Our weekly temperature-taking of the mainstream media’s opinions on the Washington Capitals:
| Outlet | This Week | Last Week | What They’re Saying |
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2 | 1 | Set the alarm a day too late, but made up for it in the home opener. |
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4 |  |
All credit given to Mike Green for fighting Jersey’s Ilya Kovalchuk late in an ugly game. But he should avoid fighting and stick to playing porous defense. |
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14 | 3 | The Caps rebounded from a tough opening night in Atlanta to crush New Jersey in their home opener, chasing Martin Brodeur en route to a 7-2 victory. Don’t expect the Caps to stay this low in the rankings for long. |
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19 | 2 | (.500) Atlanta’s only win of the week was a scary one. Two minutes into the opener Friday night against Washington, goaltender Ondrej Pavelec mysteriously collapsed to the ice during a stoppage of play. After finding out their teammate had regained consciousness at a local hospital, the Thrashers went out and thrashed the high-powered Capitals 4-2 for their comrade. (Ed. note: These appear to be the notes for the Thrashers at #20. If the comments get fixed we’ll update here.) |
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7 | |
All those who thought Caps would have 100 percent penalty killing and 7.7 percent power play success, please report to U.S. military’s psychic training division |
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2 | |
The Caps picked up right where they left off, scoring 12 goals in their first three games. Alex Ovechkin is off to a predictably fast start and 22-year-old netminder Michal Neuvirth has been solid. Updated October 14 |
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1E | 1E | Alex Ovechkin scored an OT goal on Monday night to lift the Caps over the Ottawa Senators. Of course he did. |
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1 | 1 | Coach Bruce Boudreau is so upset at losing the season opener he had a video meeting with the players prior to Game 2. Talk about feeling the pressure early. |
Click on logos for links to full power rankings.