This Time, Inconsistent Caps Find A Way. Caps 5-4 Maple Leafs (SO)

             photo credit: Susan Walsh - AP

The inconsistency that has haunted the Washington Capitals of late again made an appearance at Verizon Center last night. This time however, the Capitals found a way to over come that and came away from their game with the Toronto Maple Leafs with the full 2 standings points. This pulls the Capitals into a tie for the Southeast Division lead with Tampa Bay, and a 3 way tie for the league lead in points in the NHL with Tampa and  the Los Angeles Kings of the Western Conference. The Caps could not put together a solid 60 minutes of good hockey again last night, allowing the opposition to score first for the 9th time in 12 games. They also allowed Toronto to come back from a two goal deficit in the third period to take the lead. The Capitals played fairly well in the first in spite of allowing the early goal, and had a great second period, outscoring their visitors 3-0 and looking like they had this one in hand. The penalty killing also held off 4 Leafs power plays, and the Caps were outshooting the Leafs 20-12 until about the 18:00 mark of the 2nd. But, there was the problem; it was only the second period. The Capitals came out flat in the third, and Toronto took advantage,  exploding for 3 goals in just a 3:03 span to come from down 3-1 at the start of the frame to take a 4-3 lead by the 7:17 mark.

photo credit: Susan Walsh - AP

It looked the another Capitals let down was going to cost them another game, and another 2 points. However the Capitals power play has begun to improve, and that continued last night scoring twice in 3 chances getting two timely goals. The first was Washington's first goal of the game from Mike Green, and the second was just as timely by Alexander Semin at 4:14 of the third period to tie the game up, and ultimately for overtime. At least this time the Caps did not give away a point to a divisional rival. It is worth noting that after being absent for much of the season, the Caps power play seems to have finally found its grove and has now converted on 5 of 8 chances in the last 2 games. We hope that trend continues as the Caps are going to need it to come away from games like tonight's game with the full 2 points. In spite of having the man advantage for 2 of the 5 minutes of the over time period, the Caps could not finish off the Leafs in the extra stanza. What they could not get done in the over time period however, the Caps finished off in the shootout. Michael Neuvirth held off both Toronto shooters, while both Alex Ovechkin and Semin found the twin behind Maple Leafs net minder Jonas Gustavsson to give the Caps the shootout win in front of another sellout crowd at the Phone Booth.  The Capitals also got goals from Jason Chimera and Tomas Fleischmann. While victory is sweet, it will be short lived as the Capitals play host to the Boston Bruins on Friday night. As always, Caps bench boss Bruce Boudreau had plenty of thoughts on last nights performance, so here is his post game presser:

UGLY, but... The Caps Do It Again; Hurting Leads To Another Call To Hershey

A win that was not pretty, and a point given away to a southeast division rival, made for a nail biting night at Verizon Center on Saturday as the Capitals beat the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3 in overtime. While the game did have its bright spots it was still the exact same kind of "win" I had mentioned in this previous post. While they did get the "W", the devil is in the details.

Once again the Caps came out flat in the 1st period. They were out shot 13-4 in the first frame, and gave up their 4th straight power play goal, allowed the opposition to gain the lead first for the 5th straight game, 6th over all, and were shut out in the first period for the 5th time this season. So it seems so far, the Caps are having major problems getting going in the first period. Fortunately for them (and us their fans) they have, thus far, been able to climb out of those holes to win more often than not. However it still is a fairly unsettling. If this trend continues, it is going to cost them some games, probably more than last season. Games that were won last year that were close, may end up either being losses, or at least going to overtime, giving away more points. Something to watch going forward I think.

The Caps are also still hurting. Out with injuries (or still resting from one) for this game were:

• Semyon Varlamov - unsure if this was a 1 game rest or he is out on IR.
  
• Marcus Johansson - is expected to play Wednesday in Carolina.
  
• Tom Poti - is listed as day to day.
• Matt Bradley - lower body injury.
  
• Boyd Gordon - healthy but resting, according to Bruce Boudreau.

Today the Caps announced that they have called up 29 year old veteran AHL blue liner Brian Fahey, (pictured left) presumably to take Poti's place on at least part of the upcoming road trip. Fahey played in his first NHL game on October 16th, when the Caps beat the Nashville Predators in Overtime 3-2 in Nashville. Just joining the Hershey Bears this season, he so far has 1 goal, 1 assist and 10 penalty minutes in 4 games played.

