Mauled by Bears

The Hershey Bears tied an AHL record last night with their 19th straight home victory, a 4-1 win over the Lake Erie Monsters.

The Bears have not lost on Giant Center ice since dropping a 5-4 Gimmick decision on November 28th. Since that time they have mauled opponents mercilessly in 19 games to the tune of 110 goals for, 40 against. And as if to make the point of their home ice dominance more emphatically, 14 of those 19 wins have come by at least three goals. Only four times have they won by a single goal, and each instance they followed it up with a win of at least three goals.

15 times in 19 games the Bears have registered at least five goals in this run, and six times they have scored at least seven goals in a game. On the other side of the ledger, only six times has an opponent scored more than two goals on Giant Center ice, and only once was it done in consecutive games.

12 different teams have visited Giant Center in this run, and all have left defeated. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has been the unfortunate victim of the most losses in this run, losing three times to Hershey (by a combined score of 17-6).

Individually, the roster’s offensive statistics look like the results of a pinball session…

Six players with at least 20 points, five with at least nine goals, 21 different players with goals, 27 with points. The goaltenders have been doing their part, too…



Four goalies have shared in the 19 wins. Only once was a goaltender pulled (Jason Bacashihua, in a 5-4 Hershey win on December 5th).

They go for the record tonight when the Albany River Rats visit Giant Center. Albany is among the victims in this streak, dropping an 8-3 decision to the Bears on January 30th. You would almost think that the last three months at Giant Center would be a subject for a National Geographic documentary – “Bears Gone Wild”

Not "goodbye," we hope... just "until next time"

Over there on the right hand margin of this page, you'll see a question...

"Hate Cancer?"

If you click the link, you will be sent to "Put Cancer On Ice" that in their words is "a grassroots organization comprised of Washington Capitals hockey fans."

That description doesn't tell the half of it. For several years, Gavin Toner, Rob Keaton, and Ben Wilson -- the founders of the group -- have been holding monthly benefit games and the annual "Dave Fay Memorial Classic" game (in honor of the late Dave Fay, legendary sports writer for the Washington Times), auctioning off hockey-related items, and generally doing good works in the cause of fighting cancer under the "Put Cancer On Ice" banner.

Life's responsibilities intervene, though, even with respect to the best of causes, and the banner of "Put Cancer On Ice" is to be furled. But as PCOI goes into hiatus, the body of work that the organization leaves behind -- increasing awareness of this disease, bring hockey players and fans together in common cause, giving hockey fans an oasis in the heat of summer with the annual Dave Fay game, and raising more than $30,000 in the fight against cancer -- is impressive.

With that in mind, and for what it's worth, we'll leave the light on with that link over there in the margin with the hope that we'll see PCOI in the future.

Until next time... thanks Gavin, Rob, and Ben, and all the folks who worked with and supported PCOI for all of your contributions for your help in fighting cancer. You've been an inspiration to the rest of us in the Capitals community.

Area... Uh, Rule 51

Over at Off Wing Opinion, Eric McErlain goes off -- quite properly, in our opinion -- over the matter of the appearance of Team USA goalie Jonathan Quick's goalie mask. Citing a New York Times report on the application of International Olympic Committee Olympic Charter Rule 51 (Advertising, Demonstrations, Propaganda), Quick's helmet was found to be in technical violation of the Rule for the inclusion of the slogan, "Support Our Troops." Such a slogan is, in the eyes of the IOC, political "propaganda" under the Rule, which states:

51 Advertising, Demonstrations, Propaganda

1. The IOC Executive Board determines the principles and conditions under which any form of advertising or other publicity may be authorised.

2. No form of advertising or other publicity shall be allowed in and above the stadia, venues and other competition areas which are considered as part of the Olympic sites. Commercial installations and advertising signs shall not be allowed in the stadia, venues or other sports grounds.

3. No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.

Bye-law to Rule 51

1. No form of publicity or propaganda, commercial or otherwise, may appear on persons,on sportswear, accessories or, more generally, on any article of clothing or equipment whatsoever worn or used by the athletes or other participants in the Olympic Games, except for the identification – as defined in paragraph 8 below – of the manufacturer of the article or equipment concerned, provided that such identification shall not be marked conspicuously for advertising purposes.

1.1 The identification of the manufacturer shall not appear more than once per item of clothing and equipment.

1.2 Equipment: any manufacturer’s identification that is greater than 10% of the surface area of the equipment that is exposed during competition shall be deemed to be marked conspicuously. However, there shall be no manufacturer’s identification greater than 60 cm2.

1.3 Headgear (e.g. hats, helmets, sunglasses, goggles) and gloves: any manufacturer’s identification over 6 cm2 shall be deemed to be marked conspicuously.

1.4 Clothing (e.g. T-shirts, shorts, sweat tops and sweat pants): any manufacturer’s identification which is greater than 20 cm2 shall be deemed to be marked conspicuously.

1.5 Shoes: it is acceptable that there appear the normal distinctive design pattern of the manufacturer. The manufacturer’s name and/or logo may also appear, up to a maximum of 6 cm2, either as part of the normal distinctive design pattern or independent of the normal distinctive design pattern.

1.6 In case of special rules adopted by an International Sports Federation, exceptions to the rules mentioned above may be approved by the IOC Executive Board. Any violation of the provisions of the present clause may result in disqualification or withdrawal of the accreditation of the person concerned. The decisions of the IOC Executive Board regarding this matter shall be final. The numbers worn by competitors may not display publicity of any kind and must bear the Olympic emblem of the OCOG.

2. To be valid, all contracts of the OCOG containing any element whatsoever of advertising, including the right or licence to use the emblem or the mascot of the Olympic Games, must be in conformity with the Olympic Charter and must comply with the instructions given by the IOC Executive Board. The same shall apply to contracts relating to the timing equipment, the scoreboards, and to the injection of any identification signal in television programmes. Breaches of these regulations come under the authority of the IOC Executive Board.

3. Any mascot created for the Olympic Games shall be considered to be an Olympic emblem, the design of which must be submitted by the OCOG to the IOC Executive Board for its approval. Such mascot may not be used for commercial purposes in the country of an NOC without the latter’s prior written approval.

4. The OCOG shall ensure the protection of the property of the emblem and the mascot of the Olympic Games for the benefit of the IOC, both nationally and internationally. However, the OCOG alone and, after the OCOG has been wound up, the NOC of the host country, may exploit such emblem and mascot, as well as other marks, designs, badges, posters, objects and documents connected with the Olympic Games during their preparation, during their holding and during a period terminating not later than the end of the calendar year during which such Olympic Games are held. Upon the expiry of this period, all rights in or relating to such emblem, mascot and other marks, designs, badges, posters, objects and documents shall thereafter belong entirely to the IOC. The OCOG and/or the NOC, as the case may be and to the extent necessary, shall act as trustees (in a fiduciary capacity) for the sole benefit of the IOC in this respect.

5. The provisions of this bye-law also apply, mutatis mutandis, to all contracts signed by the organising committee of a Session or an Olympic Congress.

6. The uniforms of the competitors and of all persons holding an official position may include the flag or Olympic emblem of their NOC or, with the consent of the OCOG, the OCOG Olympic emblem. The IF officials may wear the uniform and the emblem of their federations.

7. The identification on all technical gear, installations and other apparatus, which are neither worn nor used by athletes or other participants at the Olympic Games, including timing equipment and scoreboards, may on no account be larger than 1/10th of the height of the equipment, installation or apparatus in question, and shall not be greater than 10 centimetres high.

8. The word “identification” means the normal display of the name, designation, trademark, logo or any other distinctive sign of the manufacturer of the item, appearing not more than once per item.

9. The OCOG, all participants and all other persons accredited at the Olympic Games and all other persons or parties concerned shall comply with the manuals, guides, or guidelines, and all other instructions of the IOC Executive Board, in respect of all matters subject to Rule 51 and this Bye-law.

Did you get all that?

Team USA goalie Ryan Miller was similarly found in violation for his "Miller Time" scrawl on the back of his helmet. Miller agreed to removing the phrase, insofar as it could be interpreted as a take on the brewing company slogan (advertising also being a no-no). Miller seemed inclined to draw the line at removing the phrase "Matt Man" from his helmet, a tribute to his cousin, Matt Schoals, who died in 2007 from complications from a bone marrow procedure after fighting leukemia.

If the National Football League is the "No Fun League" when it comes to the slightest indiscretion with respect to the uniform the players wear, the IOC has upped the ante. Frankly, we think they've lost what little minds they have. We're guessing that this sort of goalie mask would be frowned upon...


