Caps Finish Homestand 4-1

Capitals 5, Panthers 3

....so close to free wings.

For about fifty minutes of this game the Capitals were dominant and for about ten they were terrible. That ten minute stretch looked like it had the potential to bury the Caps but at the end of the night the boys in red, white and blue held on to improve to 4-1 on their homestand, behind strong efforts from Viktor Kozlov, Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom, who assisted on four of the Capitals five goals.

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Aside of securing eight of ten possible points the Capitals reached another important milestone last night, reaching .500. That's right Caps fans, with the win the Capitals pulled to 21-21-4 and are at .500 for the first time since October 24th.

I don't really have that much more to say about this game, so I'll close with a playoff race update - the Caps are three points out of the division leader and have played three fewer games and only four points out of the eight seed in the Conference.

DMG's 3 Stars (1) Nicklas Backstrom - 4 assists
(2) Viktor Kozlov - 2 goals
(3) Alexander Ovechkin - 1 goal, 1 assist

Quotable

"We've officially reached mediocrity"

-Bruce Boudreau

"Right now we're .500. But for us, it's just a beginning."

-Alexander Ovechkin

Quick Hits

• The Panther ice the puck like they have a collective contract clause that pays them each time they do it.
• It amused me when Craig Laughlin referred to "Iron Mike" Keenen as Mike "Iron" Keenen.
• Speaking of Laughlin, does anyone else think it's kind of adorable how he thinks every goal hits the water bottle?
• Jeff Schultz is become more physical - he was credited with three hits and did a nice job getting in the face of the Panthers player who made too much contract with Brent Johnson.
• Alexander Ovechkin was not credited with any hits.

Photos: AP

Panthers/Capitals Preview

Florida Panthers at Washington Capitals
Saturday, January 19th, 7:00 PM
Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
Last Meeting: 12/1/2008, Capitals win 2-1

This game is important for so many reasons: it concludes the Capitals homestand and for this team the difference between going 4-1 and 3-2 over five games is huge, the winner assumes sole control of third place in the Southeast Division and a win would let the Capitals gain ground on the stumbling Carolina Hurricanes (3-6-1 in their last ten) and Atlanta Thrashers (lost 10-1 to Buffalo last night).

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About the Opponent

Florida Panthers (21-23-4, 46 points, third in the Southeast Division, 12th in the Eastern Conference)

Team Leaders
Goals: Olli Jokinen (22)
Assists: Olli Jokinen (22)
Points: Olli Jokinen (44)
Plus/Minus: David Booth (+7)
Penalty Minutes: Nathan Horton (59)
Fights: Gregory Campbell (4)

Betcha Didn't Know...
The Panthers have finished in fourth place in the Southeast Division each of the last five seasons.

Random Panthers Statistic
6'2'', 239 pound forward Anthony Stewart has never been in a fight. This season, Stewart has played in 23 games for the Panthers and has yet to pick up a penalty.

Keys to the Game

Washington
Play a high-octane game. Florida is a defenseive (read:boring) team that likes to slow down the play and limit chances. The Capitals need to take the game to them and force the Panthers out of their game plan.

Florida
Be aggressive. Alex Ovechkin has five goals in his last five games, Alexander Semin has four in his last three, Mike Green has goals in three straight and ten points in his last seven games and Tomas Fleischmann and Viktor Kozlov look ready to break out. There's no way the Panthers can contain all the Capitals offensive weapons for a full sixty minutes, so if they want to win they're going to have to put some pressure on the Caps.

Players to Watch

Washington
Tomas Fleischmann - I said it already, but Flash really does look ready to break out and finally start putting pucks in the net after creating those great chances, and I think he'll start tonight.

Florida
Jay Bouwmeester - For any team playing the Capitals, the biggest priority has to be stopping Ovechkin. If there's anyone on the Florida roster who can do it, it's Bouwmeester.

