What if Neuvirth Played in 2011 Playoffs?

Now that Michal Neuvirth, once again, seems to be the Caps goalie du jour, I looked at a blog post I wrote in 2011 because I remember writing about him as the Caps headed to the playoffs under then Coach Bruce Boudreau. Here's what I wrote.

Did the Caps blow it? Hockey goalies are notoriously mental to begin with -- see Braden Holtby's pre-game routine or Ilya Bryzgalov's press conferences -- and all of the Caps coaches, Bruce Boudreau, Dale Hunter and Adam Oates, employed the play the hot hand strategy with the young goalies, which brings us to today. Has the goalie merry-go-round hurt all the Caps young goaltenders mentally? Would the Caps be in a better place today if they'd settled on Neuvirth in 2011? 

Read more here.

Let's go Caps!

Caps Take Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

After losing six of their last seven, the Caps started winning again for a whopping two games. As with all things Caps, they took two steps forward and one backward this week. They played two strong games against the 2nd best team in the Atlantic Division, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs. Then, they took a step back by blowing it against the Buffalo Sabres. They got a loser point out of that game.

Read more here.

Pittsburgh tomorrow night, 1st game of a brutal road trip.

Let's go Caps!

Whew....a 2-point night

After that abomination of a game against the Flyers the other night (which, thankfully, I couldn't watch), long-time Caps fans began wondering.  Is this team just awful?  Will they ever be able to get it together, even under new coach Dale Hunter?  It seems like every season Caps teams are lacking in one way or the other - lack of talent, lack of heart or lack of coaching.  This has been the situation since 1974 and this current team is no exception.  It remains to be seen if this team can overcome its issues, such as, goaltending inconsistency, defensive breakdowns, lack of strength down the middle and high-priced talent that isn't scoring.

But, tonight, at least, the Caps accomplished what they were supposed to in beating the Jets 1-0.  Michal Neuvirth kept the Caps in the game during the first period making some beautiful saves on 14 shots on goal.  The rest of the team caught up and helped Neuvirth out in the last forty minutes, limiting them to 8 shots in the 2nd period and 3 shots in the 3rd.  It appeared like the players gained more confidence because Neuvirth bailed them out in the 1st period and they responded by shutting down the Jets the rest of the game.  Neurvirth got the first star of the game for his efforts.  It was great to see him pumping his fist and smiling under his helmet after getting the shutout.

Besides Neurvirth's performance, the highlight of the game was Marcus Johansson's drop pass to Alex Ovechkin with 1:14 left in the 3rd and watching Ovie blast the puck past Ondrej Pavelec for the game winner.  It's no secret that if Ovie isn't scoring, the Caps aren't going anywhere and he hasn't been doing much scoring lately, but he's getting a lot more shots on goal in the DH era, which is encouraging.  

It's getting easier to see Coach Hunter's system as the Caps get more adept at playing it. I like the other things Hunter is doing, too.  He rolls the appropriate personnel for the appropriate situation - no Alexander Semin out there on Ovie's line with under two minutes left in the game, no Jeff Schultz playing much, at all, lately, and no John Erskine when they need a goal to win the game (don't get me wrong, I adore Erskine for the role he's meant to play and plays well) .  Hunter hands out ice time based on performance, too, as evidenced by limiting the struggling Cody Eakin to 7:12 in the game tonight. 

Although my optimism and pessimism about this team swings wildly based on how they play on any given night, I'm happy with tonight's 1-0 win.  I'll be even happier if they make a repeat performance in Colorado on Saturday.

Let's go Caps!

Questions for the 2011-2012 Caps season

Like most, I think GMGM picked up some good players this summer in forwards Troy Brouwer, Joel Ward and Jeff Halpern and Roman Hamrlik on defense.  I watched all of them, except Halpern, at the last pre-season game yesterday against the Chicago Blackhawks and I liked what I saw.  Brouwer and Ward bring desperately needed grit to the team and I like how they battled for the puck along the boards and how they set up plays. And, Hamrlik looked good paired with Mike Green.  It's easy to see that he's faster than Scott Hannan.

