SB Nation - Tomas Fleischmann

Ovie And The Caps Come To Town: Canucks-Capitals Preview

Sean Zandberg — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:00:21 -0000

More photos » by Luis Alvarez - AP

Hey Canucks, watch your knees! Ovechkin's out there!

Browse more photos »

CAPITALS (21-7-6) VS CANUCKS (19-15-0)

GAME TIME: 7:00 PST

TV: TSN

THE ENEMY: Russian Mob: aka Japers' Rink

UPDATE (11:00 AM): Thought this was funny. Sami Salo talking about his son loving Ovechkin: "Maybe when I’m retired I’ll buy him an Ovechkin jersey," Sami said. "He doesn’t have to wear mine, but I’m not going to buy him an Ovechkin jersey as long as I’m playing for the Canucks." - Vancouver Sun

UPDATE (1:42 AM): Wanna see a pic of Cody Hodgson carrying the Olympic Torch in his hometown of Markham Ontario? Check it out. Back seems fine. Faker. (I kid)

*************************

Changes will be made to the Canucks' roster when they play Washington tonight. For starters, Kyle Wellwood will replace Darcy Hordichuk. Once again, Alain Vigneault kept Hordichuk's minutes to an ultimate low last game (2:22), and Darcy had got into a tussle with George Parros. Aaron Rome will take the place of Mathieu Schneider. He is 14 years younger then Schneider and I would bank on him being more reliable in his own end as well. Schneider has struggled here, and it appears that rumors of his future with the team are about to begin.

Rome has scored 6 goals and 7 points in 7 games with the Moose this season. Pretty good for a defenceman! Welcome back, Rome. Make it count! Vigneault, according to the Province, would not say what his defensive pairings would be against the Caps, but the pairings at practice were: Mitchell with Salo, O'Brien with Ehrhoff and Rome with Bieksa.

So how about those Capitals?

More after the jump...

Well, they are duking it out with Pittsburgh right now for who is the best team in the NHL. The Penguins lead them by one point after beating the Flyers on Thursday night. Yeah, the Penguins, who only have 1 OT loss to their credit. The Capitals boast an impressive 11-5-3 road record this season. They have won 8 of their last 10, out-scoring their foes 39-22 in the process. No one is even close to scoring as many goals as they have this season (124). The Canucks have scored 106 goals. The Caps' 95 goals against puts them in the middle of the NHL pack. The Canucks have allowed 88.

Who's cookin' for Washington? Duh!

-Ovechkin has 3 goals and 8 points in his 5 games back since his suspension for knee-ing. Can we contain him?

-Nicklas Backstrom has 4 goals and 7 assists in his last 6 games played

-Alexander Semin has 2 goals and 7 points in his last 6.

-Tomas Fleischmann has 5 goals and 3 assists in his last 6.

-Mike Green has 3 goals and 3 assists in that span.

-Brendan Morrison has cooled off of late, with only 2 assists his his last 6 games played.

COMPARATIVE STATS

GOALS PER GAME AVERAGE: Capitals 1st overall, Canucks 5th

GOALS AGAINST PER GAME AVERAGE: Canucks 10th, Capitals 13th

5 on 5: Capitals 1st, Canucks 3rd.

POWER PLAY: Capitals 1st, Canucks 3rd. That could be the game story in this one.

PENALTY KILL: Canucks 20th, Capitals 21st

SHOTS PER GAME: Capitals 6th, Canucks 12th

SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME: Canucks 10th, Capitals 13th.

FACEOFF %: Capitals 6th, Canucks 11th.

There are a lot of categories there where the 2 teams match up pretty evenly. Regardless, the Canucks cannot be coming out flat, trading chances in a wide-open game, or turning the puck over against a monster team like Washington. Hell, look how bad it was against the Ducks. I expect a much better and consistent effort from Vancouver tonight. They are going to need it. The Caps have had 3 days off.

-Roberto Luongo has a 15-10-3 record in 30 career games against Washington, with a 2.26 GAA, .930 save percentage and two shutouts. -Canucks.com

-The last time these 2 teams played eachother was in Washington, October 13, 2008. Ovechkin was kept off the scoresheet, but Michael (I priced my ass out of the NHL) Nylander and Mike Green made the Canucks pay in a 5-1 route. The Capitals out shot the Canucks 35-10! Are you kidding me? True story.

Recap: Caps 6, Avalanche 1

Becca H — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:01:39 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Browse more photos »

[AP Recap - GameCenter - Game Summary - Event Summary]

Tonight's game featured two of the best teams in the League right now - and yet there was little to no hype leading up to it, few (if any) mentions of it being a Cup Final preview, and more than a couple of empty seats scattered throughout the Pepsi Center.

