After a two day break in which Washington hockey fans were left to revel in the early Christmas gift of a 5-4 comeback win over the Rangers, the Capitals are back home to take on another foe from New York, albeit it one that, at 16-13-5 thus far in 2008-09, doesn’t quite have the same pedigree as the 22-12-3 Rangers. Right?

Not quite. The Sabres are 5-2-2 in their last nine while the Rangers have won in regulation only twice since November 12th. A big reason for that might have to do with attitude. Whereas Rangers captain Chris Drury is apparently determined not to let a pesky little thing like blowing a 4-0 lead at home ruin his Christmas, Sabres forward Adam Mair said of his team’s consecutive overtime losses, “I just think it shows a lack of focus and a lack of willingness to shut the other team out and really take control of the game. I think that’s the killer instinct we’ve been looking for, the killer instinct we need to find.”  And if Capitals fans learned anything from the team’s 2007-08 run it should be that no one wants to face a team upset about their recent play and looking for a killer instinct.

Looking to stymie the development of said killer instinct will the now-usual suspects of Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Karl Alzner, a half dozen AHL players - and perhaps Simeon Varlamov, who was recalled to most likely take the place  Brent Johnson, who looked noticeably sick on Tuesday.

As a die-hard Capitals fan it’s awfully hard not to want to see more out of Varlamov. As a pragmatic, skeptical hockey fan…it’s hard not to want to see more out of Simeon Varlamov. It’s pretty likely that the Capitals are doing the best thing for the long term by keeping Varlamov in the AHL but he’s also looked better than Brent Johnson or Jose Theodore and put up better numbers than either of the verteran netminders, small sample size notwithstanding. Even if it is best to keep him at the AHL for this season, it does at least make sense to play him while he’s with the big club if he’s been the best goalie, doesn’t it?

Players to Watch

Washington
Alexander Ovechkin - Ovechkin was as dominant as a player can be in Tuesday night’s win, scoring two goals, taking thirteen shots, and carrying the team back from the four goal deficit. What’s he going to do for an encore?

Sabres
Chris Butler - Butler’s a 22 year old defenseman who hails from St. Louis. He’s played three games with the Sabres this season…and his +5 rating is tied for the team lead. Also of note: he’s listed at only 178 pounds.

Two days after beating the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference, the Capitals return home to take on the worst team in the Western Conference although the Blues, with 27 points (12-15-3), would actually be 12th in the East.

The teams might be near opposite ends of the standings but the Capitals and Blues have one thing very much in common: injuries. The Blues injury situation is just as dire as Washington’s with goalie Manny Legace, defensemen Jay McKee and Eric Brewer, and forwards Andy McDonald, T.J. Oshie, Paul Kariya and D.J. King all expected to miss tonight’s game. The injuries have been taking their toll on the Blues: the team is point-less in its last four games and has been outscored 21-11 in that stretch.

Coupling the Blues recent struggling with the Capitals 12-1-1 home record seems like a recipe for success but given the Capitals unfortunate habit of playing down to their competition at times this season, the two points are far from guaranteed.

Keys to the Game

Washington
Start fast. The Blues have given up the first goal in six of their last eight games and they’re 2-5-1 in that span. That’s not a coincidence.

St. Louis
Play physically. The Capitals have far more skill than this injury-riddled Blues squad, so if St. Louis tries to play a fast paced, end-to-end game, they’re going to be in a lot of trouble. Using the physicality of guys like Barrett Jackman, Cam Janssen, Dan Hinote and B.J. Crombeen is going to give the Blues their best chance of pulling out a win.

Players to Watch

Washington
Milan Jurcina - Jurcina has benefited immensely from being paired with Karl Alzner and has four points (two goals and two assists) and a +4 rating in December.

St. Louis
Patrik Berglund - Berglund, selected 25th overall in the 2006 entry draft, is tied for the lead in goals among rookies with 10 and is third among rookies in points with 20. His +10 rating is easily the best on the team (T.J. Oshie is second at +2) and is the only positive rating for anyone on the team who’s played more than 14 games.

