Caps Drop A Sleeper In St. Paul - Caps 1 - 2 Wild

photo credit - Jim Mone / AP
The Washington Capitals must be getting ready for Halloween by practicing their best impression of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Or so it seemed when they showed up (or didn't) to take on the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy center last night.  Micheal Neuvirth, who turned in a perfect performance last night in Raleigh, NC, once again had a great game tonight, and was probably the only reason this game was not a blow out. This was another goaltenders duel as both Neuvirth and Wild goaltender Nicklas Backstrom both turned in great performances for their respective clubs. The guys in front of him however, well the difference was night and day. Last night they looked energized and like they had a purpose. Tonight, like they were sleepwalking through much of the game.

The Capitals looked tired, sloppy, even lazy at times, taking dumb penalties, making lazy passes which led to several golden scoring chances for the Wild, and once again not finding the back of the net. Mustering only 17 shots on goal didn't help matters either. The Caps continue to give away power play chances like Halloween candy, allowing the Wild 5 chances tonight. It proved too much. While the PK has been pretty good, its not quite good enough to repeatedly tempt fate, and also factored into them at least not getting any standings points tonight, and possibly even a win. Once again, the power play was held scoreless, and has only connected on 4 of 38 opportunities. That leaves them at just 10.5% on the man advantage over the first 10 games, and thats good for only 25th in the NHL. The Caps also again gave up the early lead to the opposition thanks in large part to very poor and lazy defencive play of Jeff Schultz and John Carlson which directly resulted in the Wild's first goal. I think the majority of the blame for that one has to fall on Carlson though. Have a look and let me know what you think here:




Things would not change much for most of the night and the Capitals come away still winless all time at Xcel Energy center. Maybe its that the Caps NEED to play in front of a loud crowd to help wake them up on the road at times. The crowd in St. Paul is usually more like what you might find at a Funeral. There were 17,352 there tonight, but for about 58 and 1/2 minutes of the game, it sounded like it was empty. At any rate, all of this made for a very forgettable game, but one the Caps are going to have to use to learn from if they are to see the err of their ways. Almost every aspect of the Caps game is going to have to drastically improve, but especially the ones I find myself mentioning over and over, night after night, if the Caps are going to even think about repeating any of the great accomplishments of last season. There were at least a couple of bright spots once again however. Alex Ovechkin finally found the net scoring his first goal in 5 games with just about 1 minute to go in regulation, but it was too little too late. The other was of course Neuvirth, who has given the Caps at least the CHANCE to win almost every night he has been in goal, including tonight. At least the Caps will have a day off to rest, think, and prepare for the Calgary Flames in Calgary this Saturday night.

After Stellar Start, Road Trip Continues Out West

 GAME 10: CAPS @ WILD
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WHEN: 10/28/2010 - 8:00PM EDT 
WHERE: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN

TV: CSN-DC /HD

 RADIO: 1500 & 820AM
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6-3-0 (12pts)








3-3-2 (8pts)



Apologize for the late start and the fact that this is only going to be a very quick and dirty pregame.

First and foremost, Congratulations to Caps goaltender Michael Neuvirth for earning the NHL's 2nd star of the day for his perfect, 29 save effort and 1st career shutout in Carolina yesterday evening against the Hurricanes.  Neuvirth has continued his string of very strong performances and is now creating some conversation about exactly who is going to end up with the #1 position between the pipes this season.  So far so good for Neuvirth to this point. Let's hope this continues, and when Varlamov does come back, we have TWO star goaltenders to create the kind of problem every team would probably envy.  Neuvirth looks to get the start once again this evening in Minnesota.

Eventually, the Capitals first line is going to have to come through and start scoring with some regularity. While they are contributing some to the offence, They have been fairly quiet of late, at least until last night. Finally the first line of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Knuble which had been held scoreless for four games, finally broke through with a total of 5 points night. 2 goals from Backstrom, 2 assists from Knuble, and 1 helper for Ovechkin. Hopefully that is only the beginning. The Washington Post reported they were a combined minus-7 rating heading into this game and were plus-21 after the same time frame last year. Scoring often will go a long way in helping the top trio in this department.  We know they can do it and last night we saw flashes of it, but so far this year they just have not quite looked like the offencive power house they did last season. That said, the over all effort of the Caps as a whole last night was fairly consistent. If the Capitals can continue and/ or build upon the good game last night, they should be in fairly good shape on this road trip.

The Wild look to start Caps Backstrom's Finnish namesake Nicklas Backstrom in goal this evening once again. The Wild are looking to snap a two game losing streak which could make them a bit more of a challenge than the Hurricanes were last night. Of course we're hoping that losing streak extends to 3 games after our Caps visit St. Paul tonight.



I'm leaving you with the Caps morning skate report filed this morning by Mike Vogel.
LET'S GO CAPS ! ! !