Still, the Capitals and their fans didn't need any of that to understand the importance of this game. The first of three games against the Western Conference, on the road, facing a team with more familiar faces behind the bench than on it...this was a test.

And the Caps passed with flying colors.

Ten more notes on tonight's game:

Making his NHL debut probably would have been enough of a birthday present for Kyle Wilson, who turned 25 today. Two hard-working assists, the game's third star and a Caps win? Icing on the birthday cake - and enough to likely give him a slew of new fans among the Caps' faithful. Welcome to DC, kid.
Of course, on the end of those two assists was some good net-crashing work by Tomas Fleischmann, who picked up goal #12 and 13 on the year tonight. Coming into this season, Flash had just two career two-goal games; he's got four already this season.
When this team is clicking, everyone's involved. It was, and they were, as four of the six goals came from the third and fourth lines.
Jose Theodore made a triumphant return to Denver and came oh so close to blanking his former team, turning aside 27 of 28 shots and keeping his composure while being run more than once. Just the kind of game he needs to get back on track.
At the other end of the rink, however...yikes. Craig Anderson has gotten a lot of credit this year for leading the Avs back to respectability, and rightfully so, but he was less than sharp tonight. To put it nicely. Very nicely.
Going into this game, the Caps had nine - nine - defensemen on the roster. By the end of the night only four of the six who dressed remained in the game, with Green getting taken out late in the second (more on that in a minute) and Morrisonn mysteriously absent. And let's not forget the fact that Erskine spent a good chunk of time in the sin bin.
The shortage of able-bodied men on the blue line led to Brooks Laich stepping in as a defenseman for the third period - and did a nice job of it, too.
The Avalanche did a pretty good job of doing the impossible - making Alex Ovechkin seem invisible. Of course, they forgot about his two talented linemates, who each picked up a goal. And the other three lines. Six different guys had multi-point performances tonight, and not one of them wore #8.
It's hard to say that the Caps weren't working hard, because they were, or that they didn't win the little battles, because they did. So it's a little puzzling that they only managed to draw one minor penalty. Less puzzling? They took five of their own. It happens.
The David Koci / Mike Green / John Erskine incident has riled up the debate once again that the Caps need an enforcer so other teams will stop running our players. I'm of the (somewhat unpopular) opinion that it's not necessary, nor is it a deterrent - guys like Carcillo and Koci aren't going to be deterred by "threat of punishment" because this is the way they play. Furthermore, few if any enforcers kicking around the league today can be had for cheap, and few if any know where the line is between defending teammates and becoming a liability by acting stupid.

Of course, GMGM gets the final word. Discuss.

Controversy and debate aside, this was nothing short of a statement game.

The Caps rolled four lines, allowed just one goal in a stunning display of solid defense and goaltending, and threw six goals at the home team. They did all of that despite Alex Ovechkin being neutralized and despite losing a third of their defense. They did it with the help of secondary scoring and a few more reinforcements from Hershey.

It was the epitome of a team game. They finally showed a killer instinct, and they did it all in a dominant, explosive way that serves as a reminder of just how good this team can be - when they want to be.

Game highlights:

Recap: Caps 4, Hurricanes 3 (OT)

David M. Getz — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 03:37:47 -0000

More photos » by Alex Brandon - AP

Browse more photos »

[AP Recap - GameCenter - Game Summary - Event Summary]

In a nutshell, the story of tonight's game was pressure. For the game's first thirty minutes (and then some) the Capitals weren't generating much in the way of sustained offense because they weren't making things nearly difficult enough for the Hurricanes. Carolina was allowed time to clear the puck out of their own end, to skate through the neutral zone, and to move the puck deep in Caps territory without too much resistance - and that's simply not going to win you many hockey games. Every team in the NHL has enough skill that they're not going to makes mistakes if you don't pressure them, and it's awfully hard to win when you let the other team do what they want. On one hand you can be frustrated it took the Caps so long to ramp up the pressure they needed to. On the other hand you can be happy they were able to do it - because that's imposing your will in your opponent, and that's what great teams do.

