Ovechkin On Goalies

After Saturday night's 4-2 win over the Blackhawks, Sport-Express's Natalia Shemleva caught up with Alex Ovechkin to talk netminders (translation via The Morning Skate, which also has Slava Malamud's interview with Nikolai Khabibulin):

Were you surprised that Khabibulin was Chicago’s goalkeeper instead of Huet?

“Last year when we played against Chicago and Khabibulin stood in the goal, we lost 5-0. I think today he was the best player on the visiting team, but luck was on our side.”

Before each game with Atlanta, you make a joking commitment to goalkeeper Kari Lehtonen about how many times you will score. Did you make a promise (Friday)?

“I said that I would score a goal, but it did not happen.”

Did you make a promise like that to Khabibulin today?

“No, Khabibulin was not promised.”

Perhaps your unexpected goals lowered his market value.

“His market value? He is not just some vegetable or fruit in the market. Khabibulin is one of the best goalkeepers in the league, as is Chicago’s other goalkeeper Huet, who was in Washington last year at the end of the season.”

Would you not like to see that one of the best goalkeepers league was yet another Russian player in the Washington?

“I wish — I do not want to, it’s not for me to decide. We have two excellent goalkeepers. And we have [farmhand Simeon] Varlamov, who may come here at any time. He’s available to play in the N.H.L., he simply needs to adapt to hockey here. And this is only a matter of time.”

Oh, That's What They Should've Done

"The Caps should have found the way to keep Cristobal Huet rather than signing free agent Jose Theodore...." - Larry Brooks

In other news, the Caps also should have found the way to sign Alex Ovechkin to a 13-year, $13 million deal, to win the Stanley Cup last year and to distill Brooks Laich's sweat into a cure for cancer.

Saturday Roundup/Thrash 7, Caps 4Gamenight: Hawks @ Caps

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

What, did the Thrashers not get the memo? How dare they show up on Friday night and try to stand in the way of the Mighty Capitals of Washington?

Some thoughts on the game:

• Alex Semin was the best player on the ice all night, but did misplay a puck in the neutral zone that led to Atlanta's sixth goal (the Armstrong blast over Brent Johnson's left shoulder). His dangles around Garnet Exelby and Eric Boulton (a pair of traffic cones, to be sure), were among his more dazzling highlights, and while it's easy to say now, I thought at the time that he should have taken that penalty shot.
  
• The power play looked good (and finished 2-for-7 thanks to Mike Green's penchant for pinching) and fired 12 shots on in 8:45 of extra man time. But wouldn't you expect the $4 million second-line center/seventh defenseman to be higher than ninth on the team in PP time?
• The penalty kill, on the other hand, was atrocious (6-for-9). Tomas Fleischmann (who had a good game in the offensive zone, but finished a team-worst minus-two) had more PK time than Matt Bradley and Chris Clark combined. Brooks Laich led the entire team (including defensemen) in shorthanded ice time. Think Boyd Gordon might dress tonight?
  
• The Swedes got slaughtered in the faceoff circle, combining to go 10-for-29 (34%). In fact, the entire team was bad, winning only 40% of their draws on the night (the exception to the poor performance was Brooks Laich's 7-for-10). Even Sergei Fedorov (6-for-17) and David Steckel (6-for-15) failed to take command of the dot, and the Caps were 8-for-21 (38%) in faceoffs when shorthanded and 7-for-23 (30%) in the defensive zone. Not good.
  
• Where was Nicklas Backstrom?
  
• Forty-three shots on goal for is a crapload. Thirty-one against is a few too many, especially given the location of most of those shots:That's 19 shots - and all seven goals - against from between and below (give or take a foot or two) the faceoff dots. The Caps blueliners have to do a better job of keeping that real estate clear.
  
• Jose Theodore can "only" be blamed for two, maybe three of the goals he allowed (the first wasn't his fault and the third deflected off the defenseman's stick), but he looked shaky (is "reboundy" a word?) all night. Well, until he was yanked, that is - he looked calm and under control on the bench.
• What was Donald Brashear doing throwing with a kid who only had four fights in his entire junior career (I didn't see how that one started)?
  
