Tuesday, March 4, 2008

What More Can You Ask For?

The Washington Capitals have clearly become sick of all the close losses to the Boston Bruins over recent years. Sixteen straight games were decided by two goals or less, 11 of which were one goal affairs, and Washington came out the victor only three times. So much for that.

The Capitals rattled one of the league's premier netminders, who entered the game second in the NHL in save percentage and made his first All-Star Game appearance just five weeks ago. Tim Thomas had been even better against the Capitals, posting 8 career wins vs. the Caps -- more than against any other team.

But just 32 seconds into the game, Matt Cooke found the back of the net, foreshadowing the lousy night Bruins goaltending was about to have. Not a bad way to score your first goal as a Cap. Less than six minutes later, the new rookie leading scorer and the reestablished league leading scorer set the tone for themeselves. Nicklas Backstrom found Alex Ovechkin with a home run feed up the gut and Ovie made Thomas look very ordinary to give the Caps a lead. Ovechkin would later return the favor, setting Backstrom up for his first goal in 21 games.

The game became a runaway in short order, something that can be good and bad for Washington. The dominant performance gives Washington much needed confidence, but they need to come out the same way every single game. If they do come out storming, the score will never again be 10-2. If they lay back a bit and become complacent, they'll lose. It's that time of year.

The Capitals have just gotten started in a stretch of interdivisional games against some very tough opponents. At a minimum, maintaining pace with Carolina is a must before the Southeast Division matchups begin to close out the season. This game is a great start, but there's a long way to go.

A FEW NOTES FROM THE GAME:

• Nearly the entire roster would get into the action, as you might expect when a 10-spot has been posted. The three who didn't: Milan Jurcina, Boyd Gordon, and Sergei Fedorov. Fedorov, as well as his linemates Alexander Semin and Brooks Laich, were the only minus players on the team last night.



• Winner of 11 of 16 draws, Fedorov has been excellent on faceoffs with the Caps, as he has been all season. He gives the Capitals three of the top 16 faceoff men in the NHL. David Steckel ranks 8th, Fedorov is 10th, and Gordon is 16th.



• With his hat trick, Ovechkin not only reached and surpassed the 50 goal mark for his second time, he has also righted himself on the chase for 60. Now just eight goals away, he is on pace for 64.



• Matt Cooke made his presence known, not only scoring half a minute into the game, but adding two assists and a team high four hits as well -- in only 10 minutes of ice time.



• Cristobal Huet, who stopped 18 of 20 Boston shots, was not on the ice or even the bench for the third period. It's been said that he has minor back spasms, but in a recent update from Kettler, Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post reports that Huet is not practicing today. Not the best of news, but at least the Caps have two healthy vets back there. Good looking out, McPhee.



• Zdeno Chara of Boston had good intentions when he challenged Donald Brashear after the Capitals got out to an early 2-0 lead. But, he forgot he's their best player and they need him on the ice. The Capitals promptly scored twice more while he watched alongside Brashear in the box.



• Matt Bradley had his first two goal game in two years. Believe it or not, Brads accomplished this twice in his first season with the Caps back in 2005-06. He scored seven goals that season.



• Aside from taking over the rookie scoring lead for the first time, Backstrom has moved to 13th in the NHL in assists as well.

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