Ten additional notes on tonight's game:

First things first: if anyone knows the story behind the guy dressed as an astronaut at tonight's game, lay it on us. Please.
Friday night/Saturday morning Pick 'Em: More Impressive: Alexander Semin's ability to put a puck in a teacup from fifty feet away or his incredible poise in front of the net?
Speaking of Semin, his first goal was created by a nifty blue line keep-in on the part of Jeff Schultz. Goes to show why discounting the secondary assist can be a mistake. Plus it almost makes up for Schultz doing...whatever it was he was doing on the play that led to Eric Staal's goal.
The Capitals had 40 shots on goal tonight. The Hurricanes attempted 37.
We've been pretty vocal about the number of hard hits Mike Green has taken this year and whether or not something needs to be done to try and dissuade opposing players from taking those liberties. Well, if Green is going to respond to getting hit hard like he did tonight, maybe we'll pipe down (though we will note that there's no reason to wait to get hit before you start dishing them out, Greenie).
I don't care who you are, taking a puck off the mouth and coming back to the game to score a shorthanded, game-trying goal on a wicked slapshot off a nice interception is simply bad ass.
You can critique Chris Clark's play, be frustrated with his offensive output, wonder if he's worth his cap hit, and even question if he should relinquish the captaincy, but you can't not love the fact that he doesn't take any crap from anybody. Ever.
If you're trying look for answers as to why Tomas Fleischmann either seems to be invisible or generating high quality scoring chances, look at his play away from the puck. When he's moving, he creates chances. When he isn't, he doesn't.
Fans in attendance got their money's worth tonight. I mean, it's not too often you see seven goals in a game played under pre-lockout rules.
It was only forty degrees out today - how could the ice possibly be as bad as it seemed?

Tomorrow the boys will be up in Canada to take on the Leafs in a Hockey Night in Canada show down. Here's hoping they used that energy they saved in the first half of tonight's game to pull out a win.

Game highlights:

Game Preview: Washington Capitals @ Buffalo Sabres

Rafal Ladysz — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:29:06 -0000

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

18 days ago: Buffalo Sabres center Derek Roy, right, celebrates his goal as Sabres defenseman Henrik Tallinder, of Sweden, skates over during the first period of the NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens in Buffalo, N.Y., Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009. Buffalo won 6-2. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)

Browse more photos »

There's good and bad news for this Wednesday clash. The good is that Buffalo has twice bounced back from shutout defeats and are surely upset about this previous predicament coming on home ice. Lindy Ruff referred to it as an embarassment. The bad news is they're taking on the Washington Capitals, one of the teams that have blanked the Sabres, boosted by the return of Alexander Ovechkin but that's not the lone concern.

Forget about Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green for a minute because their abilities are well noted. Washington's offense is on the verge of prominence leading the league in goals (111) and in the standings with a 19-5-6 record. While much of that is purely because of two Russians, a Swede and a Canadian, there are others adding their names into the conversation.

Brooks Laich hacks and whacks at rebounds unconcerned with the abuse he's going to take. After a difficult season split between Anaheim and Dallas, Brenden Morrison found a solution by joining the Capitals. Tomas Fleischmann and Eric Fehr are both on track for career years. Despite Mike Knuble's injury, that's eight individuals the Sabres will have to shadow which is a lot to demand.

Without the services of Paul Gaustad and possibly Mike Grier, those assignments will be tremendously difficult to handle.

Five things to consider about both Washington and Buffalo:

Washington has lit the lamp 38 more times than Buffalo but the Sabres have allowed 20 goals fewer. It will be a matter of finding out which style stands out stronger: the desperate defense or the potent offense. The Capitals have picked up the slack on the back-end though conceding just six goals in the past four games. I get the feeling Ryan Miller's going to have to be exquisite again.
Derek Roy and Tim Connolly are averaging 0.77 points per game. Six Washington skaters have a better ratio so let's count them off: Backstrom (1.1), Ovechkin (1.45), Green (1.03), Semin (1.19), Laich (0.83) and Fleischmann (0.89). Morrison (0.76) and Fehr (0.75) aren't trailing far behind themselves. Knuble was at 0.78 before being sidelined. May the panicking ensue.
Back-to-back regulation losses aren't ordinary with Ryan Miller but Buffalo has one goal in two games. If that wasn't too negative, they didn't out-shoot New Jersey which is a positive we have taken from losses. No, they were out-hustled, out-gunned and out-worked by the Devils' 37-22 shot advantage. On a separate note: congratulations goes to Martin Brodeur for tying Terry Sawchuk's shutout record of 103.
Want more proof that Fleischmann and Fehr aren't in over their heads with these performances? The Czech native returned from a frightening blood clot which was in his leg to go on a nine-game point streak and now has five points in three games. Meanwhile, Fehr is on a seven-game run courtesy of five goals and five assists. Seems like the potential of these two early draft choices is being fulfilled.
Buffalo's richest salary owner, Thomas Vanek, has a goal in seven games or two in ten matches or three goals in the last 11 games. Half of his scoring came during the opening five contests in October. Any way you look at it, stability is unaccounted for in the Austrian. The 25-year-old had 20 goals at this checkpoint last season. Eight won't cut it whatsoever.
Ovechkin enjoys the city of Buffalo whether it be because of his constant success against them or executing cheap-shots into the boards. And Washington went on to win both instances after he was thrown out of the game. So much for taking hits for the team working out. Am I right Patrick Kaleta? What do you say Daniel Briere?
A sinking ship, the Sabres' powerplay has plummeted to 21st in the league. Penalty killing is excellent and it'll need to continue that way to protect Miller from the No.1 powerplay unit. The options they have are incredible and this is a moment where 60 minutes of non-stop work will be the only way out with two points.
Travis Zajac beat Miller with a shot that went through the netminder Monday night. There's a phrase we haven't been able to mention ~~weekly~~ monthly. As far as the pre-game rituals go, Miller is extremely focused and ready for showtime. With some of the game's finest stars coming his way, he'll have his hands full; not that it bothers him.
Indecisive recently, Buffalo's defense can't second-guess themselves because a glimmer of hesitation is the bread and butter of Washington's forwards. Turn-overs and odd-man rushes result in goals to this Capitals bunch unless Miller dives in. Tampa Bay played the puck, not the body on Monday and fell 3-0 to their Division rivals. Buffalo mustn't do the same.
Expected to start in goal for Washington is Jose Theodore but nothing has been confirmed.The former Canadien has stopped 72 of 76 shots in winning his last two. If Semyon Varlamov goes, he'll bring his 12-1-2 record and set his sights on shutting out Buffalo for the second time in two weeks. Note: Varlamov's first career NHL defeat came at the hands of the Sabres last April in a 5-4 overtime decision.

