Saturday Caps Clips: Trouble Bruin

Your savory breakfast links:

• Previews of today's matinee with the bruisin' Bruins from Vogs, NHL.com, WashTimes, AP and Peerless, and be sure to check in with our SB Nation pals over at Stanley Cup of Chowder for more from the other side of today's match-up.
• Notes and assorted whatnot from yesterday's practice:
  • After arriving in Boston, the boys took to the ice at a slightly different venue than usual - Agganis Arena, home of the Boston University Terriers (and former stomping ground of Tom Poti). [Caps OT(and again), @VogsCaps, CSNW, and for more on the Poti/BU connex, College Hockey, Inc.]
  • The Caps have tried a number of different options alongside Alex Ovechkin on the top line. The latest headed into today's game? Aaron Volpatti. That is not a typo. [WaPo, WashTimes]
  • As injuries continue to decimate the Caps' defense, Steven Oleksy continues to step to the forefront, stepping up to fill the void in just his second week as an NHLer. [WaPo, WashTimes]
• Adam Oates and Ovechkin continue to build their relationship, one based on trust and mutual respect. [WaPo]
• A few leftover thoughts and notes from Thursday's big win, including more on Ovechkin's huge milestone goal. [CapsOT, CSNW, WaPo, WashTimes, NHL.com, THW, NewsObserver, Shutdown Line, Canes Country]
• This weekend kicks off the roughest stretch of the schedule (...wait, that was the easier part??) for the Caps, as they play six of their next seven - and seven of their next eleven - away from Verizon Center. [Dump 'n Chase]
• What does the future hold for ol' Michal Neuvirth? [RtR]
• Down on the farm:
  • It's a big weekend across the organization, as the seventh-place Bears host Adirondack and Bridgeport before playing 11 of their final 14 on the road. [PennLive]
  • The newest member of the squad, Chay Genoway, joined his team for practice yesterday, providing what was likely a very welcome body on the blue line. [PennLive]
  • The Bears are within reach of a pretty impressive attendance mark, as they inch closer to an average of 10,000 fans per game. [PennLive (and again)
• Chuck Gormley takes your questions (and answers them, too!) [CSNW]
• At the midway point of the season, a former Caps' coach is in the Jack Adams conversation and a current Caps' GM is seen as being on the hot seat. [SI.com]
• Check out this beautiful game-winning goal by Filip Forsberg and dream of the day he'll be doing that in a pretty red Caps jersey. [RMNB]
• And finally, happy 42nd birthday to David Harlock, happy 53rd to Roger Crozier, happy 31st to Louis Robitaille and happy 35th to Brian Willsie.

The Noon Number: 9

The Noon Number: 9 - Number of players in NHL history who have tallied at least 349 goals and 352 assists over their first eight seasons in the League, eight of whom are in the Hall of Fame. Here's the list, chronologically, with totals through eight seasons:

Player	GP	G	A	P
Guy Lafleur	603	355	461	816
Mike Bossy	609	474	454	928
Wayne Gretzky	632	543	977	1520
Michel Goulet	607	366	364	730
Jari Kurri	600	397	451	848
Dale Hawerchuk	634	353	495	848
Mario Lemieux	517	408	606	1014
Luc Robitaille	640	392	411	803
Alex Ovechkin	579	349	352	701

Jesus, Wayne.

Of further note, per Elias:

Alex Ovechkin's score-tying power play goal early in the third period of the Capitals' game at Carolina was the 700th point of his NHL career (349 goals, 351 assists). Ovechkin reached the 700-point mark in his 579th game, the fastest that any NHL player has done so since October 2003, when Peter Forsberg hit that milestone in his 549th game. Only two active players other than Ovechkin needed fewer than 600 games to accumulate 700 career points: Teemu Selanne (541) and Jaromir Jagr (557).

Source on today's Number: HockeyReference.com

Capitals vs. Hurricanes: Game 26 of 48

A third period comeback gives Washington a rare road win

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Next Game

Washington Capitals
@ Carolina Hurricanes

Thursday, Mar 14, 2013, 7:00 PM EDT
PNC Arena

Thursday Caps Clips: Caps @ Canes Game Day

• Previews of the windy rematch with the 'Canes from Vogs, NHL.com, AP, WaPo, WashTimes and Peerless, and be sure to check out our SB Nation partners over at Canes Country for more from the other side of tonight's match-up.

The Noon Number: 124:08

Complete Coverage >

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Tonight's probable netminders:

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	GP	MIN	W	L	O	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
Michal Neuvirth	8	422	1	4	1	21	2.98	191	170	.890	0
Dan Ellis	8	392	4	2	0	17	2.60	216	199	.921	1

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Keep up with the latest Caps-related Tweets right here:

Look for updates in this story stream throughout the evening, including tonight's lines, new open threads for each period, and more.

