Welcome Mike Knuble!

I'll be so much happier to see you in a Capitals uniform than a Flyers uniform.  

I like what I've read about Knuble's vocal leadership.  The Caps need that in the locker room. Thank you GMGM for finding a RW replacement for Viktor Kozlov that scored more last year and crashes the net.  Whippee.

Now, onto the criticism.  "At defense, we're fine."  Seriously?  Semyon Varlamov stole a couple of playoffs game for the Caps and covered up for the defense that didn't get the job done. Not that other players weren't responsible for that game 7 debacle against Pittsburgh. There was plenty of blame to go around, but the defense needs an upgrade.  Maybe he's being the cagey GMGM that plays his cards close to his chest, but we won't know the answer to that, for a while, I suspect.

The Caps also have other needs, like a 2nd line center, but GMGM didn't say they were fine there.

I get that there isn't Cap space and there weren't really any good free agents on defense to go after so I don't hold out hope anything will happen during this period unless a trade happens. Now, I'm a huge fan of John Carlson, having tracked his growth this past season and last summer, but I don't know if he's ready to be an impact player.  I'd rather play him than Jeff Schultz though for his physical play alone.    

It sure was an interesting day for Caps fans today.  

Let's go Caps!

It's too bad that

the South Carolina Stingrays are the 2009 ECHL Champions 

and the AHL Hershey Bears are the winner of the Calder Cup 

and the Washington Capitals still aren't built for the playoffs.

David Steckel brings the Caps home for Game 7

Being a Caps fan is not for the faint of heart, particularly, if you've watched this team for as long as I have.  There are two many overtime losses, too many playoff losses to Pittsburgh and too many years that the team was neglected by its owner when they wouldn't put a truly competitive NHL team on the ice.  To this day, I will never forget how badly outmatched the Caps were in their only finals appearance against the Detroit Red Wings.  To have your heart ripped out in the post season seemed like an annual occurrence.  See last year's game 7 against the Philadelphia Flyers for the most recent example.

Then, came Ted Leonsis, General Manager George McPhee and the ultimate gift for a fan, a young Russian rookie named Alex Ovechkin.  Ovie was soon joined by Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green and Alexander Semin settled into playing here and being a Capital with his Russian teammate.  They became the young guns. 

Add to that, Semyon Varlamov, the young rookie net minder who has played six more playoff NHL hockey games than he played in the regular season and generated a .925 save percentage and a 2.28 GAA.  His athleticism and acrobatics in net on some of his saves are eye popping to watch.  And, Varlamov's calm cool demeanor make me sure the Caps have found their goalie of the future.  He's living up to his billing as I've been reading about him for quite some time and saw him last summer at the Caps rookie development camp.

Then stir in the heart and soul players of this Capitals team like Matt Bradley who will gladly take a punch to rile up his team, Brooks Laich who knows how to camp out in front of the net and last night, David Steckel who has played huge, huge, huge in these playoffs with the overtime game winning goal to force game 7 last night after missing his overtime opportunity in game 5. Coach Bruce Boudreau keeps saying Steckel is a big game guy.  I believe him now. 

And what does all of that get you?  The "cardiac Caps" an affectionate moniker widely used to describe these Capitals and it makes it painful for me to watch them, at times.  Like last night.  Ovie thinks the fans enjoy this, but I don't.  I merely want them to win.  And, by a lot of goals.

Instead, the Caps are facing another game 7, another win or go home game, against a team I hate with intense passion.  I thought I'd be okay if the Caps only won one series this year, but I won't.  I'll be heartbroken.  Just like last year.

Let's go Caps!

Ovie takes the game with Varly's support

The phone booth crowd rocked the red in a deafening cacophony of Caps fan cheering, screaming, blaring horns, taunting Fleury and going nuts.  That was my most sublime live hockey experience ever.  To watch Alex Ovechkin take over a game from the Pittsburgh Penguins with his two goals for the hat trick in under three minutes starting at 12:53 in the third period was awesome.  The only thing better will be watching the Washington Capitals life the Stanley Cup and, no, that's not a prediction about this year.  See my tagline.

Simeon Valamov, leading in GAA with 1.51, continues to impress and kept the Caps in the game last night too often for comfort.  His sprawling side to side saves look like something you'd see in Olympic gymnastics. 

David Steckel got another important goal last night, too.  Coach Bourdreau says he gets up for big games.  He is most definitely showing that during the playoffs.

I loved that game even though playoff hockey is killing me as a fan.  These one goal games and being tied in the 3rd are way too stressful.

The Capitals move to Mellon Arena to battle the Penguins in their barn tomorrow night.

Let's go Caps!

p.s. Oh, and yes, Sydney Crosby had his own hat trick and played a good game to keep his team competitive, but I'm a Caps fan and have no interest in writing about him - enough other NHL venues take care of that :)

Cardiac Caps Outlast Penguins 2-1

In a game as exciting as promised with the last 3 Art Ross trophy winners on the ice, the Caps escaped with a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Sydney Crosby scored first at 4:09 in the first on a shot that the young net minder Simeon Varlamov should have had, but I'm going to cut the rookie some slack on that one.  The defense certainly wasn't helping him out early in the game as the Caps spent far too much time battling the Penguins in the defensive zone. 