Call it a hunch.

Road Trip

We had the pleasure of watching the Hershey Bears in action this past weekend as they descended upon Mohegan Sun Arena to take on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The result was not a happy one, as the Bears took it in the teeth in a 5-0 whitewashing. We have to consider ourselves the "bad luck" charm in that the Bears went into the game having won 23 of 24 games.

It certainly was an odd game, especially in the first period. The Penguins' first goal came when Chris Conner sent a shot at Bears goalie Braden Holtby. The puck popped over Holtby's shoulder and dropped behind him in the blue paint. Before he could find it or a Bear could sweep it away, Wyatt Smith pounded it into the back of the net to open the scoring for the Penguins.

If the first goal was odd, the second was positively bizarre. On a Penguin power play, Luca Caputi sent a shot to the net from the point. The puck hit the crossbar and popped up, whereupon Eric Tangradi used his hand to drop the puck to the ice. Dustin Jeffrey then snapped it into the net.

See a problem here?

Well, the referee didn't, not only signalling a goal on what was a hand-pass, but then explaining it to the Hershey bench (complete with hand signals).

The Penguins scored a third goal on a horrible Bears turnover in the defensive zone. Conner collected the puck and skated across the top of the crease, waiting until Holtby committed to the ice before he rifled the puck into the net to give the Pens a 3-0 first intermission lead.

The Bears came out much better in the second, but they didn't reap any rewards for the effort. In fact, they allowed what was a back-breaker of a goal in the last ten seconds of the period as Jesse Boulerice, who was in the penalty box for hooking, exited the box when the penalty expired and skated in with Conner on a 2-on-1 that he converted off a Conner feed. Tangradi closed the scoring with a goal mid-way through the third, and the only suspense was whether Brad Thiessen would get his first AHL shutout. He did, turning away all 29 shots he faced to send the Penguin fans home happy.

Other stuff...

-- Thiessen got the shutout, but he was rarely tested. The Bears had almost no second chances, and certainly none from in close. Thiessen got good looks at the puck and wasn't crowded very often.

-- The Penguins played a simple game of keeping the Bears to the outside and along the boards. There were almost no cross-ice opportunities that could have gotten Thiessen out of position.

-- Holtby was not especially sharp, although not as bad as allowing five goals would suggest. His team let him down on a couple of occasions, but there were more loose pucks lying around than one would usually think normal.

-- It was a rougher game than "only" two fights would suggest, what one would expect from teams so close together that play one another often.

-- We were impressed with Chris Conner for the Penguins, and not just for his 1-2-3, plus-3 night. He hustled on every shift, and the puck seemed to find him.

-- We were also impressed with Mathieu Perreault for the Bears, mostly for his utter fearlessness. For a guy who might actually be as big as his listed 5'8", 166 pounds, he was not shy about going after pucks in traffic.

-- The Bears were missing three of their top nine point-getters (Alexandre Giroux, Chris Bourque, and John Carlson), but the guys who were there didn't have an especially good game offensively. Keith Aucoin was held to one shot on goal, as was Perreault. Defenseman Bryan Helmer led the Bears with four shots, an indicator of the lack of second chances.

As a fan, you think a run like the one the Bears have been on isn't ever going to end or have any bumps along the way. Well, Saturday night was a bump. The Bears seemed to recover, beating Lowell last night to resume their winning ways. So, maybe there is something to our being the "bad luck" charm.

Some pics from the proceedings...

A Last Look At Some Numbers in The Streak

And so, "The Streak" is history, but what a ride that was. And the Caps put up numbers that would tilt a pinball machine in the process. Below are the numbers for those who participated in the 14-0-1 run and how they project to an 82-game pace.



The goalies had their fun, too...


But like we said, it's history. Maybe the break will give some folks time to savor what they've done, but there are still 21 games left in the regular season and who knows how many beyond.

Still...what a ride.



(Programming note: We will be away for the next few days; we'll see you again on Monday)

A NO-point night: Senators 6 - Capitals 5

OK, now it’s over.

The Caps lost a game in regulation for the first time in almost a month, dropping a 6-5 decision to the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa. Although the game appeared exciting and close, this one had “loss” all over it almost from the drop of the puck. The Senators scored three first-period goals, gave up the lead, then took it back for good in the third period, while the Caps enjoyed a hat trick – their third consecutive game with one after not having one all year – from Alexander Semin and a rare goal from Jeff Schultz.

But the story was defense, or more precisely, the utter absence of it. There were some oddities at the other end of the rink, too. It’s hard to know where to start…

-- Semyon Varlamov allowed six goals on 28 shots (.786 save percentage), and despite a couple of very nice saves looked very much the goalie who hadn’t seen any NHL action in two months.

-- Tomas Fleischmann was something of a rabbit’s foot for the Senators; he was on the ice for four even strength Senator goals. He also lost nine of 11 draws (including all of five in the ends of the ice). He didn’t take a draw in the last 22 minutes of the game. We’ll see whether this center experiment carries over after the Olympic break.

-- Alex Ovechkin had nine shot attempts for the game. That isn’t out of the ordinary. That he would get only one shot on goal is. Eight shots were blocked. Six of those were blocked by Anton Volchenkov. The Caps had five blocked shots for the game. Volchenkov deserved his first star of the contest.

-- Sometimes, you watch Alexander Semin and think he could be the premier offensive talent in the game. He had eight shot attempts, four shots on goal, and two goals in the second period alone, the goals coming 42 seconds apart, and he could have had a goal seconds before his second goal of the period on a nice move and quick snapper on goalie Brian Elliott. As for the first and third periods, let’s just not talk about that.

-- If you counted all of Ottawa’s shot attempts, it would still have been a brutal night for Varlamov – six goals on 40 attempts works out to a .850 save percentage.

-- Two of those goals came on power plays. Ottawa had two power plays for the evening. In February the Caps are 11-for-19 in road penalty killing. Think 57.9 percent is going to do it down the road? Didn’t think so.

-- First time in franchise history (amazing how often that phrase gets used these days) the Caps had a hat trick in three consecutive games. Of course, going 1-1-1 in those games sort of takes the luster off of that accomplishment.

-- You could say that having Chris Bourque, Tyler Sloan, and Karl Alzner in the lineup made for a less-than-optimal group of skaters. At least one of them was on the ice for three of the six goals. Alzner actually had a decent game. He was on the ice for Ottawa’s first goal, but the Senators couldn’t get any while he was on the ice thereafter.

-- Brendan Morrison had a pretty quiet game – one shot attempt, one hit, and an assist. He did win 12 of 21 draws. But he finished a plus-4. That would be his getting a close-up view of the Semin hat trick and the Schultz lightning bolt.

-- The Caps are 4-1-1 for the month of February, but giving up 4.0 goals a game and a save percentage of .894 is disturbing.

-- We’ll live a long time before we say, “hey, let’s have more of that Sloan-Erskine pairing.” They were on the ice for the goal in the last two minutes of the second period to tie the game at four apiece. Then they were on the ice for the goal in the first 150 seconds of the third period to give the Senators the lead for the last time.

-- Right now, the Caps have the top four players in the NHL in plus-minus: Alex Ovechkin (+43), Jeff Schultz (+38), Nicklas Backstrom (+33), and Mike Green (+28). Backstrom didn’t get a point tonight, but he has climbed into a tie for third in overall scoring (26-49-75).

-- This game will give ammunition to anyone who thinks the Caps: a) need a defenseman, b) specifically need Anton Volchenkov, c) have neither the goaltending, nor the defense to really make noise in the playoffs, d) think the Fleischmann-as-center experiment has run its course, e) need to distribute antacids to fans watching Alexander Semin over 60 minutes, and f) look better in their road white uniforms than they do in the home reds.

But it’s also possible to make too much of this. The Caps were missing Jason Chimera, Tom Poti, and Shaone Morrisonn. They were backstopped by a goalie who hadn’t seen an NHL shot in more than two months. It was the back end of a back-to-back on the road. They just had a long winning streak snapped. Tonight was the perfect storm of circumstances that conspired against the Caps. And still they made a one-goal game of it. It doesn’t excuse some flat out poor play that would be poor play under any circumstances, but this shouldn’t be seen as the onset of doom that we suspect a substantial number of Caps fans will see from the result.