And of course... have at it, people.

Recap: Caps 3, Hurricanes 2

[GameCenter - Ice Tracker - Game Summary - Event Summary - Shot Summary - Faceoff Summary - Play-by-Play - Home TOI - Visitor TOI - Head-to-Head - Fenwick/Corsi - Fenwick Timeline]

When the Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead early in the first, there’s a chance that the Caps started to think "oh, no, not again"... because admit it, that’s what all of us were thinking, too.

But if they did, they didn’t let that thought linger for very long. And somewhere around the halfway mark of the first period, they started to take the game to the Hurricanes, getting goals from sources both likely and unlikely, picking up a milestone for the captain, and making sure that Carolina wouldn't embarrass them a second time.

Ten more notes on the game:

• Thanks to yet another sluggish start (sound familiar?) the Caps found themselves in a two-goal hole just over eight minutes in. It took less than two minutes for Carolina to break the shutout, as Alexander Semin somehow ended up wide open in the slot...and as the Caps (and Caps fans) well know by now, the last person you want left wide open in the slot is Semin.
• Already down by two, it went from bad to worse very quickly when Jeff Skinner got tangled up with Tomas Kundratek behind the net and landed on the defenseman’s leg. Kundratek would leave the game, adding yet another name to the growing list of injured defensemen and leaving the Caps with five guys on the blue line for the rest of the night. Wonder if FedEx can overnight a defenseman.
• The Caps haven’t scored a goal in Raleigh in a year and a half... so of course the first one they get would be a Joey Crabb-from-Aaron Volpatti goal, right? We all saw that coming? Um, sure. But seriously, nice work along the boards by Volpatti to chip the puck in; better work to find Crabb driving to the front of the net and cut the Carolina lead in half.
• The loss of Kundratek didn’t just impact the pairings, causing Karl Alzner and John Carlson to bounce around like ping pong balls - it also meant that someone needed to make up for the lost ice time. That job, surprisingly enough, initially fell to Steven Oleksy, who racked up close to twenty minutes through the first two periods alone. No offense to Steve, but thankfully the time eventually got spread around a little more, with Carlson finishing just twenty seconds shy of Oleksy in ice time by the end of the game.
• Just over a minute into the third period, it was a whole new ballgame as the Caps put together some beautiful passing on the power play (with a little luck and a little help from a Dan Ellis pokecheck gone awry), got the puck to the captain, and just like that it was all tied up at two. And oh by the way, that goal also marked the 700th career point for Alex Ovechkin. Congrats, captain!
• How great was Eric Fehr tonight? Excellent chances, good speed, strength and hands... if there is a bright spot to this season, it’s unquestionably Fehr’s elevated play.
• We understand that referees are human, the game is fast, mistakes are made and a guy falling in an awkward way usually means bad things... but after watching several replays of the "boarding" call on Crabb, you really have to wonder just what game the refs were watching. Luckily the Caps killed it off (and even drew a penalty) so no harm, no foul, but still.
• This wasn’t the first time, and likely won’t be the last, but this was really two games in one as the Caps were thoroughly dominated through the opening ten minutes and then suddenly shifted gears. At times they dominated; at others just matched the division leaders shift for shift, but they battled back and showed great resiliency when they had all the excuses in the world not to.
• Has there been an uglier goal than the one Mike Ribeiro would eventually be credited with scoring late in the third? It started with a breakaway by - who else? - Alex Ovechkin, who seemed to lose control of the puck at the last minute. His shot skittered along the goal line, between the skates of a flailing Dan Ellis, before Ribeiro arrived to make sure the puck crossed the line. And we mean just crossed the line. Close call on that one, but if the goal review gods (they totally exist) were going to smile down on the Caps, this was a good time for them to do so.
• ...and then it was breath-holding time again, because if the Caps have any shot whatsoever at stumbling into a playoff spot, they can’t hand out points to a team they’re trying to chase. With their goalie pulled Carolina piled on the shots, but Michal Neuvirth stood tall, even as a late-game penalty on Nicklas Backstrom made it more interesting. Because boring is boring, guys.

Full credit to the Caps for finally finding a little energy, some goal-scoring ability, some timely goaltending and a win when they desperately needed it.

The hill may still be too tall to climb at this point in the season... but folding eight minutes in and ceding a win to the Hurricanes would have been disastrous. And no one wants to call the season just yet.