Let's Talk About the Southeast

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Let's talk about a division where:

• Each of the five teams has been outscored by its opposition for the season
• The division leader is on pace to finish with 86 points (85.7 actually), a total that would have been tied for 12th in the Conference in 2006-07 and have put them in fourth in each of the Conference's three divisions
• More teams have starting goalies with save percentages of .890 or worse (two) than .903 or above (one). For reference, .903 would put a goalies in a tie for 26th in the league in save percentage
• Only one team is over .500 in games outside the division, and they are 12-11-3 in said games
• No team in the division is .500 against teams outside the division when overtime losses are counted as losses
• The division is a combined 50-64-13 against the rest of the NHL

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Southeast Division, home of your Washington Capitals...and their opponents in 15 of their remaining 40 games (37.5%). The Caps actually aren't playing a Southeast-heavy schedule right now and after February 1st the Capitals play Southeast foes in 14 of 30 games (46.7%). The NHL is dropping the extremely unbalanced schedule next season, and it's the right decision. But Caps fans are very lucky they'll get to play almost half their games down the stretch, when continued development and better health should mean the team is playing its best hockey, against what is inarguably the worst division in hockey.

It's quite possible that only one team from this division will make them playoffs; indeed that would be the case if the season ended today. So the question is: who's going to go on a tear and run away with this division? Atlanta's too inconsistent and has too many holes and Tampa Bay is just...bad. Carolina looked like they were going to easily be the class of the division at the season's outset but they've been inconsistent on the offensive front (though still quite good) and Cam Ward's save percentage has gone down each month. Florida clearly has the best goalie in division with Tomas Vokoun but the team is 27th in the NHL in scoring despite playing in the division with weakest set of starting goaltenders you'll find this year and their long-heralded crop of young players, with the possible exception of Nathan Horton, are not showing the kind of skill a lot of people thought they would. Although it's still possible Florida could have a good number of its youngster have a great second half and become a good team, Carolina is the team to beat at this point.

Right now the Capitals are seven points behind the Hurricanes for the division lead, and have played two fewer games. If the Capitals can get wins (or even a win and overtime loss) in those two games they have in hand they could easily make up the remaining ground on Carolina just in the head-to-head games the teams have remaining.

Given this, that the Caps have been the best team in the division for the last six weeks or so and that the Capitals have a ton of very good young players who seem to be getting better almost by the game, would it be unreasonable to call Washington the favorite to be atop this division when all is said and done?

Hangin' in the Southleast

...and now that that terrible pun is out of the way, let's turn our attention to the standings. Notice anything, say about the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings? The bottom four spots are occupied by Southeast division teams: Atlanta, Florida, Tampa Bay and Washington. While this is embarrassing for the Capitals, it also works in their favor.

Of the Capitals remainging fifty-five games, twelve are against Atlanta (5), Tampa Bay (4) or Florida (3). That means 22% of the Caps' remaining games are against the worst teams in the Eastern Conference. A team in such dire need of points coudn't ask for anything more.

Guess it's good for Caps fans that the NHL isn't going to their new scheduling format until next season.

Capitals/Panthers Recap: Caps Win 2-1

Capitals 2, Panthers 1

After the Capitals 4-3 loss to Carolina I wrote that the bad luck that had been plaguing the team for more than twenty games only seemed to be getting worse and wondered when it would finally end.

As the expression goes: "It's always darkest before the dawn".

Luck finally seemed to be on the Capitals side last night, and as a result the team caught a number of breaks during the game:

• Pothier's goal was the result of a good decision to put the puck on net, but Vokoun really should stop that shot.
• The Capitals also caught a break on Ovechkin's goal. As talented as Ovechkin is, 95% of the time you score that kind of angle it's more luck than skill.
• The call on Bryan Allen for holding Ovechkin was weak. Not only did he not hold him, I even thought whether there was intent to hold was questionable.
• Olli Jokinen had his stick slashed by a Capitals player hard enough to break it, but the Capitals were not called for a penalty.
• With about three minutes left in regulation Dave Steckel caught Rostislav Olesz with a high stick that was missed by the referees.

I don't mean to imply the Capitals managed to pick up a win when they didn't deserve to. The Caps outshot Florida 43-25 and controlled the play for the majority of the game, while Brent Johnson had a very good night between the pipes, stopping 24 of the Panthers 25 shots. It was nice to finally see the bounces and calls going the Caps way though.