Still, we couldn’t say it any better than the coach… “"It was an ugly display. I thought our defense was horrible and our goaltending was horrible…Their goalie wasn't any good, either. They just got more shots, so they scored the extra goal." A few days ago, words were being written that the Olympic break was coming at the worst time for this team. Now, it seems as if it can’t get here fast enough.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Senators, February 11th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

It’s "The Day After" here at Peerless Central, and it feels like someone splashed a bottle of bad after shave on a shaving cut. It stings… and it stinks, too, that the Caps have seen their winning streak come to an end. But no time to dwell on that; it’s time to apply a styptic pencil to the cut and stop the bleeding. That comes in the form of a game tonight in Ottawa against the Senators, a team that saw its own 11-game winning streak end last Saturday against the hated Toronto Maple Leafs.

These are two teams that are, if not at the absolute peak of their respective games, then certainly in walking distance of it. These are two teams that will collide on the ice tonight like a pair of heavyweights, and we have a real heavyweight to help us with today’s take… The Champ, himself, George Foreman. George, thanks for stopping by…

“Glad to be here… can I grill you up something?”

No, I’m fine. Champ, these two teams are hot right now. Do you see any advantage?

“Well, let’s go to the tale of the tape for their respective hot streaks…



“You got the puncher and the counterpuncher, the bacon and the cheese on a hamburger, which tastes great off my grill…”

No doubt, but do you see an advantage for one or the other here?

“Well, the Caps’ offense has been really juicy these last four weeks, like a nice steak off my PowerGrill Grill.”

Juicy wouldn’t have been an adjective I would use, but it seems to work…

“Just like my G4 Next Grilleration grill that seals in the juices.”

But about the hockey game… The Caps have been led by Alex Ovechkin in goals during the streak (15), assists (17), points (32), plus-minus (plus-19). He’s been a jack-of-all trades as captain…

“A lot like my new 360 grill that grills, bakes, griddles, makes omelets, quesadillas, pizzas, pancakes…”

We get the point.

“Chops, steaks, burgers, seafood, vegetables… heck, I gotta go. I’m hungry!”

While the champ tests his new products, we have to say that this really is something of a prize fight kind of matchup, as those numbers above suggest. The Caps are the big puncher, capable of delivering a knockout blow early (as against the Maple Leafs and Islanders in this streak) or late (as against the Penguins twice and the Rangers).

On the other hand, the Senators have been the counterpuncher, taking a team’s best shot and not getting tagged, then winning by being opportunistic. The Caps have scored more than four goals nine times in their 14-0-1 run, the Senators have allowed more than four only once in their 12-1 run.

On the other hand, the Caps have allowed goals in this streak – four times more than three goals (including three of the last four games) – while the Senators have not had a lot of success in getting goals (five times with four or more goals in 13 games).

For Ottawa it starts in goal with a player who seems to have made a pact with the Devil. Brian Elliott is 10-1-0 in this Senator run, with a 1.59 GAA and a .948 save percentage. Only once in these last 11 games on his record has Elliott allowed more than two goals, and that was when he allowed four in 40 minutes in a 5-0 loss to Toronto, the only blemish on his and the Senators’ record since January 12th. Rather than be good, he’s been fortunate against the Caps. In three career games he is 2-0-0, 3.78, .880. That includes getting the win in a 4-3 overtime win against Washington on November 23rd.

Jason Spezza returned from a torn MCL on January 23rd against Boston. He’s been making up for lost time ever since. In eight games since his return he has goals in seven of them (8-2-10 overall), including three game-winners. Spezza is 6-13-19 in 21 career games against the Caps.

Daniel Alfredsson seems bent on making up for lost time, too. He returned to the lineup on January 16th against Montreal after suffering a shoulder injury. In 12 games since his return he is 7-9-16 with a pair of game-winning goals of his own. He’s been something of a Cap-killer in his career with a 31-24-55 points mark in 48 career games.

Alex Kovalev had been having a strange, struggling season with Ottawa until this run got started. Through January 3rd, Kovalev had a total of 11 goals in 39 games. But three of those came in a 4-2 win over Carolina on December 12th, and four of them came in a 7-4 win over Philadelphia on January 3rd. Other than that, there was a whole lot of nothing on Kovalev’s goal scoring resume this year. But since this 12-1-0 run started on January 14th, Kovalev is 4-8-12 and, yes, has a game-winner on his score sheet. In 60 career games against Washington, Kovalev is 17-29-46.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Ottawa: Mike Fisher

Fisher has had success against the Caps in his career – 9-8-17 in 26 career games. He is 4-7-11 in the 13-game Ottawa run, including a game-winning goal against Montreal on Janauary 30th. He is without points in his last two games, though, and one might expect that Fisher will have to show up on the score sheet somewhere in this game for Ottawa to have enough offense to deal with the Caps.

Washington: Mike Green

Andy Tardy is something of the lost Capital in all the good fortune lately. Since December 18th, when he was held without a point in his second consecutive game, he has points in 18 of 21 games (8-16-24), including points in five straight. He is also a plus-16 over those 21 games. Against Ottawa he has had some success – 5-11-16 in 15 career games.

Keys:

1. It’s over, but it ain’t over. OK, the streak is over. The easiest thing in the world for someone not in the room to say is, “let it go, focus on this game.” But that’s really the trick here, isn’t it. Remember, Ottawa won in its next game out (a 3-2 win over Calgary) after their 11-game winning streak was ended.

2. Formula 1. No, not the racing tour, the formula for winning. Depending on comebacks from third period deficits isn’t a long-term recipe for success, even if the Caps parlayed it into wins late in the streak. The Caps are still – by a wide margin – the top scoring team in the first period this year. This is the formula to which they must return.

3. Balance. There are some gaudy numbers among the Young Guns in the streak, but part of the reason for success was getting contributions from down the roster. Brooks Laich had six goals during the streak (not including the hat trick he had last night in the overtime loss). Eric Fehr had four goals. Jason Chimera had three goals. Tom Poti had a pair from the blue line. Getting that balance will keep the wins coming.

In the end, the Caps can’t forget that they are still in the midst of a 15-game points-earned streak. And they will have the attention tonight of a team that is also at the top of their game (or at least within walking distance of it). There is still business to take care of, and a hallmark of a good team is doing precisely that, taking care of business.

Caps 3 – Senators 1

A ONE-point night -- Canadiens 6 - Caps 5 (OT)

Well, it didn’t go with a whimper.

The Washington Capitals did not extend their franchise best winning streak to an NHL second best all-time 15 in a row last night, dropping a 6-5 overtime decision to the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre.

It was an odd game that saw goals scored in the first minute of each of the three periods of regulation and goals scored in the last 65 seconds of each of the last two periods, including the game-tying goal with 19 seconds left in regulation, that authored by Brooks Laich of the Caps, completing what was for him a hat trick.

Sometimes, you can see the recipe for how a streak is going to end well in advance of it actually happening, and the end of this streak really had its roots in Game 12 of the streak, one that the Caps would win 6-5 over the New York Rangers. In that one, the Caps fell behind early, had a brutal second period, and eventually found themselves with a 5-3 deficit to overcome before winning. They repeated the formula against the Penguins two games later, falling behind early and struggling in the second period in falling behind 4-1 before coming back for an overtime win. Tonight the Caps fell behind early, had a ghastly second period (four goals allowed) and faced a 5-2 deficit at the second intermission before storming back to salvage a point.

Fortunately, the Caps do not have the luxury of engaging in coulda-woulda-shoulda navel gazing, what with a game in Ottawa tonight. Good thing, to because there is a lot you could coulda-woulda-shoulda about…

-- Like the no-goal called on Alex Ovechkin on a goal-mouth scramble. It was the correct call, even with the entertainment value of seeing Ovechkin steamroll a 6’7”, 250 pound player. Ovechkin barreled over Hal Gill, koncking him into the goaltender, without playing the puck in the crease, and that’s the standard for that play – whether he was playing the puck. He wasn’t, and the goal was disallowed.

-- Michal Neuvirth went out with what was termed a “minor injury” 5:40 into the second period, leaving it to Jose Theodore to come in cold, and the icicles showed as Theodore allowed three goals on 12 shots in the period as the Caps fell behind, 5-2. That might seem unfair to Theodore, and in a way it is. He was absolutely superb in the third period, once more giving his team a chance to get back into the game.

-- As a group, the defense had a pretty rough game. Mike Green salvaged a result by activating so much on the offensive end (12 shot attempts, three shots on goal, a goal, and an assist), but the group seemed to struggle in their own end with coverages and finding loose pucks.

