Internet Down...

Well our internet is down at our command center and the wonderful folks at Comcast can't get here until Saturday. Our office now blocks Blogger blogs so our backup plan is out. As a matter of fact, we're punching this out on the office issued CrackBerry which could be a violation...

Anywayn we hope to be back on Saturday we shall see...

Sunday Smorgasbord 3-29

• In case you were wondering why we call it the Washington (Com)Post, look no further at how the (Com)Post handled the developing situation regarding the UCONS. The Josh Barr's headline casts doubt on the records that Adrian Wojnarowski and Dan Wetze of Yahoo! Sports dug up through the Freedom of Information Act. Furthermore, The Worldwide Leader in Schlock dug up other UCONS tied to Josh Nochimson the day the Yahoo! article appeared. The (Com)Post? Well, let's just say you wouldn't know anything else was going on based on the fact that they've had zero in the way of original reporting since the misconduct first came to light. Maybe the (Com)Post is currently working on a three part story about Jim Calhoun's transgressions or maybe they're leaving it to people like Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant to smash Calhoun. The Hartford Courant did some additional digging uncovering more unflattering information that the (Com)Post has ignored as well. But hey, we guess this isn't as interesting or well sourced as the Maryland-Under Armour story that the (Com)Post ran "when it was complete and ready to go." Wethinks that when Eric Prisbell finally turns his attention to the dirty underbelly of college basketball recruiting, (not related to Maryland) it will be declared "old news," go nowhere, and get spiked.
• Well, the U.S. Men came out flatter than a pancake last night and were very lucky to escape with a 2-2 tie in El Salvador. What frustrated us wasn't the antics of the Salvadorians who were trying to waste time with their injuries, but that the United States turned it on in the 75th minute and got two goals in 12 minutes to tie the game up. Just where was that level of intensity for the first 75 minutes of the game? We continue to be underwhelmed by Landon Donovan who didn't create anything in the first half and was totally MIA in the second. We're certain that the 2-2 final felt like a loss to both the Salvadorians who blew a two goal lead and to the United States allowed the Salvadorians to score on them for the first time in 12 years. This isn't how you build a case to be given a top seed in the World Cup.
• Not that we expect anything major to come of it, but the Redskins were awarded an additional draft pick this year as compensation for losing Mark Brunell to the New Orleans Saints last year. That gives Washington 5 picks in the upcoming draft and it will come in the 7th round, 243rd overall. What is more interesting to us is that the NFL is giving serious consideration to lengthening its season. We reserve full comment on the idea until the logistics are worked out but as NFL Season Ticket holders, we will mention that not only are we forced to purchase the preseason games, which will be reduced by the longer regular season, but we have to pay full price for them. So as season ticket holders, the idea is not too objectionable, but we don't want to be going to Regular Season games on Sunday Afternoons in August. One thing we would object to is the proposal to increase the number of teams in he playoffs to reduce the number of "meaningless games" at the end of the season. There's no way you could increase the number of playoff teams without adding weeks to the season which is long enough as is.
• In an interesting move, the Nats added Dimitri Young to the 40 man roster this week. Why, we don't know. We happen to think that Nick Johnson fills the strong hitting, often-injured first baseman roll quite well thank you very much so we do we really need another one of those? This of course comes after Sean Hill became this year's former starting pitcher unceremoniously released during Spring Training because the organization didn't think he could stay healthy. But hey, Stan Kasten's hand is so weighed down by all those World Series Rings he won down in Atlanta, who are we to question him?
• We're now down to the last two weeks of the NHL regular season and the playoff picture is starting to get a little clearer. So far only the San Jose Sharks, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, and Washington Capitals have officially claimed playoff spots. Calgary is close to claiming one but Philadelphia, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Vancouver, and Columbus all look to be sure bets to clinch a spot in the next week and a half. In the East, Montreal and the New York Rangers are in the drivers seat but are one losing streak away from being in real trouble. Florida has the best chance of the Eastern teams on the outside looking in and it could go down to their final game of the season, which is against Washington on Easter Eve. Out West, things are a little too close to call with Nashville, St. Louis, and Edmonton all within three points of each other for the final two spots. The Anaheim Thug Ducks have an outside chance but only one game against a team that they are chasing. Personally, we would love to see Florida make it into the playoffs, giving the much-maligned Southeast Division three playoff teams for the first time, leaving the Northeast with only one. Should St. Louis and Nashville hold on, the entire Central Division will qualify for the playoffs.
• This week, the Maryland Women look to get back to the Final Four when they face Louisville in Raleigh, NC tomorrow night. The Caps finish out their home schedule with games on Wednesday night against the Islanders, Friday night against the Buffaslugs, and Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Thrashers.
• As always, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, suggestions, questions, and petition drive requests to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Caps vs. Ning 3-27-2009 Wrap Up

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post. Times: emotional goal, too hot to handle.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire.

The Other Side:

St. Petersburg Times: more celebration fouls, dying breed. Tampa Tribune. Ning.com

Final Thoughts:

With a much needed four day break in the schedule now upon us, the Caps certainly needed that kind of win. Even if there wasn't a flu bug running through the team, we can't blame Bruce Boudreau for giving the team a couple of days off. After all, there is two more weeks of the regular season and then what the team hopes will be a deep playoff run, which go could as long as two more months. When the Caps get back to work on Monday in preparation for the final six games, it should be a different story.

76 down, 6 to go.

Caps vs. Ning 3-27-2009 Post-Mortem

Well, we can't blame this one on Jeff "Sergeant" Schultz... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Congratulations to Brian Pothier, I think we can say he's completely back from the concussion he suffered over a year ago as he scored his first goal of the season tonight and it turned out to be the game winning goal too.
• Nicklas Backstrom with a pair of "dirty goals" tonight. But he seemed to be much more at ease skating on the second line.
• Brooks "and Dunn" Laich continued his solid play picking up three assists tonight and a goal that was eventually waived off.
• Oh yeah, that A.O. guy. He notched two more goals and two more assists, running his goal total for the season to 53, 216 in his career which puts him two goals behind Mike Ridley for 3rd on the Caps All-Time Goal Scoring list. He now has 100 points for the third time in his career and for the second season in a row. He passes Kelly Miller for 13th on the Caps All-Time Scoring list and is now six points behind Sergei Gonchar for 12th at 416 points. In case you're wondering, he needs 10 more points this season to get to Kevin Hatcher who is 10th at 426. Finally, he's six points behind Malkin-Lindros in the Art Ross race. We happen to think if he's within 10 points of the Art Ross trophy and wins the Richard by at least 10 goals, there's no discussion about who the MVP is.

