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(photo by John Amis)

This past weekend, we posted an amusing fact on our Twitter account:

The Washington Redskins scored seven points or less three times this season. The Washington Capitals have scored seven goals or more three times this season.

Instead of dwelling on the negative in that statement (i.e. – the state of our favorite football team), we’ll turn our attention to the only winner in town.

In wins over the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Atlanta Thrashers, the Caps have once again looked like one of the NHL’s elite – outscoring their opponents 17-5 during this recent three-game winning streak.

While the team is averaging just a shade under six goals a game during this recent explosion, the Caps’ recent success should actually be attributed to the team’s improved play in net.

For the first two months of the season, Caps goalie Semyon Varlamov absolutely looked the part of a bona fide NHL starter, posting a 12-1-2 record with a 2.21 goals against average and a .924 save percentage. He was a legitimate rookie of the year candidate and looked like a steady veteran in net, as opposed to Jose Theodore, who continues to have an up and down season in net.

When Varlamov was sidelined in early December with a groin injury, Theodore became the go-to guy and goalie Michal Neuvirth was called up from the Hershey Bears. We’ll admit that we were unsure of the impact these moves would have on an otherwise-promising Capitals season. Sure, Neuvirth was rock solid as he backstopped the Bears to a Calder Cup win last season, but there’s always a learning curve when youngsters get their first real taste of NHL action.

As to be expected, Neuvirth was a little rough around the edges initially. In his first two starts, the 21-year-old went 0-2 with 4.50 goals against average and a .844 save percentage. Beyond the stats though, Neuvirth looked like a goaltender who was swimming in his own head. Instead of just letting the game come to him, Neuvirth looked like he was thinking and pressing too much.

Since then however, Neuvirth has looked every bit the part, posting a 5-2 record with a .928 save percentage. And, as funny as it sounds, as Neuvirth has gone, so too have the Capitals.

Anyone looking for a sign of faith that the Capitals believe in the young netminder need only glance at the recent box scores and notice that Neuvirth has been the starting goalie in seven of the team’s last nine games. While Theodore continues to sit and Varlamov tries to get healthy, the team has happily turned to Neuvirth.

Neuvirth’s most recent game might have been his best of his professional career. Saturday night, the Caps traveled to Atlanta to take on a struggling Thrashers squad. Many of Atlanta’s current issues revolve around superstar forward Ilya Kovalchuk and whether or not the Thrashers will be able to retain him, but he was flying around the ice throughout the first period of the game Saturday night.

And yet, even with one of the premiere snipers in the game crashing the net, Neuvirth didn’t flinch. Several times he stonewalled Kovalchuk from point-blank range and finished the first frame with 18 saves. Meanwhile, with Neuvirth carrying the team early on, the offense finally got going. Even though the Thrashers looked to be the better team for much of the opening period, they found themselves trailing 3-0 on the scoreboard.

Demoralized, the Thrashers mailed in the rest of the game, the Capitals cruised to an easy 8-1 beatdown over the divisional opponent and Neuvirth finished the game with 38 saves. But this effort shows, on a larger scale, just what this team is capable of.

Any team featuring two-time MVP Alex Ovechkin, as well as Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Green, is going to score goals. With secondary scoring coming from guys Tomas Fleishmann, Brooks Laich, Brendan Morrison and Mike Knuble, the points are coming from enough different places that it’s impossible for opposing teams to just key in on one line.

But playoff hockey is very different than regular-season hockey. In the post season, open space is a rare commodity. Beautiful end-to-end breakouts happen less frequently as teams attempt to play a safer brand of hockey. Goals typically come from five feet or closer and a team is only as good as the goaltender carrying them on their playoff run.

When Varlamov went down due to injury, there was every reason to be concerned. Theodore can be great one game, and then fall apart the next. At this point in his career, he’s simply not a guy you can count on with much confidence to backstop a run at the Stanley Cup.

But the emergence of Neuvirth has enabled the Caps to keep their place among the league’s elite. More importantly though, it’s shown the team that come playoff time, if Varlamov isn’t ready to go, then Neuvirth might just have another championship run in him.