• GMGM must be counting down the minutes (and dollars) until he can replace either Milan Jurcina or John Erskine with Karl Alzner. It's probably time to go back to pairing the two of them together and try to sneak them out for some shifts while riding a good top-four.
• I'd like to see more of The Captain.
  

So there goes 82-0. Next up, Chicago, and perhaps our old buddy Cristobal Huet (who got beaten down by the Rangers last night).

There are plenty of subplots here - recall the last time Huet tried to stop Alex Ovechkin and the last time the Caps faced the 'Hawks (a.k.a. Olie Kolzig's last game as a Cap); tonight's game will also showcase all three of 2007-08's Calder Trophy finalists as well as the summer's top two free agent defensemen (Green and Brian Campbell) - but the big story is two teams trying to avoid falling to 0-2 on the season.

A loss like last night's definitely takes away from tonight's banner raising a bit, but hopefully the ceremony will serve as a reminder of what this team needs to - and can - do to be successful in this League, because last night's effort was light years away from that standard.

Tuesday Roundup

[Note: If you want to skip a bunch of self-indulgent fantasy hockey talk, there's a link dump below it.]

A couple of Saturdays ago I drafted a pair of fantasy hockey squads, including one - the JapersRink All-Bums - in the Mirtle Hockey Blogger Invitational league (check out Wyshynski's squad here, with links therein to a couple of other teams).

Having the eighth pick in the 18-team, 20-man roster draft (head-to-head scoring, with the following categories: G, A, +/-, PIM, PPG, PPA, GWG, SOG, W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO), I knew I'd be missing out on the top forwards, but would have a chance to grab a good goalie. Considering that goalies will account for five of the thirteen scoring categories but only two or three of any given team's roster spots, drafting a netminder was definitely my strategy going in. And so the draft started:

1. Alexander Ovechkin
2. Evgeni Nabokov
3. Sidney Crosby
4. Evgeni Malkin
5. Martin Brodeur
6. Vincent Lecavalier
7. Dany Heatley
   

Despite guys like Dion Phaneuf, Jarome Iginla and everyone on the Red Wings still being on the board, I snagged Roberto Luongo, basically feeling that I'd be better off with Luongo and whomever I get in the second round than with one of those skaters and the best goalie left when my pick came up again.

The first round progressed without a single goalie being taken before Miikka Kiprusoff went with the last pick of the round, which got the wheels turning in my head - there were some other goalies I liked a lot, and if I took a second goalie with my second pick, it would force most of the teams picking after me to take at least one goalie, leaving a similar forward available with my third round pick as I would have gotten with my second. The picks continued with a predictable run on goalies, and as my pick came up I was salivating at the chance to steal Chris Osgood, but no dice - he went with the pick right before me, leaving me with a choice of Pascal Leclaire, Niklas Backstrom and a bunch of similar forwards. I took Leclaire.

Sure enough, what followed was another run on goalies, with six of the 14 picks before my next one being netminders. The best goalie available when it got back to me was Vesa Toskala, but of course I wasn't looking G. I was looking for the best skater available... which was Chris Pronger. So through three rounds, I was set in goal with probably the best goaltending in the League (if Leclaire can stay healthy), and I had a top five defenseman.

I spent the rest of the draft scrambling a bit for forwards and often taking the best available player (frequently a defenseman), and here's what I ended up with, by round:

1. Luongo (G) - see above
   
2. Leclaire (G) - see above
3. Pronger (D) - see above
4. Nathan Horton (C, RW) - dual eligibility is nice, and someone's gotta score for Florida, right?
   
