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.

For the Record Books

With their 3-0 whitewashing of the Norfolk Admirals tonight, the Hershey Bears set a franchise record for consecutive regular season wins – 11.

It isn’t as if the Bears have eked out many those wins. Over the course of the streak, five of the Bears’ wins were of the three-plus goal variety, including two nine-goal wins. In fact, their average winning margin over this streak is over three and a half goals a game. To say that they have been utterly dominating is to damn with faint praise…


It is indicative of the talent of this team from top to bottom that in the 71-year history of this storied franchise, this should be the team that sets this record. The accomplishment is even more remarkable in light of the roster upheaval that has seen 26 different players skate for the Bears during the streak, in addition to goalies Daren Machesney and Simeon Varlamov.

Congratulations to coaches Bob Woods and Mark French, president and general manager Doug Yingst, the players, the staff, and the fans of the Bears. It isn’t over yet, but it is already a team for the record books.

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 2 -- Maple Leafs 1

Just like we said…a defensive struggle.

Yeah, right. The Caps played with what looked like at times five defensemen on the ice as the squeezed the life out of the Maple Leafs and just enough offense (from their defense, appropriately enough) to edge the Maple Leafs, 2-1 at Air Canada Centre.

It wouldn’t have been a Caps game, though, without another injury as Eric Fehr left the game mid-way through the second period with a shoulder injury. Having finished a check and then hitting the glass near the Caps bench, Fehr went to the bench where he was in obvious pain in a manner that suggested a rather significant injury. He’s reported as day-to-day…of course, he’s hardly alone on that list.

With the short bench and the thin defense, the Caps went to all-hands-on-deck mode in their own zone. It showed…

- The Leafs were limited to 20 shots, only three in the final 12:48 after the Caps took the final 2-1 lead in the third period.

- The Caps blocked 17 shots, eight of them by Hershey call-ups Bryan Helmer and Karl Alzner.

- The Caps led the turnover battle (takeaways plus Toronto giveaways), 31-19.

- Washington won 10-of-15 defensive zone faceoffs.

At the other end, the defense did the damage with Karl Alzner netting his first NHL goal on an innocent enough looking shot from the top of the offensive zone through a screen set by Alex Ovechkin. After Toronto tied the game on a power play goal from Nik Antropov, Milan Jurcina let loose a cannon shot from the right point that beat Vesa Toskala over his left pad. That was it for the scoring…sorta. Brooks Laich had a goal waved off for making a distinct kicking motion on a puck in the Maple Leafs’ crease. If it was a kick, it was one that wouldn’t tear a tissue. And it denied Sean Collins – yet another call-up on the blue line – from getting his first NHL point. Alex Ovechkin rang the post past Toskala, too, but he looked good celebrating it.

The game also saw the almost “The Goal II.” Getting hauled down at the Toronto blue line by Jeff Finger after taking a long lead pass from Michael Nylander, Ovechkin scrambled to his knees with the puck sliding in front of him. As he was going down again, he laid out, got good wood (or composite) on the puck, and flicked it at the Toronto net. If not for a fine save by Toskala, that would have been on the short list for the goal of the year.

The first star of the game was awarded to Alex Ovechkin, no doubt for his seven shots (on 17 attempts), six hits, and that almost amozing goal. But there was a bit of boneheadedness in there, too. Having taken an iffy hooking call three minutes into the third period, he no sooner skated back on after serving that sentence than he took a holding penalty in his own end. That penalty led to the Toronto goal and made things more interesting than then had to be.

That they did not become more interesting was a product of the team-defense and some fine goaltending from Brent Johnson, who saved 19 of 20 shots to see his save percentage rise to .913 (better than the likes of Ryan Miller, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Evgeni Nabokov) and his GAA drop to 2.59 (better than Miikka Kiprusoff, Chris Osgood…oh, and Cristobal Huet).

What the Caps – and coach Bruce Boudreau – are doing balancing a make-shift line-up is nothing short of amazing. Here is an indicator…defensemen Karl Alzner: 23:06 in ice time tonight, Sami Lepisto: 20:37, Bryan Helmer: 20:05. All of them were in Hershey a couple of weeks ago. Sean Collins was in Hershey last week. Keeping the team playing within a system and playing within themselves has been part of a fine coaching job by Boudreau through this injury run.

Keith Aucoin might be the leading scorer in the AHL, but he’s been doing the little things in his stint with the Caps. A couple of shots, a couple of takeaways, a blocked shot, and he won five of nine draws. Not spectacular, just pretty solid. He almost had a goal when Vesa Toskala bollixed up a shot from a bad angle, allowing it to go through his legs and roll along the goal line and out the other side.

Speaking of quiet…Nicklas Backstrom – four shots, four takeaways, and he won 10 of 16 draws in almost 21 minutes. Not all well-played games involved goals or assists. Frankly, that could be said for a lot of Capitals tonight.

The hard hat for this one might be going to Boyd Gordon, who had a fine game for someone who barely made a ripple on the score sheet. He had an excellent game in his own end, serving almost as a roving defenseman during his shifts. From lugging the puck clear to getting in the way of shots (we’re thinking that one blocked shot is a little light in credit) to winning three of four defensive draws (seven of 13 overall), he was solid in the defense-first aspects of the game.

We’re wondering…are Ron Wilson, Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler joined at the hip?

Chris Bourque had seven shots on goal for Hershey tonight…hope he’s still limber, seeing as he might be joining the Caps in Carolina tomorrow.

If the Islander game on Thursday was a “business game,” according to Coach Boudreau, this one was a “stick to business” game. It wasn’t pretty, but is was among the more satisfying wins of the year, given the circumstances of a poor road record coming in and an injury list that got longer by one during the course of the game. Nicely done, boys.

Anybody got a rabbit's foot?

As reported on Capital Insider...

