Your Peerless Prognostos for the Eastern Conference Final -- Pittsburgh (4) vs. Carolina (6)

The Caps-less round three begins…

Why Pittsburgh can’t lose…

Sidney Crosby is on a mission. 12 goals in 13 games. Now, he didn’t do it against the sturdiest defensive squads in the East, but he’s not playing against such a group in the conference final, either. In fact, Carolina’s defense might resemble Washington’s a little too much for the Hurricanes’ tastes for this series -- not physical enough down low. And Crosby had eight goals against the Caps. As if we needed another Crosby nugget, he went 1-6-7 in four games against Carolina this year.

Marc-Andre Fleury had the curious propensity this year to be either very good against a team, or rather poor. For every 2-0-2, 1.69, .955 against New Jersey, there seemed to be a 1-2-0, 4.50, .881 against Toronto. He was 1-1-1, 2.00, .937 against Carolina this year.

Looking for someone to come out of the blue? Ruslan Fedotenko was 3-1-4 in four games against the Hurricanes this year. And, he had points in four of his last five games against the Caps in the second round (3-2-5).

Why Pittsburgh can’t win…

The Penguins did not play formidable teams in the first two rounds, at least in terms of their recent play, respectively. Philadelphia finished the season 11-10-1 after the end of February, leading up to their first round loss to the Penguins. The Caps – if you buy into the “Southleast” Division description of where they play – played a bunch of patsies the last month (10 of their last 13 games were against Southeast Division teams, against which they went 7-3-0) and struggled against a punchless Rangers team in the first round. This won’t be the case with Carolina – 13-3-2 since the end of February in the regular season and victors over two higher-seeded teams (New Jersey and Boston) in the first two rounds).

The Peerless’ Player to Ponder

Evgeni Malkin

Malkin has 19 points in 13 games, but his performance has the curious look of the underperformer through the first two rounds, perhaps not befitting a Hart Trophy finalist. He came on late in the second round, going 1-6-7 in the last three games against the Caps, including the game-winner in Game 5. He was 2-3-5 in four games against the Hurricanes this year. He’ll need to be at least as productive.

Why Carolina can’t lose

Here is what we said at the top of round two…

"On February 17th, the Hurricanes lost a 5-1 decision to Boston in an especially ugly fashion. Playing at home, they scored first, then watched as the Bruins stormed back for five unanswered goals, three of them in the third period, all of them in the last four minutes of play. Since then, the Hurricanes went 17-5-2 to close the regular season, then they vanquished the New Jersey Devils in the opening round with a pair of lightning bolts in the last 90 seconds of Game 7 against Martin Brodeur in Newark. They have played like and have had the look of a team of destiny the last two months."

Add to this the fact that they defeated the presumptive Vezina Trophy winner in round two – Tim Thomas. Think they’ll fear Marc-Andre Fleury? Yeah, me neither.

Why Carolina can’t win…

Pittsburgh was actually a hotter team after February 17th than the Hurricanes (18-3-3 to finish the regular season). This will be a step up in class in opposition for the Hurricanes, as one expects at this time of year. What might work more insidiously against the Hurricanes here is that they are, (a) the second oldest team in average age among the final eight in the playoffs, and (b) they are coming off two seven-games series, both of which involved winning a Game 7 on the road.

The Peerless’ Player to Ponder

Rod Brind’Amour

Brind’Amour was off to the worst season of his career through February 17th. He was 8-21-29, -30 in 56 games, and you’d have to be forgiven if you thought that at age 38 the end was in sight. But he was 8-14-22. +7 in his last 24 regular season games. He had a similar slow start in the playoffs, going scoreless in his first ten games. He did have points in two of his last four games, but his importance in this series is going to be to a large extent his defense. If he can be effective against either Crosby or Malkin, perhaps Pittsburgh won’t have enough underneath support to advance. Hurricane fans hope that puck to the face in overtime of Game 7 against the Bruins won't ruin his movie star good looks... or keep him out of the lineup.

In the end…

These were the best two teams in the East down the stretch in the regular season. Both have struggled in the playoffs to get this far – one team needing 14 games, the other 13. Pittsburgh might be expected to suffer a bit of a let down after “the circus” that was the Washington series. But then again, they’ve been this far before. And, as we said, Sidney Crosby is on a mission.

On the other hand, Carolina has been this far before, too. They are not that far removed from having won a Cup. And, goalie Cam Ward has not yet lost a playoff series in his career. He might not have the star wattage of a Martin Brodeur or the quirky appeal in style of a Tim Thomas, but all he’s done is stop pucks… and he’s still playing, unlike the other two.

In the end, we’re left with a simple credo… “go with the best player.” That’s Crosby.

Pittsburgh in 7

Your Peerless Prognostos for Round Two -- Boston (1) vs. Carolina (4)

Time to look at the third pairing in round two – Boston and Carolina…

Why Boston can’t lose…

Statistically, the Bruins hold an overwhelming edge over Carolina. In fact, statistically the Bruins are the most dominating team in the league… second in total standings points, second in scoring, first in defense, first in five-on-five play, fourth on the power play, seventh in winning percentage when scoring first, first in winning percentage when trailing first. They swallowed the Montreal Canadiens whole in the first round, not so much as playing a single one-goal game in their four game sweep. They can beat you with incredible offensive balance (10 players with at least ten goals, 21 players with at least ten points in the regular seasons) or with stifling defense (Norris Trophy finalist Zdeno Chara and his underrated sidekick Dennis Wideman on the blue line, Tim Thomas and his 2.10 GAA and .933 save percentage – both league bests – in goal).

Why Boston can’t win…

Because they didn’t, at least not with the regularity down the stretch that they displayed early in the year. Their record, by month, was as follows: 5-3-3, 11-1-1, 12-1-0, 8-3-2, 6-4-3, 7-5-1, 4-2-0. Part of that might have been a bit of coasting – they finished 23 points ahead of Montreal in the Northeast Division – but that still isn’t a happy trend.

The Peerless’ Player to Ponder

Zdeno Chara

Of all the teams remaining in this tournament, Carolina might have the most team speed, top to bottom. It is going to test the defensive skills of the Bruins, none more so than the big guy on the blue line. He acquitted himself quite well in the regular season against the Hurricanes. His plus-7 against Carolina was his best such mark against any team in the league he faced this season.


Why Carolina can’t lose…

On February 17th, the Hurricanes lost a 5-1 decision to Boston in an especially ugly fashion. Playing at home, they scored first, then watched as the Bruins stormed back for five unanswered goals, three of them in the third period, all of them in the last four minutes of play. Since then, the Hurricanes went 17-5-2 to close the regular season, then they vanquished the New Jersey Devils in the opening round with a pair of lightning bolts in the last 90 seconds of Game 7 against Martin Brodeur in Newark. They have played like and have had the look of a team of destiny the last two months.

Why Carolina can’t win…

Few teams will match Boston’s work ethic, and the Bruins will not give up on plays, even as the Hurricanes are trying to use their speed advantage over Boston. If that scenario plays out, Boston wins just about every match-up, by position, in this series.

The Peerless’ Player to Ponder

Cam Ward

After backup goaltender Michael Leighton lost a 6-5 shootout against Philadelphia on December 11th, in Carolina’s 29th game of the year, Ward was the goalie of record in 50 of the Hurricanes’ last 53 games. That’s a lot of work. After a grueling seven-game series against the Devils, one might reasonably wonder how much gas is left in Ward’s tank, especially against a team as deep, balanced, and talented as Boston.

In the end…

Since that February 17th lost to Boston, the Hurricanes have won 21 games. And they haven’t just been beating opponents, they have been running wild over them. Ten times, they won games by at least three goals. On seven occasions, they scored at least five goals, and twice they scored nine. In winning three of the last four games in the first round series over New Jersey, they scored four goals in each game against a hall of fame goaltender in waiting. Boston has the numbers, Carolina has the momentum. We like Big Mo’.


Carolina in 6

Nuggets...

Two of the last six Stanley Cup champions faced an 0-2 deficit in a playoff series before going on to win the Cup.

Both times the deficit came in the first round.

In 2002, Detroit lost games 1 and 2 to Vancouver by scores of 4-3 (in OT) and 5-2, before storming back to win in six games.

In 2006, Carolina fell behind in games 1 and 2 to Montreal by scores of 6-1 and 6-5 (in OT), before roaring back to win in, yes, six games.

A NO-point night: Hurricanes 4 - Caps 1

One team was playing its third game in four nights and the second game of a back-to-back.

It was the other team that ran out of gas in the third period.

The Carolina Hurricanes turned a 1-1 second intermission contest into a 4-1 “leave ‘em in the dust” win over the Caps last night. And, as if to put a cherry on the sundae for the Hurricanes, it was their defense – playing offense…and the Caps’ defense – not playing defense…that was the difference.

Hurricane defensemen Joni Pitkanen and Anton Babchuk scored goals from in close, behind the Caps’ defense, to break the second intermission tie, then Joe Corvo (yes, a defenseman) scored from Greensboro in the last minute into an empty net, to account for the final margin.

There are games when the Caps are focused, engaged, and determined, and you think, “there is a parade route at the end of this.” Then there are games like last night when they allowed Carolina to exert their will on them, and you might think, “there are 18 holes at the end of this.”

So?...

- You could say Cam Ward was good – excellent, in fact. But of the 32 shots on goal recorded by the Capitals, eight of them were from within 20 feet. 13 of them were from 50 or more feet away.