5. Shane Doan (RW) - looking forward to seeing what he can do with a real center
   
6. Daymond Langkow (C) - I never like drafting dudes whose value is so dependent upon linemates, but Langkow was the right pick here
   
7. Kris Letang (D) - with Gonch and Whitney out, Letang will get all the ice he can handle
   
8. Markus Naslund (LW) - reborn on Broadway? I hope so
   
9. Sheldon Souray (D) - solid pick here, but always an injury risk
   
10. Ryan Malone (LW) - hopefully he gains C eligibility
    
11. Wojtek Wolski (LW) - another injury risk with pretty good offensive upside
    
12. Shea Weber (D) - love this guy
    
13. Bill Guerin (RW) - my first major "ugh" of the draft
    
14. Kyle Okposo (RW) - here's where I became the first person in fantasy hockey history to draft Islanders in back-to-back rounds
    
15. Tim Connolly (C) - yet another injury risk with offensive upside
    
16. Chris Clark (RW) - this pick may have been made with my heart rather than my head, but the Captain has looked good in the preseason
    
17. Tuomo Ruutu (LW) - hey, guess what? An injury risk!
    
18. Jared Boll (RW) - needed a goon, but didn't need one with a broken hand
    
19. Janne Pesonen (LW ) - already cut for Aaron Voros
    
20. Paul Ranger (D) - already cut for Stephen Valiquette... hey, I heard a rumor about a Lundqvist injury
    

I'm not thrilled with my offensive depth (or my team's durability), but I tend to go more for guys who help across the board (G, A, PIMs, +/-) than specialists, as these players are more easily replaceable should injuries come up and they still produce even when their offense goes cold. Obivously, I like my goaltending and have solid defense.

So what do you guys think? If there's any interest, I'll keep you guys posted and may even ask for some advice along the way.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

Alex Ovechkin and the Caps are the number one reason to watch the NHL this year.... Damien Cox chimes in on AO vs. Sid.... MediaPost chimes in on AO's latest endorsement deal.... Ken Campbell saw the Karl Alzner cut coming back on Thursday.... Ross McKeon predicts 80 goals for AO and a Finals appearance for the Caps (I guess working the refs pays off).... Allan Muir sees a second-place Southeast Division finish for the Caps.... Linda Cohn is the lone contrarian at ESPN picking against the Caps in the Southeast (though she's got Ovi winning the Hart somehow).... The Caps open the season eighth in CBS's Power Rankings, seventh at TSN.ca and Yahoo! and 10th at CNNSI.... Finally, Cristobal Huet's agent, Steve Bartlett, was on XM204 last week.

A Different Breed?

"While it’s rare for a team that already has a No. 1 goalie under contract to make such a bold offer to another clear-cut No. 1 goalie on the free-agent market, it’s also rare for the free agent to sign knowing playing time was not part of the guarantee.

"Huet is apparently a different breed." - Dan Rosen, NHL.com

Not all that different, really - the money is still part of the guarantee, oui?

H/t HCTH

Controlling The Message

When George McPhee spoke to the media late Tuesday afternoon, many of the collected questioners were surprised at the substance of his discussion on his inability to re-sign incumbent netminder Cristobal Huet. Even more surprising, however, was just how candid GMGM was in that discussion.

"Huet’s agent, Stephen Bartlett didn’t want to get into the specifics of the negotiations with the Caps," blogged the WTimes' Corey Masisak, "But McPhee atypically was willing to oblige." And oblige he did:

He said the Caps started at the 3 years/$3.7 million and Huet’s camp started at 3 years/$5 million. McPhee said the Caps came up to $4.3 and then $4.6 and finally to $5 million per season, but Bartlett/Huet decided they wanted to test the market. McPhee said the team considered going above $5 million today, but the combination of that and the four-year term was too much.

It's not often that you hear any GM speak so openly about a failed negotiation, and it's especially rare to hear the notoriously tight-lipped GMGM do so.

So why did he in this case (and clearly this was not a heat of the moment decision as he has repeated the talking points to anyone who will listen)? To control the message.

