"...he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him."
-- Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol"
Last night’s game between the Caps and the Islanders – a 3-2 overtime loss for the Caps – was a study in will and who could impose theirs on the other club. In the end, it was an Islander kind of game.
Ugly.
The Caps had two moments of the kind of style Bruce Boudreau has installed, and the Alexes scored goals. There are your Caps highlights. There are your highlights, period. The rest was a rather pugnacious affair, not as a penalty-filled affair, but more a contest of two clubs playing on the local, going from zone to zone and fighting for territory.
And that’s what the Caps more or less permitted. They didn’t press much in the early part of the game, looking more like they were on auto-pilot.
And here is your odd number for the evening…50:36.
That is how long it took Alex Ovechkin to register a shot on goal. For the game, the Alexes – Ovechkin and Semin – had a total of four shots. That’s what the Islanders do unless a club is more able to impose its will on them than the Caps were capable of last night.
Here is another reflection of the Islanders imposing their style on the game: 42-24. That was the difference in turnovers (giveaways yielded and takeaways made), the Caps having the “42.”
And, the Islanders had more blocked shots (18) than the Caps registered on goal (16).
Even when things showed promise, they didn’t last. An example – Viktor Kozlov, who has been battling a goal slump going back to November 8th in
In the end though, it came down to Rick DiPietro and Olaf Kolzig. Both goalies made some top notch saves, but DiPietro made all the saves he’s supposed to make, too (although with 16 shots faced, it wasn’t as if he faced a severe test). Kolzig – who gave up the overtime winner on a severe-angle shot from Richard Park – did not.
The three points the Caps earned on the road were given up in the last two games – a home game of the sort they need to win and an overtime game that probably shouldn’t have gone that far. It isn’t the way to go into the break (0-1-2), and there are hazards as the Caps come out of the break next week – last year the Caps lost all five games between Christmas and New Years (including two sets of back-to-back games) by a combined score of 21-10. The Caps will spend this year’s between-the-holidays week facing four clubs who can make goalies in a slump pay –
It will be a big week, made bigger by the points that got away this week.
"...for the NHL to have a player like Ovechkin in a market like Washington is a crime. Night after night, Ovechkin plays to thousands of empty seats and in D.C., he always will."Well, DC does have its problems with crime, but the only one we've seen lately with respect to Ovechkin might be his turns on a Segway.
"This year, he's earning a mere $1.3 million."Nope...he's earning $3,834,000...below market, to be sure, but certainly not among the hockey working class.
"Ovechkin and Russian teammate Alexander Semin will be restricted free agents and Washington will be hard put to satisfy both..."Uh, nope again. Alexander Semin signed an extension. $9.2 million for two years, starting next season.
"All it will take is, oh, $120 million over 15 years and a slew of first-round picks..."Earlier in the article, Todd makes the point that thoughts of an $8.7 million deal along the lines Sidney Crosby signed in Pittsburgh have given way (at least in the Ovechkin camp) to perhaps a $9-10 million/year deal. So why, then, would anyone think he's going to go below market ($8 million a year) to sign an offer sheet in Montreal? More to the point, if these are the terms -- less than that Crosbyesque deal, why would the Caps not match?
"If the Capitals are reasonably certain they're bound to lose Ovechkin, the Habs might be able to swing a multi-player deal, offering Washington any player on the roster not named Carey Price."
"In terms of sheer excitement, no one in the NHL is Ovechkin's equal."Caps fans will agree with that...but the league has it's money down on another player.
‘Tis the last game before the break, and the Caps can do no better than find themselves in last place in the East as they head into the holiday. However, a win tonight can be a nice note on which to end the first phase of the season. It also can keep them within shouting distance of eighth place, which is no small consolation given how the Caps started the year.
Tonight, the Caps visit the New York Islanders and one of the goofier tag lines hung around the neck of an NHL club this year…”We’re All Islanders.” The Peerless supposes that in the broadest sense of the term, they are correct, as all 30 teams in the NHL play on a land mass surrounded on all four points of the compass by water (although we generally call that, “North America”), but it really does sound sort of, well…goofy.
