The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Red Wings, December 17th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

Tonight, the Caps get to measure themselves and their recent good fortune against the gold standard (regular season version) of the NHL – the Detroit Red Wings. It is the kind of challenge that requires a warrior attitude, and we have the pleasure of having with us three famous warriors, each of whom faced great odds against success…gentlemen, introductions…

“I am William Wallace.”

William Wallace is seven feet tall!

“Yes, I've heard. Kills men by the hundreds. And if HE were here, he'd consume the Red Wings with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse.”

Haggis does that to a person…

“My name is Gladiator…”

No, really?

“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”

Hey, this is just a hockey blog, pal. And you, sir?

“I am Spartacus!”

OK, so, now that we have the introductions, what advice would you give to the Caps tonight as they make their way into the Colisseum…er, Joe Louis Arena?

“It is like I told my fellow slaves on the floor of Joe Louis…er, the Colisseum, ‘Whatever comes out of these gates, we've got a better chance of survival if we work together. Do you understand? If we stay together we survive.’ If the Caps stay together, they win.”

“I’d tell the boys the same thing I told my fellow Scotsmen on the field of battle…’I see a whole army of my country men, here, in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?...fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!’…well, two points, anyway.”

“I am Spartacus!”

OK…let’s get to it…how does a team like the Caps beat a team like the Red Wings?

“Well, it’s not unlike what we faced a while ago in Scotland…In the Year of our Lord 1314, patriots of Scotland - starving and outnumbered - charged the fields of Bannockburn. They fought like warrior poets; they fought like Scotsmen, and won their freedom. They need to fight like warrior-poets.”

“I knew a man once who said, ‘Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.’"

You ever seen a hockey player smile, Maximus?

“I am Spartacus!”

Uh…yeah. So what do you think of the Caps’ chances tonight?...hey guys, this isn’t funny…stop laughing, will ya?...I mean it!

Well, this isn’t a laughing matter. The Red Wings are good…good in that regular season way that makes everyone think they are the best team since, well, the last Red Wings team that put up gaudy statistics in the regular season…statistics like these:

Wins: 23 (1^st in the league)

Points: 49 (1^st)

Goals-per-game: 3.41 (2^nd)

Goals-against-per-game: 2.19 (1^st)

5-on-5 goal ratio: 1.62 (1^st)

Power Play: 23.3% (T-3^rd)

Penalty Killing: 86.6% (6^th)

Faceoff Wins: 54.8% (1^st)

The Red Wings have only two players who have played more than ten games who are on the minus side of the ledger this year (the Caps have only three such players on the plus side). But here is an odd one. No team has given up more shorthanded goals than the Red Wings.

And, if that’s not enough, the Red Wings are riding a ten game points-earned streak (8-0-2). They’ve outscored their opponents, 38-18, and they’ve scored at least five goals in a game four times. Their power play has hummed along at a 27.3 percent clip (12-for-44), while the penalty killers have rubbed out 50 of 53 shorthanded situations (94.3 percent). And if the Caps aspire to be a puck-possession squad, the Red Wings are perhaps the best example of such a specie. One indicator…in this ten-game points-earned streak, the Red Wings have outshot their opponents 367-242. Outshooting opponents by more than a dozen shots a game is no small factor in the Red Wings’ success

If Tampa Bay was a test of the Caps as a road team against a club with a sterling home record, this is the dissertation defense. Detroit is 14-2-1 at home this year; they haven’t lost a game in regulation at The Joe in a month (November 17, to Chicago, 5-3).

As they have for much of the year, Pavel Datsyuk (9-8-17, +5) and Henrik Zetterberg (7-6-13, +4) are leading the way in the ten-game points-earned streak.

But here is your obscure nugget of information to take with you. The last Southeast team to defeat the Red Wings on Detroit ice was…drum roll, please…the Washington Capitals.

On November 24, 2003.

A lot of that is the weird scheduling the NHL employs, but it is what it is. And what it is, is a golden opportunity to make a statement, that the 7-4-1 run the Caps are on is no fluke, that they can compete – and win – on Hockeytown ice.

Caps 5 – Red Wings 4

…although it occurs to The Peerless…each of those three warriors we were talking to were killed by their enemies.

Yikes...

How would you -- the big star on Broadway -- like to have this line over the last two weeks while your team is going 1-4-1...

...six games
...no goals
...one assist
...-7

Not looking good for that option, Jags...


And what about the team that added to Jaromir Jagr's woes tonight?...Phoenix beat the Rangers, 5-1, to complete their successful back-to-back weekend in Newark and Manhattan. They won the two games by a combined 9-2. But tonight's odd number?...the Coyotes had one -- count 'em, one -- giveaway.

Sittin' at the end of the bar...

It’s a little known fact that…

-- In his last 50 games, Brad Richards is -24.

-- Jarome Iginla has eight goals in his last nine games

-- Bobby Holik, Alexei Zhitnik, Steve McCarthy…combined -49.

-- Mike Comrie, everyone’s start-of-the-year favorite with his 4-2-6, +3 in his first two games, is -16 in 29 games since.

-- Mike Ribiero might be the guy to take along if you’re going hunting…16 goals on 40 shots. Quite a sharpshooter.

-- Jeremy Roenick still leads the league in game-winning goals (5).

