Thursday Roundup/Caps 6, Ducks 4/Gamenight: Caps @ Kings

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

It's late and I'm tired (or it's early and I'm tired - take your pick), so here's your abbreviated recap, to be continued in the comments:

• Alex Ovechkin is quite good (but that was one stupid interfernce penalty in the third).
  
• So was Jose Theodore, for the most part, especially in the second period (11 shots faced, 11 shots stopped).
• The power play was fantastic, too, with good traffic and bombs aplenty from the point.
• I know that official scoring varies a bit from arena to arena, but this stat tells you much of what you need to know about the first two periods - the Caps had 28 shots on goal, three attempted/blocked shots and two missed shots (Anaheim was 16/4/10 over the same span). Basically, the Caps had their way with the Ducks in the O-zone when the game was still in doubt (and beyond - the Caps won nearly all the one-on-one battles, as exemplified by David Steckel's third period tally).
  
• Speaking of which, apparently the Honda Center, at 5-2 Caps, showed a traffic report on the Jumbotron. Perhaps that's a normal SoCal thing. Perhaps it's because they knew the game was over.
• And how on earth can Mike Green get killed by Chris Pronger for all to see with around 6:30 left in the first period and have it take Joe B. and Craig until the beginning of the third period to mention it to their viewers? Dude was only fifth in the League in total ice time per game - you'd think they'd have noticed his absence (maybe on one of the Caps power plays in the interim). Note: Tarik was on it quick and says it's his shoulder.
  
• Nice Ryan Whitney impression by Steve Montador, spearing AO in the yambag. Considering what the stripes were calling up to that point, letting that one go was horrible... but not as bad as Montador ducking Donald Brashear (repeatedly) when it came time to answer for his stick work. He must have been waiting for his three-time dance partner Matt Bradley to challenge him.
  
• Jeff Schultz was on the ice for three Ducks goals. Tyler Sloan had a pretty poor game himself, and Tom Poti had the team's worst Corsi Rating (and was on the ice for three Anaheim tallies). But kudos to John Erskine for a relatively (emphasis on relatively) good game - the rest of the D was pretty brutal, as detailed, though losing their minutes leader goes some of the way to excuse the effort.
• Ryan Getzlaf... still better than Eric Fehr.
  

So the Caps get an enormous and convincing (third period notwithstanding) win to start a brutal road trip.

As for tonight's match up, I dunno... read Vogs and the AP preview and keep coming back during the day to check the What We're Reading sidebar for more pregame updates - I'm spent. But I will note this interesting scheduling quirk - in the next five days, the Caps will visit the only three teams against whom Ovechkin hasn't scored a goal. Don't think that he doesn't know that.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

The Alexes are The Hockey News' pick for the League's best pair of teammates.... Needless to say, this is sweet (and comes in a number of different sizes - very well done, bilspacecadet).... Jeff Schultz as a fantasy hockey option? Now I've seen it all.... Peerless gets a nice shout out in the New York Times - does that make him a sissy liberal?

Wednesday Roundup/Gamenight: Caps @ Ducks

[AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview]

The last time the Caps were in Anaheim, Alex Ovechkin potted his first career hat trick in a 3-2 Caps overtime win over J.S. Giguere and the Ducks, and that OTL still stands as one of only two blemishes on Jiggy's unbelievable 3-1-1/1.39/.951 resume against Washington. In fact, take away that night's "shelling" and Jiggy is an even more ridiculous 3-1-0/1.00/.966 against the Caps... of course, take away AO and a lot of goalies' numbers look much better.

Besides being the site of one of the Great Eight's many coming out parties, Anaheim was also home to Sergei Fedorov for just over a season - 85 games, to be exact - in which he scored 31 goals, had 35 assists and was forced to wear this (though SoCal was certainly not without its perks for Feds).

But enough about history, especially since eight Caps - Nicklas Backstrom, Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleischmann, Mike Green, Milan Jurcina, Jeff Schultz, Tyler Sloan and David Steckel - have never played an NHL game in the Golden State. Let's talk about the here and now.

