Thursday, March 6, 2008

Eyeing Another Way In

On Monday, the Washington Capitals exploded against a goaltender that seemingly owned as much of the team as Ted Leonsis does. Boston's Tim Thomas had gone 8-0-1 with a 1.78 GAA and .940 save percentage. Key word: had. 

Again the Capitals were tasked with facing another goalie who had their number. Before this contest, Ryan Miller was an equally impressive 7-1-0 against the Caps (despite loftier numbers than Thomas'.) Though Miller did not resemble a colander as Thomas and his partner Alex Auld did two days before, the Capitals managed to buck yet another trend.

And what would a win in boo-bird Buffalo be without Alex Ovechkin stirring the pot? Now just six goals shy of 60, Ovechkin has six goals and three assists in just three games since ending his career long goal scoring drought. Linemate Nicklas Backstrom connected on another "hailmary" feed to Ovechkin after the pair teamed up for two similar plays in the Boston win. Thank goodness for the abolished two-line pass.

Since Ovechkin and Backstrom were reunited with Viktor Kozlov four games ago, the line has gone gangbusters. The three have combined to score 10 goals and 13 assists and are an astounding +27 (+9 each) in those four games. That'll help the ol' win column.

With Cristobal Huet out of the lineup with back spasms, Olie Kolzig got the start and stood on his head -- even taking a knee to the noggin at one point. Kolzig was credited with making 25 stops, nearly half of which were from the deep slot. Olie made several brilliant saves in the third period to keep the lead intact. And for the first time in I don't know how long, he actually caught a break. On the reviewed goal late in the third period, one angle clearly showed the puck across the goal line before the whistle blew, but it was ruled no goal.

The win kept pace with Carolina, who toppled the fading Atlanta Thrashers. The Hurricanes just so happen to have the league's fourth best record in the last ten games, keeping the Capitals at bay for the moment. But Washington has suddenly found themselves within striking distance of the eighth spot in the East as well. They are just two points behind eighth place Philadelphia and one back of ninth place Buffalo -- both teams have been unravelling a bit of late, perhaps paving the way for a second Southeast team to reach the promised land.

A FEW NOTES FROM THE GAME:

• Bruce Boudreau really wanted Ovechkin to net his first career back-to-back hat tricks. Ovechkin was on the ice after the goal was disallowed with 2:49 to go in the third. He didn't leave the ice until there were only 18 seconds remaining -- a 2 minute 31 second shift with an empty net staring at him. But it was not to be.



• John Erskine has fingers pointed at him whenever he screws up (which has been more often than not this year,) but tonight he gets two thumbs up. He saved a goal when he cleared a puck that had gotten through Kolzig and was sound positionally in posting a +2 rating for the second straight night.



• Whereas the the Caps' top line has carried the team, the second line has done practically nothing to help. In the last three games, the trio of Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Semin, and Brooks Laich have combined for two goals (both by Laich vs. Boston,) one assist, and a -6 rating. Time for a retooling?



• We saw something we may never see again. Well, we can only hope we don't ever see it again. A Jeff Schultz breakaway.



• What's the next worst thing to a Jeff Schultz breakaway? A David Steckel breakaway. That guy has some of the slowest feet I've seen. It takes him five strides to begin making forward progress.



• The Capitals continue to dominate in the faceoff circle, winning 65 percent. Only two players lost more than they won: Donald Brashear and Matt Bradley (each lost their only attempt.)

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