The Alex Ovechkin show gets Caps 4 points

The Capitals played the Stanley Cup defending Detroit Red Wings on Saturday afternoon at 12:30 followed by the Ottawa Senators on Sunday afternoon at 12:30.  I really don't like these early start games as I'd prefer to drink beer than coffee while I watch hockey.  Oh, well, the early starts ended with the Caps winning both games and Alex Ovechkin had 2 goals against Detroit followed by a hat trick against Ottawa.

Against the Red Wings, Ovechkin didn't start off strong, but he ended the game with his 32nd and 33rd goals of the season almost 13 minutes into the 3rd period to open up a tight game.  I'm sure his 32nd goal will make the NHL goals of the week as I can't believe he got the shot off much less into the net.  

It was one of those games that I get nervous watching as the two teams traded goals at the very end of the 1st and the 2nd period to keep the game tied.  And, I didn't enjoy the Red Wing fan sitting in front of me because she was obnoxious.  At least, there weren't as many Red Wings fans as usual.  And Caps fans were loud.  

Other thoughts:

• Tom Poti's steadying influence on the blue line is a necessary ingredient for the Caps to continue to be successful.  Poti's ability to make short, crisp passes that don't get taken away by the opponent is something the rest of the Caps should try to emulate more.  Their cross ice and just plain stupid passes that end in giveaways are driving me insane.  The downside to Poti being back is that Karl Alzner got sent back to Hershey, but he will back.
• Alexander Semin's costly hooking penalty in the neutral zone (why, why, why did you do it Semin?) resulted in Detroit's 2nd goal. Semin is such a talented player, but he's an equally frustrating ones at times. 
• Eric Fehr played one of his best games of this season even though he still didn't record a goal.  I liked the Nicklas Backstrom, Tomas Fleischmann and Fehr line.  They exhibited good chemistry playing together. 
• Jose Theodore has found his game in net and I can only hope it continues.  He faced 29 shots and only let in 2.
• The insanity of that 6 on 3 in the last 1:30 of the game was ridiculous.  Poti blocked 3 shots and Jeff Schultz and David Steckel each blocked 1 shot.  And, is that delay of game for a non intentional puck over the glass a ridiculous penalty or what?  Ugh.

The second half of the Alex Ovechkin show featured a 7-4 win over the Ottawa Senators and Ovie's hat trick. After Daniel Alfredsson scored the first goal early in the first period, the Caps scored 4 unanswered goals by early in the 2nd period courtesy of Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin on the power play and Eric Fehr and Ovie at even strength.  Ovie scored that even strength goal and his 3rd goal by making Senators defender Filip Kuba look silly.  Twice Ovie used him as a shield and shot the puck between Kuba's legs to score.  

Other thoughts:

• Mike Green's pass over the head of the Ottawa defenders that landed on Alexander Semin's stick was awesome.  Semin promptly put it into the net with a deft move around goalie Alex Auld.  It was nice to see Semin score again after the awful game he had against the Red Wings.  Green had a 4 point day.
• Eric Fehr got his goal today by hustling and crashing the net.  That Flash/Backstrom/Fehr line looks good together.  
• Nicklas Backstrom had a 3 point day and his empty net goal was a coast to coast attempt that sealed the win.
• Sergei Fedorov assisted on all of Ovie's goals and looked a more on his game than he did on Saturday.
• I really hate it when the Caps ease up after getting a big lead.  The third period became a little dicey in this game as the Senators rallied to within two goals with almost 9 minutes left in the 3rd.  

All in all, a satisfying 4 point weekend with Alex Ovechkin lighting the lamp often and with flair. I really do pinch myself quite often that Alex is a Capital.  As a long suffering Caps fan, it's awesome to be able to watch him do his stuff.

The Caps visit the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.  The Devils are 1 point behind the Caps in the Eastern conference with 1 game in hand so it's an important one for the Eastern conference standings.

Let's go Caps!

  

Caps lose to Senators 3-2

I asked the Caps to bring their "A" game to Ottawa (see yesterday's blog post) and they failed to do that. In fact, they played about as bad as they did yesterday against the Islanders only the Senators came away with two points and the Caps got a big fat zero points.


The game had the same feel to it as the game at the New York Islanders. Lackluster, uninspired hockey for two out of three periods. The Caps actually put up a fight in the second as Sergei Fedorov and David Steckel scored. Then they let up when the game was still tied.


The PK units played horribly as the Senators scored all three of their goals on the power play, courtesy of Danny Heatley for two of them and Brendan Bell for the other. That one was the result of Alexander Semin committing a bone headed tripping penalty with under three minutes left in the game.


Jose Theodore, once again, deserves praise for his play in net because he was the best Cap on the ice again. The three goals scored against him were not easy saves.


The Caps get to rest during the upcoming All-Star break games this weekend, with the exception of Alex Ovechkin. Then, it's time for the second half of the season so I hope they come back from the break inspired.


Let's go Caps!

Yeah, baby, Caps beat Senators 5-1

So, that's what happens when the Caps are healthy.  They beat the Ottawa Senators 5-1.  They got Mike Green and Sergei Fedorov back tonight and it showed as those two got the 2nd and 3rd stars of the game.  Feds and Greenie both had 3 point nights.