Game highlights:

Tonight's Lines: Ovechkin, Backstrom Reunited; Poti Returns; Perreault, Wolski Sit

Per Stephen Whyno, Adam Oates has shuffled his lines (see below), and Mathieu Perreault and Wojtek Wolski will be back up in the press box tonight with Joey Crabb and Aaron Volpatti drawing back in, while Tom Poti appears to be good to go, sending Cameron Schilling upstairs. So expect the lines and defensive pairings in front of Michal Neuvirth (making his first start in over a month) to look like this:

Matt Hendricks – Nicklas Backstrom – Alex Ovechkin

Eric Fehr – Marcus Johansson – Troy Brouwer

Jason Chimera – Mike Ribeiro – Joel Ward

Aaron Volpatti – Jay Beagle – Joey Crabb

Karl Alzner – Tomas Kundratek

Jeff Schultz - John Carlson

Tom Poti – Steve Oleksy

That leaves John Erskine, Mike Green, Brooks Laich and Jack Hillen all out with injuries, and Perreault, Wolski and Schilling out healthy.

Friday Caps Clips: Rebound in Raleigh

Your savory breakfast links:

• Recaps and other assorted musings on last night's win from us, Monumental video (Oates, Ovechkin, players), Vogs, NHL.com, WaPo, WashTimes (gamer, blog), CSNW (AP, Joe B.), PHT, Frankovic, Peerless, Sick Unbelievable, DSP, RtR and RMNB, and for the view from the other side, the Canes and Canes Country.
  
  • For the second time in the past week, the Caps found themselves playing with five defensemen for most of the night after losing Tomas Kundratek to a leg injury early on, the prognosis on which doesn't sound good. [WaPo, WashTimes]
  • Congrats to The Captain on point number 700 (and 701). Here's to the next 700. [Capitals Voice, RMNB, DC Pro Sports Report, @tom_wilso]
    
  • Quick! To Twitter! [RMNB]
  • Nicklas Backstrom haz teh fancy ice shoez. [Capitals Outsider]
• Notes and assorted whatnot from yesterday's morning skate and pre-game goings-on. [Monumental video (Two-Man Advantage, Oates, Brouwer, Hendricks, Chimera), Dump n' Chase, WaPo, WashTimes, CSNW]
• Realignmaniat! Meet the new division, same as the old division. [Capitals, Monumental video (Leonsis, Caps players), Puck Daddy (and again), WaPo (and again), WashTimes (and again), CSNW (and again), Backhand Shelf]
• Mike Ribeiro is drawing rave reviews for his... leadership and maturity? How about that. [NHL.com]
• On the importance of Brooks Laich. [Capitals Outsider]
• Braden Holtby has been... not the Caps biggest problem. So there's that. [Backhand Shelf]
• The Caps made a couple of depth moves yesterday, sending Kevin Marshall to Toronto for forward Nicolas Deschamps... [Capitals, Patriot-News Hockey Prospectus, PPP (and again)]
• ... and trading a pick to Minny for defenseman Chay Genoway. [Capitals, Patrtiot-News, CSNW, DCEx, SHoE]
• More from up the road in Hershey. [Patriot-News]
• Filip Forsberg does things. [Hockeysverige (video)]
• Finally, happy 32nd birthday to Tyler Sloan, happy 30th to David Steckel, happy 34th to J.F. Fortin, and happy 60th to Blair Stewart.

Capital Ideas: Week 8

Johansson's concussion, Ovechkin's milestone, lineup decisions, injured defensemen and more in this week's edition of Capital Ideas - debate, discuss, enjoy!

1. Concussions are tricky animals, tough to detect even when the player is forthcoming (let alone when he tries to "fight through it") and requiring an over-abundance of caution. Case in point: Marcus Johansson. We all remember him laughing off his collision with Alex Ovechkin at training camp and going on to play the first nine games of the season. When he started missing games, Adam Oates said it was unrelated and Johansson was a bit tight-lipped about it after starting to skate again. Then comes word it was indeed a concussion sidelining him, that perhaps he'd sustained it when he and his captain had knocked noggins and that he'd even hidden how he was feeling.
   
