Sunday Roundup/Sabres 7, Caps 3

[AP Recap - Boxscore - Super Stats]

Hey, Cox customers who are petitioning to get more Caps games televised: maybe you should be sending your cable provider "thank you" notes this morning for sparing you from having to watch last night's blowout.

While I'm not in a position to comment on individual performances (I was at a wedding last night and my TiVo decided not to record the game), the trends that have formed are way to obvious not to mention. Consider the five games so far:

1. Dominate a crappy team, outshooting them 40-29
2. Beat a good team, outshooting them 33-23
3. Beat a good team, despite being outshot 12-31
4. Lose a close game to a good team, outshot 41-25
5. Blown out by a good team, outshot 53-26
   

What's next - mercy-ruled by a good team, outshot 65-20?

Despite this lost weekend in the Empire State, the sky is not falling quite yet. And if the Caps can win three of every five games this season, they'll make the playoffs (of course if they lose three of every five, they won't). Things will get better as the team gels more and gets some key players back from the injured list. Plus, they're 2-0-0 within the Southeast Division with 30 more intra-divisional games to go.

But the disconcerting stats are there for all to see - 24th in goals per game, 19th in power play efficiency and DFL in shots against per game. Other key indicators are in the "acceptable-to-good" range - shots for per game, penalty kill percentage, faceoff percentage and goals against average - but through five games it's evident that though the rebuild may be over, the immediate need is for some readjustment.

The Caps have a few days off to get healthy and work on some things before the Isles come to town on Thursday, and there's that Pens game Saturday looming on the horizon. Like these past two games, both of those matches will provide the Caps with tough tests - let's hope they can earn at least a passing grade.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Joe Sakic (3G, 3 SOG, 4 takeaways)
  
• Ross: Brian Campbell (4 points)
  
• Norris: Brian Campbell (4A, +1, 6 SOG, 2 hits, 2 blocked shots)
  
• Vezina: Martin Gerber (W, 36 saves on 37 shots against)
  
• Richard: Joe Sakic (3G
  
• Calder: Tobias Stephan (L, 2 goals allowed on 40 shots against in OT loss; lost shutout with two seconds left in regulation)
  
• Aiken: Chris Mason (L, 6 goals allowed on 23 shots against in 47:36 of work)
  

Wednesday Roundup/Caps 1, Panthers 0Gamenight: Caps @ Thrashers

[NHL.com Recap - WashingtonCaps.com Postgame Coverage - SeSo Open Thread]

When I guarantee a win, you can take it to the bank (although I was certain that another recent post of mine would be the one to be revisited Tuesday night).

On a superficial level, last night's game was won the way Caps games should be won - with Olie Kolzig stopping everything in sight and Alex Ovechkin providing the offense. We can quibble over details (such as the impotent power-play), but at this point I'm sure we can all agree that just winning a game is an exquisite feeling unto itself.

In addition to Olie's mastery in net and AO buzzing like the AO we all know and love, props go out to Shaone Morrisonn for gutting out the last 45 seconds or so of the game after taking a hard shot from the point in what appeared from my vantage point to be in the vicinity of the yambag (medical term).

Also worth noting - on a gorgeous night on which the Nationals played their first evening home game of the season, the Caps drew 16,311 to see the Florida Panthers. What's up with that? Actual versus paid attendance aside, that's still a huge number for a "meaningless" mid-week tilt between two relatively-crappy teams.

So it's off to the ATL (perhaps without Alex Semin, who seems to have hurt his foot late in the second period) to face the Thrashers tonight. The Thrashers have a slim one-point lead over Tampa in the Division, and you can bet that this Caps squad would like nothing more than to play spoiler and hurt Atlanta's chances at winning the Southeast. Will I guarantee a victory? No. But I wouldn't bet against it.

The Brilliant Musings Of J.P. You May Have Missed From The FanHouse

• Brodeur Ties Record... Or Does He?

Daily Awards

• Hart: Joe Sakic (Game-winning goal, 3A in 4-3 win)
• Ross: Joe Sakic (4 points)
• Norris: Barret Jackman (Game-winning goal, +3, 2 SOG, 2 hits, 3 blocked shots)
• Vezina: Dominik Hasek (35-save shutout win)
• Richard: Saku Koivu (2G)
• Calder: Drew Stafford (2A, +2, 2 SOG)
• Aiken: Curtis Joseph (L, 5 goals allowed on 22 shots against)

Monday Roundup/Caps 7, Bolts 1

[SeSo Open Thread]

This (from NHL.com) is sweet (and in case you're wondering those first two guys are just eight years older - combined - than that third guy):

That tells you most of what you need to know this morning (though it doesn't mention Dan Boyle's reckless high-stick on Alex Ovechkin or how good Olie Kolzig has been since returning from injury -100 saves on 105 shots against), but this quote from Bolts captain Tim Taylor in Tarik's recap struck me:

"[The Caps] are out of the playoffs. They have no chance. Every year they are like this."