Tyler Sloan is nursing a bruised foot, which means that Sean Collins was called up from Hershey in the event Sloan can't go. Alexander Semin was put on LTIR (eligible to come off on Tuesday...we're not holding our breath). John Erskine was put on IR (no "LT," apparently, although his return doesn't seem imminent).

If you want a graphical representation of how bad this is, here is the list of Caps who have played at least some time this year on the blue line...

Collins would make 13. If one only counts defensemen, Collins seeing ice time would break a tie the Caps are in with Florida, the Islanders, and Tampa Bay for most defensemen dressed this year (10). At the other end of the spectrum, the Rangers have played all 29 games with the same six defensemen.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Maple Leafs, December 6th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

It’s back on the road again as the Caps head to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs and former Caps coach Ron Wilson. The Maple Leafs are Team Frustration, having failed to win their birthright – the Stanley Cup – since May 2, 1967. To give you an idea of just how long ago that is, here are a few highlights from 1967…

The NFL had only played Super Bowl I to that point

The Doors released “The Doors”

The American Basketball Association was formed

Aretha Franklin released “RESPECT”

New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison claimed we would solve the Kennedy assassination, and would show it was planned in New Orleans. The body of the late President was moved to its permanent resting place in Arlington National Cemetery in that year.

Jimmy Hoffa, who was still alive, was sentenced to eight years in prison for bribery

Expo67, a world’s fair coinciding with the centennial celebration of Canadian Confederation, opened in Montreal

Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu were married

The “monkey law” (the basis for the “Scopes trial”) was repealed in Tennessee

The Beatles released “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”… “The Soundtrack of the Summer of Love”

400 million viewers watched “Our World,” the first live, international, satellite television production. It featured the live debut of The Beatles' song "All You Need is Love"

The first automatic cash machine was installed, in the office of Barclay’s Bank in Enfield, England

“The Jungle Book” – the last animated film personally supervised by Walt Disney – was released

John McCain, who would later run for President of the United States, was shot down over North Vietnam and made a prisoner of war

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was established

Christian Barnard performed the first human heart transplant procedure

Dave Matthews was born (January 9th)

So was Kurt Cobain (February 20th)

And Curtis Joseph (April 29th), in keeping with a hockey theme

And…Tony Siragusa, John Smoltz, Paul Giamatti, Nicole Kidman, Pamela Anderson, Will Ferrell, Vin Diesel, Deion Sanders, Carrie-Anne Moss, Harry Connick, Jr., Faith Hill, Mira Sorvino, Toni Braxton, Carlos Mencia, Julia Roberts, Jimmy Kimmel, Anna Nicole Smith, and Jamie Foxx.

It’s been a while…

But tonight, the Maple Leafs can try to take a small step toward changing history in hosting the Caps. For teams on opposite ends of the playoff divide (the Caps 3rd, the Leafs 11th), they have a fair number of similarities…


One would think, given those goals scored and goals allowed numbers, that this is going to be something of a free for all, more so when you consider these teams' abilities to score at home (Toronto: 3.33/game) and on the road (Washington: 2.86). The problem for the Caps, again, is that they are dead last in the NHL in total goals allowed on the road (55 total, 3.93/game), a point magnified by the fact that they are 28th in power play goals allowed (17 in 14 games).

It’s not that Toronto is without its own problems on defense. Being in the lower half of the league in 5-on-5 play and in the bottom five in penalty killing is a recipe for, well…being 11th in the Conference. If they do have a distinct advantage over the Caps for this one though, it is in that the Leafs are among the leaders in fewest minor penalties taken (3rd fewest, compared to 26th fewest for the Caps). Toronto has been shorthanded a whopping 33 fewer times this year than have the Caps. Washington has been shorthanded 81 times in 14 road games, making this a big factor to watch as the game unfolds.

Unlike the Caps, though, who will skate once more without seven starters, the Leafs are comparatively healthy. None of their top scorers will sit out, which means Matt Stajan – the Leafs’ leading scorer – gets to try and break the log jam at 46th in the league in scoring (7-14-21). Mikhail Grabovski (he of the Potsdam Grabovski’s) will try to add to his ten goals (tied for 36th with, among others, Evgeni Malkin…although Malkin has 31 assists while Grabovski has eight).

Toronto is one of those clubs that has tried to assemble spare parts in hopes of building a Maserati, but pretty much has a 1962 Rambler for its trouble. A look at the top dozen scorers on this team reveals shipments of parts built – or drafted – from Montreal (Grabovski), Florida (Niklas Hagman), New York (Dominic Moore), Tampa (Pavel Kubina), St. Louis (Lee Stempniak), New Jersey (Mike Van Ryn, who is out for this one), and a spare part who started as a free agent in the Los Angeles system (Jason Blake).

If there is a plan here, it isn’t immediately evident. Toronto fans hope that the Saviour of Providence (the city, if not the word meaning, “divine guidance”) -- Brian Burke -- can right the ship and return the Leafs to the glory that was theirs when bell bottoms were all the rage.

But for now, the Leafs have to skate with a team with a defenseman squad that is a combined -23 (although two of them, Van Ryn and Jonas Frogren, won’t be playing tonight). But it is a team with a fair amount of scoring balance. 11 players have registered double digits in points (eight for the Caps, two of whom – Mike Green and Alexander Semin – won’t be dressing). They have eight players with at least five goals (seven for Washington, the same two of whom are not playing tonight) and eleven with at least a power play goal. The Leafs might lack for a high-end scorer, but they do have players who can sit up and bite a team in the bee-hind.

Nowhere, though, it there a clearer picture of where the Leafs have been and where they can go than on the blue line. In one of the biggest head-scratchers of the free-agency signing period, the Leafs showered Jeff Finger with $14 million over four years…this for a player who had a total of 94 games of NHL experience coming into this season. He might be worth the money, and Toronto certainly has enough of it, but what there was about his performance or potential to merit such a contract remains one of nature’s darkest mysteries. He is 2-5-7, +1 in 19 games this year, so in some respects (and this might be a low bar to clear) he is pulling more than his fair share for this defensive group.

