The 2010-2011 Season -- Ten Games that Mattered: Lightning at Capitals, April 29th

And now, we come to the last game that mattered in the Caps’ 2010-2011 season, one that in retrospect might have been predicted and one that served to predict an unpleasant outcome…

April 29, 2011: Tampa Bay at Washington, Game 1, Eastern Conference Semifinal

Result: Lightning 4 – Capitals 2

Background: Sixteen teams make the playoffs. Fifteen lose their last game of the season. The Caps would be one of the fifteen, and the last bit of road they would walk to reach that end started here. The Caps were just off a refreshingly short five-game first round series win over the New York Rangers. Meanwhile, the Lightning were coming off a hard-fought seven-game opening round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, finishing the series off by the thinnest of margins, a 1-0 win over the Penguins in Pittsburgh. At the time, it probably didn’t matter much to Caps fans whether Tampa Bay or Pittsburgh was the opponent. The Caps were 3-0-1 in the season series against Pittsburgh, 4-1-1 against Tampa Bay. Folks might have been looking ahead to who the Eastern Conference Final opponent might be.

Why It Mattered: As noted above, 15 teams in the playoffs lose their last game of the season, but the seeds of that defeat might be planted long before that last-game loss. Such was the case here, reading the signs in hindsight. The Caps had that 4-1-1 record against the Lightning in the regular season, but the season series breaks down into two pieces. The first is comprised of the first two games in which the Caps demolished the Lightning, 6-3 and 6-0. It is worth noting that Dan Ellis and Mike Smith were the goaltenders of record in those games for the Lightning.

Enter Dwayne Roloson. The Lightning traded minor league defensemen Ty Wishart to the New York Islanders for Roloson in early January, perhaps with the facing the Capitals in the spring in mind. Certainly, neither of the other goaltenders the Lightning were offering up seemed capable of holding off the Caps. Roloson played in the last four games of the season series, posting a 2-1-1, 1.22, .959 record with two shutouts. In that respect, it was a different team the Caps were facing as this series started.

Going hand in glove with Roloson’s record was the nature of those last four games. Tampa Bay won two close-fought, low-scoring contests by shutout, 1-0 and 3-0. They lost one other game in a Gimmick, 2-1, grabbing another standings point. In the only game they lost in regulation among those last four, the Caps smacked the Lightning, 5-2. Apparently, the secret for the Lightning was to keep things very close to the vest.

But there was something else going on here, and that starts on the Caps’ side of the equation. The Caps had the best record in the league in the regular season when allowing the game’s first goal, 23-19-5 (a .489 winning percentage). The flip side of that, however, was that no team making the playoffs – East or West – gave up the game’s first goal more often than the 47 times the Caps did. That spelled trouble, because no team in the league scored the game’s first goal more often than did the Lightning – 51 times in 82 games. And there is perhaps no better predictor of an NHL game’s outcome than who scores first. In the past five seasons, only three teams posted a winning record when allowing the game’s first goal – the 2009-2010 Capitals, the 2008-2009 Boston Bruins, and the 2006-2007 Buffalo Sabres.

For the Lightning, then, the formula became simple – score first, back into their 1-3-1 defense, and let Roloson frustrate the Caps when they did get infrequent chances. In Game 1, that is pretty much what happened (although no plan is perfect). Sean Bergenheim, who scored the series-winning goal in Game 7 against Pittsburgh in the first round, opened the scoring in Game 1 barely two minutes into the contest. The Caps got it back less than two minutes later on a goal by Alexander Semin, but the key sequence in the period took place in the last six minutes. Steve Downie was sent off for elbowing at 14:32, and after the Lightning killed off that penalty, Brett Clark was whistled for delay of game when he shot the puck over the glass. Four minutes of power play time late in the period, the Caps managed three shots, and no goals. Having outshot the Lightning, 14-9, in the first period and getting two power play opportunities, the Caps had an opportunity to put their boots on Tampa’s necks early, and it passed them by.

Eric Fehr gave the Caps life and a lead in the second minute of the second period, but the Lightning stuck to its game plan, foiling the Caps repeatedly and allowing Roloson to stop the last eight shots he saw in the period. It paid off when Downie atoned for his first period sins with a game-tying goal 3:43 before the second intermission. The Caps might have been relieved to get to the second intermission tied, 2-2, but Steven Stamkos put an end to that thinking with a power play goal 32 seconds before the break to give the Lightning a 3-2 lead.

Having reduced the contest to a 20 minute game in which to hold a one-goal lead, Tampa just kept frustrating the Caps. After Marco Sturm recorded a shot at the 1:37 mark of the third period, the Caps would not record another shot on goal over the next 12:48. And with the game in the balance, the Caps would manage only three shots on goal in the last 18:23 of the third period. Tampa Bay added an empty net goal from Dominic Moore with 40 seconds left to provide the final 4-2 margin and give the Lightning the early series advantage.

The Takeaway: Score first (a goal by Bergenheim), frustrate the Caps (the Lightning had almost as many blocked shots – 23 – as they had shots on goal of their own – 24), let Roloson do the rest (stopping the last 13 shots he faced over the last 38:09 of the game). That was the formula. In all four games of this series the Lightning scored the first goal (all in the first period). They frustrated the Caps (the Caps had 50 first period shots on goal in the series, 24 third period shots on goal). They let Roloson do the rest (22 saves on 24 third period shots – a respectable .917 save percentage). It was a simple formula effectively deployed against a team with superior talent, but one that showed an inexplicable inability to adjust. It was all on display in Game 1 of this series, and it would be the template upon which Tampa Bay would build three other wins to sweep the Caps out of the playoffs. And that is why this was the last game that mattered in the 2010-2011 season for the Caps.

(Photo: AP/Alex Brandon)

The 2010-2011 Season -- Ten Games that Mattered: Capitals at Rangers, April 20th

The penultimate “game that mattered” was probably the Caps’ high point of the season, the product of some other “games that mattered”…

April 20, 2011: Washington at New York Rangers, Game 4, Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

Result: Capitals 4 – Rangers 3 (2OT)

The Background: For the second consecutive post-season the Caps found themselves as the number one seed in the East as the playoffs began. For the second time in three post-seasons the Caps would face the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs. This was not new territory for them, and the expectation was that the experience would provide the Caps with enough of a push to make quick work of the Rangers. It would be quite a change for the Caps in the Bruce Boudreau era, since all four playoff series played under Boudreau over the previous three years went to seven games. In this game, the Caps had a chance to put the Rangers in a deep hole, to go up three games to one after dropping Game 3 at Madison Square Garden.