- Not that Ward didn’t have his moments. His save on a one-timer by Tomas Fleischmann a little more than five minutes into then a scoreless game foiled any attempt at establishing momentum for the Caps. He victimized Fleischmann once more when Fleischmann collected a pass deflected by a Carolina high-stick, then skate in on Ward with space. Fleischmann let fly with a wrister from the left wing hash marks, but Ward got a glove on it, denying the Caps the chance to tie the game at two in the third period.

- If you look at the numbers – and only at the numbers – you’d swear this game went to a shootout...

The Caps had 32 shots on goal, the Hurricanes had 30.
The Caps had 26 hits, the Hurricanes had 24.
The Caps had eight takeaways, the Hurricanes nine.
The Caps had 13 blocked shots, the Hurricanes ten.
The Caps and Hurricanes split 52 draws right down the middle, 26 apiece.

- The game turned on two plays. Joni Pitkanen carried the puck deep into the Caps zone, and as he was moving it behind the net was checked into the glass by John Erskine. Erskine followed the puck around, Pitkanen lagging behind. Chad LaRose picked up the puck and continued out from around the net, finding Eric Staal in front. Staal fed Pitkanen, cutting behind Michael Nylander and Mike Green, and all that was left for Pitkanen to do was wait until goalie Jose Theodore committed, then pop a backhander into the net.

- The second play, Ray Whitney carried the puck into the Caps’ zone on a 4-on-4, and Anton Babchuk drove to the net with Viktor Kozlov marking him. As Whitney curled off and fed Dennis Seidenberg, Kozlov drifted off toward the left wing faceoff circle, leaving Babchuk at the Theodore’s doorstep. Seidenberg sent a shot toward the goal with the apparent intention of having Babchuk redirect it. Babchuk succeeded, but Theodore foiled the try. However, in doing so, Theodore was down and not in position to prevent Babchuk from recovering the puck and flipping a backhand into the net before Mike Green or Shaone Morrisonn could get back to defend. It just seemed that Babchuk – who is 6’5 and 22 pounds – got lost behind the defense.

- Alex Ovechkin had seven shots on goal and 13 attempts in all, but one never got the feeling he was getting the puck in places where he is normally effective. Despite the attempts, the Hurricanes did a good job in defending him as a group.

- Since netting goals in three consecutive games in January, Fleischmann has two goals in his last 29 games. One wonders why he’s getting more ice time than a guy like, say, Eric Fehr (three shots on goal and seven attempts in barely ten minutes last night). But the reason might be that Fehr has more physical edge to his game and can fit the “energy” role on a fourth line more than can Fleischmann. It's the only reason we can think of.

- Last night marked the end of an 11-game points scoring streak for Alexander Semin against the Hurricanes. He had goals in the last eight games of that streak and was 10-11-21 overall in that 11-game streak.

- It was another case of the skaters letting Jose Theodore down (they spread it around – 12 of them were on the minus side of the ledger). It would be hard to fault Theodore for any of the three Hurricane goals scored when he was on the ice. Even the first – by Rod Brind’Amour – was a product of Mike Green getting pickpocketed behind the Caps’ net by Sergei Samsonov, who poked the puck across to Jussi Jokinen. Jokinen found Brind’Amour alone and from precisely the spot on the ice where Flesichmann was stoned by Ward, Brind’Amour buried the puck behind Theodore on a one-timer.

This might have been “game one” in a playoff series, since the Caps and Hurricanes occupy the third and sixth seeds at the moment and would meet in the first round if the standings hold this way. Carolina sent the message that it isn’t going to roll over, merely because they are 13 points behind the Caps in the standings (11 this morning). For the Caps, there is now other business. They do not play another playoff team for the rest of the regular season (based on this morning’s standings). For a team that seems to need motivation, that’s a bad mix heading into the playoffs…

…where Carolina could be waiting.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Hurricanes, March 21st

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

It’s the last visit of the season – the regular season – to Carolina as the Capitals take on the Carolina Hurricanes. The Capitals blow into town like a cyclone…

“Hurricanes are no laughing matter, sir."

Oh…and you are?

“Foone…Dr. Ty Foone, of the National Hurricane Center, and we’d appreciate your not making light of these deadly storms.”

Foone?...Nice name, bub. Do you have a brother named, “Buff?”

“Very funny, sir, but hurricanes are not to be trifled with.”

We know. They’re 6-1-2 in March.

“That’s not what I mean, sir.”

And you don’t want to have your weather system “Staal” over Raleigh tonight.

“haha…I get it. Meteorology joke.”

And then there is the matter of the “Cole” front that moved into Carolina around the trading deadline.

"You’d kill ‘em in Miami, sir.”

Oh, that’s ok…hockey’s already dead there.

But it’s not in Carolina, where the Hurricanes are, in fact, 6-1-2 in March and 1-0-1 against the Caps for the month. That 14-point month so far has catapulted the ‘Canes into sixth place in the Eastern Conference, and to abuse the hypothetical you hear at this time of year, if the playoffs were to start today, the Caps and ‘Canes would be the first round matchup. And speaking of matchups, here are the number matchups...



In March, Carolina has outscored its opponents by 40-21 in nine games. Four of their six wins have been by at least three goals, including a 5-2 win over Washington in the first game of the month. They’ll be bringing a two-game winning streak into tonight’s game, a 4-2 win over Martin-Brodeur-less New Jersey on Wednesday and a 5-4 win over the Islanders last night.

Special teams have been key for the Hurricanes in two respects. First, the power play is 13-for-44 this month (29.6 percent). It’s a good thing, too, since the penalty killers are only 28-for-36 (77.8 percent). And in those numbers are the second key – the Hurricanes have enjoyed eight more power plays than they have suffered shorthanded situations. They have had more power play opportunities than their opponents in six of the nine games they’ve played this month, going 5-1-0 in such games. Given the Caps’ tendencies to wear a path to the penalty box on nights they’re not fully engaged, this bears watching.

Individually, Erik Cole has now played eight games for the Hurricanes since returning to Carolina from Edmonton. That the Hurricanes are 5-1-2 and Cole 2-8-10, +4, is probably not a coincidence. And he’s had salutary effects on the play of Eric Staal, who is 6-8-14, +9 in the eight games since Cole returned to the scene. Combined, the “Erick’s” have played 69 career games against the Caps, their production being 33-32-65, +4, with nine power play goals, a shorthanded goal, and three game-winners.

They haven’t been alone in lighting things up. Tuomo Ruutu is 5-5-10, +3, in nine games for the month. Ray Whitney is an astonishing 5-10-15, +8 in the same number of games. Matt Cullen, we kid you not, is 3-9-12, +7 in nine games. Rod Brind’Amour is 4-6-10, +3. Even Sergei Samsonov, who seems to have spent his post-rookie season career disappointing people, is 2-6-8, +1 in nine games.

On defense, the Hurricanes have gotten contributions from an unexpected place. Anton Babchuk has seven goals in his last 15 games, including the game-winner against the Devils last Wednesday. Perhaps more important, the goal scoring hasn’t come at the expense of defense (or at least his ability to be on the ice when good things happen). He is plus-12 in those 15 games. As a group, it has been solid. In 45 man games played by the top six defensemen this month, there are only six minus games in the bunch.

In goal, one has to wonder…Cam Ward has played in 20 consecutive games, including four back-to-backs, and 37 of the last 38. He’s allowed three or more goals in four of his last five games, including four to the lowly Islanders last night. Does this guy get a break tonight? If not, he’ll be bringing an 11-5-2, 2.62, .917, three shutout record against the Caps to the ice. He is 1-1-1, 2.93, .914 in three games against the Caps this year.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Carolina: Patrick Eaves

While the Caps are pondering the “Erick’s,” Whitney, Brind’Amour, etc., consider Patrick Eaves. In 63 games against the rest of the league this year, he is 3-7-10, +6. Not exactly fear-inspiring. But in four games against the Caps he is 2-1-3, +2, doubling his production from previous years against the Caps to 4-2-6, +4 in 14 games. He could be an under the radar guy that could burn a team not paying attention.

Washington: Alexander Semin

The one kind of line you don’t like to see from Semin is this…0-0-0, even, three shots…and four PIMs. It’s not so much the points as the penalties, both for hooking in the first period against Tampa Bay in the Caps’ last contest. It suggests maybe a bit of a wandering focus, and taking the iffy penalty against the Hurricanes lately is playing with fire. Semin has really abused Carolina defenses – 19-15-34, +6, with eight power play goals and four game-winners in 23 career games. He is a mind-boggling 6-7-13, +3, with two game-winners in four games against Carolina this year. Which Semin shows up will probably be the key for the Caps.

Carolina hasn’t lost a home game in more than a month, winning seven in a row since taking a 5-1 loss at the hand of the Bruins. They are firing – quite literally – on all cylinders. If the Caps defense and goaltending needed a test, they are going to get one in this game. As the Caps end the regular season series against the Hurricanes, they catch Carolina in the midst of perhaps their hottest stretch this season. And heat feeds Hurricanes. The Caps have enough to weather the storm…

Caps 5 – Hurricanes 3

A TWO-point night: Caps 5 - Hurricanes 4 (OT/Gimmick)

It’s the time of year when no one should think anything is going to come easily.

The Caps fought off a game Carolina Hurricanes squad last night, 5-4, in a Gimmick to increase their Southeast Division lead to 14 points and match their high water mark of the year, going 22 games over .500.