Nevertheless, the Islanders – a franchise managed by what is, on paper, a confederacy of dunces, is anything but. Although they find themselves in 12th place this morning, they could find themselves in the top eight by midnight, should they defeat the Caps. You wouldn’t know it to look at them…
They have no scorer in the top-75 (Mike Comrie is tied for 76th with 25 points)
They have no goal scorer in the top-70 (Josef Vasicek is tied for 72nd with 10)
They have no player in the top-150 in plus-minus (Vasicek and Sean Bergenheim are tied for 161st at +3)
They have no “minute-eater” (Radek Martinek leads the club in ice time with 22:10 – good for 60th in the league)
They have no particular power-play go-to guy (Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko are tied for 49th in power play goals with four apiece)
But they do other things well that don’t make SportsCenter highlights (that is, when ESPN is not confining itself to Sidney Crosby moments)…
Trent Hunter is third in the league in hits; Brendan Witt is 17th
Mike Sillinger is 15th among players taking at least 200 faceoffs (55.6 percent)
Brendan Witt is 9th in blocked shots (78)
In other words, when you play the Islanders, bring a lunch…it’s going to be a long day, and it’s not likely to be pretty.
However, the Caps might be catching the Islanders at the right time. Even with the Islanders’ 4-2 win in
On special teams, the “special” has been missing…the power play has scored seven times in 51 chances (13.7 percent), while the penalty killers have skated of 56 of 68 shorthanded situations (82.4 percent).
No Islander has more than three goals over these past 11 games, but they would be the ones that Caps fans should be watching out for:
Miroslav Satan: 3-4-7, -5 in his last 11 (42 games, 26-13-39, +4 career against
Mike Sillinger: 3-2-5, -4 (33 games, 6-11-17, -10)
Bill Guerin: 3-2-5, -1 (42 games, 22-7-29, -2…he has three goals in two games this year)
Rick DiPietro got the call last night in the win over
For the Caps, 8-5-2 looks a lot better under the Bruce than does 7-6-2 heading into the break. The Caps have not lost consecutive games in regulation under Bruce Boudreau, and their having lost twice in a row under any flavor of loss in their last two games is the only such occurrence in December.
There are a few Caps who need to come out of a funk. Tarik El-Bashir covers one of them in this morning’s Post – Olaf Kolzig. But there are others.
Viktor Kozlov has no goals in his last 19 games (0-8-8, -1).
Tomas Fleischmann has one in his last 16 games (1-3-4, -5).
Michael Nylander has two goals in his last 16 games, although he’s been adding to his assist total (2-12-14, -11…ouch).
Matt Pettinger has one goal in his last 23 games (1-1-2, -11…ouch again)
Tom Poti has no goals as a Cap (0-11-11, -7 overall)
Alexander Semin has given signs of coming around, with goals in each of his last two games. Perhaps the former Islanders Kozlov and Poti will reverse their fortunes tonight.
That’s how we see it, anyway. So with that, we’ll leave you with some Christmas cheer...
Twas the night before Christmas, when all ‘round the rink
Not a creature was stirring, you could hear yourself think.
The stockings were hung by the lockers with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.
The Cappies were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Stanley Cups danced in their heads.
With Gabby in warmups, and wearing a cap,
They’d just settled in for a long winter’s nap.
When out on the ice there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the tunnel I flew like a flash,
Knocked over some sticks and fell with a crash.
The lights in the arena on the new sheet of ice
Gave the lustre of mid-day, it was oh, very nice.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
"Now Michael! now, Viktor! now, Nicklas and Olie!
On, Alex! On, Greenie! on, Clarkie and Johnnie!
To the top of the glass! to the top of the stands!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
As players that before the wild Hurricanes fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the slate
The prancing and pawing of each little skate.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the stairs St Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.
His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like Don Cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the stairs he rose!
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"
Caps 3 – Islanders 2
It wasn’t so much that nothing went right…nothing went. Pick a topic…power play (1-for-4, but looking at times pretty ragged)…penalty killing (2-for-4, including giving up the back-breaker in the third)…goaltending (let’s face it, this is now a concern; Olaf Kolzig has given up three or more goals in seven of his last eight games and has a save percentage of .854 in that span)…defense (too much standing around near the crease)…offense (two goals on 37 shots…Cristobal Huet is not Ken Dryden, folks)…effort (the Caps looked like they were skating at three-quarter speed much of the night, and there is no way the Caps should be out-hit by this team, 24-18).
