Capitals 2, Rangers 1

It wasn’t all that long ago that Jose Theodore was pulled in favor of a noticeably ill Brent Johnson after giving up three goals on five shots to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It was the eighth time in nine appearances Theodore had given up at least three goals, and with Johnson playing well it seemed Theodore was destined to be relegated to a backup role - not to mention to be labeled one of the offseason’s biggest busts.

If Johnson hadn’t been sick that evening Theodore probably wouldn’t have found his way back into the net, but Caps fans should be glad he did. Since then Theodore has played 280 minutes and conceded only seven goals, stopping 116 of the 123 shots he’s faced, putting up a 1.50 goals against average and a .943 save percentage, numbers reminiscent of the netminder’s 2001-02 Hart Trophy season. Obviously Theodore’s hot streak isn’t going to continue for the rest of the season but what he has done is show what he is capable of and in the process made goaltending look much less like the vulnerability many feared it would be on opening night. With Karl Alzner’s recall and Milan Jurcina’s subsequent resurgent play the defense has also been substantially upgraded, which begs the question, ‘Does this team have any major weakness, and if not, what’s to stop them from being a legitimate Stanley Cup contender?’

Quick Hits

• It’s good that Chris Clark is showing the tenacity and attitude that made him a captain and fan favorite…but getting KO’d by Wade Redden still has to be embarrassing.
• Speaking of fights, after seeing Alexander Semin without his pads on you’d have an awfully hard time convincing me he’s within fifteen pounds of the 205 he’s listed at - even if he actually is 6′2”.  Nice bling though.
• Speaking of Semin, it may have been my imagination but he looked a little less willing to get hit in his first game back from injury.  Given how he’s played in the past, that might not be a bad thing.
• Eric Fehr looks like he’s about 90% of the way towards being a twenty-goal, fifty-point power forward.  His 2009-10 could be analogous to Tomas Fleischmann’s 2008-09.
• Did Craig Laughlin really say the Capitals were “arguably” the best team in D.C.?  Just to recap, the Nationals have the first pick in next June’s draft, the Wizards are 6-25, the United were 11-15-4 last season, and the Redskins finished at .500.  If there’s an argument that the Caps aren’t the best team is town, I’d love to hear it.
• Speaking of Laughlin, has anyone else noticed that he thinks 80% of goals go in through the “seven hole”?
• A quick lesson in “careful what you wish for”: Saved By Zero may be gone but those NetStar-1 ads where the guy distorts his face while imitated are race car are definitely worse.
• How good is Alexander Ovechkin?  He had a goal, nine shots, and six hits and he didn’t really seem to be any better than most night.

Capitals 1, Flyers 7

25-6. 12-9. 4-9. 15-13. Those were the totals in shots, hits, giveaways, and faceoffs for the Capitals and Flyers in the first period of yesterday’s game, numbers that are indicative of just how one-sided a period it was.

Of course, domination in these statistics doesn’t really mean all that much if they aren’t converted into scoring chances. By not picking up at least a two goal lead and instead actually going into the first intermission down a goal, the Capitals gave the Flyers not only an opportunity to regroup, but an opportunity to realize that despite being (almost) completely dominated in the first period, they were in a position to win the game.

Say what you will about the Flyers, but there’s no doubt Philadelphia has a very talented hockey team with more than enough blue-collar work ethic, and there was not way they were going to let this one get away unless the Capitals responded quickly. The Caps, of course, could not do so and although this game wound up 7-1, it was all but decided when Jeff Carter scored to put the Flyers up 2-0.

Usually when a team goes down by six goals there’s plenty of blame to go around, but that’s not really the case today. The bangers banged, the fighters fought, and the skilled players pressured Antero Niittymaki and the Flyer defense. It might be tempting to point the finger at Brent Johnson’s unspectacular performance (three goals allowed on thirteen shots), which was magnified by Niittymaki’s brilliance (47 saves on 48 shots) at the other end, but it is awfully hard to blame the goalie when his team only scores once.

Ultimately there’s no complex series of reasons that the Capitals lost today. Niittymaki stole two points for his team and, well, sometimes it’s just not your day.

