last night and had a couple of nice hits.  I would like to see him in front of the net more.  He would cause trouble for the goalie and maybe get a couple garbage goals.  Flash has pneumonia.  The good news just keeps rolling along.  Whatever.  The Caps are winning and so I am happy.

Thoughts?

Capitals 5, Rangers 4

Wow!  What a game!  After the first period, I was just sitting back and thinking about other things because the Caps were doing nothing except annoying me.  Theo showed again that he is “not there” mentally at times as he allowed a bad goal and didn’t even seem to want to save Callahan’s goal.  I am glad they pulled him.  But considering the Caps had 4 of 6 starting defenseman being call-ups from Hershey, everyone is hurt,  and being down 4-0 what odds would you have gotten on the Caps winning the game?  Again, wow!

An “Oh, by the way” goal from Ovechkin and a nice deflection by Flash pulled the Caps within two which was followed by a nice breakaway goal from Kozlov to make it 4-3.  Could you hear the deafening silence in MSG?  Ovie’s second goal was fantastic.  Absolutely fantastic which tied it up.  YouTube it if you can.  It was a great play.  Theo played very well over the last 35 minutes or so.  It is amazing how fickle his confidence is.

Overall, I think the Caps benefited from a letdown in intensity from the Rangers, however give the kudos to the Caps for staying in the game and believing they could win.  It was two points earned that shouldn’t have been.  Let’s see how these two points play out when the season ends.  Won’t it be funny if the extra point earned in OT and two points overall allow the Caps to jump into a higher seed than the Rangers.  Could be?!

Thoughts?

Flyers 7, Capitals 1

Ugh yeah.  I think we will all choose to forget about this one.  This is the type of game that shows how far the Caps still need to go.  The Caps put 25 shots on Nittymaki in the first period and he saved every one and looked rather calm doing it.  He flat out saved the game for Philly and they went on to win as the Caps decided not to play in the second and third period.  The Caps had power plays and didn’t score, but Philly did on theirs and even had a shorthanded goal thanks to Green not being a defenseman.  He was a -4 for the night.  He is not even trying to play defense it appeared at times.  I would rather he played defense than offense since he is a defenseman.  Call me crazy.  Nittymaki is the perfect example of what the Caps need in goal to go to the next level.  He was flat out incredible.  48 shots were taken and he saved 47 of them.  I hate Philly, but I think they are the best in the East.  It is scary to think that New Jersey, Philly, and Pittsburgh are all that good and you can add in Boston, New York, and Buffalo.  I don’t think the Caps could beat any one of those teams in the playoffs.  Not at the moment anyway.  We’ll see how the season unfolds, but they are benefiting from a weak division.  I think the Caps need a toughness lesson.

The only highlights from last night’s game were the two fights Brashear got into.  Riley Cote decided he wanted to be tough and ended up with a cut under one eye and come out for the second period looking like Rocky.  Brash destroyed him!  It was sooooo cool.  And Cote proved his IQ is smaller than his shoe size by coming after Brash again in the third period.  One punch.  End of fight.  Brash just pointed his finger at him.  Very cool.

Philly is good folks and when Briere and their wounded defense gets healthy they are going to be even better.  That is scary.  Who wouldn’t like Carter, Briere, and Richards as your top three centers?  Wow.  The Caps really need to get healthy, get better in goal, hit more, and play more physical hockey in order to be succesful.  I hope Boudreau gets this team going.

Thoughts?

Capitals 4, Blues 2

The Caps continue to win at home.  They are now 13-1-1 in their games at the Verizon Center and have the best home record in the conference.  That bodes well come playoff time as they will most likely be the #3 seed, at worst, barring a terrible second two-thirds of the season.  It was nice to see Kozlov score two goals as he has been playing much better over the past month.  He must feel good about scoring after getting so many assists.

Yet again, Eric Fehr saves himself from the beating I want to give him.  Just when he frustrates me so much I want him sent back to Hershey, he goes and does something well.  This game was no exception.  He made the steal along the wall and made a beautiful pass to a wide open Flash in front the net.  The result?  Goal!  It looked like Flash was a little startled to suddenly have the puck.  That was how fast Fehr did it.  So, Fehr is out of my doghouse…..for now.

How good was Varlomov?  I didn’t see the Montreal game, but he was very good in this one as well.  He has stopped 61 of 64 shots in his first two games.  He was quick, agile, and athletic in the net and always challenged the shot.  I was very impressed.  He will probably be sent back to Hershey when Theo is back.  The future is bright in goal it seems for the Capitals.  That is good because the present doesn’t appear so sunny.  I am not thrilled with Theo and Johnnie, while playing very well over the past ten games, doesn’t give me the warm fuzzies in the playoffs.  We’ll see.

And again, Semin is hurt.  A really cheap shot by Backes may be keeping Semin out of the lineup for some time.  Who went and punched Backes in the face?  Ovie.  Yeah, that is great but I would rather see the whole team do something than just one guy.  Especially, given the cheapness of it.  Whatever.  At any rate, it could be some time before Semin is back as he was quoted as saying it could be a nerve in his lower back.  That isn’t good.

Thoughts?