In the weird news of the day, the Caps had to dress their website producer, Brett Leonhardt as the backup goalie after Jose Theodore got injured in practice.  He's played Division III hockey and sometimes fills in for the Caps at practice, but tonight he got his 15 minutes of fame. Simeon Varlamov rushed to the airport from Houston where the Bears were playing and got to the phone booth during the first period game to take his place on the bench.  I'd like to see Varlamov tomorrow, but I don't want to see him killed by the Habs either so my guess is Johnson will play.

Brent Johnson got the first star of the game, deservedly so, as he stopped 32 of 33 shots on Ottawa.  He looked terrific again.

The SOB line continued to dominate with Alexander Semin getting 1 goal, Alex Ovechkin getting two and Nicklas Backstrom getting 3 assists.  I like the SOB line.

Does anybody want to play this team healthy?  I doubt it.

They play the Habs tomorrow night.

Let's go Caps.

Caps continue digging a hole

I'm having a hard time mustering enthusiasm for the team and the sport that I love the most lately.   If this team played like they really cared, it'd be a lot easier to cheer them on, win or lose, but the Caps haven't really shown up this season except when they beat Vancouver.   That's the most frustrating part to me.  

Last season, the Caps knew they had to play hard each and every night to achieve the impossible dream of making it from last place in November to first in the SE division and they did.  So, what in the world are they waiting for this season? The goal this year wasn't just to make it to the playoffs, but to advance past the first round, something the Caps haven't done in ten very long years.

On Tuesday, the Caps lost in overtime 2-1 to the Ottawa Senators.   Luckily, they got 1 point out of that game on the back of a stellar performance by net minder Brent Johnson.  He made 42 saves and his poke check save on Daniel Alfredsson's breakaway was a thing of beauty.   Brent Johnson will be in net tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes as he should be.

The Caps now have 12 points out of 11 games which puts them in 18th place in the league as of today.  Yuck.  I hope they start playing up to their potential.

Tonight, the SE division leading Carolina Hurricanes come to the phone booth.

Let's go Caps!

An Enjoyable New Year's Day but Injury Concerns

My anguish over the Caps, once again, losing to the Penguins (Olie is the only current Capital player that really understands that anguish) in a shootout is gone, replaced by the sheer joy of watching the Capitals beat the #1 team in the Eastern Confence, the Ottawa Senators, 3 times in a row. These last two were wild, shooting and scoring matches but they were fun, if you are a Caps fan. If you're a Senators fan, you are no doubt ready to kill anyone in a red, white and blue Capitals uniform. Read above, I understand.

In the 8-6 match, Ovie scored 4 goals (oh, yeah and that was after getting stiches for a cut on the thigh the night before). According to the Post's beat writer, Tarik El-Bashir, the Senators vowed to control Ovie on New Year's Day. Ottawa started that game by netting two goals right in a row. They bottled Ovie up, but Mike Green took over scoring 2 goals, Viktor Kozlov (where in the world have you been?) scored, Michael Nylander, Brooks Laich and Boyd Gordon also scored. Gordon, it's good to have you back. The Caps won 6-3. Mike Green, tied for 1st in defensemen scoring, continues to be a joy to watch. So does Nicklas Backstrom. I notice his vision on the ice even during training camp and he's becoming a good playmaker.

I don't know what Kool Aid, Coach Boudreau has the Capitals drinking, but I hope they keep drinking it. Injuries are killing the Caps. Tom Pothi isn't going to make the team trip to Boston and he's played monster minutes, 20+, for the Caps all year. He's sorely missed when he's not out there. Semin, apparently is okay, and will play in Boston.

And, thank you Caps for the upgrade to a lower level bowl ticket as a holiday gift for being a partial season ticket plan holder.

Let's go Caps!

A Team with Two Identities

On Friday, the Caps lost to Carolina 6-2 and then turned around on Saturday and beat them 7-3. Obviously, the team finally got ticked off enough to come out and play a decent 60-minutes of hockey on Saturday, but lost again on Friday. The games count now if the Caps have any hopes of making the playoffs.

On Saturday, in addition to 2 goals from Semin and 1 from Ovie, the Caps got goals from Clark, Laich, Beech and Fehr. When the Caps have gone on winning streaks this year, they've had offense from a lot of players not just Semin and Ovie.

Mike Vogel's article on the Caps website here points to the reason the Caps are so inconsistent and struggling....goals against. This doesn't surprise me when I think about those 40+ shot games Olie has won this season. There's an interesting statistic at the end of the article that compares the NHL experience of the Caps current defense versus its last playoff appearance team in 2002-03. The 6 blue liners who will line up against Ottawa tomorrow have 791 games of experience versus 2,927 games for the blue liners that went to playoffs. So, back to my prior post, is this a 10-year rebuilding plan?

In Caps blogger world news...there are numerous bloggers out there writing about the Caps. One of the bloggers , Capital Prospect, feels like his territory is being invaded and that all the bloggers are out there trying to get press passes. Well, not me. I write about the Caps because I've been a fan since 1974 and it's one way to get my frustration out. Secondly, I like to write and have no time to do the kind of writing I want so the Caps blog is it for me. But, when I discovered this post, I was thrilled to see that On Frozen Blog linked to my blog. I will add my link back to that blog as it's a good one.

Caps play Ottawa again tomorrow. I have to agree with my boyfriend Jeff, it seems like they're in the same division.

Let's go Caps!