-- The Southeast Division is 37-48-7 against non-Southeast teams. Carolina is on a pace to win the division with 89 points. The last team to win a division with fewer points…Carolina in 1998-1999 (yeah, the Southeast).

-- You’ve heard that commercial, “He went to Jared?” Well, doing that in the NHL can get you bruised. Jared Boll leads the league in fighting majors. Without googling, do you know who he plays for?* And who on earth is Daniel Carcillo, and how is it that he leads the league in PIMs (145)?

-- Carcillo might win the “does not work or play well with others” award. He has 13 misconducts (nine 10-minute, 4 game).

-- Still on the matter of penalties, Chris Pronger, Corey Perry, and Ryan Getzlaf rank 3-4-5 in minors taken this year – 68 in all.

-- Familiarity breeds contempt…except in the Southeast – well, Tampa at least. It breeds points. Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Vaclav Prospal rank 1-2-4 in division scoring.

-- The Southeast is conspicuous in that statistic…nine of the top 15 divisional scorers are in the Southeast. Maybe they just can’t score against anyone else (see that record up above). Carolina doesn’t have any of them, and they lead the division…go figure.

-- On that division scoring thing, here is the odd one. Sidney Crosby – he who tied for fourth in overall scoring – is 17^th in divisional scoring. He might not be so familiar with his opposition as they are with him in the Atlantic.

* Columbus

A TWO Point Night...Caps 3 - Lightning 2

3-2?

The Peerless thought that might have been the score after one period.

Nevertheless, the Caps put the loss to Buffalo behind them with a scrappy one-goal win in a place where few visitors emerge victorious this year. Although there were fits and starts along the way, let’s keep in mind…

-- Tampa had the best home record in the Eastern Conference coming into this game (11-4-2)…they lost

-- The Lightning were the highest scoring team at home in the East (3.65 goals/game)…they finished with two.

-- Tampa Bay had the top home goal differential in the East – they weren’t just beating clubs, they were beating them badly…they lost by a goal.

-- The “big four” scorers for Tampa Bay – Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, and Vaclav Prospal – were averaging 5.76 points a game, combined, at home…they finished with three.

-- Their power play was humming along at 25.3 percent at home…they finished 0-for-4.

-- Tampa Bay had only lost twice in regulation this year when scoring first, only once at home.

This game was huge for the Caps. Bruce Boudreau alluded to it after the Buffalo loss when he said, "I'll find out about a lot of guys [against the Lightning]. Is it a, 'Hang my head, woe-is-me crowd,' or a 'Let's be determined and turn it around again crowd?'"

What he got was a by-the-book road game to turn it around. Play tough, keep the home team in sight, don’t let them dictate the pace, take advantage of the opportunities you get, and play smart late.

And, the Caps didn’t let the loss against Buffalo eat into the progress they achieved with their three game winning streak. That’s the key – to keep from bleeding too much – and it has been how they got into the fix they’re in…stringing together too many consecutive losses.

Looking at the numbers, the obvious story is Brian Pothier. Given a seat by Bruce Boudreau for a couple of games, Pothier responded in a big way with the game-winning goal tonight. He also assisted on the David Steckel goal, but the big number might have been “zero,” as in “zero giveaways.” Against a team with as much fire power as the Lightning, playing smart with the puck – especially among the defense – is vital. For the night, the Caps had only eight giveaways, and only two by a defenseman.

And even though Brent Johnson gave up a pair of goals he might like to have back, in the end he only gave up a pair of goals on 25 shots. Tampa had scored two or fewer at home only five times in 16 home games coming into this contest.

And now, your obscure number for the night…

8:24

That was the least amount of time on ice spent at even strength for a Capital tonight…it belongs to Alexander Semin (yes, even Donald Brashear had more). Part of that is likely that the Caps were protecting a one-goal lead in the third period, but Semin did not skate a shift in the last 10:41 and had only three shifts in the third period. Injury?...or message? We’ll see.

But enough of that. The Caps are 7-4-1 in their last dozen games – a 103 point pace. But here’s the thing…the Caps have 50 games to play. If they earn points at the rate they’ve done so far under Bruce Boudreau, they’ll finish with 91 points. We’ll just leave you with that thought.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Lightning, December 15th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!

And for tonight’s back-end of a back-to-back weekend, we have what is something of a rarity lately…a divisional matchup (we also have all of our usual guests out holiday shopping...). Over the next 34 days, the Caps play Southeast Division teams twice – both times against the Lightning.

And aren’t the Lightning the Jekyll and Hyde team of the 2007-2008 season. By day (or on the road), they are the Henry Jekyll with a 3-11-1 record. By night (in the confines of St. Pete Times Forum) they are the Edward Hyde that commits all sorts of evil acts on visitors on the way to an 11-4-2 record.

The Jekyll and Hyde thing is reflected in both the team statistics and those for the big scorers on this club…

This is a home game for the Bolts, so the Caps will have their work cut out for them. The disparity in the numbers seems a reflection of precisely the kind of team Tampa Bay is -- top heavy with talent. At home, the Lightning can exploit favorable matchups, but on the road the deficiencies in talent underneath the top group are laid bare when those teams can do a better job of using matchups and last change to get the players they want onto the ice against Tampa's big guns.

