Caps Fall to 1-1 on Homestand

Capitals 4, Flyers 6

As has happened far too regularly this season, the Capitals were felled by questionable defensive play and sub-par goaltending and as a result lost a game where they should have had one point and could have had two. The Flyers, playing for the second time in two days and third time in four days, should have been outgunned by the Capitals (who were playing their only game in a seven day stretch), and if they game had stayed close they probably would have been. But by allowing Philadelphia to get out to a three goal lead and hence play a more conservative style the Capitals diminished their ability to use each team's scheduling situation to their advantage.

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Where does the blame fall? I think jointly on the shoulders of the defense corps and Olaf Kolzig. While Olie had a bad game, I don't think it's by any means inexcusable - he's 37 years old and was playing his 11th straight because of Brent Johnson's injury. Still, Olie should have done a better job controlling rebounds and staying with the puck (not surprisingly Olie's lack of lateral movement played a role as well).

The defense corps was especially poor at clearing the front of the net during during yesterday's game and a lot of it has to do with mobility. With Milan Jurcina, Jeff Schultz and John Erskine all in the lineup the Capitals' defense is simply too slow to not get caught out of position on a regular basis. The numbers tell the story as well: Mike Green and Shaone Morrisonn were paired together and were each a +2; all the other Capitals defensemen were worse.

The loss puts the Capitals in a tough spot. The team was hoping to get eight points or more on their current homestand and this loss puts them at 1-1 after two, so to meet their goal the Caps would have to win their remaining three games. It might sound like a tall order but: the Capitals haven't lost two in a row under Bruce Boudreau, face Ottawa (a team they've beaten all three times the two teams have met this season) next and then face Florida and Edmonton. In other words, if the Capitals can build off this loss and come out strong on Tuesday against the Senators they still have a very good chance of picking up their desired eight points.

Quick Hits

• Tom Poti was -3 in this return to the lineup - perhaps he wasn't ready?
• The Capitals has 32 shots on goals and 40 shots that were either blocked or missed the net (19 blocked; 21 misses). For comparison, the Flyers had 32 on net and 19 blocked or miss the net (11 blocked, 8 misses).
• Boyd Gordon blocked three shots; Quintin Laing only one.
• Milan Jurcina had zero hits - not acceptable for a 6'4'', 235 pound, poor-skating defenseman.
• Daniel Briere was -2, had one shot and no points and lost 11 of his 13 faceoffs.

The Flyers Strike Agan

Another dirty hit from a Flyers player:



Generally I am adamantly opposed to fining coaches or franchises for the actions of their players on the ice, but the Flyers have gotten so out of control I think it would be appropriate.

Happy Birthday, Nicklas Backstrom - Caps Win 4-3

Capitals 4, Flyers 3 (OT)

Well. That was encouraging.

Before anything else, let me say this: the Caps, as a whole, played well enough to deserve better than a one-goal overtime win. The first Flyers goal shouldn't have happened - it should have been blown dead by the officials. The second Flyers goal shouldn't have happened because Olie shouldn't let that shot in.

The Capitals controlled the play most of the game, outshooting their opponents in every period and 35-25 for the game. But the most impressive stretch came early in the first. With Shaone Morrisonn already in the box, Jeff Schultz inadvertently sent a rolling puck over the glass in his own end, giving the Flyers a 5-on-3 for 1:45. The Capitals were able to kill off the entirety of the penalty and maintain their one goal lead, keeping their slim margin early in the game in the face of adversity and giving a significant boost to a team lacking in confidence.

But the story of the game for the Capitals really was aggressiveness. Boudreau had mentioned that several times leading into the game and it made all the difference. Rather than sitting back and play tentative the Caps forechecked hard, worked to beat the Flyers to the puck and outhit Philly 15-14 (that's not as close as it looks - Scott Hartnell had six), and showed that they are indeed a good NHL team. The Caps have a lot of good skaters and they're the biggest team in the NHL - if they are allowed to play aggressively and pressure their opponents they should generally expect good things to happen.