(photo by John McDonnell)

There have been times over the last couple seasons where the Washington Capitals have been accused of playing down to the level of their opponent.

In related news, the Ottawa Senators came to town without two of their best players — forwards Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza were both sidelined due to injuries — and a pedestrian 6-10-1 record on the road this season.

Thankfully, the Caps got off to a hot start by scoring two first-period goals and cruised to an easy 5-2 win over the Sens. Grinders Boyd Gordon and Mike Knuble each tallied in the opening frame to seemingly rattle goalie Pascal Leclaire. Gordon’s line in particular, with Dave Steckel and Matt Bradley, really looked good early on and gave the once-slumping Capitals the early lift they needed.

“We don’t score that much, the fourth line,” said Gordon, who scored his first goal in 36 regular-season games. “But when we do, I think our chances of winning really increase because we’re not expected to. So when we do it’s a big bonus.”

Knuble has also had an up-and-down season. He came into the game with just one goal and two assists in his last eight games, but he cashed in late in the first period after a give-and-go with forward Nicklas Backstrom.

The Caps went into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead, but began to show signs of letting up against an inferior opponent. When Senators defenseman Chris Phillips scored to cut the lead to 2-1, the mood began to change at the Verizon Center. That is, until Backstrom took over.

“He showed a lot of leadership because I thought we were floundering a little bit in the second period when it was 2-1,” said coach Bruce Boudreau of the 22-year-old center. “Then he comes out in the third period and gets two goals. He was just determined. That’s what’s making him one of the best.”

Backstrom’s first goal of the night came just 26 seconds into the final frame and was from a seemingly impossible angle. Backstrom received a pass from forward Alex Ovechkin and, with the Swede almost parallel to the goal, he snuck the puck past Leclaire.

“I saw the goalie was cheating a little bit,” he said. “He left the post, so I thought maybe I should try.”

Any momentum Ottawa had was now gone, and Backstrom’s best work was yet to come.

With less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, he struck again. This time, Backstrom entered the zone and saw a wall of defenders. Over his shoulder he could hear Ovechkin hollering for the puck, and apparently so too could Leclaire. Because when Backstrom dug in and crashed towards the net, it caught the Senators goalie off-guard and Backstrom finished the play with a beautiful wrap-around goal to put the game officially out of reach.

In the post-game locker room Backstrom attempted to downplay it, calling it a “lucky goal.” But that wasn’t the case. The Caps needed someone to make a play and in both instances Backstrom showed an aggressive streak that people may not know he has.

On both plays Leclaire and the Ottawa defense looked like they got caught anticipating a pass from Backstrom to Ovechkin. In the past that wasn’t necessarily a bad move, but this year Backstrom is playing a more well-rounded game.

If they were paying closer attention to his recent goal-scoring surge, the Senators would know that Backstrom is now second on the team in goals with 17. And with 49 points in 43 games, Backstrom now stands eighth in the league in scoring. He’s more than just a setup man. He’s also a legitimate goal scorer, who has five multi-goal games this season while converting on better than 15 percent of his shots.

Just as important though, was the fact that the top-line center refused to let this team’s bad habits creep back into their game. When a lesser opponent began to seize momentum, he did what was needed to ensure the Capitals sent the hometown crowd home happy.

“There’s no easy games in the NHL and everyone knows that,” he said. “We have to be at the top of our game if we want to win – especially now, before we go out on the road. This was a huge two points.”

(photo by Bruce Bennett)

Although Alex Ovechkin only missed a handful of games, a lot has changed for the Washington Capitals while the superstar was sidelined for two weeks with an upper-body injury.

Too often, the Caps have been accused of being a one-dimensional team that goes only as far as Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Green take them.

Well, 10 different Capitals scored a goal during the six games that Ovi was out of action, and suddenly, Washington appears to be a much deeper team than folks give them credit for.

