    
 |
Tuesday, January 15, 2008UPDATE - Nylander Confirmed to Undergo Surgery - Out 3-6 MonthsOriginal reports have been confirmed, according to Washington Post's Tarik El-Bashir: "Veteran center Michael Nylander is scheduled to have surgery on his torn left rotator cuff and will miss three to six months, I'm told. If you remember, on Jan. 8, I wrote that a source had told me that Nylander's shoulder was worse that the Caps were letting on -- the team said yesterday that he was taking the day off from practice -- and that surgery was a strong possibility. Well, now it's official. Nylander, who has been playing in pain for more than a month and was unable to sleep because of the injury, was the Caps' second leading scorer with 11 goals and 26 assists. He also was a team-worst minus-19. GM George McPhee will be speaking to the media soon." Capitals Go for Sweep of Beast from the EastIn an extremely surprising season series where the Capitals have had Eastern Conference leading Ottawa's number all year long, the Caps look to ice the cake with a broom tonight -- the proverbial season sweep. As is the case with every game on Washington's schedule, it should not come easy, but against Ottawa (for some unexplained reason) it has. The Senators, in a scenario familiar for Caps fans, come in with some new injury problems -- namely the absence of Dany Heatley who is second in the NHL with a +31 rating. The All-Star winger who has picked up four assists against the Caps this season is out for six weeks. Jason Spezza is expected to play tonight, but will do so at less than 100 percent. The Sens' top centerman was the recipient of a hard open-ice hit by the Islanders' Freddy Meyer and left that game early as a result. Ottawa may be welcoming back winger Patrick Eaves from the injured list. The former 20-goal scorer has missed the last 24 games, but trading Eaves for Heatley in the lineup is something the Capitals will happily do. While we're on the topic of injuries, an unconfirmed rumor has percolated that states Michael Nylander is done for the season. While this is still SPECULATION at this point, we are all well aware that Nylander has been playing through significant pain with a torn rotator cuff. The more authoritative sources seem to indicate that Nylander, who scored a goal and an assist in over 20 minutes of ice time just two days ago, will be in the lineup tonight but this is certainly something we will have to keep our eye on throughout the remainder of the season. Three of the Senators' 11 regulation losses have come at the hands of our very own, an anomaly rivaled only by the pre-Thanksgiving Detroit Red Wings whose 15-5-1 record (at the time) included an 0-3-1 mark against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks lost in their most recent meeting with the Wings, something Washington hopes to avoid by starting Brent Johnson in goal, marking the first performance-related benching of Olie Kolzig (to start a game) since Bruce Boudreau came aboard. Kolzig, who was horrendous in the loss to Philadelphia when he allowed 4 goals on 16 shots, was replaced midway through the game by Johnson. In relief, Johnny stopped 15 of 16 Flyer shots -- including a spectacular diving stop on sniper Simon Gagne. Washington quickly rallied back from a 4-1 deficit once Johnson entered the game, but fell just short on their comeback bid. Johnson has been brilliant in his career against Ottawa, posting a 3-1-0 record with a 1.87 GAA and .944 save percentage including one shutout in five appearances. He has been nearly as effective since the beginning of November, going 2-2-1 with a 2.36 GAA and .912 save percentage in seven contests. The way the season series has unfolded, this game should prove to be a very winnable one for Washington, a victory they could certainly use to continue their climb up the Southeast Division. Elsewhere around the league, Jaromir Jagr of the slumping New York Rangers is being discussed as possible trade bait as the trade deadline draws within sight. The old rumor mill (and we all know how accurate that can be - i.e. Alex Ovechkin and the many places other than D.C. where he would end up) suggests that Columbus is in talks with the Rags about acquiring the underachiever. Good for them. Monday, January 14, 2008All Good Things Must Come to an EndIt has been a whirlwind week for the Washington Capitals organization and its fans -- one which will always be remembered with the greatest of Capitals lure. But the Philadelphia Flyers, as they have done countless times in our 34 year history, played the spoiler as they came to town and skated away 6-4 winners. On a day meant for Alex to shine, it was the other Alex that began the Verizon Center excitement. A mere 1:22 into the