The Ducks come into the game with a 6-2-2 record in their last ten... not quite as good as the Caps' 7-1-2 mark. They're scoring at a 2.95 goals per game clip... not bad, but not as impressive as the Caps' 3.24 goals per game. Their defense is allowing three goals per outing... slightly more than Washington's 2.76. The Ducks have been very good five-on-five... but not as good as the Caps, and they're in the top half of the League in shots per game... just a few spots behind D.C.

You get the point - the Ducks have been good. The Caps have been better.

But that's all on paper (and mostly with Alex Semin on the ice and not in the press box, where he's likely to be tonight). Also on paper? Giguere's current 0-2-1/4.51/.851 cold streak, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry's combined 37 points over the last 11 games, the year-to-date decimation of my 401(k), AO and Backstrom's combined 18 points over the last three games, Brent Johnson's 3-0-0/1.72/.939 streak, and so on and so on.

On the ice, however, the Caps will find a rough and tumble (though presumably no longer mighty) bunch - the Ducks led the League in fighting majors heading into last night's action - with a couple of Hall of Fame defensemen and enough fire power up front to set the region ablaze (too soon?). It's a potentially dicey match up for a relatively soft and banged up Caps team... but then again, that's just on paper - we'll see what happens when it plays out on the teevee.

Oh, and make sure to stop by BoC today and tell Sleek he's a douche (be careful, though - that might be actionable).

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

"Campbellnomics" is being met with plenty of resistance, but since it tells us that Alex Semin is the most valuable skater in hockey so far, we're buying it (the fanboy in us wins out over the economist today).... Speaking of Semin, James Duthie has him as an All-Star.... The Baltimore Examiner had a quick chat with AO.... More power rankings, with the Caps up six to sixth at SI.com, up five to sixth at ESPN.com, up four to seventh at Yahoo! and up two to eighth at Fox Sports.... Bucci likes the Caps a lot (but not as much as the Pens, of course).... Double O gets some love from The Hockey News.... If you missed the Lebanon Daily News profile of Karl Alzner yesterday, check it out (and catch him on the radio/internet later this morning).... Good stuff on Grant McNeill here.... Bear Tracks - awesome, as always.... "Goalie weenies" of the world, unite!... Finally, like most of the Caps, one would assume, I've got Anna K. in this one (twins freak me out a little, truth be told).

Ducks/Kings: Brunch At O2 Arena

OK, so it doesn't have nearly the ring or cachet that "Breakfast at Wimbledon" does, but at least we don't have to listen to Bud Collins. The 2007-08 NHL season begins in England later this afternoon (12:00 pm ET), and hockey fans in the U.S. have fingers crossed that Center Ice is up and running by then. (Sunday's game 2 will be carried by Versus.)

The typical lede in the local press has been hockey as curiosity. (Indeed, the BBC ran a story on Thursday titled, "NHL Circus in Town".) Some of the highlights:

From the BBC,

Two-time NHL All-Star, Todd Bertuzzi said: "It's something different to start the season. We'd usually be over in the US preparing so this is different and exciting."

Makes one wonder what Bertuzzi quotes ended up on the cutting room floor.

From the IHT,

"We're cross-town rivals, and we really don't like each other," Kings coach Marc Crawford said.

King's coach doing his best Don King.

From the The Guardian,

No game loses more in the translation to television than that played by 200-pound men skating at up to 40 miles an hour, laden with body armour, chasing a disc of vulcanised rubber and using a combination of balletic skill and basic thuggery as the tools of their trade.

"Laden with body armour"? What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen right wing?

SkyBet likes the Ducks in game 1, and so do I I do not. And I like the over under of 6. At 16/1, I'm also taking, "Celeb and pro dancer meet on show [Dancing with the Stars] and marry by end 2008."

AWK-ward!

Did anyone else find the moment Gary Bettman handed the Cup to Scott Niedermayer to be a little awkward?