The Capitals now have five days off, days they need to rest after their stretch of playing ten times in sixteen days. The team will also have the chance to fully absorb Bruce Boudreau's system. Obviously the changes he has been able to make so far have paid dividends but there's no doubt the team will welcome to chance to internalize the system more so that they don't have to think about it as much on the ice.

Quotable

"We got outplayed and outhustled.

-Panthers' goalie Tomas Vokoun

"We have been the stronger team a couple of nights, but it's a matter of getting bounces. Tonight we got them."

-Brent Johnson

"It was a lucky goal. I was trying to shoot the puck to create a rebound for (Viktor) Kozlov, but it was a lucky rebound and went into the net."

-Alexander Ovechkin on his goal

DMG's 3 Stars
(1) Brent Johnson (24 saves on 25 shots; .960 save %)
(2) Alexander Ovechkin (1 goal, 1 assist, +2)
(3) Brian Pothier (1 goal, +2)

Quick Hits

• Man, I thought Denis Potvin was going to have a heart attack whining about how Ovechkin's cross-check on Horton should have been a major penalty. Funny how he neglected to mention it was the result of Horton shoving a Caps player in the chest after the play and how he didn't seem to have a problem with both Backstrom and Kozlov being on the receiving end of facewashes that ended being shoves to the head only minutes later.
• Quintin Laing is winning me over fast. Four blocked shots in the first game and two crucial ones in the closing seconds tonight. In just two days I've gone from wondering who the heck this guy is to wondering why he wasn't with the team sooner. If he keeps this up he should challenge Matt Bradley for ice time.
• For a smallish 20 year old guy who's game is built on skill Nicklas Backstrom sure isn't shy about digging around in front of the opponent's net.

Caps Fall to Cats at the End of 11 Player Shootout

Capitals 1, Panthers 2 (SO)

Earlier this week I said that the Caps should look to pick up four points in their two games against Florida and one against Carolina before heading into a lengthy break in which they could fully absorb Boudreau's new system. After picking up a point in the shootout loss last night the team can still do so, but they missed their best opportunity for two in their home game against a mediocre (but streaking) Florida team.

Florida ought to consider itself lucky to have picked up the two points. I'll give them credit enough to deserve one, but the Capitals should have had 1:59 of 5-on-3 to close out the overtime session. They refs managed to catch the Cullimore trip but they blew what should have been an easy roughing or interference call as Nylander was hit from behind and knocked down in front of the Panthers net. Maybe it was one of those situations where the refs were being lenient because another penalty had already been called, I don't know. But an infraction as blatant as that one needs to be picked up no matter what. As it was the Caps had seven overtime shots; with a 5-on-3 and nothing to lose you'd have to like their chances of picking up a goal.

The Cats also lucked out when Clark and Semin became unavailable for the shootout. Semin would have shot no matter what; Clark may not have, but you'd have to think he'd go before Pothier, Poti or Steckel.

In non game-related thoughts I'd have to say that I'm pretty sure Craig Laughlin is crazy. He was saying in the game tonight (and has said in the past) that it's an advantage for a shooter to be the opposite handedness of a goalie, i.e. that a left-handed shooter will have an advantage over goalie who catches with his right hand. I'm usually ready to agree to disagree and accept that other people's opinions can differ from mine, but let me tell you here - Laughlin is wrong.

As someone who played goalie for years let me tell you that it's easier to stop a puck with your glove hand. That hand is lighter, there's no stick to make it awkward, you can catch with it and it's easier to make the play with your palm facing outwards that in towards you. As a shooter it's easier to not have to come across your body; for a right handed shooter (like Ovechkin or Semin) to shoot high-glove on a left-catching goalie (like Kolzig). Thus if the blocker is worn on the opposite hand of the handedness of the shooter, it's an advantage to the shooter. Come on Laughlin, why do you think the majority of NHL players shoot lefty? Why do you think Canadian coaches and parents tech their kids to shoot left, resulting in ridiculously high levels of left-handed golf club sales north of the border?