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Quick Hits

• Presumably yesterday’s game will end talk of Donald Brashear being unwilling to fight anymore. His two fighting majors give him seven for the season, which comes out to one every 4.57 games or .212 per game. That puts Brashear on pace for 17 fights this season. The last time Brashear had as many was 1998-99. If he’d be allowed to drop the gloves with Aaron Asham he’d be on pace for 20, a number that would have put him sixth in the league last season.
• I know Tom Poti was hurt for part of the game and I know the Capitals spent a lot of time on the powerplay, but asking Mike Green to play over 29 minutes while still coming back from a shoulder injury is too much.
• Sean Collins was the lone Capitals play with a positive plus-minus, at +1.
• People can say what they want about the Capitals missing out on the chance to draft Ryan Getzlaf.  Missing out on the chance to draft Mike Richards is a lot more painful.

Capitals 4, Blues 2

If you’re a Capitals fan at this point you’re probably hoping for one, just one, game where the team wins and no one gets hurt. That seemingly small request was apparently too much for the hockey gods yet again last night, as Mike Green and Alexander Semin were both unable to finish last night’s contest against the Blues. Green’s injury was a simple re-aggravation of the shoulder he injured in Anaheim. Semin’s injury…well, Semin’s injury probably warrants a little more discussion.

The hit that caused Semin’s injury - a moderate cross check from behind by David Backes - is itself less interesting than the response it produced from the Capitals: none beyond Backes being chest-bumped to the ice by Alexander Ovechkin.

I’m sure there was more than one Capitals fan calling for blood after Semin gingerly left the ice with what appeared to be a knee injury. I’m not one of them - Backes’ play should have been penalized, as the trip on Semin seconds earlier should have been, but it was far from the type of play that could warrant a suspension or even a major. With that said, it’s difficult to understand why the only Capital who reacted to the play was Ovechkin.

Caps Blue Line 3 Stars
(1) Viktor Kozlov - 2 goals, 1 assist, +1
(2) Simeon Varlamov
(3) Alexander Ovechkin - 1 goal, +1, 7 hits

Quick Hits

• What could Keith Tkachuk possibly have thought mouthing off to Donald Brashear would accomplish? I may not know all the nuances of the game at the NHL level, but I can tell you this: Brash ain’t afraid of Tkachuk.
• Michael Nylander had a terrible game, with several bad turnovers and an inexplicable decision to hold the puck for almost ten second and run out the clock in the second period.
• I feel like it must be a bad thing that the only time I notice Sean Collins is when he’s taking a penalty.
• Kozlov owes his first goal in part to Nicklas Backstrom.  Kozlov was able to carry the puck to the net so easily because Barret Jackman was more concerned with shoving Backstrom around than playing defense.
• I’ve been watching hockey since I was about seven and last night was the first time I could remember seeing two goalies with plain white masks in one game.

Capitals 4, Lightning 2

It wouldn’t be fair to speculate on exactly what would have constituted a successful return to Washington Olaf Kolzig but it’d be a pretty fair assumption that neither allowing goals on his first two shots nor letting in three in the first period played into his ideal scenario. But that’s exactly what happened as the Capitals took advantage of an obvious mismatch in skill and skating ability to jump out early on the Lightning.

Kolzig’s performance on the night, especially in the first period, was reminiscent of his play last season: while you can’t entirely fault him for any of the three goals the Capitals scored in the first period, there’s no way he should have let all three get by him. Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, Brent Johnson turned in another stellar effort for the Capitals.

Johnson’s play of late hasn’t created a goaltending controversy simply because his play has been good enough that there shouldn’t be any doubt that he should be playing ahead of Jose Theodore. Johnson’s never been able to hold down a starting job at the NHL level and there’s definitely not any reason to name him the starter through thick and thing, but right now Johnson’s not only making the saves he has to make (which is all anyone expected the Capitals would need their netminder to do in order to be successful this season), he’s making a lot of quality stop to bail out him teammates and inspire confidence.

Caps Blue Line 3 Stars
(1) Brent Johnson
(2) Alexander Ovechkin - 1 goal, 1 assist, 4 hits, +2
(3) Tom Poti - 1 goal, +2

Quick Hits

• It’s nice when linemates have chemistry by Ovechkin and Alexander Semin might like each other a little too much: there’s no need to be that generous with the pass/shoot decisions, guys.
• The other former Caps wearing Bolts pajamas colors was Steve Eminger, who finished with an assist, three hits, and three blocked shots but was also a -3.
• Donald Brashear’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, on a high-sticking call of all things, showed a tremendous lapse in judgment for a36-year-old veteran wearing an ‘A’.
  
• Eric Fehr had a goal and four shots in his 10:14 of ice time.  I know I’m not the only one who wants to see what he could do with more.
• Don VanMassenhoven’s mustache look amazing in HD.  Joe Beninati’s brown suit/orange tie combination did not.
  