Buffalo must find their positional sense to fend off the Southeast giants. The saying goes "A-B-C, it's easy as 1-2-3." For the Buffalo Sabres, it's easy as stopping one (Ovechkin), two (Semin), three (Backstrom), four (Green), five (Laich), six (Fleischmann), seven (Fehr), eight (Morrison) and nine (Theodore/Varlamov). No room for blunders in this, a tall order.

Wednesday Caps Clips: Caps @ Sabres Game Day

J.P. — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:43:35 -0000

More photos » by Nick Wass - AP

Browse more photos »

Your savory breakfast links:

Previews of tonight's rematch of a 2-0 Caps win a couple of weeks back (let's see if AO can hang around for all of this one) from Vogs, NHL.com and Rock The Red.net, and be sure to check out our SB Nation partner Die By The Blade for coverage from the other side of tonight's match up.
With Braden Holtby recalled to Hershey (where there were two healthy goalies practicing yesterday), speculation is that not all is right between the pipes for the parent club. [Patriot-News]
The Caps are... wait for it... the real deal. [Globe and Mail]
Even The Boss took a moment to appreciate what they've been able to do so far this season. [Ted's Take]
Inside the NHL's "war room." Slow news day? [Washington Post]
Pierre LeBrun answers a couple of Caps-related questions and debunks the "players today no longer have any respect for one another" silliness. [ESPN]
The latest opinions on the bubble that is Mike Green's dream of being an Olympian: Corey says yes, PPP says no, CTV says his stock is on the rise.
Speaking of Green, random stat: @GreenLife52 has six points and a plus-six rating since his last tweet.
Oh, and he's fine. [Capitals Insider]
Semyon Varlamov is behind Jamie Benn in the Calder race. Riiiight. [Hockey's Future]
Sidney Crosby more clutch than Alex Ovechkin? That's unpossible. [The Hockey News]
Speaking of Sid and Alex, last year's Caps/Pens series placed ninth in the top ten sports moments of the year (pretty long moment, btw). [Time]
Hello, Moscow! [Alex Ovetjkin]
10 Things You Should Know About... Tomas Fleischmann. [Capitals]
Um, Paul... the Caps have given up more than two goals once in their last six games (and that was in a 4-3 shootout win) and have two shutouts during that span. Impressed yet? [NHL.com]
Steven Pinizzotto and Andrew Joudrey are killing it - literally - in Hershey. [Patriot-News]
Finally, saying goodbye to a member of the Bears family. [John Walton Hockey]

Recap: Caps 3, Lightning 0

Becca H — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:59:06 -0000

More photos » by Chris O'Meara - AP

Browse more photos »

[AP Recap - GameCenter - Game Summary - Event Summary]

With Alex Ovechkin on the sidelines the last two games, the Capitals put together back-to-back dominant performances - picking up four points and a hell of a lot of goals. And while getting someone like Ovechkin back in the lineup is never a bad thing, there was some question as to whether the team would continue to step up or revert back to relying on #8.

There were certainly some shaky moments, but by the end of the night there was no longer a question. The Caps were able to welcome back the best player in the world and still put together a fine team road win - with everyone doing their part, Ovechkin doing his thing and a certain Russian in net doing everything and more.