-- When there is the familiarity of stable lines over a long period, as was the case for the Caps through much of this streak, even the smallest tremor could have at least short term effects. You could say (and you’d be right) that these guys should be familiar with each other, but the absence of Jason Chimera seemed to have just enough of an effect on the bottom half of the forward lines to be unsettling. The third and fourth lines were a combined 0-0-0, minus-1, with seven shots on goal. Not the balance we saw earlier in the streak.

-- The hat trick by Brooks Laich masked the fact that the other two thirds of the second line had a pretty grim game. This will not be one that Tomas Fleischmann or Alexander Semin will want to put in the archives for future viewing. Flesichmann was abused in the circle (lost 11 of 14 draws) and was a minus-2. Semin just never seemed to find a rhythm, even with seven shot attempts. Both were on the ice for the overtime game-winner.

-- Regarding Fleischmann, there is a point when an “experiment” becomes “regular position,” and we’re getting to a point where it’s going to be time to evaluate Fleischmann in the cold light of reality as a center. In his last 17 games he has won a majority of his draws only four times (none in the last four games) and looks somewhat overmatched. He has fine puck skills, but is he going to be a presence in the middle when the going gets tough, or is that second line going to look more like a basketball “three guard” offense?

-- The lasting visual for Hal Gill will be getting bowled over by Alex Ovechkin in his own crease, but don’t forget that he had 11 blocked shots, too (the Caps as a team had 15).

-- The Scott Gomez goal at the 36 second mark of the first period was the first time all season that the Caps allowed a goal in the first minute of a period.

-- The Tom Pyatt goal at the 41 second mark of the second period was the second time the Caps allowed a goal in the first minute of a period this season. If you’re going to break a streak, then break the damned thing.

-- In their last nine games the Canadiens have been shut out twice and scored at least five goals three times.

-- For the first line to get 16 shots on goal and not put one in the back of the net… the streak probably doesn’t end without that result.

-- That’s eight games and counting for points for Alex Ovechkin (17 of 18 games), nine straight for Nicklas Backstrom (16 of 18), five straight for Mike Knuble (11 of 14).

-- Caps won only five of 20 draws in the defensive zone. Yes, Nicklas Backstrom won 17 of 32 overall, but he was 10-for-14 in the neutral zone. In the ends he was 7-for-18.

-- Brendan Morrison is struggling. That’s not exactly news. No goals, no assists, one shot on goal (two attempts), two minor penalties. He is now 1-6-7 in his last 23 games, 0-1-1 in his last eight.

The good in this is that the Caps once more showed the resiliency to come back from a big deficit (three goals at the second intermission). On the other hand, there was enough coulda-woulda-shoulda in a one-goal overtime loss to play with their minds (like, "why couldn't we last another eight seconds to get to a shootout?"). They get right back on the ice tonight against Ottawa, a team that has won 12 of 13 games itself. That’s a good thing. And the loss – difficult as it is to stomach for players, coaches, and fans – perhaps has the benefit of focusing attention on the bigger task that lies down the road. Now is a time to rid oneself of the sort of bad habits that have been creeping into the Caps’ game for the past several and that ultimately cost them their streak.

Anatomy of a Programming Decision

On February 21, 2010, the United States and Canada will take the ice in each team’s last game in the Group A preliminary round in men's ice hockey at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The National Broadcasting Company, once the official television home of major league baseball, the Rose Bowl, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the NBA, and NASCAR, has decided that the ultimate game in the preliminary round of men’s ice hockey involving Team USA and Team Canada will have to be moved to MSNBC to make room for…

Ice Dancing.

In the words of Lewis Black, “I will repeat that.” The National Broadcasting Company, once the official television home of major league baseball, the Rose Bowl, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the NBA, and NASCAR, has decided that the ultimate game in the preliminary round of men’s ice hockey involving Team USA and Team Canada will have to be moved to MSNBC to make room for…

Ice Dancing.

And not even the medal performances for ice dancing, either. It will be a telecast of the “original dance” portion of the competition, the second of three components (“compulsory” and “free” dance being the others, for those following along).

Hockey isn’t even being pre-empted for figure “skating” or speed “skating,” but rather their little brother of the species. The one you wouldn’t pick if you were choosing sides for a game. We wondered just how such a thing could happen, how such a network with a proud history of big time sports coverage could come to this. Well, we found out about the corporate meeting to be held to talk about how the Games would be covered, and we scribbled some notes down as we were hiding in a closet just off the conference room…

NBC Muckety Muck: “OK, ladies and gentlemen, we have a schedule to finish up here, so get away from the free booze for five minutes and let’s finish this.”

Other executives: -grumble grumble grumble-

MM: “OK, we’re up to February 21st. We have a choice to make here… we have Ice Dancing.”

Effete Network Snob: “Oh, yes, we have to have this as our feature event. The Olympics are about striving and art and…”

Cigar-Chomping Old, Old Timer: “sequins”

Loud, Obnoxious, Uncommonly Demonstrative Guy: “SLAH-lom… we need more SLAH-lom”

ENS: “You always say that.”

LOUD Guy: “’cuz it’s always TRUE.”

COOT: “Yeah, we can get the NASCAR crowd…you know, the ones who only watch for the crashes?”

MM: “Brilliant!...Slalom it is. But that won’t fill up our entire time slot there. We still need to fill the slot.”

Village Idiot: “Maybe we could have Jay do a half hour there.”

MM: “Get that guy outta here…”

ENS: “You can’t do better than Ice Dancing… it’s like ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ only, well… colder.”

COOT: “On a different network, bub…”

ENS: “One that’s doing better than ours, in case you haven’t noticed”

COOT: “Cable access channels in Peoria are doing better than us.”

LOUD Guy: “That’s ‘cuz we need more SLAH-lom…”

MM: “OK, that’s enough. We’re not getting anywhere with this. We have ice dancing and hockey… let’s run down the pros and cons…”

COOT: “Hockey will bring in the fight crowd…”

ENS: “No one watches that barbarism anymore…”

LOUD Guy: “Yeah, and besides, nobody FIGHTS in Olympic hockey.”

ENS: “But ice dancing is wholesome, uplifting entertainment.”

LOUD Guy: “Yeah, but it’s not SPORT!”

COOT: “Got a point there…it’s like American Idol on skates.”

ENS: “Different network…”

LOUD Guy: “ANOTHER network doing better than us...”

MM: "Look folks, we need to fill this time slot, and we’re not going to do it with slalom and ads for ‘The Biggest Loser’”

LOUD Guy: “I LOVE that show!”

ENS: “You and six other people in America…”

MM: “OK, let’s go around the room one last time…”

ENS: “Ice dancing”

COOT: “Hockey”

LOUD Guy: “MORE SLAH-lom!”

MM: “This is the toughest decision I've ever had to make... but I get paid 1.2 million dollars to make these kind of decisions...so here it is…

…ice dancing. I’ve always hated that Bettman guy.”

Other execs: “OK, can we go back to the free booze NOW?!”

Blogstronauts!

Verizon Center has been home to its share of fans who have displayed unique approaches to getting the fans involved in Caps games. We’ve had horns and cowbells. We’ve had booming voices and rave lights. This year, we saw the debut of “Capstronaut.” And Capstronaut got me thinking about…

Bloggers.

Rewind back to the 1960’s. Well, back to 1959, to be precise. A new government agency – the National Aeronautics and Space Administration – was charged with putting a man into space. And to that end they administered a lengthy selection process to select seven “astronauts” to be the first wave of pioneers to leave the earth wearing the red, white, and blue on the sleeve of their spacesuits.

As the “Original Seven” became the names associated with the Mercury manned space program, NASA had to recruit men to serve in the next phase of manned space flight, and hence, “The Next Nine” were born in 1962. They would be followed by “The Fourteen” in 1963, selected primarily to serve the lunar missions that would come later that decade.

You can almost see that sort of “generational” effect growing up around the Capitals blogging community. We started our own scribbles back in July 2005, and (he said with all humility) you might think of that “era” of Caps blogging as the Mercury program era. There were a few blogs out there – the pioneers like Off Wing Opinion (with blogs dating back to 2002), On Frozen Blog, and Japers Rink (think of them as the Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper, and John Glenn of the Mercury phase, while we might be more the “Scott Carpenter”).

But quite a community has grown up to fill Caps fans’ growing need for information – numbers, features, in-game reports, previews, recaps, pictures, interviews, videos, even translations (given the European influence on the roster). We had more blogs take up the “mission,” so to speak – Puckhead’s Thoughts, A View from the Cheap Seats, Homer McFanboy, and others in 2005-2007 (at least I can find archived entries going back that far)…

Then another wave, the Capitals Kremlin, Capitals News Network, Musings of a Hockey Mom, and others in 2008. And more have grown up as the months and years pass.

