Caps vs. Senators 3-30-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: Clinched 3/28
President's Trophy: 7 San Jose (26 of 29 eliminated)

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Ottawa Citizen: drought over, quips, joining up.  Ottawa Sun.

Final Thoughts:

76 down, 6 to go.

Caps vs. Senators 3-30-2010 Post-Mortem

Now we're starting to worry...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Alexander "Slappy" Semin with two goals tonight skating on the top line.
• "Mighty Mouse" Mathieu Perreault with a go-ahead goal early in the third period.  The penalty he was called for later that the Senators tied the game on just reeked of being a makeup call.

THE BAD:

• The special teams were certainly "special" once again.  The Power Play was 1 for 5, scoring on their first shot on their first Power Play and then taking the rest of the night off.  After Slappy scored the first goal, the Power Play unit didn't register a shot on goal over the next two man advantages.
• Captain A.O. led a 2-on-1 late in the third period and instead of ripping the shot on goal against a shaky Brian Elliot, he passed it to Mike Knuble who had to do well just to get the puck towards the goal but ended up missing the net.  Captain A.O. seems to be overthinking out on the ice right now and needs to let the game come to him.
• And despite Slappy scoring two goals, putting him up on the first line was a big fat mistake.  Knuble needs to stay with Captain A.O. and Nicklas Backstrom in the playoffs because with Slappy on the first line, there isn't anybody going to the net and Slappy and Captain A.O. get in each other's way more often than not.

THE UGLY:

• As bad as the Power Play was, the Penalty Killers were even worse posting an ugly 1 for 4 tonight.  That folks is why the Caps were a collective +5 on a night where they lost and people think we have a defending and goaltending problem.
• And speaking of players overthinking, we could actually see Tom Poti thinking tonight.  He had two ugly turnovers because he held onto the puck for way too long.  He was a +1 and the only goal against he was on the ice for was the game winner, but we are not happy at all with his play tonight.  He seemed to improve once reunited with Joe Scorvo.
• Falling behind 1-0 on the first shot of the game and trailing after 1 period 3-1.  The sooner this starting slow ends the better.

Ok folks, we are starting to get a little concerned but we still happen to think that Bruce Boudreau holding Brooks "and Dunn" Laich out for the fourth consecutive game sends a mixed message to his team when he's trying to get them fired up for the playoffs.  The players know if these past four games meant anything,  Laich would have been playing in at least three of them and can tell that despite the words of the Head Coach, there's no real urgency right now.  Maybe Bruce is trying to wear down the player's cockiness and get their attention through some losses down the stretch here so that they'll play better come playoff time.  Or maybe there is something else going on here, we don't know, we're not in charge.  However, either way, we're glad that the Caps are getting this out of their system right now rather than trying to play through this in the first round again.  We're also glad that the Easter season will be over before the playoffs begin too.

Caps vs. Senators 3-30-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (49-26; 109 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) vs. Ottawa Senators (41-35; 87 points; 2nd Northeast Division, 4th Eastern Conference, 13th Overall):
Caps Game #76, Home Game #37, NHL Game #1,136

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: Clinched 3/28
President's Trophy: 7 Chicago and San Jose (26 of 29 eliminated)

Verizon Center, Washington, D.C., 7:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Ottawa TV: Rogers Sportsnet East. Radio: CFGO 1200-AM.  Canadian National TV: RDS (French)  NHL Center Ice: Comcast SportNet Mid-Atlantic and Rogers Sportsnet East feeds.

Tonight, the Caps, who will not be able to clinch anything at all, look to get back on track when they host the Ottawa Senators for the fourth and final meeting between the teams this season.  The Caps have had some trouble with Ottawa this season, winning only once in three tries, but the home team has won all the games so far this season.  Ottawa is once again on one of their patented streaks this season.  After losing 5 in row, the Senators are currently on a 4 game winning streak after beating the Florida Panthers 3-2 at home on Saturday night in their last game.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Ottawa Senators:  new kid, look forward to the chance, heating up, twins.  Ottawa Sun.


What Do We Expect Tonight?:

After a bad loss on Sunday the Caps should come out tonight ready to play and wanting to prove what a fluke the last two games have been.  However of the walking wounded, only Shaone Morrrissonnn is slated to be back in the lineup tonight.  That alone should help the Caps but we still don't believe that Brooks "and Dunn" Laich and Brendan Morrrissonn would still be sitting out as well if this was a playoff or some other game that the Caps had to win.  So is the key to ending the Caps current two-game skid simply a better first period?  Against a team on a four game winning streak, it certainly is.  But for some reason with this franchise, the Easter season is Caps own Bermuda Triangle and in case you heathens haven't noticed, this is Holy Week as Easter is this coming Sunday.  We understand why Bruce Boudreau doesn't want to push guys who are a little banged up right now.  After all the Caps expect to be playing hockey for another 10 weeks but as long as the Caps aren't facing any real pressure, we just have a gut feeling that they aren't going to play the way they need to here with seven games left in the regular season.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 2
Senators 5
Winner by Alfredsson
(40-35 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps vs. Flames 3-28-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: New Jersey eliminated, Clinched 3/28
President's Trophy: 7 Chicago and San Jose (26 of 29 eliminated)

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Calgary Herald.  Calgary Sun: still alive after all, good defense, long time coming.

Final Thoughts:

Well, we ended up backing into the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, but we'll take it.

75 down, 7 to go.

Caps vs. Flames 3-28-2010 Post-Mortem

So much for putting those questions about our defense and goaltending to rest... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Captain A.O. with a goal and assist tonight getting himself back on track and registering 100 points in a season for the fourth time in his five year career.
• "Mighty Mouse" Mathieu Perreault taking advantage of his recall by scoring a goal today.
• Yeah this one is kind of lame but after laying an egg in the first period, the Caps fought back to "win" the second and third periods 3-1, out shooting Calgary 30-10.  Imagine what the Caps could have done had they played the first period?

THE BAD:

• Jeff "Sergeant" Schultz, the favored defensive whipping boy, was only one the ice for one goal against and ended up even on the day because he was on the ice for a goal that the Caps scored..  Tom Poti, who inexplicably escapes criticism, was on the ice for 3 goals against today and ended up a -2 because one of the goals allowed was on the Power Play.  Maybe, just maybe, Ranger and Islander fans have a point about Poti.
• The Penalty Killers were 1 for 2 today.  It is us or has the Penalty Killing on the road, a problem all season long, gotten better while the Penalty Killing at home is starting to really struggle?
• Down 1-0 early and given a chance to get back into the game on the Power Play, the top rated unit couldn't generate a single shot on goal.

THE UGLY:

• No way to excuse Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore today who avoided a loss despite giving up three goals on just nine shots.  He didn't have a chance on the last goal he allowed but just simply whiffed on the first two he allowed.  None of the six saves that he made could be considered big saves.
• Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green had a adventurous day today.  He took a highly suspect (in other words, Barbara Streisand) closing the hand on the puck penalty which led to a goal against.  He then pulled up and avoided blasting Eric Nystrom with a clean shoulder to the chest in the neutral zone.  Nystrom responded by blinding-side Green with a hit to the head.  However, don't count on Nystrom becoming the first victim of the NHL's new headshot suggestion.