Varlamov let in a deflected goal at 12:54 in the second period.  I worried about what that might do to Varly's confidence, but I forgot that worry when he made that highlight reel save on Sydney Crosby's shot.  Crosby had a wide open net until Varly threw himself back towards the other side of the net and deflected Crosby's shot right at the goal line with his stick.  That stop saved the game and got him another #1 star.

Other observations:

• Caps were terrible on faceoffs, winning only 47%.   They kept throwing everyone out of the circle.  I loved Alex Ovechkin's shot off the faceoff.  
• They also had 22 giveaways to the Penguins 6.  They need improvements on those stats to win this 7 game series.
  
• The Brooks Laich - David Steckel - Matt Bradley line is awesome.  They are battling hard, crashing the net and that resulted in a goal by David Steckel to tie the game at 1-1.  Steckel deservedly got the 2nd star.
• I'm glad Ovie and Mike Green learned that in the playoffs you sometimes need to dump the puck in.
• Nicklas Backstrom's, 2 assists, patience in feeding Tomas Fleischmann early in the 3rd period resulted in the game winning goal.  Backstrom just gets better and better.  

The last 17 minutes of that game were excruciatingly painful to watch as I just wanted it to be over.   Thankfully it ended with the Caps still up 3-2.

I'll be Rocking the Red Monday night at the phone booth.

Let's go Caps!

Cardiac Caps Push It But Feds & Varly Win It 2-1

Simeon Varlamov - Tsarlamov, From Russia with Glove, Wallamov - whatever you want to call him, has been awesome in net, 2nd only to Roberto Luongo  in stats this playoff season and 1st star of the game 7 tonight.  He kept the Caps in it early in this game when they started out playing like shit - okay so let me define that - listless, not hustling, not battling, and generally not acting like it's a play or go home game.  Unbelievable, in fact.  The Caps believe their press clips way too much.  Much of the media handed the Caps the series on a silver platter.  That made me anxious all day.   Note - I agree that they Caps were way too anxious for this game - they just caused me a heart attack in the process. So my prior comments are reflective of being a frustrated, but passionate Washington Capitals.

Regardless, this game was all about Sergei Fedorov who got the 2nd star - he actually deserved the first star with the game winner. I was critical of his play during the first two periods because he seemed too slow and it seemed like Alex Ovechkin was always way ahead of Feds and Viktor Kozlov.  I wanted him off of Ovie's line and fast before the second period ended.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Sergei Fedorov and couldn't believe he ended up a Capital.  I mean, seriously, how did a legend end up as a Capital?  Sergei got the game winning goal on an absolutely beautiful shot at 15:01.  

In an eerily prescient moment, Craig Laughlin said on the broadcast something to the effect of Sergei will have something to say about how this series end. Wow.  He couldn't have been more right.

On a side note, Chris Clark played an up tempo, high energy game for his first game back since January.  

It took the Caps until the 3rd period to find their game.  They looked downright horrible during the first two periods.  And the last almost five minutes of that game after Feds scored were painful.  My heart raced way above normal during that time frame.  1998 was a long time ago, damn it, and I was tired of waiting.

Tonight, I don't have to wait anymore.  Thank you Washington Capitals.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are up next.

Let's go Caps!

Poti torches former team to lead Caps in 5-3 win

Tom Poti torched his former team with 1 goal and 3 assists to lead the way in the Caps tying up this series.  The tape to tape pass play where David Steckel set Poti up for his goal was a thing of beauty.  Poti's holding his ear up for the fans on his way off the ice after his post game interview cracked me up, but the Caps need to win another game so it's no time for cockiness.  He played a great game.

Observations:

• I'm loving the line of Brooks Laich, Matt Bradley and David Steckel.  They are playing with high energy and fighting hard.  Steckel's been money in the bank on the penalty kill as he's clearing the puck regularly.
  
  
• Viktor Kozlov looked Ovie like with his dipsy do around the Rangers on that goal.  The 4th puck that went glove high.  Caps finally figured out how to successfully shoot on King Henrik.

• Nicklas Backstrom continues to hold onto the puck as if losing it would cost him his life. He gets playoff hockey.
  
  
• Alex Ovechkin deflected in a  beautiful Poti pass to net his 3rd goal in three games.
  
  
• John Erskine also gets playoff hockey.
  
  
• We like it when Milan Jurcina lets that rocket of a shot go.  
  
  
• Mike Green came alive today and potted his first playoff goal.  He apparently feels better which is certainly helpful.
  
  
• Simeon Varlamov stayed strong in net and got the 2nd star even though he ultimately let in 3 Rangers goals.

• But, why is it the Caps do the polar opposite of what their coach tells them to do sometimes?  They take stupid penalties (and, yes, the refs appeared to be hard on the Caps) and gave the Rangers not one, but two, 5 on 3s.  Ridiculous.
  

The Caps need to keep game 7 against Philadelphia last year in mind as they prepare for playing the Rangers Tuesday night.  It all ends in a second as Joffrey Lupul so painfully showed them and us fans.

Let's go Caps!