It was the sort of “playoff intensity” game you might want to see if you’re a suit at NHL headquarters. Shooters for both teams had their way with both defenses. Specifically, it was a night for the top lines for both clubs.

Carolina’s top line of Eric Staal (1-2-3, +3), Erik Cole (1-1-2, +3), and Ray Whitney (1-1-2, +4), who got time with the other two in place of Tuomo Ruutu, was virtually unstoppable for the Hurricanes. They had a hand in three of the Hurricanes’ four goals.

On the other hand, the Capitals’ trio of Alexander Semin (1-3-4, -3), Alex Ovechkin (1-1-2, -2), and Nicklas Backstrom (1-1-2, -2) abused the Hurricanes penalty killers – the Caps were 3-for-4 on the power play – and had a hand in all of the Caps’ four goals.

As suggested in those last two paragraphs, this was two distinct games within a game. At even strength, the Hurricanes had a 4-1 advantage. Meanwhile, the Caps won the special teams play, 3-0. Perhaps most important for the Caps, that zero was a product of having to kill off a penalty in the overtime session, part of a six-for-six save performance in the extra session for goalie Jose Theodore.

Watching this game was like watching teams that are echoes of one another…

Alex Ovechkin – he of the gaudy shot totals – had 14 attempts, eight on goal. Eric Staal – he of gaudy stats of his own lately – had 16 attempts six on goal.

Mike Green – the top scoring defenseman in the league – had five shot attempts. Joe Corvo – the Hurricanes’ leading scorer among defensemen – had nine shot attempts.

Alexander Semin – the top scorer no one seems to pay much attention to – had eight attempts. Ray Whitney – the guy who seems to get lost on the Hurricanes’ roster – had six attempts.

Jose Theodore – seen as perhaps the weak link on this team – stopped 28 of 32 shots (many of them high quality), including all six he faced in overtime, then shut the door on both Carolina shooters in the Gimmick. Cam Ward – who seems to have spent his recent career trying to justify his winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs – stopped 27 of 31 shots (many of them high quality), including both shots he faced in overtime.

Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, the scoring went:

Ovechkin: 1-1-2
Staal: 1-2-3

Green: 1-1-2
Corvo: 0-0-0

Semin: 1-3-4
Whitney: 1-1-2

Theodore: 1.000 save percentage in the Gimmick (2-for-2)

Ward: .333 save percentage in the Gimmick (1-for-3)

And what the Hurricanes don’t have is an answer for a guy like Nicklas Backstrom, whose 1-1-2 line gave him points in 15 of his last 16 games. His assist gave him a total of 55 for the season to match his total for last year.

Speaking of Backstrom, a slight detour is in order. If you’re looking at last year’s Calder finalists, the race looks like this…

If the Caps didn’t have a monster night hitting Hurricanes (well, given some of the totals we’ve seen at the Verizon Center, maybe their 28 total hits was “monster”), they spread it around. Only Nicklas Backstrom and Michael Nylander didn’t register one.

It isn’t often that the Caps get out attempted in shots, especially at home. But last night, Carolina tipped the scale far in the direction of the visitors, out-attempting the Caps 79-46. The flip side of that is that Carolina got 32 of their attempts on goal (45.1 percent), while the Caps got 31 of theirs through to Cam Ward (67.4 percent).

Paul Maurice played with a pretty short bench for Carolina. Ryan Bayda took two shifts in the first period (1:28 total) before retiring for the evening. Tim Conboy took three shifts in the first period (2:36 total) and didn’t return for the evening. At least Patrick Eaves lasted into the second period, but he played a total of 6:06 and didn’t appear in either the third period or overtime.

It was a reversal of fortune for the Hurricanes in one respect. The last time these teams met, the Hurricanes managed only one even-strength goal, but had two short-handed, one power-play, and a penalty shot goal. Last night, no special teams theatrics, but they did have four even-strength goals.

Last night’s splatterage trophy on the score sheet goes to Chad LaRose for the Hurricanes. One shot, two shots blocked, four misses, two hits, a giveaway, a takeaway, a blocked shot, and three faceoffs (all losses) to go along with a plus-1. He didn’t however, have a point.

The Caps had a deceptively effective night in the faceoff circle. Carolina was 16-for-30 in neutral zone draws, but five of those wins came against guys who might not be the first go-to center to take draws – Keith Aucoin, Tomas Fleischmann, and Brooks Laich. Meanwhile, Nicklas Backstrom won 12-of-21 draws, including 8-of-13 (combined) in the offensive and defensive zones. David Steckel was 10-for-13, including 7-for-9 (combined) in the offensive and defensive zones. Even Michael Nylander was 3-for-4 in defensive zone draws.

It was an entertaining game, but probably not the sort one is going to see in the playoffs. Coach Bruce Boudreau alluded to as much in his post-game comments…

“It was like pond hockey, and in the playoffs you have to play much more structured.”

There was a lot of up and down – mostly down, if you’re looking toward Jose Theodore. Carolina had four clean breakaways in the second period alone, including a shorthanded break by Chad LaRose. Ray Whitney had one, following a 5-on-1 Caps rush at the other end that netted nothing, which Theodore stopped. But he couldn’t stop Eric Staal swooping in to collect the loose change. Theodore, despite allowing four goals, might have been the best player on the ice for either team in this one. He simply had too many high-probability scoring chances to have to defend.

But part of winning is getting that extra point when the other guys are playing their game their way. Carolina might be the fastest team – top to bottom – in the Eastern Conference. Adding Erik Cole provides a power dimension that now must be reckoned with. Both speed and power were on display for Carolina last night, and yet the Caps still got the extra point, because they are a team of superior skill. And it was the Caps’ skill guys who paved the way…with more than a little help from the goaltender no one outside of DC seems to have much use for.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Hurricanes, March 14th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Caps are back home after a short, but profitable, two game spin on the road. Four points earned was just the tonic for the team after a lackluster home stand. But now, the Caps get to slam a nail into the coffin of the Carolina Hurricanes’ faint hopes of overtaking the Caps to win the South—

“Hey, cuz?”

What is it Cheerless?

“It says here in the noozpaper that there’s a Car-Wash at Verizon Center t’nite.”

No, not “Car-Wash”…Carolina-Washington…the hockey game.

“Y’mean there’s gonna be a hockey game while they’re warshin’ cars?”

They’re not warsh…washing cars. It’s Carolina and Washington…those are the teams playing tonight.

“Are they playin’ in a car warsh?”

NO!...Listen, they are playing hockey…in a hockey rink. It’s a hockey game.

“Well, are they warshin’ cars after the game?”

--tap-tap-tap--… no, they are not washing cars after the game. They’re going to come, play hockey, and go home.

“Can fans warsh their cars whilst they’re playin’ hockey?”

NNNNNNNNNNNNNO! It’s NOT a car wash, it’s Car-Wash…Car-Wash…Carolina…Washington…Car-Car-Car…Carolina…”

"Why can’t they warsh their cars? They’re takin’ Metro instead o’ drivin’? "

Yeah, that’s it…they’re taking Metro instead of driving.

"Gee, cuz…why would they do that? Metro sucks."

Ugh…

Well, hopefully the Caps won’t suck as they face a familiar foe at home. The Hurricanes come into Verizon Center as something of an unknown, though. After starting March with a bang – winning their first four games by a combined 23-6 score (including a 5-2 thwapping of the Caps), the Hurricanes have lost their last two, a 3-2 Gimmick loss to Chicago and a 3-2 loss to Dallas. Both were on the road.

On the other hand, while Carolina comes into this game 2-2-0 against the Caps this year, their wins have come in the last two contests played between the teams. Overall, they have put themselves in a position to challenge, if not realistically for the Southeast Division title, then for a playoff spot. Their overall numbers are pretty respectable:


While they do not have the top-end offensive firepower that the Caps bring, the Hurricanes do have balance. They have 18 players with at least ten points (the Caps have 16), and nine players with at least ten goals (the Caps have ten). And, their special teams have been very good lately. The power play has registered at least one goal in seven straight games (10-for-35, 28.6 percent). Meanwhile, their penalty killers have skated off 25 of 28 shorthanded situations (89.3 percent) over the same span of games.

The group is led by Eric Staal, who is tied for the team lead in points with Ryan Whitney (60), but who has been on a tear over the last month. Since going 1-2-3 in a 3-0 win at Buffalo on February 15th, Staal is 9-12-21, +5, in 14 games, during which Carolina has gone 9-4-1. Staal’s success against the Caps this year has mirrored that of his team. Scoreless in each of the first two games of this year’s series – both losses – he has goals in each of the last two games in Carolina wins. For his career, he is 13-17-30, even, in 34 games against the Caps.

Whitney, in a typically (for him) understated style, has gone 4-11-15, +5, over his last 14 games. And, like Staal, his performance against the Caps this year mirrors the Carolina fortunes. He was held, like Staal, without a point in the first two games. But in the last two, he is 2-2-4. In 50 career games against the Caps, he is 17-27-44, +5.

Even Rod Brind’Amour, who seemed to be on a path to what would arguably be the worst season of his career (projecting to fewer than 50 points and a plus-minus past -30), seems to have turned things around. He is 4-3-7, +4, in six games in March. That plus-4 has dragged his season mark to -26, which still leaves him safely tucked into 855th place among 856 players in the NHL (only Brendan Witt has a worse number, -32). And, he’s been something of a Cap killer in his career with eight game-winning goals among the 38 he’s scored in 95 games.

