Capitals Vs Maple Leafs 12/06/2008 Review

Boyd Gordon hits Jason Blake in third period on December 6, 2008.
Photo by Chris Young / Associated Press / Canadian Press

Capitals 2 - Maple Leafs 1

In contrast to many previous games between the Washington Capitals and the Toronto Maple Leafs, this was a low scoring win for the Capitals in their first match against the Leafs this season. It was the Caps first road win, after having lost four straight.

Both Washington and Toronto have given up a lot of first period goals this season, but neither team scored anything more than a few penalty minutes to start this game. The Caps, who are also good at scoring in the first, did outshoot the Leafs 14-6. However, that technically only brought them two good scoring chances.

Most of the entertaining play of this game happened in the second period. About a minute and a half into the period, Sean Collins (AHL callup replacing injured defenseman Tyler Sloan) sent the puck into the offensive zone for the Caps. Soon after, Karl Alzner intercepted a clearing attempt. Alzner then sent a hard slapshot past netminder Vesa Toskala, for his first NHL goal. Though the scoresheet shows the goal unassisted, Alex Ovechkin helped out by screening the goalie as Alzner released his shot. At the end of the period, Ovechkin provided the most exciting play of the game, though once again without putting a point on the scoresheet. While driving the net and being hooked down (with no call by the refs), Alex somehow got off a hard shot while on his belly. Toskala's glove save wasn't the easiest to make. As in the first, Washington's goalie Brent Johnson only had to make six stops. Unlike in the first, the shots came from a little closer in and weren't so easy either.

To start off the third period, Referee Tim Peel seemed to be picking on Ovechkin with two consecutive penalty calls. The second one (holding) was a legitimate one though. With Ovie in the penalty box, the Leafs got their one goal by Nik Antropov, after a nice overlap drop pass move by Matt Stajan. The Capitals answered back exactly one minute later when, set up by a pass from Michael Nylander at the side wall, Milan Jurcina slapped a bomb through traffic and into the net. Alzner also picked up an assist on the play.

Along with Brent Johnson's 19 saves, it was the defense providing secondary scoring and protecting the Caps' net that won this game for Washington. One of those D men, Karl Alzner provided his first NHL career multi-point game. Tonight's game in Raleigh, NC against the Hurricanes will probably be a little tougher to win with only two goals.

Maple Leafs Vs Capitals 01/24/2008 Review

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Maple Leafs 1 - Capitals 2

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It was the Toronto Maple Leafs' first visit to the home of the Washington Capitals this season. After losing to the Leafs on the previous evening, the Capitals were determined to beat Toronto in this third meeting of the four game season series. They did it too. With Brent Johnson in net and a resigned forward Donald Brashear skating the ice.

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About 8 1/2 minutes into the game, Washington's Alexander Semin got his usual first period penalty out of the way with a holding call. The penalty came with a freak accident, as Darcy Tucker was innocently skating by (well, as innocently as Tucker can anyway) and got clipped in the face by Andy Wozniewski's stick as he was being held by Semin. It was the Capitals who would score the game's only Power Play goal though. With one second left on the man advantage, Brooks Laich redirected an Alexander Ovechkin rebound in at 13:05. That makes Brooks' 8th goal of the season, which came during his 200th game as a Washington Capital, and his 201st in the NHL.

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Nobody scored in the second period, as both the Leafs' Vesa Toskala and Caps' Brent Johnson continued to turn away all shots fired on net. Johnny was playing particularly well. The game was looking like it would be a second consecutive low scoring game between these two teams, and it was.

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The Capitals had some good scoring chances in the first few minutes of the third period, but it was the Maple Leafs who got on the board about five minutes in. Boyd Devereaux deflected a long range Pavel Kubina shot, and Johnson had no chance of keeping it out of the net. But, just 36 seconds later, Viktor Kozlov got his ninth goal of the season. He was right in front of the net, when another Alex Ovechkin shot rebounded right to him. Toskala wasn't able to recover in time to block it, as Kozzy put it in the wide open short side. It's great to see him starting to score goals regularly. No more goals were needed for the Cap's to win this one. Throughout the rest of the game, with a little questionable officiating (as usual) aside, some good defensive play by Milan Jurcina (that's right!), Jeff Schultz (I swear!), and the rest of the guys, Washington held on for the win. .