With that in mind, it’s only fitting that the game-winning goal came not off the stick of Ovechkin, but from gritty forward Matt Bradley.

The game was tied 2-2 late in the third period, when the unheralded grinder stole the puck at center ice from defenseman Wade Redden, raced in on a breakaway and beat goaltender Henrik Lundqvist top shelf. Thanks to Bradley, the Capitals went on to defeat the New York Rangers 4-2, and Bruce Boudreau became the fourth fastest coach in NHL history to reach 100-career wins.

“Bradley was our MVP of the night,” said Capitals defenseman Brian Pothier.

Not all was perfect for the Caps, who fell behind 1-0 just 1:16 into the game on a goal by Rangers forward Marian Gaborik. This was not the kind of start that the Capitals were hoping for, especially considering they were 0-8-1 in their last nine visits to Madison Square Garden. And while the Rangers were only ahead by one, the ice seemed tilted for much of the first period as play largely remained in the Capitals’ defensive zone.

“They were flying for the first 10 minutes,” Pothier said. “We expected that. We knew they were going to do that, but it’s hard to contain. They have so much speed. With their coach, we knew they were going to come hard and they did.”

Sensing that his team needed a spark, Bradley decided to do something about it – dropping the gloves against Rangers tough guy Aaron Voros. Bradley fared about as well as you’d expect – he was bloodied and beaten to the point that he needed stitches – but the bout achieved his desired results and woke up his teammates.

“If you’re ever going to get into a fight at the time, I think that might’ve been one of them,” said Bradley. “It didn’t bother me. I could feel the blood coming, but there is no pain or anything. It’s just one of those things that’s more annoying than anything. You have to go in and get stitches and you have to miss five minutes.

“It won’t be my last one,” he said.

Bradley’s fight had an immediate impact, as the Caps almost instantly picked up their play. Players skated harder. They dug in the corners to fight for loose pucks and played with an energy that was clearly lacking at the start of the game. And when they did, they were rewarded with key powerplay opportunities.

As has been the case of late, good things happened when the Capitals went on the powerplay, as Washington took the lead on goals by Ovechkin and forward Brooks Laich with the man advantage. In their last 10 games, the Caps have been lethal in these situations, scoring on 12 of 34 powerplay chances (a 35.3 percent success rate), even with Ovechkin out for six of those games.

The Capitals allowed the Rangers back into the game in the third period, when Gaborik scored his second goal of the game (and fourth against the Caps this season) with Pothier in the penalty box to tie things up at 2-2. That’s when Bradley answered the call once again; scoring his aforementioned breakaway goal to help steal a victory for the shorthanded Capitals on a night they were without the services of Semin and forward Mike Knuble.

“He was pretty good,” Boudreau said of Bradley. “That’s what he’s got. He’s got oodles of character.”

During the course of a long season, role players like Bradley are absolutely vital to a team’s sustained success. Superstars like Ovechkin can do a lot of the heavy lifting, but there are going to be nights when someone else has to step up and make a play.

Playing against a talented Rangers team in a building where the Capitals rarely enjoy success, Bradley did everything short of putting on the goalie pads to propel his team to victory. His teammates love him for it. Here’s hoping Caps fans realize how much the checking line forward means to this team.

(courtesy photo)

In a previous incarnation, Peter Bondra was one of the most beloved players to ever lace up skates as a member of the Washington Capitals.

These days, Bondra has long since retired, but remains very much involved with hockey in his role as general manager for the Slovakian national hockey team.

When we spotted Bondra in the press box Wednesday night as the Caps took on the New York Islanders, we simply couldn’t resist checking in with one of the Capitals’ all-time greats.

First things first, how’s life as a general manager?

“Life is good,” Bondra said. “I have more of a chance to watch games, not just at home on TV, but going to games. I have a coach from the Slovak national team with me, and we’re going to go see [forward Marian] Gaborik and the New York Rangers next. We also have plans to see [Lightning defenseman Andrej] Meszaros versus [Los Angeles Kings center Michal] Handzus in Tampa this weekend. So yeah, we’re pretty busy. More than usual. It’s a big year for us – for pro hockey, for the Olympics, for all of the sport – and I’m excited about it.”