Quick Hits

• As much as I love Donald Brashear, the Caps may need to look for another enforcer in the offseason. Brash obviously has trouble keeping up with the pace in the NHL at his age and has taken a lot of bad penalties this year.
• The Capitals honored Sean Taylor before the game.
  
• I hear Dave Andreychuk used to do a drill where he would dump a bunch of pucks in and around the crease and practice snapping them high into the net as quickly as he could. Someone should show Viktor Kozlov this drill.
• Boyd Gordon's shootout goal beautiful. How beautiful? I got so excited I jumped up, pumped my first, and wrenched my back.
• The ice at the Verizon Center seems to be getting worse every game. Can it get any worse than last night's game? I doubt it. I mean, how can you make worse ice than when it doesn't even freeze?
• Of course the terrible ice can work to your advantage - Nylander nearly won the game with his bouncing dump-in on Vokoun. Just think of it as a home rink advantage.

Shootouts
Florida	Ville Peltonen shootout saved
Washington	Mike Green shootout saved
Florida	Olli Jokinen shootout goal
Washington	Alexander Ovechkin shootout saved
Florida	Jozef Stumpel shootout saved
Washington	Viktor Kozlov shootout goal
Florida	Nathan Horton shootout goal
Washington	Nicklas Backstrom shootout goal
Florida	Rostislav Olesz shootout saved
Washington	Michael Nylander shootout saved
Florida	Steve Montador shootout saved
Washington	Brooks Laich shootout miss
Florida	Richard Zednik shootout saved
Washington	Matt Pettinger shootout saved
Florida	Kamil Kreps shootout goal
Washington	Boyd Gordon shootout goal
Florida	Jay Bouwmeester shootout saved
Washington	Dave Steckel shootout miss
Florida	David Booth shootout saved
Washington	Tom Poti shootout saved
Florida	Stephen Weiss shootout goal
Washington	Brian Pothier shootout saved

Caps Lose to Sabres; Hope to Rebound Against Florida

I will admit that I wasn't able to watch last nights game, but here's what I gathered from the reactions of others:

• John Erskine is not a very good skater
• Alexander Ovechkin is very good
  
• The ice at Verizon Center is very bad
• The Sabres uniforms are still stupid looking
  

So, we now know that Bruce Boudreau is not a miracle worker who will go 61-0-0 this year. But other than that, what did the loss tell Caps fans? In my opinion, nothing really. Any team is going to have losses and any team is going to have bad losses, that's just the nature of hockey. The test will be seeing how this team comes back and responds to the loss Wednesday night against the Panthers.

Speaking of the schedule, the Capitals end their stretch of ten games in sixteen days this Saturday when they again play Florida (the game in between is against Carolina, in Raleigh). The busy stretch under Boudreau would have to be considered a success if the Capitals can take two out of these three games, which would put Boudreau's record at 4-2-0 going into a five-day layoff, which should give the team time to learn the intricacies of Boudreau's system. Needless to say, if the team picks up eight points in their first six games under Boudreau and then has a chance to fully adapt to his system, they will be in pretty good shape considering how things looked when Boudreau took over behind the bench.

While it should not be expected that the Capitals will beat the Hurricanes at home (which has as much to do with how good the 'Canes are as it does the Caps), it should at this point be expected that the Caps take both games from the Panthers. Simply put, the Capitals are better than the Panthers. They have better scorers, better defense and better depth, and as desperate as they need to be at this point they should come out and take care of the Panthers. No matter what the Capitals have a long road ahead of them if they want to get back into contention, and these games against Florida will be key in determining whether or not they have it in them.

So I Hear That Steve Stamkos Guy is Pretty Good...

Capitals 3, Panthers 4

It has to be frustrating to be Glen Hanlon these days. After more than two seasons of struggling through a complete rebuild you finally get a chance with a team that has a decent amount of NHL talent. Then injuries hit, the refs seem to make a lot of questionable calls that go against you and every bounce is favoring the opponents. You finally get your lineup back from injuries and you lose again - in large part because of a horribly unlucky bounce. And poor referring. And the fact that your captain can't put away a golden powerplay opportunity early in the game when the powerplay seemed to be working well. And that your captain later took a needless penalty to erase another powerplay.

