Sure Why Not Shut It Down Every Four Years???

That permagrin took a little longer to wear off than we thought...

When we weren’t wrenching our backs out last week we were trying to watch the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.  And we have to admit that we didn’t see much in the way of hockey until Sunday.  Some of that was because we, like many people, are oddly fascinated by Curling (and we’re glad the U.S. finally got smart and benched the choker John Shuster).  However, Sunday night’s Canada-U.S. game was the first game we’ve seen from start to finish during the Olympics.  We tried to watch some of the U.S. women's games but watching a 2502-0 game gets a little boring after awhile.  Furthermore, we can’t say we’re really interested in watching to foreign countries play, no matter who is on the teams.

Sorry, folks we’re loyal Americans so we're not rooting for anybody in this tourney but the ol’ U.S. of A.  And let us start out by saying that it really, really sucks that U.S. Men pretty much get stuck in the 3 pm Eastern time slot.  We work for a living and therefore can’t watch the game live and tape delay isn’t possible because 24/7 News Cycle makes keeping the score unknown impossible.  We happen to think that 3 pm East Coast starts for the US team is not the best idea for the NHL.  We thought the whole idea of having NHL players in the Olympics is to generate greater interest from U.S. causal fans who aren’t already hockey fans.  However much like us, casual U.S. fans don’t care about Belarus-Latvia or Canada-Russia.  If the U.S. team does not or cannot get prime time coverage, then there’s no chance of growing the game in U.S. where the game needs to grow for the NHL to be successful and shutting down the league for the games becomes completely pointless.
 
And like many who are watching the hockey games, we too have problems with NBC’s coverage of them.  First of all, Mike Milbury is an idiot and Jeremy Roenick isn’t much better which already a huge strike against NBC.  Secondly, unlike some who think the only sport in the Winter Olympic games that matters is hockey, we DON’T have a problem with NBC sticking around for the end of a curling match involving a U.S. team in favor of the start of a hockey game between two foreign countries.  Yeah it's painful watching Shuster and Debbie McCormick choke time after time but again, we're not interested in Norway-Germany. 

However, why does NBC insist on running 30 second commercials when they know International rules have a 20 second faceoff rule?  Though it was nice of them not to run commercials during Sunday night’s Canada-U.S. game.  It kept Milbury and Roenick psychobabble to a minimum and showed that the TV timeouts in the NHL are completely unnecessary.

U.S.-Canada on Sunday night was a great game and not only because the U.S. won.  We happened to think that Canada looked very tight, very nervous, and you have to wonder if the pressure getting to them?  Canada has looked tight for what little we saw of the Canada-Norway and Canada-Switzerland games.  Many are blaming Martin Brodeur for the loss on Sunday.  However we think that he didn’t play too badly but just wasn’t great.  He gave up two deflections, one scramble, and one soft goal which seems to us to be an indicator of being tight and trying to do too much. 

The U.S. however played some really inspired hockey and scoring just 41 seconds into the game reminded us of Game 3 of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey Final.  Head Coach Ron Wilson (who coached the team in 1996 and this year) played a video clip before the game that fired up the team so we wonder what Wilson came up with on Sunday night?  Better yet, why hasn't anybody asked him about it?   We've never known Crazy Ron to be bashful.

However folks, this Olympic tournament far from over.  The elimination games started earlier today and remember,  the U.S. Junior Team had to play a Medal Qualifier and still won the Gold earlier this year.  Furthermore, Sweden blitzed Canada 5-2 in a Preliminary Round game back in Salt Lake City in 2002 and it wasn’t even that close.  However, the Swede’s were knocked out by Belarus in the quarterfinals and Canada went on and won the Gold for the first time in 50 years.  If the U.S. is to win any kind of medal in these Olympics, Ryan Miller will have to be the best player for the U.S.  And by finishing as the #1 seed, the U.S. has a huge advantage because they will be the home team for the rest of their games.  As many of you know the home team gets the last line change and for a team that has to be very good defensively, this is a huge help to the United States as line matching will be much easier for Wilson.

And we’ll find out a lot about Canada later night.  If Canada loosens up and plays better, they should have a really easy win over Germany.  However another close call and Canada is in serious trouble.  The expected Canada-Russia game will be a huge one on Wednesday night.  Which Russian team shows up though?  The hard charging one on Sunday or the scatterbrained team of the first two games?  (And after his massive hit on Jaromir Jagr on Sunday does anybody think Captain A.O. is getting any love from Pittsburgh and Rangers fans?)

And let us repeat that we’re still rooting for the U.S. here but we realize that they're still a long shot.  However would not mind one bit if Russia eliminated Canada tomorrow night and went on to win the gold medal (as long as they didn't beat the U.S. for the gold...)  Captain A.O. wins Ross, Richard, Person, Hart, and Smythe Trophies and with the Caps winning Stanley Cup when the NHL season resumes.  We wonder what the Mike Milbury’s of the world will have to say then?  (We already know the answer but would still love asking the question with a smug look on our faces...)

And finally, our Google Alerts on Saturday gave us the bit about a possible 2011 Winter Clunker in Natinal's Ark.  If it is true, we hope they have a tarp ready...  But we do have a couple of questions/complaints.  First o all why is the NHL looking to put Pittsburgh in the Winter Clunker again?  We get that the rivalry between Captain A.O. and the Captain of Canadian Diving Team, Lowblow Secondary Assist Cindy Crosby is a huge draw for the NHL.  But why can't the league let Captain A.O. have the stage to himself, even if he is miscast as the NHL's villian to Lowblow Cindy's hero?  Secondly why isn't RFK Stadium being considered to host this game?  The Eagle Bank Bowl could be moved to Nats Ark or dropped altogether because nobody cares about it and it wouldn't be missed.  RFK has a larger, but not too large like Landover, capacity and it would be a great visual of the stadium bouncing around.  We'll say it right now, any joy we would get about playing in and hosting a Winter Clunker would be greatly diminished by having to play the Penguin Scum and playing in Nat's Ark.  But something tells us that is exactly what is going to happen.

This Is Our New Desktop Wallpaper

Courtesy AP

We'll have some thoughts on the Olympics and some other things tomorrow once this permagrin wears off just a little...

Caps @ Blues 2-13-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 16 Atlanta
Southeast Division Championship: 17 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 29 New Jersey and Buffaslugs
President's Trophy: 39 Chicago and San Jose

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: three in a row, ready to break.