If you're looking for a "road warrior" among the Caps, Alex Ovechkin immediately comes to mind, of course. In fact, he does lead the team in road scoring (10-9-19 in 16 games). But this might be a night for Viktor Kozlov to shake some dust off. He has had some career success against the Lightning (6-24-30 in 41 games), and he is third on the Caps in road scoring this year (3-7-10 in 16 games).

Then, there is Alexander Semin. Even with the injury bug that hit him to start the year, he has only two goals in 15 games. If the Caps have any prayer of getting back into the playoff race, that pace of production has to change for the better. He'll find no better opponent against whom he can start that process. In 14 career games against Tampa, he is 10-6-16.

Just as scoring among the big four at home is a key for Tampa Bay, so the Russians might be for the Caps tonight. It might be especially true given the continuing saga that is Tampa Bay goaltending. Johan Holmqvist is clearly the number one guy for the Lightning, and he has a 5-2-0 career record against the Caps. However, he's been rather grim in his last two outings -- four goals on 22 shots in less than 35 minutes of work against Toronto, and another four goals only six shots in less than 14 minutes work in his last outing, against Calgary. Backup Marc Denis has only one win this year, but that came last Tuesday against Montreal. Flip a coin...

Brent Johnson seems likely to get the start tonight with an opportunity to get the Caps moving back in the right direction. He's had some success against Tampa (4-2-1-2, 2.48, .917 for his career), although he took the loss in the his only appearance against the Lightning this year (four goals allowed in a 5-2 loss in Tampa on November 16th).

This could be a wild one. Tampa is a juggernaut at home, and the new Caps under Bruce Boudreau are a much more aggressive team with the puck. We might see a game on the far side of 10 goals scored....

Caps 6 - Lightning 5

A no-point night...Sabres 5 - Caps 3

Maybe it is a measure of what the Capitals accomplished this week that last night’s 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres can be thought of as “disappointing,” rather than “expected.”

Disappointing in that the Caps couldn’t build on an early lead.

Disappointing in that the Caps gave it up with what goaltender Olaf Kolzig called, “a rookie mistake.”

Disappointing in giving up a goal in the final two minutes of each period – the first two tying the game, the last one clinching it.

Disappointing in not capitalizing on their possession advantage in the first two periods.

Disappointing in that the effort that one might have expected in a game where an opportunity existed to pick up a place or two in the standings was inconsistent.

One could tell that things were amiss when the Caps picked up a pair of too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties in the first 25 minutes of the game (there were three called on the night, the other on the Sabres) – the first of which was called less than a minute into the contest.

And last night was a night for the hockey gods to administer a dose of humility to this week’s object of Caps fans affection – Mike Green. A -3 for the night, and looking like a cornerback victimized on a deep pass when Maxim Afinogenov slipped behind him for a breakaway goal (the second of those last-two-minute goals). Adding insult to injury, it almost looked as if Kolzig might have been able to make the save on the play, but the puck seemed to be nudged by Green at the end of the sequence.

Bruce Boudreau mentioned that, "I didn't think we had 19 players playing to their capabilities.” If one of those 19 had a bulls-eye on his sweater, it was Alexander Semin. Another Cap with a -3, he had a brutal night. For a sniper to register no shots on goal (he had five attempts blocked and missed a sixth) just won’t get it done, and if the Caps’ effort was inconsistent, Semin was an example of that. If his ankle isn’t bothering him, it wouldn’t be terribly surprising to find him out of the lineup for tonight’s game in Tampa.

But singling out Semin isn’t constructive, and it isn’t as if he was the only Cap who had problems. No one could be said to have had a good game, and in that cloud there is the hint of a silver lining. They were in this game until the empty-netter, despite a less-than-stellar effort. The power play was aggressive and looked crisp for stretches. The “ooh-and-ahh” factor with the man-advantage certainly has been improved. The penalty killing unit was effective in that no goals were allowed, even if they had their moments where virtual tap-ins were missed by the Sabres. They might even have pulled this one out, had Olaf Kolzig not had his moments (the Derek Roy short-handed “empty netter” when Kolzig whiffed on a lazy one-handed sweep pass -- the rookie mistake -- chief among them, a goal that slammed momentum the Caps had at the time to a halt).

The problem with this game, and perhaps the attitude, might be reflected in a quote from Tom Poti after the game…

“It would have been nice to win four in a row at home. We've got to be ready tomorrow."

Brooks Laich seemed to pick up on it…

“We let this one get away. It's been the story of our season so far."

Nice?...They should have won four at home…Buffalo did not play an especially good game. The Caps handed them two points. And given where the Caps are in the standings, they need to be ready every night, or it’s going to be a winter of “coulda, woulda, shoulda’s.”

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Sabres, December 14th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

For the first time since the first three games of the season, the Caps have a three-game winning streak. And it's not like they're beating a bunch of slugs - the wins were over Atlanta (a playoff team last year and playing much better than their 0-6-0 start), the Devils (who had been on a long points-earned streak), and the Rangers (who had yielded only one goal to the Caps in two games this year).

Speaking of slugs, the schedule doesn't get any easier tonight with a game against the "Buffa-slugs" themselves, the Buffalo Sabres.

"You know...Buffalo is the home of the 'buffalo wing.'"

Welcome to the show...would you please introduce yourself to our audience...

"My given name is Benjamin Buford Blue, but people call me 'Bubba.' Just like one of them ol' redneck boys. Can you believe that?"

People call me Peerless...Peerless Prognosticator. Didn't you used to dabble in shrimp?

