Capitals vs. Islanders Non-Recap Recap

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Coming off a huge comeback win against Boston and a throttling of Florida, the Caps took to the ice on Saturday against the Islanders with two things in their corner: momentum and confidence. But as soon as the puck dropped at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, what the Caps had done earlier in the week mattered little - what mattered was leaving with two points. Then again, these Caps are still very much a work in progress, and while they desperately need to gain ground in the standings if they want any realistic shot at making the postseason, the process - playing the "right" way within Adam Oates's system - is perhaps more critical even at this juncture, and certainly in the long-run. To that end, the Caps can be pleased about some of the things they did on Saturday, but can't be wholly satisfied... because if they're ever satisfied in March, they might as well call it a season right then and there. So let's put aside the result for a minute and focus elsewhere.

Ten more notes on the game:

• Both teams entered the afternoon with ten wins and 11 regulation losses, so the winner would end the day with a .500 points percentage on the season. In a tight Eastern Conference race, that's a significant milestone, and it was clear early on that at least one of the teams wanted to reach that mark badly.
• Two of the top point-scoring pivots in the League faced off in this one in John Tavares and Mike Ribeiro. Not sure I'd have predicted that a month-and-a-half ago.

Alright, you caught us. The fates conspired against us today and we're unable to recap that [awesome/awful/meh] game. So it's on you guys - everyone give us one bullet in the comments and we'll be all good. Cheers.

Game highlights:

Sunday Caps Clips: Cast Away on the Island; Caps/Rangers Game Day

Your savory breakfast links:

• Recaps and other assorted musings from yesterday's loss in Long Island from Vogs, Monumental video (Oates, players), NHL.com, CSNW (Joe B), AP, SportsXchange, PHT, Peerless, DSP, Caps Outsider, RMNB, and from the view from New York, Islanders Point Blank and our superb pals over at Lighthouse Hockey.
  • Philipp Grubauer got plenty of action yesterday, facing 45 shots (and stopping 40 of them) in his first official NHL start. Welcome to the big leagues! [SBN]
  • The loss was a potentially costly one, and not just in points, as defenseman John Erskine left the game with an upper body injury and is day-to-day. Heal up quick, Dmitry Orlov... [WaPo]
• Previews of today's matinee with the Rangers from NHL.com, AP, PHT, CSNW, Peerless, and be sure to check out our SB Nation pals over at Blueshirt Banter for more from the other side of this afternoon's match-up.
  • Roman Hamrlik's last days in DC were spent in the Verizon Center press box. Which apparently was good practice for his first visit with his new team. [NYDN]
• Ranking the best left wings in the NHL - and he may be "washed up", but yes, Alex Ovechkin appears on the list. [NHL]
• It was a rough start to the weekend for the Caps. Looks like the same can be said for Hershey, as they were swept in Norfolk... [Caps, SHOE]
• ...and it didn't get much better for the Reading Royals, who fell to Pittsburgh's ECHL affiliate the Wheeling Nailers. [Caps Outsider]
• A couple of Caps prospects have been stepping it up lately as the CHL regular season begins to wind down. [RMNB]
• Finally, happy 40th birthday to Martin Brochu and happy 33rd to Stephen Peat.

Capital Ideas: Week 7

CBA clarifications, Ovechkin's milestone, strength at both ends of the ice and more in this week's edition of Capital Ideas - debate, discuss, enjoy!

1. In the wake of Calgary's apparent misinterpretation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement with regards to Ryan O'Reilly, we wondered, generally, whether teams can reach out to the League for an "advisory opinion" of sorts when they feel there's some ambiguity in a CBA provision that might potentially apply to them, to make sure their understanding is correct or, perhaps more importantly, consistent with the League's. So we asked Caps' Assistant GM Don Fishman, who told us that teams do contact the League to ask for interpretations (usually done orally, not in writing) of CBA rules, salary cap treatment of contracts and roster moves, contract language, permissible types of no trade clauses or European assignments they may be drafting and including in a player's contract prior to filing, etc.
   