We have to admit folks, we don't know which way to go on today's game.  Yeah, the Caps did exactly what they shouldn't have done which was give life to a team that had none.  Once the Flames got up 2-0 they clearly felt that they could compete with the Caps and in many cases, not only did but won more than their fair share of battles.  However we have to ask ourselves, if this was a playoff game or a MUST WIN GAME for the Caps, would Brooks "and Dunn" Laich, Brendan Morrrissonn, and Shaone Morrrissonnn have sat out today?  We seriously, seriously doubt it.  For the Caps to lose the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference they would have to lose every single game left on their schedule in regulation and the New Jersey Devils would have to win every single game left on their schedule.  That just isn't happening and with a seven point lead on San Jose and ten point lead on Chicago, the Caps would have to go into collapse mode in order to lose out on the President's Trophy.  Simply put, there isn't much for the Caps to play for right now aside from the fact that over an 82 game schedule, there are going to be games where just about everything breaks against you.  You come out flat, bad calls are made against you, the puck just doesn't bounce your way among other calamities.  Finally, think back to March 19th, 2008.  The Caps got shellacked in Chicago by the Blackhawks 5-0.  For about the umpteenth time that mnth the Caps playoff's chances were written off.  That however was the last regular season loss the Caps would suffer that year as the Caps went onto win the final seven games and make the playoffs many thought they wouldn't.  Are the Caps about to go on a seven game winning streak here?  We doubt it mostly because the Caps don't have to, but we're not too worried going forward here and we're looking forward to Tuesday's game in Ottawa to see how we respond to day's stinker.

Caps vs. Flames 3-28-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (49-25; 109 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) vs. Calgary Flames (37-37; 83 points; 3rd Northwest Division, 9th Western Conference, 14th Overall):
Caps Game #75, Home Game #36, NHL Game #1,122

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 1 New Jersey (Buffaslugs eliminated on Friday 13th of 14)
President's Trophy: 9 Chicago (Vancouver eliminated last night 25th of 29)

Verizon Center, Washington, D.C., 3:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Calgary TV: Rogers Sportsnet West. Radio: CFAC 960-AM.  NHL Center Ice: Comcast SportNet Mid-Atlantic and Rogers Sportsnet West feeds.

Today the Caps have a chance to officially secure the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference without any help from anybody else when they open up a three game homestand by hosting the Calgary Flames. This is the first and only meeting between the two teams this season, last year the Caps lost to the Flames 2-1 in Calgary.  The Flames however have not won in D.C. since March 13th, 1999.  The Flames had been in a battle with Detroit for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference but have picked a bad time to go into a slump.  The Flames have lost three of their last five games including both games on their 3 game east coast trip which wraps up today in D.C.  Yesterday they were beaten badly by the Boston Bruins, 5-0.


What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.


Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Calgary Herald.  Calgary Sun: faith no more, new leadership, sending a message, dead man talking.

What Do We Expect Today?:

When a team takes a severe tongue lashing in the press like the Calgary Flames did today, there is only two things that can happen.  They can either come out and play some of the most inspired hockey anybody has ever seen or they can fall completely apart and skate zombie-like through the rest of the season.  Right now we have to think that the Flames are going to choose the latter rather than the former based upon the comments from the Calgary players themselves over yesterday's beatdown in Boston by the Bruins.  The Flames know that they laid a major egg and yet there was not a single hint of anger in the quotes published.  Not even by Head Coach Brent Sutter.  Maybe some anger set in on the flight from Boston to D.C.  Maybe some anger will form as they slept last night.  But it is not likely the case here.  In addition to coming off two ugly losses, the Flames are playing their third game in four days on the road.  They made the trip from West to East which is always harder and shouldn't have much in the tank for today's game with the Caps.  The key for the Caps today is to jump on the Flames early and often.  The Caps cannot afford to allow the Flames to stick around because the longer the Caps do, the more likely it will be that the Flames come to life and give the Caps a fight.  Today is a good chance for the Caps to hone their killer instinct in taking out a team that has already given up which is something they'll need when they playoffs start in two and half weeks.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 7
Flames 1
Winner by Knuble
(40-34 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps @ Canes 3-25-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 1 New Jersey and Buffaslugs (12 of 14 eliminated)
President's Trophy: 9 Chicago (Los Angeles eliminated 23rd of 29)

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Raleigh News & Observer.  Canes.com.

Final Thoughts:

Bruce Boudreau has to be trying to be trying to keep the Caps ego in check which is the only rational explanation we can come up with for him scratching Shaone Morrrissonnn and Jeff "Sergeant" Schultz in favor of John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles and Tyler Sloan against a team that defeated us one week ago.  Either that or he just wants to clinch the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference on home ice.

74 down 8 to go.

Another Night,

another gimmick.  And it is somewhat fitting because everybody knows how much we loathe the gimmick that traffic prevented us from making it home in time to see the start of tonight's game.  Those who have to listen to Steve Kolbe know that listening to his call of the game is rather useless.

Besides, we've been flipping between this game and the Joisey-Rangers game that is also heading into a gimmick.  So no Post-Mortem tonight folks.

Caps vs. Penguin Scum 3-24-2010 Wrap Up/ Caps @ Canes 3-25-2010 Preview

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post: gimmick win, new heights, all cleared.  Examiner: had a feeling, slowly improving.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: can't win, out again, holding back.  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: frustrated, guys out.  Penguin Scum.com.

Final Thoughts:

Kind of what we thought, the Penguin Scum played as well as they could but just came up short.

73 down, 9 to go.


Washington Capitals (49-24; 108 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) @ Carolina Hurricanes (30-43; 69 points; 5th Southeast Division, 13th Eastern Conference, 27th Overall):
Caps Game #74, Road Game #39, NHL Game #1,100

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 3 New Jersey (Pittsburgh eliminated, 12th of 14)
President's Trophy: 11 Chicago (Colorado eliminated 22nd of 29)

RBC Center, Raleigh, NC, 7:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Carolina TV: Fox Sportsnet Carolina. Radio: WCMC 99.9-FM.  NHL Center Ice: Fox Sportsnet Carolina feed.

Tonight, the Caps can clinch the #1 overall seed in the Eastern Conference with a little help when they travel down Tobacco Road to face the Carolina Hurricanes in the sixth and final meeting between the teams this season.   The Caps have taken three of the five games so far this season, earning seven points in the process.  The Caps and Canes have so far split the games in Raleigh.  The Canes won the last matchup, last Thursday in Raleigh, 4-3 in overtime.  The Caps blew a third period lead and fell behind late in the third period but however managed to tie the game back up even later in regulation before falling late in overtime.  Since last Thursday's win, the Canes got more magic late in overtime to beat the Penguin Scum in Pittsburgh on Saturday but have now lost two games in a row.  The Canes fell 5-3 at home to the Buffaslugs on Sunday night and 3-2 to the Ning in Tampa on Tuesday night in their most recent game.