On the other side is Luke Schenn, picked fifth overall in last June’s draft. After struggling a bit early (0-0-0, -4 in his first nine games), he has appeared to become more comfortable lately (even in his last eight games…no small feat on this club). He is one of only nine players (Finger is not among them) to have played in all 26 games for the Leafs so far and looks like the sort of player a club could build a defense around.

In goal…well, it ain’t good. Vesa Toskala is the nominal number one here, but the term is relative. His GAA of 3.24 is ranked 40th in the league, his save percentage of .883 ranked 41st. And no, neither Jose Theodore nor Brent Johnson is ranked lower in either category. Should the leafs choose to go with Curtis Joseph (the same one born three days before the Leafs won their last Cup), his numbers – 3.95 and .851 would, if he had enough appearances, be ranked last in the league in both categories.Neither have been especially successful against the Caps, Toskala with a 2-2-0 record (3.13, .892), and Joseph with a 12-10-3 record (3.08, .897).

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Toronto: Tomas Kaberle

OK, so he looks a little too much like Rowan Atkinson for comfort, but he leads the team in ice time (23:40), and he is the Leafs’ top scorer on the power play (1-10-11). He is a respectable 5-11-16, +1 in 31 career games against the Caps. On the other side, he is -10 in 26 games (worst on the club among players who will dress tonight), has only four points at even strength, and tied for the eighth highest number of giveaways among defensemen in the league. Which Kaberle appears – the one who leads the power play or the one who can be taken advantage of at even strength – could be the key for the Leafs.

Washington: Alex Ovechkin

Is he hurt? He gave that impression in the Islander game on Thursday (although his skating off and to the locker room was attributed to a “skate problem”). It would be nice to have him at full-strength, or something approaching it for this one. As much as to compensate for the absence of those seven starters, Ovechkin has dined on Maple Leafs in his brief career – 11-5-16 in 12 career games with seven power play goals. Given the prodigious performance of the power play recently (16-for-49 in the Caps’ last dozen games – 32.7 percent), having Ovechkin out there could be important.

The Caps have lost four straight road games, scoring seven goals and allowing 19. Goals should not be as difficult to come by for the Caps in this one, given Toronto’s defense and goaltending. However, the Caps are also having considerable difficulty keeping the home team from scoring when they visit. It points to a high scoring affair…

Caps 6 – Toronto 4

OK, Which is the Hockey Player...

...and which is the bug?

A team unlike any other

A lot of attention is being paid to the San Jose Sharks and their 22-3-1 start (14-0-1 at home), deservedly so. But there is another team out there that is quite suprising in its own right.

The Boston Bruins sit atop the Eastern Conference (tied in points with the Rangers), we think because they are unlike other teams. For instance...

The Bruins, like the Capitals, have lost only one game in regulation at home (9-1-1), but unlike the Caps, they win on the road (8-3-3 versus 4-8-2 for Washington).

The Bruins are the best 5-on-5 club in the league, but unlike the second place Devils, the Bruins also have a very effective power play (22.7 percent versus 13.4 percent for New Jersey).

Boston is fourth in the league in scoring (3.32 goals/game), just ahead of the Flyers. But unlike Philadelphia, the Bruins keep pucks out of the net (2.08 goals/game allowed versus 3.00 for Philadelphia).

Boston is, oddly enough, not particularly successful when scoring first, winning 68.8 percent of the time...same as the Flyers. But unlike those same Flyers, the Bruins can come from behind (winning 66.7 percent of the time when trailing first versus 11.1 percent for Philadelphia).

The Bruins are undefeated in three-plus goal games, having blown out six opponents while not suffering the same fate themselves. Chicago, is close-by, having won six of seven such games. But unlike the Blackhawks, the Bruins are competitive on one-goal games, too (7-3-4 versus 3-3-6 for Chicago).

We're just about at the one-third mark for the season, and to date you couldn't say that the Bruins are a fluke. They've done a lot of things well (they have only one more loss in regulation than the Sharks). It isn't that they're like anyone else, it's more that they are a team unlike any other that has pushed them to the top of the Eastern heap.

A Quirk of Scheduling

You might have noted, or perhaps you have not...as of this morning, no Eastern Conference team has played fewer games against Eastern Conference teams than have the Caps. That means the Caps will have a larger share of games against Eastern Conference teams over their last 56 games.

Having said that, it's worth noting that while the Caps are 5-6-0 against Western Conference clubs, they are 9-3-3 against the East. And, they have a 4-0-2 record against what some think is the toughest division in the league, the Atlantic.

Just a thought...

A TWO-point night: Caps 5 - Islanders 2

Now that’s more like it.

It was Don VanMassenhoeven, uh…hot dog night at Verizon Center, and the Caps applied the hot mustard in a 5-2 win to get back to the normal course of events – winning – at the Phone Booth.

DVM apparently got a great deal on a whistle, because he certainly blew it enough (he and his partner – Kyle Rehman – called 15 minor penalties, nine of them on the Caps). But is was merely a speed bump as the Caps played the python to the Islanders gazelle, wrapping their coils around the Islanders and crushing the life out of them before the final horn (thus ends our nature walk metaphor for the morning).