Regardless of where your new role takes you, you will forever be one of the fan favorites in this town. How much of the Caps have you been able to see this year?

“This is maybe my fourth or fifth game,” he said. “I have more of a chance to see them on TV. The only time I really get to come here is when a Slovakian player is in the building, like Milan Jurcina. He’s always here, but if other Slovakian players are here, I have a chance to watch him and maybe talk to him a little bit after the game to remind him how big of a year it is for the Slovakian team.”

We’re curious. How does your perspective change when you go from watching hockey as a fan to watching as a general manager? Can you just sit back and watch a game anymore?

“I wish I had all of the knowledge that I have now back when I was 18 or 20 years old,” Bondra said with a laugh. “I think it’s really easy to watch games. I will always love the game and follow the Caps. I really like the way they play. They’re a really exciting team to watch for any hockey fan.”

Have you ever pulled Capitals general manager George McPhee aside and asked for some tips?

(Laughs). “My job is easy,” he said. “You can’t compare an NHL GM to my position. George has to deal with problems on a daily basis, with contracts and other issues. My job is just to put the right people in the right spots for the national team.”

Fair enough. But that’s not going to stop us from asking you to play the role of McPhee for a moment. They’ve got some tough decisions coming up, with guys like center Nicklas Backstrom and forward Alexander Semin closing in on free agency. If you were running the Caps, how would you handle the situation?

“I think they might need to change the last couple players on the roster,” Bondra said. “But they’ve picked up guys like Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison, guys I know and that I played against. They’ve both been a good fit, so far. I don’t think they need to improve too much on defense – maybe adding depth for the playoffs. Maybe they could go that direction.

“Goaltending? The goaltending came into question last year in the playoffs,” he continued. “Hopefully the situation will play itself out during the season, but I don’t think this team has many issues. It’s a really solid team with a lot of young players and good depth. They’re getting a lot of experience from the last few years and they’re continuing in the right direction. If they can’t win it this year, then they’ll definitely be in it for next year. They’re very close to being ready to do some damage in the playoffs.”

So you’d be comfortable giving an up-and-down player like Alexander Semin a long-term contract?

“You’ve got to sign those guys,” Bondra said. “Semin is a big positive for this team because he forces teams to focus on someone other than just Ovi. When they spread them out, there’s a lot of depth. When Semin is healthy and has his mind in the game, he’s a big part of this team. You’ve got to lock up guys like that. They did it with Mike Green because he’s a Norris Trophy candidate, and you have to take care of those guys. They’re your players. You can’t let them go.”

Last time we saw Ted Leonsis, we asked him when he was planning on retiring your number. He said as far as he’s concerned, you could still play for the Caps today. So what’s it going to take to get you back out there?

“A couple surgeries,” Bondra said. “I still enjoy playing and can still play, but obviously my priorities have changed from when I was 22 or 23. My family and my health are most important now. Of course I miss the game and I’d love to come back, but it’s not possible for me to play anymore. It’s too bad.”

(photo by Greg Fiume)

The Washington Capitals sure know how to put on a show. That much is clear after their 5-4 shootout win over the New York Islanders Wednesday night at the Verizon Center in a game that had it all.

Anyone familiar with these two teams knew this would be a tightly-contested game – especially considering the fact that five of the last six matchups have required overtime. But this epic encounter somehow managed to up the stakes.

There was no shortage of offense early, as evident by the combined five first-period goals, and yet, this game somehow needed an 11-round shootout to determine the winner.

Caps forward Alexander Semin tied the franchise record for the fastest goal to start a game (held by left wing Gaétan Duchesne), scoring just eight seconds in to put Washington ahead 1-0 before many fans had even taken their seats.

The Capitals have thrived in the first period all season long, scoring first in 15 of 18 games while outscoring opponents 20-6 coming into this game. So it came as a bit of a shock when the Islanders scored three goals on their first five shots, taking a stunning 3-1 lead before the game was even seven minutes old.