Final Thoughts:

This is so late because we've been lazy today but we should note that the magic numbers above do not take into account the results of today's games.  Because of the Ning's loss to the Rangers already today, the Caps Magic Number for the playoff spot is now 15 with the Ning and Southeast Division Title is now 16 with the Thrashers.

And we have no faith that the NHL will suspend Cam Janssen for any length of time for his hit on Matt "Omar" Bradley.

62 down, 20 to go.

Caps @ Blues 2-13-2010 Post-Mortem

Glad we didn't travel to see this one... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Mike Knuble gets two knoals tonight from his office.  Camped out right in front of the crease.  He's up to 23 knoals on the season but will be a bigger factor come playoff time.
• In their last game, the Caps blocked only 5 shots on goal.  Tonight the Caps blocked 15 as even Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green was getting down on the ice to take shots away.  To us, that's the biggest sign of an improved defensive effort.
• Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore has reason to be confident in his play as he heads into the Olympic Break.  33 saves tonight and some big saves to keep the Caps in the game tonight.

THE BAD:

• We mentioned this morning that the team with the better focus would likely come out on top and it was clearly St. Louis who had the better focus and intensity tonight.  For many stretches of the game, the Caps seemed like a team that was going through the motions to get to the break.
• Reason #1 we don't put much stock in faceoff stas, the Caps won 61% of the draws tonight, 43-28.  Yet what good did it do us as we didn't get any goals off of the faceoff wins?

THE UGLY:

• The game was decided by a gimmick.
• Very, very inconsistent officiating in the game tonight that had even Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin up in arms.  If there was a crackdown on against interference penalties, there were plenty of those calls missed and some other obvious infractions that weren't called either.  But sadly, the ineffective crackdown wasn't even the worst call of the night.
• Once again and for the sixth time in 18 fights for the Caps this season, a Caps player was slapped with an instigator penalty.  This time it was Quinton "The Human Bruise" Laing attacking an innocent and defenseless Cam Janssen after Janssen took a cheapshot on Matt "Omar" Bradley.  Janssen, who has almost as many fighting majors (16) by himself as the entire Washington Capitals team (18) clearly wasn't looking for a fight when he took the five minute interference call.  Add in the insult of Laing's visor warranting an automatic unsportsmanlike conduct penalty because of the instigator and the Caps were left with a 1 minute major Power Play after four minutes of 4-on-4 hockey.  This was once again an improper application of the instigator penalty which was created to protect players who were forced into fights that they clearly did not want to take part in.  Janssen is no stranger to the Ultimate Fighting on Ice and after partaking in two fights last night, he drew and instigator penalty for the second evening in a row.  This ridiculous application of the instigator penalty is quickly turning anti-fighting advocates such as ourselves against the penalty because what is the use of the penalty if it is going to be improperly assessed?

Bruce Boudreau was right to point out that at the end of a winning streak a team's play is breaking down but because they're winning, the corrections are hard to make.  Now that the Caps winning streak has turned into a losing streak, the Caps tonight showed that they are taking steps in the right direction.  Yes, the Caps were outshot once again.  Yes they gave up the first goal of the game and never led.  Yes, they gave up too many breakaways and odd-man rushes.  However, tonight wasn't the wide open, end-to-end, fire-wagon hockey the Caps had been playing of late.  Most of the breakdowns were in transition and a result of the forwards not backchecking aggressively enough.  There were only two big breakdowns in the defensive zone outside of transition plays.  The first one led to St. Louis' first goal at 4-on-4 and the second one was thwarted by a fantastic save by Theodore.  So now Boudreau gets a chance to reiterate the defensive coverage as the Caps have 17 days until their next game.  There's no need to panic folks, the Caps will be fine.

Caps @ Blues 2-13-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (41-20; 89 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) @ St. Louis Blues (27-34; 63 points; 4th Central Division, 12th Western Conference, 19th Overall):
Caps Game #62, Road Game #33, NHL Game #911

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 18 Atlanta
Southeast Division Championship: 20 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 32 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 42 San Jose

Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO 8:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM.  St. Louis TV: Fox Sportsnet Mid-West. Radio: KMOX 1120-AM.  NHL Center Ice: Fox Sportsnet Mid-West feed.

Tonight, the Caps wrap up the pre-Olympic portion of their schedule when they travel to St. Louis to face the Blues for the only time this season.  Last year the Caps claimed a 4-2 win in the Phone Booth over the Blues in the only meeting between the two teams.  A surprise playoff team one year ago, the Blues are seeing their playoff hopes for this year slowly fade as they current sit 12th in the loaded Western Conference.  St. Louis currently sits four points back of 8th place Calgary but has no games in hand on the Flames.  The three teams ahead of St. Louis all have one game in hand on the Blues which makes moving past them difficult.  The Blues however have won two in a row and three of their last six games.  They shutout the Toronto Maple Thug Leafs last night at home 4-0 for only their 11th win on home ice this season, tying them with Toronto and the Edmonton Oilers for fewest home ice wins in the NHL.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: bigger fish to fry, star-struck, Game Preview.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Well folks, you've got another tough one to call tonight.  This is the last game for both teams before the Olympic Break starts so how many players are going to be focused entirely on tonight's game?  Tomorrow morning some of the players will be going to Vancouver to take part in the Olympic Tournament while the others will be scattering to various vacation spots for a week and a half.  Secondly, we don't put much stock in St. Louis having an anemic offense because the Caps just allowed Montreal and Ottawa to score six goals a piece.   The offensive groove the Blues found last night against the Thug Leafs might just continue tonight as well if the Caps don't tighten things up.  Then there's the little X-factor in that the Caps haven't won in St. Louis since October 26th, 1996.  Dale Hunter popped in the game winning goal as Jim Carey made 25 saves for the win that night.  Andrew Brunette scored a shorthanded goal as Jason Allison added a pair for the Caps in that game.  The Caps of course went on to miss the playoffs for the first time in fourteen years that season.  With the St. Louis players complaining about playing 7 games in 11 days with 5 of them being at home, we really do think that this game tonight will come down to focus.  The team with the better focus is going to win tonight's game.  The luxury that the Caps have is that they don't need to hold their focus for 60 minutes to beat a team like St. Louis.  However, the Caps will need to break their habit of starting off slow.  If the Caps can get out to an early lead tonight, St. Louis may pack things in and just head on into the Olympic Break.  But with the way the Caps have been playing defense lately, the Blues won't be too shy about opening thing up and things could get dicey.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 5
Blues 3
Winner by Semin
(33-28 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps @ Senators 2-11-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 18 Atlanta
Southeast Division Championship: 20 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 32 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 42 San Jose

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:


NHL.com.  AP Wire.