Capitals 3, Rangers 1

If there was a theme from last night’s game for the Capitals it would probably be “you’ve got to be good to be lucky” as, for the first period at least, everything seemed to be going the Capitals way: Alexander Semin’s wrister gets stopped by Henrik Lundqvist but bounces off the glass behind the net and back out for Brooks Laich to tip in. Boyd Gordon loses the puck driving to the net but Tom Poti’s in the perfect position to tip it in as the net just barely stays on its pegs. And, of course, Alexander Semin scores a 190-foot goal off a spin move to seal the deal with six seconds left.

Caps Blue Line 3 Stars
(1) Brent Johnson
(2) Brooks Laich - 1 goal, 4 shots, 2 hits, +1
(3) Alexander Semin - 1 goal, 1 assist, +1

Quick Hits

• As soon as Tomas Fleischmann finds some measure of consistency, he could be a poor man’s Alexander Semin - and that ain’t bad for the second line.
• Speaking of Fleischmann, he was last night the focal point of one of the rarest moments in Capitals history.  At 9:10 of the second period Fleischmann hit an opposition player and the opposition player fell down.
• If John Erskine’s is worth $1.25 million a season, Tyler Sloan has to be worth at least $2 million.
• Brent Johnson’s pokecheck on Chris Drury’s penalty shot was impressive not only for the reflexes it took, but for the poise Johnson showed.
• Nicklas Backstrom continues to look better and better as he (presumably) gets into better shape.  In the first half dozen games of this season, there’s no way Backstrom catches the Rangers player on that shorthanded breakaway.
• The more I see him play, the more I’m convinced Aaron Voros is going to be the next Tomas Holmstrom.
• Sure, the Capitals won, they looked good, both goalies played great games, Semin scored a 190-foot goal.  That’s all well and good, but for me the highlight of the game was not having to hear “saved by zero” a single time.

Capitals 3, Hurricanes 2

At some point during his thirty-eight goal 2006-07 season, I started expecting Alexander Semin to score any time he had the puck within ten feet of the opponent’s goal or an open shot in the slot. His injury-plagued and somewhat disappointing 2007-08 campaign dampened that enthusiasm but with the way Semin’s been producing this season, he’s pretty much back to where he was in 06-07 in my book and, naturally, his two goals night against the Hurricanes didn’t hurt.

As much credit as Semin deserves, Alexander Ovechkin played a critical role in Semin’s second goal. Last season, Ovechkin made a habit of cutting across the middle and firing a shot on goal after he had gained the blue line, picking up a lot of goals in the process. This season defensemen have been more aware of this tendency and have been playing Ovechkin tighter once he starts moving towards the slot. What Ovechkin did so well on the play leading to Semin’s goal was to pass the puck rather than try and force a bad play some which Ovechkin, for all his talents, does too often.

Not to be lost in the celebration of the two Alexes is the performance Brent Johnson put in, stopping thirty-two of thirty-four Hurricanes shots and keep pace with Cam Ward. Even if that Tuomo Ruutu goal was pretty ugly.

Caps Blue Line 3 Stars
(1) Alexander Semin
(2) Alexander Ovechkin
(3) Brent Johnson

Quick Hits

• Bruce Boudreau must have had a talk with Mike Green following the team’s loss to Buffalo because Green’s played much better defense in the team’s last couple of games.
• Tomas Fleischmann continues to be an enigma and to have once again disappeared from the game.
• Ovechkin and John Erskine accounted for twelve of the Capitals twenty-one hits.

Capitals 0, Sabres 5

As last night’s shutout at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres wore on I found myself increasingly believing in a rather unsettling thought: with how the Capitals have played this season, they’re lucky to be 5-4-1 after their first ten games. It isn’t necessarily that the Caps are picking up a ton of points in games they should be losing (though you could argue the wins against Pittsburgh and Dallas were lucky to at least some degree), but that the team continues to make the same bad decisions, take the same types of lazy penalties, and make the same mistakes game in and game out, and often in abundance.

Each of the Sabres’ three first period goals was a direct result of a play where a Capital player lost focus and made some kind of unnecessary error: Thomas Vanek scored by getting behind Mike Green and fending off the Capitals defenders attempts to disrupt his puckhandling; Derek Roy scored after the Capitals had killed off a minute and half of a five-on-three powerplay after back-to-back bad penalties by Donald Brashear and Jeff Schultz; Jason Pominville scored after a poor pass by John Erskine was mishandled by Green.  Without a stellar performance from Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, or Jose Theodore to bail them out, the Capitals were all but finished after the first period.  Ryan Miller’s fourteen-save second buried whatever hope the Caps had left.