THE BAD:

• Matt Smaby tried to take a run at A.O., he ended up getting punked the rest of the first period and knocked out of the game after the first.
• The Power Play went 3 for 9 on a night that the Ning couldn't stay out of the penalty box. What makes this frustrating was the 3 for 5 start the Caps got off to in the first period, which means they went 0 for 4 for the rest of the game. Simply put, they got away from what made them 3 for 5 in the first period and it almost cost them dearly.
• The Caps built a 3-1 lead in the first period and allowed the Ning to tie the game up again in the third period. Even worse, the Caps had diminishing returns in shots on goal taking 16 in the first period, 13 in the second, and then 10 in the third.

THE UGLY:

• Tom Poti continues to stink up the joint. When can we get him out of there? He's making John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles look steady.
• We were not impressed with the game that Gord Dwyer and Kelly Sutherland called tonight. Oddly enough, we mildly agree on the Laich goal wash out because Michael "Meadowlark" Nylander was camped out in the crease though we don't think he made contact with Mike McKenna. To say that their standards were uneven would be generous though because the Caps aren't likely to be playing games of serious consequence, we'll be seeing referees who won't be working the playoffs for the remainder of the regular season.

Well folks, we have a couple of bits of good news. The New Jersey Devils lost in overtime in Chicago so the Caps now sit alone in second place, up on the Devils by one point. However, Joisey does have two games in hand. Secondly, the magic number for the Caps clinching the Southeast Division is now down to three points. Though the Canes are sitting in New Jersey waiting to play the Devils there tomorrow night. While tonight wasn't a full sixty minute effort, the Caps once again showed the signs of doing some of the things that they need to do in order to win in the playoffs. They played physical with a team trying to play physical with them. We mentioned earlier Smaby getting punked all over the ice, Sergei (#3) Fedorov was one of the Caps joining the Smaby hit parade. That's a good sign. The Caps also got some "dirty goals" tonight. They were in front of the net, setting screens and fighting for rebounds. While the Caps close out their first losing month this season, but we finally have some reason to feel better. There's still some fine tuning to be done, but we can be happy for one night that the team is getting back to the basics that they'll need in April.

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

Caps vs. Ning 3-27-2009 Preview

Washington Capitals (45-30; 97 points; 1st Southeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference, 5th Overall) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (24-50; 65 points; 4th Southeast Division, 14th Eastern Conference, 28th Overall):
Caps Game #76, Home Game #38, NHL Game #1,110

Verizon Center, Washington, DC. 7:08 pm. Washington TV: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Tampa TV: Sunshine Network. Radio: WDAE 620-AM. NHL Center Ice: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic feed.

Tonight the Caps return home, where they have only one gimmick win in their last five games, to a new sheet of ice for the final homestand of the season when they face the Ning. The Ning have been working a lot of overtime recently as seven of their last ten games have gone beyond regulation including last night's 3-2 loss in Montreal to the Canadiens. Working overtime hasn't been too productive for the Ning as they are 3-7 in their last ten games with just one win in their last five games.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post. Times. Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

St. Petersburg Times: overtime loss, apology accepted, Game Preview. Tampa Tribune: conquered, the best revenge.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Expecting some kind of bloodbath tonight? Well don't, not even on the scoreboard. First of all, the Ning would be stupid to try to extract physical revenge tonight for A.O.'s goal celebration last week for two reasons. There is no doubt that the NHL will be paying close attention to this game and has made that known to both the Caps and the Ning. Any headhunting will be harshly punished. Furthermore, The Code...er...Crock dictates that you wait until you are on your own home ice before you take your pound of flesh. People forget that there was a Vancouver-Colorado game in Colorado where nothing happened 5 days before Todd Bertuzzi attacked Steve Moore when the teams met again in Vancouver. So you Ultimate Fighting on Ice fans will have to wait until April 9th if you want to see if the Caps and Ning will throw down. Secondly, the Ning have only one loss in regulation in their last eight games and that was the Caps 5-2 win last week. The Ning as a matter of fact have launched two consecutive third period comebacks to force overtime. So don't expect the Ning to quit like they did last week should the Caps build a lead. And about the Caps, Bruce Boudreau is pulling some tricks out of the bag either out of neccessity or just simple experimentation. We happen to think that you don't lose anything by putting John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles on the fourth line. He's replacing Mr. Donald Brashear up there so it isn't as if you're losing any speed in the process. Furthermore, it has the added benefit of getting Erskine Bowles off the blueline which is never a bad thing. The Caps have a playoff spot locked up and have already been declared Southeast Division Champions by Dick's Sporting Goods, so we expect the Caps to continue to have trouble finding motivation for these final games of the season. Now unless the Ning can find something extra for their third game in four night in three cities, the Caps should still be able to come away with their tenth consecutive win over the Ning, just not in very impressive fashion.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 3
Ning 1
Winner by Laich

(10-10 on the season)

We're Not Jumping The Gun...

We're just making an investment in the future...

First it was FS over in Darwin's Waiting Room to get one of these at the Dick's Sporting Goods in Sterling, VA. Then Ted Starkey at Cap Centre picked one up and posted a picture that Dan Steinberg ran. So we decided to pay a little visit to the Dick's Sporting Goods at Bailey's Crossroads and sure enough...

$21 later we had one of our own.

Of course the good folks down in Raleigh might have a little something to say about that. We happen to think that if the Caps cannot earn at least 5 points over their last seven games against teams like the Ning, Islanders, Thrashers, Buffaslugs, and Panthers; then they deserve this kind of humiliation. We're holding onto this puppy for the simple reason that should the Caps gack up the Southeast Division, we can put this thing on ebay to help recoup the cost of the booze were very likely to drink because of it.

So folks, head on over to your local Dick's Sporting Goods before their gone, the Caps choke the division away up, and/or Dick's lose their license to sell official NHL Merchandise...

Open Up the Back Door

No, we're not talking about Canadian Diving Team Captain, Low blow Secondary Assist Cindy Crosby's favorite fighting style...

We're talking about the Caps gaining a playoff spot. Sparked by a four goal third period that gave the Buffaslugs a 5-3 win over Florida in Loserville...er...Buffalo, the Washington Capitals have now qualified for a spot in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even though the Caps and the Panthers can finish the season with the exact same point total; the Caps have the first real tie breaker over the Panthers which is total wins as the Panthers cannot win more than 43 games. The Caps have already won 45 games so advantage and playoff spot to the Washington Capitals.

The Carolina Hurricanes tied a franchise record with their ninth straight win at home tonight over the Ottawa Senators. So the magic number for a Division Title remains at five points as should the Caps and Canes be tied at the end of the regular season, the Caps and Canes currently would most likely have identical records (both have 7 losses after regulation) however the Canes won the season series from the Caps (7 points to 6) and therefore have the tiebreaker over the Caps; necessitating the extra point for Washington. Carolina does not play again until Saturday night when they visit New Jersey who are playing in Chicago on Friday night.

So now, we begin the watch on who the Caps will face in the first round, "if the playoff started today," that would be the Penguin Scum. However, they are currently leading Calgary 2-0 late in the third period and have a game in hand on the Hurricanes who are only one point ahead of the Penguin Scum. The Rangers are a strong possibility as they have two games in hand and trail the Hurricanes by three points.