The Other Side:


Ottawa Citizen.  Ottawa Sun: beat 'em at their own game, skill competition, notes.


Final Thoughts:


Oh and note to CSN, can we please cut this nonsense out about the 1993 Pittsburgh Penguin Scum winning the Stanley Cup after posting 17 wins in a row that season?  We think the Montreal Canadiens might have a problem with that and if you don't believe us, give Mullet Melrose at ESPNguin a call.  He'll set the record straight.


61 down, 21 to go.

Caps @ Senators 2-11-2010 Post-Mortem

Maybe this Olympic Break thing isn't such a bad idea...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Reluctant to tinker with the forward lines during a 14 game winning streak, Bruce Boudreau finally shakes some things up by promoting Brendan Morrrissonn to second line.  Morrrissonn notched only a single assist but was game leading +4 on the night.  Both of his linemates finished +2.
• Probably the biggest beneficiary of the improved play at the center position on the second line was Alexander "Slappy" Semin who scored his third career hat trick and the third Caps hat trick in as many games.  He added an assist to get a four point night for himself.
• The Caps had been giving up tons of shots on goal, especially in one period here recently.  Tonight the Caps gave up 12 in the first period, nine in the second, and seven in the third.  Not bad numbers.

THE BAD:

• Once again, the league leading Power Play came up empty, 0 for 2 with just 2 shots on goal.
• The Senators blocked 29 shots that the Caps took.  The Caps only got 24 shots on goal for the game.  And to make matters worse, the Caps only blocked 5 Senators shots and no Caps blocked more than one.  Anton Volchenkov blocked 11 by himself.
• We understand that the winning streak was over but Semyon "the Saviour" Varlamov looked like a goaltender who hadn't played a game in over two months.  Both Power Play goals he gave up tonight were very soft and he may have needed more than one game in Hershey before returning to NHL action.

THE UGLY:

• And speaking of that Penalty Kill, 0 for 2 with only 3 shots allowed.  Maybe we want to come up with some more blocks on the Penalty Kill when our goaltender is trying to regain his form?  That was the difference in the game right there.
• It's a good thing that Bruce Boudreau loves Tomas Fleischmann as much as he does because we're beginning to think that this the only reason why Fleischmann is still on this team.  Ok, so he scored a goal tonight, but he was on the ice for all four even strength goals the Senators scored tonight.  He ended with a richly deserved game worst -3 on the night.  He was 2-9 in the faceoff circle as well.  Look we weren't going to call the Fleischmann as center a success after just one game but this continues a disturbing trend of Fleischmann's where he gets off to a very strong start and reverts to form as things roll along.  If he can't handle playing the top two lines here in D.C., General Manager George McPhee will have to move him because he is even more out of place on the third and fourth lines.

Well folks, now it is really over.  Before the Caps could take last night's Bettman point and console themselves with the notion that they've earned points in 15 straight games.  There's only one more game before the Olympic Break starts and if there was ever a point in time for that type of break, this is it.  Winning streaks like the one the Caps went on tend to lead to losing streaks once they end because either the team's play breaksdown (which is what is happening to the Caps right now) or the one player who was single-handedly carrying the team cools off.  After Saturday night most of the Caps are going to have two and half weeks off to rest and get ready for the remaining 20 games of the regular season.  Boudreau will get his practice time in to re-teach the systems that have fallen apart and will be better able to maintain them in practice as the Caps now have only three more sets of back-to-back games and one set of three games in four nights.  But for now, the Caps have to head onto St. Louis and try to figure out a way to come up with some more points before the break starts.

Caps @ Canadiens 2-10-2010 Wrap Up/Caps @ Senators 2-11-2010 Preview

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

The Gazette: stunner, no doubts.

Final Thoughts:

60 down, 22 to go.


Washington Capitals (41-19; 89 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) @ Ottawa Senators (34-26; 72 points; 1st Northeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference, 10th Overall):
Caps Game #61, Road Game #32, NHL Game #891

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 18 Atlanta
Southeast Division Championship: 22 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 32 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 42 San Jose (Edmonton has been eliminated)

Scotiabank Place, Kanata, Ontario, Canada, 7:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM.  Ottawa TV: None. Radio: CFGO 1200-AM.  Canadian National TV: TSN.  NHL Center Ice: Comcast SportNet Mid-Atlantic and TSN feeds.

Tonight the Caps look to start another winning streak when they head into Ottawa to face the Senators for the third time this season.  The teams have split the previous two meetings so far this season with the home team winning both times.  The last time these two teams met, the Caps gave the Senators their second loss in a five game losing streak 5-2 in D.C.  The Senators turned it back around and went on a eleven game winning streak that was snapped on Saturday night in Toronto, 5-0.  The Senators got back to their winning ways with a 3-2 victory at home over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night in their last outing.  The Senators have won their last six games on home ice.

What The Natives Are Saying:

Examiner.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Ottawa Citizen.  Ottawa Sun: the best, out in front, Game Preview.  Senators.com.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Well folks, we thought that tonight was going to be the night that ended the Caps streak but it wasn't meant to be.  In spite of both team's lengthy streaks being stopped, you still have two teams that have been playing pretty good hockey as of late and getting it done with contrasting styles of play.  The Caps 14 game winning streak built largely on an offensive outburst.  Sure, the Caps gave up an average of 2.36 goals in the 14 games that they won, but they scored an average of 4.86 goals per game.  Outscore your opponents 5-2 and you'll win a lot of hockey games.  However, the Senators put their eleven game winning streak together with defense and goaltending.  They allowed 1.18 goals against with two shutouts in the streak (the Caps had none in theirs and the last shutout the Caps threw was December 7th in Tampa ) and scored 3.36 goals per game, scoring five or more goals just once (the Caps scored five or more goals 8 times, 9 if you count the gimmick win that started it all).  Behind it all for Ottawa is goaltender Brian Elliot who is expected to make his 12th straight start tonight.  He backstopped to the Senators 4-3 overtime win over the Caps back in November and has a 1.60 GAA and a .948 save percentage in his last 11 starts, going 10-1.  To further add to the Caps troubles tonight is the return of Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza to the Senators lineup.  Both players missed the last meeting in D.C. a month ago but have returned from injury and are playing again.  This is a game tonight that for the Caps to win they'll have to do it in a 2-1, 3-2 fashion.  That means no early goals allowed and few if any defensive breakdowns, something Bruce Boudreau is dying to correct through some additional practice time.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 2
Senators 4
Winner by Fisher
(32-28 on the season with one perfect game) 

Caps @ Canadiens 2-10-2010 Post-Mortem

All good things must come to an end...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• It took the NHL's highest scoring team 59 games to register a hat trick.  Now the Caps have hat tricks in back-to-back games as Brooks "and Dunn" Laich turned the trick tonight for his first career hat trick.
• The selfish, cherry-picking, defensive zone slouch, Captain A.O. with two more assists tonight to run his season total to 46, good for 5th overall in the NHL.  He now has 88 points on the season, 10 better than his next closest competitor, Henrik Sedin.
• By virtue of the Bettman Point and San Jose's 3-0 loss in Columbus, the Caps now have a two point lead on San Jose for the best overall record in the NHL.  Should they end up tied, the Caps currently own the first tiebreaker with the Sharks (overall wins).

