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.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Thrashers, November 26th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving, when all through the house
Not a pot was yet stirring, not even the mousse;
The dishes were made in the kitchen with care,
In hopes that St. Gibletmas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of stuffing danced in their heads;
And mamma in her apron, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a late autumn nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The wind was rustling the freshly raked leaves,
Raking them again is one of my peeves.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature roasting pan, coming ever so near.

With a plump little turkey, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment they’ll be tasty drumsticks.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he gobbled, and gobbled, and called them by name.

"Now, Butterball! now, Free Range! now, White Meat and Dark!
We’ve got to be quiet, lest the dog bark!
To the top of the counter! Nestled tight in the pan!
I love turkey so, I’m really a fan!"

And then, in a twinkling, I knew in the fridge
Were treats for the morning (could I have just a smidge?)
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Through the kitchen door St. Gibletmas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in feathers, except for his beak,
He was here for a purpose and wouldn’t be meek.
A bundle of side dishes he had on his wing,
They smelled oh, so good, I just wanted to sing.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old bird,
And I laughed when I saw him, I’m just such a nerd;
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 dishes; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his wing aside of his beak,
And giving a nod, to the oven he’d sneak.

He sprang to his pan, to his team gave a gobble,
And they took to the air with nary a wobble.
But I heard him exclaim, as I turned up the heat,
"Happy Thanksgiving to all, hey folks, let’s eat!!!"


While you’re pondering the possibilities of food, football, and fun on Turkey Day, there is the matter of the Caps and the Thrashers as the good guys return from a road trip. Let’s face it, the Thrashers should (and we do want to emphasize “should”) be just the recipe for some tasty home cookin’. This is not a particularly good hockey team, as the numbers suggest:



The Thrashers can, however, pose problems. Smacking the Caps around in a 7-4 opening night win is proof enough of that, although the Caps did wipe out a 3-1 first intermission disadvantage before giving up three goals in the third in the loss.

Since that first game, though, these teams have gone in different directions, and this is no more apparent than how they’ve started games. Since that opening night loss, the Caps have scored 23 first period goals in 20 games. Atlanta, on the other hand, has 13 first period goals in 19 games. But here is the odd part…flip the scenario and well… Atlanta has allowed only 15 goals in the first period since opening night, while the Caps have allowed 22. This suggests that the Caps have to get on top of the Thrashers from the drop of the puck, both as a means to put offensive pressure on the visitors and as a way to keep the Thrashers from taking advantage of early Caps weakness in allowing goals.

That three-goal win was another rarity of sorts for Atlanta. They have only two other three-goal wins this year,both on the road -- at Carolina on November 9th and last night against Toronto. Strangely enough, though, they have not had as many blow-out losses as one might expect. They have a total of only two three-plus-goal losses (7-0 to Philadelphia and 6-1 to New Jersey). The Caps, meanwhile, have five such losses, although of course none of those are at home, where the Caps have not yet lost in regulation.

The other side of the coin is that Atlanta has only two road wins in regulation (the aforementioned win in Carolina and last night’s 6-3 drubbing of Toronto) en route to a 3-5-2 road record.

Individually, the surprise is that Ilya Kovalchuk has only seven goals after 20 games (two in his last eight). At that pace he will end this season with the lowest goal total (29) since his rookie year (also 29, but in only 65 games). But if there is a team he can get back into a groove against, it is Washington. Kovalchuk is 20-25-45, +11, with six power play and three game-winning goals in 38 career games against the Caps.

The points lead is the province of Vyacheslav Kozlov (11-8-19). He’ll be coming in on something of a roll in going 9-6-15 in his last 11 games after a slow start. Kozlov is remarkably efficient as well, having found the back of the net on 33 percent of his shots.

Bryan Little has already surpassed his total scoring numbers from last year (6-10-16 in 48 games). He comes into tonight’s game at 9-9-18, tied with Kovalchuk for second on the team in scoring. Meanwhile, a below-the-radar guy to watch out for might be Jason Williams. Five of his six goals this year have been scored on the road.

On defense, the Thrashers have two noteworthy additions, one of which having at least a semblance of being worthy of the big contract he got as a free agent, the other struggling somewhat. Ron Hainsey signed a big five-year deal in the offseason, and while he has struggled a bit in being on ice for a substantial number of goals (like a lot of Thrashers), he does lead the scoring from the blue line. He had a goal an and assist in the opening night win over the Caps.