When Olie Kolzig went on a local media tour to talk about how unfairly he was treated by the team that had paid him $42 million over a 15-year period, Caps management was relatively silent, favoring the high road to a war of words played out in the media. As a result, only one side of the story was heard and public reaction favored the player more than it might have, had all the facts been out in the open (and this wasn't the first time that the team's refusal to throw its full version of the facts into the public arena has caused some degree of consternation amongst portions of its fan base, perhaps legitimately and otherwise). [Note: I don't know any more than you do on these - I'm just assuming that the team has a different take than the parties leaving the organization.]

But all of that goes with the territory - blast players on their way out the door and see how quickly others line up to potentially be the next to go in front of the firing squad (really, Cory?).

The Huet situation, however, is different - in part because no matter how great he was for two months, no one's debating whether or not #38 should be raised to the Verizon Center rafters - and one that Caps management wanted to get out in front of for a couple of possible reasons.

To begin with, when you lose a player like Huet to free agency (especially when an agreement had been expected for more than a month), the immediate reaction is to assume that it was because the team didn't want to meet the player's monetary and/or term demands. This wasn't the case here, and a rejuvenated fan base and the rest of the hockey world needed to know that. Couple that with the announcement of the signing of the next best alternative and an explanation of why that deal made better sense for the team in both the long- and short-terms and no one can legitimately question the team's commitment to winning or its ability to attract free agents.

Secondly, the team probably wanted to expose Bartlett's questionable negotiating tactics to serve both as a bit of a public shaming and as a warning to the rest of the League. In a game full of codes and gentlemen, Bartlett's Lucy to GMGM's Charlie Brown routine will not be without repercussions.

The irony of the entire situation, of course, is that McPhee afforded Huet the opportunity to earn as much as twice what he might have had he finished out the season as Carey Price's backup, and this was the thanks he got. And this is how he dealt it - still on the high road, considering how it could have been handled. Well played, I say.

Step Back From The Ledge

Jose Theodore is no Cristobal Huet. Or perhaps Huet is no Theodore.

Jose Theodore has played in more than 52 games in a single season before (five times) and has won a playoff series (four times, in fact). Jose Theodore has won a Hart Trophy and a Vezina Trophy. Jose Theodore has scored a goal, failed a drug test, and probably nailed Paris Hilton.

But as the Jose Theodore deal isn't as much about the past as it is about the future, let's focus on that.

Rather than commit huge dollars and years to a goalie who has never played a full season as a number one netminder and who missed time over the past three campaigns with a groin injury (five games in December of 2007), back spasms (one game this past March), a knee injury (18 games in 2005), and a season-ending hamstring injury (twenty games in 2007), the Caps went with Plan B - a short-term deal with the second-best goalie on the free agent market.

Best case scenario? Theodore plays well, and when his deal is up Simeon Varlamov or Michal Neuvirth is ready to take over the starting spot, giving the Caps a cheap, young netminder while they worry about re-signing RFA's Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin. Worst case scenario? Theodore is awful, and the team either addresses the problem via trade at some point along the way, or the parties part ways after two years, leaving the team in search of a goalie and having high-profile RFAs to sign... not unlike the position in which they found themselves at noon yesterday.

But let's not sugarcoat things - Jose Theodore is an average goaltender with the ability to get scorching hot or fairly putrid for decent periods of time (though the former stretches outnumber the latter). He has a 2.96 goals against average and an .895 save percentage since the lockout (2.44/.910 this past season), but had a 21-13-2 record, a 2.24 GAA and a .919 save percentage in his last 37 starts of 2007-08 [Sidenote: Le fantastique Cristobal Huet was 25-8-4 with a 2.35 GAA and a .917 save percentage in his last 37 starts of the regular season. Sidenote Sidenote: If you're not already reading The Red Skate, who goes into more detail on the Theodore/Huet comparison, you need to be doing so.]