Why It Mattered: Over the course of the season, the Caps played several other games that mattered, each carrying their own takeaway. A couple of those games would have that “takeaway” manifest itself in this game as a lesson to be applied. The resiliency they showed in the February 16th game against Anaheim would be called upon in this one. The Caps lost a tough one in Game 3 in Madison Square Garden when Brandon Dubinsky broke a 2-2 tie with 99 seconds left. It would help if they could draw on some reservoir of resiliency to reclaim their advantage in this series.

After the Caps and Rangers fought to a scoreless first period, it looked as if perhaps the Caps had done just that. Taking the crowd out of a game when playing on the road sucks the air out of a building, and holding the Rangers to six shots in the first period had that effect. But the Caps had a couple of power play opportunities slip through their fingers, too. Those opportunities lost would come back to bite them in the second. Less than a minute after killing off a tripping penalty to Mike Green, the Caps gave up the game’s first goal on the Rangers’ second shot of the period, a freakish goal by Artem Anisimov from below the goal line that he banked off the leg of Caps forward Matt Hendricks.

The Rangers were not done. When Marian Gaborik and Brandon Dubinsky scored seven seconds apart in the period’s 14th minute, the crowd was back into it, and the Rangers looked to tie the series if not take outright control of it. Since Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist had not allowed four goals in a game at MSG since January and had done so only once since early November, a comeback did not look likely for the Caps. It looked even worse when Alexander Semin took a boarding call in the last minute of the second period that put the Caps a man short and reflected a certain frustration with the way the game was going.

However, just 2:47 into the third period and barely 90 seconds after his penalty expired, Semin intercepted a clearing pass by Ryan McDonagh, skated in, and wristed a shot at Lundqvist. The Ranger goalie made the initial save but did not control the puck lying just off the left post. Semin continued in, and with Lundqvist lying on his side trying to sweep his glove over the puck, Semin poked the puck the last six inches to put the Caps on the board.

Less than a minute later Marcus Johansson sent the puck from just inside the Ranger blue line at the right point across to Brooks Laich skating down the left side. Laich did not cleanly control the puck, but he managed to retrieve it along the left wing boards. From there, Laich spun and sent the puck to the net where Johansson was waiting. The rookie forward tipped a backhand behind Lundqvist to draw the Caps to within one at 3:44.

If the crowd was making noise now, it wasn’t the roar born of the home team’s momentum, but the nervous murmuring reflecting a change in the game’s momentum to the visiting team. The nervousness was only amplified when Johansson brought the Caps even, defecting a drive by John Carlson past Lundqvist at 12:07. Having endured the “hockey as spectacle” of the Winter Classic and the trials of an eight-game losing streak gave the Caps some experience to draw from in battling adversity and dealing with big game situations. Having used that experience to draw even, it helped them hold off the Rangers over the rest of the third period and a first overtime.

The rule in overtime games is that as time passes, it is likely to be a mistake that influences the ending. Couple fatigue with deteriorating ice, and mistakes aren’t uncommon. Add in that Madison Square Garden has notoriously poor ice, and the likelihood is increased that much more. That made it a bit odd that this game should pass 90 minutes in game time, but that was the case in this one. The mistake did come though.

In the 13th minute of the second overtime, Marcus Johansson crossed the Ranger blue line and left the puck for Jason Chimera crossing behind him. Chimera wrong-footed a harmless wrist shot at Lundqvist, who fended off the shot but did not control it. Marian Gaborik, coming down the middle to defend, tried to poke the puck into the corner just as Lundqvist was going down to cover it.  Gaborik got a stick on it, but the puck was jittery on the failing ice, and the it popped behind Lundqvist. Chimera, following up his own shot and camped at the side of the net, was now faced with an open net and 12 inches of ice to negotiate with the puck on his stick. Chimera could not and did not miss from there, bunting the puck those last 12 inches and sealing the 4-3 overtime win and giving the Caps a 3-1 lead in the series.

The Takeaway: The Rangers allowed the Caps a grand total of one goal in the last three games of the regular season and overwhelmed them in 7-0 and 6-0 wins. When the Rangers scored three goals in the second period, two of them within seven seconds of one another, it started to look like one of those Ranger beatdowns. But the Caps had played well on a big stage this season, such as the New Year’s Day game in Pittsburgh. And coming back from a deficit was not unheard of, especially when they did it four times against Anaheim in February.

Their experience did not make the Game 4 outcome likely, but it didn’t mean the Caps should be given up for dead, either. And when they did come back, it made the Game 5 series-clinching win almost anti-climactic. In that sense this game, coming as it did under the circumstances and with faint echoes of previous games that mattered this season, was the high point of the Caps’ season. And that is why this game itself mattered in the 2010-2011 season.

(photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America)

The 2010-2011 Season -- Ten Games that Mattered: Capitals at Canadiens, March 15th

Game 8 in the ten games that mattered – two hot teams, two hot goalies…

March 15, 2011: Washington (40-20-10) at Montreal (38-24-7)

Result: Capitals 4 – Canadiens 2

The Background: The Caps and the Canadiens each found March to their liking. The Canadiens were on a 6-1-0 run dating back to February 26th, allowing them to put some distance between themselves and the New York Rangers for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the Caps were on an eight-game winning streak dating back to February 26th that allowed them to close within one point of the Philadelphia Flyers for the top spot in the East. This would be the first visit to Bell Centre for the Caps since they lost Game 6 in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Why It Mattered: Carey Price had not compiled an especially sterling record against the Caps coming into the 2010-2011 season – a 2-1-3 win/loss record with a goals against average of 3.53. It didn’t improve much this season, his splitting two decisions in Washington – a 3-0 loss on December 28th and a 3-2 Gimmick win on February 1st at Verizon Center. But he was on a roll coming into this game. He earned the decisions in each of the Canadiens last six decisions, going 5-1-0, 1.17, .965, with two shutouts.

Price wasn’t the only goaltender on a roll. At the other end, Braden Holtby took over for Michal Neuvirth in a March 7th game against Tampa Bay when Neuvirth took a puck in the mask, snapping a metal support on the cage of his mask and injuring his eye. Holtby stopped all 21 shots he faced in that game to get the decision in a 2-1 Gimmick win, which he followed up with three more wins that gave him a 4-0-0, 1.05, .965 record with a shutout for good measure.