Ten more notes on the game:

The story before the game was Ovechkin's return; after, however, it was all about Semyon Varlamov - and rightfully so. Tampa always seems to have some firepower, but Varly stood tall and made all the routine stops, all the tough stops, and all the stops that made you wonder just why this kid still isn't getting Calder talk outside of CapsNation. Tremendous effort by Varlamov en route to a 26-save shutout.
On the other end of the rink, Tampa got a pretty decent showing from their own netminder, Mike Smith. He made a lot of saves that had guys searching the rafters for guidance, and one especially dazzling glove save on Alexander Semin that seemed to surprise even him.
Brooks Laich, Tomas Fleischmann and Alexander Semin couldn't buy goals tonight despite many golden opportunities. Some of that was Smith. Some of that was over-passing. And some of it was just pure bad luck.
There was a time when Vincent Lecavalier was a pretty prolific Caps-killer. There was also a time when he scored goals period, and neither one was happening tonight. With all due respect to Vinny, I'm sure we were all happy to let his little slump continue at least one night more.
Overall it was a good road win, but the Caps certainly played with fire in the opening twenty minutes. Too many passes, too many squandered opportunities and too much flash without any finish. The puck possession, particularly on the first power play, was certainly dazzling - but if no one's going to shoot, no one's going to score. And that's why the period ended 0-0.
Not sure if you heard, but Alex Ovechkin was suspended for two games. Oh, and he came back tonight. And scored two goals, one of the gorgeous kind and one we'll just nickname "Brooks Laich". For those of you keeping track at home, that's 22 goals and 20 assists for Ovechkin in 31 games against the Lightning. Yawn.
If you had to pick someone to play Mike Duco / Daniel Carcillo in tonight's little drama, Steve Downie would probably have been a good pick. He did rack up quite a few penalty minutes, but the fact that they were all spread out and stuff clearly stymied the Caps, and they failed to cash in. They did finally get one with big Lecavalier in the box, though - and killed off all four penalties whistled against them, too.
Eric Fehr is simply on fire. Either that or he's simply just starting to achieve the potential he's had hovering over him since he was drafted back in 2003. Whatever it is, we're not complaining - another shift crashing the crease, another goal, and just like that Fehr's up to 15 points in 20 games.
Mike Green had no shots on goal and got knocked down in what was probably an ill-advised check attempt late in the game. He also finished +1, with two hits, two blocked shots and a takeaway in just over 26:00 of ice time - and no goals were scored. We'll take it.
In fact, the entire blue line earns some special praise tonight. There were some little mistakes here and there, but all in all a solid defensive outing (if you can call zero goals against merely "solid"). And good on John Erskine for coming to the defense of a fallen Brian Pothier late in the third.

This is a Tampa Bay Lightning team that has clearly made some strides and is a much more formidable opponent than they were just a year ago.

Still, it would have been easy for the Caps, with Ovechkin back in the lineup and riding a 5-game winning streak, to attempt to coast through this game. It would have been easy to assume that offense only needed to come from the top line. But while Ovechkin did have two goals, it wasn't just because of him that they take away another two points - and maintain their pristine record against both the Lightning and the Southeast.

Tonight the individuals shone, but it was the team that earned the win.

Game highlights:

Recap: Caps 8, Flyers 2

J.P. — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:39:46 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

Browse more photos »

[AP Recap - GameCenter - Game Summary - Event Summary]

Memo to the NHL: The Caps aren't a one man team.

In the eight games that Alex Ovechkin has missed this year, the Caps are now 6-2-0 (both losses coming to New Jersey) and have averaged 4.63 goals per game and their power play has connected at a scorching 40.63% rate. For all the times AO has carried this team over the past handful of seasons, the team now is fully capable of picking him up every now and again, as they did when they killed off his majors against Buffalo and Carolina and as they now have in killing off his two-game suspension with a pair of blowout wins. Don't rush back Alex - your teammates have your back.

As for the specifics of tonight's game, it pretty much ceased to be one after Daniel Carcillo lost his mind and the Caps made his teammates pay for it. Pacifist Pete and the Flyers... a match made in, well, somewhere.