   He also cited a specific example: "In 2009, we talked with the League regarding loan of Brian Pothier to Hershey as a long-term conditioning loan. We needed to make this move before the trade deadline or we could not do it at all due to CBA rules. (This rule has since changed.) We called the league to confirm this interpretation." So help - a bit of CBA CYA - is always just a phone call away.
2. Speaking of Fishman, he was one of a handful of NHL reps at this year's Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston and had some interesting thoughts on the role of advanced statistics in hockey: "Everyone wants a black-and-white answer: Will a trade work or not? Nate Silver said analytics won't provide that... You can't do that in sports. But they might let you know if there's a 60 per cent probability whether something will work. So, you can determine if there is a better chance the trade will succeed for you."
3. After going the first ten games of the season without a multi-point game, Alex Ovechkin now has four in his last twelve (including two games with at least three points) and has put up ten points in his last six games. The result? He sits perched on the edge of a very big milestone, just one shy of the 700 point mark. One more, Ribs.
4. If and when he hits 700 points, Ovechkin would move into a tie for 212th all-time with Geoff Sanderson - he's already leapfrogged over Clark Gillies and Chris Pronger. Bit of a climb to match his coach's totals, though, and at 27 he probably won't get there... but one never knows, just another 720 points to go!
5. Ovechkin's not the only one picking up his game. The Caps in general seem to have found their offense, and not just against the Panthers (although...yeah). Through the first eleven games, the Caps couldn't manage more than three goals even once; in the eleven games since, they've done it six times. The first eleven games they were outscored 41-25. Since? Outscoring opponents 41-22. Here's hoping that's a trend and not a pattern of 11 down, 11 up, 11 down...
6. Random stat of the day (courtesy of Adam Vingan): the Caps have now scored at least seven goals in a game in at least one game in each of the last seven years.
7. Random stat of the day #2: With Ovechkin and Mike Ribeiro each tallying against Florida last night, the Caps now have three players with at least nine goals - putting them in some very weird company. A number of teams are close but only Buffalo, Chicago, the Islanders and Pittsburgh have three players at or above the nine-goal mark. Which tells us absolutely nothing, so there you go.
8. Tomas Kundratek's play so far this year has been a pleasant surprise on an injury-depleted blue line - particularly considering the organization's general lack of defensive depth at the moment. So it's been great to see Steven Oleksy come in as a newly signed, first-time NHLer and immediately make an impact. After picking up an assist in his first NHL game, he added two more in last night's drubbing and threw in some excellent physical play that really set the tone early. The best part? At the AHL level, he's known as a fighter and has racked up the PIMs, but he seems to be taking Adam Oates' words to heart - he knows he's here to play, not fight, and has done exactly that.
9. Have to think that his surprisingly solid performances provide even more validation for tossing Roman Hamrlik onto the waiver wire earlier this week. Tough to lose a guy for nothing but after being benched for 16 of the first 20 games and at 39-years-old, there was probably little to no trade market out there and that's just the reality. Good for Hamr for landing on a team that can use him and we certainly wish him luck (although obviously not too much, especially this Sunday).
10. They may not be moving up the standings as much as we'd like, but one of the better signs of how things seem to be turning around is in the team's resiliency of late. After a rough start to the season - for team and goaltender alike - it would have been easy for them to get sidetracked by a very flat loss in Philadelphia. Instead they went on to win three straight, starting with a dominant 3-0 win over a division rival. They then refused to cave when down by three against the Bruins and chipped away before finally winning in overtime. Even in routs they've shown resiliency, jumping out to a very early 4-0 lead against Florida and then continuing to pile on over the remaining 52 minutes.
11. Braden Holtby's save percentage is now up to .911, which is much better than it used to be... but boy does it ever show how ugly those numbers were early on. Consider the fact that his numbers look like that after posting three shutouts on the season and after giving up just nine goals in his last six games.
12. Along with pacing the team in the goal-scoring department, Troy Brouwer's had a bit of success in other areas - including the faceoff circle. Brouwer is currently kicking some caboose on offensive-zone draws, having won 30 of the 47 he's taken (including 4-for-4 last night, setting up John Carlson's goal early in the first). Of course, one might ask why Brouwer, very much not a center, has taken 47 faceoffs period; one theory we've kicked around is that Adam Oates, ever the devoted right-hand/left-hand afficionado, has instructed Brouwer, a righty, to take draws when the matchup is favorable (or rather unfavorable for Nicklas Backstrom, a lefty). Seems to be working.
13. Nice to see Wojtek Wolski finally break out of his goal-scoring drought Tuesday night against the Bruins, after so many chances that seemed to be so close and yet so far. Even nicer to see because it was the game-tying tally
14. Eric Fehr's overtime winner in that game was a beauty. So was Mathieu Perreault's extra-point goal last night against Florida. Two great individual efforts from a couple of guys who have had a very different but equally difficult uphill climb to get to where they are now. So here's the question... take away context, which goal was prettier? Tough call. I can't choose. Here, you decide:
    