On the other side is Mathieu Schneider, although there are signs he’s turning a corner. He recorded one “plus” game in his first 11 as a Thrasher. However, he is plus 4 in his last four games, which is more in line of what was expected when he came to the Thrashers in trade for Ken Klee, Brad Larsen, and Chad Painchaud.

It isn’t immediately clear who will man the nets for the Thrashers. Johan Hedberg got the call last night and got the win in the 6-3 decision over Toronto. The odd part of Hedberg’s performance this year is that he is the only Thrasher goaltender with a winning record (4-3-0) despite having the worst GAA (3.88) and save percentage (.884). It seems hedberg has been around forever and that he’s faced the Caps just about every other game. But he has only ten appearances in his career against Washington, going 6-2-2, 2.66, .911.

If Hedberg doesn’t get the call, it won’t be Kari Lehtonen in his place, Lehtonen being on injured reserve with a bad back. The Thrashers might turn to Ondrej Pavelec. He’s 2-2-0 in five appearances, but has a respectable 2.33 GAA and .913 save percentage. In his only appearance against the Caps, he allowed only one goal in winning the decision.

Here is your odd stat about the Thrashers. They are last – 30th – in the NHL in hits. Frankly, we find that more than a bit surprising.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Atlanta: Todd White

White looks a little like the treasurer of our senior class in high school. It hasn’t stopped him from taxing the Caps. After scoring one goal in his first dozen games against Washington, he has five goals in his last seven contests against the Caps. And last night, he broke a five game scoreless streak with a pair of goals against Toronto.

Washington: Jose Theodore/Brent Johnson

Whoever gets the nod in goal for the Caps, it will be important to keep the net clear to give the Caps a chance to reassert their home dominance and get off the three game losing streak they’re on. The Caps have given up a lot of first minute and/or first shot goals this year. Preventing those sorts of lapses will go a long way to ensuring that the Caps keep their unbeaten-in-regulation streak intact. All of that starts with the goalie. Johnson is 7-3-2, 2.49, .912 with two shutouts against Atlanta in his career, while Theodore is 11-4-0, 2.40, .916 in his career against the Thrashers. Nice numbers…too bad both had their troubles against Atlanta in the opener. It can’t – and shouldn’t – happen again.

The Caps are coming home with a limp. Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Semin, Mike Green, Chris Clark, Boyd Gordon, John Erskine…all are nursing injuries of varying severity. Wes Johnson might be calling for volunteers by the first intermission over the public address system. Even if he doesn’t, though, the Caps still have the horses to beat a team that will be playing the back-half of back-to-back road games. It might not be as pretty as it would otherwise be with a healthy team, but the Caps will find their turkey tasting pretty good on Thursday…

Caps 5 – Thrashers 2

Speaking of turkey, we’ll be off for a few days enjoying the holiday…see you on the weekend.

The REAL Energizer Bunny

Seems the NHL has named an "official battery" of the league in Canada. It's the official battery of the NHLPA, too. As you might expect, Energizer Canada is the official sponsor. Why is this something you might expect?

Well, consider the mascot...

The Enervechkin Bunny....he keeps going and going and going...

Thanks to #1JohnnyFan on The Official for pointing the way.

Scouting Reports: Bouchard on Bouchard

"He's close to the type of player as me, but he's bigger, he's really good in front of the net, too, and he's got a better shot...he's a good goal scorer."

So says Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Minnesota Wild forward, about his brother Francois Bouchard, Hershey Bear (and Capital prospect) forward.

The elder Bouchard added...

"To be honest, I think my brother's better, too."

The tale o' the tape:

...you decide.

A Year in the Life

The Caps now have one full year’s worth of games in the books under Bruce Boudreau, and what an 82-games it has been. This is not a look at Boudreau’s record compared to that of any of his his predecessors. In a sense, it is a “State of the Caps” reflection. And what the Caps have become is a very good team. Here are the particulars over the last 82 games:


The team record is impressive enough, but some of the individual records are amazing. If you look at the Caps that have dressed this year and include the 61 games from last year, their 82-game totals look like this:


Some of the things that stand out…

- Yes, Alex Ovechkin can score, but +40?.

- Despite a slow start this year, Nicklas Backstrom is pretty much a point-a-game player…at 21.