Caps @ Maple Leafs 3-24-2009 Wrap Up

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post. Times. Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire. Canadian Press.

The Other Side:

Toronto Globe and Mail: stealing the show, more celebration discussion. Toronto Star: stealing the spotlight, great entertainment. Toronto Sun: old vet, tingly feeling, fanning the flames, headhunting, waiting to return.

Final Thoughts:

Get well soon guys.

75 down, 7 to go.

Caps @ Maple Leafs 3-24-2009 Post-Mortem

Drip, drip, drip... Or is it limp, limp, limp??? Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• First of all, props to Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore who once again turned in a stellar performance that earned this team a point tonight. We can honestly say that the problems right now is not so much the goaltending as it is the offense that can't seem to get anything going.
• And for an offense going nowhere, A.O. is the only Caps to have a hand in both goals tonight. His 51st goal and 45th assist on the season moves him to two points behind Kelly Miller for 13th on the Caps All-Time Scoring list. If this guy isn't the MVP, then there is something wrong with the NHL voting system because without him, this Caps offense would be in deep trouble and the team could not afford to be on cruise control heading into the playoffs.
• Last year Brooks "and Dunn" Laich had a pretty lengthy quote/point about scoring goals. Tonight he took his own advice and tied the game up. Skating mostly on the third line tonight, it was the first time we saw anybody that line or the fourth line attempt to crash the net and create some havoc.

THE BAD:

• It would be one thing for the Caps to come out strong, take an early 2-0, 3-0 lead and try to cruise for the rest of the game but once again, the Caps come out in first period looking to cruise in a 0-0 game. What happened to the quick strike capability?
• Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green was the top shooter for the Caps tonight with 10 shots on goal. This is bad because it means that the forwards weren't getting the puck on net. This wasn't like the Nashville game where the Predators packed everybody behind the circles leaving the points wide open.
• If the Caps couldn't establish a forecheck they were also unable to breakout of their own zone. For whatever reason, we end up getting pressured for long periods of time by teams with lesser talent.

THE UGLY:

• The game was decided by a gimmick.
• Can we please put the discussion of goal celebrations to rest please? We agree with all of those who are saying that this whole thing is overblown.
• We once again nominate Tom Poti for benching as Brian Pothier was given the night off because his season started just 8 days ago. But Poti also wins tonight's John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game Award for his playing the puck back to Erskine Bowles behind the goal in the second period. The slow-footed and dim-witted defenseman was predictably unable to overcome the two Toronto forecheckers who stripped him of the puck. The puck ended up in the goal behind Theodore as Phil Oreskovic's shot bounced off Erskine Bowles' leg off the turnover that was really forced by Poti's ill advised back pass.

We have to admit folks, we stole this point tonight. For once a bad call went our way as a very slow whistle gave Laich enough time to push Martin Gerber into the goal with the puck. Referees Mike Leggo and Steve Kozari called a weird game tonight and really should have waived off the tying goal but then again; they shouldn't have made the call on Erskine Bowles late in the third period either. Maybe it is the flu bug that has been running through the entire organization and we certainly hope that it is because we are tired of saying "the Caps need to figure this out before the playoffs start." Once again, very little traffic in front and hardly any rebound chances. What makes it the most frustrating is that it was only the first line for a few minutes in the second period that started to create havoc in front of the net. The third and fourth lines need to start leading the charge in that department. Until they do, expect more of the same.

Caps @ Maple Leafs 3-24-2009 Preview

Washington Capitals (45-29; 96 points; 1st Southeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference, 5th Overall) @ Toronto Maple Leafs (30-43; 73 points; 4th Northeast Division, 12th Eastern Conference, 24th Overall):
Caps Game #75, Road Game #38, NHL Game #1,088

Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 7:08 pm. Washington TV: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Toronto TV: None. Radio: CFMJ 640-AM. Canadian National TV: TSN. NHL Center Ice: TSN and Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic feeds.

Tonight the Caps wrap up a five game road trip and stretch of seven out of 8 games on the road when they travel North of the Border for the final time this season to face the Toronto Maple Leafs. A win in this game will give the Caps a winning record on this road trip and leave open the possibility of having a winning record for the month of March. The Leafs are coming off of Saturday night's 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens and have won four of their last six games.

What the Native Are Saying:

(Com)Post. Times: strong finish, NHL Report. Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Toronto Globe and Mail. Toronto Star: too much of a good thing, contributing consistently. Toronto Sun: sharp shooting star, playing spoiler, back at practice.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

If there is ever a good time to have the flu bug run through your team, a stretch where you've got two games in a period of ten days against teams last place teams is it. Matt "Omar" Bradley and Alexander "Slappy" Semin are two players openly identified as being ill, but with the way the Caps have been playing recently, they can't be the only ones feeling ill. With Carolina's overtime win last night in Florida, the Caps are now a mere three points away from a playoff spot and with the way Florida has been playing, the Caps could wrap up a playoff spot before they take the ice again on Friday night. But in order for that to happen, they have to earn at least one point tonight in Toronto. The last time these two teams met, A.O. sat out with a bruised heel and predictably, the Caps offense couldn't generate anything in a 2-1 loss. The Caps however are going to have to figure out how to generate something though, they not only need to wrap up their playoff spot, but they need to generate some momentum heading into the playoffs. What we hope we don't see tonight is the Caps coming out and continuing to operate on cruise control. No matter how bad the Leafs are, playing them in Toronto is never an easy out and with the way the Leafs have been playing recently, they aren't a team to be taken lightly.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 3
Leafs 2
Winner by Green

(10-9 on the season)

Sunday Smorgasbord 3-22-2009

First things first folks, we here at Bleatings From a Caps Nut strive to be as accurate as possible and we noticed today that in our haste to catch the bus yesterday, we made a mistake in the calculations of the magic numbers. Despite the Caps loss in regulation to Carolina last night, because of Florida's 3-1 loss at home to Columbus, the Caps magic number for clinching a playoff spot is now 4 points and clinching the division has dropped to 5 points. Bleatings From a Caps Nut regrets the error...

Getting back to last night's game, because of Fraternal obligations this morning, we were unable to post a Wrap Up. But after watching last night's game we are growing more and more concerned about the lack of urgency by the team. After falling behind 2-1 in the third period last night, we didn't see the Caps show any increase intensity in their play. We half expect some of the usual suspects to "just throw out" talk about firing Bruce Boudreau to get the team back on track before the playoff begin. With only 8 games left on the schedule, and none of them against teams currently in the playoffs, we too wonder just how the Caps will capture that intensity but we strongly disagree with General Manager George McPhee pulling a Lou Lamoriello and firing the coach right before the playoffs. The Montreal Canadiens have gone into a tailspin since firing Guy Carbonneau and John Tortorella has only had a minimal impact on the Rangers. We here won't discuss the idea any further because we feel it is such a bad idea.