Carolina has four defensemen with at least 20 points this year (the Caps have one). Joe Corvo, Joni Pitkanen, Dennis Seidenberg, and Anton Babchuk have combined for 32 goals scored from the blue line (the Caps, as a group, have 36). Perhaps fortunately for the Caps, this quartet has a total of two goals scored against the Caps in a combined 58 career games. None of them have scored against the Caps this year. If there is a big bopper in the defenseman squad, it would be Tim Gleason, who ranks 15th in the league in hits among defensemen. Seidenberg can lay the lumber from time to time as well (he’s 26th).

In goal, bet on Cam Ward getting the start. He’s been in every game played by the Hurricanes since Christmas, except one – 34 of 35 games. One might say he thrives on the work. In March, he is 4-1-1, 1,82, .942, and one shutout. He is 1-1-0, 2.50, .932 in two games against the Caps this year, and 11-5-1, 2.55, .920, with three shutouts against the Caps over his career.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Carolina: Erik Cole

In 63 games with the Edmonton Oilers, Cole was a disappointment – 16-11-27, -3. Since returning to Carolina at the trading deadline, he is 1-5-6, +1, in five games, including a four-assist effort against Tampa Bay on March 7th. Caps fans might like to think the bloom is off the rose, though, since Cole is scoreless in his last two outings (perhaps not coincidentally, both losses). Cole and Staal seem to have a chemistry that carries over from their first marriage, before Cole was sent to Edmonton (for Pitkanen, it turns out). Cole is the sort of power forward that has given the Caps problems from time to time this year – he had a hat trick against the Caps when the Oilers visited in January.

Washington: Viktor Kozlov

Kozlov has struggled with injury and performance in the 2009 portion of the season. Since January 1st, he is 2-6-8, even, in 21 games. He doesn’t have a goal since January 31st (nine games). After finishing last season at plus-28, Kozlov stands at minus-6 for this season, tied for last on the team. The Caps have depended on the graces of the Alexes and Nicklas Backstrom a little too much lately among the forwards. The Caps are going to need others to step up. Much has been made over the lack of secondary scoring and the lack of contributions from the bottom half of the forward lines, but getting some more production on the score sheet from Kozlov would help, too. This might not seem like the team to start that trend with, since Kozlov is only 7-18-25, -2, in 48 career games against the Hurricanes, and he is scoreless (with a minus-4) in four games this year against Carolina. On the other hand, he’s due.

Carolina is playing its sixth game in the past nine days. It is, as coach Paul Maurice calls it, “about as tough as you can get in the NHL.” It is the Caps’ job to make things even tougher. Get on them early, get on them aggressively, and get them thinking thoughts of their plane flight home.

Caps 5 – Hurricanes 2

A NO-point night: Hurricanes 5 - Caps 2

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define influenza symptoms as follows:

Influenza (also known as the flu) is a contagious respiratory illness caused by flu viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The flu is different from a cold. The flu usually comes on suddenly and may include these symptoms:

* Fever (usually high)
* Headache
* Extreme tiredness
* Dry cough
* Sore throat
* Runny or stuffy nose
* Muscle aches
* Stomach symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, also can occur but are more common in children than adults
* Sucky effort
* Indifferent passing
* Equating backing up, backing up some more, then backing up again with playing defense
* Forgetting that a “power play” means YOU have a man advantage, not the other team

OK, we added a few.

Jose Theodore was excused from participating in the debacle that was a 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes because he had the flu, or at least the first few symptoms listed above. We’re going to chalk the loss up to the rest of the team exhibiting the last few symptoms. Call it “Blue Line Flu,” because the Caps were awful from their own blue line into the goalie. They were merely “bad” over the rest of the ice sheet.

It had better be the flu, because if it’s not, then this team has a backbone check to conduct on itself. Losing two in a row at home isn’t the end of the world. Losing two in a row at home by a combined 11-3 to teams they should beat, and beat handily…that’s another matter.

Where do you start? Well, there was the virgin sacrifice, for starters. Rookie (as in three whole NHL appearances rookie) goaltender Michal Neuvirth had the kind of night that suggested the rest of the team got together in a secret team meeting and agreed to leave him out to dry to see just how many shots he could stop without the benefit of a defense around him. The answer was 25. Trouble was, Carolina took 30. He looked badly overmatched on the first goal – a penalty shot by Eric Staal, who froze Neuvirth with a wrist shot over Neuvirth’s glove – but otherwise was more victim than perpetrator.

Then there was Mike Green. That might have been Green’s worst game as a pro, including his stints in the AHL. The only reason he wasn’t on the ice for all five goals was that the rules of hockey don’t permit a defenseman on the ice when a penalty shot is taken. But he was there for the other four. And frankly, he looked lost…or ill. One might actually hope for the latter (and that it is a 24-hour flu), because if it wasn’t illness…

The record will state that Alex Ovechkin has an assist and 12 shot attempts. That might be, but it didn’t look as if his heart was in it. In fairness to Green, it was Ovechkin who Matt Cullen chipped the puck around to skate up ice and score the Hurricanes’ second goal (their first of two shorthanded goals). It was almost as if he deliberately played in a more subdued manner to shut the likes of Don Cherry up. Or, maybe it was the flu.

Nicklas Backstrom’s 10-game scoring streak came to an end, and maybe that’s a good thing. Enough with the streaks! Unless they’re winning streaks, that is. Green had a streak, and has been in something of a funk ever since it ended. Backstrom went on a streak, and we’re hoping that the same fate is avoided by the youngster. But, in an odd twist that only a game such as this could produce, Backstrom won 11 of 17 draws (64.7 percent).

The Caps had three shots on the power play. Hey, you know what? Carolina had three shots on Caps power plays, too…they scored on two of them.

Staffan Kronwall spent the first intermission telling Al Koken in a TV interview that he wasn’t the biggest hitter out there. Well, he was tonight. He led the team with four.

The Caps had 28 giveaways. Twenty-eight. They had 40 turnovers in all (including Carolina takeaways).

There were actually a few Caps who played decently, if only in spurts. Tomas Fleischmann seemed to be the only Cap with any jump early. He even had a hit (his 15th of the year). David Steckel had five shots, tying a season high for him. And, he won 10 of 15 draws. John Erskine toughed it out, as he was reported to be less than 100 percent before the game. We have no problem with his play tonight (if the club gives out a hard hat for losses, Erskine should get it). Alexander Semin scored a goal from his seat and otherwise played a pretty good game.

It wasn’t even as if Carolina played an especially dominating game. They just hung around wnd waited for the Caps to give them opportunities. And boy, did they. The problem was that guys who should, and really have to play well…didn’t. In fact, they were awful. And Neuvirth is not nearly seasoned enough to be able to put the club on his back when the kind of adversity strikes to scratch the starting goaltender and a top-pair defenseman, while leaving another defenseman playing at less than 100 percent. Heaven knows who else was not quite up to snuff – there was ample evidence that other guys might have been nursing something.

After 65 games last year, the Caps were 30-27-8 (68 points). This team is objectively better, especially since they’re not sneaking up on anyone this year. So again, this isn’t the end of the world. But it doesn’t change the fact that for two games, this team has flat out stunk up the place. There isn’t enough perfume to make that pig smell any better.

Yeesh...

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Hurricanes, March 3rd

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

It’s desperation Tuesday, which follows desperation Sunday. Why? Well, if Florida was a team desperate to hold onto a playoff spot (they are sixth in the East) on Sunday, then tonight’s opponent – the Carolina Hurricanes – is desperate times two. Carolina visits Verizon Center on the wrong side of the playoff mix, currently standing tenth in the Eastern Conference. What makes this worse for the Capitals is that for as often as they have seen Carolina this year (the teams haven’t met since December 7th), the Hurricanes might as well be a Western Conference team…and you know how the Caps have fared against Western Conference teams this year (if you don’t, they are 7-10-0).

“Why so cheerless, Peerless? You sound like Mopey over here…”

Hey, cuz. Guess it’s just the anxiety over the last 18 game-stretch of the season, the trading deadline, the snow in my driveway, taxes due in a month…

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…you’re so down, you make me sound like freakin’ Stuart Smalley.”

Let’s not be silly, Cheerless…but what brings you guys here?

“It’s the holidays, cuz! Trading Deadline Day! It’s like Christmas without the egg nog and wrapping paper. Gotta spend it with family.”

I appreciate the sentiment, but don’t you think the Mike Milbury mask is a bit much?

“Sorry…just getting into the whimsical spirit of things.”

So, do you guys see any deals for the Caps?

“You mean like the Bill Guerin un-trade?”

No…real deals.

“I didn’t bring my magic 8-ball with me, but…”

“I got it right here, cuz.”

“Cheerless, you’re useful for something other than making beer runs after all…”

OK, so let’s ask a question…Will Michael Nylander be a Cap at sundown on Wednesday?


Will the Caps get a pick, a prospect, or a player?


Which one?



Let’s try this another way…will the Caps get a defenseman for the stretch run?



Really?



You’re not very good at this, are you?



This isn’t going well…ok, how about this…will the Caps land Chris Pronger?



Did I say something funny?



OK, let’s try something simple…will the Caps win tonight?



OK, fine…as for tonight’s game, the Caps come in – stop us if you’ve heard this before – as the superior team in just about all of the numbers…

Carolina is one of those teams in which the whole is more than the sum of its parts. They have one player in the top-50 in scoring (Ray Whitney: T-47th), one player in the top-50 in goal scoring (Eric Staal: T-12th), no player in the top-100 in plus-minus (Patrick Eaves: T-111th). Their top goalie – Cam Ward – is only 20th in GAA and tied for 24th in save percentage.