What The Natives Are Saying:

Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Uh, we don't see anything folks...  Sorry...

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Typically after playing the Penguin Scum, we would be on watch for an emotional letdown.  However, as we noted in the Post-Mortem last night, we didn't see as much emotion as we expected to see last night.  So if there's any emotional letdown, there isn't very far to fall off from.  The Canes currently sit 9 points away from the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference and have just 9 games left and five teams to get past in order to make the playoffs.  While Carolina may not officially be playing out the string here, they are getting pretty close.  With any win tonight and any loss by New Jersey to the Rangers, the Caps can clinch the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.  If the Caps lose tonight, they'll still be waiting to claim the top spot in the East.  But if there is a theme for tonight it would be redemption.  It has been a week since Semyon "The Saviour" Varlamov has played in Raleigh.  The Saviour would undoubtedly like to have a couple of the late goals he gave up last week back and what better way to redeem yourself than against the last team to beat you?  A win tonight would also be the The Saviour's second win in six games since returning from injury.  The Caps are playing on back-to-back nights for the next to last time this season but have had three days off before last night's game and will have two days off before their next game on Sunday.  There should be enough in the tank tonight to get the win to break the franchise record for points in a season (a record set just last year) and be no more than one point away from securing the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.  Yes, the Canes are always a tough out for us, but not a team we can't handle.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 3
Canes 2
Winner by Backstrom
(40-33 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps vs. Penguin Scum 3-24-2010 Post-Mortem

Here we go again...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Alexander "Slappy" Semin with a shorthanded goal on an individual effort as pretty as you're ever going to see.  It was his second shorty on the season and just the fourth for the Caps this season.  The fact that it tied up the game at 2 in the third period was just icing on the cake.
• Mike Knuble doing what he does best, getting to the net and picking up garbage knoals.  It kind of makes us wonder why he bothers shooting from distance.  And let us stipulate that Bruce Boudreau looks like a genius for sending him out there in the gimmick.  Had Knuble missed and the Caps lost, Boudreau would have been hounded for sending out a guy who had never scored a goal in the gimmick.
• Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore had an outstanding game again tonight.  Not a whole lot he could do on the three goals he gave up and while you might want him to make a big save on the third goal late in the third period, he had just made some big saves in the sequence right before that one.
• Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green and Jeff "Sergeant" Schultz were +3 and +1 respectively.  For Schultz, it was his first plus game in 8 games.  

THE BAD:

• So the Caps are now 7-1 when allowing more than 40 shots on goal.  That's nothing to be proud of as the Caps were outshot tonight 42-32.
• Matt "Omar" Bradley and David "Bolt Cutter" Steckel were both a -2 tonight.  The Bolt Cutter can at least lean on his faceoff ability (though he was 6-7 tonight) to stay in the lineup, Omar can't.

THE UGLY:

• The game was decided by a gimmick.
• We realized early on that Paul Devorski and Ian Walsh were calling tonight's game as if it were a playoff game and they certainly did.  5 Power Plays for the Penguin Scum versus only 1 for the Caps.  We guess we should feel lucky that they didn't call it like a Game 7.

On the scale of 1 to 10, Caps-Penguin Scum games recently have had an intensity of about a 12.  Tonight it was more like a 6, maybe a 7.  For long stretches tonight, it really did seem like just another regular season game.  We're curious to see what the Penguin Scum media have to say about tonight's game (we've already heard Dan Bylsma's spin cycle and aren't impressed) because if this really was another top drawer effort from the Penguin Scum, they'll be easily dispatched in the Playoffs before they ever reach the Caps.  Once again the Penguin Scum blow a lead to the Caps.  Once again the Penguin Scum get blitzed by the Caps in the third period.  Yeah, yeah the playoff are a different animal but things like this have a way of catching up to you in the playoffs.  But for yet another night, the Caps picked up a win on pretty much talent alone.  That's not to say that the Caps played poorly or didn't have any intensity, they just didn't play tonight's game like their lives depended upon it as they usually do against the Penguin Scum.  We have no doubt that the Caps will ramp up the intensity come playoff time and should the Penguin Scum last enough to face the Caps again, the intensity will be cranked up to about 15.

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

Caps vs. Penguin Scum 3-24-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (48-24; 106 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) vs. Pittsburgh Penguin Scum (42-31; 90 points; 2nd Atlantic Division, 4th Eastern Conference, 7th Overall):
Caps Game #73, Home Game #35, NHL Game #1,091

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 5 New Jersey (11 of 14 eliminated)
President's Trophy: 13 Chicago (Nashville eliminated 20th of 29)

Verizon Center, Washington, D.C., 7:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Pittsburgh TV: Fox Sportsnet Pittsburgh. Radio: WXDX 105.9-FM.  U.S. National TV: NHL Network (Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic feed) NHL Center Ice: None.

Tonight the Caps are back in action after a three day layoff to face the Penguin Scum at the Phone Booth in the third meeting of the teams this season.  The Caps are back on home ice for the first time in 12 days, have seven of their final ten games at home, and have beaten the Penguin Scum in both games so far this season.  Pittsburgh has lost two in a row after losing in Detroit Monday night to the Red Wings 3-1.  It was their fourth loss in their last six games.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post: puck to the head, interviewed.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: just another game, the pain of a loss, Q & A.  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: MVP race, link to arrestee, scouting report.  Penguin Scum.com.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Well Ladies and Gentlemen here, we go!  The players and coaches certainly have a point about the media over-hyping this game tonight as the NHL Network is treating this game in the middle of the week in late March as a Stanley Cup Finals game with wall-to-wall coverage including a one hour pre-game show.  The truth of the matter is, there isn't much at stake as both teams will meet again in Pittsburgh in about two weeks and the Caps and Penguin Scum will have 8 and 7 other games respectively left on their schedules.  Yes, the Caps can eliminate the Penguin Scum from the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference and President's Trophy race with any kind of win tonight but that is just a mere formality.  The Penguin Scum have been a in a rut recently, their two wins in the last six games came over a punchless Bruins team and Tampa Bay.  If this game has any importance to the Penguin Scum, it is that it will be one of their last tests against an elite team heading into the playoffs.  Of the Caps remaining ten games, only Carolina and Columbus are out of the playoff hunt with two games against Atlanta who is sitting on the fringe.  Pittsburgh however still has the Ning, the Islanders twice, and the Maple Thug Leafs on their schedule and two dates with the Thrashers as well.  The Penguin Scum are running out of measuring sticks and they didn't measure up very well against the Red Wings on Monday night.  The key here for the Caps tonight is to put the cliche of "it's just another game" to work for them tonight.  The Caps and Penguin Scum have already faced each twice this season.  The Caps have established their dominance in both games and know that they don't need their best effort to get past the Penguin Scum.  There is also the game in two weeks for the Caps to exact any revenge that might be necessary after tonight's game.  If the Caps can establish a business-like manner and not try to deal a knockout blow right away, they will come away with the win.  The teams shouldn't be flat as the crowd at the Phone Booth will provide plenty of energy and the new ice sheet should cut down on the toe-picking that occurred earlier this month.  The biggest question though we have for tonight is, how many hats do we need to bring?