"I don't know what 'dabble' means, but I gave up shrimp...they're too high in cholesterol. Anyway, like I was sayin', wings come from chickens, and chicken is the fruit of the barnyard. You can barbecue 'em, boil 'em, broil 'em, bake 'em, saute 'em..."

Yes, well...that's quite interesting, but as for the game, the Caps are hosting a Buffalo Sabres team that is not exactly in the place in the standings they have become accustomed to occupying the last couple of years. 14-14-1 and with 29 points – tied for 12^th in the Eastern Conference with Atlanta – is not where the Sabres and their fans expected to be more than a third into the season.

"...Dey's uh, chicken wing-kabobs, chicken wing creole, chicken wing gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried..."

Yeah, yeah…they’re great. No, not the Sabres…since Buffalo was in town on November 26^th – a 3-1 win for the visitors – the Sabres have slipped just a little bit more in the standings. In seven games since that win, the Sabres are 3-4-0. Their record includes posting eight goals in a game (an 8-1 win against Carolina) and yielding eight goals in a game (an 8-2 loss at Los Angeles).

Looking at the offense, it’s been feast or famine. 20 of the 27 goals Buffalo has scored over this stretch came in three games (they also have a 7-1 win at San Jose and a 5-3 win against the Islanders). That leaves seven goals scored in the other four games.

"…Dey's pineapple chicken wings, lemon chicken wings, coconut chicken wings, pepper chicken wings, chicken wings soup, chicken wings stew, chicken wings salad, chicken wings and potatoes, chicken wings burger, boneless chicken wings sandwich..."

Sounds real nice…which is not something that can be said for the Sabres’s special teams. Even though their power play is 7-for-27 over the last seven games (25.9 percent), they’ve actually given up more power play goals. Their 22-for-30 penalty killing (73.3 percent) has been a problem.

Consistent with Buffalo’s balance on offense, 15 skaters have registered the 27 goals. Ales Kotalik leads the way with five of those goals (5-1-6, -2). Thomas Vanek, who has struggled somewhat to live up to the big contract he signed in the wake of an offer sheet tendered by Edmonton and matched by Buffalo (9-10-19, +3 for the season), has contributed three goals (3-0-3, +5), as has Derek Roy (3-4-7, +8).

"…Dey's garlic chicken wings, teriyaki chicken wings, ginger chicken wings, szechuan chicken wings, cayenne chicken wings - dey's mah favorite..."

Jochen Hecht has found the Caps to be among his favorite opponents over his career. In 20 career contests, he is 7-9-16, +4. This year, he’s 2-2-4, +2 in two Buffalo wins against Washington. He’s second on the club this year in goals overall, with 10.

"...honey chicken wings, Jalapeno chicken wings, chicken wings with ranch sauce, chicken wings with blue cheese 'n' hot sauce - that's what them Buffalo folks like..."

What perhaps they haven’t liked is the inconsistency in the play of goaltender Ryan Miller. The former Hobey Baker winner has played in all seven games since appearing in Washington on November 26^th. And except for his allowing three goals in his last outing – a win against the Islanders – he’s given up either one goal (twice) or four (four times)…nothing in between. His career stats against Washington are not extraordinary, compared to his overall career stats (2.72 career GAA/2.68 vs.Washington… .908 career SV/.907 vs. Washington), but he does have a 6-1-0 win-loss record. He’s won both starts this year against the Caps (2-0-0, 2.00, .930).

"...uh, chicken wings with barbecue sauce, Cajun chicken wings, smoked chicken wings, chipotle chicken wings, jerk chicken wings...that - that's about it."

And that’s about it for this look at the Sabres. For the Caps, it’s a chance to do something they haven’t done since the 1999-2000 season (March 11-19, 2000)…sweep a home stand of at least four games. In that season, they swept New Jersey, the Islanders, Caroilina, and Tampa Bay by a combined score of 17-9. The Caps have taken the first three games of this home set against Atlanta, New Jersey, and the Rangers by a combined score of 14-9.

“Four” seems to be a number that pops up from time to time in this review, and that’s what we see the Caps putting up…

Caps 4 – Sabres 2

Edit…I erred in a previous version of this, noting a four-game home stand sweep in January 2000…and it made for such nice copy, too, with the big finish it heralded for that year. Rats…sorry about that.

2004's defensemen

Remember back in 2004? The Caps were on the clock to start the draft, and the arena was abuzz with the prospect of hearing Alexander Ovechkin's name announced as the top overall pick.

Well, for Caps fans, it might not be that the announcement of Ovechkin as the top pick was the big story (it was, but permit us some hyperbolic latitude).

Mike Green was selected with the 29th overall pick in that draft. Here are the defensemen selected ahead of him:

3. Cam Barker (Chicago)
9. Ladislav Smid (Anaheim)
10. Boris Valabik (Atlanta)
12. A.J. Thelen (Minnesota)
23. Andrej Meszaros (Ottawa)
27. Jeff Schultz (Washington)
28. Mark Fistric (Dallas)

Think Green was a bargain at 29?

Sometimes, even New York gets it right -- Attendance in Washington and a lost opportunity

In this morning's "Slap Shot" blog in the New York Times*, Lynn Zinser states the following...