Like those early pioneers in NASA, some of those early bloggers went on to do other things and find their voice in other places. Some joined the SB Nation community, others the Bloguin community, others left blogging to pursue other paths. But on this morning, when we’re cooped up and looking out on the woods behind us with snow in the air, giving us the chance to read all that we have to pick from in the Caps blog list, we were just thinking of how this has unfolded so quickly over the past five years.

Oh, and you might wonder why we haven’t mentioned the Blogger in Chief here. Well, we were thinking about that, too. Ted Leonsis predates all of us, I guess, in a way similar to those astronaut classes we mentioned. Seems that before there was a NASA, before there was a “Mercury” program, and before there were the “Original Seven,” there was a group of men chosen in 1957, called the “Man in Space Soonest” Group. While all of them were distinguished test pilots in the American military, it was left to one of that group to distinguish himself in the field of space flight –

Neil Armstrong. You might have heard of him.


(We apologize if your blog was not mentioned here. No disrespect was intended, and we recognize that all who make up this community of Caps fans sharing their observations of the team comprise probably the most comprehensive and most sophisticated community of its type in the NHL)

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Canadiens, February 10th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

The Washington Capitals take their fun ride on the road this week for three games heading into the Olympic break, the first stop being in Montreal to face the Canadiens at Bell Centre. The Caps begin the week as the top team in the Southeast Division, the top team in the Eastern Conference, the top team in the National Hockey League, and the top rated NHL team in several hockey publications and media…

“Y’know, if you have some computer geek workin’ fer ya, there wouldn’t be any need for any o’ that playoff nonsense. You could just go to the champeenship game like they do in real man sports like college football.”

And you are…

“Bobby… Bobby Peegsken.”

You sound like a football guy.

“Sure am… I am the Eggseckitive Dy-rector of the NC-Two-A Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Office of Information.”

In other words, you’re the BCS BS guy.

“Why do folks always say that?”

So, you think we should just dispense with the playoffs and go right to a “SCCS?”

“A Stanley Cup Championship Series, yeah… Think about it. None of that pesky travel. No waiting until June to get a champ…”

We already wait until June to get a college football champ.

“Funny… but anyway, the Caps wouldn’t have to worry about playing the Penguins in a playoff round. They could just go right to the championship game against the Sharks.”

And how do you folks figure these things out, anyway?

“OK, here’s how it works…

The top two teams in the final SCCS Standings shall play in the NHL Championship Series.

The champions of the Northeast, Atlantic, Central, Northwest, and Pacific Divisions will have automatic berths in one of the participating Stanley “Bowls” – get it?...Stanley ‘Bowls?’

The champion of the Southeast Conference gets an automatic berth in an SCCS ‘bowl’ game if either: a) Such team is ranked in the top 12 of the final SCCS Standings, or, b) such team is ranked in the top 16 of the final SCCS Standings and its ranking in the final SCCS Standings is higher than that of a champion of a conference that has an annual automatic berth in one of the SCCS bowls.

No more than one such team from the Southeast Division shall earn an automatic berth in any year. (Note: a second team may be eligible for at-large eligibility as noted below.) If two or more teams from the Southeast satisfy the provisions for an automatic berth, then the team with the highest finish in the final SCCS Standings will receive the automatic berth, and the remaining team or teams will be considered for at-large selection if it meets the criteria.

Notre Dame will have an automatic berth if it is in the top eight of the final SCCS Standings.”

But Notre Dame is an NCAA team.

“And your point is?... As I was saying, if any of the 10 slots remain open after application of provisions 1 through 4, and an at-large team from a division with an annual automatic berth for its champion is ranked No. 3 in the final SCCS Standings, that team will become an automatic qualifier, provided that no at-large team from the same division qualifies for the NHL championship series.

If any of the 10 slots remain open after application of provisions 1 through 5, and if no team qualifies under paragraph No. 5 and an at-large team from a division with an annual automatic berth for its champion is ranked No. 4 in the final BCS Standings, that team will become an automatic qualifier provided that no at-large team from the same division qualifies for the national championship series.

Got that?”

The Caps are a Southeast Division team you know... does that make them the Boise State of this arrangement?

"well..."

I think we’ll stick with actually playing the games. And speaking of games, tonight the Caps return to Bell Centre for the last time this season (unless these teams meet in a playoff series). In the only previous appearance there this season – that being the first game after Thanksgiving – the Caps blew a two-goal lead, fell behind, then tied things up in regulation on a goal by Eric Fehr before Nicklas Backstrom gave the Caps an extra standings point with a goal in the Gimmick to seal a 4-3 win.

That loss dropped the Canadiens to 12-12-2 at the time. In the intervening two months and two weeks, things haven’t gotten a lot better, as the Habs come into this one with a 28-26-6 record overall and are hanging onto a top-eight sport for dear life, one point ahead of ninth-place Boston. Montreal simply hasn’t been able to get any traction lately. The Canadiens dropped a more conventional 4-2 decision to the Capitals on January 5th, and since that loss they are 7-5-3 and have neither won more than two in a row, nor lost more than three in a row in that span. For the season, their numbers look like this…



In those last 15 games Montreal has been predictably mediocre in goals scored for and against (37 for, 38 against), and consistent with their season performance on special teams (12-for-49 on the power play – 24.5%; 38-for-46 on the penalty kill – 82.6%). They’ve had trouble breaking out on offense – only three games with more than four goals scored. By the same token, they haven’t allowed a lot in the way of big scores, either – only three times in regulation allowing more than three goals.

No, the Canadien formula this year, and in this 15-game stretch, has been goaltending and special teams. The Habs come into this game with the second-ranked power play in the league (Washington being first). It certainly has been essential to success for Montreal – they are 16-9-5 in games where they score at least one power play goal, 12-17-1 when they do not.

As for that goaltending, you would have to think that Jaroslav Halak has earned the “number one” title. Since the Caps win against Montreal on January 5th, Halak is 6-3-2, 2.15, .936, and two shutouts. In those 11 appearances he allowed more than three goals only once (six in a 6-0 loss to the Rangers on January 17th). He has not, however, faced the Caps in any of the previous three meetings this season. He is 3-2-0, 2.60, .905 against the Caps over his career.

The guy who did get three starts against the Caps this season – Carey Price – has had only four appearances since losing that 4-2 decision to the Caps. He is 1-2-1 in those games, 3.23, .893. In his three starts against the Caps this season, Price is 1-1-1, 2.95, .910. He is 1-1-3, 3.32, .896 in five career decisions against the Caps.

As for the skaters, Montreal has been quite literally “decimated,” and then some. Andrei Kostitsyn, Paul Mara, Mike Cammalleri, Marc-Andre Bergeron, and Benoit Pouliot represent almost 40 percent of Montreal’s goal-scoring production for the season (59 of 149 goals). Perhaps more ominous for the Canadiens, they represent more than 42 percent of the power play goals the team has scored this year (19 of 45 goals) and 12 of the 23 game-winners. All five players are on injured reserve.

The absences place a heavier burden on leading scorer Tomas Plekanec. He has been somewhat uneven over the past 15 games since these teams last met. While he is 5-7-12 in the 15 games, he hasn’t pieced together any substantial streak of games with points, three being his longest in this stretch. He did, however, have a three-point effort (1-2-3) against the Penguins last Saturday in a 5-3 win. The problem Plekanec faces is hinted at in his numbers for the season. He is the Canadiens’ leading scorer (15-43-58), but 24 of those points (3-21-24) have come on the power play. With four of the top six power-play goal scorers on the shelf for Montreal, who is there for Plekanec to dish to on the man advantage? In three games against the Caps this year he is 2-1-3 and is 8-9-17 in 19 career games against Washington.

If Plekanec has been primarily a distributor, especially on the power play, then the goal-scoring burden falls more to Brian Gionta, who is now the Canadiens’ top goal-scorer taking the ice. Since Gionta returned from a broken foot in late December, he is 8-8-16 in 20 games. Half of those markers are power play goals. He faced the Caps only once so far this season, and in 24 career games is 7-10-17 against Washington.

