Caps vs. Maple Leafs 12-28-2008 Post-Mortem

So nice of them to remember Tim Bergland... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Move over Bobby Carpenter, A.O. has tied the other half of the "Goal Dust Twins" for 6th on the Caps All Time Goal Scoring list with 188. Up next, Miracle on Icer Dave Christian who scored 193 goals in 504 games as a Cap. This was A.O.'s 280th.
• Another solid outing for Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore who had some nice saves among his 23 tonight. Of course the return of Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green and Jeff "Sergeant" Schultz helped immensely, but as we said at the start of the season, this team needs only average goaltending to be competitive and that's what they got tonight.
• Brooks "and Dunn" Laich scoring twice from a combined distance of ten feet in front of the net, if that far. Missing for far too long as been the "dirty" goal scored from right in front of the net. Admittedly, the Caps do try to score those, but have not been as successful as they were tonight.

THE BAD:

• How did the officiating crew of Kevin Pollack and Ian Walsh miss the high stick on David "Bolt Cutter" Steckel?
• How do the Caps narrowly miss a goal and then give up a goal after a TV timeout? That near miss fired up Toronto more than it fired up the Caps.

THE UGLY:

• Was there a memo sent out about calling more dives? Three two minute four-on-fours, two of which were created by diving penalties being handed out along with another infraction which has always confounded us, if a guy was tripped badly enough for a penalty, how could he have dove?
• For the fourth game in a row, the Caps do not score a goal in the first period. For a team that benefits greatly from fast starts, this drought needs to end.

Well the domination of home ice continues and the Caps easily beat a team that they should have beaten. We don't like to look at or talk very much about the standings until after the New Year but the you have to like the position that the Caps are putting themselves in during the grind portion of the season. However, as much as it pains us to say it, we're really missing Tomas Fleischmann especially since Alexander Semin and Sergei (#3) Fedorov won't be back anytime soon. The Caps need the secondary scoring badly and with two goals from Laich tonight, they were able to get the win.

It has been... A TWO POINT NIGHT!!!

Caps vs. Buffaslugs 12-26-2008 Post-Mortem

Add another one to the highlight reel... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Bryan Helmer with two assists, a +2, his first 1st star in the NHL but what was more important, he wasn't on the ice when any of the Buffaslug goals were scored.
• Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore looked solid stopping 22 of 24 Buffaslug shots. There wasn't much he could do on the two he let in but he didn't come up with any dazzling saves tonight. A much better team effort in front him tonight and as long as he doesn't give up a soft goal, it should be enough to pick up a win.
• Mr. Donald Brashear had an outstanding game tonight and deserved to get the game winning goal.
• Oh yeah, A.O. with his 23rd goal on the season, puts him 7th on the Caps All-Time Goal Scoring list with 186 goals just two behind Bobby Carpenter who scored 188 in his Caps career. A.O. is now up to 16th on the Caps All-Time scoring list with 357 points, 6 points behind Adam Oates.

THE BAD

• We couldn't really tell one way or another from the replay we saw at the game, but the goaltender interference penalty on Brooks "and Dunn" Laich looked very, very iffy to us. Where was Wes McCauley last April 22nd? (Us? Bitter??? No....)
• Another third period fade, giving up two goals on nine shots.
• Penalty Killers were 1 for 2 tonight which isn't as bad as it sounds but the goal that was given up was the result of three players breaking out on a botched clear creating a 2-on-1 down low.

THE UGLY:

• We understand that he's just a rookie but Karl "Malden" Alzner was on the ice for both Buffaslug goals tonight. The only reason why he was even was because he was on the ice for one of the Caps goals. Sending him back to Hershey wouldn't be the worst idea in the world for the kid.
• And speaking of sending players back to Hershey, can we please get Alexandre Giroux out of here? Furthermore, skating him and Eric Fehr (who could also use some fine tuning in the AHL but will never clear waivers) with Michael Nylander has got to be the worst possible way for the Caps to showcase Nylander for a trade if they really are shopping him around. No wonder Nylander skates in circles.

We hate to rain on everybody's parade (yeah right...) but we're starting to see signs of the AHL players starting to bog down this roster. It is pretty safe to say that without A.O., the Caps would have lost this game because without him, there wasn't much offense generated. He once again led the team in shots on goal (8) and it was his linemate, Viktor Kozlov, who was second on the team in shots on goal (5) and was open for most of the night because he was skating with A.O. The sooner we can get healthy, the better off we'll be also the recall energy is quickly evaporating. The scary part is though, we're still winning hockey games.

