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).

Ovechkin, Off The Record

Alex Ovechkin made an appearance today on TSN's "Off The Record" and offered up thoughts on the World Championships, Bruce Boudreau, Anna Kournikova, Sidney Crosby and the U.S. Presidential race, among other topics.

Watch the "Up Front" segment here and the "Next Question" segment here.

H/t SSM12 on the pointer.

Ovechkin... Engaged?

If I told you that one of the Caps' Russian superstars was at one time engaged to a mediocre, young female tennis player, you'd think nothing of it - the whole world knows about Sergei Fedorov and Anna Kournikova's history.

But if I told you I was talking about Alex Ovechkin, that might be news.

According to The Charlottesville Daily Progress, Olga Puchkova, the No. 2 seed at this week's Boyd Tinsley (of Dave Matthews Band fame) USTA Women's Pro Tennis Championships, "says she was once engaged to Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin."

I knew plenty of the younger Russian NHLers had idolized Fedorov growing up... I guess I just didn't know how much.

Odds And Ends

We interrupt your previous scheduled playoff-related nervous breakdown to catch you up on a bunch of crap that didn't deserve individual posts.

Karl Alzner, who knows no fear, was named WHL Eastern Conference Player of the Year.... I like "The Collingwood Cannon" nickname for Josh Godfrey.... Mathieu Perreault was named the top sniper in the Q, but you knew that... Don't you mean you're never getting married again, Anna?... Finally, in case you missed it, our buddy Greg Wyshynski, "the funniest writer in the NHL," has left Deadspin, FanHouse, his wife, and The Fourth Period to head up Yahoo!'s hockey blogging effort. You can find him here.

Sergei Fedorov: The Statutory Early Years

Late yesterday, someone asked me whether I'd use the Sergei Fedorov trade as an excuse to post pictures of Anna Kournikova on The Rink.

"Absolutely not," I responded, "And the mere suggestion that I might stoop to something so transparent and gratuitous truly offends my delicate sensibilities, thank you very little."

A day later, however, I am willing to cast my own puritanical morals aside and bring the following pics to you, my eight readers, because I know you want 'em - my one condition being that Fedorov be in all the pics so at least the post maintained some shred of hockey relevance. And while you're ogling, I will avert my eyes (other than to note that Liz Hurley is sitting in front of Anna in that first pic... damn). Oh, and if you don't much care for pics with dudes in 'em, there's always Google image search (the SafeSearch feature of which can be turned off, from what I'm told).

The First Caps Ice Girl?

It's August and the Legg Mason Tennis Classic (the local stop on the ATP Tour) is on some people's minds (head over to OWO for some coverage of the tourney) while Ice Girls (no, not that kind) are on the minds of some others.

Surely there's some overlap between tennis and hockey, no?

Yes.

At the confluence of the two sports, one name immediately jumps to mind: Anna Kournikova. You know about her relationships with former Russian hockey greats Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov (what's that you say? Fedorov's still playing?), but what you may not have known is that Anna is apparently a Caps fan, and, with her tennis career over, seems to want to be the first Caps Ice Girl. She has even designed her own outfit. Take a look:


Sure, the team name is "Capitals" and not "CAPS," and the lettering could be bigger, but I'll give her an "A" for effort. As I said before, if you must have ice girls, make sure they're real hot. This would be a nice first step towards that end, at least.

H/t to The Big Lead on the pic

Update: Pssst... it's a joke. Anna plays in the World Team Tennis league (or whatever it is) for a team called the Sacramento Capitals, hence the outfit.

Gamenight: Caps @ Sens

In lieu of a preview of any sort for tonight's Caps/Sens game, here's a picture of someone in an Ottawa jersey who is tougher than Jason Spezza (and will have as many titles by the time their respective careers are over):