On defense, Bergeron’s absence will be felt keenly on the power play, where he skated 2:46 a game in ice time (of his 14:45 total average). Paul Mara was getting almost 19 minutes a game but was having a hard time at even strength (minus-16 in 42 games). The core of the defense – Roman Hamrlik, Andrei Markov, Jaroslav Spacek, Hal Gill, and Josh Gorges will have the difficult task of trying to hold back the Caps’ offense. Markov – a defenseman of considerable offensive talent (averaging 54 points a year since the lockout) – has had trouble getting going in that regard since returning to the lineup from ankle surgery. He had two goals in his first game back and three in his first three, but he hasn’t had one since in 21 games. He has been limited to six assists in his last 15 games since skating against the Caps on January 5th. He is also minus-5 over that span.

The Peerless’ Players to Ponder

Montreal: Josh Gorges

Gorges is the Canadiens’ ice time leader for the defense on the penalty kill (3:16/game) and he is skating more than 21 minutes a game overall. He is going to be a big piece of the puzzle in keeping the Caps’ offense off the scoreboard. He hasn’t put up much in the way of points lately (none in the 15 games since the teams met last), but he is a plus-4 in his last nine games.

Washington: Alex Ovechkin

The last time these teams met happened to be Ovechkin’s first as captain for the Capitals. Since then Ovechkin is 16-20-36, plus-23 in 17 games. Over an 82-game season at that pace, those numbers work out to 77-96-175, plus-111. However, he has not had particularly extraordinary results at Bell Centre. In nine career games there he is 3-5-8, minus-4 (he is 1-1-2 in his lone game there this season).

Keys:

1. Stay out of the box. The Caps have been shorthanded 65 times in their current streak (4.64/game). Montreal is 7-3-0 when getting five or more power play opportunities in a game. It should be noted that ten such occurrences in 60 games speaks to an inability to draw penalties, too. Montreal is dead last in the NHL in power play opportunities.

2. Put ‘em in the box. The Caps have had 55 power play opportunities in their streak (3.93/game). They are 22-6-5 in games in which they get at least four power play opportunities. Perhaps it is here we need to mention that Montreal has allowed the sixth most power play opportunities in the league so far this season.

3. Break on through to the other side. That’s a song title from the debut album of The Doors, but it could be the slogan for the week for the Caps as they have three road games before the Olympic break. It is a time for bearing down and taking care of the remaining business before the players head their separate ways. Montreal is a difficult place to play. It is made more so by the circumstances of a team coming in during the midst of a long winning streak and facing a home team bent on ending that run. No need to add to the mix by losing focus.

In the end, this is a good test for the Caps. The Canadiens are a depleted group, but they remain dangerous on their power play, and their penalty killers are efficient (if on the ice too much). They also have the sort of goaltending that can steal a game. Pressure – if you measure that in shots on goal – does not seem to be a factor here. Six of Halak’s losses have come when he faced fewer than 30 shots, for example. The key here is to play smart. Limit the Canadiens’ power play opportunities, and make their penalty killers take the ice often. That, combined with the Caps substantial edge in 5-on-5 play, is the way through to a win.

Caps 4 – Canadiens 2

Death of a Narrative

"The Capitals win games by sheer tour de force, overpowering their opponents with offense and, more often than not, hoping their defense and goaltending is just good enough to keep the other team from scoring five goals."

Ladies and Gentlemen, the early leader in the “Strangest Statements Made About a Hockey Team” for 2010. This one is courtesy of Ken Campbell, of “The Hockey News.”

This is merely the latest in a continuing narrative about the Capitals, that they are the 2000’s reincarnation of the 1930’s “Gashouse Gang” of major league baseball. Like those 1930’s St. Louis Cardinals squads, these Caps are little more (so the narrative goes) than a fun-loving, devil-may-care bunch who plays with wild abandon… and no discipline. The only difference seems to be that the Caps have their uniforms laundered regularly (the name “Gashouse Gang” stems from the foul odor of the unwashed uniforms the players preferred that called to mind the plants that manufactured gas for lighting and heating of the period).

Extend the narrative, and the Caps are too undisciplined, too immature, too offense-oriented, insufficiently hard-working to ever realize their dream of a Stanley Cup.

The trouble with narratives such as this is that what often happens is if a thing is spoken often enough and long enough, it takes on the character of truth. What it doesn’t do – and what it doesn’t do in this case – is take on the substance of truth. And here is why…

The Caps are a prodigious, prolific, and precocious offensive team. For that there is no debate. They average 3.90 goals per game through 59 games this year. This might not sound like a lot when you compare it to the offensive powerhouses of the 1980’s, but consider that that 3.90 goals-per game the Caps are on a pace to score is more goals per game than any team since the 1995-1996 Pittsburgh Penguins, which averaged 4.41 goals-per-game in that season. But even here the Caps’ unfolding season might be more impressive. In that 1995-1996 season the Penguins’ output was 10.8 percent higher than that of the second-highest scoring team, the Colorado Avalanche (3.98 goals/game). The Caps 0.60 goals-per-game lead over the San Jose Sharks is an 18.2 percent gap in offensive output.

While impressive, the offensive production of the Caps overshadows what is becoming a very solid season at the other end of the ice.

This morning finds the Caps in 13th place in the NHL in goals-against average (2.70/game). Among the 16 “top-eight” teams of each conference, this is not especially impressive – the Caps rank 11th among those 16 teams, 5th in the Eastern Conference. But it is a figure that is…

-- better than that of the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins (2.90)
-- better than that of the New York Rangers, who employ a three-time Vezina finalist at goaltender (2.71)
-- better than teams such as the Florida Panthers (2.76) or the Minnesota Wild (2.86) that employ more defense-oriented systems.

We are not going to argue that the Caps are the New Jersey Devils, who regularly reside in the low 2’s in goals allowed-per-game. But to hint – or to state outright – that the Caps are either incapable of playing or ignorant to the need for good defense is simply wrong.

In fact, the season cleaves rather nicely at the Thanksgiving point of the season. Up to that point the Caps played 25 games. Here is how their defense looked at that point…

Record: 14-5-6
Goals against/game: 2.84
Penalty killing: 76/97 (78.4%)
Shots against/game: 30.3

Since then the Caps have played 34 games, and here is how those numbers shake out…

Record: 27-7-0
Goals against/game: 2.41
Penalty killing: 112/139 (80.6%)
Shots against/game: 31.7

Shaving almost half a goal a game off your numbers in almost half a season’s worth of games is not a streak, it is not an anomaly. In fact it is rather amazing given that the Caps have done it with their number one goalie (or “co-number one” if you prefer) Semyon Varlamov having played in only three of those 34 games, none of them after December 7th (he had two shutouts in four games before going out with injuries).

But let’s delve further into that statement by Campbell, specifically with respect to this “hope” that “their defense and goaltending is just good enough to keep the other team from scoring five goals.” First, let’s recognize that comment as engaging in just a touch of hyperbole. Five goals is a lot, even for an allegedly defense-challenged team such as the Caps. But four isn’t. In 25 games before Thanksgiving the Caps allowed four or more goals a whopping ten times. By comparison, the Devils allowed that many three times in 22 games before Thanksgiving.

But in 34 games since Thanksgiving, the Caps have allowed four or more goals in a game only six times. You might be interested to know that the Devils have allowed that many or more on nine occasions in 36 games since Thanksgiving.

Let’s flip that around. Before Thanksgiving the Caps allowed two or fewer goals in a game ten times, which frankly is rather respectable (the Devils did it 14 times in 22 games). Since Thanksgiving the Caps have turned the trick 21 times in 34 games (the Devils have done it 16 times in 36 games).

Then there is the discrete…

-- Alex Ovechkin, seen in some quarters as something of a “125-foot” player who is inconsistent at best and a loafer at worst in his own end, has not had consecutive “minus” games this season (in fact has only ten minus games this year and only six in 32 games since Thanksgiving, during which he is plus-30).

-- Mike Green is seen as lackadaisical with the puck at best, a turnover machine at worst. So far this year, though, he has a total of 52 giveaways in 54 games. That would rank him in a tie for tenth for most giveaways by defensemen in the NHL. But it would be fewer than Chris Phillips, fewer than Brian Rafalski. And, if you look at the top-30 (or “bottom-30” if you are so inclined) defensemen in giveaways, Green averages more ice time than 24 of the other 29. His goals-against/on-ice-per-60 minutes is better than the likes of Canadian Olympians Dan Boyle and Scott Niedermayer. Green won’t win the mythical “Langway” Award for top defensive defenseman in the NHL, but neither is he the liability he has been assumed to be.

