Marcus Johansson’s success at playing center

Playing with line mates Jason Chimera and Tom Wilson, Marcus Johansson’s success at playing center on the third line is a sign of a good fit. The player fans love to hate is turning in a tremendous season, particularly, after finding his stride in between the 35-year old speedster, Chimera, and the aggressive style of Tom Wilson. That line is producing. Chimera has speed and toughness, Wilson has grit, they both win board battles, and Johansson has speed to set up plays and make his own.

The interesting part of Johansson’s season happened in November after the New York Rangers game. He got suspended for two games for an illegal hit on defenseman Thomas Hickey. It was not intentional on his part, but the suspension still surprised for a player not known for toughness.

Johansson never seemed like the right fit playing opposite of Alex Ovechkin with Nicklas Backstrom. The two of them needed someone like T.J. Oshie to be the battler and energy guy on their line and that is not the type of player Johansson is. He, on the other hand, needed some board battlers and speed players so he could make plays instead of killing scoring chances when Ovie dished to him. Coach Barry Trotz continues to mix up the lines when they get stale, so these lines change.

Johansson moved to third line center when Jay Beagle went on long-term injured reserve to have wrist surgery at the end of December. The third line gelled, giving Trotz lots of offensive power in the top 9 forward and the ability to easily roll four lines.

Johansson’s played with more energy all season. He gets Trotz’s system now and is flourishing in it more. He is playing the game the right way, too, by hustling, forechecking, going to the net, setting up screens, and getting garbage goals, too. It will be great for the Caps if he keeps it up during the playoffs. Johansson’s 4 points in 14 games or 2 points in 7 games during 2012-2013 is not enough. Maybe keeping him as the third line center with Chimera and Wilson will fix that.

Let’s go Caps!

Chimera's Contribution

In 77 games last season, winger Jason Chimera generated 7 goals and 12 assists and ended with a minus-1. In 17 games this season, Chimera has 5 goals and 2 assist with a minus-4. This includes a 2 goal, 1 assist night against the Philadelphia Flyers. Both of his goals came on the power play, an area where the Caps needed traffic in front of the net. They got that with Chimera parked in front of goalie Steve Mason.  He netted two goals on the power play in that game, the most he has ever had in one season.

Chimera’s shined in his first star performance that night. He is always on the hard working line for the Caps. During regular shifts, he has been paired with the sneaky, but effective winger Justin Williams and the hard working center Jay Beagle. Chimera spent much of his time, prior to this season, skating with Joel Ward and Troy Brouwer so it was tough to know how he would adjust. That coupled with Chimera’s struggle last season with Coach Barry Trotz’s system, as noted in an earlier Washington Post article, seemed to indicate that this season might continue to be a struggle for him. From the low of sitting in the press box last season to his performance, so far, Chimera is getting better and better since he became a Cap in December 2009.

This season, he has almost as many goals as last season. At 36, Chimera flies down the ice like a younger man. He does not look like he has lost a step and he still has the ability to skate around defenders, like he did versus the Flyers. He is another all effort all the time type of player. The Caps finally have more than one player focused on playing the right way throughout the season and, more importantly, for the playoffs. Chimera is a critical component for the Caps success.

The Caps are back in Detroit for another game versus the Red Wings. Caps need more traffic in front of the net and goalie Petr Mrazek. Let’s go Chimera.

Let’s go Caps!

A worker on every line

Coach Barry Trotz’s stated strategy to beat the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, after a sluggish start by the Caps, was to “put a worker on every line.” The Caps looked like they were skating in quicksand after playing the Columbus Blue Jackets the prior night.

To create a spark, Trotz broke up his hardest working trio of Jay Beagle, Tom Wilson and Jason Chimera and spread them among the top three lines. Those are not the only line changes he made as that spark happened early in the 3^rd period when Beagle tied the game assisted by Alex Ovechkin and Justin Williams. The Caps won that game in overtime, thanks to the continued magic and hard work of Evgeny Kuznetsov’s offense, assisted by his fellow Russians Ovie and Dmitry Orlov. The Caps responded to their coach and won the game. That is encouraging.

Trotz is all about accountability and effort and that has been evident since he arrived in Washington last summer. He increases ice time when players play well and sends them to the press box when they are not playing the game the right way. That is polar opposite of the Coach Bruce Boudreau country club atmosphere days when the Caps players were more concerned about their activities off the ice.

The additions of T.J. Oshie and Williams this season and Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen last season show how serious General Manager Brian MacLellan is about fixing the problems the Caps have had getting past the 2^nd round of the playoffs in the Ovechkin era. He has brought players to Washington that understand how team effort and team play are the most important qualities for winning championships in any professional sport. This group did not bring just their offensive and defensive skill to the Caps, which was also sorely needed, but they brought the leadership intangibles that teams need.

These recently acquired Caps, along with homegrown prospects like Tom Wilson, who is already exhibiting leadership qualities in his play and the words he says, and Kuznetsov, who is so humble in his interviews bodes well for the Caps. It take all of these parts, in addition to the highly skilled players, to make it work. With a couple of exceptions, it has also made the Caps fun to watch.

Let's go Caps!

The Third Line and the Maddening Caps

Joel Ward impressed me in the playoffs last year for Nashville because he had 13 points - 7 goals, 6 assist in his 12 playoff games and played +4 hockey.  In 80 games during the regular season, Ward garnered 29 points and played -1 hockey.  Clearly, this is a guy that picks up his intensity in the playoffs.  He's a hard working forward that battles for pucks along the boards and I was excited that GMGM picked him up this summer.


Now, he's joined with Jason Chimera and Brooks Laich as part of the Caps checking line and the chemistry is evident based on how well this line has performed while playing against the top lines of their opponents.  That line had 2 goals and 1 assist against Carolina and Chimera got the 3rd star.  Then, Chimera had 2 goals and that line had 4 points against Tampa Bay while keeping their top line of Ryan Malone-Steven Stamkos-Martin St. Louis to 1 point. Malone got the lone point for an assist without Stamkos and St. Louis.  Nhl.com awarded Chimera the second star for his play and he was the first star for the game. 


I'm liking that line.  They weren't as impressive against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but I think that line is going to be key for the Caps if they can manage to do other things right, which remains to be seen.


So, why are the Caps maddening, part 1?  How about because their passing looks like the Mites on Ice and they look disorganized way too often.  In the Pittsburgh game, the Caps looked downright horrible in the first period, played better in the second, but trailed off in the third.  They managed a paltry 19 shots on net compared to the Crosby-less Penguins 41 shots.  They're not going to win too many playoff games playing that way.


Why are the Caps maddening, part 2? Yes, they're 3-0, but they've given away 3 standing points to 2 division rivals and 1 Eastern conference rival by not being capable of closing out a game in regulation.   That doesn't matter now, but it will in April.


Other notes...

• Thankfully, Boudreau has paired Mike Green with Roman Hamrlik instead of Jeff Schultz.  Game over Green, with the overtime winner against Carolina, is starting to look like his old self again and Hamrlik seems to helping that.  I like Hamrlik's game, too.  He's faster than Scott Hannan, even at age 37, and still throws his body out there to block shots.
• After a rocky start against Tampa Bay, Tomas Vokoun stood on his head in overtime and the shootout.  He looked strong against Pittsburgh, too, stopping 39 of those 41 shots.
• Nicklas Backstrom is starting to look like his old self again, too, and that pass to Dennis Wideman for the game winning goal against Pittsburgh was sweet indeed.  Backstrom needs to be successful this season or the Caps won't make it very far in the second season.

The Ottawa Senators are in town for tonight's game.

Let's go Caps!