contest, Alexander Semin streaked on the ice from the bench and fired a shot past Martin Biron to get the Caps on the scoreboard first. But the Flyers scored four unanswered goals using a combination of banks off of Kolzig from behind the goal line, a bad angle goal, and a deflection off a Cap defender to take command of the game. Kolzig was subsequently pulled in favor of Brent Johnson, back with the club for the first time since injuring his knee some two weeks ago. The Capitals quickly responded on a Mike Green wrister through traffic from the point. Green, whose goal came just 24 seconds after Johnny entered the game, regained sole possession of the defenseman goal scoring lead with his 12th on the season. Shortly thereafter, the newly minted "$124 million dollar man" scored his first post-contract goal on a patented wrister from the high slot to cut the Flyer lead to one. In the third period, Mike Richards of Philly and Michael Nylander of the hometown squad exchanged tallies before Kimmo Timonen (an all-star defenseman who is believed by many to be less deserving than the Caps' Green) got the empty netter to finish off the Ovechkin and the Caps. A few notes from the game:
Sunday, January 13, 2008Captain's Back as Caps Host FlyersThe Washington Capitals have had more than their share of injury problems this season, and while they are far from out of the woods yet, they will be welcoming back their leader today. Chris Clark has missed all but four of Washington's games since Bruce Boudreau took over back in November, yet the Capitals have been one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. The Boudreau-led squad of few veterans mixed mostly with youngsters has risen to the challenge of fighting their way from the bottom of the league back into playoff contention -- missing their captain 18 steps of the way. Clark's injury hasn't been the only setback the Caps have had to overcome, however. Tom Poti and Brent Johnson, among others, have also sat on the sideline with their own injury difficulties of late. Both will be returning to the lineup as well today. This will be the healthiest we have seen the Caps in quite some time, though Brian Pothier remains out for an unspecified (though it will likely be significant) amount of time. Michael Nylander will also be in the lineup today. Word is that he has a pretty bad rotator cuff these days and will be playing through a great deal of pain, as he did in Wednesday's win over Colorado. There's been talk of Nyles having to go under the knife at some point to undergo a procedure that requires six months of rehabilitation. In the meantime, the veteran spark plug is doing his best Ed Giacomin impersonation. But it is a tender issue that will require close following -- one good hit and he could be done for the season. Even without the hit, how effective will he be and for how long can he continue? The return of Poti has signalled the end of Eminger's short, yet surprisingly effective stint in the starting lineup. I don't know if we'll ever see him again barring any further injuries to the Caps blueline, or if he has truly worked himself into a timeshare with John Erskine and Milan Jurcina (sorry, but don't expect Jeff Schultz out of the lineup any time soon.) Brent Johnson will back up Olie Kolzig after turning in a reportedly brilliant performance in Hershey the other night. He stopped 37 of 40 shots in his succinct one game rehab assignment, a 3-1 loss to...DUM, DUM, DUM...the Penguins (of Wilkes-Barre Scranton -- but we just can't buy a win against those darn flightless birds regardless of where they originate.) Frederic Cassivi has been sent back down to make room for Johnson, but with Daren Machesney playing lights out in goal, I expect that the two will at least be sharing equal time in net (in other words, hopefully Cassivi has lost his starting job.) Though the Caps are still banged up and have a few guys who will be looking for the cowardly lion to help oil down the rust, we can expect the team to be on an emotional high as they finally have key leadership back on the ice this afternoon. Friday, January 11, 2008Officially the Face of Our Franchise