- Mike Green looks more like the top offensive defenseman in the league, and that plus-24 doesn’t look bad, either.

- Tied with Green for third in goal scoring…Brooks Laich. Caps fans have made him something of a cult hero…but, bet there isn’t another fan base in the NHL that could pick him out of a lineup. Let’s keep it that way.

- Tom Poti’s plus-minus would have tied for his best season’s worth in his career.

- All of a sudden, Tomas Fleischmann looks like a contributing NHL player.

- Boyd Gordon and David Steckel – pretty much pigeon-holed as defensive/faceoff specialists – don’t need much of a push to get to being double-digit goal scorers, too.

- 17 players with double-digit point totals is pretty good balance.

- The 3.16 goals-per-game would have led the NHL last year.

- If Alexander Semin is healthy, he looks like a 40-goal kind of scorer.

- Were you thinking of Jeff Schultz as a 20-point defenseman?

- Keep in mind that Michael Nylander and Sergei Fedorov have fewer than half a season’s worth of games here. At their pace, the Caps might have a roster of six 50-point players…seven if Viktor Kozlov had found a spare point somewhere.

A winning streak here or a tough road trip there is one thing, but this is now a body of work. It shows the Caps to be a very good team – a contender, in fact. One might not call them a favorite right now, one need only look at the way they struggled against San Jose to see that. But there are 61 games left in this season to take the same kinds of steps they took last year. Last year, it was moving up from struggling also ran to playoff team. This year, it could be taking the leap from playoff contender to Cup contender. Some tweaking of the roster might be in order to get there (the Caps could use some more grit in their game, for example), but the pieces are largely in place.

A no-point night: Wild 4 - Caps 3

67.2 Minor Penalty – Player - A player shall be permitted to catch the puck out of the air but must immediately place it or knock it down to the ice. If he catches it and skates with it, either to avoid a check or to gain a territorial advantage over his opponent, a minor penalty shall be assessed for “closing his hand on the puck”.

A minor penalty shall be imposed on a player who, while play is in progress, picks up the puck off the ice with his hand.

Every Caps fan watching this evening’s 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild will have this rule memorized by morning. A penalty that doesn’t get called twice in a month was called on the Caps twice in the space of 27 seconds in the third period, and it led to the Wild scoring the third of their four goals en route to the win (Marek Zidlicky was called for this earlier in the game for the Wild).

They were two penalties out of six called on the Caps, five of which were what we might refer to as “passive” penalties – the kind teams playing tired and hurt seem to take (for the record: two holding, a tripping, and the two “closing hand on the puck” calls).

The story in this one, as much as the loss, was the short bench the Caps used. In addition to Mike Green, Alexander Semin, and Sergei Fedorov missing this one, the Caps had four players who skated fewer than ten shifts...

Boyd Gordon lasted five shifts (3:41). He had won five of six draws to that point. He apparently had back spasms.

Jeff Schultz skated three shifts (3:09) before leaving with what appears to be a broken finger. He had a pair of blocked shots.

Donald Brashear was on the ice for nine shifts – not unusual in the normal course of events.

Chris Clark skated eight shifts – only one in the third period (a total of 7:27) – and had a blank score sheet save for one hit. We keep thinking that there just has to be something not right with Clark, but whatever the case, he is having a devil of a time out there in what we suspect is about the most frustrating stretch of his career.

That left things up to Tom Poti to log almost 29 minutes on the blue line and Alex Ovechkin to skate almost 26 minutes. Even Brooks Laich and Milan Jurcina logged more than 20 minutes. For Laich it was only the third time he topped 20 minutes this year, and his 21:03 was the most time he’s spent on the ice so far. For Jurcina, his 21:25 was his top time-on-ice mark this year, 3:36 longer than his previous high.

And with all of that, if there is a silver lining in this one, it is that the Caps didn’t mail the last dozen minutes in the way they could have after the Wild took a 4-0 lead. Did the Wild sit back a bit and play an uncharacteristic prevent defense? Yes, they did. But the Caps took advantage, and one had to like the effort by Eric Fehr to outwork Kim Johnsson for the puck along the boards, Fehr’s effort to ward off Johnsson’s attempts to impede his progress down the wing, and his finding Matt Bradley coming down the middle for a goal. And there was Bradley sticking with it, taking a second whack at the puck while being upended by Nick Schultz in front of goalie Niklas Backstrom.