You wouldn’t know the goalies were on top of their game from the start of things. Both allowed a goal in the first 90 seconds as a result of some wandering. Price circled behind his net to play a dump in by Dennis Wideman, but the puck hit a seam in the allegedly seamless glass, bouncing out to Marcus Johansson for an easy power play goal into the vacated net (one of the assists going to Holtby) at 1:06. The Canadiens got it back at Holtby’s expense 20 seconds later when Holtby circled behind his net to play the puck around and up the boards. But he did not send the puck far enough, nor did he get back into his crease fast enough to prevent Travis Moen from firing the puck into the twine from the left wing boards.

Brooks Laich put the Caps back in front in the 14th minute by finishing a clean crisp play. John Carlson held the puck behind the Caps’ net waiting for Laich to circle behind the cage and start up ice. When Laich cleared out, Carlson sent the puck to the other side, to Karl Alzner at the far edge of the faceoff circle. Alzner sent a long cross-ice pass to a streaking Laich, who had opened up some space on Jeff Halpern. Laich took the puck, and with defenseman Hal Gill trying to cut off Laich’s angle to the net, Laich dipped his shoulder, beat Gill to the crease, and stuffed the puck under Price.

After Andrei Kostitsyn tied things up again in the second period, it was all even again heading into the third period. Neither goalie saw a lot of work – only a combined 14 shots on goal. But it was Price who cracked. Marcus Johansson got his second when the Canadiens, including Price, got caught paying a bit too much attention to Alex Ovechkin, who with a couple Canadiens covering him slipped the puck to Johansson coming down the slot for a backhand past Price.

Mike Knuble closed out the scoring by finishing a 2-on-1 with Marco Sturm on a Caps power play. Meanwhile, Holtby was slamming the door shut at the other end, stopping all eight shots he faced in the third period to seal the 4-2 win. Although Holtby would say later that he “kind of got off to a rough start,” and passed off credit to his defensemen, he stopped 24 of the last 25 shots he faced after allowing a goal on the Canadiens’ first shot.

The Takeaway: The win would be Holtby’s fifth in a row, but here his games played streak would end as Michal Neuvirth returned the following night to face Detroit for the second half of a back-to-back set of games. In this five-game run Holtby won all five decisions with a 1.25 goals against average and a .957 save percentage. Since allowing five goals on 23 shots to New Jersey in a 5-0 loss on November 22nd in his first stint with the Caps, he was 7-0-1, 1.14, .961 with one shutout. He would get one more start, also in Bell Centre against the Canadiens, in which he stopped all 18 shots in a 2-0 win on March 26th.

However, this win cemented Holtby’s status as a bone fide contender to become, if not this year, then perhaps sooner than anyone could have imagined in October, the Caps’ number one netminder. In the story of the 2010-2011 season, Holtby’s performance qualified as “pleasant surprise” more than it did as a factor that would influence the Caps’ ultimate success or failure in this season. But it did complicate a decision that was coming, again sooner than anyone might have anticipated at the start of the season. And that is why Holtby’s performance – staring down a tough opponent in front of a hostile crowd of more than 21,000 – made this a game that mattered in the 2010-2011 season.

(Photo: Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)

The 2010-2011 Season -- Ten Games that Mattered: Capitals at Penguins, February 21st

And with the seventh in the series of games that mattered in the 2010-2011 season, the goaltending sweepstakes return to front and center…

February 21, 2011: Washington (31-19-10) at Pittsburgh (36-19-5)

Result: Capitals 1 – Penguins 0

The Background: In an odd quirk in the schedule, this would be the first time the Caps would play in the Penguins’ new palace, Consol Energy Center. Two games in Washington and the Winter Classic at Heinz Field made this, the fourth and last game in the series, the Caps’ inaugural visit to Consol. And these were very different teams than those who faced one another in the first three contests. The Caps had taken on a stingy personality, quite at odds with having the elite offensive talent that led the NHL in scoring. In 20 games since the Winter Classic on January 1st, the Caps allowed 2.25 goals per game, including a 3-0 shutout of the Penguins on February 6th. On the other side, the Penguins were still adjusting to life without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the former out with concussion symptoms and the latter shelved for the season with a knee injury.

Both goalies for the Caps fighting for the number one spot had shaky recent outings, though. Semyon Varlamov was 1-4-2 in his previous eight appearances with a GAA of 2.83 and a save percentage of .908. Michal Neuvirth was 1-3-0 in his previous four appearances, 3.01, .883. The last quality appearance Neuvirth had was the 3-0 shutout of the Penguins on February 6th. This game would give him a chance to repeat his success against the Penguins and perhaps get a leg up in the goalie sweepstakes.

Why It Mattered: These were two teams stuck in neutral in February. The Penguins were 5-4-1 and losers in five of their previous seven games. The Caps were 4-4-1 and losers of four of the previous six contests. Both had a particularly ugly effort along the way, the Caps giving up six goals on 21 shots in a 7-6 win in Anaheim, the Penguins getting pasted by the Islanders, 9-3, ten days before this game.

The Penguins came out as if they were going to take out their accumulated frustrations on the Caps in the first 20 minutes. After recording five hits on the Caps and the only two shots on goal in the first 4:29, the Penguins spent the rest of the first period treating Neuvirth like an arcade game. Sixteen shots on goal, six shots blocked, two misses in the last 15:31. The Caps might have been run out of the building had Neuvirth experienced the same recent trouble he had, but he kept the Caps in it until they could change momentum.

The teams changed ends for the second period, but the ice was tilted in the same direction, this time favoring the Caps. They had eight shots on goalie Marc-Andre Fleury in the first 8:29, but he was as equal to the task at that end of the ice as Neuvirth was in the first period.

It was Neuvirth, however, who would have the most consequential save of the period and the game, however. As the clock was winding down toward four minutes to go in the period and the Caps on a power play, Matt Cooke pitchforked the puck out of the defensive zone and into open ice, where Jordan Staal collected it behind the Caps’ defense. Staal skated in and tried to maneuver himself for a forehand try from in close. But Neuvirth turned the shot aside with his right pad, and the game remained scoreless.