Clearly Huet is a better goaltender than Theodore (or so we're told), but look at it this way - the Caps went 23-13-7 (a 98-point pace) from the day Bruce Boudreau took over behind the bench until Cristobal Huet was acquired. Over that span, their number one goalie went 17-9-6 with a 3.02 GAA and a .886 save percentage. Does anyone doubt that Jose Theodore can do at least that well? I sure don't. If he can go the entire season without giving up more than three goals in back-to-back starts - a feat he accomplished last year - he's going to win an awful lot of games, which, as I recall someone mentioning not long ago, is all that really matters (and don't give me that "Quennville's defensive system" crap - the Caps gave up 0.2 more shots per game over the entire season than Colorado did, and nearly a third of those shots were on juicy Kolzig rebounds).

Bottom line: if you were of the belief that Cristobal Huet was the kind of goalie that could take a team all the way, you're probably inconsolable today. But for the rest of us, the reality is that provided that everything else comes together over the next few days/weeks/months, there's no reason to believe the Caps won't be perfectly fine in both the short- and long-term. And hey, at least they didn't sign Ray Emery, right?

Au Revoir Et Bonjour

Nice bit of foreshadowing/sybolism in this clip:

Reality Checks

When a player specifically asks a team for an offer of a certain duration and dollar amount, the team makes that offer and the player walks away, that's not "hit[ting] a couple snags." It's something, but it's not that.

And when a player who has stated repeatedly that he doesn't want to be a back-up signs a deal with the League's mad scientists to be part of a goaltending tandem with an unproven young player, the jury's very much out on whether or not he's going to be "a terrific mentor."

Just sayin'.

Friday Open Thread

Because Happy Hour happens, you're getting an open thread today.

Did Mike Green get his phone call(s) last night? Did Brooks Laich? Does Jose Theodore's decision to test the free agency waters impact Cristobal Huet? Is it good to know that the Caps aren't the only team that Don Meehan is playing around with (here's a mostly full list of his clients)? And what if Alex Ovechkin had this incentive plan in his contract?

So many questions, so few hours until the weekend. I'll leave you with this, in the event that you're undecided as we head towards November:

Forget Article II of the Constitution - the right to elect Brooks Laich is the 28th Amendment.

H/t With Leather on the incentives link and to Dunzy on the vid.

GMGM on Huet: "We Expect To Sign Him"

GMGM spoke with Dan Dunleavy and Mark Osbourne yesterday from the World Hockey Championships in Halifax. Topics included "the emergence of Mike Green as a stalwart at the defensive end and as a top offensive defenseman in the NHL (18 goals and 38 assists for 56 points)," and "having to fire coach and close friend Glen Hanlon and then replace him with Bruce Boudreau who took the team to a 37-17 record the rest of the season to make the playoffs." Money quote: when asked about Cristobal Huet's future with the team, GMGM notes, "We expect to sign him."

Click here for the audio.

2007-08 Rink Wrap: Cristobal Huet

From Backstrom to Steckel, we're taking a quick look at and grading the 2007-08 season for every* player who laced 'em up for the Caps during the campaign (and is still with the team) with an eye towards 2008-09. Next up, Cristobal Huet.

Contract Status: UFA; 2007-08 cap number of $2.875M
Age (as of October 1, 2008): 33
NHL Seasons (including 2007-08): 4+
2007-08 Regular Season Stats: 52 games played, 32-14-6 record, 4 shutouts, 2.32 GAA, .920 SV% (13 GP, 11-2-0, 2 SO, 1.63 GAA, .936 SV% for Washington)
Key Stats: Huet ended the regular season on a 9-0-0 run during which he posted a 1.52 GAA, a .941 save percentage and allowed only seven even strength goals.
Surprising(ly random) Stat: Huet played the most games of any goalie who didn't commit a single penalty all season (I guess it took Daniel Briere to bring out the goon in Cristo)

The Good: Over the full season, only one goalie (Jean-Sebastien Giguere) had both a better GAA and SV% than Huet. Read that again and let it sink in. Here's another jaw-dropper for you - Huet won the highest percentage of games played of any goalie in the League with more than 43 appearances (and only the two Detroit goalies had a better percentage if you lowered the games played requirement to two). Over the course of the season, Huet never lost more than three straight games (he only did that twice), only gave up more than three goals in back-to-back starts once and was 10-1-1 in games in which he faced fewer than 25 shots on goal (5-0-0 with the Caps). He became the first Caps goalie with nine straight wins since Pete Peeters won nine in a row from January 28 to March 3, 1987, and set personal career highs in games played, minutes and wins (and points, with two).