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 6
Penguin Scum 3
Winner by Captain A.O.
(39-33 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps @ Ning 3-20-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 5 New Jersey and Pittsburgh (Caps cannot win the tiebreaker against these teams, hence the extra point added 11 of 14 eliminated)
President's Trophy: 13 Chicago (Detroit eliminated 19th of 29)


The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

St. Petersburg Times: not enough, more responsibility.  Tampa Tribune: further back, marketing madness, farm and other reports.

Final Thoughts:

We ran some quick and dirty numbers but with two wins in the two games this week and a little bit of a help, the Caps can wrap up the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, before any other team in the NHL wraps up a playoff spot.  That should give you an idea of how badly the Caps have lapped the field here, especially in the Eastern Conference, and why we've often heard from other teams that they played a great game but still couldn't get within one goal of the Caps on their home ice.

And what is really scary, now the every other night run of 9 games in 17 days is over.  Bruce Boudreau is going to have plenty of practice time now to improve the systems play which according to Boudreau, what he needs to get this team playing as well as it can.

72 down, 10 to go.

Caps @ Ning 3-20-2010 Post-Mortem

And they say we can't win the close ones...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Welcome back Captain A.O. with his 45th goal of the season putting him in the driver's seat for the Richard Trophy.  Because of the injuries and suspensions, Captain A.O. does not need to win either the Art Ross or the Rocket Richard trophies outright, he simply needs to be in a tie for first place in order to claim them.  The first tiebreaker for both awards is the fewest games played.
• Alexander "Slappy" Semin going to the net and scoring the insurance goal tonight.  After scoring he seemed energized and could have had a couple more to really open the game up.
• The Penalty Killers have taken a lot of heat this year, especially on the road, but were 5 for 5 tonight.  They allowed 12 shots on goal during those 5 kills but nothing in the back of the net.
• They say that your goaltender has to be your best penalty killer, we don't know if Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore really was but he was solid once again tonight.  He made 33 saves tonight, didn't give up much in the way of rebounds, and the one that got past him tonight was not his fault.  The competition should be over now.

THE BAD:

• The nominal third line that was working was broken up tonight by Bruce Boudreau.  Brendan Morrrissonn energized the second line tonight but the players he left behind, Eric B. Fehr and Jason Chimera looked a little lost out there tonight with different line-mates.
• Eric Belanger had little jump in his skates and just "didn't compete" on a number of occasions in the offensive zone.  He had the chances to be a big factor tonight but just didn't get it done.  Maybe he should sit next?
• We make no secret that we think that the Jeff "Sergeant" Schultz critics go way too far in their criticisms on him.  However, tonight he struggled a bit and made a glaring error that resulted in a goal against.  This is the second game in a row where he's made that kind of high profile mistake.  Everybody had tough stretches and slumps throughout an 82 game season but Sarge is picking a bad time to go into a funk.

THE UGLY:

• Scott Walker "Texas Ranger" obliged Zenon Konopka in Konopka's favorite pastime tonight and Walker ended up ending his own evening rather early.  Luckily we have some better depth than we did before the deadline but the general rule of thumb is to make other people react to you and not you react to them.
• Wes McCauley and Dennis LaRue called a very loose game tonight.  That led to a lot of the chippiness that you saw and they should have held a firmer grasp on the game tonight.

The knock on the Caps is that they can't play tight, grind them out, close games.  Well, the Caps did it again tonight.  Yeah both teams kept trying for the long passes which were getting gobbled up but that is a sign of a team playing good defense, they don't let those passes through.  We also like the improving Penalty Killing on the road.  This week, the Caps were 14 of 16 on the Penalty Kill with both goals against coming in 5-on-3 situations.  The Caps are now up to 27th on the road with a 74.2% effectiveness rate.  Now if the Caps can stop taking boarding penalties and find somebody other than Tom Poti to put out there for the 5 on 3 kills, the Caps should be in good shape.

It has been... A TWO POINT NIGHT!!! 

Caps @ Ning 3-20-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (47-24; 104 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (28-42; 68 points; 3rd Southeast Division, 11th Eastern Conference, 25th Overall):
Caps Game #72, Road Game #38, NHL Game #1,063

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 8 New Jersey (11 of 14 eliminated)
President's Trophy: 16 Chicago (18 of 29 eliminated)

St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, FL, 7:37 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Tampa TV: Sunshine Network. Radio: WDAE 620-AM.  NHL Center Ice: Sunshine Network and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic feeds.

Tonight, the Caps finish off their last extended road trip of the season when they head back into Florida to face the Ning for the sixth and final time this season.  The Caps have won three of the five games so far this season but the Ning won the last matchup last Friday 3-2 in the Phone Booth.  However, since that win, the Ning have embarked on a three game losing streak, all at home, and wrap up a four game homestand tonight.  In their last outing, the Ning got blasted by the Buffaslugs by the tune of 6-2.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

St. Petersburg Times: keep it simple, stupid, Game Preview.  Tampa Tribune: top talent, Scouting Report.  Ning.com.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Well folks, he's back.  With his latest suspension over, which Captain A.O. is going to show up tonight?  The tentative Captain A.O. who doesn't hit as much and looked to avoid further suspension?  Or the Captain A.O. of old who went all out on every shift, hitting everything that moved, and a few things that didn't?  Hopefully the latter and not the former.  Furthermore, with the return of Captain A.O., the rest of team will continue to pick up the slack instead of giving him the puck and watching him go.  If Captain A.O. plays with "reckless abandon" and the rest of the team carries their weight, this won't be a close game.  However Bruce Boudreau has a tough choice to make tonight because with Captain A.O. coming back, somebody has to come out of the lineup.  The nominal third line of Jason Chimera, Eric B. Fehr, and Brendan Morrrissonn have been too good over these last two games to be broken up.  Tomas Fleischmann, who filled in for Captain A.O. on the first line, has shown that he can't handle the second line center position and is a bigger waste than usual on the fourth line.  But, expect Fleischmann to go back on the second line and Eric Belanger to either go to the fourth line or get scratched.  One of other thing we'd like to note, this is the first time since the Captain A.O.-Steve Downie incident back in January that the Caps return to Tampa.  Yes, the Caps and Ning have played twice since then without incident but remember The Code...er...Crock.  It calls for something like this to be settled on the home ice of the aggrieved party which in this warped case would be Tampa.  Downie tried and failed to do everybody a favor and take out Canadian Diving Team Captain, Lowblow Secondary Assist Cindy Crosby on Sunday (and oddly enough, escaped any supplemental discipline) on home ice.  We expect him to try a similar stunt with Captain A.O. tonight.  Matt "Omar" Bradley needs to be on standby tonight to bleed all over Downie.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 5
Ning 1
Winner by Semin
(38-33 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps @ Canes 3-18-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 8 New Jersey (Ottawa and Philadelphia eliminated, 10th and 11th of 14)
President's Trophy: 16 Chicago and San Jose (18 of 29 eliminated)

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Raleigh News & Observer.  Canes.com.