We also want to take the time to admit that we stand corrected about our prediction about Don Cherry's reaction to A.O.'s 50th goal celebration. We admit we were surprised by the humility shown by Cherry because it looks as if somebody, somewhere talked some sense into him. In case you didn't already know, Cherry admitted that A.O. is a good guy and not some sort of jerk. He asked A.O. to put himself in Tampa's shoes, told him he was one of the game's great players, and implored him to conduct himself in a better manner because he was very much capable of doing it. That is of course a departure from his original comments where he called him a goof among other things. It is clear that Cherry realizes that he unleashed a monster that he would not be able bully and shout down and that furthering his original comments and outrage at A.O. would only lead A.O. to go even further in the future. While we often disagree with Cherry we do realize that he loves the game of hockey and, like us, doesn't want to see some of the worst elements of the NFL and NBA find their way into the game. We hope that this time around, A.O. takes Cherry's comments to heart and that this is the final word we have on A.O.'s goal celebrations.

It's been awhile since we've done a Diversify or Die moment so we'll hold our nose and let you know that we agree with Coach K. He's right about our Dear Leader wasting time on an office pool. We all know that the Bush Derangement Syndrome Suffers would have gone into a tizzy had Former President Bush taken the time to put together a bracket instead of attending to the country's needs. Coach K is especially correct in his criticism because our Dear Leader has done nothing about the biggest pressing issue of the day in his first two months. Instead of trying to salvage something out of this economy, our wonderful Dear Leader has already spent more $$$$$ in his first 50 days than President Bush spent on the Iraq War in his entire term in office. And for those of you who need visual aids, here is what $1 trillion dollars looks like, that's your "stimulus" and is only the tip of the iceberg.

Getting back to the NCAA Tournament, we said that Maryland didn't belong and while they survived Cal, they didn't survive Memphis. Greivis Vasquez will test the NBA waters but what he hears while doing so will determine whether or not he returns for his senior season. Gary Williams finishes up one of his best coaching jobs ever and now has to figure out who is going to play inside for him because that was the biggest thing missing from the team this season. The staff of the Washington (Com)Post can now take a break from trying to undermine Gary largely because it hasn't worked so far; it only seemed to bolster his position. They can now turn their sights on Ralph Friedgen to see just how well he is supported by the well funded boosters who make the big decisions for Debbie Yow, who is looking for the graceful exit.

Our final thought on the NCAA Tournament is looking at the Sweet Sixteen, we notice that only two of the Sweet Sixteen are from the so-called Mid-Majors. There was a lot of caterwauling over only 4 so-called mid major teams receiving at-large bids this year. And so we ask those people who are crying about the injustice of it all; how is guaranteeing so-called mid majors a certain number of at-large bids every year (at the expense of course of the upper-major and lower-major conferences) any different than the so-called BCS Cabal each and every single one of you despise?

We forgot to mention last week that D.C. United were starting their season today in L.A. against the Galaxy, they ended up tying 2-2. This week they open up the home schedule when they face the Chicago Fire at RFK Stadium on Saturday night at 7:30 pm. The Terp women will face Utah in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday night at the Cable Box. The Caps will wrap up their five game road trip in Toronto on the same night before coming home to a new sheet of ice on Friday against the Ning.

As always, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and the words to the Claremont College Fight Song to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Caps @ Hurricanes 3-21-2009 Post-Mortem

Ah the beauty of Google Blogger and their delayed publishing feature. If you're reading this now, we typed this up earlier today. That's because folks, we joined the Caps Fan Club on their road trip to Raleigh for the game tonight. So in all likely hood, you're reading this post while we're riding the bus back to the D.C. area. We're many things but we're not clairvoyant so as we're typing this up, we don't know who won the game, who played well, who stunk up the joint, and other odds and ends but we can give you a breakdown of our playoff and division picture.

As mentioned in the Preview, the Caps could not secure a playoff spot tonight, but they could get very, very close to one.

If the Caps won OR the Buffaslugs lost to the New York Rangers in Regulation OR the Caps AND the Buffaslugs BOTH lost after Regulation:

The Buffaslugs join the Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Atlanta Thrashers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and New York Islanders as a team that can no longer catch the Caps in the standings. The Caps would own the first real tiebreaker (most wins) a therefore the Caps will have closed out six of the required seven teams to earn a playoff spot.

For a 2009 Eastern Conference Stanley Cup Playoff Spot:

If the Caps won in Regulation:

The magic number for a playoff spot reduces to 1 point.

If the Caps won after Regulation:

The magic number for a playoff spot reduces to 2 points.

If the Caps lost after Regulation:

The magic number for a playoff spot reduces to 4 points.

If the Caps lost in Regulation:

The magic number stays at 5 points.


For the Southeast Division Title:

If the Caps won and Florida lost to Columbus in Regulation:

The magic number for the Division title reduces to 2 points.

If the Caps and Florida BOTH won in Regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 4 points.

If the Caps and Florida BOTH lost in Regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to four points.

If the Caps and Florida BOTH lost after regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 4 points.

If the Caps won and Florida lost after Regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 3 points.

If the Caps lost after Regulation and Florida lost in Regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 3 points.

If the Caps lost in Regulation and Florida lost after Regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 5 points.

If the Caps lost after Regulation and Florida won:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 5 points.

If the Caps lost in Regulation and Florida won:

The magic number for a Division Title remains at 6 points.

Got it? Good because there will be a quiz later. Now if you'll excuse us, our posteriors just left to go catch the bus to Raleigh and we have to run to go catch up with them...

Caps @ Hurricanes 3-21-2009 Preview

Washington Capitals (45-28; 96 points; 1st Southeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference, 5th Overall) @ Carolina Hurricanes (38-35; 83 points; 2nd Southeast Division, 6th Eastern Conference, 11th Overall):
Caps Game #74, Road Game #37, NHL Game #1,074

RBC Center, Raleigh, NC 7:08 pm. Washington TV: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Carolina TV: Fox SportsNet Carolinas. Radio: WCMC 99.9-FM. NHL Center Ice: Fox SportsNet Carolinas and Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic feeds.