Not for long. Forty-eight seconds later, Marcus Johansson teed one up for Alex Ovechkin, laying out a pass just above and between the faceoff circles. Ovechkin got all of it, pounding a one-time slap shot past Fleury to give the Caps the 1-0 lead late in the second period.

The third period had that tilted ice problem again – nine Penguin shot attempts in the first 4:11 (four on goal) to none for the Caps. The rest of the period looked much the same – the Penguins outshot the Caps 14-3 – but this Caps team was more comfortable in one-goal games than they had been in the past, and they could play defense when it mattered. Neuvirth stopped all the pucks he faced, and the Caps made their power play goal stand up to take the season series with a 3-0-1 record.

The Takeaway: Michal Neuvirth started three games against nine different opponents in the 2010-2011 season. Three of those opponents would be playoff teams in 2011. Against two of them – Boston and Philadelphia – Neuvirth had a distinctly mediocre record (0-2-0, 3.91, .810 against the Bruins; 1-0-1, 3.60, .882 against the Flyers). But against the Penguins, Neuvirth was George Hainsworth*. This would be his third start against Pittsburgh this season (sitting out the Winter Classic in favor of Semyon Varlamov), and he finished 2-0-1, 0.65, .977, with two shutouts.

From here, the final cards would be played in the goalie sweepstakes. Semyon Varlamov would miss 11 games to a knee injury and play in only three more games in the regular season. Neuvirth would get most of the work down the stretch, appearing in 13 of the Caps’ last 21 games. At the time, one could not know with certainty how the race between Neuvirth and Varlamov would be decided. But in retrospect, this game set up the home stretch of the season for what would be a one-horse race. Varlamov would be nursing an injury, and Neuvirth would be getting into a playing rhythm that would ultimately result in his being declared the playoff starter. Neuvirth would have a few bumps along the way as the season wound down, but this game served as the starting point for his own sprint down the home stretch in the goalie race. And that is why a 1-0 game in February mattered in the 2010-2011 season.

* George Hainsworth holds the record for shutouts in an NHL season – 22 with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1928-1929 season.

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America)

The 2010-2011 Season -- Ten Games that Mattered: Capitals at Ducks, February 16th

Starting the second half of our look at ten games that mattered, it’s a game that looked more like the shoot-‘em-up goal fests of the 1980’s than a game in the NHL of 2011…

February 16, 2011: Washington (29-18-10) at Anaheim (32-21-4)

Result: Capitals 7 – Ducks 6

The Background: In the 23 games played after they endured their eight-game losing streak in December the Capitals, who had reformed themselves into a team that emphasized responsibility in their own end of the ice, scored more than three goals in a game only three times. By the same token, they allowed more than three goals only three times. But their offense found itself in a bit of a deeper slump coming into this game – three goals combined over their previous three games, all losses, all to Pacific Division teams.  It looked as if hockey's dog days of the season -- those games in January and February -- had settled in for the Caps.

Why It Mattered: In Anaheim, the Caps would face their fourth straight Pacific Division opponent, and the Ducks were on a four game winning streak, two of the wins coming by shutout. The Caps were already 0-4-1 against the Pacific for the year. Not a recipe for coming out of a slump. It probably looked worse 4:10 into the game when Ryan Getzlaf put the Ducks ahead with a power play goal. It was only the third shot of the game, all of them recorded by the Ducks.

Alex Ovechkin got that one back with a highlight reel-quality goal, taking a long pass from Nicklas Backstrom up the middle as he was hitting the red line, knifing between defensemen Andreas Lilja and Cam Fowler, and as Lilja was trying to hook him off, he snapped the puck through goalie Curtis McElhinney’s legs.

From there it became a game of “anything you can do, I can do better.” The Caps looked as if they would take a lead into the first intermission on an unassisted goal by Brooks Laich when he was handed the puck by the Ducks’ Teemu Selanne in front of the Anaheim net at 16:07. But the Ducks scored two late goals in the first period to regain the lead and chase Caps goalie Semyon Varlamov, who yielded three goals on nine shots. Anaheim went up two to start the second period, potting a goal against Michal Neuvirth in relief of Varlamov.  But then the Caps scored two within three minutes of the Anaheim goal to tie it. Anaheim regained the lead in time for the second intermission, finishing the first 40 minutes with five goals on only 16 shots.

Mike Knuble got the Caps even in the first minute of the third period, but the Ducks took their fourth lead of the game five minutes later. It would be the last lead the Ducks would enjoy, as the last dozen minutes turned into “The Alexander Semin Show.” Semin, who scored the Caps’ fourth goal in the second period, showed fans why he is a gifted talent. Scott Hannan took a feed from Matt Hendricks and circled behind the Anaheim net. Hannan threw the puck in front, but on its way out from behind the net was tipped into the air by Ducks’ defenseman Luca Sbisa. Semin, skating down the middle to the net, took the puck on the bounce and short hopped it off his backhand, roofing it over McElhinney to tie the game.

Semin would score the game winner with 1:47 left. Karl Alzner sent the puck hard around the boards, where it skipped over Semin’s stick to where Brooks Laich and Cam Fowler could fight over it. Laich pushed it ahead to Semin in the corner at the goal line. Semin circled, walked the goal line, stepped out, then backhanded the puck through McElninney’s pads to complete the hat trick (his fourth of the season) and give the Caps a most improbable 7-6 win.

It was a game in which both goaltenders struggled mightily. Consider, the Ducks scored six goals on 42 shot attempts, itself a .857 “unsuccessful” percentage. The “save” percentage of .714 (15 saves on 21 shots on goal) was absolutely ghastly. But the Caps showed a certain resiliency in coming back from four separate Anaheim leads. And it was a team effort – eleven different skaters had points, five different skaters had goals. One of the quirkier numbers in the games belonged to John Carlson – nine. He was on ice for nine of the 13 goals scored, six for the Caps, three for the Ducks. On the other side, Bobby Ryan had that number stapled to him as well, on ice for nine goals -- four for Anaheim, five for the Caps.

The Takeaway: Let Mike Knuble say it…

"It could be a game that gets us out of the kind of spell we were in. We gave up six goals, so it was really good to score seven and actually win a game the old way, like we were used to winning."

The Caps didn’t so much break out of a spell as they did get it out of their system. It was like the old days – if the 2009-2010 could be thought of in that fashion – but the Caps soon returned to their “be responsible” mode. They would go 11-2-0 over their next 13 games and would allow more than three goals only three more times in their last 24 games.