Ten more thoughts on the game:

Nicklas Backstrom was a wizard all night and ended up with a goal and four helpers. He now leads the team in scoring, has the Caps' last two five-point nights, nine points in his last three games, and 21 points in 11 career regular season games against Philly. So to that "not a one-man team" point, there's AO and Nick...
And Alexander Semin, who had a relatively quiet pair of helpers. An interesting note on Semin, he now has 22 points in his nine multi-point games and just one point in his 11 single-point or scoreless games (h/t @nateewell). So on some nights he's a two-plus point per game guy and on other nights, he's nearly invisible. This is why he's the source of such frustration. Still, further to our "not a one man team" point, there's AO, Nick and Sasha...
And Mike Green, who now has as many points as Ovechkin after a two-goal, two-assist performance. He also has more points than any defenseman in hockey and 25% more points than any Canadian blueliner. So AO, Nick, Sasha and GreenLife52...
And Tomas Fleischmann, who lit the lamp twice and now has ten goals in just 18 games on the season, eight of which have come in games in which The Great Eight did not play. AO, Nick, Sasha, GreenLife52 and Flash...
And Brooks Laich, who also reached the ten-goal mark tonight after going seven games without a tally. His tenth goal in last year's 23-goal campaign came on December 28. AO, Nick, Sasha, GreenLife52, Flash and Laich...
And Eric Fehr, whose two assists run his career-best point streak to six games and who has 13 points in games since returning from injury. AO, Nick, Sasha, GreenLife52, Flash, Laich and Fehr...
And Brendan Morrison, who had on assist on the night and now has more points (23) in 29 games this season than he had in 62 games for Anaheim last year. AO, Nick, Sasha, GreenLife52, Flash, Laich, Fehr and BMo...
And David Steckel, who finally scored his first goal of the year (hey, it needed a bullet). AO, Nick, Sasha, GreenLife52, Flash, Laich, Fehr, BMo and Stecks...
And goaltending. The Caps have allowed just 2.11 goals against per game over their past nine games, and have a .930 save percentage over that stretch. AO, Nick, Sasha, GreenLife52, Flash, Laich, Fehr, BMo and a pair of capable netminders...
And yet, in an 8-2 rout, Alexandre Giroux ended the night with a minus rating.

And so it's off to Tampa where it might be Steve Downie's turn to pull a Mike Duco/Daniel Carcillo and where we might have to list two Bolts goalies as probable for the game. Enjoy tonight's win - games like this don't come along often... though there's no reason they shouldn't.

Game highlights:

2010 Winter Olympics: Capitals Hopefuls

J.P. — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:00:15 -0000

via photobucket.com

View full size photo »

With the Olympics barely two months away, let's take a look at which Caps can expect - and hope - to hear their names called when rosters are announced later this month:

Pack Your Bags

Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin (Russia)

Ovechkin has represented Russia in at least 80 international matches (including eight in the 2006 Turin Olympics), and Semin brings another 50 games of international experience to the table. The two were instrumental in Russia's gold medal win on Canadian soil in the 2008 IIHF World Championship, both finishing in the top six in the tourney in scoring. The only thing that can keep the pair from hunting for a loonie to dig out of the ice in Vancouver is injury.

Nicklas Backstrom (Sweden)

Only three Swedish NHLers have more points than Backstrom since the Caps pivot made his NHL debut, and he'll play an important role in Sweden's bid to repeat as Olympic champs.

Fairly Safe Bets

Milan Jurcina (Slovakia)

Jurcina's size and durability should make him an Olympian for the second time.

On the Bubble

Mike Green (Canada)

It doesn't get much more bubblicious than Green, whose defensive lapses may prove too much for Steve Yzerman to handle in a single elimination tournament, especially given other, safer puck-moving Canadian blueliners. Is a high-risk/high-reward pick a guy the Canadians are willing to put out on the ice before the home crowd?

Tomas Fleischmann (Czech Republic)

Flash was looking a lot better a few weeks ago and may be a bit one-dimensional for this type of team, but he's still got a shot at making the Czech squad - he's actually eighth among Czech NHL goal scorers over the past two seasons. Ales Hemsky's injury couldn't have hurt his chances either.

Semyon Varlamov (Russia)

Vladislav Tretiak said recently that "It will be difficult for Varlamov because Bryzgalov is playing unbelievable, Nabokov is playing unbelievable, it's a big competition. I told him today he has a chance, because three goalies will come to the Olympic Games." Tretiak also said that he expects his team to be a 50/50 mix of NHLers and KHLers. But if Russia was smart and looking ahead to Sochi in 2014 (as we know they are), they'd bring Varly along for the ride.

Long Shots

Michael Nylander (Sweden)

If Nylander were over in Russia right now lighting up the KHL, he'd have a chance to represent his country in Vancouver in February. Add one more regret to his 2009-10 season.

Oskar Osala (Finland)

Picking Osala would be a surprise pick, to be sure, but as far as long-term investments go, this could be one worth making for the Finns.