The Bad: If you want to claim that Huet should have made a couple more saves in Game Two and/or Three of the Flyers series, have at it. And I guess to fill up some space here, I'll mention that he missed time this season with a groin injury (five games in December of 2007) and back spasms (one game this past March), which go along with two more serious injuries in the two previous seasons (18 games with a knee injury in 2005 and a twenty game season-ending hamstring injury in 2007).

The Ridiculous (special bonus feature!): 57% of you wanted to see him benched for Game Four of the Flyers series. For shame.

The Vote: Rate Huet on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential for the season after he was traded to the Caps - if he had the best 13+ games you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst 18 games you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.

The Question(s): Potentially an unrestricted free agent come July 1, how much (dollars and years) should the Caps be willing to commit to Huet (the numbers speak for themselves, but so to do the injuries, his age, and the fact that he has never played more than 52 games in a season)? If he is back, what will it take for him to earn a 10 next year?

If you've missed any of the previous 2007-08 Rink Wraps, click here, get caught up, and vote - polls will stay open for a while.

* And by "every," we mean every one who played more than just a handful of games.

Huet "Would Like To Stay In Washington"

The IIHF site has an interview with Cristobal Huet up that's definitely worth checking out. Money quote: "I would like to stay in Washington."

I'm pretty certain that the feeling is mutual.

The Eagle And The Chicken

I'll leave it up to you to decide which is the more intimidating bird (hint: not the chicken), but Cristobal Huet will be wearing both at the World Championships. Unfortunately for Huet, he's also be playing behind this group of clowns, a D-corps that allowed 48 shots against (four got by Cristo) in their loss... to Switzerland.

Noted Huet, "This was probably the toughest game for me all season. I haven’t faced that many shots all year."

And it won't get any easier, either - next up for Les Bleus, Nicklas Backstrom and Sweden.

Mon Dieu!

The Caps may not have the best group of blueliners in the world, but check out the smiley group of guys Cristobal Huet will be playing behind at the World Championships (don't they teach 'em the Mike Green scowl in France?):


I'm so getting a Simon Lacroix jersey... once he does.

Huet Or Kolzig: Who To Start In Game 4?

Note: I've bumped this up to the top of the page, but there are a couple of new posts below.

In case you were unaware, there's a big debate going on and it has everything to do with Philadelphia.

No, I'm not talking about the dueling donkeys, I'm talking about the question of who should start in the Caps' net in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series with the Flyers.

Cristobal Huet has been decent-to-bad through three games (his save percentage would suggest the latter), while Olie Kolzig hasn't played a minute in nearly a month (but has brilliant career playoff numbers, all of which were accumulated before most of his current teammates were NHLers).

Bruce Boudreau has said he's starting the incumbent in Game 4. Would you?

Game 3: Caps @ Flyers

[AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview]

I'm beginning to think I'm the only person in the hockey world not in awe of Martin Biron. Yes, the guy has three shutouts in his last four starts. But on Sunday, at least, he was the beneficiary of a great team defensive effort and a good bit of luck (his supporters will refer to this luck as "good positioning"). Was he good? Sure. Great? No. Good enough? That's all that matters, isn't it? But he's still the same Marty Biron that stopped just 22 of 27 shots on Friday night.

In fact, even with his Game 2 whitewash of the Caps, Biron has the third-worst save percentage in the playoffs. At the other end of the rink, Cristobal Huet - the source of some criticism for his performance so far - is a few percentage points ahead of Biron (but trails him by half a goal in GAA).