Viktor Kozlov (our pick as the Caps’ “player to ponder”) was the first star of this contest, but he was hardly alone. Frankly, we were taken by the play of Sami Lepisto, who after having a rather grisly game against Florida on Tuesday, gave a clearer indication of what his contributions might be when his game develops some more. Lepisto attempted 11 shots (three of them getting to the net) and showed what we think European defensemen probably do better than many of their American counterparts – find shooting lanes. With the bigger ice sheet in Europe, defensemen might have the luxury of space to find better angles, and the bigger space might afford them some more time to move into that space. Since the lockout, when the dimensions of the NHL rink changed to provide a larger offensive zone area, the defensemen have a little more room to operate, and Europeans – who might have more experience in this area – seem to be able to take advantage of it. Hey, it’s a theory, but Lepisto certainly was finding room to get shots off from a variety of angles (ok, it isn’t a perfect theory…Lepisto also had five attempts blocked).

We thought, given the Islanders’ gruesome even-strength results this year, that the Caps would have a distinct 5-on-5 advantage. But it was the power play that got the Caps off early, converting on two of their first three opportunities to take a 2-0 lead. Alex Ovechkin netted the first when left all alone on the left side to walk in and snap a wrist shot under goaltender Joey MacDonald’s left arm. The ensuing goal celebration left one with the impression that Ovechkin wasn’t feeling right. Usually one to leap into the boards upon scoring, he barely nudged the glass. He then left Caps fans with their hearts in their throats when he later took what looked like a glancing blow from an Islander at the blue line and left the ice to walk directly to the locker room.

After a Kozlov goal, the Caps got a bit sloppy, giving up yet another first/last minute goal (Mark Streit, on the power play, with 36 seconds left in the first period) and a bang-bang pass-and-a-goal from Andy Sutton to Trent Hunter when Lepisto tried to swat the puck out of the air with his hand, but failed to control it, then lost his footing.

The most interesting play of the night, though, came on the game-winning goal. Karl Alzner wasn’t able to find a shooting lane from the left point. With an Islander in his line of sight, he just shot the puck wide to goaltender Joey MacDonald’s right and off the end boards, where it came back to a clot of players at the right post. Donald Brashear used his reach to push the puck past MacDonald’s left pad, and the Caps had their lead back. It was a creative way for Alzner to get his first point in the NHL. As for Brashear, he described the puck appearing at his feet…”It looked like a big piece of cheese to me.”

Do we now call Brashear, "The Big Cheddar?"

After that, Eric Fehr swooped in and cleaned up the trash by flipping a backhand like a burger at McDonald’s (get it?... McDonald’s?... MacDonald?... I kill me) into the open net for the Caps’ fourth goal. Nicklas Backstrom closed out the scoring by taking a feed from Alex Ovechkin, who passed up a shot of his own for the assist, for an empty-netter.

Some observations…

OK, it was a student discount night, and there were dollar hot dogs. But 18,130 on a Thursday night against a team that isn’t naturally a big draw is pretty good.

Was there a special at Modell’s on fishing equipment? Six hooking penalties were called (three for each club).

If the Caps were, as a team, displeased with their effort on Tuesday, they took things more seriously in terms of effort in this one. Here is your fun number – 20. That was the longest distance a puck traveled off of a Washington stick for a goal...and that was Backstrom’s empty netter. Ovechkin – 11 feet. Kozlov – 14 feet. Brashear – eight feet. Fehr – 13 feet. It might have been the Caps’ best game this year for going to the net.

Only Bryan Helmer and Milan Jurcina failed to register a shot on goal.

Much might be made of Ovechkin’s steady march up the scoring rankings, but Nicklas Backstrom is 7-13-20 in his last 14 games.

Oh, Ovechkin is 12-17-29 in his last 15 games.

It was a shooting gallery out there. How do we know this? Matt Bradley had five shots in less than 11 minutes. The best Islander on the ice was, in fact, their goaltender. If not for MacDonald’s play, that could have been really ugly for the Islanders.

Shouldn’t a team get more than five hits by accident? Just by skating into someone when they’re not looking? The Caps had five hits…two after the first period. Ovechkin didn’t have any of them (something ain’t right here).

An example of putting faith in youth…your leading defenseman in ice time on the penalty kill – Alzner, with 5:31. And Tyler Sloan was right behind him with 5:22. Alzner and Bryan Helmer took the most shifts of anyone with 32 apiece. Tell us you saw that coming a month ago.

Ovechkin’s shot total was interesting…11 shots in all, but six of them came in the third period. As clear an image as one might need of a player who was not shy about trying to put the team on his back.

In their last dozen games, the Caps are 16-for-49 on the power play (32.7 percent). They have at least one power play goal in ten of those games.

All in all it was, as Coach Boudreau put it afterward, “a business game.” The Caps stuck to what they do well – skate hard and pound goalies with shots – and did not wilt when the Islanders made a game of it in the second period. It’s a good way to head off to Toronto to start a short (two game) road trip. Nicely done, guys.

Canadiens' Stranglehold on All-Star Slots Broken

Well, it finally happened. The Canadiens' stranglehold on the top three spots among Eastern Conference forwards in the All-Star Game voting has been broken...you've probably guessed by whom, without looking at the graphic. But we wonder...how? Could it have been...

Penguin fans?

Or perhaps some sinister mastermind...

We may never know...

A tremor in the force...

"Alex Ovechkin was given the day off to recover from an undisclosed nagging injury. Boudreau said there's a 99 percent chance he'll suit up tonight."

Given that there are seven other guys who almost certainly won't dress for tonight's game against the Islanders who did dress for opening night, even a one percent chance Ovechkin won't suit up is cause for skipped heartbeats in Caps Nation. Why? Well, if Ovechkin were to sit out, your top goal scorer heading into tonight's game would be...

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Islanders, December 4th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

We’re live at Peerless Central to bring you the best that the prognosticatorial arts can provide as the Caps host the New York Islanders at Verizon Center. The guests tonight being the Islanders, with their long tradition of goofy logos depicting a variety of piscatorial scenes, we have a special guest with us to give us some insight into how those who labor in and by the sea follow the sport of hockey. Welcome…uh…

“Call me ‘Ishmael.’”