Obviously you don't mean every year, do you Tim "The Toe" Taylor?

Daily Awards

• Hart: Joe Sakic (4A, +1, 6 SOG in 4-3 win)
  
• Ross: Joe Sakic, Tomas Fleischmann (4 points each)
  
• Norris: Alexei Zhitnik (G, 2A, 1 SOG, 2 hits, 3 takeaways, 0 giveaways)
  
• Vezina: Olaf Kolzig (W, 30 saves on 31 shots against)
  
• Richard: Alexander Semin (3G)
  
• Calder: Tomas Fleischmann (2G, including the game-winner, 2A, +4, 5 SOG)
  
• Aiken: Sean Burke (2 goals allowed on 2 shots against in just 4:22 of work... that's a 30.00 GAA and a 0.00 SV%)

Friday Roundup/'Ning 3, Caps 2 (SO)

[SeSo Open Thread]

When you have the powerplay and a 2-1 manpower advantage in your own defensive zone on that powerplay, you simply can't lose the battle for the puck. Dainius Zubrus and Brian Pothier did and Martin St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier made the Caps pay for it. Yes, the Caps had a good road first period and a gutsy all-out effort in the third to finally tie the game with just seconds left. But that play left an awful taste in my mouth.

Other thoughts on the game:

• Brent Johnson was strong in net, though his delay of game penalty for playing the puck outside the trapezoid was a brain cramp that may have caused him to lose focus and surrender a goal on what should have been a relatively-routine save on the ensuing powerplay.
• Boyd Gordon had a team-high (tied with Alex Ovechkin) six shots on goal last night. Six! That's more than 8% of his shot total for the year in one game. If AO took that percentage of his season's shots in one game, it would be 24 shots on goal (and I wouldn't put that past him, would you?).
  
• Matt Bradley and Eric Fehr had great games. I especially like how tenacious and sneaky Fehr seems to be on the forecheck.
• Despite yielding the shorty referenced above, the powerplay actually showed some signs of life. Maybe the umbrella is the answer (though I'm not sure Jamie Heward at the top of it is a good idea).
  
• If the team is trying to trade Richard Zednik, they've got to get him more than 12 minutes of ice time and the second-fewest shifts of any skater to showcase him.
  
• When Marc Denis is flashing leather that would make Ozzie Smith proud, why not try to open him up in the shootout with a deke (and if you do deke and have the goalie down and out, you've got to LIFT THE PUCK)?
• The Lightning really do ride those top two lines, don't they? Last night they had five forwards with under ten minutes of ice time, a strategy that's obviously paying off for them right now, but one wonders if it can succeed come playoff time.
  
• For my degenerate, gambling readers, while I don't usually endorse betting the over/under on hockey games, the Caps are a pretty good "under" bet these days because a) they've gone to a trapping defense and Vegas hasn't caught on and b) with Olie Kolzig out and BJ in, the assumption is that the floodgates will open. The under has now paid out in four of the Caps' last six games and looks to be a good bet for now, especially with Brian Pothier and John Erskine back in the lineup.

Now it's off to Pittsburgh for a nationally-televised game against Sid and the Pens on Sunday. Hopefully, for Brent Johnson's sake, the under pays out there as well.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

• Hockey's Future has a Q&A with Caps prospect (and Chevy Chase,MD native) Stephen Werner.
  
• What does everyone think of the Ryan Parent trade? That's an awful lot to give up for a guy to center your third-line, no? Then again, the deal should help the powerplay and the Preds were able to hold onto Alex Radulov, their real blue-chipper.
  
• Finally, I'm headed into surgery later this morning to have two wisdom teeth extracted and some other work done, so I'll be out of pocket for the rest of the day and when I return, I'll be half as wise as before (which really puts me in the hole). I'll look to Chris Clark for inspiration, but am hopeful that no dead people will need to be called into action today. Feel free to use this as an open thread to talk about anything that happens in the Caps/hockey world so that I can just check in here when I get back. Cheers.
  

Daily Awards

• Hart: Joe Sakic (2G, including the 600th of his career, 3A, +1, 3 SOG)
• Ross: Joe Sakic (5 points)
  
• Norris: Chris Pronger (2G, 2 SOG, 2 hits)
  
• Vezina: Ryan Miller (W, 27 saves on 28 shots against in 2-1 OT win)
  
• Richard: Milan Hejduk (3G)
  
• Calder: Dustin Penner (G)
  
• Aiken: Michael Leighton (L, 3 saves on 12 shots against in just 14:10 of work)