Flogging Ourselves With 20/20 Hindsight

Watching last night's Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, one can't help but wonder what might have been had GMGM chosen Ryan Getzlaf instead of Eric Fehr back in 2003 (by the way, how stacked was that draft?).

Sure, it's easy to cherry-pick a single selection that may or may not have missed (let's revisit this in a few years), and I think that GMGM's drafting record often receives an unfair amount of criticism. But considering that Getzlaf was rated 10 spots higher in the Central Scouting Bureau's final rankings, it's hard not to be at least a little bit disappointed that McPhee went with his gut (or his own scouts' evaluations) and not the conventional wisdom on that pick.

Game 1 Live Blogging

Greg and I are live blogging tonight's game over at FanHouse. Stop on by, if you're so inclined.

Not-Totally-Random Pothier Love

Since teams from opposing Conferences play each other only twice every three years nowadays, there's very little familiarity between the two Stanley Cup finalists (who didn't play during the regular season) and maybe even less familiarity for their respective fan bases with respect to their opponents. To ameliorate some of that, Earl from Battle of California and Ben from Sens Army are educating one another on their teams' strengths and weaknesses leading up to the start of the Finals on Monday.

Anyway, Earl had 10 questions which Ben has answered, including this:

9. Random question--but if you could have one former Senator back for this series (one who left within the last year or so), who would it be and why? I think I'm asking a "Chara or Havlat" question, but if you have another guy in mind that works too.

Chara and Havlat each have their niches, and my initial response was Chara – he’s such a presence on the ice. But we had them both last year and were beaten out in the second round, so I’m going to skip them and say Brian Pothier, he was a free agent who left last summer – he got 12 minutes a game with the Sens, and now playing in Washington he gets 20+ minutes per game. He was a gem with the right attitude that the Sens could put to good use today.

Sure, there are personnel reasons for the ice time disparity from last season to this one, but Potsy is often a whipping boy for Caps fans, so it's nice to see him get some love, especially from a fan of his former team. I've said it before and will again - in the right role (i.e. second defensive pairing), Pothier will be a perfect fit for this team. Maybe I'm not the only one who thinks so.

The View From Your Playoff Seat

If You Went To The Ducks Game With Earl Sleek Last Night,

This Is Probably In Perfect Focus Right Now.
Sent in by the one and only Mr. Sleek. Anaheim, CA

The VFYPS photo album can be viewed here, and don't forget to send your pictures here.

Friday Roundup/Gamenight: Ducks @ Caps

[NHL.com Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview - Official Gameday Thread - Hockey Night In Washington (Off Wing Opinion)]

Today is Day One of J.P.'s screw-it-up-yourself basement finishing (today's task: framing), so I won't be of much use on the ol' Rink. But I'd ask you all to head over to Off Wing Opinion's all-day coverage of tonight's game. Friend-of-The-Rink KB will be covering the morning skate and other pre-game events, as well as the game itself, so if you have any questions you want answered by Coach Hanlon or anyone else, here's your chance.

Oh, and if you're an Olie Kolzig lover (and who isn't?), both the WaPo and the WTimes have nice profile's on "one of the grand old men of sports in this town" in today's editions.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Vincent Lecavalier (3G, including game-winner, A, +4, 6 SOG)
  
• Ross: Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis (5 points each)
  
• Norris: Brett Clark (2G, A, +2, 2 SOG, 2 blocked shots, 1 hit)
  
• Vezina: Marc Denis (21-save shutout win)
  
• Richard: Vincent Lecavalier (3G)
  
• Calder: Wojtek Wolski (2A, +3)
  
• Aiken, pt. I: Kari Lehtonen (L, 5 goals allowed on 30 shots in 39:39 of work)
• Aiken, pt. II: Johan Hedberg (3 goals allowed on 20 shots in one period of relief for Lehtonen)
• Aiken, pt. III: Scott Mellanby (-5, penalty that led to Tampa's second goal)