Caps top Habs 5-4

Capitals 5, Canadiens 4 (OT)

Saturday's matinée between the Canadiens and the Caps ended in a familiar fashion for each team with the Capitals picking up another come from behind win and the Habs continuing their struggles in the Bell Centre.

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For the moment the Caps are only four points out of a playoff spot and seven out of the division lead, heading into a five-game homestand. This is the Capitals' best chance to get themselves into a playoff position until a four-game stint at home in mid-March and they look poised to put up a lot of points as they're playing well, within striking distance of the teams in front of them, playing mostly average teams during the homestand and have three days to rest, get healthy and prepare.

There has to be a little concern over Olaf Kolzig's less than stellar showing, not necessarily because of of the raw numbers, but because of the way he looked. Earlier this year Kolzig allowed far too many goals through the five hole; now he is allowing too many where the opposition has a wide open net to shoot at, the result of Olie's lack of lateral movement and positioning bringing him out well beyond the blue paint. Kolzig is still enough to contribute to a good team but at times it feels like every shot on goal the opposition takes is a scoring chance.

DMG's 3 Stars
(1) Alex Ovechkin - 2 goals, 23:53 ice time
(2) Mike Green - 1 goal (game winner), 2 assists, 27:46 of ice time
(3) Michael Nylander - 2 assists

Quick Hits

• I'm really glad the Capitals are able to come from behind to pick up wins now that Bruce Boudreau is coaching, but they have to try and prove it every game?
  
• By my count there were four times in the first period alone that the puck bounced over the stick of Caps defensemen at the Montréal blue line.
• In his return to the Capitals lineup Steve Eminger played just 6:32, which was 3:01 less than forward Donald Brashear and less than any other player in the game on either team. This organization really has clearly lost faith in him.
• Michael Nylander had only 13:13 of ice time.
• For whatever reason the Montréal media didn't feel that Mike Green's game winner, two assists and +1 rating were worthy of making him one of the three stars. Raisins aigres, non?
  
• Ovechkin made a great play coming out of the penalty box to break in and score his second goal but without the great look and pass from John Erskine the play doesn't happen.
• On the play that resulted in the game winner I'm pretty sure everyone in the building - including Mike Green - expected Nylander to shoot, not pass.
• Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin were really laying into Carey Price. Joe B. described Backstrom's goal as "making [Price] look like a rec leaguer" and after Gordon's slapshot goal Laughlin said Price looked disgusted with himself "and he should be".

All photos AP

Habs/Caps Preview

Washington Capitals at Montréal Canadiens
Saturday, January 5th, 12:30 PM
Bell Centre in Montréal, Québec

The Canadiens are actually a lot like the Capitals last opponent, the Boston Bruins: they've been successful by playing tight defense, have a deep blue line, a solid goalie and aren't dependent on one player to score. And although they're built in much the same way, they're much better than the Bruins. But the Habs were also outshot by the Capitals 37-21 the last time the two teams played (12/20, in D.C.), so the karma should be on the Caps side. Plus the Habs haven't been playing well on home ice so far this season.

It seems silly to keep saying it, but this is an important game. The Islanders, Bruins, Flyers, Maple Leafs, Panthers and Rangers are all in action tomorrow and all lead the Capitals by seven points or less. With a win tomorrow, and a little luck, the Caps could be in a great position to pull themselves into a playoff spot during their upcoming five-game homestand. With a loss, they're likely to still be in a very deep hole.

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About the Opponent

Montréal Canadiens (20-13-7, 47 points, second in the Northeast Division, fourth in the Eastern Conference)

Team Leaders
Goals: Alexei Kovalev (17)
Assists: Saku Koivu (24)
Points: Alexei Kovalev (36)
Plus/Minus: tie - Christopher Higgins and Roman Hamerlik (+6)
Penalty Minutes: Tom Kostopoulos (66)
Fights: Tom Kostopoulos (6)

Betcha Didn't Know....
When the Canadiens traded José Théodore on March 8th, 2006 they were left with Cristobal Huet and David Aebischer as their goalies - the first time the team did not have at least one French-Canadian goalie on their team since the 1965-66 season.

Random Canadiens Statistic
Center Tomas Plekanec has been a plus player every North American he's played for, every season he's played in where he dressed for more than two games - three in the AHL and two and half (including this season) in the NHL. In a pair of two game stints (one in the AHL, one in the NHL) Plekanec was even each time, meaning he has never posted a minus rating in North America.

Keys to the Game

Washington
Stay out of the box. I swear I have other keys to the game and I'm not going to run this one out every time. The Canadiens are the best in the NHL (24.2%) on the powerplay and powerplay goals account for 36.9% of their total goals.

Montréal
Get ahead early. The Canadiens can be a shutdown team in their own end and have two very good goalies in Huet and Carey Price, so if the Habs score first score first it could be very difficult for Washington to mount a comeback.

Players to Watch

Washington
Alexander Ovechkin - after a four-goal game, followed by a two-assist game, (both against the Senators) Ovechkin was left point-less (as well his teammates) against Boston. Given that Ovechkin loves showcasing his talent in Canada, he's unlikely to go two games in a row without registering a goal (let alone a point) and the Capitals could pull to within four points of a playoff spot with a win in today's game, look for Ovechkin to again come up big.