Welcome, Ishmael. I imagine that being at sea on whaling voyages, you don’t have much occasion to see hockey games live. How is it you came to be a fan of the sport?

“These are the times of dreamy quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the hockey rink’s ice, one forgets the tiger heart that pants upon it; and would not willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang.”

Ah, so you’re a fan of the fisticuffs…

“It smells like the left wing of the day of judgment.”

We thought the left wing of the day of judgment would be someone like Alex Ovechkin…

“There is a Capital ‘weagle’ in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the Capital ‘weagle’ is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar."

Sort of sets him apart from the run of the mill hockey player. What is it about the sport that draws you to it?

“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to a hockey rink as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ice.”

What’s your take on the latest player in the news, Sean Avery?

“Is he mad? Anyway there's something on his mind, as sure as there must be something on a deck when it cracks.”

What makes you say that?

"I began to be sensible of strange feelings. I felt a melting in me. No more my splintered heart and maddened hand were turned against the wolfish world. This soothing savage had redeemed it."

Avery? A “soothing savage?” Well, that’s a new one on me…as for the Islanders, what’s your take on their prospects this year?

“Give me a condor’s quill! Give me Vesuvius’ crater for an inkstand! Friends, hold my arms! For in the mere act of penning my thoughts of this Leviathan, they weary me, and make me faint with their outreaching comprehensiveness of sweep, as if to include the whole circle of the sciences, and all the generations of whales, and men, and mastodons, past, present, and to come, with all the revolving panoramas of empire on earth, and throughout the whole universe, not excluding its suburbs. Such, and so magnifying, is the virtue of a large and liberal theme! We expand to its bulk. To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried it.”

So you’re saying we don’t know?

“Pretty much…”

It’s been tough on Islander followers the last few years. Can you describe what it’s been like for your typical fan?

“He piled upon the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it.”

So, is there any hope for the Islanders?...Do they have a chance this year? Or will the whole team need an overhaul? Is there anyone the Islanders can count on in the years ahead to lead them back to a championship?

“The drama's done. Why then here does any one step forth? --Because one did survive the wreck.”

Ah…with his contract, that must mean Rick DiPietro.

As for the game, here is your fun Islander number…34.

That would be the number of even strength goals the Islanders have scored this year, 29th in the league (ahead of only Ottawa). That speaks to an advantage for the team that has the deeper offense (even with the injuries). Add to that the fact that the Caps are 6th in the league in power play goals scored at home, and this should not be a game that lacks for offense, at least from the home club.

But hold on, Skippy…the Islanders are not a club that plays in many blowouts, either. Only two teams in the league have played in fewer three-plus goal games (Minnesota, which should surprise no one, and Detroit, which should inspire a “whaaaaaa?”). The Isles are 1-3 in those games decided by at least three goals. Conversely, they are a respectable team in one-goal contests, going 6-4-2, good for a tie for 17th in winning percentage (the Caps are 4-3-3, tied for 21st). Here are some of the other numbers to note...




Individually, New York is coming into this game with an injury list that rivals the Caps. DiPietro, Bruno Gervais, Radek Martinek, Mike Comrie, Mike Sillinger, Kyle Okposo -- all are banged up. The heavy lifting with respect to the offense will be left to leading overall scorer Doug Weight (5-17-22) and top goal-getter Trent Hunter (ten). Weight hasn’t had any particular success against the Caps in the goal scoring are (three in 29 career games), but has 21 assists against Washington. Hunter can claim an even-strength, a power play, and a shorthanded goal to account for the three he’s scored against the Caps in 17 career games.

However, the Cap-killer here is Jon Sim. He might have skated for eight NHL teams in his career, but the constant seems to be an ability to score against Washington. In 21 career games, he is 11-8-19, with four power play and two game-winning goals.

That team-wide even strength problem shows up in the plus-minus numbers, where only two players are on the positive side of the ledger – defensemen Andy Sutton and Brent Skinner. On the other side, Jeff Tambellini and Bruno Gervais (the latter being out for this one) are on a pace to top -30.

In goal, with DiPietro out recouperating from a knee injury, the chores are likely to fall to Joey McDonald, a fellow who has an unsettling resemblance to Jerry "The Beaver" Mathers. One might be forgiven if they hadn’t heard of McDonald, seeing as how he had a grand total of 17 games of NHL experience over two seasons coming into this year. He's had a respectable run as DiPietro's replacement thus far, though -- 10-9-2, 2.89, .907. If there is a number that is key for McDonald in this one, it is this...three. Over his last nine games, in those in which he's allowed three or fewer goals, he won. More than three?...loss. He is 6-3-0 over that stretch. He was also the NHL's third star of November.


The Peerless' Players to Ponder

New York: Brendan Witt

Mark Streit might have signed the big free agent contract and has posted the best offensive numbers from the blue line (5-12-17), but part of the trick in allowing three or fewer goals is to get some solid play out of the blue line in the defensive zone, and Witt could be the one to set the tone there. Witt missed a dozen games with the dreaded "lower body injury," and he has struggled some in his return (0-1-1, -4 in six games). He is no longer a minutes eater, and Andy Sutton might be the more physical defenseman at this point in their respective careers, but it is an opportunity to make a point against his former team.

Washington: Viktor Kozlov

Continuing the theme of "former team," Kozlov is in a position to return the favor to the Islanders, a team for which he had his highest goal-scoring season (25, in 2006-2007). Since sitting out against Tampa Bay on November 10th, Kozlov is 3-7-10 in 11 games. If the Caps are going to make McDonald's night in goal difficult, Kozlov needs to be involved.

The recipe for this one is to jump on the Islanders early at even strength and keep pushing. If the Islanders hang around, keeping the game close into the third period, they've found ways to win (six of their ten wins being of the one-goal margin variety). The Caps having a third of their lineup out, and the biggest impact perhaps on the blue line, they're going to have to score and score often against a goalie who has never faced the Caps. It'll be a struggle, but we think they will...