Final Thoughts:

Darn it, it wasn't a hallucination...

71 down, 11 to go.

Post-Mortem Postponed

Hey folks,we've been fighting a cold all week here and we're pretty hyped up on narcotics (the Q is talking to me, the Q is talking to me...) and we think we just saw some weird stuff like the Caps blowing a late lead and losing in overtime.

Anyway, we'll be back in the morning.  We think...

Caps @ Canes 3-18-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (47-23; 103 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) @ Carolina Hurricanes (28-41; 64 points; 5th Southeast Division, 14th Eastern Conference, 28th Overall):
Caps Game #71, Road Game #37, NHL Game #1,044

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 10 New Jersey (8 of 14 eliminated)
President's Trophy: 19 San Jose (12 of 29 eliminated)

RBC Center, Raleigh, NC, 7:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Carolina TV: Fox Sportsnet Carolina. Radio: WCMC 99.9-FM.  NHL Center Ice: Fox Sportsnet Carolina and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic feeds.

Tonight, the Caps continue on their road trip when they head on over to Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes for the fifth time this season.  Despite being stuck in the bottom of the Southeast Division all season, the Canes have given the Caps a bit of trouble this season earning points in three of the four games so far this season and all three Caps wins over the Canes have been by just one goal like last weeks 4-3 win in overtime.  After that game, the Canes rebounded to beat the Penguin Scum in overtime to start a four game homestand but have lost their last two games.  First 4-0 to Phoenix on Saturday night and then 5-2 to Boston on Tuesday night to just about snuff out any thoughts the Hurricanes might of had about going on a run to make the playoffs this season.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Raleigh News & Observer.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

It will be interesting to see which Carolina team the Caps face tonight in Raleigh.  Will it be the Canes team that has played them tough all season or will it be the one that is playing out the string?  It looks as if the Chicago game and the Captain A.O. suspension have given the Caps a wake-up call late in the season.  If that is the case, the Caps could end up making quick work of Carolina rookie goaltender Justin Peters who is expected to get the task of taking on the Caps tonight.  But even if the Caps don't make quick work of Peters, who stopped 37 of 40 shots last week against the Penguin Scum to get the 4-3 overtime win, the Caps again simply have too much for Carolina to deal with.  However, the Canes can and will make it close if the Canes play as loose in their own zone as they did on Tuesday night.  Semyon "The Saviour" Varlamov is the expected starter in goal for the Caps tonight so the Caps will need to protect in front of him better.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 3
Canes 2
Winner by Walker
(38-32 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps @ Panthers 3-16-2010 Post-Mortem

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 10 Pittsburgh and New Jersey (8 of 14 eliminated)
President's Trophy: 19 San Jose and Chicago (Calgary eliminated 12th of 29 eliminated)

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post: no problem, slow it down.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Miami Herald: big mistakes, missing something.


Final Thoughts:

70 down, 12 to go.

Caps @ Panthers 3-16-2010 Post-Mortem

Imagine if we had Captain A.O....  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• 13 of 18 skaters registered a point tonight.  Brendan Morrrissonn and Brooks "and Dunn" Laich lead the way with 3 points each.  And we should note that neither of those guys were under serious consideration to play in the Vancouver Olympics.
• The nominal third line was anything but a checking trio tonight as Morrrissonn, Eric B. Fehr, and Jason Chimera were the best line for the Caps tonight.  Bruce Boudreau better not break them up or scratch Eric B. Fehr again.
• 7 goals scored, a goaltender chased and only one of the seven goals came from as far away as the hash marks tonight.  Once again, these are the types of goals the Caps are going to have to score to succeed in the playoffs.  Laich took an absolute pounding to get the PAT tonight.
• And with the rout, only Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green and Joe Scorvo played over 20 minutes tonight.  Good job by Boudreau to roll the lines and play everybody.  There's only two more games left on the road trip and in the every other night run so any additional rest is a bonus.
• The Power Play was officially 2 for 4.  One of the missed Power Plays was a 3 second Power Play.  The Penalty Killers were 3 for 3 with a 3 second Penalty Kill.  But with our road Penalty Killing numbers, we'll take it.

THE BAD:

• While Florida doesn't have the firepower to run and gun with the Caps, the Caps were still too loose and left Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore out to dry.  He gave up three goals tonight but none were really his fault because the Caps really weren't clearing the crease and tightening things up as much as they should have.  The 37 shots on goal against is testament to this fact.
• Tyler Sloan is just a younger, somewhat cheaper version of John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles and he certainly played like it tonight, getting blown by on a number of occasions.

THE UGLY:

• Greg Campbell  (looks too much like his father...)

Photo from NHL.com
• With his kneeing penalty in the second period, we're setting the over/under on Green's suspension at 5 games. He is after all, a repeat offender...
  

Ok folks, we soundly beat a team we should soundly beat even without our best player available to us. Hades, this is the fourth time this year we've done it.  What concerns us about games like this is that bad habits start to creep in as we saw during the 14 game winning streak earlier this year.  The Caps kept going for the stretch passes up the ice even when they were covered and as previously mentioned, abandoned Theodore way too much and didn't protect the crease with a large lead.  But we are pleased with the overall effort.  If the Panthers aren't going to the play with the desperation they need to make the playoffs, the Caps had to bury them and that's exactly what they did tonight.  This should be a confidence boost for some of the players who were struggling a little bit recently as well.  The Caps are going to need all hands on deck to win it all this year and it is nice to see the Caps not struggling the way they did at this point last year too.

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

Guess The Suspension!

Well folks, every so often we need to get some sort of confirmation on just how few people read our little bit of cyberspace. So we decided to put our heads together and came up with a great idea just how to find out.

Run a contest!

That’s right Ladies and Gentlemen, we’re wading back into the contest pool and this time our evil minds have come up with what thinks is a splendid idea for a contest.

Guess Captain A.O.’s Next Suspension, Playoff Edition!

When Captain A.O. returns from his latest suspension on Saturday night, there will be 11 games left in the regular season, two maybe four of them with any real meaning in them. So it will be relatively easy for Captain A.O. to keep his powder dry for those games, unless of course Matt Cooke decides to blindside Nicklas Backstrom.