It was in one sense a trip down memory lane and at the same time a warning, that failure to pay attention to the defensive side of things could have unpleasant results. Based on how the Caps finished the season – a record of 18-5-1 in their last 24 games and just those three games allowing more than three goals – it was an indulgence not repeated and a lesson learned. And that’s why this oddly entertaining game mattered in the 2010-2011 season.

(photo: AP)

The 2010-2011 Season -- Ten Games that Mattered: Capitals at Pittsburgh, January 1st

Halfway through the ten games that mattered, we come almost to the half-way mark of the season, perhaps to the most eagerly anticipated regular season game in quite some time…

January 1, 2011: Washington (22-12-5) at Pittsburgh (25-11-3)

Result: Capitals 3 – Penguins 1

The Background: From the day that it was announced that the Caps and Penguins would meet in the fourth Bridgestone Winter Classic – May 28, 2010 – this game was the one that had almost every hockey fan circling “January 1st” in red ink on their calendars. And when HBO announced in September that it would partner with the NHL to produce a four-episode series for the “24/7” reality franchise that would cover the run-up to the Classic, it was anticipation on steroids.

The HBO series provided the appropriate narrative as lead in to the game – a struggling Capitals team finally finding its way back to the win column; the Penguins a happy band of hockey players sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings. Each team led by their own megawatt star – Alex Ovechkin for Washington and Sidney Crosby for Pittsburgh – but backed up in each instance by a quirky supporting cast, whether playing pranks on teammates in hotels or tooling around in a Vespa.

It was perhaps fitting that the game itself would be unique, even by Winter Classic standards. Thanks to uncooperative weather in Pittsburgh, the game would be postponed from its 1:00 start to 8:00, making it the first Classic to be played under the lights.

Why It Mattered: Not a trivial consideration, the Caps would come into the game on a 4-0-1 run (the lone loss a shootout loss to Pittsburgh), while the Penguins were on their own 4-1-1 run. Only four points separated the two, and one could see this not only as the latest installment of the Winter Classic, but as a prelude to a potential Eastern Conference final matchup.

Heinz Field fairly sparkled under the night sky and, unfortunately, an intermittent rain. It didn’t seem to bother the 68,111 in attendance though. Those fans were treated to an evenly-played, up-and-down the ice affair in the first period that featured a fight (John Erskine and Mike Rupp) for good measure. If there had to be a concern for Caps fans, it was that even though the Penguins were awarded only one power play in the first period, the Penguins managed to record five shots on goal, all of them turned away by goalie Semyon Varlamov.

The Penguins’ persistence was rewarded early in the second when Evgeny Malkin scored on the Penguins’ 18th shot of the game (second in the second period) at 2:13, moments after at the other end Penguin goalie Marc-Andre Fleury foiled Alex Ovechkin on a partial breakaway. Mike Knuble got it back for the Caps later in the period when he jammed in a loose puck as part of a scrum in the Penguin crease as Pittsburgh was trying to kill off a power play.

Then things fell apart for the Penguins – for this game, and perhaps their season. Eric Fehr put the Caps in front when Marc-Andre Fleury roamed behind his net to play the puck and lost track of it. Marcus Johansson got to the puck before Fleury could locate it, then threw it out in front before taking a hit from Deryk Engelland. The puck ended up on Fehr’s stick, who only had to wrist it into the net before Fleury could maneuver back to his crease.

But neither Malkin’s goal, nor those of Knuble and Fehr were the biggest play of the period – or the season. In the dying seconds of the second period, the Caps took possession of the puck, and Karl Alzner moved it up ice to try to start something the other way. Sidney Crosby tried to block the clear, but missed, then turned to follow the play. In doing so, he turned into the path of David Steckel, trying to rush up ice himself with Matt Hendricks on his left. The paths of Crosby and Steckel crossed, and with Crosby’s head turned to see where the play was leading, he was unprepared for the collision he had with Steckel. He was knocked to the ice as time expired in the period, and he was plainly in distress as the teams headed off for the intermission.  It was an unfortunate moment that would reverberate for weeks to come.

In what only might happen in hockey, Crosby retuned for the third period and not only played, but recorded 9:28 in ice time, the most by period for Crosby in this game. What perhaps no one knew was that Crosby – at the time the leading goal scorer and point getter in the league, and the odds-on favorite for the Hart Trophy as MVP – was about to see his season end. He would dress and skate for 19 minutes in his next game, against Tampa Bay, but a hit he sustained in that game when boarded by Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman would effectively end his season, the victim of the concussion perhaps sustained with Steckel's hit and exacerbated by Hedman's.

In that third period, the Penguins got caught once more with their hand in the cookie jar when Jason Chimera and Eric Fehr were working the puck through the neutral zone. When Fehr passed the puck to Chimera on the left wing, Penguin defenseman Paul Martin got caught peeking a little too long at the pass and lost Fehr charging down the middle behind him. Chimera found Fehr breaking past Martin, leaving Fehr with the puck with nothing but clear (if soggy) ice between himself and Fleury. Fehr wristed the puck over Fleury’s left shoulder to provide the final margin in a 3-1 win.

The Takeaway: Where to start. First, it wasn’t just the game, but the look that fans got at two teams behind the scenes in mid-season, courtesy of HBO’s 24/7 series. It was entertaining and almost a lock to be an annual companion to the game itself. There was the nighttime aspect, which gave the game a very different look from that of the other three Classics, and one would not be surprised if occasionally the NHL and NBC (or whoever the television partner is) has a nighttime telecast of this event.

The aftermath of this contest was not kind to either team. The Caps lost four of their next five games and would be shut out twice. The Penguins would lose three of their next four, but more important would lose their captain and the league’s best player for the rest of the season, his career going forward still in doubt.

The game itself was unremarkable by hockey standards. Yes, it did pit two well-known rivals against one another, but it didn’t produce memorable moments – the SportsCenter save or the player making an end to end rush. It had unlikely heroes – Semyon Varlamov stopping 32 of 33 shots and Eric Fehr recording his first two-goal game of the season – but it was what it was, a hockey game in January. Perhaps a little more hotly contested under the circumstances, but not really rising to the intensity or competitiveness of a Stanley Cup playoff game.