Yet the Capitals continued to win, and Ovie continued to be Ovie. But Caps fans remained skeptical -- hesitant to pour their heart into a team that had not signed their superstar to an extension some six months after "that other guy in Pittsburgh" got his. But now we know that Ovechkin is indeed ours for the long haul. We know he wants to be here -- that he's not forced to be here because of league rules. And we know George McPhee and Ted Leonsis are willing to put their money where their mouth is. What we don't know is if Ovechkin will ever bring a Stanley Cup to Washington, but Ovie says it's in his plans: “My dream was always to play in the NHL, and Washington is my second home,” Ovechkin said. “I appreciate all that the team has done for me. I love my teammates, the coaches, management and owners, and I love being a Washington Capital. The fans here have been great to me. I want to win, and I want to bring the Stanley Cup to Washington.” Ovechkin's contract sets a new precedent in National Hockey League history. Although his new contract does not set a record for its length of terms (congrats to Rick DiPietro,) Ovie becomes the first player to receive a nine figure deal. His $124 million contract trumps the previous NHL high set by fellow Russian Alexei Yashin (in what was arguably the most ill-advised contract offer in league history) by a cool $36.5 million. But unlike Yashin, Alexander Ovechkin is worth every penny...or is he? WHY OVIE AND THE CAPS WIN
WHY OVIE AND THE CAPS WON'T WIN
All this being said, I'll take the pros over the cons any day of the week. But don't say I didn't warn you. Thursday, January 10, 200813 Years, $124 MillionIt's official. Alex Ovechkin will be a Washington Capital through 2020-21. Ovechkin Reportedly Signed to 6-Year $54 Million ExtensionReports are beginning to surface that Ovechkin has signed to remain in Washington through the 2013-14 season. Following is the French-Canadian link that I have found: Update: TSN.ca has reported this to be untrue: The Ten Greatest Seasons of All-TimeSurprise, surprise...no Capitals made this list. Nonetheless, it is an interesting read courtesy of David Amber at ESPN.com. The link can be found here. Caps Move Within Five Points of Sixth Spot in the EastThe Washington Capitals continue to rise up the Eastern Conference standings as they put the clamp on Colorado to win 2-1. The Caps, led by a stellar performance from Olie Kolzig, have passed over the Toronto Maple Leafs to move into a tie for 12th place in the conference with the Florida Panthers. It was a quiet night for Olie who faced only nine shots in the game's first 40 minutes before being tested with the game on the line. Several late scrambles in front of the Caps net found Olie coming up huge, including a wonderful kick save on Tyler Arnason that kept the one goal lead intact. Kolzig wound up stopping 18 of the 19 shots slung his way in his first one goal performance in two months and a day (a 4-1 win over Ottawa on November 8th.) Kolzig got plenty of help from the guys in front of him, led by the game's third star Shaone Morrisonn. It is rare to find a player who went pointless with a -1 rating on the list of three stars, but Morrisonn was extremely sound defensively on the night -- highlighted by a diving pokecheck of a Marek Svatos breakaway. With Mike Green constantly jumping in the play, Morrisonn was the lone man back and was able to keep everything to the outside and pokecheck effectively. Another face on the blueline, one who has been inexplicably absent most of the year, turned in an outstanding effort. Steve Eminger played just over ten minutes, but he made the most of them. His play was more physical than I can recall at any point in his young career. He did a great job of tying up the Avalanche while avoiding penalties (something he has had trouble with in the past.) Eminger led all players on both sides with four hits and made very sound decisions moving the puck. Look for his minutes to increase as he gets back into game shape -- he certainly deserves it with a performance like this. The scoring didn't begin until the third period, when Brooks Laich fired a slapshot off a faceoff that apparently went off Donald Brashear, who was credited with his third goal of the season. Later in the third, the Caps finally caught a break as David Steckel centered a pass aimed at Quentin Laing that deflected off an Avs defender past Jose Theodore, who was the only reason Colorado was still in the game. Looking like the Hart Trophy winner of old, Theodore stoned Brooks Laich and Alexander Semin on breakaways and made many other splendid stops. Washington mustered only 23 shots but almost every one was a quality scoring chance. Olie lost his bid at his first shutout of the year moments after Steckel put the Caps up by two, but his play late in the contest was the reason the Caps walked away with two important points. The Laich-Brashear-Matt Bradley line played very well all night and was rewarded with a late shift to help secure the victory. They nearly created an insurance goal early in their shift but when Colorado got the puck into Washington's end and pulled Theodore, the Avs kept the pressure on as the grinders got caught in a 1:16 long shift. After making a few brilliant saves, Olie finally got the whistle with 13.8 seconds left and the Caps went on to seal the W. A few notes from the game:
POST-GAME INTERVIEWSWATCH THE GAME HIGHLIGHTSWednesday, January 9, 2008Capitals Begin Five Game HomestandThe Capitals, who have been dealing with a recent bout of injuries, are recipients of a kindly placed stretch of off days during which they play just one game in seven days. And that game is tonight against a squad that is dealing with their own injury problems. The Colorado Avalanche are without future Hall of Famer Joe Sakic and their prized free agent acquistion of this past offseason, Ryan Smyth. The Avalanche, whose overall record is 22-17-3, are coming to town at just the right time if you're a Caps fan. Despite their fairly impressive record this season, Colorado has been downright bad on the road -- only one team (Tampa Bay) has won fewer road games this season. On top of that, the Avs are in a slump having gone just 1-4-1 since the holiday break. Their anemic power play, which ranks 29th in the league this season, has been as bad as it can be during this stretch -- 0 for 17. Washington is expecting the return of Alexander Semin, but I'm leery as to how well he'll play. The rust settled in big time when he was out earlier this year and it took him weeks to get out of his funk. Sure his recent layoff was not as lengthy as his previous absence, but his style of play relies on timing and quickness so even a bit of rust has a significant impact on his game. Other good news on the injury front has Chris Clark and Brent Johnson returning at some point during this homestand, which resumes on Sunday against Philadelphia. Both Tom Poti and Brian Pothier are expected to remain out, however, which begs the question: Will Steve Eminger actually be a contributor or will he be relegated to 7 minutes a night as the rest of the young defense is overworked? Also of note, former first round draft pick Eric Fehr is expected to return to the ice as early as tonight for the Hershey Bears. The two-time 50 goal scorer in juniors has been out with lingering back and hip problems and will make his first appearance this season. Alex Ovechkin finally speaks about being in Washington! Tuesday, January 8, 2008Ovechkin Not an All-Star Starter, Capitals' Attendance to BlameAlex Ovechkin, despite his immense popularity around the league, failed to be voted in by fans to start the 2008 NHL All-Star Game. Sidney Crosby, Vinny Lecavalier, and Daniel Alfredsson got the starting nods on the Eastern Conference All- Star team over our very own. But why? Whereever Washington plays, we see fans with Ovechkin posters and jerseys. I can't quite say the same about Lecavalier or Alfredsson. So why were they voted in ahead of Ovie? One simple answer: more Lightning and Senators fans. Look no further than the NHL's attendance numbers for your proof. Ottawa draws the third most fans in the league, averaging 19,685 per home game. Tampa Bay (believe it or not) ranks 7th while averaging 18,798 per contest. Our beloved Capitals, as much as we hate to see it, are ranked dead last averaging only 13,510 at the old Phone Booth. The Flyers' Daniel Briere even finished ahead of Ovechkin in the voting -- they draw 19,489 a game up in Philly, 4th most in the NHL. Out in the West, their squad is dominated by three Detroit Red Wings, two Calgary Flames, and a Vancouver Canuck. Those cities account for three of the top four home attendances in the Western Conference. The All-Star Game voting truly is a popularity contest, unfortunately one that rewards local favorites over league-wide attractions (Ovechkin and the Caps rank 10th in road attendance.) Until the Capitals are able to create more of a stir in a town dedicated to politics and football, this will likely remain the norm. Monday, January 7, 2008The Capitals Mid-Season Review/OutlookTo borrow a title from a Charles Dickens novel, the first half of the 2007-08 campaign could be referred to as "A Tale of Two Seasons." The obvious separation of the two halves has been shaped by the coaching change that saw Glen Hanlon depart after five tumultuous years in Washington. Since the arrival of Bruce Boudreau, the personality of this team has been reshaped into that of a winner -- of a team that, to employ a boxing analogy, can be knocked down in the 2nd and 6th rounds only to score a 12th round knockout. With half a season left to be played, this squad's mentality (especially when factoring in the injuries they have had to overcome) will quite possibly lead them to their first playoff appearance since the spring of 2003. Continue reading the review here. Sunday, January 6, 2008Mike Green Continues to Turn HeadsThe Capitals' young defenseman who leads the league in goal scoring among blueliners is becoming a household name as