Just pathetic

There's nothing positive to say about the Caps right now.  They got smacked around in Toronto 7-1 when the Leafs had seven players out and they just finished getting trounced by the AHL Buffalo Sabres, 5-1. The Sabres have nine players out.  GMGM talks about Mike Green's injury as if it's the only thing wrong with the Caps.  I'm so sick of excuses from this organization. If the Caps can't succeed without Mike Green, they're screwed and that's not what's wrong with them anyway. They've quit.  If GMGM and Ted can't see that, then they're blind.

The Caps continued their wonderful tradition tonight of allowing a rookie to score his first NHL goal against them.  They must lead in that statistic although I'm too lazy to figure that out.  It's optional, like the Caps players showing up for their last two games.

I'll say thank you Caps for winning one on Wed against Winnepeg 4-3, since my brother and his girlfriend, long-distance Caps fans were in town for the game.  And, whippee, Ovie even scored at home.

But, after these past two games, I'm embarrassed to be a Caps fan because of their unprofessional play.

I hope something changes soon.

Let's go Caps!

The ups and downs of this Caps team

Prior to producing two solid wins against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-1 on Friday, and the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 yesterday, the Caps became the team that frustrates their fans in their little tour of the Southeast Division.  They reverted backed to their lazy ways and took it too easy against the Tampa Bay Lightning, for a 7-4 thumping, they managed to eke out a win in the shootout against the Florida Panthers and they played their one good game with a 8-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.  The Caps performance at the Atlanta game is what championship teams are supposed to do and they're supposed to do it every game night.  Take their two points with conviction when the opponent is struggling.   The Caps tend to forget that lesson, at times.

The Caps are back on top of the Eastern conference again, for the moment, so why am I calling them out for their unforgettable performance against the Southeast?  Because, I want this team to play hungry every night and I want them to remember that they have won exactly nothing.  I do realize that no team plays on the top of its game every night during an 82 game season, but laziness cannot became a habit of a contender so I'm happy to see they played with more energy the last two games.

Positive observations:

• Brooks Laich ended his scoring drought against the Flyers, collecting two goals - one short-handed - after having a video review session with Coach Boudreau.  Brooks is always a hard worker and I'm thrilled he ended his scoring slump.
• The Caps defense, as a unit, is playing better this season.  Another year of experience under the belt is helping players like Jeff Schultz and Mike Green.   Green made a spectacular poke check deep in the defensive zone yesterday that had Craig Laughlin saying it was a "Norris worthy" play.  Schultz looks more comfortable in his body and it's showing. His +/- at +27 is second in the NHL only to his team Captain, who leads the league at +28.  Green and Schultz both still have to prove themselves in the playoffs so this season is a big test.
• Alex Ovechkin seems to be taking his game to a whole new level recently as his 5 point night (1-4-5) against Toronto showed.  His playmaking abilities are beginning to match his goal scoring abilities, as he now has 34 assist and 30 goals for 64 points.  Ovechkin has found strong chemistry with Mike Knuble and Knuble, since recovering from surgery on his finger, has become that net crashing, garbage goal scorer Caps fans were hoping for when he was signed. 
• Jason Chimera took a little while to settle in with the Caps aggressive offensive system, but he's stepping up now.  He's a big guy at 6'2, 216 lbs, he plays physical and I liked it when Chimera defended his teammates on Friday night against the frustrated and chippy Maples Leafs.
• John Carlson, he of the recent game winning gold medal goal for Team USA fame, received an ovation Friday night when his name was unexpectedly announced in the starting lineup.  I cheered wildly in my Carlson jersey.  Brian Pothier is hurt so Carlson is playing.  His confidence level from the junior world hockey championship carried over into his play during the last two games.  Carlson played +2 hockey in 14:32 of work against Toronto and had 2 missed shots, 1 hit and 1 giveaway.  He played +2 hockey in 15:51 minutes of work against the Flyers, had 2 takeaways, 2 blocked shots and 1 giveaway.   The jitters that showed when Carlson made his NHL debut against the Montreal Canadiens in November are gone and he is playing like he belongs.  Carlson was sent back to the Hershey Bears today, but I have no doubt we'll see him again soon.