THE BAD:

• Our top ranked Power Play went 1 for 7 tonight.  Too many chances left on the table.
• The Caps have been living dangerously with the shots on goal allowed and tonight were once again outshot, 39-38.  But the back-breaker was giving up 17 shots in the second period.

THE UGLY:

• The second line of Tomas Fleischmann, Alexander "Slappy" Semin, and Laich along with Tom Poti and John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles were on the ice for goals allowed in the first minute of both the first and second periods.  Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on Bruce Boudreau for putting them back out there.  Laich was an even player for tonight, Slappy a -1, and the rest were all -2.
• While the Penalty Killers were a respectable 4 for 5, it is still too many penalties to be taking against the second best Power Play.  Especially two calls in the third period when you're trying to mount a comeback from three goals down.

What Caps fan could forget Game 7 in 2008 when Shaone Morrrissonnn got checked into Cristobal Huet  knocking Huet down and leaving a wide open net for Sami Kapanen to shoot into and stake the Flyers to a 2-1 lead?  The NHL insisted up and down the street that the proper call was made in that game because Morrrissonnn had been the puck carrier when he was checked into his own goaltender.  Well, when Captain A.O. checked Hal Gill and the puck he was trying to play into Carey Price and the puck gets past Price into the goal, it wasn't allowed tonight because of incidental contact goaltender interference.  And you people wonder why we call it the NHL Suggestion Book.  And for those of you who like to laugh at the KoOkY KoNsPiRaCy ThEoRiSt, could you please explain how these calls keep going against us?  To bust out another saying, "once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action" and this is the third time we've seen this call go against us.  Yeah, the Caps luck finally ran out.  The poor play in their own zone cost them because there's no excuse for allowing 17 shots in a period or goals twice within the first minutes of a period.  But one has to wonder, especially after the phantom slash on Sunday, was the officiating tonight the extra nudge needed to bring the streak to an end?  We have to admit, there aren't very many ways the streak could end that would leave us happy but there's a rather bitter taste in our mouths right now because it certainly could have continued in spite of the poor play tonight.

Caps @ Canadiens 2-10-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (41-18; 88 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) @ Montreal Canadiens (28-32; 62 points; 3rd Northeast Division, 7th Eastern Conference, 19th Overall):
Caps Game #60, Road Game #31, NHL Game #886

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 20 Atlanta
Southeast Division Championship: 23 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 34 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 45 San Jose

Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 7:37 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM.  Montreal TV: None. Radio: CJAD 880-AM.  Canadian National TV: TSN, RDS (French) NHL Center Ice: Comcast SportNet Mid-Atlantic and TSN feeds.

Tonight, the Caps take their winning streak on the road for the start of a three game road trip in four nights when they face the Montreal Canadiens for the fourth and final time this season.  After dropping the first game in D.C., the Caps have come back to win the last two games in the series this season with their other visit to Bell Centre ending in a 4-3 gimmick win.  The Canadiens are one of about 13 teams hanging onto a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and have been streaky recently.  They had a three game winning streak snapped on Sunday by the visiting Boston Bruins, 3-0.  However, before that three game winning streak was a three game losing streak for the Canadiens.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

The Gazette: more injuries, passing the torch again, letting history decide.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Bruce Bourdreau has turned into a college football coach who spends the entire week talking up lesser teams in an attempt to make everybody believe that the next opponent is an almost insurmountable challenge to his team.  Maybe he didn't see how the Washington Redskins completely fell apart after Vinny Cerrato was resigned from his position and Bruce Allen was brought on board?  Of course, when that happened, the Redskins were out of the playoff picture unlike Montreal who is still in the playoff hunt in the Eastern Conference.  However, even if the Canadiens want to put a good show on for their new boss and be known as the team who ended the Caps winning streak, they're simply running out of talent capable of doing such a thing.  Montreal is working with a patched together lineup with six players currently on injured reserve including Andrei Kostitsyn, Mike Cammalleri, Paul Mara, and Marc-Andre Bergeron.  Sure, like just about any other team in the NHL, the Caps have to take Montreal seriously enough or they will end up getting beaten, but there isn't enough here for Montreal to do much damage.  Jaroslav Halak has taken over as the starting goaltender for now in Montreal but has posted some unimpressive numbers in his last two starts.  The biggest key for the Capitals tonight is to move their feet in the defensive zone.  That alone will cut down on the penalties which could be problematic because Montreal has the second best Power Play and the Caps have the second worst road Penalty Killing unit in NHL.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 4
Canadiens 2
Winner by Laich
(32-27 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps vs. Penguin Scum 2-7-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 20 Atlanta
Southeast Division Championship: 23 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 36 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 45 San Jose 

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post: Captain A.O. Show, making it in. Examiner.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Olympic breakdown, life on the road.  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: power failure, no excuses.  Penguin Scum.com.

Final Thoughts:

We find it highly comical that a long time teammate of Canadian Diving Team Captain, Secondary Assist Lowblow Cindy Crosby would dare to publicly criticize another player on another team of "embellishing" and "whining."  We would have to wonder what they player thinks of his own team Captain?  It is also laughable when that same player attacked an opponent after the whistle for nailing him with a clean hip check.  Aren't you glad there's no rivalry here?  Things would be really ugly if there was.

59 down, 23 to go.

