Recap: Caps 5, Devils 1

And nice work, rooks!

Hmm, neither Ovi no Backstrom is even mentioned in the recap…

Semin was certainly too rusty tonight. Yet his puck distribution at PP (esp. 5 on 3) was very good and his no-look pass from behind the crease was a beauty. Hopefully he picks up soon.

Per Vogs #Caps right wing Matt Bradley will miss 2-4 weeks (and Winter Classic) with a broken finger. Opportunity knocks for Beagle/Gordon

Nice catch by KHTAD that Perrault lifted Brodeur’s stick just prior to the Knuble goal. Sneaky, MP85, very sneaky.

Oh, and nice to see two Caps in front of the net together.

Yes, that’s what’s responsible for the Caps 8 game losing streak! I stopped bidding on eBay during that time to save money for Christmas shopping, and look what happened. Then, suddenly, the day of the Senators game, I resumed my eBay action and won a few items. I did the same today. Coincidence?

I guess that means I must remain an eBay junkie, at least through the Winter Classic.

Chimera’s goal snapped a streak of five-straight Caps tallies that traveled a combined total of maybe ten feet. That right there is love.

Carlson’s goal?

I wonder if Burnside will re-evaluate his “The Caps need Maaaaaaaaarty” position after tonight?

Let’s go glass 3/4 full for a second and get waaaaay ahead of ourselves.

Production from the youngsters at Hershey opens the door for a major acquisition at the trade deadline, doesn’t it? If we think 85, 63, 90, 83, 26 can produce and give us what we need and want on the 3rd and 4th lines, we can think about packaging 16 or 25 or 21 or even 28 for someone like Richards.

Quotes from Post game presser with BB (moving them from period 3 thread)

On Hershey Callups

Beagle, Gordon, Carlson … they all had lots of energy, followed direction, and they played with passion and enthusiasm and when you do that usually no matter what league your in your going to have success.

On Matty P and Mojo

I thought [marcus] he was really good tonight…If they can both do it on a consistent basis then that gives you 3 lines that can go….center is a very difficult position to play and if you can get 3 centermen who can go and are dangerous and responsible like Nicky who’s learned how to be dangerous and responsible at the same time. So if you can get that together with those 2 guys we’ll really have something

On Neuvi, Varly, and partially his reasoning

He was pretty solid. He’s always been a guy who gets stronger as the game goes on and does a lot by confidence and that game in Ottawa really game him confidence. I know Varly is chomping at the bit to get in and I’m sure he will in due time, but Michal played really well and won us a game and that’s what it’s all about.

Also as per brooksengr I really should go back and add all the umms and ugh’s but transcribe them with various forms and variations of F-bombs.

Faulting Hannan for not preventing the Elias slap shot is a bit of a stretch. He should have been alongside Green, and Lars made it a 4-on-3 by nearly leaving the zone when Elias first gets the puck. Don’t most teams set up a box when they’re down a man?

I’ll give back a Christmas gift for the PP to work again. Maybe not my favorite gift…more like a third or fourth favorite gift. But I just want it fixed.

Oh, and let’s go, top six.

Oh and in COL just now, Flash’s lackadaisical D led to a LAK goal.

JP I feel like you were sitting next to me in 407 because everything in the recap is what I was preaching to my friends that came with to the game tonight after 1st and 2nd periods.

I could not stop raving about MJ90 all night. What a gorgeous hustle play showing off that speed to get to the loose puck and the superb feed to AG crashing the net. Someone finally finished off one of his great passes. The kid was everywhere, even better in the 2nd period. One sequence he knocked a Devil off the puck in the neutral zone to get us back possession, later fought off 2 D men in NJ’s zone to draw a penalty. Later he set up AG again for what could have been his 2nd NHL goal after curl and dragging it right around a D man. He was so good after the 2nd period I had to text a friend in another section that he was “shitting” on the entire Devils team.

Carlson and Alzner just need to stay together, right now they are the top pairing…it’s not even a question. If Green can find his game by the time Schultz gets back we could have a tremendous top 4.

Neuvy should get the start Thursday, kid was very solid tonight. Nothing spectacular but didn’t need to be. Good to see the grinders showing up on the scoresheet some.

I am still worried about the general lack of appearances of the real Mike Green and Ovie. Semin was rusty as expected but Green/Ovie still don’t look right.

Neuvy should get the start Thursday, kid was very solid tonight.

No question he will based on BB’s somewhat transparent post-game quotes.

Tried watching the Gordon interview with Versus on the press box screens, but of course there’s no audio. He looked so cute and excited for it. Kind of hoping someone youtubed it.