But once the Playoffs start, the intensity cranks up to 12 and all bets are off.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs start on April 14th, 2010 but because of Phone Booth booking issues, the Caps won’t start until the 15th. But just in case between now and 11:59 pm Eastern Time on April 13th, 2010 e-mail us at our usual address- capsnut over at gmail dot com- and tell us which game you think Captain A.O. will once again goon things up, commit a suspendable offense, and how many games his egregious act will cost him. For tiebreaking purposes, name the player whose career that Captain A.O. nearly ends with his wanton, reckless, and dangerous thuggery.

So for instance, if we had done a similar thing last year with Donald Brashear, the winning entry would have been First Round, Game 6, 5 Games, Blair Betts.

And as for clarification purposes, this suspension contest is for on-ice, in-game actions only. Something like Brashear’s one game suspension for pre-game activities in Game 6 last year will not count. Nor would a bench incident like Captain A.O. going John Tortorella and hosing down some fans count either. Furthermore, Captain A.O. does not have to be assed any penalty on the play in question during the course of the game. Only supplemental discipline counts for the purposes of this contest and yes, automatic suspensions such as instigators in the last five minutes of a game will count provided of course that the suspension is not overturned by the NHL Front Office. (Stop laughing…)

So to win, you must have the round, the game, and the length of suspension correct. The player fouled by Captain A.O. is the first tiebreaker. If there is still a tie then the earliest entry will be declared the winner.

The winner will get to write, within certain guidelines because we are a family blog after all, the Official Bleatings From a Caps Nut response to the suspension handed down by the NHL Front Office and their selection of a coffee mug from shop.NHL.com!

So once again Ladies and Gentlemen; get those entries in, and you may enter as often as you wish between now and 11:59 pm Eastern Time on April 13th, 2010 at capsnut over at gmail dot com. Good Luck!

Caps @ Panthers 3-16-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (46-23; 101 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) @ Florida Panthers (28-39; 66 points; 3rd Southeast Division, 12th Eastern Conference, 26th Overall):
Caps Game #70, Road Game #36, NHL Game #1,033

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 12 Pittsburgh and New Jersey (Boston eliminated, 8th of 14)
President's Trophy: 23 San Jose (11 of 29 eliminated)

BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise, FL, 7:37 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 and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic feeds.

Tonight the Caps continue their road trip as they seek to break out the brooms against the Florida Panthers.  This will be the sixth and final game against the Panthers this season and so far the Caps have won all of them.  Florida has been hanging on the edges of the Eastern Conference Playoff race and have won four times in six games since the Olympic Break; twice in their last three games beyond regulation time.  In their last outing, the Panthers handed the San Jose Sharks a rare loss on their home ice 3-2 in overtime on Saturday.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Miami Herald.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

So for the fourth time in six games this year, the Florida Panthers will avoid facing Captain A.O. in a game this year.  If you're looking for a reaction from us to the suspension the only we'll say is that the suspension and lack of quotes about it from Colin Campbell himself speaks all for itself because there was never a doubt in our minds that a suspension would be forthcoming.  As for the game tonight, the Caps have proven that they don't need Captain A.O. to defeat the Florida Panthers.  The Panthers have a game in hand but are six points behind the Boston Bruins for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference.  The Panthers have to get going and get going now if they wish to make up that ground.  After dropping their last four games on home ice as part of a six game losing streak heading into the Olympic Break, Florida has won both of their games at home since the Olympics.  Making this game interesting tonight is Semyon "The Saviour" Varlamov's turn in the goaltender rotation.  The Saviour has lost three of his last four games and two in a row despite showing some improvement in his last outing.  The Caps though simply posses too much firepower compared to the Panthers and with some mildly competent goaltending and a decent effort should have no trouble dispatching the Panthers tonight.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 4
Panthers 1
Winner by Semin
(37-32 on the season with one perfect game)

Caps @ Blackhawks 3-14-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 12 Pittsburgh and New Jersey (Montreal eliminated 8th of 14)
President's Trophy: 23 San Jose (Minnesota, Dallas, and St. Louis eliminated 12th, 13th, and 14th of 29)

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Caps.com.


The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

Chicago Sun-Times: bad weekend, disagreement, new commercial.  Chicago Tribune: another meltdown, out for the season, Serious Issues.

Final Thoughts:

We should hear today about how long the suspension to Captain A.O. is.

69 down, 13 to go.

Caps @ Blackhawks 3-14-2010 Post-Mortem

We told you there wouldn't be a shutout today...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Facing a team that tends to out-shoot its opponents 34-25 per game, the Caps actually out-shot the Blackhawks 30-23 despite some moments of bad over-passing in the third period.
• The Power Play was officially 1 for 5 and officially blew a 2 minute 5-on-3 but the Caps scored three seconds after the 5 on 3 ended and the Caps second goal was a direct result of the pressure applied by that Power Play.  And to give credit where credit is due, Chicago goaltender Antti Niemi did an outstanding job to keep the Caps at bay as long as he did.
• Nicklas Backstrom with two goals and one assist though you might be able to credit him with an assist on his game winning goal as he recovered his bad turnover to start the rush going the other way.
• And a shout out to Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore who couldn't be faulted on any of the three goals he allowed (on two of them a forward blew his coverage) and made some big saves with the game tied that allowed the Caps the chance to win this game in overtime.

THE BAD:

• We knew we're beating an empty glue bottle here but Bruce Boudreau's love of Tomas Fleischmann continues to confound us.  Fleischmann was promoted to the first line and it was his blown coverage that led to the 3rd Chicago goal.  Otherwise, he was as invisible as usual.
• And as infuriating as it was to see Fleischmann on the first line, Alexander "Slappy" Semin had one of his "enigmatic" games today.  Two totally and completely unnecessary penalties in the offensive zone in the first period and then floating around and not really trying for much of the rest of the game though he did draw the double minor that got the Caps going in the third period.  However he didn't earn time on the first line today with the way he was playing. Though we did find NBC's line combinations and defensive pairings funny as they listed Slappy as a second line winger and third pairing defenseman.
• The Caps got pwned in the faceoff circle today.  Eric Belanger was the only Caps above 50% going 10-7.  The rest of the Caps were a combined 9-23 for the entire game and not a single Blackhawk had a losing record on draws today.

THE UGLY:

• Look folks, there's no denying it, Captain A.O.'s hit on Brian Campbell was worthy of a five minute major for boarding and a game misconduct penalty.  No the hit was not vicious, it wasn't cheap or dirty, but it was totally and completely unnecessary.  To make matters worse, it was at a place on the ice where a serious injury could take place.  But what we already know is going to get us and everybody us riled up is the lengthy suspension Collin Campbell is going to hand down to the "Repeat Offender" at some point tomorrow.  The fact that "Repeat Offenders" Matt Cooke and Dan Caricllo got away with what they did last week will be immaterial and we're interested to see how Campbell attempts to justify it.
• And for good measure, last night the Oracle of the Ultimate Fighting on Ice Fans, Don Cherry, said it was outrageous that Matt Cooke wasn't suspended and called for a ban on shots to the head from the side and back but NBC's Mike Milbury refuses to back down and even gave a slight nudge to Cherry for selling out.  Both men have a point that the players need a clearly defined standard of what is and is not permissible ASAP.  But Milbury is just wrong to continue to beat the drum of a "sissfied" NHL where no hitting is allowed.  Nobody is talking about ending the hits like the one Captain A.O. landed on Jaromir Jagr in Vancouver, but at the same time, nobody wants to see players carted off the ice stretchers and their careers placed in jeopardy.  And we'd really like it if this stupid red herring of "softer" equipment were ignored.