There was some good that deserves mention as well,  Tomas Fleischmann seems to getting more and more comfortable each game, and his willingness to move in high-traffic areas bodes well for for future, Nicklas Backstrom looked as sharp as he has at any point this season, and Brooks Laich continued his consistently solid play.

Quick Hits

• Ten Sabres players registered points; twelve had at least one blocked shot.  Only three Sabres did not either have a point or a blocked shot.
• Somehow the Sabres managed to rack up twenty-six giveaways to Washington’s eight.
• Only two Capitals players (John Erskine and David Steckel) did not have a negative plus/minus on the night.

Capitals 1, Flames 2

Very few people would dispute that the Washington Capitals are a more skilled team than the Calgary Flames. However, as the Capitals seem to be learning the hard way, it takes more than just skill and flair to consistently win games in the NHL.

The story of the night for the Capitals was mistakes, one after the other. Sure the Capitals made some very nice passing plays and generated some exciting scoring chances but that wasn’t enough to cover their myriad of errors: a blown nine minute powerplay, a Shaone Morrisonn clearing attempt that was picked off the put home for the first Flames goal, Mike Green getting caught behind the Flames net and giving the Flames an odd man rush…while the Capitals were shorthanded.

And then of course, there were the penalties.

In total the Capitals took ten minor penalties and gave the Flames seven powerplays, including three five-on-threes. What’s even worse is that so many of the penalties were preventable: Michael Nylander’s offensive zone holding penalty while the Capitals were on what would have been a nine minute powerplay, Shaone Morrisonn’s careless high-sticking minor, John Erskine’s unnecessary cross check with four seconds remaining in the first period, Sergei Fedorov’s holding the stick penalty, David Steckel’s brain cramp throwing the stick penalty, and Chris Clark’s slashing penalty were all avoidable. Skill can make up for an awful lot, but it’s not going to make up for that level of carelessness, or laziness, or lack of focus, or whatever else you want to call it.

Caps Blue Line 3 Stars
(1) Jose Theodore
(2) Sergei Fedorov – 1 goal, +1
(3) Jeff Schultz – 1 assist, +1, 3 blocked shots

Quick Hits

• I like the idea of Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin on the penalty kill, but Tomas Fleischmann?  He’s a mediocre defensive player and doesn’t have the explosive offensive ability a player needs to be a real threat shorthanded.
• Only one Capitals player (Sergei Fedorov) won more than half of their faceoffs.
• Jose Theodore looks like he may have come around.  Now if Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom could do the same, the Caps would really be in business.
• After failing to convert on the nine minute powerplay and going 0-for-5 on the night, it might be time to start worrying about the powerplay a little.

Capitals 3, Devil 4 (SO)

Lou Lamoriello has been the general manager of the New Jersey Devils since 1987 and in the twenty-plus seasons he’s had to shape the organization a visit from the Devils has generally meant one thing: a low-scoring, defensive-minded game. But on Saturday night the Devils deviated from their typical strategy, taking the Capitals own game to them, notching thirty-seven shots and weathering eight Capitals powerplays en route to a 4-3 shootout win in a game that featured a fair amount of wide open play and teams trading scoring chances.

The major problems for the Capitals were twofold last night. One was relatively straightforward: the Capitals powerplay only converted one of eight chances. In fact, on at least two of the man advantages the Capitals didn’t even get a shot off. But the Caps have one of the best collections of skilled players in the NHL and the powerplay has still converted 18.5% of its chances this season, even after last night. Even the league’s best have a bad night every now and then.

The bigger concern is that the Capitals once again started slowly despite Bruce Boudreau’s emphasis on a quick start during the team’s preparation for the game. Obviously the team’s start against New Jersey wasn’t as dire as the ones against Pittsburgh, Chicago, or Atlanta, where the team was outscored by a combined total of 8-2 and outshot by a total of 31-23. But the Capitals were outshot by 14-9, including 11-3 at one point, and tied the period. Going into the intermission with the score level isn’t necessarily a bad thing but through five games, the Capitals still have yet to win a first period. As adept as the team has become at coming back under Boudreau, it’s not feasible to expect to win every game having to do so. Plus, comebacks take a lot out of team and come March, April, and the playoffs the Capitals are still going to want to have something left in the tank.