Now, on to the bright spots, since there were a few. The Caps won, and are now 3-0 in overtime games so far this season. Alexander Semin saved the Caps this game with his 4th career hat trick. Matthieu Perreault, who was called up from the AHL Hershey Bears for this game, along with Jay Beagle, had a direct hand in two of Semin's 3 goals, and ended up being a +3 for the game. Michael Neuvirth was back between the pipes for DC and had another solid game for his 5th win of the season. Injured defecemen Mike Green came back and did play, albeit for only 5:39, and all of that was on the power play. Even though he did not factor into the scoring at least he was back, even if not at 100%. Hopefully this 3 day break will give him the chance to get back to top form.

Hats fly as Semin completes his hat trick aginst the Thrashers.

The hero of the night turned out to be Tomas Fleischmann who scored the game winner at 1:37 of over time, collecting a rebound from Eric Fehr's shot while seemingly tied up.

While the two standings points and the victory are great, the Capitals are still seeming to do things the hard way, all the while giving up valuable standings points to their opponents. This time to a division rival. Hopefully a few more bodies will be healthy and things will get even better for the next divisional game which is Wednesday night Raleigh. That game also starts a 3 game road trip which sees the Caps travel out west to visit the Minnesota Wild and Calgary Flames to close out the month of October. Something tells me they are going to have to perform a little better if they want to come away with all 6 of those possible standings points.

Capitals Take Game One. Caps 3 - 2 Pens

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My apologies for being late with this article. I did not have much time between the Caps game, and the D.C. United home match which I attended at RFK yesterday evening. I also was unable to get to a computer to do this until this evening. I did get the mojority of this written on Saturday afternoon however. So, with that, here is my writeup.

The Washington Capitals, and their legions of red rockin fans such as myself have 4 people to directly thank for Saturdays game 1of the NHL Eastern Conference Semifinal series victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at sold out, and deafeningly loud Verizon Center. They are, in order:

1. Simeon Varlamov (Pictured at left)

2. David Steckel

3. Alex Ovechkin

4. Tomas Fleischmann


More on why Simeon Varlamov gets top billing for being due thanks, and why he got the games #1 star in a bit. Now onto the game.


In the matchup that the NHL, and the rest of the sporting world has been waiting for and hoping to see, Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby went head to head for the first time in the playoffs at last. Both players had good games, and both players scored for their teams, but there was little more fanfare between the two players of any kind. By and large, scoring aside, this game was uneventful between Ovechkin and Crosby.

The Washington Capitals started this game off on the wrong foot, looking very sluggish, lazy, and giving the puck away to the Penguins who were peppering Simeon Varlamov, left and right. For the first 4 minutes or so of the game, the Capitals were sleepwalking, all too familiar of the Capitals past. And as the scripts of old would have it, the Capitals surrendered an early go to none other than the Penguins star, Sidney Crosby at 4:09 of the first period. The only difference this time, was that there were very few Penguins fans in the stands to make any noise. Crosby came in unfedered and unleashed a fantastic wrist shot that easily beat Varlamov. The Capitals would remain flat and largely on their heels for almost the next 10 minutes of the game. Suddenly, things began clicking for the Caps, and they came to life. Dave Stekel, Matt Bradley, and Brooks Laich rushed into the Penguins zone and got the puck in deep along the right wing boards. Then, Dave Steckel did something most Caps fans have been emploring the Capitals to do since game 1 of round 1, and that is go straight to the net. As soon as he arrived in front of Marc-Andre Fleury, Matt Bradly threw the puck towards the front of the net, and it found the blade of Stekel's stick, and he buried it the net behind Fleury, becoming Washingtons first hero of the series tying the game at 1 a peice at 13:50. The leigons of red clad Caps fans erupted, and finally could breathe a sigh of relief. The first goal was out of the way. It was a gritty goal that was not necessarily pretty, but even those goals count too. Good things happen when you throw the puck on the net, and when you go to the net. Not only did Bradly tie the game, but he changed the momentum drastically for the reaminder of the period to the Caps favor. About 2 minutes later at 15:14, the Capitals would get what would be thier only power play chance of the game when former Capital Sergei Gonchar was sent to the box for sending the puck over the glass in his own zone, delay of game. The pressure was mounting on the Penguins, and the Capitals were pushing hard for the score. Then, things turned even more favorable for the home team when Matt Cooke was sent off for hooking at 16:15. The Caps were given a rare opportunity, thier first two man advantage of this playoff season. Washington kept the pressure on, and just 48 seconds after the call on Cooke, and with just 11 seconds left on the 5 on 3 advantage, the Caps Alex Ovechkin made certain that Caps took full advantage of the Penguins penalties and slammed hope a hard one timer slapshot from the left wing circle that blured past Fleury and into the far side of the net for the Caps first lead of the game , and of the series. The momentum continued in the Caps favor for the rest of the period, however at 19:47 Chris Clark was sent off for holding, giving the Penguins thier second power play chance of the game. The Pens could not score in the remaining 13 seconds of the period and the Capitals would go into the locker room still with some momentum on thier side, and to a standing ovation from the sold out red crowd.