Well folks, we have to admit, we didn't have much hope of winning today's game heading into the third period.  We thought that the Caps played well for the most part in the first period despite spending most of the period trying to kill off penalties.   The Caps understandably had a hard time getting back into their groove in the second period and weren't trying to get to the front of the net to score some goals.  The Caps finally got in front of the Chicago net in the third period and look at what happened.  3 goals scored on 11 shots in the period and Chicago only took one.  The Blackhawks have suffered some horrible collapses lately and that the Caps were willing and able to give them another one today shows the character that this team needs to become very tough to beat come playoff time.  But in the interim, the Caps have to keep their edge as they play out the last 13 games of the regular season.  The Cup was not won today and should the Caps and Blackhawks meet in the Stanley Cup Finals, we doubt that this game will play much of a role in the series.

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

Caps @ Blackhawks 3-14-2010 Preview

Washington Capitals (45-23; 99 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) @ Chicago Blackhawks (44-23; 93 points; 1st Central Division, 2nd Western Conference, 3rd Overall):
Caps Game #69, Road Game #35, NHL Game #1,022

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 14 Pittsburgh and New Jersey (7 of 14 eliminated)
President's Trophy: 27 San Jose (10 of 29 eliminated)

United Center, Chicago, IL 12:45 pm. Washington TV: None. Radio: WFED 1500-AM. Chicago TV: None. Radio: WGN 720-AM.  U.S. National TV: NBC.  Canadian National TV: TSN. NHL Center Ice: None.

Today the Caps start a week-long four game road trip when they head to Chicago to face the Blackhawks for the only time this season.  Last year, the Caps opened up their home schedule with the Hawks and the Caps skated off with a 4-2 victory.  Chicago is on track to become the first team other than the Detroit Red Wings to win the Central Division since the St. Louis Blues won it in 1999-2000 with a magic number currently at 14.  Chicago has split their six games since the Olympic Break and are playing in their second consecutive NBC Sunday game at home.  Last week they lost to the Red Wings 5-4.  They claimed a 3-2 win in overtime at home on Wednesday night but lost by the same score late in regulation yesterday in Philadelphia to the Flyers.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.  NBC.com.

Open Source Intelligence:

Chicago Sun-Times:  gone in 122 seconds, one shot stop.  Chicago Tribune:  late letdown, tough task ahead, it's good to be Captain A.O.

What Do We Expect Today?:

Well folks, we could be in for about as exciting of a regular season game as one can see between two teams who do not have a long-standing rivalry.  The numbers are amazing, the Blackhawks give up the fewest shots in the NHL but only Toronto and the Blackhawks themselves take more shots than the Caps.  The Blackhawks are one of the best teams on home ice yet only San Jose and St. Louis have won more games on the road this season than Washington.  But the one we want to watch is the Blackhawks Power Play.  At home they're 29th in the NHL with just a 14.9% conversion rate.  The Caps however are equally bad on the Penalty Kill on the road.  The Caps are also 29th in the NHL in that category with a dismal 72.7%.  The Caps Power Play is ranked 3rd in the NHL on the road and Blackhawks Penalty Killers are 3rd on home ice.  Both teams however had questions looming big in goal.  It has to be especially troubling to the Blackhawks because they allow so few shots and with the amount of rubber they throw at the opposition, Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore is going to have to be on top of his game today for the Caps to get a win and maybe even some puck possession.  Based on the report about the Caps practice yesterday, Friday night's loss served as a wake up call to the Caps, and one they will need playing at 11:45 am Central Time and losing an hour of sleep last night.  How the Blackhawks respond to yesterday's letdown could be the biggest X Factor in today's game.  Those kinds of losses aren't easily forgotten and can be rather demoralizing to a team.  Either way, it should be a fun one to watch and we would suggest some sort of drinking game for today's game with just the phrase "Preview of the Stanley Cup Finals" but not only is this a Family Blog, we don't to assume any liability for alcohol poisoning.  Finally, one interesting nugget we dug for this game, the last two times the Caps have gone to United Center, a shutout has been pitched.  In the Caps last visit on March 19th, 2008, Olie Kolzig made his last appearance in a Caps uniform while losing 5-0.  It was also the last loss the Caps would suffer in the 2007-2008 regular season.  On February 15th, 2004, Olie Kolzig shutout the Blackhawks, 4-0.  Something tells us though that there won't be a shutout performance today.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 3
Blackhawks 1
Winner by Captain A.O.
(36-32 on the season with one perfect game)

To Err Is Human, To Forgive Is Divine

NHL Senior Vice President and Director of Operations Colin Campbell must really be taking this Holy season of Lent to heart.  That would greatly help to explain why after looking the other way on Matt Cooke's hit on Marc Savard he did the exact same thing with Philadelphia Flyers' forward Dan Carcillo refusing to suspend him as well.  Though Carcillo merely shoved linesman Greg Devorski who was trying to break up a fight on Thursday night instead of cheap shotting somebody onto a stretcher like Cooke did.

And maybe that is why Dan Carcillo isn't getting the attention that Matt Cooke did.  The NHL wasn't "embarrassed" (we use the quotes because it is clear that nothing really embarrasses the NHL) by somebody being carried off on a stretcher and no traumatic brain injuries were suffered.  But something about this did catch out eye and we feel more than obligated to point it out.

In explaining his decision making process in the Matt Cooke Incident, Colin Campbell claimed that because the NHL Suggestion Book was silent on matter of intentional hits to the head that cause injuries; he could not take any supplemental action against Matt Cooke.  However, in the case of Daniel Carcillio, NHL Suggestions 40 and 41 are all about Abuse of the Officials.  Suggestion 41 specifically covers Physical Abuse of the Officials and Suggestion 41.1 and 41.3 apply directly in the case of Carcillo:

Any player who deliberately applies physical
force in any manner against an official, in any manner attempts to
injure an official, physically demeans, or deliberately applies physical
force to an official solely for the purpose of getting free of such an
official during or immediately following an altercation shall receive a
game misconduct penalty. In addition, the following (41.2, 41.3, 41.4)
disciplinary penalties shall apply.
...
Automatic Suspension – Category II - Any player who deliberately
applies physical force to an official in any manner (excluding actions
as set out in Category I), which physical force is applied without intent
to injure, or who spits on an official, shall be automatically suspended
for not less than ten (10) games.