There’s plenty to talk about regarding the Southeast Division rival Tampa Ba Lightning: the 2008 draft’s number one overall selection, Steven Stamkos. Barry Melrose’s return to coaching. The myriad of offseason acquisitions. Ryan Malone’s transformation from a near thirty goal scorer to enforcer (sort of).  But the story for this nationally televised game will undoubtedly be Olaf Kolzig’s return to Washington, even more so because he is tentatively scheduled to start.

Kolzig hasn’t played all that much this season, but when he has played he has played well enough to post a 1-1-1 record and a .925 save percentage and, along with fellow netminder Mike Smith, has helped the Bolts to a respectable 5-4-4 start to the season, even as many of their offseason acquisitions including Malone (three points, -2), Gary Roberts (one point, -3), and Radim Vrbata (one point) have sputtered.

Kolzig will be joined in his return to the District by fellow former Capitals Matt Pettinger, who was claimed off re-entry waivers from Vancouver, and Steve Eminger, who was traded (along with Steve Downie and a fourth round draft pick) for Matt Carle, the central piece of the trade that sent Dan Boyle to San Jose, in a move that is not being greeted warmly by Lightning fans. Jeff Halpern (injury) and Jamie Heward (AHL), both of whom are currently under contract with the Lightning, will not be playing.

Although the Lightning have been assembled in a manner more consistent with a twelve year old with a PlayStation than an NHL franchise, they are still sporting a decent record and are in third in the Southeast - although the latter may have more to do with the sorry state of the division than the talent of Tampa’s club. The Capitals need to be aware of the fact that Tampa still has guys who can score and defensemen who can move the puck and avoid going to sleep on the Lightning.

Keys to the Game

Washington
Move the puck around low in the Tampa Bay zone. Tampa’s defense corps is young and inexperienced and Olaf Kolzig doesn’t move all that well these days. If the Capitals keep the puck down low, and keep their forwards buzzing around the net, it’s going to be very hard for the Bolts to keep them off the board.

Tampa Bay
Limit defensive mistakes. With the aforementioned group of young defensemen and the scoring skill the Lightning have, what could really do them are turnovers, bad clearing attempts, and bad positioning.

Players to Watch

Washington
Nicklas Backstrom - he’s looking better every game and now that he’s skating with both Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin he should start producing.

Tampa Bay
Evgeny Artyukhin - he’s a 6′5”, 254 pound forward. You can’t tell me you’re not intrigued.

One of the better moves in recent NHL history was a decision to change the league’s scheduling system to allow each team to play each other team at least once every season. Of course, that decision doesn’t do much good if no one outside the arena can watch the game because Versus has an exclusive game featuring Philadelphia (2-3-3) and Atlanta (2-4-2). The number of Capitals fans who will get the opportunity to see the Nashville Predators tomorrow night is capped at 18,277, and I know I’m not the only one who’s disappointed at that fact. The Predators are one of the most interesting teams in the NHL. Left for dead in 2007-08, after being dismantled so they could be sold, the team qualified for the playoffs in the Western Conference on the backs of underrated veterans like Jason Arnott and J.P. Dumont, youngsters like Alexander Radulov, Ryan Suter, and Shea Weber, and journeymen like Dan Ellis and Vernon Fiddler.  At 4-4-0, the Predators haven’t start off this season as well, but they have so many talented young players and veterans who have to been seen to be appreciated that it’s a shame most Capitals fans won’t get the chance to do so.

For the Capitals, the story of game so far is Alexander Ovechkin, who will be missing this game and perhaps another to travel to Russia and visit with his ailing grandfather. From a personal standpoint, I’m sure I’m not alone is wishing Ovechkin the best and hoping he takes his time to deal with his family matters before returning the grind of the NHL. From a hockey standpoint it will be interesting to see how Ovechkin’s absence from the lineup affects the way the Capitals play, especially how Alexander Semin will react to being the primary target for the opposition’s best defensive players.