So what's next? A home matchup this Saturday against Carolina where the Caps will try win two in a row for the fist time this season after their 3-0, and start a winning streak that will get them back into the playoff picture (they're currently seven points out, pending today's results). Is it just me, or do other people have more confidence that they'll be able to do that than at any other point this season?

DMG's 3 Stars

(1) Nicklas Backstrom (1 goal (the game winner), 2 assists, +2)
(2) Tom Poti (2 assists, 27:02 of ice time)
(3)Alexander Ovechkin (1 assist (a nice one on the game winner), +2, 4 shots, 23:06 of ice time)

* Note/Edit: Final T.O.I. differs slightly from what was posted here b/c I put this up shortly after the game's conclusion.

Quotable

"It's subtle changes, not like you're revamping the whole thing. I just think the mind-set sometimes has got to change, and the culture's got to change. They've got to believe that they're really good players."

-Bruce Boudreau

Quick Hits

• I have no analytic data but I would venture to guess a good 30% of the goals against Olaf Kolzig this year have come through the five-hole.
• Thank you, Kimmo Timonen. Just as your team was really starting to get momentum, you took a stupid, obvious and unnecessary penalty to put the Caps on the powerplay.
• Even though his team lost, I'm sure Daniel Briere had fun today. Not only did he get to jam his stick between a Capitals player's legs - he got a goal when he did!
• Seriously though, there were quick whistles all day - where were they on Briere's goal?
• Horrible, horrible slashing call on Tom Poti with 2:18 left in the game.
• Either Nicklas Backstrom is really comfortable on the fourth line or he had something to prove, notching the game winner and two assists on his 20th birthday.

Caps/Flyers Recap

Flyers 3, Capitals 2

What's left to say at this point? Again the Capitals controlled the first period of play but couldn't capitalize on the scoreboard, and again fell by just one goal. Unlike many of their other recent games, the Caps did not lose despite being the better team - on a whole the Flyers played better hockey from the second period on and for the game, and penalties especially killed the Capitals.

Any team is going to get outplayed some nights. It just wouldn't be as frustrating if the Capitals had managed to pull out wins in games where they had outplayed better than the opposition.

So the Caps now sit at 5-8, with 10 points through 13 games. They're not out of it by any stretch (who is this early in the season?), but they either need to starting picking up some points or get Poti, Clark and Semin back now. I still have faith the Caps will be a playoff caliber team with those guys in the lineup but they can't go digging themselves a hole they can't climb their way out of.

Quick Hits

• Brooks Laich in a fight? Really? Brooks Laich? I don't think I can overstate how much I like this guy. Smart, hardworking, versatile. Exactly the type of role player a successful team needs.
• Unbelievably stupid first period penalty by Matt Bradley to give up at PP chance for the Caps. The coaches and/or captain need to call him out on that.
  
• I know it's his job to be tough guy, but does Riley Cote really think its a good job to challenge Brashear when he already has 2 black eyes?
• There were a good number of altercation in the first period alone, either instigated or responded to effectively by the Caps: Pothier/Coburn, Bradley/Coburn, Bradley/Hartnell, Brash/Cote, Pettinger/Lupul, and of course the fight between Laich and Richards. Great to see the Caps playing with a snarl on their collective face. That's the kind of attitude it takes to be successful in the NHL, especially when you're not the most skilled team
• Encouraging game out of Fleischmann. Not only did he score - he looked a lot more comfortable without the puck and was doing a pretty good job of getting into position. I think I even saw him throw a hit!
• I wasn't exactly surprised to see Jeff Schultz standing in front of the net looking helpless after Briere's goal. Yesterday Tarik El-Bashir speculated that Steve Eminger is healthy and ready to play. If that's the case I really don't understand why Schultz is in the lineup at this point.
  
• Does anyone get more of their shots blocked than John Erskine?
• He may not be be a great goalie but does anyone have a cooler helmet than Antero Niittymaki?
  