After last year's epic playoff flameout, GMGM had to have a good offseason.  Time will tell if those players will help the team.  Regardless, huge questions remain about the Caps and their elusive quest for the Stanley Cup.  And, here they are:

• Will Coach Bruce Boudreau learn how to adjust his game strategies in a seven game series to effectively compete in the playoffs?
• Will Boudreau instill discipline in his players during practice and during games? Will the country club atmosphere be replaced with more seriousness this year?  Many of the players came in earlier than they did last year and in better shape, but I'm not convinced the players will listen to the same voice any better than in years past.
• Will the players police their own locker room and call out other players, when necessary?
• Will Ovie elevate his game to the next level and realize he can't do it all himself?  I was pleased to see he didn't try his signature move once yesterday, the one that every defender in the NHL has figured out. 
• Will Nicklas Backstrom return to form this year?  This is an especially important question as the Caps are thin at experience down the middle and Stanley Cup winners are typically strong at center.
• Will the power play ever improve?  Yesterday, the power play continued to look disorganized and ineffective with the Caps having to chase down pucks far too often. 
• Will Mike Green stay healthy and will Boudreau please pair him with Hamrlik and not Jeff Schultz?  Japer's Rink excellent post, with numerous video clips, shows why Green's partner is crucial to his health.
• Will all the Caps, yes, including Alexander Semin, play like they care and with heart on a consistent basis? Will they care enough to leave everything they've got out on the ice in April, May and June?

There are too many unanswered questions for me to get overly excited about this season.  And, the important ones don't matter until April.

Changing topics....kudos to Michal Neuvirth for a spectacular game in net yesterday.  My other half, Jeff, pointed out to me that it appeared like Neuvy was anticipating where the puck was going.  He was in the zone.  Yes, he's now the #1B goalie because there is no way GMGM could pass up Tomas Vokoun.  Neuvirth will learn a lot from Vokoun and I like his attitude about Vokoun coming in, but I also hope Neuvy gets lots of playing time, too.

Congrats also to Mathieu Perreault for a great pre-season with the most points of anyone on the team.

Let's go Caps!

Go with Neuvirth as Tarik Says

I agree with everything Tarik El-Bashir says about committing to Michal Neuvirth now while the Caps have 12 games left in the regular season.  As Neuvy so often says, he's the type of goalie that plays better when he's in a groove and getting the majority of the starts.  So, please, play him.

Neuvirth has saved the Caps several times this season, particularly, when the rest of the team played awful.  Neuvy's record in 41 games is 22-10-4, a Caps rookie record, with a 2.47 GAA and .914 SV%.  His stats aren't going to wow anyone that watches the NHL this season, but his winning record has meant a lot of points for the Caps this season.  And, he'll continue to get better.

I'm not confident that Semyon Varlamov, the better goalie statistically & more acrobatic than Neuvirth, can stay healthy.  The acrobats may be exacerbating the groin injuries although he supposedly has something wrong with his knee now.  Varly's only played 24 games so far this year.  He also spent over two months in the minors last year recovering from an injury.  Yikes, the injury record is not encouraging and it started shortly before he left Russia.  He has the definite edge in NHL playoff experience since Neuvy has zero NHL playoff games to Varly's 19 NHL games over two seasons with a 10-9 record.

Neuvy, on the other hand, led the AHL Hershey Bears to two Calder Cup trophies.  Yes, I realize it's the minor league, but Neuvy played 22 playoff games in '08-'09 with a 16-6 record, .932 SV% and 1.92 GAA.  That 1.92 GAA is an AHL playoff record and certainly helped him win MVP honors that year.  In '09-'10, Neuvy played 18 games with a 14-4 record, .920 SV% and 2.07 GAA.

Finally, you've got the NHL number one star of the week, Braden Holtby, another rookie Caps net minder with a 8-2-2 record and a .931 SV% and an impressive 1.95 GAA.  He's going to be a very good  NHL net minder, especially, considering he's a fourth round draft pick, but I really don't want a goalie with 12 NHL games under his belt starting in the playoffs for the Caps this season.  I don't believe in playing the "hot hand" in this case as Coach Boudreau and others advocate because he's way too inexperienced.  It showed in his game yesterday against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.  It'll show in the playoffs when the games are played at a whole new level of intensity.

Having goalie depth is a good problem to have, but I'm advocating for Michal Neuvirth.

Let's go Caps!