Tonight the Caps finish off their swing through the Southeast Division when they pay a visit to Raleigh, North Carolina to play the Hurricanes for the final time this season. The Caps have won three of the previous five games against Carolina so far this season; though last week's win in the Phone Booth came by the way of a gimmick. The Hurricanes are coming off of last night's come from behind win on home ice over the New York Islanders. The Canes got away with allowing four goals in the second period to the worst team in the NHL for their second win in a row. The Hurricanes have won their last seven games on home ice and are playing their third game in four nights, all at home.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post: heart-to-heart talk, let him be. Times: shining rookie, nip it in the bud. Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Raleigh News & Observer. Hurricanes.com.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

One week removed from a game on bad ice where both teams tried to get fancy, the Caps and Hurricanes meet up under pretty much the same circumstances. Sure, Carolina is now in 6th place instead of 7th but the New York Rangers (one point behind), Montreal Canadiens (two points behind), and the Florida Panthers (three points behind) all have two games in hand on the Hurricanes which means they are still fighting to get into the playoffs. The Caps on the other hand could all but officially wrap up a playoff spot and another Division title with a win in regulation tonight and a little help from Columbus. But for the Caps, the status of Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green will have the biggest effect on their chances tonight. We all remember Monday night's debacle against Atlanta where the Caps couldn't generate anything on offense much less get the puck out of their own zone on a regular basis. Green wasn't in the lineup on Monday night and even if Green plays tonight, how effective will he be because we remember 1990 when Rod Langway and Scott Stevens both played through the playoffs with separated shoulders. That our friends could be the biggest key to tonight's game because the Caps 5-1 loss in Raleigh back in December occurred when Green was first out of the lineup for an extended period of time with a shoulder injury. The Caps are 7-7 without Green in the lineup so far this season.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

We feel that Don Cherry will not too loudly express his disapproval of A.O.'s antics (BTW, we think Thom Loverro has it exactly right) and will at least say at one point something along the lines of "I told you so." Cherry might even use the occasion to compare A.O.'s milestone with Martin Brodeur's and how Brodeur properly celebrated his achievement compared to A.O. Finally we predict that Cherry will likely spew his most heated venom at the Ning who "didn't take care of the punk like their coach wanted them too."

Oh wait, that wasn't what you were expecting...

Caps 2
Canes 4
Winner by Staal

(9-9 on the season)

Caps@ Ning 3-19-2009 Wrap Up

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post. Times. Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire.

The Other Side:

St. Petersburg Times: gas lit, recovering. Tampa Tribune: showstopper, hot, hot, hot.

Final Thoughts:

First of all, while we understand why the team insists on being mysterious about injuries, we hate it when they insult our intelligence like they have with Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green's injury. But we are glad that Bruce Boudreau and likely General Manager George McPhee will have a little sit down with A.O. over his antics. We told you he did it to tick off Don Cherry and while Cherry has a reputation for going over the top; we have a hard time imagining that he'll get so far over that we'll end up disagreeing with him. Besides, thing like this (where he gets to say "I told you so") only strokes his massive ego.

73 down, 9 to go.

Caps @ Ning 3-19-2009 Post-Mortem

Needed a little bit of a warm up... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• A.O. with his 50th goal of the season, 213th of his career, is now 5 goals behind Mike Ridley for 3rd on the Caps All-Time Scoring list. He added a pair of assists and now has 93 points on the season, 403 in his career, and is five points behind Kelly Miller for 13th on the Caps All-Time Scoring list.
• Viktor Kozlov with a three point game too, all assists. We'll miss him come playoff time.
• The Caps survived two goals that were waived off under questionable circumstances which made this game look a little closer than it actually was.

THE BAD:

• Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore had to enjoy watching Simeon Varlamov fend for himself against the Ning tonight. It must be nice to know that is nothing personal. One would think that with a rookie in net, the Caps would tighten up on defense, that wasn't case and the Ning were much more interested in winning this game tonight than Florida was on Tuesday.
• The Power Play went 1 for 5 against the NHL's 23rd ranked Penalty Killers who have used 20 defensemen and 5 goaltenders this year.
• As we alluded to above, we disagree with both goals waived off tonight as Alexander "Slappy" Semin got the stick on his hooking call and Eric Fehr clearly got the puck across the goal line. While some will say "you won, it doesn't matter." It does because we're still not getting calls going our way and it kept the Ning in the game longer than they should have been.

THE UGLY:

• Want more proof that Sergei (#3) Fedorov has lost his scoring touch? Look no further than the two blown breakaways. A younger Fedorov would have buried the second chance had he missed on the first one.
• Steve Stamkos had no reason to pull Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green down like that late in the third period. First of all, isn't that holding a player away from the puck and therefore an obstruction call? But never mind that as much as the very real possibility that Green could very well be on the shelf for a long time with another shoulder injury. After the debacle in Atlanta, we need him back there to help get the puck out of our zone.
• Look, we like A.O. as much as anybody around here does and we usually enjoy his goal celebrations which are a result of his joy of playing the game. But tonight's goal celebration was bad on many different levels. First of all, we're convinced A.O. did it for no other reason than to show up Don Cherry. We hope that Cherry ignores it on Saturday night because all A.O. did with his little act was prove Cherry right by acting like a goof. If A.O. were smart, he would have ignored Cherry and continued to jump into the glass. But we would not be surprised to see people starting to turn on A.O. because of this celebration that Green and Nicklas Backstrom were wise not to participate in. Finally, had this been in the NFL, it would have been a 15 yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and we would not disagree with that call.

And so the magic number for earning a playoff spot is now down to just 5 points. It is conceivable for the Caps to wrap it up on Saturday night in Carolina. However, while the playoff spot and division title will come, we aren't too sure about Mike Green. It didn't look good folks and if Bruce Boudreau is forced to move Fedorov into Green's place, the Caps are going to be in a world of hurt. First of all, Green has been playing a much more physical game recently, one that we've never seen out of Fedorov. Yes, Brian Pothier could help out too but he does not bring Green's goal scoring ability. Face it folks, our chances of survival in the playoffs are in question right now. The good news is that the Caps got another win on the road, but we'll have to wait and see how much they lost.

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

Caps @ Ning 3-19-2009 Preview

Washington Capitals (44-28; 94 points; 1st Southeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference, 5th Overall) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (23-47; 61 points; 5th Southeast Division, 14th Eastern Conference, 29th Overall):
Caps Game #73, Road Game #36, NHL Game #1,057

St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, FL, 7:38 pm. Washington TV: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Tampa TV: Sunshine Network. Radio: WDAE 620-AM. NHL Center Ice: Sunshine Network feed.

Tonight the Caps continue their swing through the Southeast Division when they travel to Tampa to face the Ning. The Ning are playing their second game of a four game homestand and are coming off of Tueday night's 4-3 gimmick loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Ning have only won 3 of their last 8 games but have picked up Bettman points in three of those five losses.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post. Times. Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

St. Petersburg Times: more injuries, Game Preview. Tampa Tribune.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Well folks, when it comes to NHL opponents it doesn't get much worse than this. The Ning are as out of it as the Thrashers are but Ning aren't riding a five game winning streak. The Ning's defense and goaltending, which was suspect before the season even started, is significantly worse than Atlanta's. The Ning's offense however is much, much more dangerous than Florida's was so the Caps aren't going to get away with allowing zero shots in a period tonight. But let's face facts, a superior effort won't be required to win this game tonight. What concerns us the most though is that the Caps have won eight straight against the Ning and that streak will eventually come to an end. There's no real reason why tonight shouldn't be the ninth, but with this team's finishing kick this season, you never know what you're going to see. CW says that Simeon Varlamov will get his third career start tonight and he'll have his work cut out for him facing Vincent Lecavlier, Martin St. Louis, and Steve Stamkos. That alone could turn this game into a high scoring affair.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 6
Ning 3
Winner by Semin

(8-9 on the season)

Caps @ Panthers 3-17-2009 Wrap Up

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post. Times. Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Miami Herald: fourth in a row, getting back on track. Panthers.com.