If ever there was a game lately where the Caps missed the absent Chris Clark and Boyd Gordon, it was this one. They just never looked as if they were into this game, and they looked bad both in their own end and in faceoff situations. There were times when one might of expected Bruce Boudreau to pull a “Norman Dale” (that’d be the coach in the movie “Hoosiers”) when he played the last minutes of a game a man short by choice…there were some Caps who deserved to sit.
The sequence of events at the end of the first and through the second periods knocked the Caps off their pegs – Tom Poti called for an iffy tripping penalty, then Montreal scoring on three of their next four shots (the power play from the Poti call and their first two shots of the second period to give the visitors a 3-1 lead). Until the Poti call, the Caps might not have been dominant, but they appeared to get the better of the play. After that sequence, which involved a lot of relative inactivity by both clubs, the only mystery was what the final score would be.
Giving up five goals to a club where almost half the total shots (21) come from two players (Mark Streit and Guillaume Latendresse, neither of whom will be confused with Alexander Ovechkin or Alexander Semin, combined for ten) isn’t just unusual, but absurd. It was a reflection of a generally poor night for the home team in the sort of game from which they have to get two points. Getting three on the road is good…getting one of them against the Red Wings was nice. Two points last night was necessary. And now, Brian Pothier will spend some time on the shelf with a broken thumb. There are Caps fans who will rejoice at such a turn, but Pothier is second among Caps defensemen in scoring, eats up almost 19 minutes a game, and leads the team in plus-minus. At this point, if one thinks John Erskine or Steve Eminger is an automatic upgrade in filling that position, well…we’d disagree.
Next up for the Caps, in the last game before the Christmas break, is the Islanders on the road. The Islanders are in the midst of some tough times, going 2-7-1 in their last ten, which makes that game of the “necessary” sort. We’ll see…
The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!
‘Tis the holiday season and a time for families to get together to sing carols, exchange gifts, and talk hockey, and The Peerless is no exception. Our two cousins, Fearless and Cheerless are here to knaw on some drumsticks and talk about the Caps…
…Cheerless, Fearless, happy holidays.
Cheerless Prognosticator: “What are you so friggin’ happy about? The Caps are still in last place in the East.”
Fearless Prognosticator – “Geez, give it a rest… you sound like a message board poster.”
Do you guys get to watch the Caps much back at the prognostihomestead?
CP: “Sure…why do you think I’m cheerless?”
FP: “Geez, what
Guys, guys…let’s try to keep in the spirit of the holiday. We’ve got
CP: “I know they’re from
FP: “You should work for ESPN.”
CP: “They have a better record than the Caps?”
No in their last ten games they don’t. In fact, the Canadiens have been stumbling about, managing only a 4-4-2 record in their last ten games.
CP: “Yeah, but they’re 10-5-1 on the road, Mr. Blogger.”
That’s true, and they’ve been fine on the road in their last ten, too, going 3-1-0, including wins over the Flyers and the Bruins. But some chinks are showing in the Habs’ armor lately. The team stat that jumps out at you is the
CP: “You’re giving me a headache.”
Is he always like this?
FP: “Only when he’s awake.”
Well, the Caps had better be awake on the penalty kill, because
CP: “Is he still in the league?”
It does seem like he’s been around forever, but he leads the club in goals and total points, in addition to his nine power play goals. He’s got a lot of help…six players have at least ten power play points (by way of comparison, the Caps have two).
CP: “It’s not looking good, cousin.”
Well, there are two things that work in favor of the Caps concerning the
FP: "Dontcha just love it when he’s going on about those numbers?"
CP: "Yeah, a regular ‘beautiful mind’…"
As for the Caps, no team in the Eastern Conference has fewer home wins (six, tied with
But what they might have to contend with is the Bear killer, himself, Carey Price. Caps fans might remember that Price was the netminder for the Hamilton Bulldogs during their 4-1 Calder Cup final series win over the Hershey Bears last spring. After appearing in only two regular season games after being moved up from Tri-City in the WHL, he went 15-6 to lead the Bulldogs to the Calder Cup. Thus far this year the rookie has fine numbers: 9-6-2, 2.72, .915. And, he has a link to the Caps as well. During the lockout in 2004-2005, Price was mentored by Caps goalie Olaf Kolzig at Tri-City. That the two could be battling one another in this contest is one of the interesting subplots.
