Saturday Roundup/Gameday: Caps @ Bruins

[AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview]

Since we last saw the Bruins on Monday night in "the city of Satan" (and not Miro), they've gone out and been shutout by the Panthers and dismantled by the Leafs. The formerly impenetrable Tim Thomas has been yanked three times in his last two starts (impressive) and has seen his League rankings in goals against average and save percentage drop from tenth and second, respectively, to 19th and seventh (and it's killing my fantasy team).

So the Bruins are in danger of free fallin' right out of the top eight in the Conference, the Caps are hot, Alex is good, both teams need this game, don't look past this one to the Pens, yada yada yada. Rather than looking forward, let's take one last look back at Monday's massacre in the time-honored lazy blogger tradition of the Top Ten list and count down the Top Ten Goals The Caps Scored On Monday Night:

10. Brooks Laich's second goal, a power play deflection.
    

9. Matt Cooke's goal that opened the scoring and the floodgates. Welcome to DC, Cookie.
   

8. Alex Ovechkin's second goal, on a nice feed from Nicklas Backstrom.
   

7. Matt Bradley's second goal - "The fans wanted [number ten], and I am a fan favorite, so I had to give them what they wanted."

6. Ovechkin's back-door power play goal, on a beautiful feed from Alex Semin.
   

5. Bradley's first goal, the one that sent Thomas to the bench the first time.
   

4. Donald Brashear's goal - every time an enforcer score, an angel gets its wings.
   

3. Speaking of wings, Laich's first goal meant free wings for all.
   

2. Backstrom's breakaway goal on a ridiculous pass from Ovechkin.
   

And the number one goal the Caps scored on Monday night...

1. Ovechkin's breakaway goal, his 50th of the year.
   

Now we can close the book on Monday night and look at what really seems like a "trap" game up in Boston. The Caps have to guard against both over-confidence (I've got the under on them scoring ten times on Saturday) and looking forward to the uber-hyped Sunday match-up with Pittsburgh. Without question, mental preparation for a reeling Bruins team will be of the utmost importance in determining whether the Caps come back from Beantown with two points or, well, "other." Coach 'em up, Gabby - this is a biggie.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

Happy 32nd Birthday, Chris Clark, and Happy B-Day to other former Caps Larry Murphy, Mike Lalor, Rob Zettler and Craig Johnson.... Golfer Ernie Els' son has autism, which is obviously sad, but the tiny silver lining is that it lends another very prominent voice to the long list of advocates for increased research into the disease, its causes and its cure.... Finally, one year ago today I yapped about how wonderful Google Reader is (and still is) and we looked at some awesome video of The Donald, and two years ago today we previewed that night's Caps/Pens game.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Patrik Elias (Game-winning OT goal, A, +2, 9 SOG, 11-for-19 faceoffs)
  
• Ross: Patrik Elias, Brent Burns, Ilya Kovalchuk, Joe Thornton, Brian Rolston (2 points each)
  
• Norris: Brent Burns (G, A, 4 SOG)
  
• Vezina: Mathieu Garon (W, 30 saves on 31 shots against)
  
• Richard: 18 players tied with 1G each
  
• Calder: Jonathan Toews (G, 3 SOG, 10-for-14 faceoffs)
  
• Aiken: Patrick Lalime (L, 3 goals allowed on 23 shots against)
  

Tuesday Roundup/Caps 10, B's 2

[AP Recap - Game Summary - Box Score - WashingtonCaps.com Postgame]

Tim Thomas's ownership of the Caps and Alex Ovechkin is officially over. Mind you, it's no bum that Caps torched - Thomas was second in the League in save percentage and tenth in GAA before last night. But while he's been a big dog on most nights this season - and throughout his career against the Caps - he was the fire hydrant last night. Some thoughts on the game:

• Ovechkin's 50th was gorgeous, but his second most impressive highlight was his homerun pass that Nicklas Backstrom converted to hit the double-digit goal mark.
• Quick recap of League leaders: the Caps have the League's leading scorer, leading goal-scorer, leading rookie scorer and leading defenseman goal-scorer. Damn.
• Zdeno Chara tried to change the momentum of the game by fighting Donald Brashear when the B's fell behind 2-0. It didn't work - it just created more room for Ovechkin, who scored his second with Big Z in the box. Oh, and Brash wanted absolutely nothing to do with actual knuckle chuckin' in that bout, and why would he? Shawn Thornton was more to his liking (sidenote: two fights, one goal... a Donald Brashear Hat Trick?).
  
• Matt Cooke, Matt Bradley and Brash all scored (Brads twice). That's a recipe for a win every time.
• Speaking of Cooke (who led the team with four hits), here's a coincidence for you - last night he had a goal and two helpers, five years to the day after he had two goals and a helper... also against Boston.
• The Caps got an astounding percentage of their attempted shots on goal - for the game, they were credited with 34 shots on and only seven that were blocked. That speaks to how lousy the Bruins were all night.
  
• Sergei Fedorov rocked the faceoff circle (11-for-16), but was minus-one on the night. So was Alex Semin. Brooks Laich, too, but he scored twice so we'll cut him some slack.
• Fedorov, Milan Jurcina and Boyd Gordon were the only Caps held off the scoresheet. If you have Feds on your fantasy team, this was a frustrating night.
  
• Eric Fehr had a quiet three assist night.
• Nice of Claude Julien to wear team colors for the nationally televised game. He didn't look much like a jackass, did he?
• Speaking of jackasses, someone should have run Marc Savard.
• Class move by Bruce Boudreau putting out who he did on those late power plays.
  

