I’ll take “Opponents Starting With The Letter ‘C’,” Alex…
The Washington Capitals played the first game of their final
back-to-back of the season last night, a 5-2 win over the Carolina
Hurricanes. The pressure being lifted
off their shoulders of a tight playoff race agreed with the Caps, who took
advantage of some iffy Carolina defense and shaky Hurricanes goaltending to
score early (a goal by Joel Ward 62 seconds into the game), score late (Troy
Brouwer’s second goal of the game 3:27 into the third period), and score
in-between to dominate the Hurricanes on the scoreboard.
Other stuff…
-- Someone want to explain what Mike Komisarek was doing on
the Ward goal to open the game? Watching him wave his stick nonchalantly at Ward
was reminiscent of a cow lazily waving its tail at flies on a hot summer day.
-- Troy Brouwer has become accustomed to doing things in
pairs late in this season. His two-goal
game made it three times in the last four game in which he recorded goals that
he lit the lamp twice. It was his fifth
two-goal game of the season, a career high in multi-goal games.
-- 3-6-9… That was the scoring line for the “Gang Green”
line of Jason Chimera, Eric Fehr, and Joel Ward, each player recording a goal
and an assist. The three goals give the
trio 52 on the season (Ward: 24; Fehr: 13; Chimera: 15), another “50-goal”
season of which the club and those players should be proud.
-- In the “it never ends” file… On a night in which the Caps
scored five goals, and eight players were plus-2 or better, Alex Ovechkin
finished minus-2 in just 14:19 of ice time.
It was his lowest ice time in a game in which he was neither injured nor
ejected since his fifth game in the NHL, coincidentally in this same
arena. That was back on October 12,
2005, when he skated 13:53 in a 7-2 loss to the Hurricanes.
-- One way you might tell this was a meaningless game for
both teams… a total of two penalties, one for each team, coming less than three
minutes apart. Penalty, make-up call,
play-on.
-- Eric Fehr had two assists. It was the second two-assist game of the
year, the other coming on November 1st in a 7-0 win over
Philadelphia.
-- If all you looked at was the scoreboard, you would think
the Caps dominated. Well, they did
not. They were out-shot, 38-21. They were out-attempted, 73-41. They won 17 of 53 faceoffs (32.1
percent).
-- Tom Wilson set a season and career high in ice time:
14:43. He skated only one fewer shift (18)
than did Ovechkin (19).
It was a nice game, but essentially a Little Debbie’s snack
cake kind of night. Sweet, but unfulfilling
and not very nourishing. The third line
got a reward for their consistent effort and performance over the last half of
the season, the best thing the Caps had going most nights. Good to see.
On the other hand, you get the feeling Alex Ovechkin would just as soon
have the season end last night. After a
season in which he flew to Russia to carry the Olympic torch and get back in
time to skate on Opening Night, do a lot of the heavy lifting in public
relations for the Russians in advance of the Games, go through the grind of an
NHL season, endure the pressure and, once more, the disappointment of the
Olympics, chase another 50-goal season, try to get his team into the playoffs,
he looks mentally gassed. You don’t
necessarily expect it at this level of play, and it does not wash away his
shortcomings this season, but there it is.
The rest of the team does not look quite that resigned to getting this
season in the trash can, but neither were they dominating last night, despite
the score.
And that brings us to tonight’s game, at home against the
Chicago Blackhawks. Again, two teams
facing each other without a lot of meaningful attachment to the game. The Caps are the Caps. As for the Blackhawks, this is more a “maintenance”
game. They cannot catch either Colorado
or St. Louis for the Western Conference top spot, and they cannot be caught by
the Minnesota North Stars for third in the Central Division. They’re looking to keep sharp as they await
what looks like a first round matchup against the St. Louis Blues.
Things to think about…
-- Chicago is second in the league in even-strength goals
(190) to Anaheim (194). The Caps have
allowed the tenth highest number of even-strength goals (163). That is not a good sign.
-- There is good and bad in the Blackhawks power play on the
road. On the one hand, their 21.1
percent conversion rate in road games is eighth-best in the league. On the other hand, they have the second
fewest number of power plays in road games (109), trailing only Winnipeg (106)
for fewest.
-- Don’t go into an intermission trailing Chicago. They are 23-1-2 when leading after 20 minutes
(second best record in the league) and 33-1-3 when leading after two periods
(tied for tenth best). No team in the
league has fewer losses in regulation when scoring the game’s first goal. The Blackhawks have been beaten just once, a
3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on January 26th.
-- If you’re going to get Chicago, you’re going to do it in
one-goal games. They have the
fifth-worst record in the league in such games (17-8-15). Multi-goal decisions are a different
matter. They are 29-11 in games decided
by two or more goals.
-- Part of the problem in those one-goal games: extra-time
games. Only New Jersey (17) has more
losses in free-hockey than do the Blackhawks (15). Only three goalies have allowed more goals in
the trick shot phase than Corey Crawford (13): Mike Smith, Ondrej Pavelec, and
Antti Niemi. Hey, who cares, eh? Only two more games of that nonsense.
The Peerless’ Players to Ponder
Chicago: Brandon Saad
Brandon Saad is just about a textbook example of a good, if
not great prospect (43rd overall draft pick in 2011), marching
smartly up the developmental ladder. He
was drafted by the Hawks in 2011 from the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey
League, played another season in Saginaw with some work in the World Junior
Championships thrown in, got a cup o’ coffee with the big club that season (two
regular season and two playoff games), split time between Chicago and the Rockford
Ice Hogs in the AHL in 2012-2013 (thank you, lockout), then jumped into a full
time role with the Blackhawks this season.
In 76 games he is sixth on the club in points (45), tied for fifth in
goals (19). He has chipped in on the
power play (three goals, nine points) and on the penalty kill (two shorthanded
assists). He has two game-winning
goals. What he does not have is a goal
in his last ten games. He has but one
goal in his last 19 contests. Maybe not
tonight, but the Blackhawks are going to need him to snap out of it.
Washington: Evgeny Kuznetsov
It might not be appropriate to say the rookie has hit a
wall, since he has played in only 15 games for the Caps, but he has only one
point (a goal) in his last six games after going 2-5-7 over the previous seven
games. He has only two shots on goal in
his last six games, both coming in the Caps’ 4-3 win over the New York
Islanders on April 5th (he also had the shootout winner). He was quiet against the Hurricanes last
night, recording no shots on goal in 14:15 of ice time. The third line can’t do it every night. Let’s see what the rookie has against
top-flight competition.
In the end…
Now it’s just playing for playing’s sake. Be professional, but have fun. One can do both while taking the task
seriously. For the fans, it’s just a
chance to enjoy the guys they root for and to watch a very accomplished team as
the opponent. Hockey for hockey’s sake,
so to speak. Just enjoy it as such.
Capitals 4 – Blackhawks 3
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