Caps vs. Penguin Scum 2-7-2010 Post-Mortem

It wasn't ending like that...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• After botching two first period chances and getting the hose turned on him with the instigator penalties, Mike Knuble had the presence of mind to poke home the rebound for the Game Winning Knoal in overtime.  He must have been the only one to realize that Captain A.O.'s shot hit the goal post and did not go in.  Good thing he did because his doing so must have been a message to the Yinzers that the steel mills were re-opening because we have never seen those fools disappear so fast.  And why?  It was only a regular season game.
• Yeah Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore gave up four goals on 24 shots through two periods.  However he came up with a H U G E save on Canadian Diving Team Captain, Secondary Assist Lowblow Cindy Crosby on the 5-on-3 late in the second period.  That save right there kept the game close enough for the Caps to launch the comeback in the third period everybody knew was coming even though it was only a meaningless regular season game.
• And for the first time all season, the Two-Time Regeining NHL MVP, Captain A.O. notched a Hat Trick and an assist.  The three goals gave him a three goal lead over Lowblow Cindy (who passed on a prime chance of her own to put the Penguin Scum ahead late in the game.  We thought she was shooting more this season???) for the Rocket Richard.  The four points gives him an eight point lead over Henrik Sedin for the Art Ross another meaningless regular season trophy.  The cherry-picking defensive zone slouch also increased his league-leading +/-  3 points to 41 over Jeff "Sergeant" Schutlz (who was also a +3 today).  The complete all-around players, Lowblow Cindy and Evgeni Malkin-Lindros, were a -1 and even despite two goals and two assists respectively.

THE BAD:

• The Caps are usually a good team in the faceoff circle, not so today as they were 34-39.

THE UGLY:

• Well first things first, Tyler Sloan was returned to the lineup for some reason today and comes up with a lazy outlet pass that Lowblow Cindy easily picked off and scored upon.  That barely nudges out Tom Poti's ugly turnover at the blueline leading to the Penguin Scum's fourth goal for the John "Coach's Pet" Erksine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game.  Poti's bad pass had to be knocked down, Sloan's poor outlet had nobody intended for it and all Lowblow Cindy had to do was skate up to it.
• Paired on Friday night with Tom Kowal, Tim Peel called a pretty good game.  I guess he and Frederick L'Ecuyer were upset about all the museums being closed yesterday because this was a hose job today reminiscent of the Second Round last year.  First of all, when the Nothing But Cindy announcing crew are calling Barbara Streisand on your calls in favor of the Penguin Scum more than once, you know something is up.  Secondly, even us with our bad eyesight at the opposite end of the rink could tell that Sarge didn't slash anybody and that the stick broke on its own.  That call with 4:08 left in the third ensured at least a Bettman point for the Penguin Scum.
• But our favorite hose job of the day came on Nicklas Backstrom's 10 minute misconduct in the second period.  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot did he do to deserve that?  Furthermore, how in the world did the guy who started the whole scrum after the goal get off scott-free?  Brooks Orpik going after Brian Pothier for a clean hit went completely unpenalized but the top two scorers for the Caps were sent to the Sin Bin from the melee.

Well folks, the game was playing out about as we had expected until Chris Kuntiz ran over Theodore.  That got the Caps angry and forced the zebras to get out the hoses to keep it close.  Sure, the Yinzers will say, "it's only the regular season" and "we didn't get into D.C. until 2:15 a.m." but once again, the Penguin Scum took a pretty good shot at the Caps and came up on the short end of the stick.  Once the Caps got going it was clear that the only way to keep the game close was the parade the Caps to the penalty box and kick 2/3's of the top line out for a half a period at different points.  As the streak moves forward, it is going to be harder and harder to keep it going because everybody wants to be the one who ends it.  Luckily the Caps were dead set against the Penguin Scum being the ones who ended it because they have to have growing doubts that they can beat us.  And the better news is that if we can survive the hose jobs now, we can survive them in the Spring.

It has been... A TWO POINT DAY!!! 

Caps vs. Penguin Scum 2-7-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (40-18; 86 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) vs. Pittsburgh Penguin Scum (35-23; 72 points; 2nd Atlantic Division, 4th Eastern Conference, 8th Overall):
Caps Game #59, Home Game #29, NHL Game #870

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 22 Montreal and Atlanta
Southeast Division Championship: 25 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 38 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 47 San Jose

Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. 12:08 pm. Washington TV: None. Radio: WFED 1500-AM.  Pittsburgh TV: None . Radio: WXDX 105.9-FM.  U.S. National TV: NBC NHL Center Ice: None.

Today break out the snow shovels, rock salt, ice picks, snow blowers, sand bags, snow shoes, flamethrowers, snow chains, cross-country skis, or whatever it is you need to get out of your house because it is GAME ON!  The Caps are looking for their 14th win in a row against a Penguin Scum team that is starting to climb back into the race for the Atlantic Division Championship.  This is the second meeting between the two teams this season and the Penguin Scum's first visit to the Phone Booth this season.  Caps skated off with a 6-3 win back in January for win #5 on the current streak.  The Penguin Scum have won four of their six games since the teams last met 17 days ago.  However, they dropped an ugly 5-3 decision in Montreal yesterday to the Canadiens.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.  NBC

Open Source Intelligence:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: rink rust, best chance at the Hall, notebook.  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: disappointing, improving health, memory lane, GAME ON!  Penguin Scum.com.

What Do We Expect Today?:

Well folks, thank the Nothing But Cindy network's desire for its 1.0 rating for forcing this game to go on today even though it could easily be played tomorrow night.  None the less, after a Homeric Odyssey that put the Penguin Scum in D.C. roughly 8 hours after their game yesterday in Montreal and less than 12 hours before today's faceoff there is a game in Downtown D.C. today.  While the Caps had their practice yesterday canceled, removing 20-30 inches of snow so you can get out of your house is a lot of work, trust us, we know.  The Caps are once again playing their fourth game in six days and the Penguin Scum are playing the back end of a back-to-back set of games on the road in addition to the minor leaguesque travel.  Because we were horribly wrong about the expected crowd on Friday night, we'll refrain from making predictions on today's crowd but we do think you'll see two tired hockey teams trudging up and down the ice today as the adrenaline wears off rather quickly.  After all, there is no rivalry here if you listen to the Yinzers.  Furthermore, they also tells that no matter who wins today, it is only a regular season game and doesn't really matter anyway.  Penguin Scum Head Coach Dan Bylsma was expecting to play Marc-Andre Fleury in both games this weekend because the Penguin Scum had four days off before yesterday's game.  However, M.-A. F. got yanked in the third period after a lackluster performance.  Could we see Brent Johnson in goal instead today?  Who knows, we have to get outside and start de-icing our car so we can get to a Metro station that is actually open.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 6
Penguin Scum 2
Winner by Semin
(31-27 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps vs. Thrashers 2-5-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 22 Montreal and Atlanta
 Southeast Division Championship: 25 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 40 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 47 San Jose

 
The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Final Thoughts:

20 inches down, 10 more to go...