“I still have no idea what happened in the first five minutes,” said Caps forward Tomas Fleischmann. “We didn’t come out ready to play.”

Caps coach Bruce Boudreau had little choice at that point but to pull goalie Jose Theodore and insert Semyon Varlmov into action – even if the move caught Varly by surprise.

“It happened so fast, all I can remember is me looking at the coach and him saying ‘Go in,’” Varlamov said through an interpreter. “As I was going into the game, I didn’t even understand what was going on. I didn’t even have time to gather my thoughts.”

But in an effort fitting of Veteran’s Day, the Caps were able to battle back against the scrappy Islanders, scoring three straight goals to take a 4-3 lead in the second period.

“Even when we were down, I never thought that we were out of it,” Boudreau said. “It was too early. There were 50 minutes left in the game. We were down 3-1, but I thought we had a good chance of coming back.”

For the night, the Caps got two goals from Semin, as well as tallies from Fleischmann (who now has six goals in seven games this season) and Eric Fehr (who scored on the hockey equivalent of a no-look shot). Add in the shootout clincher by captain Chris Clark and the Caps have a three-game winning streak – even without forward Alex Ovechkin in the lineup.

Scoring aside, the Caps were only able to earn the victory because of a stellar performance by Varlamov, who stopped 25 of 26 shots in regulation and 10 of 11 shots in the shootout, on a night when Theodore was off his game.

“I don’t like to do that, especially so early,” said Boudreau of pulling Theodore, “He looked a little rattled and he looked a little down. It’s not like pulling him when the game is out of reach; we had so much time left. The last time he was pulled, Varly came in and shut the door, so I thought he could do it again.

“Theo has played so well for us,” he continued. “He had a rough outing and he’ll come back this week and play another game and he’ll be great for us.”

Varlamov, on the other hand, was lights out in relief on Theodore. And while he looked solid in net the entire evening, no save stands out more than his effort in the shootout against Islanders forward Trent Hunter.

Hunter came in at full speed and fired a shot low and hard, which Varlamov was able to trap between his pads. Things got dicey though, as Varlamov’s momentum nearly caused him to slide back into the net with the puck. In a moment of pure instinct, Varlmov grabbed the crossbar and somehow managed to keep himself and the puck from crossing the goal line.

“I was just skating back into the goal very fast,” he said. “I just grabbed the first thing I could to stop my movement into the net.”

It was a heads up play by the young netminder and one of the main reasons the Caps were able to walk away with two points on a night when they started about as poorly as possible.

This game illustrated why the Caps are currently atop the Eastern Conference standings.

They feel they have two number-one goalies, so when one is off his game, Boudreau has no problem turning to the backup. Semin, on nights when he feels like playing, can still score some of the prettiest goals imaginable. And without Ovechkin in the lineup, secondary scoring has not been an issue – with 10 different Capitals players registering a goal since Ovi was sidelined with an upper-body injury.

When the Caps avoid mind-numbing penalties and careless turnovers, they can play with anyone. And because they’re routinely involved in high-scoring affairs, thanks to their high-risk, high-reward style of play, they feel no pressure being down 3-1 so early. While every other local team struggles to achieve mediocrity, the Caps continue to put on the most entertaining games in town.

(photo by Bruce Bennett)

Well then.

The Washington Capitals took the ice last night without superstar Alex Ovechkin and it went about as poorly as possible, as the Caps lost to the New Jersey Devils 3-2.

It’s one thing to lose to a streaking Devils team that features one of the league’s top offensive threats (forward Zach Parise) and one of the best goaltenders of our generation (Martin Broudeur). But it’s a lot less tolerable when your own players basically end up costing you the game. Just ask coach Bruce Boudreau, who was so red in the face by the end of the third period that he looked as if he’d chugged a bottle of Texas Pete hot sauce for fun.

“Not only did some of them not stand out, but they cost us the game,” Boudreau said of his team’s uninspired play. “It’s a tough one to swallow.”