Hey, Carolina:


Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

On this date in 1999, Calle Johansson moved past Rod Langway on the Caps' all-time games played list when he played his 727th game for D.C. His 983 games played for the red, white and blue, black and bronze remains the franchise mark to this day.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Alexander Ovechkin (3G, including the game-winner, 2A, +3, 5 SOG)
  
• Ross: Alexander Ovechkin (5 points)
  
• Norris: Scott Niedermayer (G, A)
  
• Vezina: J.-S. Giguere (W, 24 saves on 25 shots against)
  
• Richard: Alexander Ovechkin (3G)
  
• Calder: Nicklas Backstrom (G, 3A, +3, 3 SOG)
  
• Aiken: Tim Thomas (L, 7 goals allowed on 24 shots against in just 36:30 of work... and he got pulled twice)
  

Wenesday Roundup/Habs 5, Caps 3Gamenight: Sharks @ Caps

[NHL.com Recap - NHL.com Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview]

If you take away the special teams goals and the empty-netter, the Caps outscored the Habs 2-0 last night. The problem, of course, is that all those goals count - all five of 'em. So the hole that the Caps dug themselves by committing six first period penalties (including some that would certainly qualify as "dumb") and allowing three first period powerplay goals against proved too much to overcome and the Caps fell 5-3 in Montreal.

On a positive note, Jamie Heward (a goal and 2 assists) and Richard Zednik (assist, +2) helped increase their trade value with strong games and Brian Sutherby scored his first goal since 1988 on a redirection of a Heward blast. In fact, the fourth line was a combined +6 and The Donald has now gone 18-straight games without being a minus player (has he been the team's best player over that span?). Also worth noting is that not once but twice the referees missed a Montreal high-stick (or elbow) that bloodied a Cap face (Shaone Morrisonn's and Matt Bradley's), but got the call right (or close enough to right) after talking to the linesmen. Kudos, Zebras.

On a negative note, Alex Ovechkin continues to struggle and offered this quote postgame:

"Maybe it's my fault. Because sometimes I have speed and I have puck and I go to the zone and I don't know what to do."

Maybe it is your fault, Alex. Then again, maybe it's the soul-crushing, excitement-stifling trap the team insists on playing that doesn't allow your teammates to join you on the rush. Is losing 3-2 rather than 5-4 really worth it?

Anyway, on to tonight and San Jose. I'll have more on tonight's game later, so check back throughout the day.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Tim Thomas (44-save shutout win)
• Ross: Michael Ryder, Paul Stastny, Daniel Briere, Saku Koivu, Mike Richards (3 points each)
  
• Norris: Jamie Heward (G, 2A, 3 SOG, 2 hits)
  
• Vezina: Tim Thomas (see above)
  
• Richard: Michael Ryder, Paul Stastny, Chris Higgins, Simon Gagne,Nathan Horton, Petr Sykora (2G each)
  
• Calder: Paul Stastny (2G, A, +1, 6 SOG)
  
• Aiken: Robert Esche (L, 4 goals allowed on 14 shots against in 22:25 of work)

Friday Roundup/Gamenight: Devils @ Caps

[NHL.com Preview - Vogel's WashingtonCaps.com Preview - Official Gameday Thread]

Caps fans, brace yourself for exciting neutral-zone-clogging action as the Devils are in town (I know, Shayne, three Cups, etc.). For their part, the Caps have picked a bad time to be banged up, as they embark on a stretch of seven games in 11 days (including a pair of games against the Devils and games against the Leafs, Sabres, Habs, Rangers and Coyotes as well). They got no favors last night from their Southeast Divisional cohorts, all of whom won, with Atlanta doing the Caps the bonus kick-in-the-chops of giving away a point to Kansas City Pittsburgh. Then again, you didn't expect a playoff run to be easy, did you?

With The Donald, John Erskine and Matt Bradley all presumably out of the lineup, watch for the team's toughness to be exhibited in ways other than raw pugilism. Either that or watch the Cam Janssens and Darcy Tuckers of the world take runs at AO for the next few nights - it's up to you, Brian Sutherby et. al. And with Chris Clark (possibly) and Bryan Muir (likely) also out, other guys will have to step up - with adversity comes opportunity - and now would be a good time for guys like Ben Clymer and Steve Eminger to shine and help lead the Caps to victory. If I may ask for one more present on this, the last night of Hannukah, it would be for Matt Pettinger to return to the scoresheet. Or this. But probably a couple of goals from Princess.

I'll have more later (workload permitting), but wanted to note that I went to my first practice yesterday morning out at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex at the Ballston Commons mall. I highly recommend checking it out if you get a chance, even if it means playing hooky from work some day. An interesting (to me) epilogue to that blurb is that I found myself behind Olie Kolzig driving home. He can't live more than five minutes from me in Potomac (though I resisted the urge to full-on stalk him all the way to his house) and drives one of the sweetest cars I've ever seen (a $100+K 2005 or 2006 Maserati Quattroporte).

Daily Awards

• Southeast Division Player of the Day: Ilya Kovalchuk (G, 2A, +1, 12 SOG)
• Hart: Tim Thomas (39-save shutout win)
• Ross: Ilya Kovalchuk, Jason Pominville (3 points each)
• Norris: Paul Ranger (GWG, A, +2, 2 SOG)
• Vezina: Tim Thomas (39-save shutout win)
• Richard: Jason Pominville, Ales Kotalik, Maxim Afinogenov (2G each)
• Calder: David Backes (G, +2, 4 SOG)
• Aiken: Chris Mason (L, 5 goals allowed on 26 shots against in 39:52 of work)