Beagle Centering Ovie

The Caps gained 5 out of 6 points on their California road trip. I didn't think they had it in them, but stronger goaltending helps. Jaroslav Halak saved 45 shots in Anaheim. They're a team teetering on the edge of making the playoffs or going home. Sometimes they play like it. Sometimes they don't, but they surprised me on this road trip so I'll take it one game at a time.

Capitals Coach Adam Oates road trip strategy continued with some recently used and surprising line combinations, like Jay Beagle centering Alex Ovechkin. Some of his line shuffling is due to injuries to centers and two-way players Mikhail Grobovski and Brooks Laich and some of it is due to the Caps desperate needs for wins and points. On this road trip, the strategy worked from the perspective that Ovie ended up even in plus/minus versus -2 for each of his two prior games against Toronto and Vancouver.

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Let's go Caps!

Caps Need More Kuznetsov and Wilson

It's far too early to get overly excited about center Evgeny Kuznetsov, but he's been fun to watch in his last two games as a Cap. The sick passing skills and the ability to put the puck on the tape of his line mates were on display during his first star, three assist performance against the Vancouver Canucks. That first star came on 9:58 of ice time. He notched his fourth assist in his fourth game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Read more here at Two Pad Stack.

Let's go Caps!

Penner, Halak and Kuznetsov Become Caps

Since none of the above is a defenseman, the Caps are a sure bet for missing the playoffs or flaming out during the first round, as usual. The Caps defense, the one I heard George McPhee saying he likes on WTOP this past Friday, will not withstand the pressure of the Stanley Cup playoffs for longer than one series. See prior post here.

So what do Dustin Penner, Jaroslav Halak and Evgeny Kuznetsov bring to the Caps for the run to the playoffs? Penner, recently of the Anaheim Ducks, scored 32 points in 49 games this season, his best since 2010-2011, but that's because he played with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. On the plus side, Penner's been on two Stanley Cup winning teams, the Ducks in 2007 and the Los Angeles Kings in 2012, so he knows what it takes to get there and most Caps do not. Penner's a tough player and the Caps can always use more toughness, but he's known to be inconsistent and lackadaisical, at times, and the Caps don't need more of that. They've got enough, as evidenced by last night's two plus periods of lousy play against the Phoenix Coyotes before they decided to wake up and score 3 goals in a little over 6 minutes to win the game.

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Let's go Caps!