Canadiens Vs Capitals 11/28/2008 Review

David Steckel celebrates goal on Jaroslav Halak with Brooks Laich.

Canadiens 0 - Capitals 3

Jose Theodore earned his first shutout as a goaltender for the Washington Capitals, when the Caps beat his original NHL team at home last night. The fact that almost half the team now consists of AHL talent callups from the Hershey Bears didn't keep Washington from blanking the mighty Montreal Canadiens.

Montreal only managed six shots on goal in the first period. It wasn't until 8:43, that Alexie Kovalev found the net with a long range wrist shot. One of Washington's nine shots on goal in the first was a close range wrister from Tomas Fleischmann that not only found the net, it found the back of the net. The play started with an incredibly bad choice by Canadien Francis Bouillon, when he tried to send off an outlet pass from behind his own net. Fleischmann got a stick on it near the front of the net and passed the puck to nearby Michael Nylander. Nylander sent the puck back to Flash, who put it past netminder Jaroslav Halak for his ninth goal of the season.

Montreal outshot Washington 13-9 in the second period, with neither team managing to score a goal. One of the more interesting things that happened in the middle frame was another Montreal mistake. It happened when Higgens missed his intended hit target. Instead, he plowed into a linesman, sending him into the Canadiens' bench. The linesman was fine and was helped back onto the ice without any stoppage in play. These funny little incidents happen from time to time.

Alex Ovechkin celebrates goal with Nicklas Backstrom.

Less than four minutes into the third period, Nicklas Backstrom passed the puck from the sidewall in the offensive zone to Alex Ovechkin in the corner. Ovechkin collected the puck and drove to the front of the goal, where he sent it in for his 13th goal of the season. At 8:46, David Steckel deflected a long range shot by Sami Lepisto for the third and final goal. Also assisting on number four of the season for Steckel, was Brooks Laich.

Both goalies were solid in net throughout this game. Both teams have injured regular players at the moment, but the Capitals have twice as many out of action. With that, most weren't expecting much and have to be pleased with the way the replacements have done in their absence. Ovechkin now has at least a point in 10 straight games. That's currently the longest streak in the NHL. The Caps are the first team to shut out the Canadiens this season. Hopefully, the AHL callups can keep up their good play for a few more games, while some of the injured regulars get closer to being ready to come back. The Capitals will face the Blue Jackets in Columbus, Ohio tonight.

November 28, 2008 Photos by Nick Wass / Associated Press

Thrashers Vs Capitals 03/14/2008 Review

Thrashers 1 - Capitals 4

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With the win against the Atlanta Thrashers, the Washington Capitals moved up one notch in the Eastern Conference standings. They're now just three points behind the eighth place Philadelphia Flyers, and five points behind the Southeast Division leading Carolina Hurricanes. The Thrashers are currently the 14th place team in the East, and looked like they're about ready to give up. The Capitals however, looked like they are determined to make the playoffs.

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The Capitals started putting the pressure on early in the first, and they kept it up all night long. That's a pretty good sign that they've learned how to win, and what it's going to take to stay in the running. But, it was Atlanta's Slava Kozlov that scored first. The Thrashers' only goal of the game came right after a hooking penalty on Caps' defenseman Shaone Morrisonn expired. About three minutes later, Washington answered back with a goal that came right after a hooking penalty by Thrashers' forward Mark Recchi expired. Capitals' Viktor Kozlov gained control of the puck behind Atlanta's net. He sent a pass to Alex Ovechkin, who deflected the puck to Brooks Laich. With goalie Kari Lehtonen already down on the ice, Laich sent his wrist shot over Lehtonen's left shoulder for his 18th goal of the season. As usual, the officiating could've been better in this game. But, it wasn't so bad that you would say it even came close to changing the outcome. Late in the first, there was an offside that seemed to be called before any Capitals' skate hit the blue line. With 5.1 seconds left in period one, Ovechkin was called for interference. He had raised both arms to give the referees a clear view of Jim Slater's arm that was wrapped around him. I guess the ref who made the call was confused by Ovie's arm raising, and thought he was trying to confess something. "There...there now, young man. Just step into the box 'n tell me everythin'."

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Just over two minutes into the second period, Brooks Laich got his second goal of the game. Atlanta's rookie defenseman Tobias Enstrom slid toward the goal mouth, strattled the right post and dislodged the net with his crotch (ouwie!). After a totally unnecessary eternity, the video review judge agreed with the official that had immediately signaled that it was in fact a goal. I think the guys reviewing the goal are probably a little sadistic, and they just kept rewinding, so that they could see Enstrom bang into the post over and over again. For his part in the play, Sami Lepisto got his first NHL assist. The Cap's kept up the pressure through the second. Lepisto almost got his first NHL goal, as he rang goal pipe. I sure thought it went in, at first. The goal horn was even sounded for a second. Well, he can save it for a time when it's needed. It was around this point in the game that the ref's missed a few more calls on Atlanta. Mike Green had taken a stick to the face a couple times, and was knocked down without the puck at this point in the game. No whistles on those plays. But, at 14:08 Washington's Donald Brashear got two minutes for interference. Not fare, but it didn't matter. Just 33 seconds after play resumed, the puck was in the back of Atlanta's net, anyway. Sergei Fedorov stripped the puck from a Thrasher and fed it to Matt Cooke. The speedy Cooke zipped down the ice and sent in the shorthanded goal between the pads of Lehtonen, putting the Capitals ahead by two. About a minute later, the Cap's almost got another goal while still on the penalty kill. Sergei Fedorov and Matt Bradley ended up with a 2 on 1 breakaway, but Bradley's wrist shot from 17 feet out didn't get through Lehtonen. Right at the end of the second period, Atlanta's Ilia Kovalchuck tried to get his team fired up by trying to pick a fight. Turns out, he was just wasting his time.