One also had to like the effort of Alex Ovechkin, despite wearing Wild defenders like a shawl for most of the night. Six shots (16 attempts), a goal, four hits, and three blocked shots (including one scary moment when he took a shot that looked like it hit him flush just above the boot of his skate) made for a very full evening. Frustrating as the Wild could be, he kept plugging.

It set a tone for the Caps in the last dozen minutes that allowed them to get the goal from Ovechkin, who treated the Wild fans to his signature move of skating down the wing, backing up the defenseman, then using him as a screen to snap a wrist shot past the late-reacting goalie. And finally, Nicklas Backstrom corralled a puck that deflected off a Wild player, then fired the puck past the other Backstrom before he could get to the near post.

In the end, though, it was a sour ending to a road trip that is thankfully over. And for this one, yours truly is going to take the blame. That’s right, the Caps lost this one because we picked that clutter-bucker Cal Clutterbuck as the Wild player to ponder. We thought he’d be a player to watch, mostly for his hitting. He didn’t disappoint in that regard, being credited with four hits in a little over ten minutes of ice time. What we didn’t think he’d do is score…and then he gets two goals, his first points in the NHL. Maybe we should have picked Marian Gaborik, instead.

The problem, though, is once more giving up a bunch of goals in a road game. Look, Minnesota has a fine system for keeping goals out of their own net, but they have shown almost no capacity to fill the net at the other end. Coming into this game they had scored as many as four goals in a game once in their previous 15 games. If the Caps could reduce their league worst 4.00 goals-against average on the road, this would be the team against which they could do it. You could say (and the guys on Versus covering the game did) that this was the fourth game for the Caps in six nights, but the Wild isn't a team that should be scoring four goals against the Caps.

The difficulties on the road impress us as a lack of maturity. Consider that the Caps have allowed only 15 goals in eight home games, yet have allowed 52 in 13 road games. What is killing them is taking penalties, and it did so again tonight. With the two power play goals allowed tonight, the Caps have given up a league-high 17 power play goals (tied with Nashville) away from Verizon Center. They’ve only allowed six in eight home games. It just seems as though it’s a reflection of a young team that loses focus, patience, and poise in some situations in hostile rinks, leading them to take untimely penalties, then failing to work things out in the two minutes they spend the man down. Tonight, four of the six minor penalties taken by the Caps were taken by defensemen, and with a group already depleted by the absence of Mike Green, and injuries to Jeff Schultz and later to John Erskine, it was just that much more to overcome.

At the other end, the Wild defensemen were effective at both ends. The last dozen minutes notwithstanding, they helped to constantly frustrate the Caps in entering the offensive zone. At the other end, they had a combined 12 shots and went 1-4-5, +1. The Caps blueliners had a total of four shots on goal and one assist.

We’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. The Caps are going to have to play better on the road than they have. Only four teams in the East have fewer road wins than do the Caps (four), and those teams occupy the bottom four spots in the Eastern Conference standings. And, their inability to stop opponents from scoring in these road games has now left the Caps with the second highest number of goals allowed in the Eastern Conference (only Toronto has allowed more road goals). The good news in this is that the Caps have played 13 road games, compared to eight at Verizon Center. But the Caps aren’t going to go 40-0-1 at home, either (much as we’re likely to prognosticate that result).

This is a good team that will only become a great one when they can be as difficult for opponents to play when they host the Caps as when they visit them at Verizon Center. The Caps are not yet that team. Just as the Caps had to grow in adversity last year to discover that they were a good team, perhaps the next 61 games will be as valuable a learning experience in terms of becoming road warriors.

This was the kind of game that will have us reaching to grab a cold one...

...that is, unless Chris Ciamaga is going to whistle us for closing our hand on a bottle.

And the Streak is Broken

The streak of prospect goalie scoring came to an end after two consecutive games in which Caps goaltending prospects notched a point. Michal Neuvirth could not keep the streak alive on Sunday for the South Carolina Stingrays.

He might have been the only Stingray without a point as South Carolina stomped the Mississippi Sea Wolves, 10-0, in North Charleston. Actually, 12 of the 16 skaters registered points, seven of them having multiple point nights. Maxime Lecroix and Travis Morin led the Stingrays with a 2-3-5, +4, and a 2-2-4, +4, night, respectively.

Neuvirth did get the shutout, though, turning aside all 36 shots he faced.