Now this all clearly applies to the Carcillo Incident, he made deliberate contact with an official who was attempting to break up an altercation.  There is no question that Carcillo was not attempting to injure Devorski nor did Devorski suffer an injury in the incident.  Do us a favor though and please read through this section of Suggestion 41.5 as it relates to the automatic review process for these types of situations:

Automatic Suspension – Process - Immediately after the game in
which such game misconduct penalty is imposed, the Referees shall,
in consultation with the Linesmen, decide the category of the offense.
They shall make a verbal report to the League’s Director of Hockey
Operations and advise of the category and of the offense. In addition,
they shall file a written report to the Director of Hockey Operations in
which they may request a review as to the adequacy of the
suspension. The NHLPA, the player and the Club involved shall be
notified of the decision of the Referees on the morning following the
game. The League will then hold a conference call with the NHLPA to
review the Referees application of this rule, and will refrain from
issuing public comment affirming the Referees application of Rule 41
until that call is complete.
The player or the officials may request the Commissioner to
review, subject to the provisions of this rule, the penalty imposed by
the Referees. Such request must be filed with the Commissioner in
writing not later than seventy-two (72) hours following notification of
the penalty.
If a review of the incident is requested by either the player or by
the officials, a hearing will be conducted by the Commissioner on an
expedited basis, and best efforts will be used to provide a hearing
before the second game missed by the player due to the automatic
suspension imposed under this rule. The player’s suspension shall
continue pending the outcome of the hearing by the Commissioner.
For Category III offenses only, the Commissioner may conduct the
hearing by telephone. For Category I and II offenses, the hearing shall
be conducted in person.
After any review as called for hereby, the Commissioner shall
issue an order that:
(i) sustaining the minimum suspension, or
(ii) increasing the number of games within the category, or
(iii) changing to a lower category, or
(iv) changing to a lower category and increasing the number of games
within this category, or
(v) in the case of a Category III suspension only, reducing the number of
games of the suspension.
The penalties imposed under this rule shall not be deemed to limit
the right of the Commissioner with respect to any action that he might
otherwise take pursuant to Article 18 of the CBA.

Now where does it say that the official in question who was fouled gets to make the final call on whether or not the player is suspended? We can't seem to find it in this section or in any other part of the NHL Suggestion Book.  Yes, they may "request a review" but in light of the ugly incidents that continue to plague the NHL how in the world can Colin Campbell back the request not to impose the Automatic 10 game suspension in this case?  Daniel Carcillo, like Matt Cooke, is a repeat offender when it comes to dirty play out on the ice and the suspensions that go with them.  Look at the stock photo that TSN chose for Carcillo, Carcillo is the exact type of player that the NHL needs to get rid of if it is serious about growing.

But the worst part of this is not that this was a blown chance by the NHL to show that it is a serious professional sporting league.  No, it is the clear illustration that not only the NHL Front Office has no respect for their own rules, but the on-ice officials who are hired to enforce them have no respect for them either.  This is why the officiating standards from game-to-game are so wildly inconsistent.  This is why hockey has such a bad reputation.  Even little kids know that you can't touch the officials.  But now the NHL has just gone and shown that you can and have it deemed acceptable behavior.

Maybe the NHL would have something about Carcillo if he had "accidentally" smacked Greg Devorski in the head with a chair or a large belt of some kind.  We don't know, but we're sure that in enough time somebody will do something like that and we'll be able to find out.

Caps vs. Ning 3-12-2010 Wrap Up

Caps "Magic Numbers" (Caps Points Earned+Lost by team named) to clinch:
Playoff Spot: Clinched 3/11
Southeast Division Championship: Clinched 3/11
Eastern Conference #1 Seed: 16 New Jersey (7 of 14 eliminated)
President's Trophy: 28 San Jose (Anaheim eliminated, 10th of 29)

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire.

The Other Side:

St. Petersburg Times: needed that, local boosters.  Tampa Tribune:  badly needed, watched closely.  Ning.com.

Final Thoughts:

Often you learn more from a loss than you do from a win.  68 down, 14 to go.

Caps vs. Ning 3-12-2010 Post-Mortem

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

THE GOOD:

• Captain A.O. with two more assists tonight to run his season total to 52 and points total to 96.  And he didn't miss his 45th goal and 97th point on the season by very much late in the third period either.
• The Power Play was 2 for 4 tonight and the Penalty Killers were 1 for 1 and didn't allow a shot on goal.  That's right, the Caps took only one penalty tonight.  It surprised us too just a few minutes ago when we realized that.
• The circus is in the Phone Booth next weekend which means this crummy ice sheet that has had pucks bouncing and players toe picking all over the place these past week will be taken out and a new sheet will be installed before the Penguin Scum infect the Phone Booth on the 24th.

THE BAD:

• Semyon "The Saviour" Varlamov  is slowly getting back into form.  He couldn't be blamed for the last two goals he allowed but still should have stopped the first goal.  He was fighting the puck for most of the night but did show some flashes of his form from last Spring.  The big question we have though is it coming back to him quick enough?  There's only 14 games left.
• Reunited and it didn't look too good.  Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green and Shaone Morrrissonnn were both a -2 tonight.
• And while we're glad to see the Power Play click and the team stay out of the Penalty Box, it also means that the Caps were outscored tonight at even strength 3-0.

THE UGLY:

• Down two goals heading into the third period, Bruce Boudreau  shuffled the lines and reunited the SOB trio.  Boudreau however continued to try to roll all four lines during the third period (Scott Walker Texas Ranger with Brooks "and Dunn" Laich and Mike Knuble???) and didn't deploy the SOB line as often as he usually would in that situation.  So was Boudreau trying to win the game, conduct more line experiments, continue to parcel out the ice time, or some combination of the three?  Whatever it was, it didn't really work.
• And speaking of parceling out ice time, we really, really, hope we've seen the last ice time that Tyler Sloan and John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles will get this season.  There is no point in having John Carlson on the roster if he isn't going to play and we seriously question the healthy scratching of a player with the second best +/- in the NHL.

Well folks, while we would like to see the Caps make an effort to win everything, their Division, Conference #1 Seed, President's Trophy, the Eastern Conference, and the Stanley Cup; we know that the Caps aren't too interested in winning the President's Trophy.  It is hard for us to get too worked up about a game like this because while the Caps lost, they actually played some of their best hockey this week tonight and that was before they fell behind 3-1.  It sometimes happens like this and while we're sure that some people are starting to remember last year's swoon before the playoffs, we'd like to say that we think the Caps are actually playing harder and better hockey now than they were at this point last season with the playoff spot and division title wrapped up.  The Caps didn't really match the urgency of the Ning partly because of the lineup but also because the Caps really don't need to.  And even then, the Ning started packing things in having at least four players around their goalie in the third period and whenever the Caps had the puck in the corner, the Ning had all five players below the faceoff circles to keep the Caps at bay.  The Caps could have punched through and gotten the game tied up and maybe even won it in regulation but Boudreau is clearly working on something right now.  Exactly what it is, we don't know but the time for experimentation is almost over.