Montréal
Cristobal Huet/Carey Price - the last time these two teams met Huet had 35 saves on 37 shots. Price was the fifth overall pick in the 2005 draft, put up a .936 save percentage in the playoffs last year en route to a Calder Cup win for the Hamilton Bulldogs (over the Hershey Bears) and has shown that he can cope with the bright lights and high expectations of Montréal fan at the age of 20. With either in net the Caps have their work cut out for them.

Too Good to be True

Yet another article proclaiming Alexander Ovechkin is possibly headed on his way out, this one is from the Montreal Gazette and titled "Ovechkin joining Habs rare rumour that has legs". Alright, so fans of Les Habitants can dream, can't they? But the best part of this article is this:

All it will take is, oh, $120 million over 15 years and a slew of first-round picks.

Caps fans should hope so! Given that the Capitals can match any offer another team signs Ovechkin to, if Ovechkin were accept that offer sheet what he would be doing would be assuring that he would be in a Capitals uniform until he's 37, at the cost of eight million dollars a year to the Capitals. Think the Caps would take that chance? I do. Of course, Ovechkin knows this (unlike oh so many stupid journalists) and unless he's willing to commit to D.C. for that long, he won't sign a 15-year offer sheet.

And I can't help being offended by this:

Or the Canadiens can go another route: If the Capitals are reasonably certain they're bound to lose Ovechkin, the Habs might be able to swing a multi-player deal, offering Washington any player on the roster not named Carey Price. The Canadiens get Ovechkin, while the Caps get a balanced lineup capable of winning hockey games.

and referring anyone to an earlier response I had to a similar proposal: No young talent? No depth on the team or in the farm system? Alexander Semin, Shaone Morrison, Boyd Gordon, Matt Pettinger, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, Jeff Schultz, Karl Alzner, Josh Godfrey, Semen Varlamov, Michael Neuvirth, Chris Bourque, Francois Bouchard, Sasha Pokulok. Yeah, the Capitals need more young talent.

Plus they're 7-5-2 since Boudreau took over. Plus they've had a lot of injuries. Plus they just outshot the Canadiens 37-21, so I don't know that's the lineup the Caps will want to be pilfering if they're trying to get better.

Really guys, you're professional journalists. Is it so hard to do a little research?

Caps/Habs Recap

Canadiens 5, Capitals 2

How do you outshoot a team 37-21, have more than a 50% advantage over them in scoring chances and still lose? The answer: difference in the quality of netminding. If not for Cristobal Huet's performance last night the Canadiens, in all likelihood, don't win that game.

The Canadiens didn't have a high number of good scoring chances and when the Capitals defense was good it was very good. But when it was bad it was very bad. The Capitals held the Canadiens to only one shot in the first half of the first period (six for the period) and only three for the first nineteen minutes of the second (five in all in the period), but they also conceded the first two goals because they left men wide open in front of their own net.

As for Kolzig: it's hard to fault a goaltender when their defense leave men wide open in front of the net or let screened shots get through, but it's also hard to totally absolve a goalie who's stopped only eight of eleven shots through two periods. The Canadiens first and third goals were stoppable - the first wasn't a great shot, even though it was in close and the third was through a screen but also wasn't a great shot. You certainly can't blame Kolzig on either of those, but it would have been nice if he'd stopped one of them. The Canadiens second goal was one where Olie couldn't have done much - if your defense is going to let the other team have that opportunity you don't have much of a chance as a netminder. That said, Kozlig should have done something. He literally didn't have any of the net covered. Not one. Single. Inch. In fact, Tomas Plekanec had to miss the net to hit Kolzig with the puck (by the way, Merry Christmas, Tomas. If you can't even hit the net from four feet out with no one one you, you'd better believe it's a gift when you score.)

The score might give the impression that this way the type of game the team was accustomed to playing under Hanlon. It wasn't. The Capitals played well for the vast majority of the game, created chances for themselves in the offensive zone and held the Canadiens to 21 shots. This, along with Boudreau's attitude, gives me faith the Capitals will come out strong next time.

Quick Hits

• Al Koken reported during the third period that Brian Pothier had broken his thumb and is week-to-week. Now's your chance, Steve. Show us you shouldn't have been sitting all this time.
• Interesting decision to Boudreau to play Ovechkin on the point with Pothier out and the team in need of goals. I like it.
  
• Ovechkin needs a new stickhandling move. He does the one he does, where he tries to put the puck through the opponent's legs and go through them, very well. But he tries it every time he's one-on-one with a defender. NHL advance scouts are going to pick up on that and NHL defenders are going to stop it when they know it's coming. Ovie either needs to get a new move or start getting rid of the puck, because all he's doing now is turning it over.
• Nicklas Backstrom's goal was a very nice play. Taking a bouncing puck at putting in the net from that angle, with the backhand takes a lot of skill.
  
• If I were Coach Boudreau I would consider calling Viktor Kozlov into my office and ask him why he thinks it's so funny that he can't score goals.
  
• Did anyone else raise any eyebrow when Craig Lauglin said "this period's just about over" when there was 8:30 remaining in the second? At that point (8:30) the period was 57.5% over. Does this mean the Capitals had "just about" as many points (70) as the Senators (112) and Red Wings (124) last year?
  
• While we're on the subject of Laughlin, he apparently thought his comment that the "teams must think the ice time over over at nine o'clock" was the funniest thing he's ever heard because he was giggling uncontrollably for a good ten seconds afterwards. What I thought was amusing was that Beninati's comment that "we'd better get them some orange wedges" that came right after was much better than Laughlin's.