Hmmm.who are these Caps, really?

And that's a good question.  Since I last wrote (and my new job precludes me from writing as often as I'd like to, but, hey I have a new avocation instead of spending too much time reading about the Washington Capitals so that's a good thing), the Caps have gotten smacked down by the Atlanta Thrashers, beaten up by the Carolina Hurricanes and Cam Ward but they also shut out Florida 3-0 and beat up on Tampa Bay 5-2.  On a nightly basis it's impossible to know which Washington Capital team will show up.  

The fans are losing it, as evidenced by the message boards, and are in varying degrees of mass hysteria but there's a history there.  Caps fans are long suffering fans when it comes to playoff success. The Caps haven't won a round in the playoffs in ten years.  If they win one playoff round this year, that, to me, would constitute a successful season.

The Caps, like Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green, may disagree with my seeming willingness to give up further playoff success so easily.  But I don't see it yet.  The Caps haven't yet realized that to be an elite team you have to stop playing down to bad teams and up for just the good teams. Elite teams play to win, always.  The Caps don't.  They sit back when they should be putting away teams.

The Caps defense will not get them very far in the playoffs.   They still can't play worth  a damn against gritty teams (see the Philadelphia Flyers games) and they get pushed around too easily. That is a recipe for playing golf in April.  

I love this team, but I don't see them going far in the playoffs yet.   Hopefully, they'll prove me wrong. I'd gleefully admit to being wrong since I'd be happier if the Caps were advancing in the playoffs than if they were out of it.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are up next for the Caps.

Let's go Caps!

Caps lose 3-1 to 'Canes

Caps lost the 2nd game they played in under 24-hours with a flight from Toronto to Raleigh, NC in between. I didn't get to see the game but from what I've read goalie Jose Theodore didn't play well enough to steal a game for the Caps even though he was rested. He's still playing in front of an amateur defense, too, but that excuse doesn't go very far for a veteran netminder. Theodore's currently ranked 41st in stats with a .888 save % and a 3.08 GAA. In other words, the Caps won't be playing long in the post season (assuming they make it) with him in net unless he finds his game.

In the rare good news department, Sami Lepisto got sent back to Hershey after another rough performance against the Canes which means either Tom Poti or Mike Green will be available for the game against the Boston Bruins on Wed. It's about time Caps get one of their injured players back.

The game against the Boston Bruins is going to be tough for the Caps. The Bruins are tearing up the East with an 18-4-4 record. I'm not looking forward to seeing Milan Lucic, the hard hitting defender that took out Brian Pothier indefinitely with his hit, play against an injury depleted Capitals team. My best hope for the game is that Caps don't suffer any more injuries.

Let's go Caps!

The Russian line delivers to get the Caps 2 points

Coach Boudreau put the Russians - Alex Ovechkin, Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Semin - together on the top line last night and it worked.  The Russian World Champion gold medalists scored all the goals last night and Ovie got all 3 primary assists in their 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.  First, the Caps had to overcome starting from behind, again, as the Hurricanes scored first at 2:39 in the first period.

Fedorov started the scoring for the Caps in the 2nd period netting one off of Ovie's pass. Semin scored the 2nd goal, a beauty from behind the net and then over Cam Ward, with less than 3 minutes left in the 3rd period.  He got the game winner off another pretty Ovie pass with 11 seconds left. 

Three other players deserve kudos.  Brent Johnson played another solid night in net and Nicklas Backstrom played his best game of the season and he was on the ice for the last two goals.  He needs to play better consistently but maybe he's getting his game back.  Brooks Laich deserves kudos for breaking up a play while hobbling to the bench after blocking a shot.

So, the Caps get two points in their division and come within two of Carolina in the standings. It's only November, but that was an important game, particularly, considering they only play their division rivals six times instead of eight this year.  The game still lacked in many ways like Ovie not scoring, Nylander causing Carolina's 2nd goal, many Caps still forgetting to shoot the puck instead of passing it, 0 for 5 on the power play, Green playing awful defense, the Caps inability to get the puck out of their zone and undisclosed injuries to Fedorov and Shaone Morrisonn which left the Caps with only 5 defensemen.  

The Caps defense is bad enough without being handicapped by only having 5 players even if Morrisonn has been terrible this year.  It's a ridiculous situation for them to be in, caused by them carrying 22 players because they're too close to the salary cap.   

If Feds can play and Morrisonn can't I hope they call up Tyler Sloan instead of putting Feds on defense tomorrow.  Leave the Russian line together for a while, particularly, since they face the red hot NY Rangers tomorrow night.

Let's go Caps!

Caps continue to fight without much help

I didn't get to see the Caps beat Florida 3-0 on Saturday since I was out of town. At least, my heart got a break from the relentless 'must win' games. The Caps aren't getting any help from anyone except for former Capital, Jeff Halpern, who had a game winning goal for Tampa Bay to beat the Carolina Hurricanes. That leaves the Caps 2 points behind them for the SE division lead. Thanks Jeff!

The Caps ended their road trip with a 5-1 record on the back of the hot net minder Cristobal Huet. Coach Boudreau seems to be sticking with Huet for the rest of the season and as much as I'm a huge fan of Olie, I can't blame him.