The game was made more memorable by what surrounded it – reality TV, a game played outdoors at night, and of course, 68,000 fans of both teams yelling their lungs out. But in that sense, it was not just “a hockey game in January,” but hockey as spectacle, and that is why the 2011 Winter Classic as to be on the list of games that mattered in the 2010-2011 season.

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images North America)

The 2010-2011 Season -- Ten Games that Mattered: Capitals at Bruins, December 18th

Time for Game 4 in our trip down the road of the 2010-2011 season and the games that mattered…

December 18, 2010: Washington (18-11-4) at Boston (16-10-4)

Result: Bruins 3 – Capitals 2

The Background: Things were looking bleak for the Capitals by mid-December. They had not won a game since the first day of the month, compiling a losing streak that reached seven games. They experienced the high and the low of such streaks in their previous two games, first getting pasted by the New York Rangers, 7-0, then losing late in overtime to the Anaheim Ducks, 2-1. Now, the Caps found themselves mired in fifth place in the East, only four points ahead of eighth-place Boston, a team that itself was trying to get out of a three-game losing streak. With the cameras of HBO hovering for the 24/7 series leading up to the Winter Classic and the losses piling up, one might be inclined to think the Caps bore the heavier burden coming into this game.

Why It Mattered: The Caps came out flat, and the Bruins applied the rolling pin to flatten them out a little more in the first period. Patrice Bergeron got the home team off and running at 3:27 when John Erskine and Mike Green both converged on Blake Wheeler, who found Bergeron coming late for a snap shot that beat Michal Neuvirth. The Bruins got their second goal of the period when Andrew Ference got two whacks at a slap shot. The first was blocked by Andrew Gordon, but as it happens to teams going poorly, the puck bounced right back to Ference, who took another whack and got it all the way through the screens and past Neuvirth. Matt Bradley tried to inject some life into the Caps by taking on Adam McQuaid on the ensuing faceoff, but it had no effect. When Bergeron returned the favor and fed Wheeler for an uncovered one-timer, one could see the Caps visibly shrink heading into the first intermission.

And then came, “The Speech.” Losing streaks seem to have a progression on a team’s psyche…

Confusion…”This shouldn’t be happening?”
Frustration…”Why is this happening?”
Acceptance…”It’s happening again”
Anger…”This isn’t happening anymore.”

In the first intermission, the Caps finally got to “anger.” Mike Knuble stood up, paced the locker room with barely restrained fury, and gave, if not quite a “Knute Rockne” version of romantic inspiration, a salty call to to his teammates to grow a pair…

"Today, it's 3-0 and it will not [censored] be one of these laughers again. It will not [censored] turn into a 5-0, 7-0 [censored] laugher. Where they're [censored] giggling getting out of their [censored] mess here. We are [censored] down 3-0 and we are going to come back and we're gonna [censored] win this thing. We're not [censored] going in the tank. That is enough right there. That's [censored] more than a year's worth. It's not going to happen again."

If the Caps didn’t explode out of the locker room to start the second period, at least they stopped the bleeding. And it started with the Caps beleaguered goaltender, Michal Neuvrith. Tyler Seguin skated between two Caps at the Washington blue line and sped in on Neuvirth on a clean break. Seguin tried to deke Neuvirth to the ice to get the puck on his forehad, but even though Seguin got Neuvirth to bite, Neuvirth flashed the left pad to foil Seguin. The Caps recovered the puck, took off in the other direction, and when the puck found its way to Bradley’s stick, he cut between two Bruins and fired a wrist shot past goalie Tim Thomas’ blocker on the long side to give the Caps some life.

Karl Alzner would get the Caps within a goal with 5:28 remaining, putting the Bruins on their heels. But Tim Thomas, despite facing 26 shots in the third period (Boston would have 21 for the game), foiled the Caps efforts, not the least of which was a backhand attempt by Alex Ovechkin with ten seconds left from just outside the crease.

Although in the end it was not quite enough, the Caps finally got angry. They “won” the second and third periods, 2-0, outshooting the Bruins, 36-10. It might have been the best sustained (as in “more than a couple of shifts”) effort during the eight game losing streak. But there was going to be more work to be done – the Caps, with this loss, found themselves looking up at both Atlanta and Tampa Bay in the Southeast Division, and found themselves in seventh place in the East, just two points ahead of the eighth-place Bruins.

The Takeaway: Losing streaks are often characterized by a certain asymmetry between effort and results, and it was true here. The Caps “played” very well for the last 40 minutes of this game, but the result did not reward that effort. Just the same, one could now see the end of the losing streak ahead. The Caps had had enough and more important, were playing as if they had enough. This would be the last loss in their December swoon, and from here the Caps would go 6-0-2 in their next eight games, providing an appropriate symmetry for their 0-6-2 losing streak.

It might not have happened, though, without a veteran taking it upon himself and venting his anger – at the losing streak, at the effort, at the other guys in the room, with himself. And without the cameras of HBO recording the moment, it might never have come to light. Fans would not get a glimpse of this until the next airing of HBO’s 24/7 series, and by that time the Caps would go on to break their losing streak with wins over Ottawa and New Jersey. But when they did, they got a glimpse of how, perhaps, one speech does make a difference in a long season. And that is why this game – and Mike Knuble’s moment – mattered in the 2010-2011 season.

(Photo: Elsa/Getty Images North America)

The 2010-2011 Season -- Ten Games that Mattered: Maple Leafs at Capitals, December 6th

Game 3 at our look back at games that mattered in the 2010-2011 season turns to one that was a harbinger of things to come…

December 6, 2010: Toronto (9-12-4) at Washington (18-8-2)

Result: Maple Leafs 5 – Capitals 4 (OT/Gimmick)

The Background: Even though the Caps had lost two consecutive games – at Dallas and against Atlanta – the Caps were sitting fat and happy, tied for first in the Eastern Conference (with Pittsburgh) when the sun came up on December 6th. Meanwhile, the Toronto Maple Leafs came to town fresh off a 3-2 Gimmick win over Boston after enduring a dismal stretch in which they went 4-10-3 and were shut out six times (that’s not a misprint). You might have expected that the Caps would right themselves in short order against a weak opponent and keep pace with the Penguins. Well, you’d have to rethink that before midnight struck.