Caps Face Off Against Flyers

You'd think that a 5-7-0 team would have a lot of room for improvement after their first twelve games, especially one that made the kinds of significant additions the Capitals did in the offseason. In reality the Caps have for the most part outplayed their opposition and could be 9-3-0 (that three game stretch against the Isles, Rangers and Sabres should have resulted in three losses). That's not to blame the Capitals sub-par start entirely on bad luck, both in terms of injuries and on-ice bounces and bad calls. The team has still made bad plays at times, mainly turnovers and bad penalties. But the Capitals have lost three of their last four, while outplaying their opponents, and have been missing Tom Poti for all those games, Semin for almost all four and Clark for three. Those are hard losses to swallow. Especially when you see what happens when things go your way - a 7-1 win against the Leafs in Toronto. The Capitals need to realize that as a whole, as a team, they are playing well. They need to stop making costly mistakes, need to get a few bounces and need to bury their chances (Viktor Kozlov anyone?) and they will start winning if they play the way they have.

Tonight they'll need to do so against the revamped Philadelphia Flyers. Insert "I hope all our players survive the game clever and knowing reference to Randy Jones, Steve Downie and Jesse Boulrice here. I'll say this: given their track record thus far I would think about changing the 'Back With a Vengeance' introduction to the Flyers official website if I were working for them.

This is an important game for the Caps to win, both because of their ongoing struggles to pick up 'W''s and because they head out for three more on the road after this.

The Capitals are going to need to worry about the Flyers scoring depth. With Daniel Briere, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Simon Gagne, Scott Hartnell and Joffrey Lupul it's not like you can shut down one guy, or even one line, and expect to win. I expect two things from the Cpitals - (1) to see Morrisonn and Jurcina against Briere's line because Briere is the biggest threat and (2) to see the Capitals break up their checking line forwards again since there isn't just one line they'll need to shut down. That means we could see Boyd Gordon skating with Kozlov and Ovechkin again. The somewhat unlikely line had a good night in New York and if Kozlov had buried any of his eight shots they would have looked even better (as an aside, if Kozlov could bury even half of his great scoring chances he'd have seven or eight goals by this point, rather than the two he does).

I'd like to see the Caps run a true top line out there, give Ovechkin the chance to play with a great playmaker (Nylander), which would result in something like this:

Ovechkin/Nylander/Kozlov
Pettinger/Backstrom/Fleischmann
Sutherby/Gordon/Laich
Brashear/Steckel/Bradley

Let's see the Flyer's less-than-stellar defense which will be missing Hatcher, Rathje and Jones stop that first line. If everyone's healthy I wouldn't advocate playing Nylander with Ovechkin - I'd want Clark and Kozlov with him and Nylander with Semin, but if you're missing two of your top six forwards, the lines are going to have to be shuffled a bit. Defense is Philly's weakness, especially tonight with the injuries/suspension. And Biron has been good but he really isn't that great. He's played six-plus seasons in the NHL with a .910 save percentage, the fact that he's at .940 this year doesn't mean anything other that he's been off to a good start and is due for a bad game. It might even be worse to face Antero Niittymaki who has got to feel like he has something to prove at this point.

Oh, if I were a betting man I would bet on Sutherby getting into a scrap tonight. He's frustrated that he's not playing he he's going to be playing a physical team. He's not a heavyweight like Brash but he's fought some big boys and looked like he wanted to go with Hollweg last night. Actually on that note can't we find a way to get Suts in the lineup on an everyday basis? I know he only plays left wing and center and not the right but wouldn't it be possible to put him on the left and Brash on the right on the fourth line? Suts is still viewed as a leader and is still an assistant captain and still a valuable third/fourth line grinder and agitator; I think he's better than Bradley or Fleischmann to have in the lineup.

Other Previews: washingtoncaps.com, PhiladelphiaFlyers.com

Say a Prayer for Patrice Bergeron

The criminal element that is the Philadelphia Flyers has struck again; this time it was Randy Jones hitting Boston's Patrice Bergeron from behind, into the boards. Bergeron appeared to be knocked out and was taken off the ice on a stretcher after being immobilized. Jones was given a 5 minutes major for boarding and a game misconduct.

There's not much commentary for something like this, just that this is third time a Flyer has seriously injured another player by taking a run at them and delivering a deliberate cheap shot and at this point this league out to start consider fining the organization or coach.

Previous Flyers cheapshots from this season for anyone who hasn't seen them or doesn't remember: