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(photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta)

In today’s Washington Post, beat writer Tarik El-Bashir does a nice job of laying out the problems with the Washington Capitals offense during the team’s current four-game losing streak. While we agree that players not named Alex need to step up their offensive output, the more troubling aspect for us is on the defensive end.

We understand when Capitals general manager George McPhee says he’s not interested in mortgaging the team’s future to acquire a top-line defenseman like Chris Pronger from Anaheim. A price tag of Karl Alzner, Simeon Varlamov and John Carlson is definitely too steep for a rental player who, although still an impact player, would have to admit his best days are behind him. But in our humble opinion, the Capitals defensive rotation as currently constructed is simply too flawed to make Washington a legitimate Stanley Cup contender this year.

Mike Green might very well be the best offensive-minded defenseman in the NHL, but even he would have to admit his play in his own zone is still a work in progress. Tom Poti is easily the team’s best defensive defenseman, but he’s been saddled with injuries of late. If not for Alexander Semin, defenseman Shaone Morrisonn would be the object of Caps’ fans ire because he’s just as likely to make a bone-headed decision or take a ill-advised penalty with the game on the line.

The biggest problem though, is that the other three regular defensemen – Milan Jurcina, John Erskine and Jeff Schultz – all essentially play the same role. They’re all big bodies who should throw their body around and keep opponents out of the goalie’s crease. Ideally, one of the three would excel at this and free up other spots in the rotation for other styles of defensemen. But in Washington, we’re treated to one for the price of three.

Jurcina is easily the best of the bunch. He’s really improved his play and seems to have grown into the role and become more comfortable with who he is and what he brings to the game. We’ve heard for a while stories of his booming slapshot shattering glass panels at Kettler, but it’s only recently that he’s begun to assert himself more during actual game situations.

Erskine, who is nicknamed Dumb & Dumber by some Caps fans for his slight resemblance to Jeff Daniels’ character in the movie, plays a physical game as well and like teammate Donald Brashear, doesn’t mind throwing down to keep opponents honest. But at his very best, he’s nothing more than a sixth or seventh defenseman on an NHL roster.

Out of the three, Schultz is easily the most maddening. The former first rounder is only 23 years old, but we’re convinced he’s allergic to contact. When you’re 6’6” and 224 lbs., you shouldn’t be afraid to throw your body around or at least be willing to clear the crease when forwards are taking multiple swipes at a loose puck in front of your net. He’s averaging just under 20 minutes of ice time and has a plus/minus rating of plus 14, but it’s not because of anything he does.

He’s logging so much ice time on a consistent winner that the law of averages says he’s bound to be out there when Alex Ovechkin and friends do all the heavy lifting. His play is so suspect that friends in the press box automatically lean over and ask, “Was Schultz on the ice?” whenever the opposing team scores a goal. Like we said, he’s just 23, so there’s hope that he will follow Jurcina and grow into a competent defenseman. The issue is, this is a team built to win now. Had they been able to bring in one additional defenseman, preferably someone solid in the defensive zone, this team truly could have made a run at the Cup this year. As it stands now, the team has no choice but to roll the dice and wish for the best.

And a quick note to those media types who continue to question if goalie Jose Theodore is dependable enough to backstop a legitimate playoff run – if the Caps gave him six full-fledged, reliable defensemen, there’s no reason to believe Theo couldn’t get it done. But when half of the blueliners are solid and half aren’t, you get games like Sunday’s 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh, which featured breakaways, odd-man rushes and disappointment while the Capitals continue to search for answers. It’s easy to blame the goalie, but more times than not, he’s not the only player at fault when the opposition lights the lamp.

(photo by Brian Murphy)

As everyone knows by now, the Washington Capitals lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in a shootout Sunday afternoon.

Sidney Crosby was the hero, scoring the game winner in the shootout for the Penguins, which was fitting since he was honored before the game when 500 Crosby-inspired pacifiers were handed out in front of the Verizon Center before the puck dropped. Channel 4’s Lindsay Czarniak was kind enough to model the pacifier after the game for those fans who weren’t lucky enough to score one of the giveaways.

After three wins and a shootout loss, the Capitals finish the season taking seven out of a possible eight points from the Penguins, not that they were patting themselves on the back after the loss.

“I thought we played well, we just waited too long – we waited until the third period to finally play our game,” said defenseman Mike Green, who had two assists. “It was a little bit too late, but we showed a lot of character coming back. We’re happy with one point, but we needed two tonight.”

You guys have been a little off your game these last couple games, but like you said, when you played your game in the third period, it looked like the Caps team that we’ve come to know and love. What do you chalk this rough homestand up to?

“I think when we play within our system, guys play short shifts and we do positive things that we’re pretty hard to beat,” Green said. “If we could play that way every night for 60 minutes, we’d win every night. At times we stray away, have breakdowns and shoot ourselves in the foot and other teams take advantage of us. We’re coming out of this slump and we’re starting to play our game again and it’ll be good if we can play our game.”

Would you say nerves or this team’s youthfulness has played a part in this slump?

“Maybe a little bit,” he said. “We’re young guys that are playing a lot of minutes, but we’re all smart guys. We’ll figure it out. If we’re going to play bad hockey, this is a good time – rather than in the playoffs.”

Typically, Caps fans would worry when they look at the schedule and see the team is away for seven out of the next eight games, but honestly this might not be a bad thing. The Capitals just found a way to lose four-consecutive games (all at home) for the first time since Bruce Boudreau took over as coach, so maybe a road trip is needed to help these guys regain their focus and get back to the solid hockey they played the first four months of the season. You never want to see your favorite team hit a slump, but like Green said, if they’re going to stumble, let it happen now instead of the playoffs.

(photo by Haraz N. Ghanbari)

While other players on the Washington Capitals might be more flashy, top-line center Nicklas Backstrom is officially someone opponents need to gameplan for. He’s in the midst of an eight-game scoring streak in which he’s racked up three goals and eight assists, and even more impressive is that he’s currently ninth in the league in scoring with 66 points. All this at the tender age of 21.

We caught up with Backstrom and some of his teammates over the last week to find out just how good this kid is.

You’re currently in the top five in the league in assists, but it looks like you’re shooting and finding the back of the net a little more often these days. Have you changed up your game lately or is this just a sign of your growing confidence?

“I don’t know,” he said. “When I have an opportunity to shoot, I shoot it. Some games I have more opportunities to shoot than other games, but I can’t tell you what’s changed lately. I have to shoot more though. That’s something I’ve been working on.”

We think everyone’s kind of labeled you as a pass-first kind of player, so maybe shooting a little more often will continue to catch teams off guard, right?

“Yeah, if you’re going to have success, then you have to surprise them a little bit,” Backstrom said.

Not too long ago, you were struggling a little bit and were moved off of the top line. Since then, it seems you’ve really been playing better. What changed?

“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a long season and sometimes you’re struggling. It’s going up and down all the time and if nothing works between me and Alex [Ovechkin], then I think it’s good for both of us to change other guys around us. Right now, I think we play good. That’s what’s most important.”

Hey Sergei Fedorov, Backstrom just seems to get better every month. What are you seeing in his development?

“I think he’s become more mature, as far as making plays,” Fedorov said. “Every night he realizes he’s got to work hard, and that’s what he does. Coach gives him lots of ice time and opportunity to play on the powerplay. If he works hard and plays right in all these situations I think he’s got enough hands and enough talent to get a lot of points.”

Hey Tomas Fleischmann, just how well is Backstrom playing these days?

“He’s our best center man,” he said. “He’s sees the ice really good. I would say he’s unbelievable. His passes are unbelievable and I just think he’s going to get better. Way better, I think.”

One of the more underrated parts of his game because he typically is a pass-first guy. Does he have a good shot?

“Yeah, he’s got a pretty good shot,” Fleischmann said. “Every time he’s got a good opportunity to shoot, he takes the shot and usually scores. But he usually is looking more for Alex, and the combination is working, so why not?”

(courtesy photo)

Last week we posted an interview with Washington Capitals forward Brooks Laich in which he talked about being traded for forward Peter Bondra. As luck would have it, we ran into the local icon this past weekend at the Verizon Center and he was kind enough to answer a few questions about life after hockey, the new goal scorer in town and his thoughts about retiring his jersey.

What brings you to town this weekend?

“Well, right now I’m working for the Slovakian National team as their general manager and there’s a couple players I’m here to watch,” Bondra said. “What I do, I want to see the guys, how they play in person and maybe talk to them after the game. You know, talk about the Olympics coming up in 2010 and possibly the world championships for a couple guys here.”

It’s been a while since we’ve seen you around. How’s life treating you these days?

“Good,” he said. “I’m happy and retired and enjoying going to my kids’ games, traveling to their practices. It’s much more calm. I can relax and enjoy it. Actually, I can live life now. Before, you always had to think about the next game or getting to sleep or eating well and concentrating more on a hockey perspective than yourself or your family.”

You just had a birthday this month. Are you feeling older these days or are you still feeling pretty good?

“No, I still feel good,” Bondra said. “I still go to gym. I still ride a bike. I go running and play any sport I possibly can, so I’m in good health and am trying to stay in shape.”

What do you think of the atmosphere at Caps games now? D.C. has kind of turned into a hockey town now, hasn’t it?