But the Hurricanes are a team that still has managed to hang around the periphery of the playoff picture, mainly by being thoroughly and consistently mediocre of record. The Hurricanes have one losing streak of more than three games this year (five games, January 8 – 17) and one winning streak of more than three games (four games, Dec. 31 – January 6). Otherwise, this is a team that lurches from a couple of wins here to a couple of losses there.

For February, Carolina was – typically – 7-6-0. Perhaps as typically, they scored as often as their opponents – 39 goals for and against. The odd part about that is, eight of the 13 games played in February were settled by at least three goals (Carolina was 5-3-0 in such games). Although they finished as more or less a .500 team, they were either very good or very bad in doing it.

Special teams in February were just as middle-of-the-road for Carolina. The Hurricanes were 11-for-61 on the power play (18.0 percent) and 40-for-50 in penalty killing (80.0 percent). It’s worth noting in there that Carolina managed to draw 11 more man advantages than they yielded. In fact, in their last five games, they have drawn 29 man advantages compared to 13 shorthanded situations. Had they converted more than four times (13.8 percent) on those 29 power play opportunities, they might have improved on their 3-2-0 record in those games.

Looking at the top scorers for Carolina, one is struck by one thing – they are, as a group, not very good at even strength. Ray Whitney, Eric Staal, Tuomo Ruutu, Sergei Samsonov, Matt Cullen, and Rod Brind’Amour are the Hurricanes’ top six scorers. All have at least 30 points this year, but as a group they are a minus-51. Only Cullen is on the plus side of the ledger, and three of them are a minus-10 or worse. Brind’Amour is -30, which makes him next to last in the league in that measure (Brendan Witt coming in last at -31).

It’s not as if this is a dynamic team on the power play, either, to make up for even strength shortcomings. Ray Whitney leads the Hurricanes in power play scoring at 3-16-19. By way of comparison, the Capitals have three players with at least 30 power play points (Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin, and Mike Green). They might have a fourth, but for the fact that Alexander Semin (22 power play points in 45 games) has missed 19 games to injury.

What Carolina gets that the Capitals do not is balanced scoring from the blue line. Mike Green is having a tremendous year (56 points to lead all NHL defensemen), but no other Washington defenseman has as many as 15 points (Milan Jurcina and Tom Poti have 13, apiece). Carolina has three defensemen with at least 20 points (Joe Corvo, Joni Pitkanen, and Dennis Seidenberg), and Anton Babchuk has 19.

Meanwhile, Cam Ward is giving every indication that his Conn Smythe-winning performance in the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs might be his high-water mark as an NHL goalie. This isn’t to say he’s a bad goalie, but neither is he the great one that people might have expected on the heels of that special post-season. His 2.58 GAA (20th among 43 ranked goalies in the NHL) and .909 save percentage (tied for 24th among 43 ranked goalies) put him squarely in the middle of the pack of the goalie rankings.

As for backups, Michael Leighton started well – 4-1-0 in his first five decisions. But he is 2-5-2 since, and in three of his last four appearances, dating back to January 10th, he has been little more than a mop-up reliever for sub-par performances by Ward.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Carolina: Rod Brind’Amour

Brind’Amour’s career numbers against the Capitals are very different than his numbers this year. In 94 career games, he is 38-42-80, +18, with eight game-winning and three game-tying goals. Compare those last numbers to what he has this year: minus-30 and one game-winning goal among only eight goals he has this year. If Carolina is going to make a push, one might think it will start with the captain, and it couldn’t start at a better time for the Hurricanes than against a team Brind’Amour has had success against in his career.

Washington: Mike Green

Since setting the record for consecutive games with a goal among defensemen in NHL history, Green has but a single goal in eight games. Not that he’s been shy about shooting, he has 36 shots in those games. But he’s come up dry, and it seems to have affected him in other ways. While he was a plus-10 in the eight games of his streak, he is minus-4 in eight games since and hasn’t been on the plus side of the ledger since a plus-1 against Florida on February 15th. He is getting points on the power play (five in those last eight games), but appears to be in something of a slump at the moment.

If the Caps have been long since playing the Hurricanes, they will more than reacquaint themselves with Carolina shortly. The teams will meet three times in the next ten games of the Capitals’ schedule, two of them at Verizon Center. The time for unfocused, inconsistent play is over. If the Caps really are that elite team that is going to make a Stanley Cup push needs to do better than the 3-3-0 placeholder they’ve put up in the last half dozen games. We’d like to think they can muster enough effort to weather the Hurricanes…

Caps 4 – Hurricanes 2

The Best of The Peerless

It's a dreary Sunday here outside of Peerless Central, and it gave us an opportunity to go to the back of the closet to clean up some old files. And what did we come across but some entries from a bygone day -- before the lockout. Since we're sort of bored, we decided we'd bore you, too, with a blast from the past, from January 2004...



Welcome to another . . . yeah, another, as if it matters any more . . . edition of The Peerless Prognosticator, this time brought to you by NFDA, the National Funeral Directors Association, its members dedicated to giving you the best burial service for your team’s hockey season.

Re”Cap” of Caps versus Coyotes . . . well, we’re into that part of the season where the attraction is the other team’s stars or the other team’s achievements . . . Phoenix came to town looking to get Brian Boucher an opportunity to tie a goaltending record set before there were the widespread use of masks and Michelin Man padding. Was there ever really any doubt? The Caps skated with a gimpy Peter Bondra, were missing Dainius Zubrus, and saw Jaromir Jagr and Robert Lang skating around as if they’d gotten a free roll of tickets to the carousel on the Mall. Three-zip, courtest of a nice wrister from Shane Doan, the increasingly ubiquitous soft serve goal on Olaf Kolzig, and an empty netter.

Tonight, it’s the Carolina Pan . . . uh, Hurricanes (excuse Peerless . . . he’s in a haste to get down bets on the weekend NFL games) . . . hey, fans get to see Eric Staal and watch Ron Francis grow another gray hair. Spellbinding . . . well, let’s get on with it . . .

Pre-Game . . . uh-oh . . . bad sign . . . The Peerless has a guest commentator tonight . . . a prissy fellow with slicked back hair and a dainty way about him. A real blast from the Saturday Night past . . . Leonard Pinth Garnell. We might be in for a “storm” of bad hockey . . . get it? . . . get it?


First Act . . . uh, Period . . . take it away, Pinth . . .

Thank yew, and welcome to an episode of the deliciously awful drawma, “The Washington Capitals versus The Carolina Hurricanes” . . . Oh, and here we have the “Caps defenseman,” played by Mr. Rick Berry skating . . . skating skating skating, and . . . there, missing a hit and landing face first into the glass . . . oh, that was excrooooshiatingly bad.

Our next scene finds the . . . the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the atrocious Capitals, if you will – Sergei Gonchar and Brendan Witt – commiserating over which one of them shall defend against the onrushing Eric Staal . . . look here . . . Gonchar turns to Witt . . . Witt turns to Gonchar, and behold! . . . The red light is flashing . . . truly a pitifully bad effort.

Stage left, the collection of fellows wearing the white jerseys with the hideous red trim are playing their own brand of dystopian hockey . . . Radim Vrbata, who apparently suffers from a wickedly bad case of vowel deficiency in his last name, and Sean Hill, he of the regretfully bad looks, collide, allowing the underachievingly bad Jaromir Jagr to skate to the net and plop the puck past Kevin Weekes, doing an unspeakably bad imitation of a cod flopping on the deck of a fishing boat. Oh, my . . . these teams are bad beyond belief! I must compose myself, so it is a good thing that the intermission is here . . .

First Intermission . . . JOE GIBBS UPDATE! JOE GIBBS UPDATE! JOE GIBBS UPDATE! . . . He is having a diet cola and popcorn with his wife Pat as they settle in to watch “NFL Total Access” on the NFL Network on satellite.

Second Period . . . And here are our bad performers taking to the ice once more . . . what terrifyingly bad hockey might we see in this act? . . . Let’s watch . . .

In this vignette, the gentleman in the striped shirt with the howlingly bad hair . . . Fraser, I believe he is named . . . blows his whistle . . . and here are Jesse Boulerice and Brendan Witt bumping one another . . . again . . . oh, and would you look at that abusively bad sneer on the face of Witt. It is of a type that would scare . . . well, no one, I suppose.

We move forward to a stoppage in play, and we are treated to the achingly high decibel badness of that abomination called “rock and roll” . . . perhaps by a band with an obscenely bad name like, “Fetus Casserole With Potato Chip Topping” or something like that . . . my, but it is bad.

We return to the hockey, if that is really what it is, and catch up with Vladimir and Estragon . . . uh, Gonchar and Witt, as they fumble the puck between each other . . . Jeff O’Neill, who is having a truly bad year, picks up the puck and skates in alone on the frustratingly bad Olaf Kolzig . . . as he closes in on the net . . . there goes the puck . . . rolling harmlessly into the corner . . . a truly, truly bad effort deserving of the golf-clap of applause.

Meanwhile, over where the players congregate, we see a horde of black-jerseyed Capitals jumping onto the ice to join their teammates . . . none of whom are leaving the ice . . . ah, here comes the badly combed, sprayed and lacquered hair of a referee to inform us of the infraction . . . too many men on the ice. Well, that hardly seems all that bad, but we’ll take the referee’s word for it.