The Stingrays are now tied with the Florida Everblades for first (21 points) in the South Division of the American Conference.

Wild (and Wacky) Quotes...

We were perusing some of the Wild blogs and stopped at "Russo's Rants," a blog authored by Star-Tribune reporter Michael Russo. His latest had some interesting "Lemaire-isms..."

"You know when you get flurry of snow, you might get a [expletive] storm!"

"We’re getting chances that we should score and we don’t score. Now there’s one thing to do, is work harder. When this happens, it’s work harder. It’s not my grandma, it’s not my girlfriend, it’s me working harder! Period! It’s nothing else.”

"Our second periods have been bad, so we have to wake up there. We’ve got to stop to think that we’re home and we’ve got to play. OK?"

"Now we want to have the nice goals. We get the puck, we want to move outside to get the puck back, to make another play. And if he gets it, the other guy moves outside to get the puck to make another play. How many times we’ll try to move outside to get the puck and make another play? If goals are tough to get, we don’t want to make fancy plays. Go at the net. If we get those plays, you don’t say a word. But now, if we get a chance to shoot, … shoot.”

Any of this sound familiar, Caps fans?

Maybe it wasn't Melrose?

The season's first four-goal game goes to...



That's right, Dainius Zubrus tied a New Jersey Devils team record and set a personal best by scoring four in the Devils' 7-3 win over Tampa Bay today. Today's result puts it in the top ten goal-scoring months of his career.





The post-game Lightning analysis was short and succinct...

Coach Rick Tocchet..."Pretty bad effort...A dud."

Goalie Olaf Kolzig..."I definitely needed to be better" (he gave up five goals on 28 shots...his teammates had really good looks at them)

Martin St. Louis..."We take a huge step back...It's really disappointing." (St. Louis scored his 500th point as a Lightning player in this one)

And this on the day the Lightning debuted their third jerseys. They might want to make an alteration...

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Wild, November 24th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

It’s the last game of a road trip, and it ends in the Twin Cities, where the weather is cold, and the temperature of a Wild game is even colder. But there is nothing that can pump some heat into the Xcel Energy Center like a dose of Ovechkin…

Who can turn the world on with his smile?

Who can take a nothing play, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?

Well it's you boy, and you should know it

With each deke and every little movement you show it

Goals are all around, no need to waste them

You can light the lamp, why don't you take them

You're gonna score goals after all

You're gonna score goals after all

How will you make it on your own?

This season’s awfully long, but this time you're not alone

But it's time you started scoring

It's time you let someone else do some assisting

Goals are all around, no need to waste them

You can light the lamp, why don't you take them

You're gonna score goals after all

You're gonna score goals after all

Folks, go get a dictionary. Now, look up the word, “boring.” You see this, don’t you…

OK, it’s not this year’s team portrait, but you get the point. Minnesota’s game plan is to suck the life out of the building and win games 2-1 in as ugly a manner as can be imagined. They do a very good job of it, as the numbers suggest…

In 18 games, the Wild have allowed more than two goals only five times, only twice in their last ten games. In November they have allowed only four power play goals (34-for-38 on the penalty kill). It isn’t so much that their penalty killing is expert, although it is, as much as it is they don’t have to use it much. No team has faced fewer shorthanded opportunities (70) than has Minnesota. It is even more pronounced at home, where the Wild have found themselves shorthanded only 29 times in nine games (3.22/game). Conversely, the Caps have the fifth highest number of such situations faced so far overall (104) and have been shorthanded 72 times in 12 road games (6.00/game). If there is a silver lining here for the Caps, it is in the perception that the Wild are the New Jersey Devils-lite. Well, the Caps are 3-for-11 against the Devils on the power play so far this year in three games – not many opportunities, but some success.

If the Wild don’t find themselves shorthanded very often, neither do they find themselves often having the man-advantage. They are 28th in total power plays so far (77 in 18 games), although they enjoy somewhat greater frequency on the power play at home (42 in nine games). Meanwhile, the Caps aren’t especially gifted when it comes to earning power plays overall (86 in 20 games – 21st in the league), but they are fifth in total power play opportunities on the road (54 in 12 games).