The win makes three home games in a row for Brent Johnson, who handed his game stick over the glass to a Caps fan, after the game. He was so on in this game, I'm anxious to see the next game with Johnny minding the net. The Caps go into the All Star break, just one point out of first place in the Southeast Division. I don't usually like this team to get too much time off, but it will give them all a chance to heal. We Capitals fans, can celebrate a little while we're waiting for the next game.

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All Photos - AP / Evan Vucci

Capitals Vs Maple Leafs 01/23/2008 Review

Photo: AP / The Canadian Press - Frank Gunn

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Capitals 2 - Leafs 3

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This was only the second time these teams have faced each other so far this season. The last time was also at Air Canada Centre, way back on October 29, 2007. The Washington Capitals, along with the team's former head coach Glen Hanlon, clobbered the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-1. This was the Caps' first visit while led by former Leaf and current head coach Bruce Boudreau. Bruce got to catch up with a lot of old mates while on this trip back. He probably bought a few tickets for family and friends to see this game.

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About six minutes into the first period, Alexander Ovechkin knocked down Tomas Kaberle. Leaf's Pavel Kubina got up in Ovie's grill. It wasn't much of a fight. But, it made me nervous that Kubina had a stick in the fist he was swinging with. No penalties were called. At 7:12, Chad Kilger deflected the puck past Washington's Olie Kolzig for the first goal. Just seconds later, the Capitals got their first Power Play when Toronto's Hal Gill was called for holding. However, they didn't get anything past netminder Vesa Toskala. Caps' Steve Eminger was later called for boarding. Maybe he misjudged the distance, when he pushed Leafs' Alexei Ponikarovsky into the wall. It looked like a shoulder injury, and Ponikarovsky would not return to the game. Washington's John Erskine however, spent the game putting nice, clean but heavy hits on Leafs throughout the game. Donald Brashear joined teammate Erskine in giving particular attention to Darcy Tucker. Tucker was introduced to the ice at least three times in the first period.

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Photo: AP / The Canadian Press - Frank Gunn

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The second period started off with Toskala temporarily losing his stick, but still making a save. Both goalies were very sharp in this game. But, nobody has stopped Alex Ovechkin from getting at least one goal in each of the last six games. Alex tied the score with his 39th goal of the season. Washington's Steve Eminger was making his presence known. At one point, he was in a corner playing the puck with one hand on his stick, while down on his knees and being hooked. The hook went uncalled. With a little over a minute left in the period, Caps' Mike Green went down, losing the puck. The Leafs' Alex Steen put the puck in the net, while Toronto's Nik Antropov rolled over Kolzig with no interference call. The period ended with the Cap's behind by one.

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For those of us watching the game on CSN-DC+, we were shown some old video footage of Cap's head coach Boudreau playing in a game as a Maple Leaf during the second intermission. Pretty neat, watching the old boy score a goal.

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A couple minutes into the third, Mike Green skated in reverse, putting a Rob Blake (one of my personal favorite players) style hit on Toronto's Jason Blake . The Capitals and the Leafs exchanged a few more penalties in the third. But, neither team scored a single PP goal in the entire game. Alexander Semin took a pass from David Steckel and drove to the net. He deked around a defender and backhanded the puck to the back of the net. Alex was upended by Toskala on the way by the net. But, he was all smiles as he got back up. A few seconds after play resumed, Semin got a good chance to put the Cap's ahead. But, the puck didn't get through. With less than 30 seconds left in regulation, the Leaf's Mats Sundin sent the game winner under a sprawling Olie Kolzig. Kolzig had been solid all night, but wasn't quite able to recover from the previous save in time to stop Sundin from getting his 409th career goal.

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Photo: Getty Images - Dave Sanford

The Capitals win streak ends at four games, and they finally lost a game in Canada. Washington will get another shot at the Maple Leafs tomorrow night, when the Leaf's pay their first visit this season to Verizon Center in Washington, DC.