CP: "Oooh…drama."
If Cristobal Huet plays – and he’s just back after sitting out a few games with a groin injury – he has some pretty good career numbers against the Caps: 4-2-0, 2.54, .912.
CP: "Didn’t you say something about a drumstick?..."
OK, OK! Anything to shut you up…but first, the mentor will defeat the mentee..
CP: "Is that really a word?"
Yes, for heaven’s sake...like we said, the mentor will defeat the mentee, and the Caps will inch just a little closer to the top-eight.
Caps 4 – Canadiens 1
But what if Ovechkin doesn’t want to play in Washington any longer? What if the young superstar tells the Caps he’d prefer to play someplace a little more cosmopolitan than Washington? You know, it could happen.
Let’s face it, with Ovechkin in their lineup, the Capitals have shown no signs of being a playoff team. There are no guarantees re-signing Ovechkin will make the Capitals a successful franchise.
Tonight, the Caps get to measure themselves and their recent good fortune against the gold standard (regular season version) of the NHL – the Detroit Red Wings. It is the kind of challenge that requires a warrior attitude, and we have the pleasure of having with us three famous warriors, each of whom faced great odds against success…gentlemen, introductions…
“I am William Wallace.”
William Wallace is seven feet tall!
“Yes, I've heard. Kills men by the hundreds. And if HE were here, he'd consume the Red Wings with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse.”
Haggis does that to a person…
“My name is Gladiator…”
No, really?
“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”
Hey, this is just a hockey blog, pal. And you, sir?
“I am Spartacus!”
OK, so, now that we have the introductions, what advice would you give to the Caps tonight as they make their way into the Colisseum…er, Joe Louis Arena?
“It is like I told my fellow slaves on the floor of Joe Louis…er, the Colisseum, ‘Whatever comes out of these gates, we've got a better chance of survival if we work together. Do you understand? If we stay together we survive.’ If the Caps stay together, they win.”
“I’d tell the boys the same thing I told my fellow Scotsmen on the field of battle…’I see a whole army of my country men, here, in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?...fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!’…well, two points, anyway.”
“I am Spartacus!”
OK…let’s get to it…how does a team like the Caps beat a team like the Red Wings?
“Well, it’s not unlike what we faced a while ago in
“I knew a man once who said, ‘Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.’"
You ever seen a hockey player smile, Maximus?
“I am Spartacus!”
Uh…yeah. So what do you think of the Caps’ chances tonight?...hey guys, this isn’t funny…stop laughing, will ya?...I mean it!
Well, this isn’t a laughing matter. The Red Wings are good…good in that regular season way that makes everyone think they are the best team since, well, the last Red Wings team that put up gaudy statistics in the regular season…statistics like these:
Wins: 23 (1st in the league)
Points: 49 (1st)
Goals-per-game: 3.41 (2nd)
Goals-against-per-game: 2.19 (1st)
5-on-5 goal ratio: 1.62 (1st)
Power Play: 23.3% (T-3rd)
Penalty Killing: 86.6% (6th)
Faceoff Wins: 54.8% (1st)
The Red Wings have only two players who have played more than ten games who are on the minus side of the ledger this year (the Caps have only three such players on the plus side). But here is an odd one. No team has given up more shorthanded goals than the Red Wings.
And, if that’s not enough, the Red Wings are riding a ten game points-earned streak (8-0-2). They’ve outscored their opponents, 38-18, and they’ve scored at least five goals in a game four times. Their power play has hummed along at a 27.3 percent clip (12-for-44), while the penalty killers have rubbed out 50 of 53 shorthanded situations (94.3 percent). And if the Caps aspire to be a puck-possession squad, the Red Wings are perhaps the best example of such a specie. One indicator…in this ten-game points-earned streak, the Red Wings have outshot their opponents 367-242. Outshooting opponents by more than a dozen shots a game is no small factor in the Red Wings’ success
If
As they have for much of the year, Pavel Datsyuk (9-8-17, +5) and Henrik Zetterberg (7-6-13, +4) are leading the way in the ten-game points-earned streak.