Keep telling it like it is Jason Arnott

Jason Arnott calling out his new Caps teammates for a lackluster effort against the New York Islanders last night is fine by me and I hope he keeps it up.  The Caps need an asshole in the locker room since the coach won't hold his players accountable.  And that's exactly why I'm thrilled GMGM got him.  I don't know if it'll make a difference this season with Coach Boudreau still at the helm, but if Arnott teaches these players to grow up and play their game like they care, that's got to help.

In other notes:
-Michel Neuvirth played lights out in net again and he's the only reason the Caps won that game.  As talented as Semyon Varlamov is, I think Neuvirth will end up being the Caps number one because he's far more durable.  Neuvy deserved to be the first star instead of Alex Ovechkin since he played sixty minutes and Ovie didn't even come close to that, regardless of his heroics on his last two shifts with an assist and dramatic end-to-end overtime GWG that sealed the victory.

-I enjoyed watching Dennis Wideman, the defenseman GMGM picked up from the Florida Panthers on trade deadline day, and think he's going to be a good pick up for the Caps with his special team skills and playoff experience with the Bruins. The depth he brings is crucial with Mike Green still out.

-Left wing Marco Sturm, picked up off waivers from the LA Kings, played okay in his debut. He hasn't played much since coming back from injury so I think the jury will be out on him for a while.

After one game, I'm happy, so far, with the players that GMGM picked up this last week.  I'm still not happy with how the team is playing though, so I joined in with the "boos" at the phone booth last night because I'm tired of spending my hard-earned money watching multi-millionaires coast around on the ice.

Caps play the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

Let's go Caps!

Neuvy & Brad's - heros from yesterday - and other thoughts

Michal Neuvirth gave the Caps the chance to earn two points against the Pittsburgh Penguins by making 18 saves in the first period, including some highlight reel saves.  That period the Caps mustered a measly 7 shots on goals as they were outworked by the Wilkes-Barrie AHL baby Pen call ups in the first period.  


Fan favorite, Matt Bradley, got the Caps going in the second period and fans hailed Brads as the hero of the night.  He caught Matt Cooke, he of the slimy dirty hits like the knee-on-knee on Ovechkin in their last game, with his head down and slammed him into the boards.  The refs called Brads for charging on what several of the broadcasters thought was a clean hit, but Jordan Staal also took a roughing penalty for going after Brads so no harm done and the Caps picked their game up after that.

Alex Ovechkin provided the only goal on a power play (shocker!) with a rocket shot that Marc-Andre Fleury had no chance to stop.  Ovie seems to be finding his game finally as he's netted 9 goals and 8 assists in his last 15 games.  He still needs to improve his defensive play and he needs to stop doing his signature move up the middle around the defenseman to try and score.  Everyone knows what he's doing so he needs to change it up, but I'm more hopeful than I've been in a long time about his play.


The Caps survived their five game road trip with a 3-2 record, dropping two to the West's San Jose Sharks and Phoenix Coyotes and winning a wild 7-6 one against the Anaheim Ducks in between and then wrapping up their trip back East by beating the Buffalo Sabres and Penguins.  


I still don't want to think about this team this season.  Scanning my blog posts illustrates the roller coaster ride this team has been on this season.  At this point, they've improved and it's clear they're trying to play better defensively and they're scoring more even on the power play but, it's the little things that drive me crazy that the Caps don't execute well.  You know, those little things like hustling and sacrificing the body that win Stanley Cups more than offensive prowess.  They let the AHL call ups outwork them for the first twenty minutes in their win last night then they picked it up in the 2nd and 3rd periods and played much better defensive hockey to preserve the 1-0 lead.  But, they haven't been a first place team in a while so they need to hustle for sixty minutes every night.

The New York Rangers visit the phone booth on Friday.

Let's go Caps!

Fan Favorite Brads is on Fire

Matt Bradley is playing inspired hockey right now. As I write this, he gets named the Caps player of the game. Brads potted a great goal, drew a key penalty, chased down a Sabre from behind to beat him to the puck and got another point, an assist on David Steckel's goal, for a 2 point, +2 night with 5 shots on goal.

Brads always works hard, but he seems to have an extra kick in his step these days. Maybe it's because he's not getting bloodied as much this season. I love his courage, but I hate seeing Brads with blood pouring down his face. D.J. King, when he has a sweater and John Erskine, he of the haymaker fight against the Thrasher's Eric Boulton, and Matt Hendricks fight instead.