Oh wait...

58 down, 24 to go.

Caps vs. Thrashers 2-5-2010 Post-Mortem

How's it going to end???  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• First of all, a shout out to the 16,000 other maniacs who joined us in coming out to the game tonight.  Bandwagon fans aren't going to turn out in the numbers we saw tonight with what we're experiencing around here this weekend.
• Captain A.O. keeps trucking along.  Another goal and an assist upping his season points total to 82 points and extending his lead in the Art Ross race over Henrik Sedin to four.  He's broken the tie with Patrick Marleau for the Rocket Richard but holds the tiebreaker (fewest games) over him anyway.
• Michal " Bebe" Neuvirth gets recalled from Hershey, rings up 43 saves, and gets the win.  Maybe he is ready for full time duty?

THE BAD:

• While the Caps seemed to have cured their first period funk, it simply moved 20 minutes later as the Caps had all sorts of trouble in the second period.  The Caps allowed 22 shots on goal and as has also been the case in this winning streak, the goaltending bailed out the team out as no goals were allowed and the Caps carried a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
• Nicklas Backstrom with the migraines in the third period again.  We noticed three other Caps head off to the bench in pain and while Brooks "and Dunn" Laich and Jason Chimera specifically missed some shifts, they returned to the game and contributed with much needed points in the third period.  But the grueling stretch of games is starting to take its toll.
• And part of the funk that the Caps fall into tends to come from a lack of puck possession.  The Caps don't help this cause when they get impatient with the puck and try to force passes that aren't there instead of retaining the puck.  The Caps also skated the puck into danger numerous times tonight which also leads to short possessions and turnovers.

THE UGLY:

• While we salute John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles for catching Marty Reasoner with a clean open ice hit in the Caps zone, we're livid over him accepting Chris Thorburn's invitation to a fight.  Erskine Bowles fight thwarted a rush that the Caps had going and cost the team a good scoring chance.  Ultimate Fighting on Ice Fans are having a harder and harder time defending the sacrosanct "Crock" when clean hits lead to fights like tonight's which is the John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game.
• The Penalty Killers were 3 for 3 tonight but usually do a good job on home ice.  They're ranked third after all.  But the unit allowed 12 shots on goal during the six minutes they were killing them off.
• Alexander "Slappy" Semin lost an edge trying to stop on a backcheck after coughing up the puck at the Atlanta Blueline and knocked the puck into the net to give Rich Peverley a shorthanded goal after Bebe had stopped the initial shot.  And that wasn't the only Keystone Kops routine the Caps pulled tonight either.  Only the most glaring.

It seems to us as if teams facing us now and seeking to end the streak are trying to come out firing from the drop of the puck.  The Caps however are turning things on in the third period to either complete the comeback, pull out in front, and/or blow the game wide open.  It's looking like it will either take an insurmountable lead in the first period or a third period collapse to end this steak.  But the truth is, for tonight the fast start by Atlanta it wasn't that bad on an idea.  Though if you remember earlier this season, the Caps had all kinds of trouble closing out games in the third period.  Finally, you aren't going to string together 13 wins in a row without a healthy measure of luck in your favor.  Some of the bounces tonight lead us to believe that our good luck is starting to run out but there's still enough to keep it going.

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

Caps @ Rangers 2-4-2010 Wrap Up/ Caps vs. Thrashers 2-5-2010 Preview

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

New York Daily News.  New York Post: 12th in a row, cap strapped, decent move.  New York Times.  Rangers.com.

Final Thoughts:

57 down, 25 to go.


Washington Capitals (39-18; 84 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) vs. Atlanta Thrashers (24-31; 56 points; 4th Southeast Division, 11th Eastern Conference, 24th Overall):
Caps Game #58, Home Game #28, NHL Game #851

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 26 Atlanta and Boston
Southeast Division Championship: 27 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 42 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 49 San Jose

Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. 7:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM.  Atlanta TV: SportSouth . Radio: WCNN 680-AM.  NHL Center Ice: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and SportSouth feeds.

Tonight, the Caps return home to face the Atlanta Thrashers looking to make it a Baker's Dozen provided that the impending doom doesn't swallow us whole.  This is the fourth meeting between the two teams this season and the first time the Thrashers have set foot in D.C. and they may be staying here for awhile.  The Caps swept the three games in Atlanta earlier this season by a combined score of 17-8.  The Thrashers have been hanging around the last few playoff spots in the Eastern Conference all season but are now expected to continue their fade away from playoff contention after yesterday's trade.  The Thrashers have lost two in a row and four of their last six games.  The Thrashers have been off since Tuesday when they fell at home, 2-1, to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

What The Natives Are Saying:

Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: quick move, damage control.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

We have to admit folks, we don't know what to expect tonight other than a sparse crowd in the Phone Booth should the game be played tonight.  We were originally thinking that the Caps would be walking into a trap tonight.  They'd be playing their third game in four nights in three different cities and the second of back-to-back games.  The Thrashers have been off since Tuesday night and were in D.C. waiting for the Caps to arrive home from New York after playing the Rangers.  Add in the murmurings that Bruce Boudreau would start Braden Holtby tonight because of the quick turnaround from the Rangers game and the light crowd expected as the D.C. area does its usual snowdance; and we could easily see how the Caps could lose this game tonight and have their winning streak snapped.  However the Kovalchuk trade throws all of that into disarray.  When a team trades a superstar player that is a huge blow to the team's psyche.  Atlanta will likely be as flat tonight as the Caps are tired and the crowd is light.  With the luck the Caps have been experiencing of late, the streak may just end up continuing on as if nothing has happened.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 4
Thrashers 2
Winner by Knuble
(30-27 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps @ Rangers 2-4-2010 Post-Mortem

How's it going to end???  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore had a strong game despite allowing 5 goals, many of which he could do nothing about.  Though we would have liked a save on Vaclav Prospal's first goal just 10 seconds after the Caps tied up the game in the first period.  However, Theodore came up with 16 saves in the first period alone and 33 for the game.
• Captain A.O. with two goals and an assist tonight running his career total to 501 points, 80 on the season taking over the top spot in the NHL in the Art Ross race.  His 38 goals are also good for the NHL lead (he has the tie breaker over Patrick Marleau).
• Nicklas Backstrom with the game winning goal and four assists.  He now has 69 points on the season and is quietly turning into a superstar player.
• Where the Power Play couldn't come through on Tuesday night, it cashed in tonight against a good Penalty Killing unit going 3 for 9.