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At 1:03 into the third period, former Cap Ken Klee put Washington back on the power play with a hooking call. At 1:07, Alex Ovechkin scored the Caps' fourth goal of the game, right off the draw. Fedorov won the faceoff, sending the puck to Green. Mike got the puck to Ovechkin, who immediately put it in net for his 57th goal of the season. A very pissed off Kari Lehtonen, slammed both his fists into his pads. A little while later, Ovie rang one off the post with a very hard shot. Washington was leading by three goals, but it's a bad idea to be satisfied with that. In the end, it was plenty this time.

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Washington outshot Atlanta 37 to 12 in this game. Olie Kolzig had to feel pretty lonely in front of his net. If the Thrashers didn't have such an amazing goalie as Lehtonen guarding their net, they could easily have lost by twice as much. Between Eric Perrin's wrister at 6:44 in the first and Joel Kwiatkowski's wrist shot at 4:55 in the second period, Atlanta went 18:11 without recording a shot on goal. That's not going to put you on the road to the Stanley Cup. Both, Atlanta's offense and defense let them down in this game. The Capitals however, got a very good performance from their entire team. We've every reason to believe that Washington is a serious contender.

All Photos - Nick Wass / AP

Capitals Vs Lightning 02/16/2008

. Capitals 3 - Lightning 2

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The Washington Capitals finished off their southeast father & son roadtrip with a win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay's goaltender Johan Holmqvist was very sharp. But, Washington's Olie Kolzig was even better, carrying a shutout all the way to just over four minutes left in the game. "Olie The Goalie" had 39 saves overall. Also, after being called up from the Hershey Bears for a second time, Capitals defenseman Sami Lepisto got his NHL debut.

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This was a more free flowing game than the one against the Florida Panthers the previous evening, making it much easier to watch. However, Alexander Ovechkin was still unable to score a goal. Tampa Bay didn't keep three or four players around him like the Panthers, but they didn't exactly let him roam completely free either.

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The first period went by fairly quickly. There wasn't a penalty called until the period was more than half way over. All three penalties were called on the Lightning. The second was a delay of game, for sending the puck over the glass at 15:51. During this man advantage, Washington got the first goal of the game. Alexander Semin was speeding deep into the Lightning's end, when he spun around and showing great patience, held on to the puck for a couple seconds before sending a perfect no look pass across the top of the crease to a driving Tomas Fleischmann, who backhanded the puck past Holmqvist. That makes a goal in two straight games for Flash, and his eighth of the season. Shortly before the end of the period, Washington netminder Kolzig ended up in an interesting position. He stood over the puck which layed a couple inches from the restricted area for a couple seconds, before successfully clearing it out of the area. It was obvious he knew exactly what he was doing. But, that's the kind of moment when you expect something to go horribly wrong. Nothing bad happened. The period ended with the Cap's leading 1-0.

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The Lightning tend to outscore their opponents in the second period. They did out shoot the Cap's 24-12. But, Tampa Bay were held scoreless, mostly by the exceptional goaltending of Olie Kolzig. Washington's Matt Bradley got the period's only penalty, when he was given two minutes for slashing at 18:17.

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The third period moved along briskly as well. At 6:08, Cap's rookie forward David Steckel sent the puck past a diving Holmqvist for his fifth NHL goal. Four of Steckel's goals have come against the Lightning. He now has a total of six points in seven career games vs Tampa Bay. Less than two minutes later, Tampa Bay's Vinny Prospal bounced one in off of Olie's skate. The chance for a shutout ending with just 4:11 left in the game. Just 33 seconds later, Jan Hlavac deflected in a shot from Filip Kuba, making the score 2-2. You can imagine the fans were getting a little excited at this point, as the Lightning had come back and tied the game with 3:38 left on the clock. But thankfully, Alex Semin tipped in a rebound 38 seconds later. Olie Kolzig and the Capitals held off the Lightning the last three minutes for the win.

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With all the end to end play, the great goaltending, the Lightning evening the score late in the game, and then Semin getting the game winning goal with time running out, this was a truely fun game to watch. What a nice way to end the road trip.

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Photo 1, 2 and 4 by Bruce Bennett / AP

Photo 3 by Mike Carlson / AP