    
    (via Dimagus)


(via Sick Unbelievable / HockeyShopped.com)

15. "Overheard" on Twitter - like the rest of us, the future Mrs. Ovechkin got a bit spoiled by the opening of last night's game:

    Still 4-0 guys??? lol come one , each min one gol, I get used to it!! Hahaha

    — Maria Kirilenko (@mkirilenko) March 8, 2013

Saturday Caps Clips: Caps @ Isles Game Day

Your savory breakfast links:

• Previews of today's matinee on Long Island from Vogs, NHL.com, CSNW, DCEx, Peerless, RtR and RMNB, and be sure to check out the best thing about Islanders hockey, our SB Nation chums over at Lighthouse Hockey for more from the other side of this afternoon's match-up.
• Notes and assorted whatnot from yesterday out at Kettler: Mike Green skates (before pracky), Marcus Johansson nears a return, Philipp Grubauer may get his first NHL start, and more. [Monumental video (Rinkside Update, Oates, Alzner, Volpatti), WashTimes (and again), WaPo, CSNW (and again), NBC4]
• The Caps are well set-up for the week ahead, thanks to the fact that they were on cruise control for 50 minutes on Thursday. [WashTimes, WaPo]
  
• More leftovers from that glorious romp. [Capitals Voice, WashTimes, DCEx, Homer McFanboy, OFB]
• Four questions (that have nothing to do with why this night is different from all other nights). [CSNW]
• Brooks Laich did his Friday hit on The Junks yesterday. Because it was Friday. Duh. [106.7 the Fan (audio)]
• Matt Hendricks was mic'd up for Tuesday night's game. Click for the memories; stay for the Tuukka chirps. [NHL.com (video)]
• One of the seven goals from that game is NHL.com's top goal of the season's first half (sorry, Dougie Hamilton, it ain't yours). [Sick, Unbelievable]
• What to do with Mike Green. [Capitals Outsider]
• Courage - it couldn't come at a better time. [CSNW]
• Put one on the "L" column for the Bears. [Patriot-News, SHoE]
• Worthwhile alumni-related read #1: on Brendan Witt. [Hockey Independent]
  
• Worthwhile alumni-related read #2: on Dennis Maruk. [NHL Alumni]
• A former Cap makes a list of the Top 10 Slap Shots of All Time (and no, it's not John Erskine... Jacob Markstrom must not have had a vote). [SI]
• In memoriam: he shall stomp no more. [WaPo]
• Finally, happy 49th birthday to a great American (and former Cap), Phil Housley.

Capitals vs. Panthers Recap: Washington Scores Early and Often in Rout of Florida

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Besides two desperately needed points, Tuesday night's improbable comeback against the Bruins provided the Caps with something they hadn't had all that much of in 2013: confidence. In the wake of that emotional victory, and facing an injury-depleted "division rival" that they'd already embarrassed twice in the first half of the season, the big question was whether or not the Caps would be able to maintain the high level of play that keyed the win over Boston (and had been present for most of the previous five games with the exception of the Philly debacle) when they hosted Florida on Thursday night. The answer? A solid "yes," with a bit of "well, they didn't really need to" en route to a 7-1 win at Verizon Center.

