The Washington Capitals: 99% Entertaining

Smiles from ear-to-ear here. Thank you Caps. Thank you Ted.

It’s an honor to be a fan of this team.

And I’ll be able to put the defibrillator paddles away sometime this season. Surely?

Who’s the other team that hasn’t been blown out by three (or more)? And which other teams haven’t lost by 2?

And I feel like the Caps haven’t been playing as well as the record indicates. The fewest regulation losses stat really surprised me. I guess it’s just high expectations and all that business.

I can definitely see this post being linked to by Ted’s Take.

We talk about “killer instinct” and putting teams away – and the Caps definitely need work there – but I wonder how many, if any, other teams have spent 1/5th of the season up at least two goals.

hey guys i’m a displaced caps fan in upstate ny and i was wondering if anyone knows if you can get csn-dc on time warner cable for cheaper than nhl center ice?

You know what else is amazing? They have only been held to less than three goals in three games this season ( once by Detroit and twice by the Devils). They haven’t scored less than two yet.

I have to take issue with this post because it clearly doesn’t take Devils games into account, and that’s clearly more than 1%.

(/snark)

Who’s the guy next to Semin?

Got this from Vogs’ writeup of last night’s game and I find it more than a little encouraging…“Fehr became the 10th different Capital to score at least one goal in the four games since left wing Alex Ovechkin has been sidelined with an upper body injury.”

And who thought Carolina would be this terrible? Then, they go a lose Cam Ward for an entire monf.

Just for speculative purposes, looking at their roster quickly, Ray Whitney (37), Matt Cullen (32), Scott Walker (35), Stephane Yelle (35), Joe Corvo (32), Niclas Wallin (34), and Aaron Ward (36) are all older players who will be UFAs after this season and could help teams looking to add at the Deadline for down the stretch. Maybe its still too early to throw dirt on them yet, but I can’t see them really recovering at this point, especially with Ward’s injury.

Good job by the Caps with definitely a couple moments of greatness.

But this is just the beginning of the season and a great time to take a recap of the good with the bad and focus in on those and work to improve in those areas in the next ~20 or so games.

People sitting a game for 3rd period uncalled for penalties should be instituted, even superstars. The message should be: you cost the team you loose time…
but will it happen

…makes it exciting of course, also causes great agita. The feelings go hand in hand, I suppose.

Boudreau said as much in his post-presser last night, and I agree: At no point last night did I feel we would lose the game (in regulation at least)…I mean, the Icelanders could’ve scored 5 goals in the first and I feel like we would’ve still had a chance. That’s probably more of a testament to NYI’s lack of skill than our scoring potential (cue Pens Game 7 nightmare) but it is a good feeling when you’re watching… I really had no doubt that we would score more than 3 last night.

good perspective JP… sometimes we forget how well this season has gone when we’re complaining about the penalties and other boneheaded moments.

I’m happy to see us at the top of the Eastern standings, but tonight’s Devils-Pens game will put one of those teams ahead of us. Sigh. Let’s just hope it’s the Devils.

“Vancouver Canucks forward Darcy Hordichuk was automatically suspended for one game, and Canucks coach Alain Vigneault fined $10,000 by the NHL for violation of the instigator rule.”

“Hordichuk was assessed an instigator penalty with 4:56 left in the third period of Tuesdays’ game against the St. Louis Blues.”

-NHL.com

A little too entertaining. If this was last year’s team I’d be pretty happy right now. But its not. They start taking care of the little stuff and the current stats will look weak. This team, when it wants to, can/should impose its will in the majority of games it plays. The Cup or Bust window has opened. Instead of opening it a crack I want to see the glass kicked out.

If hockey is anything like baseball, then record in one-goal games is utterly meaningless in terms of predicting future performance. I don’t know if that’s the case or not, but I strongly suspect it is. If so, then the Caps’ mediocre performance in one-goal games is actually a positive, since if they had done very well in one-goal games we might expect that to regress down the line.

I tell you – I could watch this brand of hockey all year and not get bored. Leonsis must be thrilled.. he’s definitely got the best product on a rink, night in and night out, from an entertainment perspective… and the record’s none too bad, either. =)

Hopefully we’ll be just as optimistic sixteen playoff wins later, but one thing at a time.