“It’s great, it’s great,” he said. “Everything started the last half of last season for the Caps and now there’s a big buzz in town. People talk about the games and it’s hard to get tickets. I tried to get a couple tickets for my friends and I couldn’t do it, but I think it’s great. The Washington area needs something like this and hopefully this will continue to the playoffs and deep in the playoffs.”

Wait a minute. Did you just say one of the biggest names in franchise history can’t get Caps tickets?

“Well, I have two tickets from the Alumni, but I have two sons and a friend from Europe that want to go to games,” Bondra said. “One of my sons had to stay home [tonight] because I couldn’t get him a ticket. I didn’t try to call the ticket office, I just told him, ‘Hey, I don’t have any.’ But he’ll be here at the next home game. I think I’ll just have to choose which one gets to come to each game.”

This franchise has been to one Stanley Cup finals, which you were obviously a part of. Does this year’s team have what it takes to get there?

“I think so,” he said. “Last year was a good experience for them because most of the guys are young – they had a lot of rookies and young players on the team. This year they can go deeper and who knows? Now, these days, there’s not just two or three teams that can win the Cup. There’s no favorite team. More teams have a chance to win it because of the salary cap and changes to the league.”

You’re a goal scorer. Do you ever get tired of watching Alex Ovechkin play?

“No, it’s amazing what he can do,” Bondra said. “Not just Alex, but I put Alex Semin in too. Both of those guys have an unbelievable shot and they like to shoot through the defender. It’s hard for goalies to read their shots and it’s just amazing. Alex’s goal [against Montreal], I was watching from downstairs in the crowd and it was just amazing. I was thinking ‘How does he do that?’ It makes you stop and say, ‘Wow.’”

So you’re alright if/when he breaks your records?

“Of course … it might be next year,” he said with a laugh. “I’d never have a problem with him and I wish him well. He’s special. I mean, there’s not many players like him in the league. He’s the guy. He can do anything he decides to do.”

When are the Capitals going to retire your jersey number?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I talked to Ted [Leonsis] last year a little bit about it, but I can’t really control it. It would be nice, but at the same time, it’s not going to ruin my life. I’m happy with what I’ve done and how far I went – from the guy who came over here and just tried to play some hockey. I’m proud of myself and how far I’ve come.”

At that point, we thanked Bondra for his time and wished him well. By chance, we ran into Capitals owner Ted Leonsis in the team’s locker room after Sunday’s 5-2 win against the Penguins. We took the opportunity to ask Leonsis one simple question – have you given any thought to retiring Bondra’s number?

“No, he just retired. He could still play,” Leonsis said. “I talked to him about playing, so give it a couple years. Of course Peter Bondra is going to be up in the rafters, but it needs to stew. We just put Mike Gartner’s number up there and Peter’s back in the fold and hanging around. I’m sure we’ll do the right thing, but not in the foreseeable future.”

(photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The Washington Capitals continued their recent dominance over the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 5-2 victory at the Verizon Center Sunday.

While the Penguins would not qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today, the game definitely had a playoff atmosphere with the fans fired up from the start and both teams trading hits and words throughout the physical affair.

In the end, the Caps secured their third-consecutive victory over Pittsburgh and we caught up with forward Tomas Fleischmann to get his thoughts on the battle.

How important was it for you guys to bounce back and get a win after the lackluster game against Colorado Friday night?

“We need to win when we’re at home and it was basically a great first period,” he said. “We skated with fast speed and had a great powerplay goal that got us going.”

This rivalry has been around for a long, long time. It certainly felt like a playoff game here today, right?

“Yes, exactly,” Fleischmann said. “That’s what I felt all game and it was really fun to play in.”

This one was pretty physical too. At times you saw some of the biggest names in hockey getting in each other’s faces and chirping back and forth to raise the stakes even higher, right?

“That’s what you expect from a game like that,” he said. “Like you said, it’s almost like a playoff game and that’s how we play in the playoffs. You know, it was a tough game on the boards and we got a lead 5-2 that made them start to get frustrated a little bit. We kept going and played our game and got the win.”

You’ve now won all three games against Pittsburgh this season. What do you chalk that up to?

“We got excited about these games probably and had more energy than usual,” Fleischmann said. “We chipped some goals in and that’s it.”

You’ve got 22 games left in the regular season. What’s the top priority for this team heading into the postseason?

“Keep playing the same way we did tonight and get in a better position for the playoffs,” he said.

(photo by Steve Mitchell)

Five years ago the Washington Capitals acquired forward Brooks Laich in a trade for right wing Peter Bondra. While it was a bitter pill to swallow for Caps fans at the time, most folks ultimately understood that moves like this one were necessary in order to rebuild the franchise the proper way.