Final Thoughts:

The sooner the playoffs get here, the better.

72 down, 10 to go.

Caps @ Panthers 3-17-2009 Post-Mortem

Ugh... This was like watching a cripple fight... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Well, first of all, we have to applaud the defensive effort. It was certainly better tonight than it was last night. We have a hard time giving kudos to a goaltender who pitches a 19 save shutout and doesn't have to make a single save in the third period. As better as the Caps were on defense tonight compared to last night, the Florida Panthers were downright wretched.
• The Caps did improve in the faceoff circle, tonight with only Michael "Meadowlark" Nylander being under 50% among the regular centers. It also helps that Florida as a team are bad at faceoffs.
• Congratulations of course go out to A.O. who notched his 400th career point with a secondary assist on Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green's empty net goal.

THE BAD:

• While there was a little more traffic in front of the net tonight, both goals scored on Tomas Vokoun weren't rebounds and Vokoun had a clear sight of both. Sergei (#3) Fedorov had the best rebound chance in weeks and couldn't bury the puck.
• We do agree with Bruce Boudreau that one indicator of intensity on offense is the number of Power Plays a team earns. The Caps earned only one tonight and to be honest, we can't think of any badly missed calls either.
• Tom Poti continued to struggle tonight. Maybe he needs a night or two or three off with some of his flubs, especially in the first period tonight.

THE UGLY:

• John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles gets undressed not once, but twice by the noted skill player Nick Tarnasky.
• And with the one Power Play chance tonight, the Caps acted like Florida in the third period and fired off a grand total of zero shots on goal. We thought this was the team's bread and butter?

For a team that is fighting for its playoff life, the Florida Panthers sure did not play like it tonight. You could be forgiven for thinking that we were about three weeks from Christmas, not Easter, watching this game tonight. This game was ugly from start to finish but we have no doubt that the words "gritty," "hard fought," and "character" are going to be used to describe this game. We couldn't disagree more; this game was about as ugly as it gets and in the
"New NHL," somebody had to win it. But a win is a win is a win and the Caps have inched closer to another playoff spot and division title. We only hope we can get through these next two and half weeks without going crazy.

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

Caps @ Thrashers 3-16-2009 Wrap Up/ Caps @ Panthers 3-17-2009 Preview

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post. Times: ugly loss, NHL Report. Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: sixth in a row, how they've done it. Thrashers.com.

Final Thoughts:

If they're just waiting for the playoffs to turn it on, they'll be here soon enough.

71 down, 11 to go.


Washington Capitals (43-28; 92 points; 1st Southeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference, 5th Overall) @ Florida Panthers (34-35; 78 points; 3rd Southeast Division, 9th Eastern Conference, 15th Overall):
Caps Game #72, Road Game #35, NHL Game #1,045

BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise, FL, 7:38 pm. Washington TV: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Florida TV: Fox SportsNet Florida+. Radio: WAXY 790-AM. NHL Center Ice: Fox SportsNet Florida+ feed.

Tonight the Caps get right back at it when they face the Panthers in Florida. The Panthers are coming off a 4-3 gimmick loss at home to the Ning on Saturday night. The Panthers have lost three games in a row with two of those losses coming in gimmicks. This has temporarily slid the Panthers outside of the Eastern Conference Playoff by a single point, but they have two games in hand on the 8th place Carolina Hurricanes. This is Florida's second game of a five game homestand.

What The Natives Are Saying:

Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Miami Herald: McCabe returning, key player. Panthers.com.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Well first of all, a better effort at the start of the game. But what the Caps really need is a sense of purpose. So expect to hear, once again, about how tonight's game will all but officially sew up the Southeast Division title. A win in regulation tonight would put the Caps 8 points away from exactly that. The Panthers though have been blowing third period leads lately and seem to be entering a funk at the worst possible time for them but the Caps don't want to have to count on that tonight. They'll want to get out to an early lead and play their game for sixty minutes.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 2
Panthers 3
Winner by Weiss

(8-8 on the season)

Caps @ Thrashers 3-16-2009 Post-Mortem

Just burn the tape.

Seriously folks, just burn the tape. We could do our usual breakdown of tonight's game, but what's the point? It clearly wasn't the Caps night. The Caps came out with a tepid effort in the first period, a game that lacked structure and form which for some reason, the Caps just could not handle. The Caps stepped things up in the second period and despite seemingly tilting the ice in their favor, you got the feeling that the Thrashers hadn't lost control of the game.

There are a few points we want to make:

• Tom Poti was wretched tonight. If Bruce Boudreau really wants to get Brian Pothier more ice time, bench Poti and bring Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green back tomorrow night.
• Speaking of Pothier, he played about as well as you could expect for a guy who hadn't played in the NHL for 14 months.
• If there was a player who was the embodiment of what the Caps went through tonight, it was A.O. who fired a total of 20 shots tonight. 10 of which found their way on goal. However, A.O. was unable to register a point and his 10 game point streak came to an end. Though it wasn't for a lack of trying and while he couldn't get the offense going, he tried to get the hitting going becoming a one man wrecking crew. The one complaint we have about this team tonight is that nobody followed his lead. Too many players were content to watch A.O. try to do everything. That can never happen again.
• Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore once again showed why people question this team's goaltending. Simeon Varlamov came on relief and wasn't seriously tested but still gave up a goal.

While one game does not make a funk, we have to say that, with the exception of the effort, tonight's game had all the hallmarks of the funk this team was in at the beginning of the month. The Caps fell behind early, had some shaky goaltending and defense, and didn't get much traffic in front of the net and weren't fighting for rebounds. Give Kari Lehtonen credit, he played a good game and deserved a shutout but this team has to get its focus in check because how they play now will directly how they play in the first round.

Caps @ Thrashers 3-16-2009 Preview

Washington Capitals (43-27; 92 points; 1st Southeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference, 5th Overall) @ Atlanta Thrashers (28-41; 62 points; 4th Southeast Division, 13th Eastern Conference, 27th Overall):
Caps Game #71, Road Game #34, NHL Game #1,038

Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA, 7:08 pm. Washington TV: None. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Atlanta TV: None. Radio: WCNN 680-AM. U.S. National TV: Versus. Canadian National TV: TSN2, RIS (French).

