Friday Roundup/'Yotes 2, Caps 1

[AP Recap - Game Summary - Event Summary - WashingtonCaps.com Recap]

Alright, who left the offense in the Eastern time zone?

A three-game road trip that would have probably have been considered successful had the Caps brought home with them three points is now 0-fer through two games. Just a few thoughts on last night/this morning's match up:

• Blowing a third period lead, no matter how slim, to a young and inexperienced team is hard to swalllow.
• For the second outing in a row, Jose Theodore was solid and, at times, very good. Probably his best effort of the season.
  
• The first power play looked much improved over Tuesday night's version. When Michael Nylander's taking slap shots, you know the "just shoot" message is getting through.
• Using Sergei Fedorov as a defenseman is like eating a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch to freshen your breath - in a pinch, it's not the worst option imaginable, but it's a short-term solution at best and by no means ideal. Feds took a couple of penalties, at least one of which was the result of a bad first step, and his instincts as a defensemen simply aren't great. Still, he makes the best outlet passes the Caps have seen from the blueline in years.
• Alex Semin's curl-and-drag on the second power play was unreal, and Brooks Laich's finish was a bit of a weight off.
• The only Caps on the right side of zero in Corsi Rating were Green, Semin, Laich, Chris Clark, Fedorov and Nylander.
  
• Too many missed shots from Semin and Green.
  
• One of Shane Doan's slappers broke the puck in half. It doesn't get much manlier than that.
  
• Shaone Morrisonn needs to be better on the second Phoenix goal.
  
• The faceoffs were a bright spot, with the Caps winning 64%, with each pivot at better than 50%.
• "Saved by zero" makes me want to kill.
• So did Tyler Sloan's giveaway.
• Ed Jovanovski helped Sasha fall down, go boom.
  
• Sloan did lead the team with four hits, though none was as memorable as his NHL first.
• The Caps miss Tom Poti, Viktor Kozlov and yes, John Erskine.
  
• Nice hustle by Fedorov to touch up that last icing a second after the horn sounded.
  

So the road trip concludes Saturday night, when the Caps will try to salvage something from their Western swing in a tough place to win - Big D. Not good times. At all.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

Good news - the Caps probably aren't in cap hell next year (of course, that was written before John Erskine signed his mega-deal).... Another Hockey News blogger weighs in on the other day's topic du jour, calling "the impromptu scrap that follows a nice open-ice bodycheck" the "most ridiculous thing in NHL hockey these days."... Already this season, the Bolts have bid adieu to Shane O'Brien and David Koci because "there's no room in the East for fighting." I'm sure Vinny and Marty feel comfortable with Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts keeping them from being run on a nightly basis.

Thursday Roundup/Gamenight: Caps @ 'Yotes

[AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview]

We're going to kick things off today with your ridiculous and utterly meaningless stat of the day: The 19 skaters the Phoenix Coyotes have used so far this year have combined for 846 goals and 1,563 assists (in 5,291 man games) - 48 goals and 400 assists fewer than their head coach had in 1,487 NHL games.

If you don't know much about the 'Yotes, here's a four-bullet primer:

• Shane Doan, Ed Jovanovski and our old buddy Olli Jokinen are All-Star-caliber players. Tonight's goaltender, Mikael Tellqvist, is not.
• They're young and talented - Peter Mueller, Martin Hanzal, Kyle Turris, Mikkel Boedker and Viktor Tikhonov are all former first round picks from the past four drafts (Boedker and Tikhonov from this past year's draft). In fact, Steven Reinprecht, at 32, is the oldest player on a team that only has five players over the age of 29 (the Caps have seven).
• Daniel Carcillo is a classic "love to hate him" type player, and will be returning to the lineup tonight after serving a suspension for tussling with Chicago's Ben Eager (Eager was on the ice at the time... Carcillo was on the bench). He had 19 fights and 324 PIMs in just 57 games last year, but can score a bit too, as his 13 goals will attest (in short, he's everything we hope Stefan Della Rovere will become one day). Just imagine for a moment how much you would despise this guy if the Penguins had never traded him in the Georges Laraque deal.
• They have five different players with a fighting major already this season (the Caps have three).

In other words, expect a young, skilled team with more than a little sandpaper. If the Caps aren't ready for that, they'll drop a third game in a row before they know what hit 'em.

Oh, and the last time the Caps visited the desert, this happened:
You didn't think I'd get through this post without that, did you?

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

If you missed Leonard Shapiro's article on Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin in yesterday's WaPo, check it out.... Speaking of print media, Tyler Sloan made the front page of The Globe and Mail.... Sticking with print, your obligatory "Alex Ovechkin is coming to town and he's really good" article.... How screwed were we that the Caps didn't get to play on International Caps Lock Day?... Ken Klee cleared waivers. Tampa must be waiting for him to be put on re-entry waivers before claiming him (or for him to buy his way onto the team).

Tuesday Roundup/'Yotes 3, Caps 2

[NHL.com Recap - WashingtonCaps.com Postgame Coverage]

Three numbers (or groups of numbers) added up for a disappointing 3-2 New Year's Day defeat for the Caps yesterday at the V.C.:

• 2:02. That's the time of the first period at which Owen Nolan opened the game's scoring scoring. The slow start (which has become troublingly common lately) dogged the Caps all afternoon and the the team is now 3-14-4 when allowing the first goal and 13-3-3 when scoring first. More stats: the Caps are 11-3-2 when leading after one period, 12-0-2 when leading after two, 1-11-3 when trailing after one period and 1-16-0 when training after two. Think a good start is important? I like Glen Hanlon a lot, but how can the team's failure to be prepared for a game from the opening puck drop not be a coaching issue?
  
• 1-for-7. That was the Caps' power-play efficiency yesterday, including a :58 5-on-3 in the third period trailing by one on which they failed to score. The power play is broken right now, and its increasingly-rare successes are more the result of individual talent and effort than the result of a well-designed scheme.
  
• 2-for-5. That was the Caps' penalty kill efficiency yesteday. Needless to say, 60% isn't good enough.
  

That just about sums it up. On the plus side, Brians Pothier and Sutherby each finally scored goals (the first of the season for the former, the second for the latter), and the team seems to be getting healthier. But this team needs to get better from the opening faceoff and play a full sixty minutes every night and the special teams need to improve. Sound familiar?

Daily Awards

• Hart: Slava Kozlov (2G, including OT game-winner, +2, 5 SOG)
  
• Ross: Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Marian Hossa (3 points each)
  
• Norris: Brian McCabe (2A, +1, 3 SOG, 3 hits, 3 blocked shots)
  
• Vezina: Ryan Miller (W, 31 saves on 33 shots against)
  
• Richard: Slava Kozlov, Mats Sundin, Jason Arnott, Wojtek Wolski (2G each)
  
• Calder: Wojtek Wolski (2G, +3, 3 SOG, 2 hits, 1 takeaway)
  
• Aiken: Tim Thomas (L, 5 goals allowed on 35 shots against)

Jesus H. Christ, Part II

Here's some more brilliant hockey reporting from the MSM. According to the WaPo (not Tarik or even in the Sports section, for that matter):

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, presumably in town to watch his team beat the Washington Capitals yesterday, toasted the New Year at Morton's steakhouse on Connecticut Avenue, the restaurant's publicist Linda Roth tells us.

Gretzky, part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, arrived at Morton's around 9 p.m. with a party of 18.

Presumably Wayne enjoyed watching the game from behind the Coyotes bench.

(H/t to Kukla's)