But here is your obscure nugget of information to take with you. The last Southeast team to defeat the Red Wings on
On November 24, 2003.
A lot of that is the weird scheduling the NHL employs, but it is what it is. And what it is, is a golden opportunity to make a statement, that the 7-4-1 run the Caps are on is no fluke, that they can compete – and win – on Hockeytown ice.
Caps 5 – Red Wings 4
…although it occurs to The Peerless…each of those three warriors we were talking to were killed by their enemies.
It’s a little known fact that…
-- In his last 50 games, Brad Richards is -24.
-- Jarome Iginla has eight goals in his last nine games
-- Bobby Holik, Alexei Zhitnik, Steve McCarthy…combined -49.
-- Mike Comrie, everyone’s start-of-the-year favorite with his 4-2-6, +3 in his first two games, is -16 in 29 games since.
-- Mike Ribiero might be the guy to take along if you’re going hunting…16 goals on 40 shots. Quite a sharpshooter.
-- Jeremy Roenick still leads the league in game-winning goals (5).
-- The Southeast Division is 37-48-7 against non-Southeast teams.
-- You’ve heard that commercial, “He went to Jared?” Well, doing that in the NHL can get you bruised. Jared Boll leads the league in fighting majors. Without googling, do you know who he plays for?* And who on earth is Daniel Carcillo, and how is it that he leads the league in PIMs (145)?
-- Carcillo might win the “does not work or play well with others” award. He has 13 misconducts (nine 10-minute, 4 game).
-- Still on the matter of penalties, Chris Pronger, Corey Perry, and Ryan Getzlaf rank 3-4-5 in minors taken this year – 68 in all.
-- Familiarity breeds contempt…except in the Southeast – well,
-- The Southeast is conspicuous in that statistic…nine of the top 15 divisional scorers are in the Southeast. Maybe they just can’t score against anyone else (see that record up above).
-- On that division scoring thing, here is the odd one. Sidney Crosby – he who tied for fourth in overall scoring – is 17th in divisional scoring. He might not be so familiar with his opposition as they are with him in the
*
The Peerless thought that might have been the score after one period.
Nevertheless, the Caps put the loss to
-- Tampa had the best home record in the Eastern Conference coming into this game (11-4-2)…they lost
-- The Lightning were the highest scoring team at home in the East (3.65 goals/game)…they finished with two.
--
-- The “big four” scorers for Tampa Bay – Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, and Vaclav Prospal – were averaging 5.76 points a game, combined, at home…they finished with three.
-- Their power play was humming along at 25.3 percent at home…they finished 0-for-4.
--
This game was huge for the Caps. Bruce Boudreau alluded to it after the
What he got was a by-the-book road game to turn it around. Play tough, keep the home team in sight, don’t let them dictate the pace, take advantage of the opportunities you get, and play smart late.
And, the Caps didn’t let the loss against
Looking at the numbers, the obvious story is Brian Pothier. Given a seat by Bruce Boudreau for a couple of games, Pothier responded in a big way with the game-winning goal tonight. He also assisted on the David Steckel goal, but the big number might have been “zero,” as in “zero giveaways.” Against a team with as much fire power as the Lightning, playing smart with the puck – especially among the defense – is vital. For the night, the Caps had only eight giveaways, and only two by a defenseman.
And even though Brent Johnson gave up a pair of goals he might like to have back, in the end he only gave up a pair of goals on 25 shots.
And now, your obscure number for the night…
8:24
That was the least amount of time on ice spent at even strength for a Capital tonight…it belongs to Alexander Semin (yes, even Donald Brashear had more). Part of that is likely that the Caps were protecting a one-goal lead in the third period, but Semin did not skate a shift in the last 10:41 and had only three shifts in the third period. Injury?...or message? We’ll see.
But enough of that. The Caps are 7-4-1 in their last dozen games – a 103 point pace. But here’s the thing…the Caps have 50 games to play. If they earn points at the rate they’ve done so far under Bruce Boudreau, they’ll finish with 91 points. We’ll just leave you with that thought.
