Two Good Games in a Row, Wow

I didn't watch the game on Friday, but I did hear the last ten minutes on the radio.  After listening to that, reading the hockey news and the Caps message boards, it's clear that the Caps came to play against the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Nice to hear Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom racking up points with Jason Chimera on their line.  I watched Sunday's 3-0 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and both these games were great efforts by the Caps.

Does that mean there is hope for this team in April?  I've got to see a consistent effort for many more games before I'll believe that.  I get that the Caps have been implementing a new defensively responsible system these last twenty games (that time period started with a win against Ottawa at the end of the eight game losing streak in December).  They've won 50% of those games with a 1.7 goals against per game.  The goals against is astounding for a team that has played run and gun offense for the past several years and last year had a 2.77 GA/G.

However, implementing that new system doesn't excuse lack of effort which is still evident all too often with this team. The game a week ago against Montreal when the Caps went up 2-0 and then sat back until they lost the game in a shootout is a perfect example of how that lack of effort creeps in with this team.  The players, like Scott Hannan, said the same thing.

So, when and where will this team finds its consistent killer instinct?  In April?  I can only hope.

Let's go Caps!

Cardiac Caps Outlast Penguins 2-1

In a game as exciting as promised with the last 3 Art Ross trophy winners on the ice, the Caps escaped with a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Sydney Crosby scored first at 4:09 in the first on a shot that the young net minder Simeon Varlamov should have had, but I'm going to cut the rookie some slack on that one.  The defense certainly wasn't helping him out early in the game as the Caps spent far too much time battling the Penguins in the defensive zone. 

Varlamov let in a deflected goal at 12:54 in the second period.  I worried about what that might do to Varly's confidence, but I forgot that worry when he made that highlight reel save on Sydney Crosby's shot.  Crosby had a wide open net until Varly threw himself back towards the other side of the net and deflected Crosby's shot right at the goal line with his stick.  That stop saved the game and got him another #1 star.

Other observations:

• Caps were terrible on faceoffs, winning only 47%.   They kept throwing everyone out of the circle.  I loved Alex Ovechkin's shot off the faceoff.  
• They also had 22 giveaways to the Penguins 6.  They need improvements on those stats to win this 7 game series.
  
• The Brooks Laich - David Steckel - Matt Bradley line is awesome.  They are battling hard, crashing the net and that resulted in a goal by David Steckel to tie the game at 1-1.  Steckel deservedly got the 2nd star.
• I'm glad Ovie and Mike Green learned that in the playoffs you sometimes need to dump the puck in.
• Nicklas Backstrom's, 2 assists, patience in feeding Tomas Fleischmann early in the 3rd period resulted in the game winning goal.  Backstrom just gets better and better.  

The last 17 minutes of that game were excruciatingly painful to watch as I just wanted it to be over.   Thankfully it ended with the Caps still up 3-2.

I'll be Rocking the Red Monday night at the phone booth.

Let's go Caps!

Not a good time to slump - maybe OT loss signals a change

The Caps have been playing like a team that doesn't care for the past couple of weeks other than a win over the Boston Bruins.  They showed a little more heart and played a little better yesterday, coming back from 3-1 to tie the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 3rd period and ended up with a point in an overtime shootout loss.

This team has lost it recently and no one should think Coach Boudreau is happy with the way his team has played even if they are in first place in the SE and now in 3rd place in the Eastern conference.  So, what is it?  Do they believe their own hype too much as many have said? Is their defense just that bad (or that young and inexperienced) to begin with?  Do they really think they're an elite team too good for the likes of the teams that are below them in the standings? And, if that's the case, why in the hell didn't they learn from their early losses against those teams?  Is Coach Boudreau struggling to motivate this team? Do the Caps need new assistant coaches?  Are the guys waiting for the playoffs to turn it on?  

I don't know the answer, but I do know that I'd really like the Caps to win their first playoff series in 10 years this year.  I have no expectations for this team beyond that because all the pieces aren't in place yet, particularly, on defense.  The atrocious defense is a glaring weakness that must be addressed before this team will be a serious Cup contender.

The Caps make a rare trip to Nashville tomorrow to take on the Predators.

Let's go Caps!

A fun win after Friday night's debacle

Since the Caps beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in a satisfying 5-2 win this afternoon, I'm not going to dwell on that disastrous game against the Colorado Avalanche which I, unfortunately, attended on Friday night.  The best part of that game was hanging out with my other half's old hockey teammates.  It sounds like Coach Boudreau made the boys pay for that ugly game at practice yesterday, as he should have, so I'll let it go.

Today, however, was pure fun if you're a Caps fan since it was the Pittsburgh Penguins and the NHL's marketing star, Sydney Crosby, getting pushed around by the Caps.  The Caps chased Marc-Andre Fleury from the net after goals 4 and 5 went past him from Shaone Morrisonn and Brooks Laich not quite  midway through the 2nd period.  I have no idea how Brooksie got that sharp angle shot that squeezed between the post and arm of Fleury but it was pretty.

The Alex Ovechkin-Sydney Crosby show provided the drama to the game and my favorite moment after they jawed at each late in the 2nd was Ovie waiving good-bye to Sydney.  It was awesome.   Read more about it here courtesy of Slava Malamud from Soviet Express on Tarik's blog.  My favorite line, "What, I can't play hard against him?  What is he going to do, cry?" Ovie, we love you!