he continues his late game heroics. Check out the latest article praising Mike Green. Saturday, January 5, 2008Green Makes Amends With OT WinnerA night after looking tired defensively, Mike Green scored the game winning goal for Washington as they completed yet another comeback on their way to earning two important points in their climb up the Eastern Conferenece ladder. The Canadiens got on the board early with a Tomas Plekanic power play goal less than three minutes in. The Caps failed to generate any solid scoring chances the remainder of the period and they headed into the break having been outshot 11-6 and lucky to be losing by just one goal. Enter Donald Brashear, stage right. The Caps' veteran pugilist, whom hockey analyst Bill Clement calls the league's third toughest player, lit a fire in the dressing room and the boys responded. From TSN.ca: Boudreau credited tough guy Donald Brashear with riling up his team in the first intermission. "One of our leaders came in after the first period and gave the group hell," Boudreau said. "We had a game plan, and some of us were on it and some of us weren't. We needed a kick in the butt and the guy gave it to them." The second period did not start off as rosy as Brash and the Caps would have liked when Mike Green was schooled 1-on-1 by Andrei Kostitsyn who faked Green right out of his skates and whizzed a shot past Olie Kolzig to give Montreal a 2-0 cusion, widely considered to be the worst lead in hockey -- and today would not refute that sentiment. Within four minutes, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom scored to even the proceedings at two before Boyd Gordon beat Habs' rookie Carey Price with a long slapper, one Price would have liked to have had back. By the end of the second, the Caps had reversed the score and were now ahead by one goal. After the Canadiens tied the score at three early in third, russian snipers Ovechkin and Alexei Kovalev exchanged nearly identical wristers from the high slot to send the game to overtime, exactly where Mike Green wanted it. Green one timed a crisp pass from Michael Nylander just 1:27 into the extra frame to move into a tie for the league lead in overtime goals (he is now the only defenseman with two and is tied with four others) and again claim sole possession of most goals by a defenseman with his 11th. A few notes from the game:
Friday, January 4, 2008Caps Still Can't Solve the Riddle that is Tim ThomasThe Washington Capitals, fresh off their most prolific two-game scoring outburst in nearly eight years, had 31 chances to add to their goal total. Boston Bruins netminder Tim Thomas had 31 answers for the Caps en route to his first shutout of the season, a rather surprising statistic considering he ranked third in the league in save percentage (.929) entering this contest. The unorthodox 32 year old Michigan native who has played more games in Finland and Sweden than he has in the NHL improved his career mark versus the Capitals to 8-0-1. At the opposite end, Olie Kolzig played his best game since November, but it's difficult to win when your team doesn't score, though the Caps had their share of chances. Washington was denied on two breakaways, the first found Tomas Fleischmann looking five hole but it was closed off because of a lousy deke. Donald Brashear had his own opportunity to stare down Thomas but his wrister hit the 5'11" goalie square in the belly. Washington did manage to put the puck past Thomas on three occasions, only to hit metal. Alex Ovechkin fired two off the pipes and Fleischmann clanged one of his own. Tomas Fleischmann turned in one of his more solid performances as the puck continued to find his stick all night long. He was moving well without the puck and had a couple of the team's best scoring opportunities, but he seems to be missing a finishing touch. His strong play was rewarded with a season high 15:58 of ice time. One player who was exploited by Boston was 6'6" defenseman Jeff Schultz. While the Bruins stake claim to a 6'9" immovable object named Zdeno Chara, the Caps' tallest player was bumped off the play at will by smaller Boston players several times throughout the game. The most obvious instance directly led to Boston's insurance goal on a full two minute 5-on-3 power play. Chuck Kobasew, a 192 pounder whom Schultz towers over by a full half foot, pushed the lower-body-strength-challenged defender over. Schultz flailed backwards into Kolzig, rendering the Caps' goalie out of position on a Chara blast from the point. It's been a hot topic how the 221 pound Schultz cowers from making physical contact, but he has to be able to withstand the physical play when it is initiated by someone else. Watching players hit Chara looks like watching my four