Caps Blue Line 3 Stars
(1) Alexander Semin – 2 goals, +1
(2) Mike Green – 1 goal, 3 shots, 2 shot blocks, 34:05 of ice time
(3) Brent Johnson

Quick Hits

• Alexander Semin’s $4.2 million salary is really starting to look like a bargain, isn’t it?
• Alexander Ovechkin is still really pressing.
• Nicklas Backstrom had his best game of the season thus far, skating the way he did in the post-Hanlon portion of last season.  It might be because he’s getting in better shape: Al Koken said that Backstrom showed up about twenty pounds heavier this season, probably not a shock to many Capitals fans, but still interesting given that he’s actually listed at twenty pounds lighter than he was last year.
• If I told you I would offer you fifty dollars if you correctly guess whether John Erskine would wind up with more puck-over-the-glass delay of game penalties or points, which would you choose?

Capitals 4, Penguins 3

It’s not too often you’ll go into a third period trailing by two goals and come out on top against an NHL team. It’s even rarer that you’ll be able to do it against a team as talented at the current Pittsburgh Penguins squad. But then again, there aren’t too many team with the skill and tenacity of the current Washington Capitals squad, who rallied for three unanswered goals in the third period last night, outshooting the Penguins 21-6 in the game’s final frame

Of course such a dramatic comeback would not have been necessary had the Capitals not repeatedly shot themselves in the foot during the game’s first two periods, which saw a weak goal allowed by Jose Theodore, a too many men on the ice penalty, a puck-over-the-glass penalty (also known as the John Erskine special) while the team was already shorthanded, and three powerplay goals conceded, all while the Capitals managed to put only nine shots on Marc-Andre Fleury.

But give the Capitals credit: they could have cursed their luck, decided they just weren’t clicking as a team, and folded. And there’s a pretty good chance that they would have at this time last year. With that in mind, it’s nice to see that the Capitals still have the same kind of spirit they did last season and still have the ability to come back against the best teams in the league.

Here’s hoping they don’t have to do it all that often.

Caps Blue Line 3 Stars
(1) Alexander Semin - 1 goal, 1 assist, +2
(2) Tomas Fleischmann - 1 goal, 1 assist, +2
(3) Michael Nylander - 1 goal, 1 assist, +2

Quick Hits

• Alexander Semin was (again) the best Capitals player on the ice.
• Tom Poti left the game with a groin strain after eight shifts and Sergei Fedorov moved back to defense.  Meanwhile the Caps forwards who have been scratches this year performed well: Boyd Gordon notched the game winning goal and was +1 while Eric Fehr has two assists and a +2 rating.
• One more game out of this by Tomas Fleischmann and I’ll be a believer.
• Fleischmann goal, from Brooks Laich and Fehr, was a thing of beauty all the way around: Fehr’s play to keep the puck in the zone, Laich’s effort to get the puck to the front of the net, and Fleischmann’s poise to finish.  And the funny thing is, it was probably the Capitals’ third prettiest goal of the night.
• I think the Capitals/Penguins rivalry and the Ovechkin vs. Crosby angle affects Alex Ovechkin’s game. It seems like whenever the Capitals play the Penguins Ovechkin presses and ends up trying to do too much himself.
• Someone’s going to have to talk to these officials.  How is it possible that four hooking penalties, two slashing penalties, and ten minors were called in the first two periods and not a single penalty was called in the third?  Oh, right.
• Speaking of the officiating, how is it possible Hal Gill gets a roughing penalty for being the vicinity of Alex Semin and Sidney Crosby poking at each other when neither of those guys gets a penalty?
• …speaking of that little altercation: a Crosby/Semin fight would be worth the price of admission to me.
• …and speaking of fights, what was Matt Bradley thinking when he decided to go with Paul Bissonnette?  Don’t get me wrong, Bradley is tough customer and a solid middleweight pugilist but Bissonnette is a true heavyweight who logged 28 fights last year alone.
• The statistician at Mellon Arena must have a different way of computing hits than everyone else because Ovechkin was only credited with three.  Were they not counting ones on Evgeni Malkin?
• The Penguins were credited with an incredible26 blocked shots, eight of which were credited to defenseman Rob Scuderi.
• Of the Penguins 26 shots on goal, 14 were fired by either Crosby or Malkin.
  
• An interesting statistic: Mike Green leads the Capitals in shots on goal with 21.