Two games is a small sample, to be sure, so let's take a look at the two netminders' performances thus far, goal by goal (for Game 1 video, click here, and for Game 2, click here). First, Biron:

• Game 1, Goal 1: Donald Brashear, even strength, wrist shot, 9 feet, previous shot attempt 29 seconds earlier; Tom Poti's shot/pass deflects to an open Brashear who deposits the puck in a gaping net
  
• Game 1, Goal 2: David Steckel, even strength, wrist shot, 19 feet, previous shot attempt six seconds earlier; Steckel finds himself open, Biron looks to be in position, but is beaten from a decent angle
  
• Game 1, Goal 3: Mike Green, even strength, wrist shot, 11 feet, previous shot attempt 45 seconds earlier; Alex Semin to Sergei Fedorov to Green past a helpless Biron
  
• Game 1, Goal 4: Mike Green, power play, slap shot, 44 feet, previous shot attempt six seconds earlier; with Patrick Thoreson writhing in pain, Green blows a slapper past Biron on what had become more or less a 5-on-3
  
• Game 1, Goal 5: Alexander Ovechkin, even strength, snap shot, 17 feet, previous shot attempt 49 seconds earlier; Red Jesus outwaits Biron and roofs it
  

And Huet:

• Game 1, Goal 1: Vaclav Prospal, even strength, snap shot, 58 feet, previous shot attempt before last faceoff; a seeing-eye puck beats Huet, who is completely screened by Scott Hartnell
  
• Game 1, Goal 2: Daniel Briere, even strength, snap shot, 40 feet, previous shot attempt before last faceoff; Briere exits the penalty box behind the Caps' D and beats Huet on a partial breakaway
  
• Game 1, Goal 3: Vaclav Prospal, even strength, wrist shot, 30 feet, previous shot attempt before last faceoff; the red sea parts for Prospal, leaving him with a golden opportunity that he buries
  
• Game 1, Goal 4: Daniel Briere, power play, wrist shot, 18 feet, previous shot attempt before last faceoff; with plenty of traffic around the crease Mike Richards finds Briere on a backdoor cut for a tap in
  
• Game 2, Goal 1: R.J. Umberger, even strength, wrist shot, 18 feet, previous shot attempt before last faceoff; John Erskine falls asleep, Umberger gets a breakaway and partially fans on his shot, sending a knuckler past Huet
  
• Game 2, Goal 2: Jeff Carter, even strength, wrist shot, 8 feet, previous shot attempt one second earlier; Mike Green coughs up the puck, Mike Knuble's initial shot isn't handled by Huet and Carter deposits the rebound
  

There's the raw data from the NHL's play-by-play feeds for the two games. The thing that jumps out at you right away, of course, is that there aren't any bullets under Biron's name that begin with "Game 2." Deeper than that, however, you notice immediately that Biron has only allowed one goal from more than 19 feet away, while Huet has allowed a trio of such tallies. Here are each of the goals in a tidy little graphic:


Which of these goals would Huet like back? I'd guess he isn't thrilled with allowing Briere's first in Game One, perhaps the Umberger goal and the rebound on Carter's goal. In other words a partial breakaway, a full breakaway and an odd-man rush.

As for Biron, I'm sure he'd love another chance at stopping Ovechkin, and can't be happy with the Steckel goal.

What's interesting is that Huet has been an absolute wall shorthanded, stopping 18 of the 19 shots (.947 SV%) he's seen on Flyers power plays, but has only an .884 save percentage at even strength - much of that can be attributed to breakdowns in the defense in front of him with the manpower level (I count four such instances). Biron has had a more even effort, with a .909/.892 split, in large part because the defense in front of him (with one incredibly glaring exception) hasn't made too many mistakes. The dreaded matchup entering the series - the Flyers' second-ranked power play against the Caps' 25th-ranked penalty kill - has yet to really burn the Caps and, contrary to what the regular season stats may have predicted, Philly has been the better team five-on-five.

The other notable stat is the shot disparity. Through two games, the Flyers have outshot the Caps 63-51. Now, that doesn't sound like much, but 12 shots against any goalie, statistically, is likely to yield a goal (11 saves on 12 shots against is a .917 save percentage). In a playoff series as tight as this one is expected to be, one extra goal over two games can certainly be the difference.