Tonight, the Caps begin a tour of the Southeast Division when they head down to Atlanta to face the Thrashers. This is the first time the Caps have been in Atlanta since the first game of the season. The Thrashers have won five games in a row, most recently a 4-3 gimmick win on Saturday night in Loserville...er...Buffalo over the Buffaslugs. The Thrashers have won six of the seven games since the last time they played the Caps, a 4-3 Caps victory, on February 26th.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post. Times. Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

With Atlanta being all but officially eliminated from the playoff chase, tonight would seem like a good time to give Simeon Varlamov another start and Brian Pothier his first NHL action since January of 2008. But not so fast; the Thrashers have won five games in a row and not just over teams playing out the string like they are. They've taken critical points from the Buffaslugs and Edmonton Oilers, teams fighting to get into the playoffs, and from Calgary and Montreal, teams looking to improve and solidify their playoff positioning. Atlanta is very much a team that if you try to sleepwalk on them, they'll jump up and beat you so Caps cannot take this team lightly. Yet that is exactly what the Caps have done when playing very lesser teams on the road this season in front of National TV audiences. The Caps are starting their last stretch of three games in four nights this season, and all three games are on the road. After this week's run of four games over six days the Caps will play their next four games in a span of thirteen days. The there will be plenty of time for giving players time off coming up and with New Jersey threatening to pull away, the Caps need the two points from a win tonight more than need to find out is Varlamov is healthy enough to back up Jose "Alvin, Simon." Theodore in the playoffs.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 5
Atlanta 4
Winner by A.O.

(8-7 on the season)

Sunday Smorgasbord 3-15

• The 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Brackets are out and the Terps are a 10 seed in the West Region facing the Commies...er...California-Berkeley Golden Bears on Thursday in Kansas City. First of all, Congratulations to the Maryland Terrapins and Head Coach Gary Williams for getting back into the NCAA Tournament. With all the adversity that the team and program faced this year, it shows what a great coach Gary is in order to get the wins they needed to impress the Selection Committee enough to be granted a bid. However let us state for the record, they don't belong in the Tournament. Maryland could beat the Commies...er...Cal but a potential second round matchup with Memphis on Saturday is something that could get very ugly, very quickly, something the Selection Committee likes to avoid. We say that because we've never seen a Gary Williams coached team chuck three pointers the way Maryland does and unless they get red hot from behind the three point line, they don't have much of a chance because they have no inside game. Do we think teams left out like San Diego State and State Penn would do better than Maryland? No, but we do think the NCAA would be better off reducing the number of teams instead of increasing the field.
• And staying with College Basketball, the 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Bracket will be unveiled tomorrow and the big question is, will the Maryland women have to face UCONNED in the Final Four or the National Championship game should both teams make it that far? Congratulations to the Maryland Women for winning the ACC Tournament last Sunday which unquestionably clinched their #1 seed for the Women's Tournament. The undoing of the Terp women though will be their lack of interest in playing defense but their offensive prowess (and playing on their own home court) should get them beyond the first weekend.
• So the Redskins sign Albert Haynesworth and everybody reflexively sneers "Champions of the Offseason" again. We want to know, is that title handed out by the same people who got us into the BCS mess? Though we have to say, since Haynesworth came to the Redskins, other teams have made moves that look to dwarf what the Redskins did. Most notably, the Patriots trading Matt Cassel to the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cowgirls releasing Terrell Owens. But getting back to the Skins, signing Haynesworth meant others had to go and first up was Sean Springs. A free agent the Redskins signed in 2004, Springs spent good parts of two of the last three seasons injured which greatly reduced his effectiveness because no matter how good you are, you aren't any good to your team sitting on the sidelines injured. Also shown the door was Jason Taylor who never really meshed in Washington and the off season workout dispute allows both sides to save a little face in his departure. As for the move itself, the Redskins finally address their ugly situation on both the offensive and defensive lines. The resigning of guard Derrick Dockery wasn't as splashy but can only help. With four draft picks the Redskins aren't going to get much help through the draft this year. So give the Redskins credit for at least trying to tread water while rebuilding these important units. Whether or not it is wise or will work, we don't know yet.
• Well Nats fans are going to have find another punching bag as two weeks ago Jim Bowden resigned as Nationals General Manager. We're ambivalent about Bowden's departure, we certainly aren't celebrating it but we aren't cursing it either. We believe that the Bowden Derangement Syndrome sufferers need to look at the fact that Major League Baseball litterally ran that franchise into the ground for four and half years. The lack of minor league talent and scouting are now catching up to the Nationals and we honestly wonder just who could have done a better job. But we'll get to find out as whoever takes over will have at least a better framework to work with in place courtesy of Bowden.
• Well folks, this week the circus is in town which is why the Caps are playing four games on the road, all in the Southeast Division. Monday night they're in Atlanta, Tuesday they head to Florida. Tampa is up on Thursday night and the Southeast tour comes to an end in Carolina on Saturday night.
• As always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, questions, corrections, suggestions, and any of Penguin Scum sightings in Cape Town South Africa to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Caps vs. Hurricanes 3-14-2009 Wrap Up

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post. Times. Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Raleigh News and Observer.

Final Thoughts:

We're at a point in the season where just about every team is going to be scratching and clawing for points, those that aren't are the ones who aren't going to the playoffs. So get used to it folks, games are going to be like this until the regular season ends. While we've seen the Caps get back to their game over the past week, the lack of solid defense once again rears its ugly head and forced the Caps into a gimmick that should have never had happened last night. But the Caps end up with two more points and grow their division lead for now to 13. However, there is still plenty of work to do.

70 down, 12 to go.

Caps vs. Hurricanes 3-14-2009 Post-Mortem

Send in the clowns... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Alexander "Slappy" Semin with a goal and three assists and apparently scoring the deciding goal in the gimmick. (We wouldn't know, we left because we refuse to watch the gimmick) He now has 29 goals and 40 assists on the season in just 51 games. Imagine what Slappy's numbers would look like if he had stayed healthy?
• Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore was on his game at crucial points tonight. Hopefully this will put to rest the questions about our goaltending and focus the spotlight on our defending which still leaves a lot to be desired.
• The special teams came through in a big way too tonight. The Power Play was a buzzsaw going 3 for 4 and the Penalty Killers went 4 for 4 allowing just 7 shots on goal. 5 of which came on the 4 on 3 Power Play that they killed off in overtime.
• With the games that matter to us finished, the Caps Magic Number for a playoff spot is now down to 10 points. The Division will be wrapped up in 12 points.
• Another goal, 49, and assist, 40, for A.O. who is now bearing down on another 50 goal season and his 400th career point.

THE BAD:

• Blowing a two goal lead on home ice this late in the season is not a good thing.
• Despite racking up four points, Slappy was -3 tonight. Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green joins Slappy in registering a -3 even though he had the only even strength Caps goal and one assist.

THE UGLY:

• The game was decided by a gimmick.
• It isn't often that you see a team breakout with a 4 on 1. Yet despite getting this rare scoring opportunity in the second period, none of the four Caps drove the net for the rebound which was waiting to be stuffed home and put the game out of reach as the score would have become 4-1 Caps. However, because there wasn't anybody driving the middle looking for the rebound, the puck was cleared and Carolina had a breakaway going back the other way. Unlike the Caps, the Canes had Eric Staal driving down the middle and he roofed the rebound to make the game 3-2.