Recap: Caps 2, Sabres 0

David M. Getz — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:12:14 -0000

More photos » by Nick Wass - AP

Browse more photos »

[AP Recap - GameCenter - Game Summary - Event Summary]

Earlier today I wrote, "There are a lot of ways to be a productive hockey player". By the same token, there are a lot of different ways to win a hockey game. Some nights it takes dazzling offense. Some nights it takes a team gritting their teeth and willing themselves to victory. Some nights it takes one guy putting the team on his back and carrying them to a win. And some nights - like tonight - it takes a team filling out its roster with AHL call-ups rallying behind a bad call (more on that in a bit) and playing smart, aggressive, defensively-sound hockey, including killing off a five minute major by drawing a penalty of their own and not letting the opponent register a single shot.

While the Caps' forechecking was solid and their offense pressure was consistent, the bulk of the praise for this game has to go to the defense corps, all of whom played well. Mike Green was all over the ice creating chances in the offensive zone, Brian Pothier played with controlled aggression and was a constant disruption to Buffalo's offense, John Erskine was quietly efficient, Karl Alzner looked like an old vet, and Milan Jurcina played his size. It's hard to ask for anything more from the group.

Finally, Semyon Varlamov was simply outstanding, something that had as much to do with his mental game as his physical one. After the Alex Ovechkin penalty, the ensuing powerplay, and the raucous atmosphere it would have been understandable for even the most veteran of netminders to get a little anxious. But Varlamov stayed calm and collected the entire time, which was exactly what the team needed. The effect that has on a team can't under underestimated, and Varly's quiet confidence played a bigger role in tonight's win than it'll get credit for.

Ten additional notes on tonight's game:

Not only should the boarding call on Alex Ovechkin not have been a been a major - I'm not even sure it have even been a penalty. Patrick Kaleta may have gone into the boards face first, but Ovechkin hit him shoulder-to-shoulder.
I've been accused of being a referee apologist in the past, and constant complaining about the officiating is one of my pet peeves, but Paul Devorski and Kelly Sutherland were awful tonight, committing a number of officiating cardinal sins. Letting the game be played like it's 2003 and hooking's not in the rule book: check. Making a call based on a result (Kaleta's injury) rather than the play: check. A questionable make-up call soon after: check. The only way they could have made it worse would have been to get perturbed at one of the teams and start making calls out of spite.
Karl Alzner went from the AHL to playing 20:15, second-most among Capitals defensemen. If you think he's been in Hershey for reasons that have anything to do with anything other than the salary cap, your argument just got substantially weaker.
Brian Pothier's second period hip check on Clark McArthur was pretty sweet. Of course, it would have been even better if it didn't look like he gave himself whiplash on the play.
It might be beating a dead horse, but it's simply unacceptable to watch a guy crash the net as hard as Steve Montador did to end the second and have the other team instigate the scrum after the whistle.
Coming in to tonight's action Paul Gaustad was first in the NHL in faceoff percentage at 63.3 and David Steckel was second at 61.4. Steckel won four of five head-to-head draws, but Guastad can always look on the bright side: he was one of five against Stecks; the rest of his team was oh-for-nine.
He's been cold recently, but Nicklas Backstrom really turned it on after Ovechkin was shown the gate. He may not have gotten on the scoresheet for his trouble, but that's the kind of play that can help bust a slump.
Since his last goal, which came on the 14th when the Caps played the Devils in Newark, Tomas Fleischmann's played five games and has just one assist and seven shots. C'mon Flash, where's the guy who was making things happen every shift?
If I were Bruce Boudreau I'd implement a rule barring Semyon Varlamov form handling the puck more than three feet away from the blue paint, effective immediately.
Only one Capitals - Eric Fehr - had an average shift length of over sixty seconds. Jeez, the guy scores one big goal and he thinks he's one of the young guns...

Just two days after "a total collapse by 20 guys" the Capitals came out and simply got the job done on a night they could have used injuries, Ovechkin's ejection, or their recently grueling schedule as an excuse and simply did what they needed to do to get the two points. That doesn't make the leads they've blown or the games the coasted through any more acceptable - but it sure does feel good, doesn't it?

Game highlights:

Leveling the Playing Field

David M. Getz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:15:08 -0000

More photos » by Luis Alvarez - AP

Browse more photos »

It's in the nature of just about every sports fan to analyze their favorite team. The problem is that the data to do so is oftentimes incomplete, unreliable, or just not there. Defense in hockey, for example, is notoriously difficult to measure. Point production is at least in part a factor of who a player plays with and against. Save percentage is a decent measure of goaltender performance - but a goalie playing behind a bad team's going to have a hard time putting up the same kind of numbers as a goalie playing behind a defensive juggernaut.