So far, we’ve talked to the general manager who orchestrated the rebuilding effort, the captain during those dark days and the future Hall of Famer who played against the Caps of yesterday. In the final installment of our look back at the Capitals’ rebuild, we sat down with Laich to talk about replacing a fan favorite, getting blown out and more.

Coming into town, what was your initial impression of the Washington Capitals franchise?

“When I first got here, I was called up and I shook George McPhee’s hand,” Laich said. “I had never met him before, but he shook my hand and said ‘Welcome to Washington. We look forward to having you here for a very, very long time.’ As a 20-year-old, you get traded to a new organization and your world kind of flips upside down. At one point you’re sad to leave a bunch of friends from one organization, but you’re also excited about the opportunity with another one.

“For me to come in as a young kid and our general manager to say that to me, it kind of hit home and made me feel very welcome. Right away everyone here seemed first class and I was excited to be here,” he said. “At the time, they might have taken a lot of heat over it because those were some very popular players they traded, but I think fans would have to agree that it was for the better for the organization.”

Through no fault of your own, you ended up coming into town while fan favorite Peter Bondra was being shown the door. Did anyone hold that against you when you first showed up?

“I hope not,” Laich said. “You know, I had no control over that. I’m not going to try and replace Peter and what he meant and what he’s done for this organization. I’ve been able to meet him and he’s a fantastic guy and we’ve had a little chat about it. He was Mister Washington Capital for years and holds many records. I’m just going to try and play my game and be a solid Capital. It’s kind of neat to be able to say I was traded for one of the all-time greats in the organization, but I hope that people aren’t going to think I’m going to try and score 55 goals a year. I’m just going to play my game and try to help us win. I think that’s more important.”

It’s easy now to gloss over everything and just say “there were some tough times,” but honestly, how bad was it?

(Laughs). “It was bad, but you know, we understood that,” he said. “We understand that we were young and had some good hockey players, but we weren’t at the level that we could be. We knew there was going to be growing pains and it was gonna take time. We knew it wasn’t going to be an over-night process. Like they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. That was the feeling around here. But we knew that one day we were going to wake up and we were going to be a very good hockey team.

“We took some lumps,” Laich continued. “There were some 5-0, 6-0, 7-1 games – some long nights – but you have to learn from those and we did. We took our beatings and I think we’re a better hockey team now because we went through it. We learned how much we hated losing. No matter how much you lose, you never get used to it. You realize how hard you have to work to win and that’s something I think we’re figuring out even now.”

With that in mind, how rewarding is it now to see all of that hard work begin to pay off?

“It’s so nice, we’re really able to enjoy winning now because we’ve been through the thick and thin,” Laich said. “We’ve all been here when things weren’t as good, and what we were doing was setting the foundation for what was to be a good hockey team. Some of the guys who’ve been moved out, I feel bad for them because they were part of the plan too because they’re not around now to reap the rewards. Fortunately, I’ve been able to stick around and have a contract that should keep me around for a couple more years. I’m just really enjoying it all right now.

“I think we have some really fantastic hockey players and I really, really like our hockey team,” he said. “I think a lot of people are still underestimating our team. I think we’re a very dangerous team and I think we should be a team to watch down the stretch.”

How close is this team to putting it all together?

“That’s the thing,” Laich said. “You know, we’re still growing. I’m not going to say we’re the number-one contender or we’re the best. I’m not going to say that yet because there’s still areas we can improve. We’re still a young hockey team and we’re still learning. The main thing is the desire is there. Watch our star player – Alex Ovechkin – and see how badly he wants to win. That has a trickle-down effect on everybody else and we’re starting to get a taste of success now. We’re putting together some streaks and it’s a fun time to play right now. It only makes us hungrier because we’re curious to see how far we can go.”

It’s almost embarrassing how much better Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin is than everyone else. For those who missed it, Ovechkin raised the bar yet again Wednesday night in the Caps 4-3 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens.

In the first period Ovechkin got control of the puck near the center line. He bounced the puck off the boards while spinning the opposite way past the helpless defender. Had the play ended with that and Ovechkin scoring it would have been the goal of the night. But no, Ovechkin ends up scoring a goal from his backside. We’d try to describe it, but honestly, words wouldn’t do it justice.

On a night when the “handi-capable” penalty killing unit did everything they could to lose to a slumping Montreal team, Ovechkin’s goal helped the Caps escape with a win. And judging from the recaps, The Goal 2.0 is the lasting impression. Giving up three weak powerplay goals is merely an afterthought.

If you haven’t seen the Ovechkin highlight, stop reading this and click the video immediately. Seriously. Do it now. You’re pissing us off.

[Update: Our friends at Japers’ Rink have decided to break down the play frame-by-frame. With all that work involved, the least you could do is go check it out.]