   Could the team have handled it all differently? Maybe. But players have to do their part, and that means being honest with themselves and their team's medical staff - using their brains when it comes to protecting their brains.
2. The next two weeks will likely be filled with debate over whether the Caps should hang on to Mike Ribeiro and attempt to re-sign him over the summer (or sooner), or try to move him and his expiring contract out at the trade deadline for some kind of return. A potential red flag is his recent run of unsportsmanlike penalties for basically mouthing off to the referees. Based on salary and age, he'd be looked upon as a leader in the room - and to be fair, does seem to be cultivating a good reputation as just that - but is he really someone the Caps want in that kind of role going forward, particularly as they try and change the culture of the team? Perhaps, perhaps not.
3. Another potential consideration is Ribeiro's contract, which includes a limited no-trade clause that allows him to provide a list of ten teams to which he won't accept a trade. The question is, when does he have to do so? A certain date each year? At the team's request (i.e. maybe now)? That could have a huge impact on where - or even if - he's traded.
4. We all know that Sidney Crosby is having a great start to the season, with 47 points in 28 games to lead the League. That hot run by Sid certainly makes you sentimental for 2009-10, though, when Ovechkin had at least 47 points over a 28-game stretch 23 times (obviously with a lot of overlap, but still), 22 of which took place during the 09-10 campaign, the most recent stretch ending on March 20, 2010. He never had fewer than 18 goals over that stretch, and topped out at 54 points twice (22G, 32A).
5. Those heady days of red-hot offensive production may be gone, but the greatness remains - in flashes, maybe, but it's there, and was on full display last night when he finally picked up career point #700. What made it extra special was that he did so exactly when the team needed him to, scoring the huge game-tying goal against Carolina - and it was especially nice to see that goal (and an all-around strong game) from Ovechkin after getting beaten up in the press a bit over the last few days, wasn't it?
6. "Overheard" on Twitter bonus - a few current and future teammates gave the big man a shout-out for his milestone:

Ovechkin with his 700th career point tonight. Amongst all the criticism, no doubt still one of the best players in the league #respect

— Tom Wilson (@tom_wilso) March 15, 2013

Also a huge congrats 2 @ovi8 hitting the 700 point mark but making it 701 a few minutes just 2make sure the milestone was reached. #Respect

— Steven Oleksy (@StevenOleksy) March 15, 2013

7. There's no question that the Caps are lacking in forward depth at the moment, especially with Brooks Laich still on the shelf, but it is rather puzzling that Adam Oates continues to choose Joey Crabb and Aaron Volpatti over Wojtek Wolski and Mathieu Perreault. Neither Crabb nor Volpatti is logging big minutes, neither one is getting power play or penalty kill minutes, and neither is putting up much in the way of offense (well... until last night, of course). So why give grinders a sweater when you've got a couple of offensively-minded guys in street clothes? 'Tis a puzzlement.
8. After last night's win, the Caps are now 11-2-0 when scoring three or more goals, 0-11-1 when scoring two or fewer. Not surprising that more goals equals more wins, but two things stick out there. First of all, how evenly split is this season between wins and losses? The up and down is enough to make you sick. And secondly, while it's great that the Caps tend to win when scoring at least three goals, they need to figure out how to win the 1-0 or 2-1 games as well... looking at you, too, Braden and Michal.
9. The NHL presented it, the NHLPA voted on it, and yesterday the Board of Governors approved it, making it official: realignment is a go, effective at the start of the 2013-14 season. With the new divisional layout, the Caps will return to their roots a bit, joining up with old Patrick Division foes (essentially the current Atlantic Division) along with Carolina and Columbus. Those former rivals are still some of the best and most intense match-ups for the Caps - and their fans - so it should be an entertaining shift. If the Caps don't improve over the summer, however, it might be a painful one at first, too... especially if the invading hordes from Pittsburgh, Philly and New York show up en masse as they're prone to do.
10. Since the Southeast Division was born, the Caps' division rivals have combined for two Stanley Cups and a record of 1758-1867-257-404 - a .487 points percentage. Over that same span, the Caps' new division rivals have a record of 3469-2998-411-605, a .531 points percentage, and four Stanley Cups (although Carolina's Cup is included in both). In other words... we'll miss you, Southeast Division.
11. It's been a rough season for the Caps' blueline, and it just got rougher last night, as Tomas Kundratek left the game with a leg injury and is awaiting an MRI to determine the extent of the injury. Here's hoping that it's not that bad, because the Hershey well is starting to run a little dry. Heal up quickly, Dmitry Orlov.
12. Speaking of Hershey defensemen, the wheel o' blueliners continued to spin earlier this week as Cameron Schilling got the call and made his NHL debut on Tuesday. Say what you will about the organizational depth at defense (or lack thereof) but the guys who have stepped in - Kundratek, Oleksy and now Schilling - have hardly looked out of place and in fact have been some of the team's more solid performers night to night.
13. Coming into last night's game, the Hurricanes were 8-0-1 when scoring first and 11-0-0 when leading after two periods. You're welcome, Carolina!
14. "Overheard" on Twitter, Part 1 - Some of the boys enjoy a night out in Raleigh:

@wojtekwolski86 @brookslaich @tbrouwer20 @greenlife52 @backstrom19 after sushi in carolina...now going to movie! twitter.com/ovi8/status/31…

— Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) March 14, 2013

15. "Overheard" on Twitter, Part 2 - John Carlson pokes a little fun at his pint-sized buddy:

Great win for the @washcaps. Check out this picture yesterday, Matty P got some new furniture. twitter.com/JohnCarlson74/…

— John Carlson (@JohnCarlson74) March 15, 2013