Why it mattered: When the Caps jumped ahead of the Leafs less than three minutes into the game on Mathieu Perreault’s first goal of the season, you might have thought the Caps would make a quick night of it. Even when Toronto evened the score on a goal by Clarke MacArthur at 11:47, the Caps stole the lead right back barely three minutes later on a power play goal by Mike Knuble. When Perreault got his second of the game early in the second period, you might have been thinking about catching an early train back home. And when Alex Ovechkin scored to give the Caps a 4-1 lead 13:50 into the second period, you were probably looking at the schedule thinking that December might be a pretty good month.

Well, hockey is not a 40 minute game; there were still 20 left to be played. The Leafs scored in the fifth minute of the third period to cut the margin to two goals, but it probably didn’t seem like much cause for alarm. When Toronto scored at the 17:37 mark to cut the margin to a single goal, that made things entirely too interesting for Caps fans, who were probably looking at the clock thinking, “just hold ‘em for the next 2:23…”

They didn’t. MacArthur got his second goal of the game just 59 seconds after Tim Brent got the Leafs to within one, and the game was tied with just 1:24 left in the game. Michal Neuvirth, who allowed only one goal on 18 shots in the first two periods, had allowed three on seven shots in a span of 14:20 of the third period in one of the ugliest periods of Caps hockey in some time.

The Caps and Maple Leafs fought through a scoreless overtime, but the damage had been done. The Caps failed to find the back of the net with any of their last 17 shots on goal (going back to the Ovechkin goal in the second period), leaving things to the uncertainty of the Gimmick. And there the game came down to one shot that was the game in a nutshell. Mikail Grabovski picked up the puck and circled wide to his right. From there he knifed toward the net, picking up speed as he closed on Michal Neuvirth. As he got to the net, he slammed on the brakes, executed a spin-o-rama, and backhanded the puck past Neuvirth’s left pad, the only goal in the trick shot competition that gave the Maple Leafs the 5-4 decision. Just as Grabovski executed a turnaround perfectly, so did the Maple Leafs in climbing out of the 4-1 hole they dug for themselves.

Instead of disposing of an opponent that shouldn’t have been competitive, the Caps mailed in the last 20 minutes, and then could not regain any momentum in the overtime. Not only had the Caps failed to halt a two-game losing streak, but the losing streak stood at three and would eventually extend to eight. Not only did the Caps manage to draw the Leafs into just three shorthanded situations, they also managed only two shots on goal in the three power plays they had (scoring on one of them) in 3:43 of power play time. The Caps were exposed as having perhaps a soft underbelly on defense (again, since they recently allowed 14 goals in three games in three late November losses). A power play that was humming along at almost 22 percent through November was not getting many chances (three times with three or fewer power play chances in four December games) and, at least in this instance, wasn’t getting much pressure on the defense when they did have the advantage.

The Takeaway: This was Washington on full display. Explosive on offense when properly motivated, too loosey-goosey with a lead (they had 21 shot attempts in the third period – 12 on goal – that was 35 percent of their total for the game, suggesting there was no pulling back and focusing on defense). They did get a power play goal from Mike Knuble but otherwise struggled to get pucks to the net. They left things too much in the hands of their goaltender late.

The defensive problems would continue after this game, reflected in allowing three goals to comparatively weak offensive teams in Florida and Colorado, then getting hammered by the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden, 7-0. It would eventually cause the Caps’ coaching staff to rethink and retool their approach, applying more emphasis on defense and preventing chances for the opposition. In retrospect, you might have seen that coming if you looked at this game – one in which the Caps looked alternately talented and undisciplined, a lot like stretches in the 2009-2010 season. But the Caps weren’t scoring in 2010-2011 like they did the previous year, and the lapses in discipline would have them scratching their heads over results like this one.

It was the beginning of a series of dark nights in December that resulted in a different Caps team by Christmas. And that is why this game mattered in the 2010-2011 season.

(photo: AP/Luis M. Alvarez)

The 2010-2011 Season -- Ten Games that Mattered: Flyers at Capitals, November 7th

Next up on our tour of games that mattered in the 2010-2011 season is another goaltending tale, but not one we might have expected…

November 7, 2010: Philadelphia (9-4-1) at Washington (9-4-0)

Result: Capitals 3 – Flyers 2 (OT)

The Background: There was a lot going on here for a game in early November. First, the Flyers were coming into Washington on a six-game winning streak behind the white hot goaltending of their latest contestant between the pipes, Sergei Bobrovsky. The rookie goaltender earned the decision in all six wins on the streak, posting a GAA of 1.67 and a save percentage of .943. His efforts helped propel the Flyers to the top of the Eastern Conference standings, one point ahead of Washington.

Meanwhile, the Caps were on a streak of their own, having won three in a row, mainly by pummeling their opponents with goals – 17 in the three wins. It shaped up as a contest of the irresistible force of the Caps offense against the immovable object represented by Sergei Bobrovsky in goal.

Why it mattered: The trouble with easy narratives like the one described above is that something often comes in to intrude on the story. This game would be one of those instances, and it had its roots in the Caps' previous game, a 5-3 win over the Boston Bruins. In that game, the Caps carried what looked like a comfortable 3-0 lead into the third period, but three goals on five shots in the first 10 minutes of the third period put an end to the Caps’ feeling of comfort. Those goals also chased Caps goaltender Michal Neuvirth in favor of rookie Braden Holtby making his NHL debut. Holtby faced only four shots in the last ten minutes, stopping them all. Meanwhile, John Carlson scored with 6:35 left, and Alex Ovechkin added an empty net goal to give the Caps a 5-3 win and Holtby the decision in his first NHL appearance.

Holtby was named the starter for this game against the Flyers, hardly the easiest opponent to face in one’s first NHL start. The Caps, though, did a fine job of preventing Flyer shots on goal. In the first nine minutes the Flyers managed only eight shot attempts, four of which were credited as shots on goal, none of them from inside of 30 feet. Nevertheless, the Flyers opened the scoring at the 9:51 mark on a goal by Nikolai Zherdev, leading a 2-on-1 break. The Caps went back to work, though, holding the Flyers to only one shot on goal over the rest of the period and getting the game-tying goal from Eric Fehr late in the frame.

It was more of the same in the second – the Flyers finding it difficult to get shots off, let alone on net. In the first four minutes of the period the Flyers attempted two shots, one of which was on goal, but did have to kill off a penalty as well. Shortly after killing a high-sticking call on Jeff Carter, Ville Leino put the Flyers back on top at 4:04 with a tip-in of an Andrej Meszaros shot.