The second period started off fairly well for Washington, even though the Penguins had the carry over power play for the first 1:47 of the period. The Caps killed the pentaly and things continued looking fairly good, however play was evening out, and the Penguins were once again getting chances, and starting to dictate the tempo of play. Midway through the 2nd period, Evgeni Malkin would find Mark eaton who scored form the top of the left circle on a slap shot that appeared to be just slightly deflected. Varlamov got a peice of it, but it somehow just squeezed through his gloved hand, arm, and torso, and once again the game was tied. The rest of the period saw Pittsburgh get one more power play chance at 6:29 when Chris Clark was once again set off, this time for a trip. The Capitals manged to kill off this penatly as well, with help from Varlamov who at times stood on his head and made some spectacular saves. Varlamov was once again fantastic between the pipes for Washington. With about 2 minutes left in the period, Crosby recieved a fantastic pass and was open all alone in front of a gaping net at the left side, and shot the puck for what appared to be the easy lay up goal. Simeon Varlamov had other ideas. Somehow, while facing the opposite direction he saw Crosby, and slid over just in time, and reached his stick back behind him and pulled the puck which was bound for the back of the net, off of the goal line and out, for what arguably is the save of the entire NHL playoffs thus far, and possibly of this entire NHL season. Truely an unbeliveable save. As Capitals TV announcer Joe Bennanati would say, "simply sensational!". The period would end with the score knotted at 2 each.

Here is the must see video of "The Save":









The Capitals came out to start the third like a team with a purpose. The uptick in thier play very early this period would pay off at 1:46. Alexander Semin picked up a pass just above the Penguins blue line on the right wing side. He had both Nickalas Backstrom and Tomas Fleischmann streaking into the Pens zone with him and he found Backstrom open in the left side face off circle and fed a pass to him. Meanwhile Fleischmann dashed to the right side of the net just in front of Fleury. Backstrom would thread a perfect pass past the falling and sprawling Sergei Gonchar to him, that Fleischmann would bang home past a sliding Fleury for the lead, and what would ultimately become the game winning goal.

The penguins continued pushing hard for the tie, but once again Simeon Varlamov who was called upon to come up big, and delivered. Penguins pressed and pressed, and ended up out shooting the Capitals once again this period, 13-6, and ultimately for the game by 37-26. But shots do not mean a thing if they do not go in. It also should be pointed out that shots that beat the goaltender but hit the post and do not go in, do not count on the shot clock. The Penguins had plenty of help from the pipe surrounding the goal behind Fleury as the Capitals hit 2 or 3 posts during the game. The Penguines also had plenty of help in the form of power play chances, as they were given a total of 5 for the game, to the Capitals 1. However the Penguins could not get past the Capitals penalty killing unit, which was perfect for this game. As time wound down do the last minute and 1/2, the Penguins pulled Marc-Andre Fleury in favor of a 6th attacker, but to no avail. The Capitals red clad faithful rose to thier feet and watched standing the rest of the game as the Capitals kept the Pens from setting up much of any offence, and missed the empty Penguins net by only a few inches twice. Finally, the countdown was on at the final 10 seconds, but it could hardly be heard becuase of the deafening cheers comeing from the stands. And thus the Capitals find themselves in familliar territory in the post season once again, leading the Penguins 1 game to 0 in a best of 7 Stanley Cup Playoff series. The series, rivalry, and persuit of the Caps first ever Stanly Cup resumes once again monday night in front of another sold out, red rockin crowd at Verizon Center.

Lets Go Caps ! ! !