Individually, the Wild Style (now there's an oxymoron) is reflected most in the numbers put up by their version of Niklas Backstrom. The Helsinki, Finland, native ranks fourth in GAA (2.00) and save percentage (.932) having appeared in 17 of the 18 games the Wild have played. The odd part about Backstrom’s game thus far, though, is that for the first time in his three seasons in the NHL, his home record is worse than his road record. Not that it is bad, mind you -- he is 5-2-1, 2.11, .925 at Xcel Energy Center this year. Of additional note, he has not lost to an Eastern Conference opponent yet in regulation, going 5-0-1, 1.94, .929. In his only appearance against Washington, Backstrom allowed four goals on 26 shots in a 4-1 loss on trading deadline day last February.

If it isn’t Backstrom, it will be Josh Harding, who is 0-1-0 this year in two appearances (1.84, .927). He has never faced Washington.

The Wild are likely to be without Marian Gaborik for the 17th straight game as the forward rehabilitates a “lower body injury” (Gray’s Anatomy, NHL edition…”lower body”…”upper body”…that’s it).

Gaborik’s absence has meant that the offense, such as it is for the Wild, has been by committee. Mikko Koivu leads the team in total scoring (5-13-18, +5), while Antti Miettinen and Andrew Brunette lead the Wild in goal-scoring with six apiece. Brunette has something of a cottage industry in making the team that drafted him (7th round in 1993) pay. He is 8-5-13 in 18 games against the Caps.

If there is an odd aspect to the Wild attack, it is how the defense becomes a force on the power play. The Wild defenseman corps is 9-21-30 overall, but are 6-12-18 on the power play. That is six of the total of 16 power play goals coming from the blue line. There are three Wild defensemen who have had particular success against Washington on the power play. Marc-Andre Bergeron is 2-4-6 in five career games against the Caps, both of the goals coming on power plays. Kim Johnsson is 5-10-15 in 23 career games against Washington with four of those goals coming with the man advantage. Marek Zidlicky (seriously) is 3-1-4 in three career games against the Caps, all three goals coming on the power play.

Speaking of the power play, the Wild don’t have a lot of goals with the man advantage (those 16 rank 18th in the league), but they spread it around. Eight different players have scored at least one (the same number as for the Caps). Clearly, the ability of the Wild to activate their defense in the offensive zone – getting shots on goal and getting points in the process – will be something to watch.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder:

Minnesota: Cal Clutterbuck

Not only does he have perhaps the best hockey name in the NHL, but Clutterbuck is the kind of player that could have Caps’ heads on a swivel. Clutterbuck is sixth among forwards in the NHL in total hits. What sets him apart is that he is doing this in far less ice time than the five forwards ahead of him (5:15 less than Milan Lucic, who has the lowest average ice time of those ahead of him). And, he does this with remarkable discipline. Clutterbuck has only one fighting major penalty this year and two minors. He’s not going to get a lot of time, and he almost certainly won’t score (he has no points this year). But he could be a factor in ways that won’t show up on the score sheet.

Washington: Alex Ovechkin

Sometimes, being the star isn’t fair. With Alexander Semin and Sergei Fedorov likely to be missing once more, the status of Mike Green downgraded to “out” for this game, and (as Tarik El-Bashir reports in The Post) a number of other players nursing nagging ailments, the burden will fall even more heavily on the guy every team game plans for, anyway. But then, that’s why he’s paid the big bucks, too. This is an opportunity for Ovechkin to strike a line through one more team against which he hasn’t scored a goal (having failed to do that against Los Angeles and San Jose) and to help end a losing streak before it gets started. Ovechkin is on a seven-game points streak (6-10-16, +4).

The Caps have never won on Wild ice. They have a total of three goals scored in going 0-3-1. Getting three goals against this team would be something of an achievement, given the style the Wild play, the health of the Caps, and the fact that the Wild have surrendered as many as three goals in a game only once in their last seven home games (a 3-2 loss to Vancouver on November 20th). But, let’s not forget where we are…that score sounds about right:

Caps 3 – Wild 2

Anything you can do...

So, Simeon Varlamov got his first point as a pro on Friday. Well, Daren Machesney apparently views this as a competition. The Hershey netminder recorded an assist -- as with Varlamov's, on the game-winning goal -- as the Bears defeated Bridgeport, 4-1, to regain the top spot in the East Division of the AHL last night. It was Machesney's first point of the year, his fifth as a member of the Bears.