"The most sobering part of Wednesday night’s Rangers-Capitals game had nothing to do with the game — a 5-4 overtime victory by Washington, which was wildly entertaining unless you are a big fan of goalies — but the lack of people watching in Washington’s Verizon Center.

"The team announced the attendance at 12,553, which is laughable. There were entire empty sections. Any camera shot that caught the sections behind the nets showed swaths of empty seats. The team handed out bright red mullet wigs to fans in honor of ’80s night and I am guessing they have plenty left in backstage cartons.

"This is sad (the attendance, not the wigs) because Washington has one of the jewels of the N.H.L. in forward Alex Ovechkin, who is worth the price of admission alone. He scores. He skates like crazy. He lays checks on people like Rangers enforcer Colton Orr. He has 22 goals this season and is mesmerizing any time he is on the ice.

"Yes, the Capitals had a horrible start and axed their coach, Glen Hanlon. But they have rebounded, won four of their last five and have a terribly fun team to watch. In the N.H.L., this is unusual. Highly unusual. Perhaps Washington fans will figure that out this season."

It's past time to just say this..."sports fans" in Washington are squandering one of the great, and fleeting opportunities that come around rarely in sports -- the opportunity to see a legendary individual performer in the making just as his career is taking off.

Alexander Ovechkin is underrated by the NHL, to be sure (certainly with respect to coverage compared to one of the youngsters in Pittsburgh). But one could plausibly make the case that Washington has not seen this level of talent in his sport in the last half century of professional sports in this city. Our apologies to fans of the Wizards' Gilbert Arenas, but while he is a superb player and an engaging personality, he is not in the class of Alexander Ovechkin when it comes to dominating his peers. This year, his peer group is more or less Sidney Crosby and...well, that's it. And Ovechkin has something for everyone -- supreme open-ice skill, the ability to generate bone-rattling hits that Redskins' defensive coach Gregg Williams must envy, and an exuberance that shines on and off the ice.

While the Washington Redskins are, and probably always will be a social force of nature here, it would be hard to identify an individual player on any of their teams -- including their Super Bowl champions -- who measure up to Ovechkin in terms of their domination of the league in which they played. For fans of such as Darrell Green or John Riggins or Art Monk...they too were excellent players -- Hall of Fame worthy, to be sure -- but none (at least in our opinion) rose to the level that Ovechkin currently occupies.

No professional baseball player in Washington over the past half century was or is within shouting distance of Ovechkin's level of play, and we do not believe such fine players from Washington's basketball past such as Wes Unseld or Elvin Hayes had the ability to bring fans out of their seats each time they held the ball in the manner Ovechkin can when he takes the puck on a rush.

Washington, you are missing something very special -- as unique a player as has ever played in this city. A professional sports career is among the most fleeting, and a star's best years are only a portion of that. Ovechkin has not yet reached his peak or his prime. That, by itself, makes his accomplishments thus far in his career all the more astonishing. That more people have not availed themselves of one of the most spellbinding young talents in the history of his sport is the tragedy of an opportunity wasted, of Washington "not figuring it out."


* Thanks to GeorgeSpigott on The Official for the heads up.

South-least Division?

Through 30 games or so, you might think so.

Only one team is in the playoff-eight, Carolina.


And even they are "minus-2" in goal differential.

Progress!

You must walk, before you can run, grasshopper...

Two quotes to remember

"We had defensemen caught out for 2-minute shifts because we couldn't get out of our own end."

-- Rangers' head coach Tom Renney after the Caps' 5-4 overtime win


"They're a team that creates shots from everywhere."

-- Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist, explaining how the Caps managed to outshoot the Rangers 18-7 in the first period and 35-23 for the game.


Hmm...perhaps the coaching change has made a difference.

A TWO point night: Caps 5 - Rangers 4 (OT)

The Peerless thinks the Rangers and Capitals are still exchanging shots, saves, and goals in the hallway under the stands at Verizon Center.

It was that kind of night.

In a game of “last to score wins,” the Caps got the last score – a goal by Mike Green with 1:19 left in overtime – to give the Caps an improbable 5-4 win over the New York Rangers.

Let’s get right to it…

Watching Donald Brashear in the pre-game warm-up* gave The Peerless a hankerin’ for a Wendy’s double with cheese, pickles, onions, and ketchup. We’re not going to say that too loudly on remembering that Brashear pounded the Rangers’ Colton Orr to the ice in the game’s third minute.

How many folks thought the Caps were toast after Marty Straka buried a cross-ice feed from uber-mullet Jaromir Jagr to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead with seven minutes left in the first period?

The Peerless has one word…Motzko!

The Verizon Center ice should have gotten the third star. Brendan Shanahan blew a tire on that mess, leading to Mike Green’s game-winner. Then again, the Caps had a goal waved off when the puck hit a snow bank on the goal line behind Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist, giving the Rangers the extra split second to sweep the puck away before it could completely cross the goal line.

Speaking of Lundqvist, he looked rather ordinary tonight, but then again, he’s been doing that lately. After 18 straight games without allowing more than three goals, he’s now done it three times in his last four games. Tonight’s five goals tied his worst goals-against for the season (Atlanta, October 18).

Is it me, or did Jagr look old out there? We don’t think we’ve seen him pushed off the puck that many times in a month’s worth of games.

And don’t think it didn’t have anything to do with Shaone Morrisonn, either. He seems to save some of his best games for those in which he competes against Jagr. Morrisonn was a +3 tonight.