-- Nicklas Backstrom can’t win faceoffs… or so the story goes. Well, Backstrom is in his third year in the NHL and it bears noting that while he is not yet a David Steckel in the circle, he has improved each year (46.3 percent in his rookie year, 48.7 percent last year, 49.3 percent so far this year). Sidney Crosby improved in this facet of the game in each of his first three seasons, too.

-- Alexander Semin is too inconsistent, too immature a player to be counted upon to deliver in his own end when need be. Well, Semin is also a plus-48 in his last 112 games. Compare that to Alex Ovechkin being +49 in his last 130 games… or Henrik Zetterberg being plus-49 in his last 172 games.

-- Jose Theodore is too inconsistent to win in the spring. Theodore has had consistency issues since his Vezina/Hart Trophy year with Montreal. But, to ask the question one usually asks at this point, what have you done for me lately? Well, if we define “lately” as we did above – that being after Thanksgiving – Theodore is 15-4-0, 2.62, .917. He has allowed more than three goals three times in those 19 appearances (disclosure – two of them have come in his last two appearances). Are those Vezina numbers? Not really, but over a full year it would put him in a neighborhood that includes Tim Thomas (2.52/.915), Marc-Andre Fleury (2.68/.906), Jonas Hiller (2.70/.919), or Cam Ward (2.74, .913).

Then there are the improvements. Jeff Schultz is showing signs of growing into his frame and becoming a solid defensive defenseman. He is a plus-37 in 52 games and has had only seven “minus” games this year (two of those coming in his first four contests). And although it doesn’t bear on this discussion, Schultz is on the brink of setting a career high in points (he has 16 and needs three to set a new mark).

Brian Pothier has already matched the number of games he played in 2007-2008 (38) and has played more than four times the number of regular season games he played in last season (nine). For the Caps, that has been almost like a free agent signing for the second pair. On a per-82 game basis he is on a pace equivalent to his best year in Ottawa regarding his plus/minus numbers. He hasn’t had a minus game since November 14th (20 games) and has had only one since October 17th (31 games).

The Caps are not the New Jersey Devils. They are not built that way, they are not coached that way. They are in fact, as Campbell states, “fun to watch” with their solid-fuel booster offense. But they are not an incompetent defensive team and far from the inept label that seems to persist in attaching itself to any discussion involving the words “Capitals,” “defense,” and “goaltending.” The Caps are not as good as their goals against in this 14-game winning streak (2.36/game). They might be, though, a 2.5-2.6 goals allowed sort of team. If so, that mark would be better than two of the Stanley Cup winners since the lockout (Pittsburgh at 2.84 last year and Carolina at 3.15 in 2006). It would be worse than the 2.18 posted by the champion Red Wings in 2008 or the Cup-winning Anaheim Ducks’ 2.42 in 2007.

Two observations would be fair to make at this point. First, the playoffs are a different animal, and Campbell alludes to this in his critique of the Caps’ defense. The other is that 14 games, or 34 (since Thanksgiving) for that matter, isn’t a full season. But what we are seeing here is not unlike what happened last year to the Penguins. The Penguins were not an especially good defensive team for the first half of the season, but then the light went on over their heads after a coaching change. They didn’t become a great defensive team (2.52 goals against/game after Dan Bylsma took over), but they became good enough, and it carried over into the post-season, where they also were “good enough” – 2.62 goals-against/game.

The Caps have been a better team on their own end of the ice since Thanksgiving, but they might have had their “come to Jesus” moment when Chris Clark and Milan Jurcina were traded to Columbus. Since Alex Ovechkin was named captain, the Caps are 17-1-0 and have allowed 45 goals in the process (2.50/game). Ovechkin seems to have bought into the “responsibility” that goes with the job – he has been on the ice for only seven of the 45 goals scored against the Caps since he donned the “C” and only once has been on the ice for two goals against in a game. The rest of the team seems to have jumped aboard – forwards, defensemen, goaltenders – to play a much better 200-foot game.

And that is a formula for winning a championship.

Thus, we hope, endeth the narrative.

Travel, Schmavel

Dan Steinberg gave voice to Caps fans everywhere in the Post today in discussing NBC's creepy affection for all things Penguin. Of special note was the attention being paid to the travel itinerary of the Penguins, who -- horrors! -- took a chauferred bus to Montreal's airport after Saturday's game, boarded an airplane (we're guessing not on the Indians' charter from "Major League"), then took another chauferred bus ride to Washington, where they slept in a hotel (probably not a Motel 6) before waking up to go to work against the Caps on Sunday.

Dan noted...

I understand that travel woes and visits to road-side Burger Kings make for great copy. And yet the Caps have now tied for the third-longest win streak in NHL history. Only two teams have gone longer. That means their accomplishment has to be more rare than a bad travel tale in a league that plays games in Edmonton and Calgary. The Penguins can't possibly be only the third or fourth team to have to eat fast food while on a late-night bus ride the night before a game.

And yet the Penguins' travel woes made up a larger portions of the telecast than the Caps streak. There certainly was no context given to Sunday's comeback, no sense of how many other times the Caps had rallied with a flurry of offense throughout their month-long run, no discussion of whether they could seriously challenge the all-time record of 17.

There was a graphic showing where the Pens had traveled and how long it took, but none that I remember charting the progression of this win streak.

Well, let's take a look back at what has happened so far with the Caps, knowing full well that this journey is not yet complete...

January 12 -- The Caps lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-4, in what was perhaps the most unexpected loss of the season, the Caps having defeated the Lightning 12 straight times dating back to November 2007. The Caps then headed out to Miami to face the Panthers. Distance traveled to Miami: 204 miles (all distances "as the crow flies").

January 13 -- The second half of a back-to-back set on the road, the Caps came back from a 4-1 deficit to force overtime and win when Tomas Fleischmann scored in a Gimmick. From there, it was off to the airport to head home. Distance traveled to Washington: 928 miles.

January 15 - 19 -- A three-game home stand against the Maple Leafs, the Flyers, and the Red Wings. The Caps unleash some offense in putting up six on the Leafs (a 6-1- win) and five on the Flyers (a 5-3 win) before taking on the Red Wings in what would be a hard-fought affair. The Caps came back from a 2-1 third period deficit to win, 3-2. Then, it's on to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins in the teams' first meeting of the year. Distance traveled to Pittsburgh: 189 miles.

January 21 -- The Caps spotted the Penguins the first goal, gave up the lead, then tied things up at three apiece as the teams went to the locker rooms at the second intermission. The Caps put up three in the last 20 minutes to win, going away, 6-3. Then, they went away, boarding a flight back to DC. Distance traveled to Washington: 189 miles.

January 23 -- The Phoenix Coyotes paid a visit, a dangerous opponent in that: a) the Caps don't see them much, and b) they were having a surprisingly good season. The Caps built a lead off two goals in the second period to give the home team a 3-1 lead at the second intermission. Phoenix made it interesting with a goal early in the third, but Michal Neuvirth slammed the door after that (he had saves on two shorthanded breakaways in the game), and Alex Ovechkin scored an empty netter for the 4-2 final. Then it was off to play the Islanders. Distance Traveled to Uniondale, NY: 221 miles.

January 26 -- The Caps made quick work of the Islanders, scoring four in the first period on their way to a 7-2 win. There was trouble looming though, as Jose Theodore was injured in the game and gave way to Michal Neuvirth for the final 20 minutes. But it was back to DC for the boys. Distance traveled to Washington: 221 miles.

January 27 - 31 -- Another three-game home stand, this time against Anaheim, Florida, and Tampa Bay. Defense was the name of the game in this trio of games, the Caps hold the three opponents to a total of four goals while getting 12 of their own. Neuvirth was especially sharp, saving 65 of 67 shots in the first two games. Theodore got the call in the third game - a tough 3-2 win over Tampa Bay - and got the win as the Caps tied a franchise record for consecutive wins. Then it was off to Boston. Distance traveled to Boston: 393 miles.

February 2 -- It was sort of like Groundhog Day. Wake up, hold another opponent to fewer than three goals. This time, Jose Theodore did the trick, allowing only an early first period goal to the Bruins in a 4-1 win. It was the seventh time in nine games the Caps allowed two or fewer goals. Then it was a date in the Big Apple. Distance traveled to New York City: 187 miles.

February 4 -- It sure looked grim here, and in an unexpected way. The Rangers - a team having immense trouble scoring goals, took a 2-1 lead after one period. Then after allowing the Caps to take the lead with two goals early in the second, came back with three of their own to take a 5-3 lead. But Alex Ovechkin scored with nine seconds left in the second period on a sick move through Michal Roszival to get the deficit to one at the break. Tom Poti scored on a power play less than a minute into the third, then Nicklas Backstrom potted the game-winner a little over five minutes later. The Caps held the Rangers to six shots in the third period, and Jose Theodore saved them all for the 6-5 win, earning the Caps a trip back home. Distance traveled to Washington: 206 miles.

