Your savory breakfast links:
- Recaps and other assorted musings on last night’s win from us, Vogs, Monumental video (Trotz, Backstrom, Ovechkin, Holtby, Schmidt, Chimera, highlights), NHL.com,
AP, WaPo, CSNMA, Peerless, Frankovic, StarsandSticks, RMNB, DSP, Friends in Cold Places, NoVa Caps, Newsday, NY Post, NYDN, Islanders, and Lighthouse Hockey.- Even the cleanest players make mistakes, as was the case with Marcus Johansson‘s hit on Thomas Hickey in the first period last night. [CSNMA, The Score]
- Under the guidance of Barry Trotz, the Caps are showing a killer instinct, and have only lost one time – in 23 tries – when scoring the game’s first goal. [CSNMA]
- Per Elias: Alex Ovechkin, playing in his first NHL game in Brooklyn, scored the winning goal in the Capitals’ 4-1 victory over the Islanders. Barclays Center is the 37th different venue at which Ovechkin has played a game during his 11 seasons in the NHL and it’s the 35th building in which he has scored a goal. The only two NHL game sites where Ovechkin did not score a goal are places he has been to only once: Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York, where the Buffalo Sabres played a home game against Washington in October 2005 (Ovechkin’s first month in the NHL), and Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, the site of the NHL’s Winter Classic between the Capitals and the Penguins on New Year’s Day 2011. Ovechkin scored 14 goals in the 18 regular-season games he played at the Islanders’ former home, Nassau Coliseum.
- Mike Richards-a-palooza!
- Is Richards worth the risk? [Rink, CSNMA]
- Prior to the game, the newest Cap met the media and talked about his return to the NHL. [Monumental video, Dump ‘n Chase, NHL.com, Puck Daddy, NY Times, ESPN, Philly.com, AP, CSNMA]
- Before he did that, though, he made sure to give the exclusive interview to Mike Vogel. [Monumental video]
- Barry Trotz and Brian MacLellan also spoke to the media about the signing and the team’s expectations for Richards… [Monumental video (Trotz, MacLellan), CSNMA]
- …as did his former teammate Justin Williams. [Monumental video]
- After comparing Richards’ off-ice issues to a cheating spouse, Kings‘ GM Dean Lombardi is now “pulling” for his former player. Gee, that’s big of him. [CSNMA]
- The long history between Alex Ovechkin and Richards has all kinds of weird moments along the way. [Rink]
- Ovechkin is inching closer to 500 goals – but he’s setting his sights higher (albeit not because he’s not humble). [ESPN]
- News and notes from a pregame non-skate. [Dump ‘n Chase]
- To make room on the roster for Richards, the Caps have placed John Carlson on injured reserve. [WaPo]
- Today in “Braden Holtby is really, really good” news: Braden Holtby is really, really good. [NHL.com, RMNB, TVA]
- Getting a one-way deal in the offseason was a huge deal for Caps’ defenseman Taylor Chorney. [Post-Gazette]
- Reflecting back on this year’s World Junior tournament. [StarsandSticks]
- December was a strange month for the Caps, as they soared to the top of the League despite some lackluster possession numbers. [StarsandSticks]
- Trotz is rooting for another Super Bowl ring for DC. [CSNMA]
- Good trends and bad for all things Caps. Ah, Capstronaut… we hardly knew ye. [NoVa Caps]