Nashville Predators at Washington Capitals
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008, 7:00 PM
Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
TV: none

About the Opponent

Nashville Predators: 4-4-0, 8 points, 4th in the Central Division, 10th in the Western Conference

Team Leaders
Goals: Martin Erat (4)
Assists: J.P. Dumont (7)
Points: tie - J.P. Dumont and Shea Weber (9)
Plus/Minus: Joel Ward (+4)
Penalty Minutes: tie Dan Hamhuis and Jordan Tootoo (17)
Fights: Greg de Vries (2)

Keys to the Game

Washington
Use your size. Although the Capitals aren’t exactly the most reliable team when it comes to listing their players heights and weights, it’s worth noting that the lightest any active player is listed at for the Capitals is 195, while the Predators have seven non-goalies listed at less than 195. The Predators also only have two players listed at more than 215 and only seven listed at more than 205; the Capitals have seven players listed at 215 or more and fourteen listed at 205 or more. If the Capitals use that size, they can make it a long and rough night on the road for Nashville.

Nashville
Keep Alexander Semin under wraps. Without Alex Ovechkin in the lineup, Semin is by far the Capitals most potent offensive threat. If the Predators can keep him off the scoresheet entirely, the Capitals will have a very hard time winning this game.

Players to Watch

Washington
Tomas Fleischmann - Fleischmann had a very good game against the Stars (which, of course, made me look kind of stupid). You still have to wonder which version of Flash is going to show up: the version that scored two goals against Dallas and notched a goal and an assist against Pittsburgh, or the one who has one assist and is a -4 in the team’s other six games.

Eric Fehr - Ovechkin’s absence means that Fehr might just get a sweater. Fehr, of course, hasn’t played much this season, dressing in only three games and has seen less ice than anyone else on the team when he has played, both in terms of minutes played and shifts per game. Despite this, Fehr does have two assists on the season. Personally, I think Fehr deserves to see more ice time and it will be interesting to see if he can take this opportunity to make a case for himself.

Nashville
Shea Weber - Mike Green received an awful lot more attention for scoring eighteen goals at age twenty-two than Weber did for scoring seventeen at age twenty-one. That’s not to say that Green didn’t deserve the accolades he got, but just to point out that Weber may just be the best young defenseman the average hockey fan has never heard of. The scary part? Weber might just be better defensively than he is offensively.

Coming of a pair of 2-1, blown-lead losses, the Capitals are in Dallas for the Super Saturday, looking to salvage something from their road trip. Their opponent Saturday evening will be another team having a similar go of it in the young season. Despite reaching the Western Conference Finals last year and adding several talented players, the Stars have only seven points in the eight games they’ve played so far this season. Like the Capitals, the Stars are underperforming on special teams: their powerplay has only converted 15.8% of its chances (19th in the NHL), while the shorthanded unit has only killed 76.9% of its chances (24th in the league), which become a big problem when you’ve been shorthanded more often than all but three other teams.

But the biggest problem for the Stars has been goaltending. The team’s .846 save percentage is last amongst NHL teams and starter Marty Turco has had only one game where he’s been better than his career mark of .912, compared with three games where he stopped fewer than eighty percent of shots. That doesn’t mean the Capitals are in for an easy night though. An established goaltender can still be a difference-maker even when he’s been slumping, something Miikka Kiprusoff proved on Tuesday in Calgary.

Washington Capitals at Dallas Stars
Saturday, October 25th, 2008, 8:00 PM
American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas
TV: CSN

About the Opponent

Dallas Stars: 3-4-1, 7 points, 2nd in the Pacific Division, 9th in the Eastern Conference

Team Leaders
Goals: Fabian Brunnstrom (4)
Assists: Mike Ribeiro (8)
Points: Mike Ribeiro (9)
Plus/Minus: four way tie (+1)
Penalty Minutes: Sean Avery (19)
Fights: B.J. Crombeen (3)

Keys to the Game

Washington
Get the fundamentals right. Careless mistakes have been the Capitals biggest problem so far this year. If they fix those, the rest will follow.