It was another goal for Paul Coffey Jeff Schultz – that’s three in three games – but he was out there for every Ranger goal, including one by Scott Gomez on which he had no business giving Gomez a free pass down the middle to the net.

Joe Motzko might have scored the first goal, but without Donald Brashear throwing Daniel Girardi off the puck in the deep left wing corner, it doesn’t happen.

The second one was all Motzko, though, with that little dipsy-do around Brandon Dubinsky and that snapper past Lundqvist's glove.

What did you think of Lundqvist’s heel-of-the-skate-from-behind-his-head save, while on his stomach, on David Steckel?

...and what about Lundqvist pulling a Bill Ranford and taking an Ovechkin drive right in the safe deposit box...eeeeeyouch!

Monday, it was a two-point night for John Erskine…tonight a two-point night for Donald Brashear. We know we’ve been harping about other guys stepping up, but this – and Jeff Schultz’ Al MacInnis impersonation the last three games…that’s not exactly what we were expecting.

That was the first time this year the Rangers scored at least four goals in a game and lost. It was the first time this year the Caps gave up at least four goals and won.

Nicklas Backstrom might have a reputation as a quiet guy, but he sure looked to be yapping at the ref on his way to the penalty box after being whistled for a holding penalty in the second period. How do you say “in your ear” in Swedish?

Um…did Chris Drury dress tonight?

Mike Green is starting to get that “bring the fans to the edge of their seats” look when he’s weaving up ice on a rush. Has he come a long way in a year, and perhaps no one has benefited more from the coaching change…that “Unleash the Fury” video they play during a break in action?...you might say it applies to Green’s game.

The Peerless always has had a soft spot for Brendan Shanahan, and we’ll give you an example of why. Shanahan was trailing Ovechkin down the left side, and Ovechkin was about to collect the puck in the corner. He was in a potentially vulnerable position. Lesser players would have taken advantage of that opportunity, perhaps causing injury. But Shanahan used his positional leverage on the play, kept his hand on Ovechkin’s back, and merely finished his check to allow a Ranger to pick up the puck behind the Ranger net...Shanahan is one of the toughest SOB’s in the league who will take crap from no one. But that is the kind of professional play – respect for an opponent – that makes him a solid citizen on the ice, too. We just wish it could have been someone like Sean Avery blowing a tire to allow Brooks Laich and Mike Green to take off on the winning rush.

OK…here’s a question. What will Larry Brooks whine about in tomorrow morning’s New York Post:

- The bad ice?
- The sparse crowd (12,553 announced) that doesn’t deserve an Alex Ovechkin?
- The officiating, for allowing Jagr to be checked?

Don’t look now, but the Caps are only six points out of a playoff spot…The Peerless said, “don’t look!”

* Courtesy of CapsChick at "A View from the Cheap Seats"

Tough Brotherly Love

In the pasteurized, homogenized, packaged, focus grouped, marketed-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life NHL of Gary Bettman, every once in a while hockey fans get a glimpse into what made hockey the sort of sport where rivalries matter.

Last night, the Philadelphia Flyers administered a dose of reality to the Pittsburgh Penguins, abusing them 8-2 in front of an appreciative crowd in the City of Brotherly Love.

Love was hardly on display last night as the clubs racked up 156 minutes in penalties, including four fights -- the first of which took place 20 seconds into the game -- and seven misconduct penalties, and even had the good feelings spill over into the hallway after the game.

On their tour of western Canada, the Penguins were the subject of some of the most relentless hero worship among the media in recent history -- the sort reserved for war heroes or the Pope. One would have thought, reading the paeans to all things Sidney Crosby, that the precocious forward dispensed loaves and fishes to the assembled multitudes in western Canada arenas during warmups and raised the lame during intermissions of contests. Even in his wake, it was as if he'd gone forth and ascended into heaven instead of having returned to the East coast.

Well, western teams might have had their first glimpse of Crosby and the apostles...uh, Penguins, but teams in the Atlantic -- who have had a couple of years to see the show and read the press -- don't seem so intimidated. The Penguins are now 3-8-1 against the Atlantic Division this season, and with 20 games left to play with their intradivision rivals, it might be early to print playoff tickets.

The Flyers showed why last night. Not one, but two hat tricks (courtesy of Joffrey Lupul and R.J. Umberger), and a thorough bludgeoning that had Crosby sitting on the bench for the last eight minutes of the game in an expression of "no mas" from head coach Michel Therrien, who whined after the game about the Flyers running up the score.

This isn't over, by any means -- the teams meet next on January 24th in Philadelphia, and this is just one game. But, after the over-the-top coverage of Crosby's pilgrimage to the western provinces, there might be fans in 28 other NHL cities this morning who are quietly appreciative of the Flyers' applying a dose of reality to matters.

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Caps vs. Rangers, December 12th

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!!

And the theme for this installment is…

Mullets Through the Ages!

What with the Caps hosting the New York Rangers on “80’s Night” and a offering a mullet wig to the first 5,000 fans, it behooves us to stop and pay our respects to that misunderstood, disrespected icon of coiffure…

It is important to note that the mullet can be traced to the very beginnings of the Republic. Not only did Ben Franklin find time to invent the “bifocal” glasses, odometer, and lightning rod, he managed to sport a mean precursor to the modern mullet that revved up the revolution…

While Franklin might have introduced the mullet to the Colonies, the style was all the rage on the Continent long before that…Louis XIV – the Sun King – sported quite the coif that said “royal highness” by day, and “mad monarch” by night…

...and there was the husband and wife team of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette who always celebrated a new “moo-lay,” as they say in France, with a nice big wedge of cake.