As the play then unfolds, we see the white-jerseyed team of Hurricanes skating around the Capitals net . . . I do believe I saw a salchow in there somewhere. Their skating isn’t in the dingiest category of bad, but if the object of the exercise is to shoot, then I’d have to call them, well . . . bad. But, as dependably bad as the Wizards who also occupy this building, here comes another penalty . . . “roughing?” Does one call that gentle placement of the glove in the face of an opponent, “roughing?” Well, my bad . . . I didn’t see it, but now the Caps have TWO men sitting in the penalty box . . . this should be monstrously bad. Oh, but before we can entertain our guilty pleasures, it seems another intermission is in order.

Second Intermission . . . JOE GIBBS UPDATE! JOE GIBBS UPDATE! JOE GIBBS UPDATE! . . . Joe dialed up the thermostat at his house after Pat complained that she was “chilly.”

Third Period . . . When we left, the Hurricanes were about to begin what hockey aficionados refer to as a . . . five-on-three, which sounds vaguely obscene. We watch as Eric Staal passes to Ron Francis . . . who passes back to Staal . . . who passes back to Francis . . . who passes out to Markov . . . who passes over to O’Neill . . . who passes back to . . .

- in the interest of time, we move forward to later action -

. . . back to Francis . . . over to Staal . . . out to . . . oh, my, that was a flagitiously bad pass . . . Mike Grier escapes with the puck and heads the other way . . . he’s off by himself . . . no one within an area code of him . . . the Mars Rover has more company . . . and he . . . he . . . loses the puck . . . oh, how insufferably bad! . . . but here is Joel Kwiatkoski to snare the puck and loose an arrow of a shot past the hoisted glove of Kevin Weekes, who is doing a laughingly bad imitation of the Statue of Liberty. A shorthanded goal . . . on a “five-on-three?” I cannot speak to being a hockey “expert,” but I would think this is unconscionably bad. I think I’ll get myself a liquid beverage to celebrate . . . uh, how much for a beer? . . . for a domestic beer? . . . now that is BAD!

The play is winding down, and the Hurricanes are playing with the desperation borne out of true badness. They scurry hither and yon, flitting to and fro, trying badly to squirt one puck past the pads of Olaf Kolzig. The clock is ticking away (it’s digital, I know . . . humor me), and Ron Francis winds his creakingly bad bones for one last shot . . . the puck is hurled toward Kolzig, low upon the ice . . . Kolzig gets a piece of it between his pads, but it skitters softly toward the line . . . there is a pile up of players . . . sticks are flailing . . . bodies are writhing . . . the Bad Haired Ref is perched on the back of the net . . . the horn sounds! . . . what happened?

We have to go to the video judge to look at the replay . . . he goes back to review the last 10 seconds, but all he gets is static . . . somebody forgot to plug in the camera . . . bad . . . badbadbad.

So there we have it, an appallingly bad performance of the drawma, “The Washington Capitals versus The Carolina Hurricanes,” wherein the Capitals defeat the Hurricanes, 2-1. Tune in next time to another episode of “Bad NHL Hockey.”

*****

We should note that the game did not turn out this way (the Caps actually won this game, 4-1), but it was our long-drawn out version of a prognostication. Don't be alarmed.

A NO-point night: Hurricanes 3 - Caps 1

Well…one in a row will have to do.

The Caps couldn’t make it two straight on the road as they fell to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh this evening, 3-1. It was one of those games that was close, and then again, it wasn’t. Although the Caps played with the sort of uneven energy that the second of back-to-back road games would suggest, the game really turned on two plays.

In the first, the Caps were in the midst of killing a penalty late in the second period when Joni Pitkanen whiffed on a shot attempt from near the Caps’ blue line. Alex Ovechkin collected the loose puck and was off on a breakaway. He was hauled down by Pitkanen, resulting in a penalty shot. Ovechkin’s attempt had all the look of someone who changed his mind on what to do as he was approaching goalie Michael Leighton, and he ended up firing the puck into Leighton’s left pad. Coming as it did with 1.8 seconds to go in the period, a goal there – which would have tied the game – could have been a huge momentum changer as the clubs went to the locker room.

The second play came with under five minutes to play in regulation. Nicklas Backstrom won a faceoff in the Caps’ end of the ice, the puck ending up with Sami Lepisto in the corner. Sergei Samsonov (not Ray Whitney, as we thought, until we looked at the video again) made a bee-line for Lepisto to harass him behind the Caps’ net. Eric Staal joined in the play, and Lepisto was unable to move the puck. Staal ended up with it, circled out from behind goalie Jose Theodore, and stuffed a backhand under Theodore to give the Hurricanes the lead once and for all.

The rest of it was equal parts boring and frustrating. It wasn’t as if Carolina played a game that will go into the Hurricane video highlights of the season. The Caps outshot Carolina (39-25) and had fewer turnovers (14-5, including having been credited with only two giveaways…must be a local scoring thing), but the Hurricanes dominated the faceoff circle (34-20), blocked more shots (14-6) and held their own physically (29-28 in hits).

If there was a difference, it was in goal. Michael Leighton made all the saves he had to, and a few he had no business stopping, including a one timer from Ovechkin in the game’s first 90 seconds, a door-step rebound try from Brooks Laich mid-way through the second, and another sliding stop of an Ovechkin one-timer in the game’s last 90 seconds. At the other end, Theodore didn’t play badly by any stretch, but the first goal was a rebound that might have gotten away, and the Staal goal is one that should not have been scored.

If there is something that is creeping into the Caps’ game of late, it isn’t entirely unexpected (given the injury situation) but it is nonetheless a problem that harkens back to last year. The Caps got a goal from Nicklas Backstrom on a nice cross-ice feed from Ovechkin. But the second line, such as it is, was silent. Michael Nylander, Brooks Laich, and Tomas Fleischmann, who started the game as a forward line for the Caps, did have seven shots on goal as a group, but nothing to show for it. Even those seven shots are a bit deceptive. That number represented the entire number of attempts for that trio. Compare that to Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Viktor Kozlov, who combined for 16 shots and 23 attempts.

It was a game when having four comparatively inexperienced defensemen bit the Caps in the backside. In their case, as with Theodore, it was not that they played badly. But a moment’s indecision, a brief mental error, a touch of frantic play behind one’s own net led to three Carolina goals scored from within a dozen feet. It was just enough. And that seems to be the lot of the Caps for the moment. There will be times, like last night in Toronto, when the defense makes things a lot easier for the goaltender. Then there will be days like today when one mistake or two creeps in and ends up in the back of the net. The Caps lack enough depth and consistency in scoring these days to make up for that. It’s the recipe for a .500 kind of performance until the team gets healthy…or at least healthier.

This was an important game for the Caps, one for which giving up two points could ripple through the week. Boston comes to town on Wednesday, followed by a visit by the Senators on Friday before the Caps head to Montreal on Saturday to finish up another back-to-back set of games. The three Northeast Division opponents are a combined 17-7-6 in their last ten games, apiece, while the injury-plagued Caps are 4-6-0 in their last ten. This week will be a challenge.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Hurricanes, December 7th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

Ok, shower, dress, get on the bus fellas, because the plane’s leaving for Carolina…Such is the life of the NHLer, in Toronto one night, in Raleigh the next. If it’s Sunday, it must be…hockey. It must be hard on players to play 60 minutes, hop on a plane, and then play another road game less than 24 hours later. Surely, there has to be a way to fight the jet lag that such travel leaves with the players. Maybe the good perfesser has some answers…


Perfesser, is there some scientific equation or process that can reenergize the players for the second of back-to-back games on the road they’ll be playing in Carolina?

"Vee heff performed many eggschperiments in adding time to ze 24-hour day."

Have you had any success?

"Vell…vee aggtually heff some very successful attempts at time travel…zere vuss zat vellow in Inkland a long time ago…had three zpirits come und transport him back sroo time to his childhood… "

You’re talking about Ebeneezer Scrooge.

"Ya…zat’s ze vellow. "

You realize he was a fictional character…

"Ah…zats vutt zey vant you to believe, ya?"

OK, Perfesser…you said there were many successful attempts…

"Ya, zere vuss ze two vellows in Inkland…vy is it alvays Inkland?...who built ziss model of a time machine and vent off into ze future."

That’s an H.G. Wells book.

"Ya… zo?"

Look, Mr. Scientist…is there any proof of being able to stretch time? Something our boys can use to get a few more hours of rest before the game?

"OK, let me draw you a piggture…"



Wait…that’s an equation for time travel?

"No, schtoopit…it’s mein pr-r-r-r-r-r-ognostication on how many goals the Caps vill get."

Great…well, the Caps will have to cope with travel in the usual way and take on a Carolina Hurricanes team that played its own game last night – at home – against the Flyers, losing in overtime 2-1. The Hurricanes are gasping for air at the moment, having gone 1-4-1 in their last dozen games and replacing their coach, Peter Laviolette, with their old coach, Paul Maurice. They’ve scored only 12 goals in that stretch, giving up 24. Overall, the differences between the teams’ numbers are rather stark in many respects…


It isn’t in the usual course of events that the Hurricanes would struggle so much to score goals, but this is a team that has seen its go-to guys up and gone from the score sheet. The Hurricanes’ leading scorer, Ray Whitney (7-12-19) is 0-2-2, -6 in his last seven games. Eric Staal (8-7-15 overall) is 0-2-2 in his last seven. Rod Brind’Amour is 0-2-2, -9 in his last nine games and is on a pace to finish -67. The Hurricanes don’t have a single player on a pace to top 60 points or 40 assists. They do not have a player in double digits in goals or a player on a pace to top 30.