Dallas
Pressure the Capitals in all three zones. A number of players on the Capitals are pressing and trying to do too much in the offensive and neutral zones. In their own end, the Capitals have made costly mistakes when they’re forced to face an aggressive forecheck. Obviously if the Stars can get the Capitals to make mistakes in their own end and prevent Washington from getting its offense going, they’re chances of winning are pretty good.

Players to Watch

Washington
Tomas Fleischmann - I watch Fleischmann intently every game. Because I’m still trying to figure out why he gets so much ice time when Eric Fehr is relegated to fourth line duty or to the press box.

Dallas
Fabian Brunnstrom - Brunnstrom was one of the more interesting stories of the offseason. The twenty-three year old Swede went undrafted and was playing in low level leagues in Sweden until last season, when he made his Swedish Elite League debut and garnered attention from NHL teams. A healthy scratch the first two games of the season, Brunnstrom became just the third player in NHL history to record a hat trick in his first NHL game.

Sean Avery - Just about every hockey fan loves to hate Avery. If he does anything of note, there’s a pretty good chance it will be unsportsmanlike and/or stupid…and that makes for great entertainment.

Capitals 1, Coyotes 2

Same song, different verse.

Skill has never been an adequate replacement for sound fundamentals at the NHL level.  That’s not going to change for this season’s Washington Capitals and the sooner the team starts playing with that attitude, the sooner they’ll start winning games. Until then, the team is going to continue to have games like last night’s, where the Coyotes scored one goal off of a turnover by Tyler Sloan and another after Milan Jurcina let a Phoenix player skate by him at the blue line while Shaone Morrisonn failed to cover the slot. What’s worrisome as a Capitals fan is that those two plays weren’t the only such lapses; the Capitals failed to clear the zone and cover the high-scoring areas on a regular basis, and had Jose Theodore not been good in the first two periods, the Coyotes could have easily had four or five goals.

The Capitals could learn a thing or two from their opponents last night: the Coyotes came out willing to protect their net, dig in the corners, outwork their opponents, and play sound, smart hockey. That’s why it was Phoenix, not the more skilled Washington, who came away with the two points.

Caps Blue Line 3 Stars
(1) Jose Theodore
(2) Brooks Laich - 1 goal
(3) Alexander Semin - 1 assist

Quick Hits

• I don’t care what anyone else says, the highlight of the game to me was obviously the kid who stuck his tongue out at Jeff Schultz after Olli Jokinen was sent to the box for tripping.
• So…how about that ad on the boards that just read “Coldplay”?
• I thought the officiating was terrible.  To call those two weak penalties on Sergei Fedorov in the first and then not call Ed Jovanovski for hauling down Alexander Semin from behind and then hitting him instead of playing the puck? If that’s not inconsistency, I don’t know what is.
• The officiating last night was also endemic of another problem in the NHL today:as the game goes on, the refs put their whistles away.  That there were six judgment-call penalties in the first two periods and none in the third doesn’t necessarily mean the refs screwed up, but it certainly gives a nice piece of evidence if you want to argue that.
• You have to wonder what kind of game Wayne Gretzky was expecting when he decided he needed Danial Carcillo, Todd Fedoruk, and Brian McGrattan in the lineup.  In a combined 649 NHL games the three have 42 goals, 110 points, and 1,628 penalty minutes.
• Speaking of McGrattan, he seemed hellbent on trying to get Donald Brashear to drop the gloves with him early in the game, probably because it’s the only way for McGrattan to justify his NHL existence.  McGrattan, who was playing in his first game of the year, hasn’t scored an NHL goal since April 3rd, 2006 and averaged just 2:52 of ice time in the 38 games he saw action in for the Senators last season.
• Anyone who has NHL Center Ice is aware of the myriad of bad announcers out there, led by the duo of J.P. Dellacamera and Darren Elliot in Atlanta, but the FSN Arizona team of Dave Strader and Daren Pang is one of the best in the business.
• The Capitals were outhit 23-15.
• The Capitals were -1 in the giveaway/takeaway battle (six giveaways, five takeaways), while the Coyotes were +9 (three giveaways, twelve takeaways).