Ten more notes on the game:

• This one was over after 1:58 of the first period, when a John Erskine blast from the blueline - the Caps' first shot on goal of the game - somehow trickled through Jacob Markstrom and into the net. As you know, the Caps haven't lost a single regular season game when Erskine scores a goal for them. In fact, no NHL team has. Thursday night's goal ran that Caps record to 11-0-0 and his personal mark to 14-0-0.
  
• Markstrom didn't have much better luck on the second shot he faced, a wrap-around attempt by Wojtek Wolski that slid under the Swedish netminder (and gave Steve Oleksy his second NHL point). The goal gave Wolski goals in back-to-back games. Who could've seen that coming? I mean, other than anyone who pays attention to averages and regressions to them. And out came the Vaudeville hook for Markstrom.
  
• In came Scott Clemmensen, who made three saves (Bronx cheer)... before getting beaten by a John Carlson shot from Union Station or thereabouts. It was the second time in the last five games that Big John and Not-as-Big John scored in the same game.
  
• Two-and-a-half minutes later, Alex Ovechkin fed Mike Ribeiro from below the goal line and the Caps' leading scorer made it 4-0. At that point, the Caps had outscored their two opponents 8-0 in the previous 56 minutes or so of hockey. Even more impressive, the Caps had outscored the Panthers 7-0 in the previous 13:49 they'd played (dating back to that late rally in Sunrise). The Caps sure are going to miss this division.
• From that point on, the game was largely on cruise control until Tyson Strachan blindsided Jason Chimera midway through the game and was given a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct. Chimera would return to the bench during the ensuing power play, and the Caps added another goal to their lead, an Ovechkin strike that game him his third point of the game and 20th of the season. It also marked yet another multi-point game for Ribeiro, and matched Backstrom's helper on the Carlson tally, giving each of the team's top-two pivots 18 assists on the campaign.
• It's easy to overlook the winning goalie in a romp, but Braden Holtby was quite good all night, particularly in the second period. He's now 8-3-0/2.08/.935 in his 11-straight starts. I've got a shiny nickel that says he starts both games this weekend (despite Adam Oates stating that he would like to get Michal Neuvirth a start).
  
• Eric Fehr's sixth goal of the season came on an early third-period power play and gave Ribeiro his third point of the night (and Wolski's second). More importantly, it was the pizza goal.
  
• After a Jack Skille goal snapped Holtby's shutout bid, the Caps thought they had restored their six-goal lead (the most-dangerous lead in hockey, if I recall correctly) via a Matt Hendricks goal, but it was determined that he kicked it in... which is fine - save up the good instant replay karma for when you need it, boys.
  
• If you like fancy icing on your cake, Mathieu Perreault delivered it for you, abusing some defenseman no one's ever heard of with a gorgeous one-on-one move before beating Clemmensen up high. The extra point is up... and it's good.
  
• Seriously, though, what are the chances that a team is going to have near double-digit injuries and yet Tomas Fleischmann is healthy? (He played. I know you didn't notice him. Just trust me on this one.)

Not much has come easy for the Caps this season. And while this game most certainly did, the next one almost as certainly won't. The margin for error remains minimal, but as long as the Caps keep playing within those margins... you never know.

Game highlights:

Tonight's Lines: Brouwer, Schultz In ; Volpatti, Poti Out; Wolski Demoted

Per reports from the morning skate, Troy Brouwer will return to the lineup (and the second line) for tonight's game against the Panthers after sitting out Tuesday night, Aaron Volpatti will be scratched to make room, Wojtek Wolski will skate on the fourth line, and Jeff Schultz will play in place of Tom Poti in the third pairing of blueliners. So expect the lines and defensive pairings in front of Braden Holtby (who is making his eleventh-straight start) to look like this:

Matt Hendricks -- Mike Ribeiro - Alex Ovechkin

Eric Fehr - Nicklas Backstrom - Troy Brouwer

Jason Chimera - Jay Beagle - Joel Ward

Wojtek Wolski - Mathieu Perreault - Joey Crabb

Karl Alzner - Tomas Kundratek

John Erskine - John Carlson

Jeff Schultz - Steve Oleksy

That leaves Poti and Volpatti as healthy scratches, and Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Jack Hillen and Marcus Johansson out with injuries. Also of note, Philipp Grubauer will back-up (and hopefully this time only back-up) Holtby, as Michal Neuvirth is under the weather again.