One way to try and compare data is to normalize it - to do whatever you can to make it so the players on a level playing field, so you can compare apples to apples. That's the logic behind a lot of what Gabriel Desjardins at Behind the Net does: sure Nicklas Backstrom has more goals than Eric Fehr, but given the disparity in playing time, power play time, and strength of teammates, is that disparity as big as the raw numbers make it seem? Does it exist at all? By turning ice time and goals in to goals per minute, you can get a little bit closer to the answer.

The problem is that when you do that, the numbers lose some of their relate-ability. When you say Alexander Ovechkin's 56 goals were an incredible achievement, people are right there with you. When you tell them he scored 1.57 goals per sixty minutes of five-on-five play they might assume it's impressive since it's Alexander Ovechkin, but they don't relate to it in the same way.

With that in mind, we've decided to normalize individual player scoring data and convert it in to run-of-the-mill statistics by assigning everyone on the team the same amount of "ice time". We decided to go ahead with 18 minutes a night, since that's more or less what a player who gets regular ice time but isn't a top line or top pairing guy gets. Each player is assumed to play 14:12 of even strength ice time and 1:57 of power play ice time per game i"in order to roughly correspond with how much time the player would get based on the amount of time the Capitals have spent in each situation so far this season. We also assume each player get 1:51 of penalty kill time, although this doesn't factor in to point totals since the team doesn't have any shorthanded goals. The method isn't perfect - it doesn't account for quality of competition or teammates, and obviously some players are hurt by the fact that in reality they play so rarely on the the power play. Still, it's an interesting exercise to see the effect of. standardizing ice time does on total production

Or, in other words, if everyone got the same ice time and scored at their current rates, what would their stats look like?

	G	A	P	ESG	ESA	ESP	PPG	PPA	PPP
Nicklas Backstrom	3	14	17	2	11	13	1	3	4
Matt Bradley	5	6	11	5	6	11	0	0	0
Chris Clark	2	10	12	2	5	7	0	5	5
Eric Fehr	7	8	15	7	5	12	0	3	3
Tomas Fleischmann	12	6	18	8	2	10	4	4	8
Boyd Gordon	0	7	7	0	7	7	0	0	0
Mike Knuble	7	13	20	6	11	17	1	2	3
Brooks Laich	7	11	18	4	9	13	3	2	5
Quintin Laing	4	0	4	4	0	4	0	0	0
Brendan Morrison	7	9	16	6	8	14	1	1	2
Alex Ovechkin	16	8	24	14	6	20	2	2	4
Mathieu Perreault	6	12	18	6	12	18	0	0	0
Alexander Semin	7	15	22	5	5	12	2	3	5
David Steckel	0	3	3	0	3	3	0	0	0

	G	A	P	ESG	ESA	ESP	PPG	PPA	PPP
John Erskine	0	2	2	0	2	2	0	0	0
Mike Green	2	13	15	2	10	12	0	3	3
Milan Jurcina	0	3	3	0	3	3	0	0	0
Shaone Morrisonn	0	3	3	0	3	3	0	0	0
Brian Pothier	4	5	9	2	5	7	2	0	2
Tom Poti	0	0	4	0	3	3	0	1	1
Jeff Schultz	1	5	6	1	5	6	0	0	0

So what've we got?

Mike Knuble was in large part brought in to help the team's power play, but he's tied for seventh in power play points among forwards and doing most of his damage at even strength.
Shaone Morrisonn makes $1.975 million, is tied for the worst GAON/60 on the team, and has done nothing offensively despite playing most shift with Mike Green. If the Capitals want to free up cap space and are tired of waiting on Michael Nylander, I have a suggestion for them...
David Steckel...oof.
Matt Bradley's more productive at even strength than Tomas Fleischmann. Take it for what it's worth (hint: not much).
At even strength Mathieu Perreault is outproducing Nicklas Backstrom, and Brendan Morrison and has been equal to Tomas Fleichmann and Brooks Laich. Très bien. Now how 'bout some power play time for the kid?
Jeff Schultz has been the team's third most productive defenseman. As much as I like Sarge, that's not good. Maybe instead of pining for that "big, crease-clearing" defenseman we should be hoping that Caps find away to get another puck mover on their roster. Or that Tom Poti starts bringing the kind of offense he's capable of. Either/or.
Eric Fehr is third in even strength goals and twelfth in even strength ice time per game.
Chris Clark has as many or more power play points per minute as Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Nicklas, Backstrom, Mike Green, Brendan Morrison, Mike Knuble, or Brooks Laich, raise your hand. Maybe we can cut him a little slack in terms of raw numbers?

What jumps out at you? Who might deserve a few more minutes each night to showcase what they can do? Just as importantly, whose numbers do you really think are indicative of their talent, and whose numbers aren't telling the whole story?