Washington Capitals at Phoenix Coyotes
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008, 10:00 PM
Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona
TV: CSN

About the Opponent

Phoenix Coyotes: 2-3-0, 4 points, 4th in the Pacific Division, 14th in the Western Conference

Team Leaders
Goals: Shane Doan (4)
Assists: Olli Jokinen (5)
Points: Olli Jokinen (6)
Plus/Minus: Steve Reinprecht (+3)
Penalty Minutes: Daniel Winnik (27)
Fights: Kurt Sauer (2)

Keys to the Game

Washington
Play smart. In Calgary the Capitals took ten minor penalties, gave the Flames seven powerplays, and only allowed goals off of bad mistakes by their defensemen…and still outshot the Flames and managed to stay within a goal. The Capitals are good enough that unless they shoot themselves in the foot they should beat a team like the Coyotes.

Coyotes
Keep the puck in the Capitals end. Putting the puck deep on Washington serves two important purposes: it forces the team’s defense, which isn’t great at puckhandling, to pick up the puck and move it and it keeps the Caps skilled players out of the Coyotes zone.

Players to Watch

Washington
Alex Ovechkin - The last time he was in Phoenix, the world got “The Goal”. Maybe that memory will jump start Ovechkin’s game. Capitals fans should hope so - Ovechkin has only scored in one of the team’s six games this season.

Coyotes
Peter Mueller - Mueller very quietly had a very impressive year for the Coyotes last year, putting up twenty-two goals as a nineteen year old.

Washington Capitals at Calgary Flames
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008, 9:30 PM
Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta
TV: CSN
Last Meeting: March 12th, 2008: Capitals win 3-2

About the Opponent

Calgary Flames: 1-3-1, 5th in the Northwest Division, 14th in the Western Conference

Team Leaders
Goals: Todd Bertuzzi (5)
Assists: Daymond Langkow (5)
Points: Daymond Langkow (6)
Plus/Minus: tie - Daymond Langkow and Andre Roy (+1)
Penalty Minutes: Brandon Prust (22)
Fights: tie - Jarome Iginla and Brandon Prust (2)

Random Flames Statistic
Todd Bertuzzi, who has five goals so far this season, is the only Flames player to have scored more than once.

Keys to the Game

Washington
Take the physical play in stride. Calgary been a very physical team for a number of years and while the Capitals won’t be intimidated by the physical play there are a number of players on the team who might retaliate and either put the Capitals shorthanded or negate a Caps powerplay.

Calgary
Find some scoring. Of Calgary’s top seven scorers from 2007-08, three (Owen Nolan, Kristian Huselius, Alex Tanguay) are no longer with the team and the remaining four (Jarome Iginla, Dion Phaneuf, Daymond Langkow, Matthew Lombardi) have combined for only two goals through the team’s first five games.

Players to Watch

Washington
Milan Jurcina - Against a physical team like Calgary defensive defensemen are going to play an important role and Jurcina is one of the three the Capitals will be dressing for certain, the other two being John Erskine and Jeff Schultz.  The difference is that with Schultz and Erskine you know what you’re getting: Erskine’s going to hustle, block shots, and play tough and Schultz is going to play a very sound game and leave Caps fans wishing he’d use his big frame more.  Jurcina, on the other hand, is unpredictable.  When he plays well he combines the best of Erskine’s and Schultz’s games; when he plays poorly he’s the worst defenseman on the ice.  Which version of Jurcina shows up could go a long way in determining the outcome of this game.