Keep it up Brads. You're the best.

The Caps are on a roll right now, but they're still struggling to play a complete sixty minutes of hockey. They've won several one goal games and I'm glad they're learning how to do that, but they have to keep their focus on eliminating the defenses lapses and taking their foot off the gas. In the Buffalo game, a two minute lapse led to two Buffalo goals and a shaky Michal Neuvirth who recovered his composure, as did the rest of the Caps, to stop Buffalo and win the game 4-2.

Next up, the Atlanta Thrashers tonight.

Let's go Caps!

The positive post

A 7-2 victory over the Calgary Flames showed what the Caps can do when they're focused on their game. Michal Neuvirth was outstanding in net, again, and Alex Ovechkin broke his goal scoring slump with two power play goals and threw in another assist for a three point night. The Caps anemic power play jumped from near the bottom of the league to 14th from this one game where they converted three of their seven tries. Let's hope that trend continues.

It's apparent that the Caps are trying to play a more defensively responsible game. They sometimes look out of whack doing that, but I'm all for the effort. They'll need it in April. Their 2.27 GAA is far better than their 2.77 from last season. The Caps moved up from 16th to 3rd in that category, tied with Montreal and Los Angeles and behind Boston and St. Louis. The highlight reel saves Neuvy keeps making are a big part of that stat, too, of course.

I hope Mike Green stays healthy. As much as I've ragged on his playoff performances, during the regular season, at least, the Caps are a much better team when he's on the ice. They need Green to quarterback the power play. He's also playing better defensively. His first goal came in the game against Calgary where he had a three point night with three hits, two takeaways and zero giveaways.

The Caps responded after laying an egg in Minnesota. I hate excuses - don't get me started on the hot goalie excuse - but I will give the Caps a teeny, tiny break after playing Carolina the night before and then flying to Minnesota for the game where they had no energy.

They had a team meeting after Minnesota and got it together. Unfortunately, they still played a crappy first period against Calgary, but potted six unanswered goals in the second period. Fun to watch...

That's it. No negatives from me tonight.

Looking forward to seeing Caps play Toronto at the phone booth on Wednesday.

Let's go Caps!

Neuvirth looking strong in net

Michal Neuvirth gives me confidence about the Caps situation in net with their two young net minders. I'm watching the game against the New York Islanders right now and Neuvirth is in the zone, making highlight reel saves...sprawling diving saves and stopping the puck stone cold saves. He's been impressive to watch and is certainly building his case to be the number one goalie for the Caps.

He's been described as calm and his play exhibits that. Wearing the well earned hard hat tonight, Neuvy displayed his poise in his post game interview. His teammates seem to have confidence in him and that's huge.

In the comparisons between the too often injured for my liking, Semyon Varlamov, and Neuvy, Neuvy is known as the "technician" while Varly is know for his athleticism and acrobatic ability in net. Of course, that acrobatic part may be why Varly gets injured too much, even though it's fun to watch, and reminds me of moves Soviet gymnasts used to make. I was a big Olga Korbut fan.

However, the "technician", is in control. Neuvy anticipates shots well, is rarely out of position, and moves with precision to get the job done. I'm really liking this guy so far.

There were years and years when Caps fans didn't have to worry about the net. Olie the goalie was the workhorse that got the job done game after game. His game faded in the end, but his passion, his temper and his hard work continued to define him. There are times when I miss Olie's "what was said had to be said" demeanor in the locker room. The Caps could use his ability to kick butts in the locker room, at times.

But, I'm encouraged by the emergence of the young Czech. Even though his baby face and calm demeanor could never emulate Olie, he could become a workhorse in net. He's won everything he can at the AHL level, including two Calder Cups and the MVP. Now, it's his time to prove his worth in the NHL and he's doing a great job of it, so far.

Let's go Caps.

p.s. I'm glad the Caps finally netted a power play goal off of Nicklas Backstrom's skate and Ovie got one goal to eke past the injured New York Islanders with a 2-1 win. The Caps aren't much better on the injury front with Matt Bradley, Tom Poti and Marcus Johansson out and Mike Green leaving the game, but that game should have been easier.