The Hurricanes have had peculiar difficulties scoring at home, where their 2.33 goals-per-game ranks tied for 27th in the league. Since beating Toronto, 6-4, on November 2nd, the Hurricanes have topped two goals in regulation on their own ice once in 11 home games. Part of the problem is that their power play is 5-for-50 over those 11 home games.

Defensively, the Hurricanes have not been bad as much as they’ve been overwhelmed by their lack of offense. They’ve been just bad enough to lose with regularity. In those last 11 home games (in which they are 4-6-1), they’ve allowed 35 goals and have allowed at least one power play goal in eight of them.

Perhaps the odd part in this is that the Hurricanes have outshot their opponents in nine of those last 11 home games and have topped 30 shots eight times. They seem to look like the Hurricanes, without the results one might expect from them.

The Peerless Players to Ponder

Carolina: Justin Williams

His return after suffering an Achilles tendon injury is quite remarkable. An injury that was expected to cost him four months caused him to miss only 25 games. He returned to action against the Penguins last Thursday. In two games since his return, he has not scored and is being eased, as one might expect, back into the lineup (less than 15 minutes of ice time in both games). However, he is 13-17-30, +10 in 36 career games against the Caps. He might be the tonic the anemic Carolina offense needs in this one.

Washington: Tomas Fleischmann

Fleischmann has a half dozen goals in his last dozen games (6-4-10). Although he didn’t score against Toronto on Saturday night, he has seven attempts (three shots registered). He has never lighted the lamp against the Hurricanes in 14 career games. But he is now the second leading goal scorer on the team. Getting some output from him could give the Caps some breathing room.

This will be the third meeting of the season between the two clubs, Washington having won in Verizon Center (3-2) and at RBC Center (5-1). Carolina has been a good team playing poorly enough to bleed points, now trailing the Caps by six in the Southeast Division and to find themselves on the outside of the top-eight looking in. Making things worse, they will likely be missing three defensemen (is this a league epidemic, or what?)…Frantisek Kaberle, Tim Gleason, and Dennis Seidenberg. And, Cam Ward is expected to be out with a groin injury, leaving the netminding duties to Michael Leighton, who was lit up for five goals in 48 minutes in a 5-1 loss to the Caps on November 12th.

Storm warnings are out…the Caps are blowing into town to take on a nicked up Hurricanes team in a slump. Like the Perfesser scribbled…Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Laich (we’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to figure out the assists).

Caps 3 – Hurricanes 1

A TWO-point night: Caps 5 - Hurricanes 1

And the points keep coming…

That could apply to the Caps, who have won four in a row to take sole possession of the top spot in the Southeast Division, or to the boys on the BOSS line – Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin, and Alexander Semin – who combined for a 4-8-12, +12 night in thoroughly demolishing the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-1.

Alexander Semin led the way with his first five point night as a Cap, as he had a hand in all of the visitors’ scoring (2-3-5). With that explosion, Semin took over the league lead in goals (13), points (27), plus-minus (+17), and is in a tie for most game-winning goals (3). After 15 games, Semin has put together quite a start. How impressive is it?...

-- Semin now has nine multi-point games. Last year, he had seven…total.

-- He has been held off the score sheet only twice in 15 games. Last year, he was scoreless in ten of the first 15 games he played.

-- Last year, after his first 15 games, he was 2-3-5, -7. He is now 13-14-27, +17.

-- He is on a pace to go 71-76-147, +93.

…yeesh.

Semin was hardly alone last night, though. His linemates – Ovechkin and Backstrom – had fine nights of their own. Ovechkin had a three-point night (1-2-3) and was plus-4, while Nicklas Backstrom had a four-point night with his first goal of the year (1-3-4) and was also plus-4.

Getting Ovechkin and Backstrom into a scoring rhythm was especially encouraging as they – with Semin – can keep teams honest in having to cheat toward their own end of the ice to defend rather than look for breakouts the other way. Almost as impressive as the scoring, none of the three were charged with a giveaway – they were smart, as well as effective, with the puck. Some other things of note…

-- Speaking of giveaways, only one skater was charged with a giveaway (John Erskine). We don’t know if that was strange scoring (Carolina was credited with 20 takeaways), but the Caps generally seemed to play a lot smarter with the puck than in some other games we’ve seen this year.

-- Let’s not forget the other plus-4 in the group. Mike Green had a fine night, too…1-1-2, plus-4, and five shots on goal.

-- Is Eric Staal now number three in the Staal Family Rankings? Missing open nets twice in an early flurry is not how the franchise center is supposed to perform. Going minus-2 and losing 11 of 15 faceoffs didn’t help the Hurricane cause, either.

-- Folks got a glimpse of what Jose Theodore can be for this team. No, not an emergency injury relief backup…a guy who can keep the Caps in games and give his team a chance to do what it can do at the other end of the ice. True, Theodore had a lead, and he didn’t have to stand on his head for the last two periods. But he was fine in relief of the injured Brent Johnson. He was solid, made the saves, and didn’t allow any cheap goals that could have let the Hurricanes back into the game.

-- We noted in the prognosto that if the Hurricane defense was fully engaged in the offense, it could be a difficult game for the Caps. Well, they had one point – Joni Pitkanen earning an assist on the Scott Walker goal. Otherwise, the Hurricane defense had eight shots (six others blocked and three misses).

-- We wonder…when Shaone Morrisonn comes back, is he going to resume his role as Mike Green’s partner? Jeff Schultz is 0-1-1, plus-6, in three games since Morrisonn went out (he was +4 last night).

-- OK, Cam Ward gave up five goals to Atlanta…Michael Leighton gave up five goals to the Caps. Who’s next for Peter Laviolette?...Daniel Manzato?

-- The Caps were 13 of 19 on draws in the offensive zone, making sure that they could keep offensive pressure on the Hurricanes (conversely, Brandon Sutter by himself was one of eight in the defensive zone for the Hurricanes). They were also 12 of 21 in the defensive zone (David Steckel took 12 of those draws, winning seven).

-- His knee might still be bothering him, but it really would be nice to get Viktor Kozlov off the schneid…he is without a point in his last five games (longer than any scoreless streak he had last year). But he might be close. Four shots last night gave him 11 in his last three games (he had only ten in seven games up to that point).

-- They say a lead-off walk in baseball always comes back to haunt you. We’re thinking the same thing about delay-of-game penalties for shooting the puck over the glass. It’s a dinky little penalty that always seems to bite the team that does it in the butt. Last night, Milan Jurcina got caught, and Scott Walker scored his goal five seconds later.

It was a fine all-around night for the Caps. While all the scoring came from the young guns (5-9-14, +16, for Semin, Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Green), the rest of the team chipped in a solid effort at keep the Hurricanes – who often pile up goals in home games against the Caps – from ever getting going.

While it’s tempting to put that 2-3-1 stretch (both wins coming in extra time) out of our minds, it should serve as a reminder that no club can just pull on their sweaters and get a win. Last night, the Caps out-skated, out-hustled, and out-talented the Hurricanes in announcing that their being at the top of the heap in the Southeast is no fluke, and it isn’t likely to end soon…so long as they put in the effort.

That will be put to the test in a home-and-home with New Jersey this weekend, and with a western road trip to follow. But for now, that was quite a game. Well done, boys.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Hurricanes, November 12th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

It’s a marquee matchup, as Wes Johnson might say, between teams 1 and 1A in the Southeast Division as the Caps visit Raleigh, North Carolina, to take on the Hurricanes.

We were doing some research on hockey and North Carolina, and we compiled from hockeydb.com this list of players born in the Tar Heel State to suit up for a National Hockey League team…

…ok, so it’s not a long list. Perhaps it’s the lack of ice in those parts, and maybe it’s just the predilection for eating large amounts of pig. We were wondering about preparing pig in the North Carolina way and were looking for a culinary expert to give us some tips, but all we could come up with was The Swedish Chef, who we’ve learned is quite a hockey fan. We sat down with the chef (and Nicklas Backstrom, who served as interpreter) to get his take on the Caps, the Hurricanes, and tonight’s matchup…



Chef, It’s a pleasure to meet you…

“Leekooise-a I'm soore-a (Likewise, I’m sure).”

Chef, have you had a chance to watch any Caps games this year, and if you have, what has impressed you the most?

“I'fe-a seee a cuoople-a gemes, und I reelly leeke-a thees gooy reeght here-a. (I’ve seen a couple of games, and I really like [Backstrom]).”

Well, Nicklas looks like he’s about to break out; he’s put together a string of good games, even though he hasn’t shown up a lot on the score sheet. He’s had six assists in nine career games against the Hurricanes, but hasn’t netted a goal himself. Think he will tonight?

“Ooh, ebsulootely (oh, absolutely).”

Speaking of the Hurricanes, they had one taken away from them late in the game last Thursday. What’s your take on the home team?

“I lufe-a zeeur mescut (I love their mascot).”

You love their mascot?

“Yeeh, veet feeneger sooce-a und cule-a slev (yeah, with vinegar sauce and cole slaw).”

Chef, I’ve always wanted to ask you…the lyrics you used to sing in the intro to your cooking show…what do they mean?