Boudreau wasn’t done unloading on his players yet.

“Guys didn’t come to play,” he said. “Whether they are feeling sorry for themselves because Alex is not in, I don’t know. Same thing happened last year when we went into Buffalo and got smoked 5-0 when he wasn’t there.

“This isn’t a one-man team, but those guys have got to understand that. People can get hurt at any moment,” Boudreau said.

What on earth was Boudreau so fired up against? The same poor decision making and selfish penalties that have plagued this talented, but, at times, immature squad.

For example, the Capitals last three penalties in the third period all came in their offensive zone. Two of the three boneheaded penalties came from serial offender Alexander Semin, who added a second period slashing infraction in for good measure.

Devils winger Niclas Bergfors scored a powerplay goal just 19 seconds after Semin’s second penalty of the evening (a hooking call, for those scoring at home) and scored the game-winning powerplay goal less than a minute into forward Brendan Morrison’s hooking penalty.

The Caps were tied with New Jersey 1-1 heading into the final frame. Two dumb penalties later, the Capitals were basically forced to finish the game knowing that they’d cost themselves any real chance of victory.

For those looking for any possible positives to take away from this game, there were two on this otherwise disappointing evening. The first was the second-career goal by defenseman/temporarily converted forward Tyler Sloan, while the second is the continued hot play of forward Tomas Fleischmann, who beat Brodeur with a beautiful top-shelf goal in the final two minutes to give him points in three-straight games since returning from injury.

Before the Caps hit the road for New Jersey, we had the chance to chat with Sloan to see what it’s been like jumping from the blueline to wing.

“I’m having fun with it,” Sloan said. “It’s great. I obviously haven’t been able to get into the lineup defensively too much, so I’m happy to get in and contribute. I’ve played it before and I’m feeling a little more comfortable up there every game.”

We then compared Sloan to a utility infielder that Boudreau knows he can basically throw into any situation and get the 28-year-old’s best effort.

“Yeah, exactly,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll strap the [goalie] pads on if I need to.”

In happier times (i.e. – before last night’s self-inflicted loss), we then caught up with the Caps coach to get his take on Sloan.

“He’s done really good,” Boudreau said. “He takes direction really well, he can skate and he finished his checks. We’ve had him out there [at forward] and haven’t missed a beat. I’ve had him out there in the last 10 minutes in checking situations, and it’s because I have a lot of confidence in him.”

When informed that Sloan said he’d do anything to help the Caps win, even if it meant strapping on goalie pads, Boudreau couldn’t help but smile.

“You know what, that’s one of the reasons he’s here,” he said. “He’s such a great person and you can’t get enough of those guys who are willing to do whatever it takes to win. He’s one of them, and we’re fortunate to have him.”

Read that quote again. Guys who are willing to do whatever it takes to win. That quote, while directed at Sloan, says just as much about Semin as it does the Caps’ utility infielder.

While Sloan is more than happy to do anything Boudreau asks, Semin is seemingly always content to do whatever the hell he feels like doing – regardless of what his coaches have asked of him.

Stop with the freelancing. Don’t try to be too cute with the puck. If everyone else on the powerplay is in their respective positions, then maybe you should try it too. And most importantly, stop with the avoidable penalties.

Yes, he’s young and immature. But that only gets you so far when you’re making $5 million a year and are asking for a hefty raise when you become a free agent after this season.

Ovechkin is the league’s top goal scorer. Nicklas Backstrom is among the league’s elite setup men. Mike Green scores more than any other defenseman in the NHL. And then there’s Semin. The enigma who showed once again last night that he’s just as likely to lose a game for the Caps as he is to win one.

You can’t help but think that one of two things is going to have to happen for this team to achieve any of the lofty goals they’ve set out for themselves.

Either he’s going to have to buy into the program and become a team player or general manager George McPhee is going to have to make the tough decision to cut the cord on Semin and trade him to some other city, where he can become their problem. Only time will tell how this plays out.