For as much as these guys, well, just Tom Poti, like to publicly complain about the ice at the Phone Booth, you would think that they would adjust their game when they know that the ice is going to be bad. They can read schedules, they had to know that the Harlem Globetrotters were performing this afternoon. They could have poked their heads out of their locker room and see the casual pace of the area crew to complete the changeover. And yet what is so maddening is that for most of the first two periods, the Caps tried to keep things simple. While some breaks and bounces didn't go their way, they were still very much in control until they decided to get cute in the third period. All of a sudden, Carolina had an easier time forechecking the Caps and Cam Ward could get comfortable in his crease. Luckily for the Caps, the Canes tried to get cute too and that is the reason why they only tied up the game in the third period and didn't take over. The good news for the Caps is that they're heading back out on the road now for five games while the circus takes over the Phone Booth. There they can get into the habit of playing the simpler game they're going to need for the playoffs.

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

Caps vs. Hurricanes 3-14-2009 Preview

Washington Capitals (42-27; 90 points; 1st Southeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference, 5th Overall) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (36-34; 78 points; 2nd Southeast Division, 7th Eastern Conference, 13th Overall):
Caps Game #70, Home Game #37, NHL Game #1,025

Verizon Center, Washington, DC, 7:08 pm. Washington TV: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Carolina TV: Fox SportsNet Carolina. Radio: WCMC 99.9-FM. NHL Center Ice: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic feed.

Tonight after winning two games on the road the Caps must now face down their four game losing streak on home ice when they host the Carolina Hurricanes. In spite of currently holding a playoff spot, the Hurricanes are starting fall back from a playoff position as their lead over Florida is only one point, but the Panthers have two games in hand on Carolina. The Canes are in this position because they've lost their last two games, after a four game winning streak to start the month of March, first in a gimmick on Wednesday night at Chicago and on Thursday night in Dallas for their first loss in regulation in six games. This is Carolina's third game in four nights on the road.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post. Times. Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Raleigh News and Observer. Hurricanes.com.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

So here the Caps are once again in the familiar position of playing a team at home who is in desperate need of points for their playoff positioning. Hopefully for the Caps, last week's 5-2 embarrassment is still fresh in their minds and they'll come out looking for revenge. The Canes probably won't be a first round opponent but the Caps might also want to send them a message about that possibility too by putting this game out of reach early. Carolina has come to the end of a tough stretch of games where they're playing their sixth game in nine nights. That is not easy as the Caps would be very wise to stick to the basics of getting the puck in deep, setting up their forecheck, and forcing the Canes to work their way through every inch of the ice. If the Caps do that, they should be fine. If the Caps want to get cute, they should remember that the Harlem Globetrotters will make the ice nice and slushy tonight before their game, ruining any chances the Caps have of getting fancy with their play.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 5
Canes 3
Winner by Semin

(7-7 on the season)

Caps @ Flyers 3-12-2009 Wrap Up

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post. Times. Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Philadelphia Daily News. Philadelphia Inquirer: clipped, feeling good.

Final Thoughts:

We don't know for sure but we figure A.O. started heading for the penalty box because he's used to having calls go against us. But it didn't because he made a great play. Carolina's 3-2 loss in Dallas last night make the magic number for a playoff spot 13 points.

69 down, 13 to go.

Caps @ Flyers 3-12-2009 Post-Mortem

Now we can say we're out of the funk... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• A.O. with the game winning goal and an assist tonight giving him two more points on the season for a total of 87. A.O. now has 397 in his career with 211 goals. The game winning goal is his 10th this season which ties him with Patrick Marleau for the league lead. It is his 34th GWG of his career and moves him into 3rd on the Caps All-Time Game Winning goal list. Next up in that category is Mike Gartner with 54. He's 11 points behind Kelly Miller in 13th place on the All-Time Points list and 7 goals behind Mike Ridley for 3rd on the Goal Scoring list.
• Another character win for the Caps with Mr. Donald Brashear nursing a "sprained knee," Matt "Omar" Bradley sporting a visor, and John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles trying to avoid a career ending concussion. It wasn't as if the Flyers weren't up to their usual tricks of trying to goad everybody into fights and retaliation penalties as the Caps won their fifth straight game on the road for the first time since 2001.
• Not only did the Caps convert on one of their two Power Plays tonight, they held the Flyers Penalty Killers, who have scored the most shorthanded goals in the league to no shots on goal. Great play by A.O. in the third period to thwart Simon Gagne where he got the puck before taking out the player.

THE BAD:

• For some reason here recently, the Caps don't like to play the second period very much. While A.O. did get the game winner in that frame, the Flyers took 19 shots on goal. Luckily Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore was up to the task because if he wasn't...
• Sergei (#3) Fedorov was a late scratch because he is fighting the flu was replaced by Alexandre Giroux who took two penalties in the first period. Take some NyQuil, Theraflu, or something Sergei!

THE UGLY:

• Yeah, NOW we have a goal waived off because of incidental contact with a goaltender. (Us??? Bitter??? No...)
• While 19 of them came in the second period, the Caps allowed 39 shots on goal tonight. That's not going to get it done most nights but those people who have been cracking on our goaltending should note this performance. Our defense is a bigger problem than our goaltending.
• We don't put much stock in faceoff stats, but the Caps were abused in the circle tonight winning only 33% of them. Michael "Meadowlark" Nylander continued to help his trade value by going 1 and 8.

We said it a couple of weeks ago and we'll say it again now in spite of this win, we want no parts of the Flyers in the playoffs. They're a team that is as big, fast, and skilled as us and are more than willing to play dirty. We do believe that tonight's win was huge because the Caps passed their last large test before the playoffs begin but that does not mean we think that we can beat Philadelphia in a seven game series. The Caps earned half the points available to them against the Flyers this season, but remember, it took a gimmick to get one of those points. But this is a huge win because you need at least 90 points to enter the playoff discussion and the Caps now have exactly that. The magic number for clinching a spot is currently 14 but could drop to 13 pending the outcome of the Carolina-Dallas game (Stars lead 3-1 in the third). The Caps also officially eliminated the Atlanta Thrashers giving them three of the seven teams they need to claim a spot. Toronto will be gone in 3 points and Ottawa in 4 after tonight's games. But getting back to tonight's game, we have to say that for the first time this season, we feel relatively comfortable about the Caps ability to compete in the playoffs. They're still a month away but with the easy slate of games they have down the stretch, the Caps should be in fine shape heading into the first round. The only thing to worry about is the focus as Carolina, Atlanta, Florida, Tampa Bay, Toronto, the Buffaslugs, and Islanders won't give us the kind of battles and challenges the Flyers and Predators did. But at least for now we can go to bed secure in the knowledge that the slump has been busted.

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