Capitals 5, Islanders 4

The Caps dodged a bullet in this one, although they played well for most of the game.  A lack of intensity in the third period allowed the Islanders to tie the game after being down two goals.  None of the goals given up by Johnnie were “softies” as three of the goals were deflections.  In fact, the Caps had a softie goal of their own as Laich’s dribbler was misplayed by MacDonald and went into the net.  Ovie had two nice goals, one of which on a beautiful behind the back pass from Semin, and the other on a turnover that he won the game with in overtime.  Boyd Gordon got an ugly, hard working goal that is so typical of him.  He is so underrated.  Even Jurcina decided to shoot and got a goal for his efforts.  The Caps dominated in shots after two periods, but the game ended virtually tied due to their soft play.  Finally, the Caps dominated the faceoff circle during the game as Nylander, Gordon, and Steckel won 75%, 63%, and 67% of their faceoffs.  The Caps continue to do very well in this area.

I read that Boudreau was unhappy with the Caps play allowing the Islanders back into the game after being up 2-0 and 4-2.  I imagine it will be a tough practice today.  The Caps play St. Louis Thursday night at home.  Hopefully, the play will be better.  However, the Caps got a win on the road and that is a good thing.  Isn’t it nice though that Caps are not satisfied with just winning?  That is a good sign.

Thoughts?

Capitals 2, Canadiens 1

I didn’t get to see this game as the Caps played in Montreal.  I don’t understand why they do that but whatever.  I saw the highlights and Varlamov was very impressive.  Nylander’s goal was absolutely fantastic and allowed the Caps to get a good win on the road.  Of course, Federov, Sloan, and Backstrom got hurt.  The Caps can’t play a game without someone getting hurt.  It is impossible it seems.  Hopefully, they will be ready for the Islanders on Tuesday.  The Caps dominated the faceoff circle as they won 36 faceoffs versus only 20 for Montreal.  How nice is it for the Caps to have the depth they do?

Thoughts?

Capitals 5, Ottawa 1

Well, the Capitals continue to be an awesome team at home and less than stellar on the road.  After beating the Bruins a couple of days ago, the Caps dominated the Senators from beginning to end in this one.  They forechecked really well and it led to many Ottawa turnovers.  One of these turnovers led to Laich’s goal on a beautiful tic-tac-toe pass play with Federov and Bradley.  It was nice to see Laich get a goal after a ten game drought.  Also, how nice was it to have Green and Federov back in the lineup after getting Poti back against Boston?  It paid some dividends didn’t it?  Federov had three assists and Green had a goal and two assists.  Very cool.  The Caps are still giving up too many shots, but Johnnie has been pushing them aside.  Thank goodness.  Johnnie has been lights out over the last four starts.  His save percentage is almost 96% and is 4-0 over that stretch.  Now, Theo is hurt along with Fehr.  How many people can this team put on IR?  I think the Caps should just bring up all of Hershey.  Crazy.  Well, they keep winning and that is the important thing.  They need to get better on the road.  Tomorrow’s game versus Montreal will be a good indicator.  Most likely, Varlomov will be in goal in order to rest Johnnie.  Let’s see how he does.

Thoughts?

Hurricanes 3, Capitals 1

Wow.  This was a bad ending to a good effort.  The Caps proved again that they are not a good road team and this was one they needed to get with Boston, Montreal, and Ottawa coming to town.  This could be the start of a four game losing streak.  Once again, I am going to get on Backstrom.  His bad, errant, misinformed, stupid, moronic backpass in the Cap’s zone led to Ray Whitney’s first goal.  Additionally, he did not backcheck and Lepisto was stuck fending off two guys behind the net.  Of course, he fell down and Backstrom stood there looking at the pretty lights while Johnnie was hung out to dry.  Backstrom is a good passer.  There is no argument on that, however he does not play defense.  He gave up two goals today because of it.

When is Ovie going to score one on one?  I don’t believe I have seen him score on a penalty shot which amazes me.  He is 0 for 5 on them in reguation.  He is less than 20% in OT.  That is startling.  You can tell it upsets him, but I don’t see any improvement.  I am not sure if he is working on it in practice.  I would think he would be. 

The Caps have some good young defenseman.  It is easy to see why Hershey is so good.  I guess I wonder what happens to the forwards in the transition.  Fehr, Giroux, Laich, Steckel were all goal scorers in the AHL and none of that has translated to the NHL.  Hopefully, the Caps will get some guys back for Wednesday night against Boston.  They are going to need shooters to get the puck by Thomas.  He is playing really well this year.  We’ll see how they do.

Thoughts?

Capitals 2, Maple Leafs 1

This game was blacked out in my area.  I listened to it on the Internet which is sooooooo much better.  Yeah, right.  I saw Alzner’s goal which was cool, on replay, and it is nice to see him trying to improve from what I have been reading.  I think he is going to be a good one for the Caps.  Next year’s starting D could be Green, Alzner, Morrison, and Jurcina.  That would be very nice as they are all young and would provide an excellent foundation for the next five to ten years.  Hopefully, the Caps will win the division and advance to the second round in the playoffs.  Of course, if the playoffs started today the Caps would face Philly.  That would not be a matchup I would want for the Caps in the first round.  We’ll see.  A long way to go yet.

Thoughts?