The Caps have done well with their trade deadline pickups and I'm still hoping that somehow the Caps can keep Sergei Fedorov for another year. Tarek El-Bashir had a great article in the Washington Post about how Fedorov is "possessed about the playoffs". He brings championship experience to this team that the young guys are soaking up.

To say tomorrow night's game against the Carolina Hurricanes is huge (again!) is an understatement. This is the Caps chance to tie for the division lead. I'm glad I'll be there.

Let's go Caps!

A new beginning and 4 points to show for it

Bruce Boudreau made his NHL coaching debut and the Caps beat the Flyers in an overtime thriller, 4-3 on Friday afternoon. Nicklas Backstrom scored the overtime game winner off an Alex Ovechkin pass to make a nice 20th birthday present for the rookie. He also got a shaving cream pie from Ovie after his game winning goal + 2 assist game.

Bourdreau, in a surprise move, played Backstrom on the 4th line between Donald Brashear and Matt Bradley and declared them the best line after the game. That line played well, keeping the puck in the offensive zone and Brashear netted a goal, in addition to, beating the crap out of Riley Cote for good reason early in the game. Flyers v. Caps are always nasty games and this one proved no different.

Not that the game against the Flyers was all good because it wasn't and they almost lost the game, but the Caps prevailed, for once, and a new coach got his first win in the big game.

Then, the Caps turned around and beat the Southeast Division leading Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2 on Saturday night. The Caps outplayed the Hurricanes in the first period, keeping the puck in the offensive zone for huge chunks of time. Even more amazing, the Caps netted three power play goals from Mike Green, Ovie and Michael Nylander after getting another one in Philly. Power play goals have been tough to come by for the Caps so what's going on here? According to Caps writer Mike Vogel post game report, no one is saying, although Boudreau said he listened to suggestions from assistant coach, Jay Leach and trusted his players abilities. Whatever....it worked and little has worked for the Caps on the power play this year.

So, the Caps have won two in a row for the first time since the first week of the season and the wins came against very good hockey teams. I hope it means things might start going in the right direction. Still, at this point in the season, I don't have any expectations for the Caps. They've got a huge hole in front of them and have to play inspired hockey from here on out to get anywhere. Will a new coach be able to do that? I don't know. I'm just happy to watch a team playing with more fire than I've seen in a while.

Buffalo comes to town tomorrow night.

Let's go Caps!

A class act departs

My last blog post, which I never posted, skewered Glen Hanlon and desperately called for someone, anyone to save this hockey team from its worst start in 26-years. GMGM finally decided to fire Hanlon after he and the Caps got booed non-stop during a 5-1 debacle of a game against Atlanta. It's been tough for me to write about, much less, watch the Capitals this season (and I still have many game tickets left) so I'm thrilled there's been a coaching change with Bruce Boudreau, AHL Hershey Bears coach, being named interim coach for the Caps.

Still...this coaching change makes me sad. I wanted Glen Hanlon to do well here. I heard GMGM's press conference where he told Glen that he really appreciated his service and what he did to develop the young guys playing on this team. To hear Hanlon's response that he knew the change had to be made and he honestly didn't know what he would do for the team in the Flyers game on Friday means Hanlon wasn't being delusional about the situation either. The coach lost this team somewhere.

But, I'd like to join GMGM in saying thank you to Glen Hanlon. I'll never forget that it was him who told Ovechkin that he had to learn how to play defense, too, if he wanted to be a true superstar in this league. Well, Ovie took that lesson to heart and has gone from playing minus-19 hockey last year to playing consistently plus-3 hockey this year. His defensive play is almost as fun to watch as his offense this year.

And, Peter Laviolette, the Carolina Hurricane coach, said he never took the Caps lightly because Glen Hanlon always made his team play hard whether they had the talent or not. This was particularly true up until December last season when the Caps played above their talent and us fans were thinking playoff potential until injuries and the flu took the wind out of their sails. But, it was a fun season to watch early on last season.

Finally, only Glen Hanlon would call his replacement, Bruce Boudreau after his first win against the Flyers to congratulate him. That's total class and shows how much Hanlon cares about this team.

So, thank you Glen and good luck landing on your feet. I know you will.

Let's go Caps!

Twenty minutes of hockey isn't good enough

The Caps lost by 1 goal again to another one of my favorite teams the Philadelphia Flyers (ha, ha). The Caps played great hockey in the first period out shooting the Flyers 14-6, but the second period saw the Flyers come back and tie it up on a Danny Briere (gag me) goal and go ahead by 1 goal at the end of the second. Ovie netted a power play goal in the 3rd, but the Flyers kept their 3-2 lead for the win. Gee, another 1 goal loss.

The always physical battle between the old Patrick Division rivals included numerous fights, shoving and pushing, and blood on the ice. Brooks Laich fought with Mike Richards and he ended up with 12 stitches in his nose. Unfortunately, that fight appeared to motivate Philly...not what the Caps needed.

At this point in the hockey season, I don't know what to say about the Caps except they stink and injuries are no excuse. Individually, most of the Caps are not out there hustling for 60 minutes which they need to do to win games. That brings me back to the coaching staff. They need to motivate this team and they aren't getting the job done.

The Caps play the hot Carolina Hurricanes tonight and I'm expecting them to lose. So, here's hoping they prove me wrong.

Let's go Caps!