Capitals-Panthers Post-Game Quote Sheet

Via the team:

Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on the biggest difference in the last 11 games...

"It's all the same stuff we talk about every day: the conditioning, the schedule, the system - all the stuff we talk about. The guys are playing better and good things are happening sometimes but all in all, in the last three weeks we've only had one bad game."

Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on maintaining momentum with a lead...

"When it's a game like this it's very difficult. You just draw on your experiences. You know we've been there and it's hard and it's not the same intensity in the building, you can feel it. It's very difficult. Obviously it's a good situation to be in but my main concern is I don't want someone to get hurt right now because we aren't going one hundred percent."

Washington Capitals defenseman Steven Oleksy on his offensive presence...

"It's not easy, I'm just surrounded by some great talent. In my game I try to keep it simple and just do the right things, and obviously with the forwards that we have, you get it (the puck) to them and let them do their thing."

Washington Capitals defenseman Steven Oleksy on his performance tonight...

"I got a few more minutes. Obviously to get a lead like that, to jump out hot out of the gate, it helps. Especially in your second game, it eases your tension a bit and you're not afraid to try some things and get more acclimated."

Washington Capitals center Mike Ribeiro on having the top power play points in the NHL...

"It means that my teammates are scoring when I give them the puck. It's easier to pass than score, so it's nice. There's a reason why I came here and have a chance to play with all of those skilled players and try to help them get a cup, or two, or three."

Washington Capitals center Mike Ribeiro on the Washington Capitals having a performance like tonight...

"In terms of scoring a lot of goals, it won't happen often so I think we need to know that it's not going to be the same on Saturday and we need to be ready for that."

Washington Capitals defenseman John Erskine on the defensive performance tonight...

"I think the [defense] are getting involved and I think winning teams need for the [defense] to chip in. It looks like Carly [John Carlson] scored and a couple of the other guys got some big points."

Washington Capitals defenseman John Erskine on the team's focus tonight...

"I think they came hard on us in the second period and we stayed composed and stuck to the game plan and things worked out."

Florida Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen on the play of the Panthers tonight...

"The ball started to roll and for us we need to absolutely be firing on all cylinders for us to have success, and that wasn't the case tonight."

Florida Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen on playing a full 60 minutes...

"We are in a situation where we have to play for 60 minutes. I think they[the Washington Capitals] smell blood when we come in here. If they can get us early, things will start rolling."

Florida Panthers goaltender Jacob Markstrom on the start of the game...

"I don't know what to say. I couldn't stop the puck on the first two shots. It's no excuse for that. It was terrible. I feel like I let the team down. I am there to stop pucks and I didn't do that tonight. It's not good enough."

Florida Panthers goaltender Jacob Markstrom on playing again tomorrow night...

"Well, obviously it's good for the whole team. You don't want to wait too long after a game like this. It's not just for me. Obviously, hopefully, we can get back at it tomorrow."

Florida Panthers forward Jack Skille on the quick goals by the Capitals in the first period...

"All you can do in those moments is just know, ‘Okay, if they scored 4 in a period, we certainly can do it.' You've got to believe in yourselves at that point and not give up. Your true character, your true colors, show in those moments when things are going wrong even though you seem to be giving it your hardest effort."

Florida Panthers forward Jack Skille on looking ahead to tomorrow night...

"They are a good team in their building. Obviously, tomorrow night we are in our building and we need to take a dose of what Washington is doing. We need to have a good homestand at home. We've got to be a really good team on the road; those are the wins that matter the most. You've got to come out hard and try to win one or two goal games."