Allowing two goals on eight shots might not have been a case of Holtby having jitters as much as having so little work to keep him focused. Whatever the reason for the early goals, Holtby slammed the door after that. He stopped each of the remaining 17 shots he would face in the second and third periods, while Alexander Semin tied the game in the second period, the last goal either team would score in regulation.

In the latter stages of regulation time, the Caps caught a break. Two, in fact. Chris Pronger was sent off at the 16:05 mark on a double-minor penalty for high-sticking David Steckel. Then, with 19 seconds left in regulation, Sean O’Donnell was sent off for boarding Tomas Fleischmann (have you noticed we mentioned so many names no longer with the respective clubs?). The Caps could not capitalize in the final seconds of the third period, but their 5-on-3 would carry over into the extra session. Pronger came out of the box five seconds into overtime, creating a rare 5-on-4 in overtime. The Flyers would not get to reset the matchup back to 4-on-3, though. Shortly after Pronger returned, Nicklas Backstrom found Mike Green at the right point, and after stepping up into a void left by the Flyer defenders, Green rifled a slap shot over Boborovsky’s left shoulder to end it 29 seconds into overtime. In doing so, the Caps jumped over the Flyers to lead the Eastern Conference standings for the first time in 2010-2011.

The takeaway: Holtby could have wilted. Little work early in the game, allowing the Flyers to get leads twice in the first 24 minutes, a nail-biter of a game throughout where neither team had more than a one goal lead (and the Caps never led until the game-winner). But after allowing two goals on the first eight shots he faced Holtby stopped the last 17 (he did not face a shot in overtime).

Credit could be given to the skaters in front of him, as the Caps allowed the Flyers only 49 shot attempts (25 on goal). But Holtby was solid in goal, too, matching Sergei Bobrovsky save for save. As Mike Green put it after the game, “…as a defenseman I said this about [Michal] Neuvirth – I was so confident playing in front of him. All his rebounds – he was scooping them up. He wasn't staying in the net. He was diving out and covering them up. Maybe as a young goaltender you wouldn't put yourself out there like that, but these guys are confident and that's what we need to win.”

With his debut against the Bruins and his first start against the Flyers, Braden Holtby threw his hat into the ring in the competition to see who would emerge as the Caps number one goaltender. If not the favorite, at least Holtby pronounced himself ready and capable of competing at the NHL level. And that is why this game in early November against a long-time rival mattered.


(photo: Mitchell Layton/NHLI via Getty Images)

The 2010-2011 Season -- Ten Games that Mattered: Capitals at Bruins, October 21st

It is coming later than we might have planned, but we’re pushing on with ten games that mattered in the 2010-2011 season. Some are wins, some are losses, but all of them had a take away going forward in the season. They are in chronological order, not order of importance, so let’s get started with one from early on…

October 21, 2010: Washington (4-2-0) at Boston (3-1-0)

Result: Bruins 4 – Capitals 1

The Background: It was Boston’s home opener of the 2010-2011, the B’s going into the game as winners of their previous three games, including a 3-1 win in Washington in their most recent game. Washington was entering the contest with a 4-2-0 record, just having a four game winning streak stopped by Boston in the 3-1 decision at Verizon Center.

The feature in this second game of a home-and-home set would be its matchup of goaltenders. After sitting out the season opener for Boston, Tim Thomas roared to life, starting and winning the next three games, stopping 95 of 97 shots in the process (.979 save percentage). Not bad for a guy coming off off-season hip surgery.

On the other side, Semyon Varlamov was going to get his first start of the season for the Caps. Varlamov played 45 minutes in relief of Michal Neuvrith in the Caps’ previous game, stopping 13 of 14 shots in a 3-1 Boston win. Varlamov was coming off an injury of his own that put him on the injured reserve list to start the season.

Why It Mattered: Contrary to what many in the hockey world thought best for the Caps – that being to sign a veteran goaltender – the Caps were embarking on what would be a season-long audition to find out which of their young goaltenders would emerge as the number one goalie and the go-to netminder for the post-season. With Varlamov on the shelf to start the season, Michal Neuvirth took advantage, starting in the Caps’ first six games (not finishing game six because of flu symptoms), going 4-2-0, 2.46, .921.

Varlamov was a bit behind the eight ball at this point, having missed the Caps first five games while Neuvirth was posting, if not elite, at least solid numbers to get the Caps off to a good start. And, he was playing in his second straight game after coming off injured reserve. He posted good numbers in relief in the first appearance – 13 saves on 14 shots faced – but it was not a heavy workload for 45 minutes of work, and he would catch the Bruins in a motivated mood in their home opener. So the question was, could Varlamov establish some momentum from his previous appearance to stake his claim in the early going of this two-horse race?

As it turned out, this was an odd game. Varlamov faced only eight shots in the first period, surrendering a goal on the last one, a power play tally by Michael Ryder in the last minute of the period. It seemed to spark the Bruins, who came out firing in the second. Boston recorded nine shot attempts in the first 2:22 of the second period, getting six of them on goal, and scoring on the last one, that by Jordan Caron. Except for that flurry straddling the first and second periods, it was a relatively tame offensive output for Boston – two goals (both on the power play) on 27 shots. The Bruins would score three power play goals in the game on four man advantage opportunities, but Varlamov would stop 25 of 26 even strength shots on goal. It was not a bad performance on his part and much as an unfortunate one.

As an aside, the three power play goals the Caps allowed in this game would be a feat not repeated until the Caps allowed three power play goals to (of all teams) Florida on January 11th. This game and the January 11th game would be the only instances in the 2010-2011 season in which the Caps would allow as many as three power play goals.

The Takeaway… It was unfortunate in more than the score at the end of the game. Varlamov would not appear in another game for more than a month following this one. And even after his return he would be streaky for the rest of the year, at least in terms of wins and losses: 4-0-0, 0-3-1, 3-0-0, 1-3-3, win, loss, win, loss, overtime loss, win. Between his intermittent absences due to injury (he missed 29 games as a result of four separate injury absences), and the streaky results, he spent the season always a step or two behind Neuvirth in the contest to be the Caps’ number one goaltender.

Varlamov’s up and down year in wins and losses started with a game in which he played rather well for long stretches, just not as good as his opposite number, Tim Thomas. So it would end up being for Varlamov in the 2010-2011 season in his contest with Michal Neuvirth. And that’s why this game mattered in 2010-2011.


(photo: AP/Mary Schwalm)