year old try to push my minivan, whereas Schultz is more like pushing a Micro Machine. The much improved Mike Green was caught of position a number of times in his own right, but Kolzig bailed him out when he could. On the first Boston goal, Mike Green overpursued Marc Savard and skated a wide loop along the boards as Savard took a shorter route out of the corner toward the Washington cage. Kolzig was able to stop the first shot but Savard, who still had plenty of time before Green got back in position, gathered his own long rebound and potted his second try past Olie. Later in the game, Green's luck worsened when he was sent to the box for a double-minor for accidentally clipping Milan Lucic in the grill with his stick. Before the whistle blew on that delayed call, Washington had a sixth man on the ice and was left to kill a 5-on-3 for a full two minutes, during which Chara netted the second Boston goal. It was a forgettable night for the Washington offense, who had their chances to give the Capitals some much needed points in the standings. They finally got a game winning performance in goal but were unable to convert. They meet the Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday, where they may again face Cristobal Huet who beat the Caps 5-2 back in December, stopping 35 shots along the way. A few notes from the game:
WATCH THE GAME HIGHLIGHTSThursday, January 3, 2008Daren Machesney - Heir Apparent?When Capitals' backup netminder Brent Johnson went down with a knee injury, the news quickly spread to the Hershey Bears locker room. The opening would elevate one of the Bears goaltenders to the NHL, meaning one of the Bears goalies will find himself playing a ton while the other would be watching Olie Kolzig backstop the big league team. Washington went with experience by calling up 32 year old Hershey starter Frederic Cassivi to ride the pine. The move left Daren Machesney as the #1 netminder in Hershey -- and he has certainly made the most of it. Before Cassivi's callup, Machesney played well in his backup role and posted better numbers than the AHL veteran. Machesney was 6-2-1 at the time of the callup while posting a goals against average nearly a full goal lower than Cassivi's and his 10-10-1 record. The move to bring up the career minor leaguer opened up more playing time for Machesney, much more than what he would have had if he received the call to D.C. Since having the reigns turned over him, the recently-turned 21 year old Machesney is showing promise most would never expect to see from a 5th round draft pick. "Cheezer" (as he has been known since his first year of junior hockey) has won all three of his starts and played shutout ball after replacing Davis Parley halfway into Hershey's most recent affair. In the four games since assuming the Bears' starting role, Machesney is 3-0-0 with a 0.84 GAA and .971 save percentage. Dating back to December 14, he has allowed more than one goal in a game only once in his last seven outings, and has taken over the AHL lead in both goals against average (1.94) and save percentage (.933) while posting a 9-2-1 record. Machesney was the 14th goalie chosen when Washington selected him with the 143rd pick in the 2005 draft after being named to the Ontario Hockey League's all-rookie team. After playing one more season in the OHL, Machesney shared parts of last season between South Carolina of the ECHL and Hershey of the AHL. Now fully entrenched on the Caps' minor league club, he is blossoming into a bonafide NHL prospect at a position where the Capitals have grown old and inconsistent. Machesney donned a Capitals uniform for one game last season in a backup role, but never touched the ice. If his recent play continues, he may be making his on-ice NHL debut sooner rather than later. Get to know "Cheezer" better in this two part series of "Stack the Pads": Wednesday, January 2, 2008A Nice Piece on Karl Alzner as World Juniors Air Beginning TodayThe World Junior Championships are being aired in high definition on NHL Network beginning today. The first game shown will be the Karl Alzner-led Team Canada vs. Finland. Check out this article on the Capitals former 1st round pick. The complete schedule for the games set to air on NHL Network is as follows: (Games aired live are in bold) JANUARY 2
JANUARY 4
JANUARY 5
JANUARY 6