Starting Off The Road Trip Right : Caps 3 - 0 Hurricanes

photo credit - Gerry Broome - AP
Finally, the Capitals don't give up any points to a southeast division rival as they skated into RBC center tonight and came away with a 3-0 victory, spoiling the Carolina Hurricanes home opener in their second "must win" game in a row, and first of 3 games away from Verizon Center. Nicklas Backstrom scored twice in the third period (finally) after starting the season with just 4 points in the first 8 games and Michel Neuvirth put up a fantastic brick wall performance to earn his first career NHL Shutout. Neuvirth stopped all 29 Hurricanes shots in the stellar effort. The Capitals penalty killing also returned to perfect form killing off all 5 Carolina power play chances. The Caps even scored the final late goal short handed, albeit into an empty Hurricanes goal, after Carolina had pulled their goaltender, Cam Ward, to have a 6 on 4 power play advantage in a final desperate attempt to level the score. Matt Hendricks got the scoring going in the first period with his first ever goal as a Capital, as the 4th line really stepped up tonight, especially in the first period. The Caps also won a game by more than 1 goal for the first time in 4 games. It is worth noting that while the Caps did score three, this was quite a goaltenders duel as Carolina net minder Cam Ward stopped 30 shots in the losing effort, and also made a few highlight reel saves of his own.

                                                                                                                   photo credit - Gerry Broome - AP

The Capitals looked good in the first, and finally were the team to get on the scoreboard first. The energy level appeared to be up and they just looked a bit more sharp and ready to play, especially the 4th line as I mentioned. It was one of the better 1st periods for the Caps so far this season. Perhaps it was the return of Matt Bradley to the line up, along with Mike Green playing a full game. Although, Green still looked like he might not be quite 100% just yet. Thing's aren't perfect no, but the do seem to be improving. Now if only Alex Ovechkin can start finding the back of the net more for the Caps then things should begin to really go their way. Ovechkin was held goalless for the 5th straight game, but did manage to register an assist on Backstrom's first goal of the night. The defence was better tonight, and that is part of the reason the Caps got the win, but still if it were not for the outstanding play of Neuvirth between the pipes, the Caps might be looking at an entirely different box score. The Caps however will not get any time to savor the shutout win, as they immediately head out to Minnesota for a date with the Wild tomorrow night.

The big story of the night though has to be Michael Neuvirth. After a couple of key saves in the first period, Neuvirth's confidence seemed to grow and it showed in his play between the pipes. Neuvirth also left little in the way of rebounds for the Hurricanes to take advantage of in his perfect game tonight. The gem save of the night came mid way through the second period when he stone cold robbed Carolina's Eric Staal from almost point blank range, flashing the glove and snatching the puck out of mid air. I'm leaving you tonight with two videos. First a look at Neuvirth's highlight reel save here:



Finally, the full game highlights here:

ROAD TRIP! ! ! - Wind, Creatures, and Fire - All On Ice

GAME 9

      5-3-0(10pts)

              @

     4-3-0 (8pts)

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WHEN: 10/27/2010 - 7:00PM EDT
WHERE: RBC Center, Raleigh, NC

TV: CSN-DC /HD

RADIO: 1500 & 820AM

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The Washington Capitals roll into Raleigh tonight looking to spoil their home opener by downgrading the Hurricanes to a tropical breeze and skate away with 2 much needed points. This is the 2nd straight "must win" southeast division game. The Caps can't afford to give away anymore points within the division. On Saturday they won in overtime VS the Atlanta Thrashers, and while a win is a win, they did give away a precious point within the division. This is a trend that must not continue if the Caps hope to win their 4th straight division title. There will be no rest for the  already injury riddled and weary Caps the next couple of days as this is also the first of 2 games in 2 days for the Caps as they head to Minnesota to take on the Wild Thursday night.

I discussed the Caps current injury woes in this previous BTGL post, but here are a few more notes for tonight's game:

• Sent down to Hershey - Dany Sabourin & Jay Beagle
• Called up - Braden Holtby & Brian Fahey
• Tom Poti - Will not play tonight.
• Matt Bradley - Should be ready to join the lineup.
• If  - Bradley gets re inserted, Poti could go on 7 day IR and can't return until Saturday.
• Matthieu Perreault - should play tonight...
• Thus placing- Either Marcus Johansson or Boyd Gordon in the same boat as Poti. My money is on Johansson going to the IR.
• Mike Green -  Will play, weather its a full game or not will be determined likely during the game.
• Michael Neuvirth - Will most likely start tonight.

The bottom line: Yes the Capitals are dealing with a fair amount of injuries, especially on defence. Still, there is no reason why they should struggle to win games against the likes of Atlanta, Nashville, Ottawa, nor Carolina, especially with all of the offencive firepower the Capitals have. So far this season, the offencive juggernaut that is the Capitals has failed to show up in all but 1 game. The Caps should be (and are) a team that is suited to high scoring offencive games and should not be having the problems they have been of late in finding the back of the net. It's time for this team to show the league just why they won the President's Trophy last season, and just how dangerous they really are, and there is no time like the present to get that started.


LET'S GO CAPS ! ! !

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.