Nagging Concerns:

• Goal tending - is Semyon Varlamov going to be a healthy, productive net minder? I don't doubt his ability to be a #1 goalie in the NHL, just his resilience.The jury is still out as he gets injured every year and has been out since early December, except for playing one game in Hershey where he managed to injure his right knee.  Michal Neuvirth gets overwhelmed when the Caps defense is playing poorly and the forwards aren't back checking as effectively as they need to be.  He has a 5-4 record with a .892 save percentage, so he's not playing horribly, he just needs more experience.  And, Jose Theodore is 13-7-4 with a .902 save percentage.  At times, the Caps play horribly in front of Theo and, at times, Theo can't get his rebounds under control.  All of this makes me wonder if the Caps currently have what they need in net to contend for a Cup run and the answer is "not right now". Thankfully, it's only January.
• Penalty killing - the Caps penalty kill has dropped back to 25th in the league at 78.6% effectiveness.  That needs to improve before the playoffs.  The Caps are doing somewhat better at avoiding untimely costly penalties, but they need to kill off penalties better.

The positives outweigh the negatives so let's keep it up Caps.

Detroit Red Wings are next.

Let's go Caps!

 

 

Caps beat Maple Leafs 4-1 on Mike Gartner night

The Washington Capitals started last night by raising Mike Gartner's  banner to the rafters and retiring #11.  Gartner is a hall of fame hockey player that ranks second in goals, assists and points in Caps history, at least, so far! It was great to see the old Caps in the phone booth, Rod Langway and Yvon Labre among them.

Gartner joined Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin in the booth later and I loved his description of Alex Ovechkin who is sure to join Gartner in the records books if his career continues on its current trajectory.  Gartner described Ovie as "the hungriest hockey player I've ever seen."  What an apt description and it was on display last night when Ovie scored with 10 seconds left in the 2nd period to give the Caps the lead after hitting the post on a shot right before that goal.

The highlights:

• Brooks Laich, 1st star of the night, scored two goals by "going to the net" and throwing the garbage in, one from his own rebound, past Toronto's goalie Vessa Toskala. According to Tarik's report, Laich asked Coach Boudreau what he needed to do to get his scoring touch back and Boudreau told him to simplify his game and quit trying to be cute (a problem for too many Caps at times this year).  Brooksie got the well-deserved hard hat.
• Alex Ovechkin, 2nd star of the game, scored two goals, including an empty netter that many fans felt he should have passed to Laich for the hat trick, but there was a defenseman in the way. He also played +2 hockey.
• Jose Theodore, 3rd star of the game, won his 3rd in a row even after letting in the first goal of the game at 14:23 in the first.  He stopped 23 shots.  Theodore is playing with more confidence, but inconsistency has been his curse in the past so I hope his plays stays strong.  Caps need that if they're going to make any noise in the playoffs this year.
• Chris Clark mixed it up on the ice.  He's playing better than he did with a forearm stress fracture (no surprise there) and I like seeing his grit back on the ice.  The Capitals don't have very many physical hockey players and it showed against the Philadelphia Flyers in the playoffs last year.  Now, I'd like Clarkie to score.
• Mike Green and Jeff Schultz returned to the lineup and played +2 hockey.
• Karl Alzner and Milan Jurcina continued playing well as a defensive pairing and played +1 hockey. 

The lowlights:

• Matt Bradley crashing into the boards head first with a sickening sound.  He walked off the ice, totally dazed, as if he didn't know who he was.  Brads is supposedly okay, but I'll wait until I see him on the ice before I believe that.  He's a huge leader on this team and he'll do anything for these guys as evidenced by his continual beatings at the hands of other heavy weights in the league when Brads wants to take one for his team.

A great hockey blog read with predictions for 2009 is here.  I love this quote in the January section, "With nine regulars out of the lineup, the Capitals go undefeated during the month of January."  This team has been awesome in the face of an amazing number of injuries.