Caps 5 - Islanders 4

A NO-point night: Panthers 5 - Caps 3

Patience, grahss-hoppah…

Caps fans got a real good dose of reality and a good look at why young guys should learn their trade in the AHL, not in an “on-the-job” training session at the NHL level.

The Florida Panthers – the Florida “Can’t hit the Atlantic Ocean with a shot” Panthers – scored five goals (some of them off their own sticks) in ending the Caps’ undefeated-in-regulation run at Verizon Center, 5-3.

It wasn’t as if the Caps played especially badly or that the Panthers were making anyone forget the 1978 Canadiens. It was just a weird game in which the Caps’ defensemen suffered an acute lack of communication and a singular inability to move the puck out of their own end with any consistency. Absent any success on either of those scores, it was merely a matter of time until the Caps would self-destruct.

That happened in the second period.

Someday, Karl Alzner is going to be a cornerstone defenseman. Someday, Sami Lepisto is going to be a guy who can contribute at both ends and chip in some power play quarterbacking.

Today ain’t that day, kids.

Ville Peltonen left Karl Alzner in a state of disrobement (his supporter being left somewhere near the top of the right faceoff circle) in skating at the defender, slamming on the brakes, taking a moment to allow Alzner to continue on his way, then snapping a shot over Jose Theodore’s shoulder to tie the game after Nicklas Backstrom scored a weird goal of his own off a Panther skate and underneath goalie Craig Anderson.

Alzner became the wrong man in the wrong place shortly thereafter when David Steckel tried to…well, we’re not exactly sure what he was trying, but what he did was fire the puck off of the skate of Alzner, who was standing in the slot, and underneath Theodore to give the Panthers a lead they’d never relinquish. Jay Bouwmeester, who might have been in the zone, but it isn’t certain, was credited with the goal. Payback, one supposes, since it was his skate that deflected Backstrom’s intended pass into the Florida net on the Caps’ first goal.

You getting the feeling this wasn’t going to be the Caps’ – or Alzner’s – night?

If that wasn’t bad enough, and let’s face it, it was, the Panthers got their third goal as a product of what looked like a Bryan McCabe shot that ricocheted off of Shaone Morrisonn, who was tied up with Rostislav Olesz in front of Theodore. That’s three goals, two off of Capitals. One might have had the feeling Theodore was going to walk right past the locker room at the intermission and take the elevator up to Dewars on the club level for a double, neat (leave the bottle).

The rest was details, although the Caps did make it interesting after Radek Dvorak gave Florida a 4-1 lead. Two goals in 51 seconds in the last five minutes of the third brought the Caps to within one, but justice was served in the form of an empty net goal for the final margin. Truth be told, the Caps had no business winning this game, and they didn’t.

You could call it injuries, you could call it the law of averages, you could call it fate, but this one is on the defensemen. True, Alzner had a gruesome night of bad circumstances, and Lepisto looked to be running around far too much. But it wasn’t as if Shaone Morrisonn or Milan Jurcina were making anyone forget Rod Langway, either. It was a game that made one pine for John Erskine. Oh, and Caps fans?...You can take your criticism of Jeff Schultz (you know who you are) and shove it where the sun don’t shine and the grass don’t grow. This game was an outstanding object lesson as to how Schultz has developed. Schultz might not hit like a freight train, but he doesn’t make the mistakes nearly as often as what was the case tonight (especially among the young guys) of chasing players and peeking around to find opponents.

The forwards chipped in with their moments of adventure, too. Nicklas Backstrom had an interesting night…six giveaways. The Panthers as a team had seven. A couple of times one might have thought Backstrom was passing to a teammate only he could see, in a manner of speaking. We’re not sure if he answered to the name of “Harvey.” All in all, though, Backstrom had one of the better evenings for the home team.

Michael Nylander looks like a guy trying to dance a waltz when the band is playing swing. It ain’t working.

We thought Eric Fehr would get one tonight, and he didn’t lack for opportunities. Three shots and a couple of others blocked, which isn’t bad for less than 13 minutes of ice time. We still think he’s close.

Alex Ovechkin might be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but trying to leap goaltenders that way just gets you two minutes for goalie interference.

How did Gregory Campbell not get a star? He was all over the Panther score sheet… a goal (ok, it was an empty-netter, but when Crosby scored one the other night, you thought he invented hockey with the way folks went on about it), an assist, plus-3, two shots, two hits, a takeaway, a blocked shot, and he won 11 of 18 draws. All in less than 17 minutes. He had a whale of a night for the Panthers.

OK, the Caps came into this one beat up and played poorly on top of it. I know, you know, the coaching staff knows, even those moonyoks voting a hundred thousand times a day for Habs players know that the Caps are better than this. They will do better. It is not as if this is a systemic problem. It is a loss and the type of game that is correctable, mainly by getting some guys back onto the ice.

If nothing else, it serves to illustrate why it is a guy like Karl Alzner will benefit more from a full year in Hershey than he will getting thrown into the deep end of the pool at this stage of his career. Ditto for Lepisto, who could still benefit from that time up Route 15. And maybe it will silence those folks who look at, say, a two goal night from an Oskar Osala or a three point night from a Francois Bouchard and think they can step in at this level and not miss a beat. Their days – Alzner, Lepisto, and the other Bears – are coming, but they’re not here yet.

The adrenaline the kids might have played with as they stepped into the lineup appears to have burned off, and the rest of the Caps didn’t have their finest moment tonight. This is what happens to a team missing big parts of its offense and defense. The trick is to hold the fort until folks get healthy.