Calgary
Miikka Kiprusoff - Calgary has relied heavily on Kiprusoff since he was acquired from San Jose in 2003, but the all-star goalie has struggled so far this year and is sporting an unsightly .851 save percentage and 4.37 goals against average.

New Jersey Devils at Washington Capitals
Saturday, October 18th, 2008, 7:00 PM
Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
TV: CSN

About the Opponent

New Jersey Devils: 3-1-0, 6 points, 2nd in the Atlantic Division, 5th in the Eastern Conference

Team Leaders
Goals: tie - Zach Parise and Patrik Elias (2)
Assists: Brian Gionta (2)
Points: Zach Parise (3)
Plus/Minus: Colin White (+4)
Penalty Minutes: tie - Colin White and Jamie Langenbrunner (8)
Fights: tie - David Clarkson and Michael Rupp (1)

Random Devils Statistic
Through their first four games the Devils have scored just six goals. Their 1.5 goals per game average is currently the worst in the NHL.

Keys to the Game

Washington
(1) Stay out of the box. The Capitals have been shorthanded twenty-four times this season, tied for fifth most in the NHL and the team’s 70.8% penalty kill success rate is twenty-fifth in the league.
(2) Start fast. In the Capitals four games this season they’ve scored first only once, they’ve given up the first three goals in each of their other games, and they’ve been outscored 8-2 in the first period. You can’t play like that and keep winning games, especially against a team like the Devils.

New Jersey
Work the trap and slow the game down. Despite their advantage in goal, the last thing the Devils want is to get in a run-and-gun game where the teams are trading chances. Plus a slow, boring game will negate the effect of what should be a sellout crowd.

Players to Watch

Washington
Alexander Ovechkin - he’s due for his 2008-09 breakout game and I have a feeling it will come tonight.

New Jersey
Zach Parise - the University of North Dakota product is the Devils best all around offensive player in terms of scoring ability, playmaking skill, and consistency and is one of the most difficult to contain. If anyone’s going to give the Capitals trouble, it’s likely to be Parise.
Brian Gionta - Gionta’s biggest asset is his speed and facing a defense that’s like to include Milan Jurcina and John Erskine, that could be trouble for the Capitals.

Washington Capitals at Pittsburgh Penguins
Thursday, October 16th, 2008, 7:30 PM
Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
TV: CSN

About the Opponent

Pittsburgh Penguins: 2-1-1, 5 points, 2nd in the Atlantic Division, 5th in the Eastern Conference

Team Leaders
Goals: Tyler Kennedy (2)
Assists: four way tie (2)
Points: tie Tyler Kennedy and Evgeni Malkin (3)
Plus/Minus: Evgeni Malkin (+2)
Penalty Minutes: Eric Godard (18)
Fights: Eric Godard (2)

Keys to the Game

Washington
Get ahead early. Pens fans will definitely be up for this one and a couple of quick Caps goals could take them out of the game. Plus it would let the Capitals focus more on defense - no small task against the Pens.

Pittsburgh
Get the puck in the Capitals end and keep it there by cycling. Jeff Schultz is a solid defenseman but not a particularly good skater. Milan Jurcina and John Erskine also don’t skate particularly well and have looked shaky (at best) in their own end this season. Plus the Capitals lines are a little muddled due to Viktor Kozlov’s injury. If the Penguins get the puck in deep and move it around they’ll have a chance to overwhelm Washington in their own end.

Players to Watch

Washington
Nicklas Backstrom - the last time these two teams played, Backstrom scored the winning goal - in his own net. Backstrom only has one point, an assist, so far this season but with his talent level and a desire to atone for his mistake last March, I’m picking him to have a breakout game. But then, I picked him as the “player to watch” before the game he scored in the Caps own net, so maybe I’m just jinxing the poor kid.

Pittsburgh
Miroslav Satan - he’s not even close to being the biggest name on this Penguins team but he’s going to play an important role in just how far the Penguins can go this season. To win consistently and to win big games you need secondary scoring; Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, talented as they are, can’t do it all.