THE BAD:

• Make that three bad first periods in a row.  We thought the Caps owned the first period?
• For a team with one of the worst Penalty Killing units on the road, the Caps played with fire by taking six penalties.
• We noted this morning that it was either feast or famine for the Rangers.  The Rangers scored five goals but Marion Gaborik did get any of them.  Figure that one out...

THE UGLY:

• The Penalty Killers were just 2 for 6 tonight.  That just can't happen if this team wants to win.
• We're trying to figure out why Joe Beninati and Craig Laughin were heaping all the praise Tom Poti.  Poti was on the ice for all four Power Play goals scored against the Caps tonight and made some really sloppy plays.  Though we now understand why Bruce Boudreau won't use Poti on the Power Play.  Twice tonight he telegraphed point-to-point passes on the Power Play that were picked off by Ryan Callahan.  The first one was somewhat understandable, but the second one was downright inexcusable as Poti should have learned the lesson the first time.  That's why it is the John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game.

Well, all we can say right now is WOW!  The Caps keep on winning here while playing seemingly worse and worse.  As long as the winning continues, the play won't improve and when the winning stops, it will take more than a couple of games to get back in stride.  Maybe it is not so bad that the Olympic break is coming up because we wonder just how much longer the Caps can get away with this.  However, we march on racking up the wins and the points in the standings.  And a quick note on the Kovalchuk trade tonight.  We're not sure this is the home run for New Jersey many think it is.  Plenty of big names have moved late in the season like this and were of no help to their new teams.  We really don't see Kovalchuk fitting in New Jersey's defense first system and he becomes the obvious target to shutdown the Devils offense.  Furthermore this trade does nothing to address the fact that Martin Brodeur is currently on pace to play 78 of 82 games this season in the NHL along with possible action in Vancouver.  Brodeur has broken down in the playoffs in each of the past four seasons and with Marty about to turn 38 in May, we see no evidence it won't happen again this year.  But as it relates to the Caps, the Caps aren't likely to see the Devils until the Conference Finals anyway.  And if the Caps want to advance that far, they'll need to play better.

It has been...  A TWO POINT NIGHT!!!

Epic Bummer Brewing?

Well folks, the National Weather Service has already issued a Winter Storm Watch for the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area starting Friday morning and running through Saturday evening.  The NWS is saying that this storm could be like the one we got almost two months ago that dropped around 20 inches in the area.

And as we all know there is a rather highly anticipated hockey game in this area starting at High Noon on Sunday.  Now, by all accounts, the storm is supposed to be gone by Sunday morning.  However, there might be a little problem starting the hockey game on time.

We had a little extra time this morning and we decided to check out the NHL schedule for the rest of this week and saw that the Pittsburgh Penguin scum are scheduled to play the Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday in a game that starts at 2 pm.  That game will be over around 4:30- 5:00 pm and therein lies the problem.

What are you talking about???

During that December 19th snow storm, all three D.C. Metropolitan area airports, DCA, IAD, and BWI closed for extended lengths of time because they couldn't keep their runways cleared.  As a matter of fact, the Chicago Bears had all kinds of trouble getting into BWI for their game with the Ratbirds in Bhawlmuher on the 20th.  If the airports close down again, the Penguin Scum won't be able to get into town and if the Penguin Scum can't get into D.C., the Caps can't play them.

Conversely, the Caps opponent on Friday (when all this fun is supposed to start) is Atlanta.  Atlanta may not be able to leave D.C. after the game on Friday to go home and face the Florida Panthers on Saturday night.

Now the NFL went ahead and moved the Ratbirds-Bears game to a 4 pm start instead of its original 1 pm kickoff to allow the Ratbirds enough time to clear their stadium of snow.  However, the NFL has this little shindig on Sunday called Super Bowl XLIV.  The NHL might move the Caps-Penguin Scum faceoff back from High Noon, but not by three hours because we doubt that the Nothing But Cindy Network would go along with that move.  And if the NHL does move Sunday's start time back, how close is the NHL willing to get in the Super Bowl's shadow?

Stay tuned folks, this could get interesting...

UPDATE:  Upon further review of the Verizon Center and Peguin Scum Schedules, we could end up seeing Sunday's game postponed until Monday night.

Caps @ Rangers 2-4-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (38-18; 82 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) @ New York Rangers (25-32; 57 points; 4th Atlantic Division, 8th Eastern Conference, 21st Overall):
Caps Game #57, Road Game #30, NHL Game #842

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 28 Atlanta
Southeast Division Championship: 29 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 44 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 51 San Jose

Madison Square Garden, New York, NY 7:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM.  New York TV: MSG. Radio: WEPN 1050-AM.  NHL Center Ice: MSG feed.

Tonight, the Caps go for a dozen when they head into MSG for the second and final time this season to face the New York Rangers.  This is the third of four meetings between the teams this season and the road team has won both games so far this season.  Recently though for the Rangers it has been either feast or famine.  The Rangers have lost six of their last seven games and have been shutout four times in their last twelve games.  The Rangers are coming off a three game West Coast trip where after snapping a five game losing streak with a 3-1 win in Colorado over the Avalanche on Sunday night, the Rangers dropped a 2-1 decision in Los Angeles to the Kings on Tuesday night.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Rangers.com.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Well folks, as the Caps go for the dirty dozen in tonight's game, we should know pretty quickly how things are going to turn out.  While the Rangers are being described as the "new look Rangers" the results so far have been pretty typical for them this season.  Basically, if the Caps can keep Marian Gaborik from scoring, the Rangers are going to have a hard time pulling out a win tonight.  Furthermore, the Rangers are playing their first game at home after a trip to the west coast.  That time change is never easy for an east coast team so even if the Rangers come out with a strong effort, expect them to fade as the game goes on.  But as has been the case recently for the Caps, their biggest enemy right now is themselves.  Will the Caps come out tonight and look to put a struggling team away early or will the string of bad games that the Caps pull out in the end continue?

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 6
Rangers 2
Winner by Semin
(29-27 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps @ Bruins 2-2-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 28 Atlanta
Southeast Division Championship: 29 Tampa Bay
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 45 Buffaslugs
President's Trophy: 51 San Jose


The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Boston Globe-Democrat: three strikes, surgery ahead frustrated.  Boston Herald: same results, sad sack town, fingering the problem, single shot.