It has been... A TWO POINT NIGHT!!!

Caps @ Flyers 12-20-2008 Post-Mortem

We wanted to turn this off, we tried to turn this off, we just couldn't look away... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• The Caps had their forechecking game working for the most part today, especially in the third period.

THE BAD:

• If the team motto this year is "Good Is Not Good Enough" then the team cannot in any way shape or form be happy with that first period today. Tying a team record of 25 shots on goal in the period, the Caps not only came away with nothing, they were trailing 1-0 despite outshooting the Flyers 25-6.
• Normally we would praise the Power Play for getting 19 shots on goal , but considering that none of them went in and that the Power Play unit gave up a shorthanded goal, they once again get singled out for scorn for their 0 for 5 performance.
• The Penalty Killers weren't much better going 3 for 5.
• Down 7-1, late in a game in Philadelphia and Bruce Boudreau is still sending A.O. out there. Is Boudreau even thinking?

THE UGLY:

• You knew it was going to be a long day when Craig Laughlin came on the air wearing an orange tie today.
• Down 3-0 entering the third, Boudreau inserts Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore into the game, and the Caps get outshot 15-9 in the period. The only period they didn't outshoot the Flyers and didn't record double digits in shots. In other words, they quit.
• Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green was a -4 today.

Let's make one thing clear folks, the reassignment of Simeon Varlamov to Hershey is not the reason the Caps laid this gigantic egg today. While he might have kept the score a little closer than 3-0 heading in to the third period; he wouldn't have been able to bail out the pathetic performance that the Caps came up with in that period. You knew that as badly as the Flyers played in the first period that the Caps would have their work cut out for them in the second and third period and the Caps just faded as the game went on. For all the crowing over the 25 shots in the first period and 48 for the game; the Caps did not resemble a hungry hockey team today. We admit and tip our caps to Antero Nittymaki who played a great game but the Caps were not fighting for rebounds and took too many shots at distance against a hot goaltender today. In other words, they didn't make it too terribly difficult on Nittymaki. This game is a prime example for the "SHOOT THE PUCK!" crowd about the difference between quality and quantity. But streaks are like records, they're made to be broken and some streaks for the Caps came to an end today. We just need to move on and all that anger that came out in the third period needs to be taken out on the Rangers on Tuesday night.

Caps vs. Islanders 12-4-2008 Post Mortem

Not quite what we were expecting... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• With another goal and two assists tonight, A.O. now has 344 career points passing Steve Konowalchuk who was in 17th place on the Caps All-Time Scoring list and tying him with the Big Whoop!, Larry Murphy for 16th place. Nice of him to pass up another goal on the empty net two on one to give Nicklas Backstrom a chance to score in back-to-back games unlike some who use those as a chance to complete hat tricks.
• 47 shots on goal, are you SHOOOOOT! yellers happy tonight?
• The Power Play hot streak continues with the Caps going 3 for 5 tonight.
• The under appreciated fourth line tonight came up with the game winning goal from Mr. Donald Brashear. We say under appreciated because they've been one of our best lines of late by sustaining pressure in the offensive zone and/or drawing penalties better than the other lines have of late. It is good to see them rewarded for all their hard work.

THE BAD:

• Officially the Caps took 18 more shots than the Islanders did, but it certainly didn't feel that way as the Islanders got better opportunities all night.
• The Penalty Killers got a lot of work tonight having to kill off 8 New York Power Plays. If the Islanders were a better hockey team, that would have been trouble.

THE UGLY:

• Sami "Sosa" Lepisto played his best game of the season tonight (which admittedly, isn't saying much) but in spite of that, his ill-advised attempt at batting the puck down in the second period which lead to Trent Hunter's game tying goal wins the John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game Award.
• A.O. missed the last part of the first period and according to Tarik El-Bashir of the (Com)Post seemed to have hurt his left arm/shoulder. After the first intermission however, A.O. didn't miss another shift and didn't seem too much off his game. Ever since that Scumbag Steve Montador of the Thug Ducks speared him in the gonads just over two weeks ago now, (going off on a rant here, why is that A.O. continually gets speared in the gonads and nothing is ever done about it? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is the NHL thinking by not even addressing the issue of players spearing each other in the gonads?) we've noticed A.O. floating more than usual and when he does skate, he isn't skating as hard as he usually does. Heaven helps us if A.O. goes down because we really don't want to see how much more depth General Manager George McPhee has stored up for this club.
• Today Ladies and Gentlemen is Thursday December 4th, 2008. According to the Caps tonight, the next Home Game is Thursday December 10th, 2008. You know folks, sometimes the Rank Friggin Amateur Hour Stuff (we still love the Calgary Panthers sign from last year) is amusing but after watching the "Celebrity" (and we're using that term, verrrrry loosely) Hot Dog Eating Contest tonight and the Ice Girls...er...Dance Team...er...Spirit Squad still struggle with the slingshot we really wonder just what the world the in game production folks are getting paid for. Oh, and please kill those stupid cartoons.

Stop us if you've heard this before, but it is December, the games are a grind right now and the Caps are still in the middle of their most grueling stretch of games this season. Even if seven regulars were not out of the lineup, you'd still have to expect the energy level to be a bit low right now because it is that point in the season. The Islanders are a team that the Caps should beat and tonight they did beat them. As the saying goes, nobody cares how you won, they just want to know why you lost and because the Caps didn't lose tonight, there's not a whole lot more to talk about.

It has been... A TWO POINT NIGHT!!!

Caps vs. Panthers 12-2-2008 Post-Mortem

Trust us, you didn't want to see this one anyway. We didn't... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Nicklas Backstrom who had a goal (which deflected in off a defenseman, seemed to be a theme for tonight) and an assist.
• A.O. with a nice heads up feed to Tomas Fleischmann, who was actually able to finish off the play, to make the game somewhat interesting at the end.
• The Power Play was 2 for 4 tonight but we give credit to the unit tonight because they actually gave the Caps some life in the third period and sparked the rally.

THE BAD:

• We are quickly souring on Sami Lepisto who, despite getting another assist tonight and ending the evening even, was burned time and time again and kept coughing up the puck tonight. We'd venture to say that he should return to Hershey when one of the injured defensemen return before Bryan Helmer is sent back.
• Tyler Sloan had a tough night too. Though instead of simply getting burned by faster players (or guys simply moving their feet) Sloan was getting caught out of position all night and got burned on what turned out to be the game winning goal by Radek Dvorak. Though his aggressive mistakes are something we can live with as his lack of positioning on several occasions were a result of trying to make something happen.
• Once again, despite the points they put up tonight (5) , the top line of Backstrom, A.O., and Viktor Kozlov all turn in a -2 performance. They're all -4 over their last two games now.

THE UGLY:

• That second period was about as bad of hockey as we've ever seen out of the Capitals and we sat through games played by the Post-Firesale squad that was better than the effort we saw tonight.
• 22 blocked shots for Florida tonight. Does anybody know what a shooting lane is?
• While Florida picked up their intensity at the start of the second period, they really didn't get flying around until David "Bolt Cutter" Steckel passed up an opportunity for a clear on a penalty kill and tried to pass the puck to Shaone Morrrissonnn to kill an extra second or two. Instead Steckel killed the entire A.O. goaltender interference penalty as his wayward pass hit Karl "Malden" Alzner's skates and went into the net to give Florida a 2-1 lead. That our friends is the Captain Obvious John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game.

It's December so the "blah" part of the schedule has arrived as we're two months into the season so the rush of a new season has worn off and the playoff push really doesn't start for another two months. The Caps play tonight was as dead as the crowd was despite having an Ice Girls...er...Dance Team (why praytel do they have a routine for the infernal Hockey Song???)...er... Spirit Squad to get things going and bring energy and excitement to the Phone Booth. Not even the Horn Guy or Goat were into this snoozefest of a game. And despite all of that, the Caps were still able to get out to a 1-0 lead in the first period. However as noted earlier the Caps didn't really pick up their intensity until Jay Bouwmeester's interference penalty seven minutes into the third period. The problem was the Panthers had picked up their intensity at the start of the second period and took the game right to the Caps and built a 4-1 lead before the Caps finally responded. We have to say that we're somewhat happy that the comeback fell short tonight because the Caps did not deserve to win this game tonight lettalone pick up a loser point. You often learn more in the games you lose that in the games you win and certainly should be the case tonight.