Before the game, Andrew Gordon had posted on his Facebook account that he had figured out how to score in the AHL but needed to figure out the NHL thing.

So now he scored!!! Bravo, Andrew!

how long has it been since we scored on a breakaway?

The kids (Gordon, Perreault, and Beagle) are doing all they can to stay in teh Caps lineup. Bet Hendricks will be back in place of Bradley on Thursday. Sorry about Bradley.

So who does Fehr displace from the lineup? I’ll be glad to see him back but who does he replace? I still think it would be a shame of one of Sunday’s heroes ends up as a healthy scratch through no fault of his own.

Welcome back, Sasha, even if it wasn’t one of your better games. I’m sure his presence in the lineup was a mental lift to the guys. So what was the “lower body injury” — a leg or an ankle or what? I noticed he would try to skate whenever there was a break, as if he were trying to loosen up something.

interesting factoid from CI’s Katie:

Also of note is that Washington reached 20 wins in 36 games, or just four contests shy of the pace the Capitals had in the 2009-10 season when they finished with a team-record 54 wins.

1) 8-19-28 was by far the worst line, but mostly the wings; Nicky had a decent game. Ovie and Semin were in glide mode. Semin, I can understand (somewhat) because of his recent injury, but Ovie? Too much meandering.

2) I like Locker, but watching the game on Versus, I must say that Darren Eliot is top-notch as a color guy. Really insightful. First time I’ve heard him call a game, actually. I was impressed. (Keith Jones and Cam Ward, on the other hand…terrible. Especially Keith. Caps fans will never forget how you lambasted the organization after you left, Keith. You and your middling production. Your bias is blatantly obvious. That said, he was my coach at Washington Caps hockey camp one summer and he was a really nice guy. So there’s that…)

@WesJohnsonVoice
  
@AndrewGordon10 it was a sheer pleasure announcing your first NHL goal. And then your second point of the night. GREAT GAME! #Caps

@AndrewGordon10

What a day. I dont want to go to sleep, cause when i wake up i have to put it all behind me and get to work again. Today is a good day :)

High-fives, all around. If they could all be so much fun!

Hey NHL, the Caps are baaaaaak…..

1) Have to disagree with the assessment of Marty by JP last night. He had no chance on three of the goals (Knuble, Gordon and Beagle) and on Carlson’s goal he was expecting the shot from Ovechkin and when Ovie whiffed (it wasn’t a drop pass as Wes Johnson said, it was a whiff) he let up just a bit when Carlson hit the 100mph laser. The other goal was a breakaway that he almost made the save on. During the second he absolutely robbed Ovechkin, and he made several big saves in the first. He’s not the Marty Brodeur that won three Cups, but he’s still got something left in the tank. That said, no, I don’t necessarily want to bring him into Washington, when there are better goaltenders on not-so-good teams out there (Tomas Vokoun, white courtesy phone…)

2) Great to see secondary scoring come through….but where the heck are the primary guys. The top scorers on the team yesterday weren’t really there, and if not for a whiff by Ovie, they would have been completely shut out of the points. If those guys begin firing like they can along with the secondary scoring, then watch out.

3) It is amazing how much wind can go out of a team’s sails at one moment. The Caps lead 1-0 after one, the Devils play pretty well early in the second and convert a power play to tie the game, but a litle over 5 minutes later the Caps score and they just [Boudreau]ing quit (other than Brodeur). They had nothing, and it was as if they said “Here we go again” and let it happen again…. A lesson that hopefully was not lost on the Caps.

4) Seriously Alex O. only one shot on goal in a game is not your style. Get firing again. Admittedly the one shot he had was a great chance and Marty robbed him completely…

5) John Carlson is the best defensman on the Caps…. and is arguably the best defenseman in the Southeast division (you can make a case for Byfuglien or Bogosian in Altanta…)

6) The crowd chanting about wanting Pittsburgh is nice, but be careful about what you ask for… you might get it.

7) The officiating last night… they missed a lot of calls, esp. a blatant interference that led to the Caps not clearing the puck on the PK just before the Devils scored the goal. Not good. Glad to see Backstrom getting involved with them when it happend (he was the guy who was victimized by the non-call.) He takes wearing the “A” seriously. Kudos to him. They did miss a few on the Caps too, as there was a near slew-foot carried out by MP85 in the first. It wasn’t an intentional slew-foot, but it had the same effect, and it went uncalled… it should have been a minor penalty.

So Pittsburgh is next…. HBO’s 24/7 producers are jumping up and down with joy….

And yes, the Caps are Back!