Caps visit the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow night.  Let's go Caps!

 

Caps hang on for 2-1 win against Maple Leafs

Caps got good enough defense from their Hershey players, including yesterday's call up Sean Collins, to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs last night.  And, it was the defense that provided the offense with rookie Karl Alzner netting his first goal and Milan Jurcina finding the back of the net with his blast of a shot 1 minute after Toronto tied the game in the 3rd period.

Even though both the Caps and the Maple Leafs are known more for their offense than their defense, this was a defensive and goal tending battle.  Caps goalie, Brent Johnson, and Leafs goalie, Vesa Toskala both played stellar in net.

The highlights:

• Karl Alzner, 2nd star of the game, with a goal, an assist and a nice play during the penalty kill on a poke check that he sent around the net to Jurcina.
• Alex Ovechkin, first star of the game, took out the Leafs strong rookie blue liner, Luke Schenn, on one of his many hits.  Ovie almost had another highlight reel goal that he shot while sliding down the ice on his stomach after being hit.  He buzzed around all night spinning around defenders with the puck and making life miserable for anyone within hitting distance.  If he's hurt (a subject of much speculation on the Caps message boards), he didn't show it last night. 
• Brent Johnson played solid in net making 19 of 20 saves.  He snuffed Jason Blake's shot on a power play in the 2nd period.
• The Caps finally win another road game, their first since November 19th against the Ducks and only their 5th this season.

The lowlights:

• Eric Fehr left the game writhing in pain after he hit the glass hard and he didn't come back.  There isn't an adequate to accurately describe the absurdity of this injury situation.

The Caps played a tired team last night and survived with their Hershey defense.  In two hours they play the Carolina Hurricanes so I hope the defense does as well as last night.  I really hate 5:00 games since I'm not going to be home.  Alexandre Giroux, leading goal scorer for the AHL down in Hershey joins the Caps tonight.

Let's go Caps!

1 point losses then 7 goals

Finally, the Caps put together a game to cheer about against the Toronto Maple Leafs. My other half, Jeff, said something like "oh, it's a boring game" when he walked in the door during the 3rd period. I'll take 7 goal games by the Caps any day of any hockey season, but even more so, when those tallies result in a resounding Caps win after 2 more losses by 1 goal to Vancouver (yes, Luongo still has the Caps number) and St. Louis.

And, boy would I hate to be a net minder in Toronto. Their fans were merciless, taunting their goalie with cheers when he made ordinary saves, and booing in general.

The best Caps in the Toronto game:

• Ovie with 2 more goals, 1 on the power play (yippee) and great defensive playing. He was the 1st star of the game. His quote in the Toronto Sun after the game when asked who could stop him cracked me up. "Nobody can stop me....just me." This is one of the many reasons I'm glad Ovie is a Capital instead of Sydney Crosby...he's a character.
• The checking line mates Boyd Gordon and Matt Pettinger are playing awesome hockey and were rewarded with their first goals of the season against Toronto. Petti's came on the power play (double yippee).
• Kozlov and Nylander had good games, recording 2 assists each and were rewarded with 2nd star and 3rd star respectively.
• Brian Sutherby, out of the lineup as a healthy scratch, recorded his 1st goal and skated aggressively, stirring things up and giving the Caps a boost.
• Matt Bradley had a short-handed goal and an assist and also played aggressively.

The worst moment of the game - Caps captain Chris Clark taking Ovie's slap shot to the ear. It required 60 or so stitches. This is the same Chris Clark who took a puck to the mouth and continued playing his shift last year. He is an amazing captain and a gritty hockey player that has blossomed in Washington. Clarkie apparently flew to NY to be with the Capitals today so I'm hoping we see him tomorrow night. I have no doubt that he wants to play because he always does.

Apparently, the team had a little team meeting before this game. It seems to have set a good tone for the game. Let's see if the Caps can keep it up against the New York Rangers tomorrow night.

Let's go Caps!