All that said I still think it's time for a coaching change. In addition to Hanlon's earlier questionable decisions, the fact is the Capitals look lost. Whenever they go down, especially by more than one goal, the feeling is palpable and it's obvious in their body language that the Capitals don't think they can win. They're just hoping to somehow pull it out. I can't say for certain if they've lost faith in Hanlon's system, if the early losses in games they deserved to win have brought about a defeatist attitude or if they players are just starting to think they're cursed. But no matter what it is the most obvious answer is a coaching change.

Realistically it would be a mistake to change coaches during a stretch as active as the one the Caps are going through right now, but unless the Capitals go on a three-plus game winning streak (provided they don't lose all the other games) December 1st is going to be the last night you'll see Hanlon behind the bench.

Quick Hits

• Tap a guy on the gloves with your stick? Penalty. Lift another player's stick the wrong way? Penalty. Your jersey brushed the opponent's jersey as you skated by? Penalty. Punch Alexander Semin in the face and follow through with your elbow well after he has let the puck go? Play on, boys. Maybe the referees were overwhelmed by choice and couldn't decide whether to call roughing, elbowing or interference.
• Seriously, Semin drew a penalty but there were three or four others that should have been called when he was being mauled. Do the refs have it in for him or something?
• How strong is Alex Ovechkin? He knocked over Jassen Cullimore when Cullimore tried to stand him up while he was carrying the puck. Cullimore is 6'5'' and weighs 245 pounds.
  

Caps/Cats Preview (sort of but not really....)

I don't have the time for a comprehensive preview so I recommend these to you:

• A View From the Cheap Seats (Humorous and has pretty colors for the team names)
  
• Japers' Rink
• Peerless Prognosticator
  

And I'll summarize the main points:

• Alexander Semin is back
• The Caps need a win bad
• It' s a winnable game, because Florida is not a very good hockey team
• The Caps better start taking advantage of their games against their own division. They play everyone in it eight times and they're better than everyone except Carolina.

Also I like videos. So here's a good (and applicable) one:

Two-for-One: Caps/Cats Recap and Caps/Bolts Preview

With their game against Florida last night the Capitals kicked off a period of ten games in sixteen days, eight of which are against division opponents. It goes without saying that the Capitals need to put up a decent number of points - 12 or more in my opinion - through these ten games to salvage their season. They'll have the chance to do so, playing Florida four (!) times and Tampa and Atlanta once each (other games are two with Carolina and one each with Philly and Buffalo).

It's been said many times already, and by many people, that the Capitals need to turn things around quickly to have any hope of making it to the playoffs; if the Capitals can't put up some points through these ten games we won't have to say that anymore because the season will be over and we'll all be praying (1) to win the draft lottery and (2) for John Tavares to enter the draft (note: #2 may be conditional on #1).

As for the actual games - I don't think there much I can add to the commentary from last night's loss to Florida beyond what is being said at Japers' Rink and 3 Grumpy Caps Fans. What I do want to note is this:

• This loss comes in large part because two of the Capitals most important players, Tom Poti and Michael Nylander, had terrible games. Poti was the primary Cap to blame on both of Florida's goals. It was especially bad on the second one when he made a pass any hockey player past the age of seven ought to know not to attempt. Nylander had at least four very questionable (read: terrible) passes and by the end of the game I'd lost all faith the Capitals were going to do anything when he touched the puck.
• It's absurd Chris Clark was called for a dive when he was knocked down in front of the net and the Panthers' player (don't recall who) did not receive a diving penalty on the play where Jeff Schultz was called for interference.

As for tonights game, mark me down as someone who expects a Caps win. Yes, the Capitals are struggling, yes they are playing in Tampa and yes Vincent Lecavalier has been the best player in the NHL over the last couple weeks.

But I still think Tampa Bay simply is not that good; I know Lecavalier is not this good and I don't think the Capitals are this bad. Simply put the Lightning (7-1-1) and Lecavalier are overachieving and the Capitals are underachieving and both should return to levels that reflect their overall talent pretty soon (I have more faith Tampa will start to stumble that I do that the Capitals will start a winning streak. But I digress).