And for tonight’s back-end of a back-to-back weekend, we have what is something of a rarity lately…a divisional matchup (we also have all of our usual guests out holiday shopping...). Over the next 34 days, the Caps play Southeast Division teams twice – both times against the Lightning.
And aren’t the Lightning the Jekyll and Hyde team of the 2007-2008 season. By day (or on the road), they are the Henry Jekyll with a 3-11-1 record. By night (in the confines of St. Pete Times Forum) they are the Edward Hyde that commits all sorts of evil acts on visitors on the way to an 11-4-2 record.
The Jekyll and Hyde thing is reflected in both the team statistics and those for the big scorers on this club…
This is a home game for the Bolts, so the Caps will have their work cut out for them. The disparity in the numbers seems a reflection of precisely the kind of team Tampa Bay is -- top heavy with talent. At home, the Lightning can exploit favorable matchups, but on the road the deficiencies in talent underneath the top group are laid bare when those teams can do a better job of using matchups and last change to get the players they want onto the ice against Tampa's big guns.
If you're looking for a "road warrior" among the Caps, Alex Ovechkin immediately comes to mind, of course. In fact, he does lead the team in road scoring (10-9-19 in 16 games). But this might be a night for Viktor Kozlov to shake some dust off. He has had some career success against the Lightning (6-24-30 in 41 games), and he is third on the Caps in road scoring this year (3-7-10 in 16 games).
Maybe it is a measure of what the Capitals accomplished this week that last night’s 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres can be thought of as “disappointing,” rather than “expected.”
Disappointing in that the Caps couldn’t build on an early lead.
Disappointing in that the Caps gave it up with what goaltender Olaf Kolzig called, “a rookie mistake.”
Disappointing in giving up a goal in the final two minutes of each period – the first two tying the game, the last one clinching it.
Disappointing in not capitalizing on their possession advantage in the first two periods.
Disappointing in that the effort that one might have expected in a game where an opportunity existed to pick up a place or two in the standings was inconsistent.
One could tell that things were amiss when the Caps picked up a pair of too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties in the first 25 minutes of the game (there were three called on the night, the other on the Sabres) – the first of which was called less than a minute into the contest.
And last night was a night for the hockey gods to administer a dose of humility to this week’s object of Caps fans affection – Mike Green. A -3 for the night, and looking like a cornerback victimized on a deep pass when Maxim Afinogenov slipped behind him for a breakaway goal (the second of those last-two-minute goals). Adding insult to injury, it almost looked as if Kolzig might have been able to make the save on the play, but the puck seemed to be nudged by Green at the end of the sequence.
Bruce Boudreau mentioned that, "I didn't think we had 19 players playing to their capabilities.” If one of those 19 had a bulls-eye on his sweater, it was Alexander Semin. Another Cap with a -3, he had a brutal night. For a sniper to register no shots on goal (he had five attempts blocked and missed a sixth) just won’t get it done, and if the Caps’ effort was inconsistent, Semin was an example of that. If his ankle isn’t bothering him, it wouldn’t be terribly surprising to find him out of the lineup for tonight’s game in
But singling out Semin isn’t constructive, and it isn’t as if he was the only Cap who had problems. No one could be said to have had a good game, and in that cloud there is the hint of a silver lining. They were in this game until the empty-netter, despite a less-than-stellar effort. The power play was aggressive and looked crisp for stretches. The “ooh-and-ahh” factor with the man-advantage certainly has been improved. The penalty killing unit was effective in that no goals were allowed, even if they had their moments where virtual tap-ins were missed by the Sabres. They might even have pulled this one out, had Olaf Kolzig not had his moments (the Derek Roy short-handed “empty netter” when Kolzig whiffed on a lazy one-handed sweep pass -- the rookie mistake -- chief among them, a goal that slammed momentum the Caps had at the time to a halt).
The problem with this game, and perhaps the attitude, might be reflected in a quote from Tom Poti after the game…
“It would have been nice to win four in a row at home. We've got to be ready tomorrow."
Brooks Laich seemed to pick up on it…
“We let this one get away. It's been the story of our season so far."
Nice?...They should have won four at home…
For the first time since the first three games of the season, the Caps have a three-game winning streak. And it's not like they're beating a bunch of slugs - the wins were over
Speaking of slugs, the schedule doesn't get any easier tonight with a game against the "Buffa-slugs" themselves, the Buffalo Sabres.