Sami Lepisto had the game winner for the Bears, who added tallies by Keith Aucoin, Oskar Osala, and Graham Mink. Machesney stopped 17 of 18 shots in the win.

A NO-point night: Sharks 7 - Caps 2

…they’ll have their butts handed to them.

Sorry, we were just finishing the thought we started the last time we wrote a wrap-up, as in:

“[A game like that against the Kings] just shouldn’t happen again tomorrow night, because if it does…

And the San Jose Sharks did just that in treating the Caps like chum in a 7-2 win last night. We could talk about numbers and this and that and the other thing, but the one thing that fairly jumped at us was a graphic – the shot chart…


San Jose scored five goals from the doorstep. The Caps barely had five shots from the doorstep. That’s your game. It wasn’t so much that San Jose was willing to pay a price to get themselves into position to score those goals, the Caps simply didn’t offer much in the way of resistance. Brent Johnson, whose GAA (2.26 to 2.79) and save percentage (.928 to .910) took a beating in this game, might have fared better without teammates…fewer bodies to clog his view.

The Caps were guilty of a youthful exuberance…much heat, no light (as is red lights going on). California must have this thing about violence, as in seeing it where it doesn’t exist (like on TV or something). The Caps were credited with 49 hits. That’s a rather amazing number, made more so when you look at it at an individual level…Alex Ovechkin was credited with 10 – one every 2.5 shifts. Chris Clark (five on 16) and Matt Bradley (seven on 19) had about a hit every three shifts. Sergei Fedorov was credited with two in six shifts before retiring for the evening after 4:54 of ice time, an apparent reoccurrence of his ankle injury sitting him down.

Trouble was, none of that alleged physical play was taking place in front of Brent Johnson, where Sharks swam free to deflect point shots and knock in pucks.

Here is a subtle glimpse of the differences between the teams in this game. Defensemen for San Jose attempted 21 shots, 15 of them getting to Johnson. At the other end, Caps defensemen attempted a total of nine shots, only three making it to Sharks’ goalie Brian Boucher. Small wonder that the Sharks’ defensemen were 1-7-8 last night, and the Caps defensemen were 1-1-2. Think the Caps don’t miss Mike Green? The Sharks have multiple copies (though none as prolific as the healthy original).

The Caps were playing their third road game in four nights, the Sharks were resting in their own beds since returning home from a win over Nashville last Sunday. It showed. San Jose took nine minutes to shake out the cobwebs, then scored on their first, third, and fifth shots of the game, all of them from inside the faceoff circles. Game. The rest was for the stat sheet.

We could write about which Caps had good games, but the list would look something like this…

1.
2.
3.

Get the picture? If, though, you’re thinking about Caps who weren’t bad, that list starts with Brent Johnson. How can a guy who gave up seven goals in 28 shots be said to have not had a bad game? With the way San Jose was skating in the slot and Johnson’s face, seven could have been 14. Pucks were changing direction in front of him more than a Caps fan trying to find a meter with time on it ten minutes before the opening face off.

We’re 20 games in, and we’ll have more to say about that another time, but there are some things coming into focus about this team. And nothing is clearer than when they are bad, they are awful. The Caps have lost six games in regulation. In four of those losses they gave up at least five goals (all of them on the road) and lost all of them by at least three goals. In three of those losses, the Caps gave up three goals in the first period. In each instance, we would consider the circumstances an intimidating environment -- opening night in the other guy’s rink (Atlanta, a 7-4 loss), a place where the Caps have had little success (at Buffalo, a 5-0 loss), and a rink where the home team hasn’t lost yet in regulation (San Jose, a 7-2 loss).

That is not a good sign. It suggests that for all the talent on this team, what they are lacking is the swagger that truly good teams have that allows them to go into a hostile rink and eat the other guys’ lunch in front of their fans. If the Caps are going to have long run this spring, they’d better develop that talent. Giving up four goals a game on the road – their mark this morning – isn’t going to end happily.

It won’t get easier for the Caps, as they travel on to Minnesota to end this road trip. They are 1-2-1 this morning on the trip, and a win in Minnesota would not make the trip a success, but it would make things more palatable as the club heads home for Thanksgiving. The Caps and Sharks are similarly skilled teams, but the Sharks imposed their will on the Caps once they got their legs under them. The Wild are similar in that they are all about imposing their will – a suffocating defensive system – on opponents. If the Caps can’t deal with that and turn the tables on the home team…