Other random thoughts:

• The Russians got the stars today, Ovie (2nd), Alexander Semin (3rd star and he played a great game and ended up with 1G and 1A, and Sergei Fedorov (1st star and 1G, 1A) who played his best game since coming back from his ankle injury.
• Jose Theodore got steadier as the game went on, but scared me to death earlier. I felt like he was pretty useless on the Sergei Gonchar goal but others said he never saw it.  I don't know, but Theo didn't even move on that shot.  After complimenting him over and over again recently, he went back to scaring me that he's in net.
• All of the Caps look far more disciplined than they did on Friday even though they took 9 penalties.  Some of the calls against the Caps were definitely questionable.
• Jeff Schultz was credited with 4 hits.  Wow, the world must be getting ready to end.
• David Steckel played his best game in a long time.  I noticed him in a good way, clearing the puck out on the penalty kill often as an example.  He played well way more than he frustrated me, which has happened often lately.
• The penalty killed played spectacularly killing off 8 of 9 penalties and spending a fair amount of time playing keep away and pursuing short-handed chances.
• Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were held to 1 point, assists on Gonchar's goal. Nothing makes me happier. 

Thanks boys.  I enjoyed this one.

The Philadelphia Flyers visit the phone booth on Tuesday.  

Let's go Caps!

A satisfying 6-3 win in Pittsburgh follows an ugly loss

After an utter debacle of a game in the form of a 5-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, the Washington Capitals come back to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in Mellon Arena stopping a 3-game losing game.  The only person worth talking about during the Edmonton game was John Erskine who looked highly motivated to be back in the game after missing six weeks due to a concussion. He played even hockey and was credited with 7 hits...and I was worried he might be tentative.  The rest of the team played lackluster hockey and forgot the lesson "crash the net" instead of broadcasting your goals to the goalie before you shoot them from 20 feet out.

The Pittsburgh game was a refreshing change of pace from what the Caps have shown on the ice during this losing streak.  But, I have to go on a mini tangent before talking about the highlights and the lowlights.  Can the media please stop blowing Alexander Semin's comments about Sydney Crosby completely out of context?  Why is it so hard to realize it's Crosby's style of play that Semin doesn't care for as he described liking how Patrick Kane played instead?  The only thing the media coverage accomplished was to have the Pittsburgh fan's boo Semin every time he got the puck so he played harder.  Maybe I should thank the media because I'm a Caps fan, but I'm really tired of this over sensationalism of any news story.

The highlights:

• They beat Pittsburgh at Mellon Arena.  That's always a highlight.
• Alex Ovechkin broke his 4 game scoring drought in stellar fashion getting 2 goals and 1 assist.  He jawed early and often with Evgeni Malkin and Sydney Crosby delivering some good hits and also getting hit by Malkin.  Ovie caused Malkin to get an offsides late in the 3rd period.  He also caused Matt Cooke to go off for a retaliation penalty after he pushed Ovie for hitting Crosby against the boards with a clean hit. Ovie gets booed every time he touches the puck in Pittsburgh and I think it fires him up.  He got the first star of the game.
• The Pittsburgh fans also booed Alexander Semin every time he touched the puck so he played with fire, too.  His goal, a beauty set up by a pass across the front of the net from Sergei Fedorov, went in on the right side of the net past Marc Andre-Fleury.
• 2nd star of the game went to Nicklas Backstrom who got 3 assists.
• Tomas Fleischmann netted his 15th goal in an Ovechkin-esque way sliding on his stomach and poking the puck into goal with his stick.  

The lowlights:

• The Caps power play, 2 for 6, last night looks pathetic a lot lately.  They can't keep the puck in the offensive zone.
• Odd man rushes - they had way too many of them last night and are lucky Pittsburgh players didn't convert on them more often.

The Caps play the dominating Boston Bruins on Saturday.  Caps did beat them in December which means the Bruins will be stoked to play a good game.

Let's go Caps!

Cardiac Caps Survive the Penguins

The cardiac Caps are back. After an irritating two periods of hockey, the Caps showed up to play but by then they were behind 3-0. Amazingly, they answered back with 4 goals in that period and won the game at Mellon Arena. That hasn't happened very often lately.

What I liked:

• Mike Green's open ice hip check on Evgeni Malkin rocked.
• Boyd Gordon's game winning goal. It didn't light the lamp so play continued for another couple of minutes before the refs reviewed that play.
• Matt Bradley, taking one for the team in an ugly fight which he lost by a mile, and coming back to play after numerous stitches.
• Alexander Semin and Michael Nylander continue to be money in the bank (or goals in the net) for the Caps and were awarded 1st and 3rd star, respectively.
• Tomas Fleishman had a 2 point night. Good, keep it coming.
• Sergei Fedorov playing defense.

What I didn't like:

• Alex Ovechkin hitting more than focusing on playing his game. He's struggling so far this year even if he's playing +3 hockey. I have no doubt he'll figure it out.
• Nicklas Backstrom also struggling and not helping Ovie as a result.
• Chris Clark is still working the rust off after his long-term injury so he's been invisible.
• The ridiculous goal that Jose Theodore let in between the post and his pads. At least, he didn't let Sidney Crosby's first shot go in.

Next up, New Jersey Devils on Saturday. I'll be there rocking the red.

Let's go Caps!