"Yorn desh born, der ritt de gitt der gue, Orn desh, dee born desh, de umn børk! børk! børk! (five on four, and still you cannot score…why don’t you just try to SHOOT THE DAMN PUCK?)"

Really?...well there’s a scoop, I guess. Chef, the Caps are coming into this game atop the Southeast Division and…

"Surry, boot I hefe-a tu cetch a plune-a. Hur kommer jag till flygplatsen?"

Well, we’ll let Professor Backstrom take care of that…As for the game, this contest reunites the contestants of last Thursday in a game the Caps won, 3-2, in what has to be regarded as a heist that would make Willie Sutton proud. Not much has happened since then to alter our take from the game six days ago, but here are some things to think about…

Carolina is 1-1 in two games since the game on November 6th, both in Raleigh. They scored only four goals in doing so, beating Ottawa, 2-1, then losing to Atlanta, 5-2. What is odd about the results is that it was Michael Leighton posting the win in the nets and allowing only one goal to the high-powered Senators, and Cam Ward getting lit up by the Thrashers for five goals (four of them on nine shots in a brutal second period).

Eric Staal will be entering the game without a point in his last four games. His brother, Jordan, had a hat trick and four points last night against Detroit. If brotherly competition has meaning, Staal will be someone to watch.

Rod Brind’Amour is dead last in plus-minus in the NHL (-13) and is on pace to go -71.

Sergei Samsonov seems to want to keep Brind’Amour company. He’s minus-5 in his last six games and is minus-8 overall (11th worst in the league). At least Brind’Amour has 10 points. Samsonov has three.

The Caps have had 22 skaters dress this year. Of that number, 21 have points. Only Chris Bourque, who played in only one game, does not have a point.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Carolina: Tim Gleason

You might think, sure, the Hurricane blueliner could get the assignment of defending when Alex Ovechkin is on the ice, and perhaps that’s true. But there is an odd statistic about Gleason that bears noting. He has six assists on the season (no goals), and five of them have come in the Hurricanes’ six home games. OK, three of them were on opening night, but still. Actually we point out Gleason to note a broader point. Carolina defensemen are 8-32-40 this year (by comparison, Caps defensemen are 9-17-26). The 5-2 loss to Atlanta ended an eight-game streak in which defensemen registered at least one point. Over that stretch, Hurricane defensemen were 6-14-20 (the Hurricanes had a total of 22 goals in those games). If the Hurricane defense is fully integrated into the offense tonight, it could make for a difficult night for the Caps.

Washington: Alex Ovechkin

OK, Ovechkin broke the nine-game streak without a goal. He still does not have a goal on the road this year. But here’s the thing – Ovechkin has had nine instances of going without a goal in four or more games in his career. Generally, he’s emerged from them with a vengeance (streaks and aftermath)…

Nov. 19-Dec. 1, 2005 (six games): three goals in three games
Jan. 26-Feb. 7, 2006 (five games): eight goals in seven games
Mar. 30-Apr. 8, 2006 (six games): four goals in four games
Dec. 29, 2006-Jan. 4, 2007 (five games): three goals in two games
Feb. 3-8, 2007 (four games): one goal in one game
Feb. 15-24, 2007 (five games): four goals in three games
Mar. 15-21, 2007 (four games): two goals in one game
Mar. 24-31, 2007 (four games): three goals in two games
Feb. 15-27, 2008 (seven games): six goals in three games

Ovechkin has 17 goals in 25 career games against Carolina, ten of them in Raleigh. As if he wouldn’t command enough attention, he now has the burden of a streak lifted and is going into a rink where he’s had a lot of success. This could be a big night.

Washington is 4-7-1 in Carolina since the lockout. They were outscored 17-8 in four games last year in Raleigh (1-3-0). The Caps can’t let the Hurricanes get off fast. That’s a recipe to get swamped in Carolina. But, given the way that Brent Johnson has played and, just as important, how his teammates have been playing in front of him, the Caps certainly have it in them to reverse that trend. If you’ve been reading this space for any length of time, you know that we think they will…

Caps 5 – Hurricanes 3

A TWO-point night: Caps 3 - Hurricanes 2

For 57 minutes, you wanted to rush down to the ice and scream at the top of your lungs, “what the $%& are you guys doing out there?” And in three minutes, all was forgiven.

That was the sum of the evening as the Caps came from behind in the dying minutes of the game to wrestle a 3-2 victory from the clutches of the Carolina Hurricanes. It came with a price though, as defenseman Shaone Morrisonn left after one four-second shift in the second period (Carolina scored a goal with Morrisonn on the ice) with a groin injury.

The watch word for tonight was “frustration,” as in the Caps frustrating their fans with a propensity for wanting to make that last beauty of a pass that ended up getting tipped away by a Hurricane stick…or frustration at ringing iron on several occasions (Sergei Fedorov and the game’s ultimate hero – Alexander Semin – finding the pipe)…as in frustration over Alexander Ovechkin suffering his career high eighth consecutive game without a goal...as in the frustration of a power play pulling an oh-fer for the third straight game (0-for-3 tonight and four for their last 39 dating back to October 16th).

But in the end, persistence and perseverance won out. The Caps were the better team all night (with one conspicuous exception, but we’ll get to that). Carolina scored on their first shot and then seemed content to sit on the lead. That’s not generally a recipe for success, but the frustrating play of the Caps seemed destined to allow the Hurricane lead to hold up.

But then Ovechkin found a whole new vein of gold to mine in the absence of his goal scoring. A nifty feed from the side boards to Sergei Fedorov was enough to spring Fedorov in alone on goalie Cam Ward, and he lifted the puck over Ward’s right pad to tie the game. After Carolina regained the lead on a goal from Tuomo Ruutu that Brent Johnson would appear to want back, it was Ovechkin again, leaving the puck for Semin behind the Carolina net and skating out to draw a Hurricane defender with him. Semin walked out in to the space that was vacated and snapped a no-look shot off Ward’s stick on the far side and into the net with only 2:43 left in regulation. Finally, it was Ovechkin barreling down the left side as the clock was winding to zero, forcing defenseman Joe Corvo to mark him. Upon crossing the Carolina blue line, he feinted to the right as if to cut to the middle, and this drew Rod Brind’Amour out of the middle to help on Ovechkin. All that was left was for Ovechkin to lay the puck across to Semin for a clear shot at Ward, which found the back of the net. On the play, Brind’Amour, in trying to get back across appeared to take the blade of Semin’s stick on the follow through in the face, and left a trail of blood as he left the ice while the Caps celebrated the go-ahead goal.

The result made coach Bruce Boudreau look like a genius for uniting the Russians – Ovechkin, Fedorov, and Semin on one line. All three figured in the scoring – Semin with two goals, Fedorov with a goal, and Ovechkin with three assists.

Some other points…

-- It was 57 minutes of sleepwalking followed by three minutes of turbocharged effort. That is not something one wants to depend on.

-- 0:00…that was the shorthanded ice time logged by Alex Ovechkin. OK, so the Hurricanes only had a total of 2:14 on the power play, but is this a sign that the experiment will be pared back?

-- Rod Brind’Amour won 12 of 18 draws. The rest of the Hurricanes won eight of 37. Not good.

-- If there was a momentum changer, it was Milan Jurcina’s hit on Scott Walker two minutes after Carolina scored their second goal. It was the most effective expenditure of energy by any Cap to that point and seemed to stop Carolina in its tracks.

-- About that conspicuous deficiency...We spent some time watching Cam Ward for long stretches, and there was one thing we noticed. Rarely it seemed in the first 57 minutes was there a Cap within ten feet of him. He simply got too much room and too many free looks at shots (even though the shot chart suggests a fair number of shots from between the hash marks in the first period). The Caps have to create more traffic in front. Tellingly, they seemed to do a better job of that late , and it might have contributed to Semin’s game-tying goal. Who was it in front crossing Ward’s line of sight?...Ovechkin.

-- The Hurricanes’ blog on the News and Observer called this game “brutally intense and physical.” Frankly, we didn’t see it, not for a game between two teams that are likely to be fighting for the top spot in the Southeast all year. Here is an example…the Caps were credited with 21 hits. Ovechkin and John Erskine had 12 of them, leaving nine for the other sixteen skaters. That doesn’t impress us as either brutal or physical.

-- That’s 15 goals in 20 games against the Hurricanes for Semin, including three game winners. Here is as staggering a stat…he’s done it on 55 shots (27.3 percent shooting percentage).

-- As good as the Fedvechmin line (or perhaps the "Las Vegas Line" -- zip code "89128") was in a lot of situations, that’s how bad the second and third lines were. The Flesichmann-Nylander-Clark line was reunited to start the game and managed two shots total. The Laich-Backstrom-Kozlov line looked like a new line with a lot of errant passes looking as if intended for no one in particular. They did have nine shots, but it seemed (especially in Backstrom’s case, with four shots) a matter of creating things on one’s own.

-- I’d have bet that on a night when John Erskine (three) and Boyd Gordon (three) outshot Alex Ovechkin (two) we’d be calling this a no-point night.

-- At the risk of being a jinx, the Caps are now the last team in the East undefeated in regulation at home (4-0-1).

-- Guess Johnny gets the start on Saturday against the Rangers.

This had all the look of one of those 20 games you’re going to lose in a season, no matter what. That the Caps were able to grab two points without yielding any to Carolina by virtue of an extra-time result is the kind of ending that might not mean a lot now, but could in April. Here’s to toughing one out. Well done, boys.