The mullet wasn’t limited to royalty, either. The style was all the rage in the arts. Georg Friedrich Handel could only exclaim, “Hallelujah!” upon seeing his new style for the first time.

The mullet even found its way into the intelligentsia, giving a bit of whimsy to those who might otherwise have seemed dull…and they could be combined with what might be called “early Don King” for a truly unique hair experience.

But the mullet achieved its zenith in the 1980’s. Whether sports, entertainment, or just the guy changing pins at the bowling alley, you could count on seeing mullets of every color, shade, and sheen. You could never confuse one with a gray mullet, even though these are much tastier.

Mullets made the heart throb for the heart-throb. They were the art that made the artist.

But the mullet found its true calling in the world of sports. While the mullet was often referred to as “hockey hair,” it was all the look in baseball…whether on short, fat guys…or long, tall guys…it was every bit as much required as a chaw of tobacco on the diamond.

It even found its way into tennis, knowing no difference between the genders, making it hard to see…well, the difference between the genders.

Hockey, though, is where the mullet found its true expression…who could forget the flowing locks of Ron Duguay – the proto-mullet as it were. Or a young Barry Melrose, whose combination of mullet and thoughtful finger resting on the cheek fairly screamed, “I’m a doofus! And I’m proud of it!!”

As time passed the mullet faded into obscurity, although every once in a while, it gains a new respectability when sported among the thespian crowd. Even a two-time Academy Award winner such as Tom Hanks can sport the style without the slightest hint of self-consciousness (although having Audrey Tautou at one’s side might do wonders for that, too), even if his modified style might be more appropriately termed, “mul-lite.”

But in the end, we must pay homage to he who took the mullet to the next level of “what the...?" And it is he who we honor tonight with our donning the mullet wig. His locks flowing as he streaked across the Pittsburgh Civic Arena ice gave rise to the term, “puck bunny” as thousands of Pittsburgh school girls swooned at the very thought of running their nicotine-stained fingers through his mane.

Jaromir Jagr would forsake the mullet to achieve some measure of erudition, but we must never forget that Jagr never won a Stanley Cup with shorn locks. The mullet gave him strength and purpose. And now, in this, his worst season since his rookie year, he must ponder the question…to mullet?...or not to mullet?...

Jagr’s Rangers (does that sound like some Saturday morning kids show on public access?) visit Verizon Center to see if they can halt the Capitals’ rush to respectability. Since completing a five-game winning streak with a 4-3 overtime win in Pittsburgh on November 17, the Rangers have been treading water: 4-5-1 in their last ten games.

For the Rangers, the problem is one they endured all year. They can’t score goals. They’ve scored two or fewer goals in eight of these ten games. What that means is that while they’ve given up a respectable 26 in these ten games, they’ve been on the low side of .500.

You would think a team with Jaromir Jagr, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, and Brendan Shanahan (that’s $24.65 million of cap space eaten up, kids) would have scored more than a combined 29 goals in 30 games. It’s been somewhat better over the last ten games (12 goals, combined), but what it means is that the Rangers have been suffering a bit of the same problem that has plagued the Caps for much of the year – not getting scoring from their support players.

But it is Jagr’s performance that has been most perplexing. The idea was that with a couple of high-end centers to feed him the puck and get out of the way, he would have the kind of year that could lead the Rangers to a Stanley Cup. It isn’t turning out that way. Head coach Tom Renney has struggled to find the combination to unlock Jagr’s production this year. At his current pace, Jagr will finish the season 19-38-57, -14. That would leave him far short of any of the statistical triggers on the option year of his contract. If anything, the club must be quietly contemplating moving him at the trading deadline, even if the Rangers are still in the playoff mix.

What might be a bit more ominous for the Rangers in the short term (as in, “this game”) is that they took three on the chin (outscored by a combined 14-4) before stopping the bleeding with a 1-0 overtime win against the Devils on Sunday.

Henrik Lundqvist – who took two of those three losses, giving up eight goals in the process – figures to get the start. He’s 7-2-0, 2.25, .920 in nine career games against the Caps and is 2-0-0, 0.50, .982 this year.

The problem for the Caps is solving Lundqvist more than it is stifling Jagr and his buddies – they’ve done a pretty good job of doing that to themselves in a lot of games this year. This is the pivotal game of the four-game homestand. Win, and they have had a successful one – one upon which they can build. Lose, and they risk a split when Buffalo comes to town on Friday.

It says here that the Caps will have one of those infrequent games in which Lundqvist looks mortal, and the Rangers won’t have enough fire power to make up the difference. The Caps will play the role they have to play on this night...

Caps 4 – Rangers 2.

The Quote of the Night

"The energy and the effort was fabulous. I don't know how much of it was the system, but everybody was playing with each other for each other. We rolled four lines, and everybody was talking on the bench. It was a pretty sight."

-- Head Coach Bruce Boudreau, following last night's win

A TWO point night: Caps 3 - Devils 2

Two in a row! Holy schneikes, break up the Caps. The good guys won their second in a row, this one a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils.