February 5 - 7 -- A two-game home stand, one against the struggling Atlanta Thrashers, who traded star winger Ilya Kovalchuk to the Devils, and one against the arch-rival Penguins in a rematch of the 6-3 Caps win in Pittsburgh. The Caps disposed of the Thrashers in a 5-2 game that was a bit closer than the game indicated, which set the stage for the Penguins and their trek from Montreal to DC to play a game on Sunday afternoon in snow-bound Washington. The Pens started fast, but the Caps closed faster, coming from 4-1 down to win 5-4 in overtime. The game, featuring a pair of early goals from Sidney Crosby and a hat trick from Alex Ovechkin (one goal shattering the case cover of the goal camera), has already been dubbed by some as the "game of the year."

Total Games: 14
Total wins: 14
Total score: 68-33
Power play: 17/55 (30.9%)
Penalty killing: 53/65 (81.5%)

Total distance traveled: 2,738 miles

True, 2,738 miles is a heavy week's worth for some teams in the Western Conference, but travel is a part of the game, whether it's hockey moms and dads ferrying kids a couple hundred miles to a pee-wee tournament, teenagers riding buses across prairies in juniors, prospects and guys at the end of their careers looking out bus windows in the AHL, or even hopping the occasional bus in the NHL.

14-game winning streaks are somewhat less common.

A TWO-point afternoon: Caps 5 - Penguins 4 (OT)

Well, if that’s the last home game for the Caps until March, fans will have a ton of memories to re-live in the meantime.

The Caps spotted the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-1 lead, then came back like, well, rampaging beasts to claim a 5-4 overtime win and their 14th consecutive win that ties them with the 1929-1930 Boston Bruins for the third longest such streak in NHL history.

There was something for everyone in this one – goals by the stars, goals by the grinders…iffy goaltending, clutch goaltending… big hits, big scrums…

But it all came down to an errant stick, that being the one held by Penguin defenseman Brooks Orpik, who used it to pop Alexander Semin in the chops 2:26 into overtime and earn a seat in the penalty box. With the Caps skating on a 4-on-3 advantage, Mike Green slid the puck over to Alex Ovechkin for a one-timer that worked through goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to hit the far post. With Fleury unable to locate and smother the puck, Mike Knuble pounced, backhanding the puck back through Fleury’s legs and into the net for the win that sent the hearty, blizzard-weary crowd into a frenzy.

Before that, though, the matchup between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby didn’t let the folks at NBC, or in the arena for that matter, down. Crosby scored a pair of goals three minutes apart in the first period to stake the Penguins to a 2-0 lead (the fourth straight game the Caps have allowed the game’s first goal), but then Ovechkin put the Caps on his shoulders and brought them back, halving the lead midway through the second period, then scoring a pair just over four minutes apart in the third to record his – and the Caps’ – first hat trick of the season.

But those two weren’t the whole story, wither. Jordan Staal netted a pair of goals 1:24 apart in the second period that seemed to put the game out of reach of the Caps at 4-1. Eric Fehr bull-rushed his way to a goal, flipping a backhand shot at Fleury, then following his own shot to pot the rebound that Fleury allowed.

And despite the snow that blanketed the region (we didn’t make it to this game, barely getting our driveway cleared in time for the noon faceoff), it seemed like a playoff-volume crowd at Verizon Center. You really couldn’t have asked for a more entertaining game (well, maybe you could if you were a Penguin fan).

Other stuff…

-- Mike Knuble didn’t get a star, but he should have gotten something (if only a lick of the face from Kanoobie). In addition to the game-winning goal, itself a product of sticking with the play, it was his following up in the faceoff circle on a faceoff between Nicklas Backstrom and Sidney Crosby, getting to the puck and moving it to Ovechkin for the game-tying hat trick goal.

-- The Caps once more displayed a finishing kick, outscoring the Penguins 2-0 in the third and 1-0 in overtime. In the streak the Caps have outscored the opposition 30-6 in the third period, 23-14 in the second. They have scored in each and every one of the 14 second and third periods.

-- The Caps have outscored the Penguins 5-0 in the third period in two games this season, not including the overtime winner today.

-- Think this was a game that players took seriously? Mike Knuble had his first fight since squaring off with Mike Fisher in November 2002. Kanoobie was really howling over Knuble getting the GHHT (Gordie Howe hat Trick)..

-- Think this was a game that players took seriously, II? 15 skaters for the Caps were credited with hits. Brian Pothier had four (including one particularly picturesque one on Brooks Orpik in the second period), Jeff Schultz had three.

-- It was an amazingly clean game from a turnover standpoint. Combined the teams had only a total of 21 turnovers while registering 152 combined shot attempts. Neither Crosby nor Ovechkin had a giveaway.

-- OK, I realize that this being an NBC national game, Crosby had to get the second star, but on my scoresheet it was Jordan Staal. Despite being the sort of player who draws a considerable amount of defensive responsibility, he was on the ice for only one Caps goal (while getting two of his own). His misfortune was that the goal he was on the ice for happened to be the last one.

-- Lost in all this is a “game within a game” item. One of the reasons the Penguins were able to pound shots at the Caps so effectively in last spring’s playoff was that they abused Mike Green mercilessly in the Caps end. Green had no giveaways in more than 27 minutes of ice time.

-- Five Caps defensemen had 16 of the total of 22 blocked shots (Shaone Morrisonn was the only defenseman not to have one).

-- I’m guessing Bill Guerin was complimenting Alexander Semin for having mastered the “Crosby head snap” for which he drew the high-sticking call from Orpik in the overtime. That a Penguin – any Penguin – could complain about that, having spent several years watching the master of the “head snapping back” move, is rather bizarre. They should recognize art when they see it, and besides, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

-- “Tyler Kennedy would obliterate Nicklas Backstrom.” He’s “a little ball of hate.” Maybe, Pierre, but it seemed Backstrom acquitted himself pretty well. Yes, by holding on for dear life. But truth be told, Backstrom has a little bit of the Forsberg in him, too, when it comes to nastiness.

-- Here is an indicator of the kind of pressure that the Caps’ skill at forward provides for an opponent – of the five minors taken by the Penguins, four were taken by defensemen.

-- Alex Ovechkin had six shots on goal in 25:36. Ok, he does that. Mike Green had five shots in 27 minutes and change. OK, that’s not unheard of. Alexander Semin, five shots in 19 minutes. He’s had games like that. But Eric Fehr, five shots in 11:59? He must have been channeling the days when he was at Hershey playing the Baby Pens.

-- Speaking of which, Hershey also came back from a three-goal deficit, also against the Penguins (The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton version), and also had a hat trick (Mathieu Perreault). Hershey is 39-9-2 for the season. Caps are 41-12-6. 80 wins combined for the teams and it’s barely February?

-- Did Jose Theodore have his best game? No. But he did stop the last 17 shots he saw to give the Caps a chance to claw back into it.

-- At the other end, Marc-Andre Fleury started well – he stopped the first 16 shots he saw. But he wilted rather badly in the second half of the game, allowing five goals on the last 18 shots he faced.

-- One thing that has characterized the streak so far is the balance the Caps have enjoyed from the top three forward lines. Not today. This was a day for the top line. Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Knuble went a combined 4-4-8, including the game-tying and game-winning goals.

-- (edit: we thought we'd better delete the link in this item in that many are reporting being infected with viruses as a result of accessing it). Apparently, one of the NBC telent wasn't in a happy mood after the game, either.

-- Oh, Doc Emrick... if you're going to plug the restaurant a team stops at in the middle of a snowy night for some food, it's probably better for marketing if the team actually wins the game.

OK, be honest. When it was 4-1, you were thinking, “maybe that ESPN Super Bowl pregame show won’t be too bad after all.” But the Caps have owned third periods in this streak – they’ve been outscored in a third period only once in the previous 13 games. And today, they did it again. And it couldn’t be a better way to end the home portion of the pre-Olympic part of the season. The Caps take to the road now with games in Montreal, Ottawa, and St. Louis before splitting up to join their respective national teams or getting a well-earned break. For Caps fans it was a welcome respite from a hard weekend of work dealing with Mother Nature’s haymaker of a punch. And for that, boys, thanks.