"You know...
Welcome to the show...would you please introduce yourself to our audience...
"My given name is Benjamin Buford Blue, but people call me 'Bubba.' Just like one of them ol' redneck boys. Can you believe that?"
People call me Peerless...Peerless Prognosticator. Didn't you used to dabble in shrimp?
"I don't know what 'dabble' means, but I gave up shrimp...they're too high in cholesterol. Anyway, like I was sayin', wings come from chickens, and chicken is the fruit of the barnyard. You can barbecue 'em, boil 'em, broil 'em, bake 'em, saute 'em..."
Yes, well...that's quite interesting, but as for the game, the Caps are hosting a Buffalo Sabres team that is not exactly in the place in the standings they have become accustomed to occupying the last couple of years. 14-14-1 and with 29 points – tied for 12th in the Eastern Conference with Atlanta – is not where the Sabres and their fans expected to be more than a third into the season.
"...Dey's uh, chicken wing-kabobs, chicken wing creole, chicken wing gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried..."
Yeah, yeah…they’re great. No, not the Sabres…since
Looking at the offense, it’s been feast or famine. 20 of the 27 goals
"…Dey's pineapple chicken wings, lemon chicken wings, coconut chicken wings, pepper chicken wings, chicken wings soup, chicken wings stew, chicken wings salad, chicken wings and potatoes, chicken wings burger, boneless chicken wings sandwich..."
Sounds real nice…which is not something that can be said for the Sabres’s special teams. Even though their power play is 7-for-27 over the last seven games (25.9 percent), they’ve actually given up more power play goals. Their 22-for-30 penalty killing (73.3 percent) has been a problem.
Consistent with
"…Dey's garlic chicken wings, teriyaki chicken wings, ginger chicken wings, szechuan chicken wings, cayenne chicken wings - dey's mah favorite..."
Jochen Hecht has found the Caps to be among his favorite opponents over his career. In 20 career contests, he is 7-9-16, +4. This year, he’s 2-2-4, +2 in two
"...honey chicken wings, Jalapeno chicken wings, chicken wings with ranch sauce, chicken wings with blue cheese 'n' hot sauce - that's what them
What perhaps they haven’t liked is the inconsistency in the play of goaltender Ryan Miller. The former Hobey Baker winner has played in all seven games since appearing in
"...uh, chicken wings with barbecue sauce, Cajun chicken wings, smoked chicken wings, chipotle chicken wings, jerk chicken wings...that - that's about it."
And that’s about it for this look at the Sabres. For the Caps, it’s a chance to do something they haven’t done since the 1999-2000 season (March 11-19, 2000)…sweep a home stand of at least four games. In that season, they swept New Jersey, the Islanders, Caroilina, and
“Four” seems to be a number that pops up from time to time in this review, and that’s what we see the Caps putting up…
Caps 4 – Sabres 2
Edit…I erred in a previous version of this, noting a four-game home stand sweep in January 2000…and it made for such nice copy, too, with the big finish it heralded for that year. Rats…sorry about that.
"The most sobering part of Wednesday night’s Rangers-Capitals game had nothing to do with the game — a 5-4 overtime victory by Washington, which was wildly entertaining unless you are a big fan of goalies — but the lack of people watching in Washington’s Verizon Center.
"The team announced the attendance at 12,553, which is laughable. There were entire empty sections. Any camera shot that caught the sections behind the nets showed swaths of empty seats. The team handed out bright red mullet wigs to fans in honor of ’80s night and I am guessing they have plenty left in backstage cartons.
"This is sad (the attendance, not the wigs) because Washington has one of the jewels of the N.H.L. in forward Alex Ovechkin, who is worth the price of admission alone. He scores. He skates like crazy. He lays checks on people like Rangers enforcer Colton Orr. He has 22 goals this season and is mesmerizing any time he is on the ice.
"Yes, the Capitals had a horrible start and axed their coach, Glen Hanlon. But they have rebounded, won four of their last five and have a terribly fun team to watch. In the N.H.L., this is unusual. Highly unusual. Perhaps Washington fans will figure that out this season."