Hockey Brands

Sports Business Journal (subscription required) published the results of a brand index assembled by Turnkey Sports and Entertainment. Fans rated 122 teams on 21 distinct factors, including how fans perceive entertainment value, how well they like the players, perceptions of ownership, and the team's commitment to winning. The study also tested each team on 36 brand attributes. The results in that "top-20" graphic above might strike some as a bit surprising.

Five hockey teams out of the top 20?...Carolina among them?

And three of the top 17 teams coming from Detroit?

17 shopping days

No, not 'til Christmas...'til the trade freeze that begins on December 19th.

Any hot deals you see coming?

And no, Dainius Zubrus for Jan Hrdina does not count.

The Silver Lining

As Tarik El-Bashir points out in this morning's column about the Caps in the Washington Post, there could be seven players sitting out tonight's game who were in the starting lineup on Opening Night, including their top scoring defenseman and the forward who was the team's top scorer when he went down.

That's not good.

If there is a silver lining in this, a part of it was noted by the folks over at OFB a couple of days ago. Having the same system and philosophy being practiced in Washington and Hershey is helpful in situations such as these.

But there is another element here. The call-ups have left Hershey having to scramble a bit to fill their own missing pieces as players are called to Washington. This is perhaps a more normal circumstance for teams in the AHL, where players move up and move on with more regularity than is often the case in the NHL. Coaches have to be adept in rolling with the personnel punches, be they thrown by a rash of injuries or just the normal course of player movement.

It that respect, the Caps are lucker than most teams might be for who they have behind their bench. Bruce Boudreau, who has paced behind many an AHL bench, has no doubt seen this kind of personnel jostling before. As was noted in the article, "Boudreau was attempting [through some of his comments] to bring some levity to a situation that has the potential to become no joking matter." It is no joking matter, but it neither is it entirely foreign to the head coach. The circumstances might be different -- injuries being the cause of the turnover -- but if there is a coach who seems equipped by temperament and experience to deal with it successfully, it would be Boudreau.

Still, it would be nice to see some healthy bodies returning soon.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Panthers, December 2nd

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

Well, folks, it’s happened again. Two years ago, it happened…last year, it happened. And now, it’s reared its ugly head again. No, not Evgeni Malkin, but the annual injury bug. The Caps have a third of their roster out with a variety of ailments to upper and/or lower bodies, and as with our past experiences in this regard, we’ve assembled our crack team of consulting medicos…


Dr. James Kildare…












Dr. Ben Casey…










Dr. Marcus Welby…











Dr. Victor Ehrlich…







Doctors, it is, as always, a pleasure. Like we said, it’s the annual injury bug that’s hit the Caps. Dr. Kildare, let’s start with you…the Caps have lost, by Tarik El-Bashir’s count, 82 man games to injury. To what do you attribute such a spate of injuries?

“Well...uh…that’s a highly complicated issue.”

Complicated by what, Doctor?

“Aw, I don’t know…I usually just pose a lot and let Dr. Gillespie handle the diagnosis.”

Dr. Welby?...Your take on the injury situation?

"It seems to me they’re not getting enough fiber in their diet.”

Doctor, these are sprains and such, not constipation.

“Well, I’m old, and that’s pretty much what we prescribed for everything when I was making house calls…oh, and sulfa.”

Dr. Ehrlich, do you have an explanation for this rash of injuries?

"Excuse me, but I think you have me confused with someone else…"

Dr. Casey, I know you don’t waffle on these sorts of things…what explains all these guys getting injured?

“—sigh—“

I don’t understand…

“—sigh!—“

Oh, you mean that whole “man-woman-birth-death-infinity” thing…

“No, I’m just pissed off about that whole Sidney Crosby first star of the week thing…”

OK, so we won’t find an answer to the Caps injury problems, but we do have the usual prognostications to cover, and that brings us to the Florida Panthers. When it comes to tonight’s guests, there are the usual numbers we look at…



…but there might be one – or rather two – that tell the tale here. The Panthers are 0-6-2 when trailing after one period, 0-9-1 when trailing after two. It is difficult enough for any NHL team to come back from a deficit, but the Panthers are the only NHL team not to have won a game when trailing after two periods. Part of the problem for Florida is that they are dead last in the NHL in goals scored in the third period (12). However, after starting the year 1-6-1 on the road, the Panthers are 3-2-0 in their last five road contests, including a 4-0 shutout of the Rangers on Sunday.

Among the skaters, the Panthers spread their comparatively meager scoring around – 17 skaters have registered a goal – but few inspire much fear. It’s made worse by an injury bug that has infected their locker room just as it has Washington’s. David Booth is the one guy who has been filling the net with some regularity, having scored 12 goals, but he is out for this game with a bad shoulder. Cory Stillman scored five goals in his first seven games, but sustained an injury in a game against Atlanta on November 2nd that was later diagnosed as a concussion. He tried playing through it, but hasn’t dressed since facing Detroit on November 14th.

If those two are out, the offensive burden would normally fall first to Nathan Horton. Trouble is, he was injured in a game last week against New Jersey, suffering a deep cut when a skate cut through his boot and lacerated his ankle.

So, who does that leave? With 23 of the Panthers’ 55 goals likely to be on the shelf for this one (13 of their 29 road goals), Gregory Campbell and Stephen Weiss would be the top goal scorer and point getter, respectively, taking the ice. Campbell has four goals, Weiss 13 points. This is likely to be a very much offense-starved lineup.

You might think it an opportunity for a leader to step up, to stand up and be counted. Jay Bouwmeester had a brutal start, fueling speculation that his contract situation was weighing on him. A start of 0-6-6, -8 in the first 17 games as your team’s best defenseman at both ends will get folks to talking. But in his last six games, he is 2-5-7, +6.