And don’t bring that “they didn’t play Brodeur,” or “they were playing their second game in as many nights” nonsense, either. The Caps didn’t have Michael Nylander, Chris Clark, or Boyd Gordon – that’s the second leading scorer, the captain, and the top faceoff guy. Let’s call it even on the excuse-o-meter.

The Caps managed to scratch out a win despite playing perhaps 40 minutes…the last ten minutes of the first period, the whole second period, and the last ten minutes of the third.

It was enough.

It also was a weird game. Both teams had goals disallowed – the Caps had one disallowed with less than a half minute to play in the first when Tomas Fleischmann stepped out from the right wing corner and tried to stuff the puck under Devil goalie Kevin Weekes’ pads. With David Steckel and Joe Motzko crashing the crease, the puck snuck under Weekes and into the net – a fact plainly visible on replay. But…

…someone blew a whistle, or maybe they heard the chimes on a Metro train at Gallery Place…the referees heard something, and thus disallowed the goal.

New Jersey had one disallowed in the opening minute of the third period when Mike Mottau followed up his own shot and directed the puck into the net with his skate. The question was, did he do so employing a kicking motion. After a phone call that probably exhausted the minutes remaining for December on the NHL’s calling plan, the goal was disallowed…score that -1 to -1.

But this night belonged to Quintin Laing. Since being called up, he’s been a defensive specialist and shot blocking savant. But late in the second, when it looked as if the Caps would squander a period they thoroughly dominated, John Erskine sent a harmless enough looking shot at the Devils’ net from the far left point. Weekes played the shot much as a mite might, which meant he fumbled it, then couldn’t secure the rebound as it dribbled out in front of him. Laing was Johnny-on-the-spot to collect the trash and deposit it with a backhand in the nearest receptacle – the Devils’ net.

That goal would prove to be the game-winner as David Clarkson scored a goal just over two minutes into the third period on a semi-wrap around that Olaf Kolzig had no business allowing to sneak through his pads from a tough angle. In a way, the Clarkson goal might have been a suitable test – that sort of goal might have triggered a collapse by the Caps a few weeks ago. Tonight it served to test the ability of the home team to defend a one-goal lead against a veteran squad.

The Caps were up to the task, settling down in the late stages to force New Jersey to try to run their offense from the outside.

Looking at the final numbers, we are once more impressed by the balance. Eight players had nine points. And if you had “John Erskine” as the only Cap with two points before the game, come see me…The Peerless will split a MegaMillions ticket with you.

One thing a fan might have expected in this game was that the Caps would come out and press the Devils – hitting them early and often. Well, they didn’t accomplish much of that early (in fact, the Caps looked somewhat flat in the first ten minutes), but they made up for it as the game wore on. The Capitals were credited with 31 hits. Milan Jurcina made up for a stretch of relative timidity by laying six hits on Devils to lead the club. Alex Ovechkin was more or less a heat-seeking missle all night, lining up Devils in all three zones. He was credited with five hits, but it seemed like more. In all, 15 skaters were credited with hits, but the two hits that might have mattered most came about ten minutes into the first period when Laing hit Dainius Zubrus who careened into a hit from Matt Bradley. It touched off a fight between Bradley and Sheldon Brookbank (think he had a lot of fights as a kid?...”hey Shel-l-l-l-l-don”) that Bradley finished by going into a fist-cocked pile driver pose over the fallen Devil. Washington owned the pace of the game from that point until the third period.

If there was one exasperating part of the game, it was that the Caps worked the puck extremely well in the Devil zone, creating a number of excellent chances. But they gave away the puck entirely too much for comfort (20 giveaways for the game). And that stat was spread around, too. 11 skaters combined for the 20 giveaways. A more skilled offensive club might have exploited that a lot more effectively. As it was, it made for frustrating conclusions to excellent sequences. The Caps could have – and perhaps should have – had three more goals in the second period on the basis of their play.

The night might have belonged to Laing, with his first goal, but the best player on the ice was the youngest one. 20-year old Nicklas Backstrom once more pounced on a loose puck in the middle of the offensive zone, deking Weekes to his knees, then lifted the puck past him for the first Caps goal. Throughout the game he displayed a calm, unrushed sense with the puck – sort of like Viktor Kozlov, only effective. He created a number of those chances of which we spoke up above, and he could have had three assists to go with his goal.

There was also the matter of this being a game in which the "unknowns" shined. In addition to Laing's game winner and Erskine's two assists, don't forget Jeff Schultz, who took a cross-ice, off the boards feed from Ovechkin and in one motion snapped the puck at the net. It hit a Devil on the way in and changed direction just enough to sneak past Weekes on the far side. Good things happen when defensemen get the puck all the way to the net.

One other thing coming out of this game…Matt Pettinger has the same hell-bent-for-leather all out skating style that Ovechkin possesses. He seems to be one of the few Caps who displays a willingness not to merely watch Ovechkin barrel into the offensive zone, but to head along with him looking for a pass or perhaps a rebound. Now, if Pettinger could have capitalized on the chances he had – he had several. This might be something to watch, though.

Two points is two points, and they are nice to have, especially since the Caps were giving some indications early in the third period that they might let at least one of them slip away. It’s a two point night and a two-game winning streak. And next is the Rangers…and an opportunity to both match their longest winning streak of the year and climb out of the league basement.