Caps Storm Back From Early DeficitIt appeared that the Ottawa Senators were finally ready to show the Caps who was the boss of the East as they jumped on the "other nation's capital" with two goals in the first five minutes. Two minutes and forty-eight seconds later, the Sens were losing 3-2. Chris Neil and Dean McAmmond each scored for Ottawa to give the Sens 2-0 lead on their first six shots. From that point on, it was all Washington as they registered six shots of their own with Viktor Kozlov (finally!) Michael Nylander, and Mike Green finding the back of the net as the Caps gained a lead they would not relinquish. Kozlov's goal came off a wonderful centering feed by Nicklas Backstrom (his second such pass in as many games,) Nylander's was on a rebound, and Green's marker came on a beautiful end-to-end rush completed by a top shelf wrister that sent goalie Martin Gerber to the bench. The Capitals' grinding line of Brooks Laich, Donald Brashear, and Boyd Gordon outworked arguably the best line in the entire league (Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson) as Laich scored from his knees on Ray Emery, the dude with a 'tude who has found himself relegated to backup duty due to assorted injuries and tempter-tantrums, just months after leading the Sens to the Stanley Cup Finals. By the time Mike Green scored his second goal of the game on a 5-on-3 powerplay (the first such tally for the Caps in 11 tries with the two-man advantage this season,) Washington had taken a 5-2 lead and was outshooting the Sens 14-4 since falling behind 2-0 early on. Olie Kolzig was shaky early and, upon allowing the first two goals to the Sens in this game, had given up 10 goals on 30 shots over a 69 minute stretch dating back to the loss in Pittsburgh. But after the Caps ran up the score, he would settle down to earn his 13th win of the season. Ottawa would take advantage of the Capitals, who were using a 5-man rotation on defense after Tom Poti went off with an injury. Olie defended the three goal lead as he was peppered with 24 shots over the final two stanzas. It took a perfect wrister by defenseman Andrej Meszaros to beat Olie but, other than that, Kolzig stood tall to the challenege a game after allowing the Sens back in to the contest time after time three nights ago. Few of Olie's saves were spectacular, which is attributed to the excellent play by the Capitals defense. Ottawa was pretty much one and done on every opportunity (most of which were held to the outside.) The few close in chances they were quickly cleared by the Caps defense and backcheckers. Nylander had a strong game backhecking, an area where he is usually lousy in. Despite being outshot 34-26 (including 24-11 in the last 2 periods,) the Capitals minimized the Sens scoring opportunities. Olie did a good job of sealing up the long range shots for whistles, and the defense was clearing the front the of the net. The shot chart below illustrates just how well the Caps kept the front of the net vacant. CAPITALS SENATORS 
Note the blue rectangles that depict the slot between the circles. For the Caps, 17 of their 26 (58%) shots came from this high scoring area. On the other end of the ice, only 7 of Ottawa's 34 shots (20%) came inside the blue rectangle. The three Ottawa shots within the triangle came in the first period opening flurry - they had nothing to do with the shot barrage in the second and third periods. For the stretch which began one minute into the second period and lasted until the final buzzer, it was all quantity for Ottawa but the Capitals defense allowed no quality whatsoever. They get a big thumbs up. And Olie gets one too for stopping all the shots he was supposed to stop. Together, it was an excellent performance that exhibits the way to hold on to a lead for an extended period of the game, all the while keeping up with a five man rotation on defense. Washington, who has come back from a deficit to at least tie the score in 9 of the last 11 games, has a reinvigorated offense that is confident they can score as many goals as they need when they need them -- they've done it time and again lately. And they're doing it in the face of adversity. They lost two players to injuries early on: Alexander Semin played only 1:45 before departing with a sore tailbone and Tom Poti managed only 8:47 until being sidelined by an upper body injury. Both players are listed as day-to-day. A few notes from the game:
POST-GAME INTERVIEWSWATCH THE GAME HIGHLIGHTS.Read More From The Archive |
MORE HOCKEY READSNHL.com Headlines NHL.com Features The Hockey News Headlines The Hockey News Features News from the CBC Japers' Rink On Frozen Blog |
Capitals
fans (and no doubt
the team itself) have dealt
with
swirling rumors regarding the 22 year old superstar in recent weeks.
Fans of teams around the league were concocting outlandish rumors of
trades that were supposedly near fruition. We heard Nashville,
Columbus, Montreal,
and countless other teams were "close" to making a deal for the face of
the Capitals' rebuilding effort. Then there were rumors of contract
offers likely to be extended to Ovechkin upon his entrance to the
restricted free agency market.