Further to that last point, the Caps have had 15:17 of power play time through two games, but have managed only 11 shots on goal. Philly has had 13:49 of extra man time and, as mentioned above, has fired 19 shots on Huet. The Caps have simply got to find a way to get pucks to the net on the power play.

Alright, bottom line time. It's no great secret that the Caps defense has been shaky so far, but if they can tighten up, there's every reason to believe that the Caps can get right back into the driver's seat in this series. Even if the defense makes a mistake or two, Huet is playing well enough to keep them in every game and hasn't yet come close to playing his best game of the series. Martin Biron, on the other hand, has had an unimpeded view of nearly every shot he has faced, and has been average... and he probably has already played his best game of the series.

Huet One Of The Week's Three Stars

Cristobal Huet today was named one of the NHL's three stars for the week. From NHL.com:

Huet posted a 3-0-0 record with a 1.00 goals-against average and .955 save percentage as the Capitals (43-31-8, 94 points) finished first in the Southeast Division and made the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. He stopped 21 of 22 shots in a 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, Apr. 1. On Apr. 3, he made 18 saves in a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning and closed the week with a 25-save effort in a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers, Apr. 5. Since being traded to Washington from Montreal at the deadline, Huet has appeared in 13 games, posting a record of 11-2-0 with a 1.63 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and two shutouts.

Friday Roundup/Caps 4, Bolts 1

[AP Recap - Game Summary - Super Stats - WashingtonCaps.com Postgame]

So where in Rule 78 - Protection of Goalkeeper does it provide for waiving off what should have been Brooks Laich's game-tying first period goal? And if Tomas Fleischmann had interfered with Bolts blueliner Matt Smaby shouldn't Flash have, you know, gotten an interference penalty? In a season full of inexplicable calls, this one takes the cake.

Thankfully, though, it didn't matter, as Alex Ovechkin did his thing, Cristobal Huet did his, and the Caps inched ever closer to a spot in the post season. Some quick thoughts on the game:

• Ovechkin's game-winning goal was obviously huge, but the pivotal play of the night, for my money, was Huet's stoning of Vincent Lecavalier when the latter found himself all alone ten feet on top of the crease. Frankly, after the early goal, you had a feeling that Cristo would lock it down the rest of the way. Hand him a blank check right now - I'm sold.
• Karri Ramo is good... but not good enough. If Ovie could play 82 games per year against goalies with girls names, he'd break the Great One's mark of 92 goals in a season.
• I've been on record as a Matt Bradley hater in the past, but I've been happily eating crow for months.
• Matt Cooke had another strong game, but every shift with him is a checking-from-behind waiting to happen.
  
• John Erskine was atrocious all night. Tyler likened him to molasses in January. I said he skates like he's walking through eight inches of monkey crap while wearing flippers. Tyler is classier than I am.
  
• John Tortorella is an ass, and Doug Janik is a buffoon. Both are Bay Staters (as is Chris Rooney). Coincidence? Oh, and feel free to guess the fine(s) and suspension(s). I'm going with 10k to Torts and a game to Lessard.
  

So it's 81 down, one to go with a huge Friday night of scoreboard watching in between. Win or lose, it doesn't get much better than this, does it?

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

One year ago today we recapped a Caps win and looked at a classic magazine cover and two years ago today we took Tony K. to task and witnessed what has to be a world record for typos.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Antoine Vermette (3G, A, +2, 8 SOG, 63% faceoffs won)
  
• Ross: Antoine Vermette (4 points)
  
• Norris: Greg de Vries (Game-winning goal, +3)
  
• Vezina: Henrik Lundqvist (25-save shutout win)
  
• Richard: Antoine Vermette (3G)
  
• Calder: Carey Price (W, 27 saves on 28 shots against)
  
• Aiken: Vesa Toskala (L, 8 goals allowed on 33 shots against)
  

So How 'Bout That Trade Deadline?