The Panthers will bring something to this game that the Caps do not, and that is scoring from the blue line. Whereas the Panthers are likely to dress only one forward with double digits in points (Weiss), they could bring three defensemen – Bouwmeester, Bryan McCabe, and Keith Ballard – who have at least ten points. It isn’t a lot to hang their hat on, but the Panthers are in a position of having to scratch out goals from just about anywhere at the moment.

It could fall to goalie Craig Anderson to come up with a big game. Coach Pete DeBoer has already announced that Anderson will get his third straight start over Tomas Vokoun in the Tuesday contest. It will be his fourth straight appearance after replacing an ineffective Vokoun in a 3-2 overtime loss against New Jersey after Vokoun allowed two early Devils goals. Since replacing Vokoun, Anderson is 1-0-2, 1.43, .963, with a shutout. He has struggled against the Caps, though, losing all three of his decisions with a 2.68 goals against average and .909 save percentage. Anderson was the Panther goalie of record in the Caps’ playoff-clinching 3-1 win in last season’s regular season finale.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Florida: Rostislav Olesz

For a guy picked seventh overall in 2004, you expect more of an impact than 35 goals and 82 points in 211 games. So far this year, he is only 2-3-5, -4 in 21 games. He hasn’t had a point in his last seven games, hasn’t had a goal in his last 11. It isn’t as if he’s had particular success against the Caps, either (4-4-8, +2 in 20 games). However, two of his goals are game-winners, and the Panthers are in an injury situation that makes his contributions critical for what success Florida might have tonight.

Washington: Eric Fehr

A subtle change has come to Fehr’s game in the last couple of weeks, at least statistically. Only once in his first seven games was Fehr credited with more than one shot on goal. This is not the sort of outcome one would expect of someone with his scoring pedigree. But in his last six games, he has taken a total of 18 shots. While he has connected on only one of them, he’s now apparently looking more for his scoring opportunities (it’s worth noting that in two of the three games in which he’s registered four shots, he’s had a goal). Call it a hunch, but we think he’s going to find the back of the net for his trouble in this one.

These two teams don’t need locker rooms so much as they could use an emergency ward. There are a lot of man-games that will be on the bench for this one – players that would otherwise make a difference. However, the Caps are the deeper team, the more talented one, and the one with the gaudy home record. If the Caps play to their level of skill and offer an honest effort, the Panthers should not challenge in this one.

Caps 4 – Panthers 1

Leaving Bear Tracks on the Leader Boards

Meanwhile, down in Hershey (where the Bears beat up on the Phantoms, 9-0 last night), the rookie scoring leaders are among the league leaders...

And as far as plus-minus goes, it looks like the Hershey roster...

You'd think that for a team with 17 wins in 23 games, the Bears also would be well-represented in the game-winning goal category. However, only Graham Mink cracked the top ten (eighth, with three), which shows that not only are the Bears winning, but they're spreading things around, too.

Nice month, all in all

So…what did we miss?

The Caps won two of three, scoring eight goals, giving up six. They keep doing that over the rest of the season, they finish with 106 points. We suspect most Caps fans will take that.

The Caps lost a road game. That’s four road losses in a row. No team in the East has more road losses in regulation. Only Florida has as many, and the two have at least two more road losses in regulation than any other Eastern Conference team. Keep that up, and the Caps won’t get to 106.

As for the Hershey Bearpitals – Graham Mink, Sami Lepisto, Karl Alzner, and Chris Bourque – it wasn’t a bad weekend…


…but at least one of this group was on the ice for five of the six goals scored against the Caps this weekend (Alzner 3; Lepisto and Bourque, one apiece). That giveaway number is a nasty one, though.

Alexander Ovechkin attemped 49 shots (19 shots on goal, 19 shots blocked, 11 missed shots). He had 63 shifts in the three games. That’s 0.78 shots/shift, which we’re going to guess led the league…probably by a lot. Some might view this as selfishness (Penguin fans, we’re looking at you), but given the state of the Caps’ health, we look at this as stepping up.

Jose Theodore and Brent Johnson stopped 71 of 77 shots in the three games. A combined save percentage of .922 will give the Caps chances to win in more games than not. And that's stepping up, too.

Is the NHL a frontrunner’s kind of league? Only one team (San Jose) has a winning record when trailing after two periods. The Caps have only won twice in eight such situations (they lost to Columbus in the one instance this weekend), but their .250 winning percentage is good for eighth in the league.

No team in the NHL has a worse goal differential on the road than Washington (-15). No team has allowed more power play goals against (17 in 14 games), which goes along with their having endured the most shorthanded situations (81). Their 55 total goals allowed on the road is six more than any other team (Nashville: 49). That’s bad enough, but there is another problem here…only two teams have given up more goals in the third period than Washington (Columbus and the Islanders). Yes, Detroit has given up 25, while the Caps have allowed 27, but the Caps are not Detroit…mainly because the Caps have also given up 27 in the first period, while the Red Wings have allowed only 15.

Here is the odd thing about the Caps’ penalty killing…79.0 percent at home, 79.0 percent on the road. The difference is in that the Caps have been shorthanded only 38 times in ten home games and those 81 times in 14 road games. It’s all part of a piece…sloppy, lack of energy, absence of focus. They have to become a better road team.

We’re not sure what to make of this one…the Caps have the third fewest fighting majors in the league (eight, behind Detroit and Florida). Three of them came in one game (opening night, a 7-4 loss to Atlanta). The Caps are 4-2-0 games when they recorded a fighting major (they lost another when they drew one, when Tyler Sloan drew a major without incurring one of his own in a 2-1 loss at Calgary).

The Caps finished November with an 8-5-2 mark. That is the first time they have finished a November over .500, and it marks their highest win total since getting nine in November in 1996. If you’re wondering about “best November,” that was in 1985-1986 (10-3-1). As for the years since that nine-win effort…



And if you’re looking ahead to December, that is the best month for the Caps in terms of team record-setting, both for wins (12) and points (26), both in 1984.