Final Thoughts:

We're pretty sure you've seen the list of longest NHL winning streaks in the last 20 years that Comcast SportsNet couldn't stop showing last night.  We feel we should note that not a single one of those teams went on to win the Stanley Cup that season.  And of the comprehensive list posted by Brian McNally at the Examiner, only the 1982 Islanders (15 games) and 1968 Canadiens (12 games) won the Cup in the same season they posted a double digit winning streak like this.  Now, those were all very good hockey teams, with the exception of the 1985-1986 Flyers and 1998-1999 Avalanche, all of the teams finished first overall in the NHL.  So while the Stanley Cup is the ultimate goal, a President's Trophy shouldn't be frowned upon by a franchise that has never won one.

56 down, 26 to go.

We added the Boston Globe-Democrat late because their stories weren't available when we did the original post.

Caps @ Bruins 2-2-2010 Post-Mortem

How's it going to end???  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• We have a Boyd Gordon sighting!  He scored his first goal in 12 games tonight to give the Caps some breathing room.
• Tom Poti was on the ice for the one Boston goal but ended up with a +4 tonight to go with two assists.
• For the second time on this winning streak, Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore turned in a magnificent performance in goal.  One goal allowed on 42 shots faced.  He turned away a penalty shot and came up with huge stops all night long.

THE BAD:

• For a team trying to extend a winning streak, the Caps got off to the worst possible start.  13 shots on goal allowed in the first period along with four penalties committed.
• It's a good thing the Bruins are so offensively challenged because the Caps took too many penalties tonight.  6 in all.
• We mentioned this morning that the Caps couldn't count on their Power Play to bail them out tonight and they couldn't because the Power Play was 0 for 4 with just six shots on goal.

THE UGLY:

• We got to see the lazy Alexander "Slappy" Semin tonight as he racked up three minor penalties.  Two hookings and a high sticking.  He was a candidate for a benching since two of those penalties occurred in the offensive zone too.
• From the "Never Count Your Chickens Before They Are Hatched" File, why was Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin talking about the historic Boston Bruins losing streak with over 12 minutes to go in the game?  Yeah, yeah the Caps are rolling the Bruins are falling apart and can't score with a blank check in a house of ill repute but we've seen big collapses before and as Yogi Berra always said, "it isn't over until it's over."  Find some other way to fill the time guys.
• Finally, while we were glad to see Gordon get a goal, why did the fourth line try a Harlem Globetrottersesque passing play with a 3-1 lead?

For the first twenty minutes the Bruins were doing exactly what they needed to do in order to beat the Caps tonight and that was slow the game down by causing whistles and not letting any flow into the game.  However, when the Caps got their feet moving in the second period, the Bruins were simply unable to keep up.  This is the scary thing about the Caps right now, when the Caps decide to impose their will on another team, they're practically unstoppable.  Now will something like this work come playoff time?  Maybe in the first round because the Caps would be playing teams like Boston, Tampa, Florida, and the Rangers in the first round.  However, after that the Caps would be facing stiffer competition.  But right now, the Caps are like a machine, they keep on grinding out and producing wins.  Now we can turn our attention to the Detroit-San Jose game to see if the Red Wings can knock off the Sharks and put the Caps into first place overall.

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

Caps @ Bruins 2-2-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (37-18; 80 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 2nd Overall) @ Boston Bruins (23-30; 55 points; 3rd Northeast Division, 11th Eastern Conference, 24th Overall):
Caps Game #56, Road Game #29, NHL Game #827

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 31 Tampa Bay
Southeast Division Championship: 32 Atlanta
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 48 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 55 San Jose

TD BankNorth Garden, Boston, MA, 7:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Boston TV: NESN. Radio: WWBZ 98.5-FM.  NHL Center Ice: NESN and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic feeds.

Tonight, the Caps return to where it all began this season when they head up to Beantown for the second and final time this season to face the Bruins.  The Caps posted a 4-1 win over the Bruins on opening night in one of their most complete performances of the season.  The Bruins, who finished first in the Eastern Conference last year, are a part of the group of teams fighting for their playoff lives right now.  Boston sits two points back of 8th place Florida but have three games in hand on the Panthers.  Complicating matters for Bruins is the seven game losing streak the Bruins are currently on including their last six games on home ice.  The Bruins were able to squeeze out a Bettman Point for the first time in six games on Saturday night when they blew a 2-1 lead at home and lost 3-2 to the Los Angeles Kings in a gimmick in their last outing.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Boston Globe-Democrat: more injuries, Caps Thumbnails.  Boston Herald.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Well folks, is this a trap game or what?  The Caps are riding a franchise record tying winning streak while the Bruins are on their longest home ice losing streak in 85 years.  Sounds like the Caps franchise record will be broken tonight right?  Well as much as the Bruins have struggled in TD Banknorth Garden, their last win there came on December 30th against Atlanta, the Caps have only 2 wins in their last 16 trips into the building.  Granted, the last two wins came in the last two games the Caps have played there but you can't call that building the Caps "home away from home."  The Bruins have taken another hit with the loss of defenseman Mark Stuart and now find themselves at a crossroads.  While they sit in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, they still have enough games in hand that they don't need any help in passing the teams ahead of them to get back into the playoffs.  However, for like most teams on the edge of the playoffs, time is a wasting.  The Bruins don't have the time to feel sorry for themselves over their plight and need to get going if they want to make the playoffs.  The Bruins haven't figured out how to replace Phil Kessel's goal scoring from last year which is one of the reasons why they're the lowest scoring team in the NHL this year.  There's no doubt that Boston's best chance at winning tonight is to pack everything in and force the Caps to try to grind out a win because they can't get into a shootout with the Caps.  The Caps are going to have to show a lot of patience on offense tonight and play another complete game.  The Bruins are ranked third in the NHL on the Penalty Kill so the Caps cannot depend upon their top ranked Power Play tonight to bail them out, especially with Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green sitting out the second game of a three game suspension.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 3
Bruins 1
Winner by Fleischmann
(28-27 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps vs. Ning 1-31-2010 Wrap-Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: 31 Florida and Tampa Bay
Southeast Division Championship: 32 Atlanta
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 48 New Jersey
President's Trophy: 55 San Jose


The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:


NHL.com.  AP Wire.


The Other Side:


St. Petersburg Times: breakdown, committed.  Tampa Tribune: persistent drive, wrong rumors.  Ning.com.

Final Thoughts:

55 down, 27 to go.