Tomas Vokoun has been very good this season and he has pretty much single handidly won some games for the Capitals early on. Tonight he basically lost the game for the Caps on Long Island letting in three soft tallies in a 5-3 loss to the Islanders. The game winner came from PA Parenteau (1 goal, two assists) with 1:46 to go as #29 allowed a point shot from former Capital Milan Jurcina to trickle through his pads and #15 tapped it home. It was a save Vokoun had to make and it cost Washington at least a point. The Capitals fall to 9-3 and lost to the Islanders in regulation for the first time since October of 2007.

Here are the highlights and analysis of a defeat that snaps the Caps 12 game regulation unbeaten streak (11-0-1) against the four time Stanley Cup Champion franchise:

- The Caps played a really solid first period and got goals from Joel Ward and Alexander Ovechkin en route to a 2-0 lead prompting Islander fans to call for goalie Rick Dipietro (25 saves) to be yanked from the cage. But Washington left their skating legs in the locker room for the middle frame and New York fired 15 shots on Vokoun. However, there weren’t too many quality ones and #29 gave up a terrible rebound on a Frans Nielsen shot and John Carlson didn’t do a good job of tying up #51, who put a weak backhander through the legs of the Caps cageminder to make it 2-1. Then with 3:05 left in the period Brian Rolston, who does have one of the hardest shots in the NHL, rifled one by Vokoun from the blueline. That made it 2-2 and gave the Isles momentum heading into the last 20 minutes.

- Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau shuffled his lines tonight after the success in Carolina on Friday night. Mathieu Perreault was inserted for Cody Eakin and the coach also broke up his very effective third line of Ward, Brooks Laich, and Jason Chimera. By the final frame Boudreau put that line back together and the Caps carried the opening five minutes of the third period before a Jeff Schultz turnover led to a Steve Staios point shot that was not handled cleanly by Vokoun. Matt Martin, who provided the initial screen and was not cleared out by Dennis Wideman (-4) then batted it home at 6:28. Ovechkin, who was all over the ice, drew a penalty on Staois and Laich tied it up a couple minutes later on the power play, with the Gr8 cutting across the crease, setting the stage for the tough loss.

- This was the first time all season that the Caps had to play back to back games and it really showed in the second period. The Islanders, who had lost six games in a row, started winning the battles to the loose pucks while Washington didn’t move their feet and did too much reaching with their sticks. In addition, the Capitals weren’t nearly as aggressive at getting to the front of the opponents net as they had done in their first 11 games.

- Backstrom (2 assists) and Ovechkin were the best Caps tonight and the Gr8 could’ve had more goals. On one sequence in the opening frame he totally undressed Mark Eaton but the puck rolled slightly on him and his shot in tight went out of play on DiPietro.  #19 is now 3rd in the NHL in scoring with 18 points (5 goals, 13 assists) in 12 games.

- In closing, despite the fact that the Caps lost their legs for stretches of this contest, they still should’ve won the game if their goaltender had turned in an average performance. It was not Vokoun’s night and he’s never won at Nassau Coliseum despite having a very good goals against average against the Islanders overall coming into this one. Bad nights are going to happen, we’ve seen some poor play from the 35 year old Czech goalie in spurts already, but for the most part he has been superb so the team nor Vokoun shouldn’t let one terrible performance upset the apple cart. After all, it is only November 5th, not April or May 5th.

Notes: Perreault was -3 and didn’t have his normal jump in this game…Alexander Semin had a good first period then faded into the abyss after that. Washington needs to find a way to get that guy going…the faceoff battle was tied at 25 each. Laich went 8-4 to lead the Caps…the Capitals went 1 for 3 officially on the power play but they only had 1:07 of man advantage time so that stat is misleading (a major boarding penalty to Parenteau combined with an Ovechkin rough and Ward trip caused that situation)…New York went 0 for 2 on the power play…the Caps next game is Tuesday at the Verizon Center against the Dallas Stars.

The Washington Capitals came in to Tuesday night’s game against the Florida Panthers with a perfect 4-0 record, but they had yet to really play a complete 60 minutes this season. You can cross that off of the list now as the Caps came out and forechecked the Panthers to death in a very solid and dominating 3-0 victory. Washington got an early power play goal from Marcus Johansson, then Alexander Semin rifled one by Jacob Markstrom (29 saves) just 1:49 into the final period, and Jason Chimera hit the empty net to close this one out with 44 seconds left. Tomas Vokoun won his fourth straight game making 20 saves for his first shut out as a Capital. This is the first time in Washington Capitals history that the team has started 5-0.

Here are the quotes, highlights, and analysis of a victory over a team that had pummeled the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-4, with 5 power play goals,  just one night earlier:

- The Panthers had to fly in late Monday night from Florida but that is how the sports schedule works out sometimes. Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau and his team knew this and jumped all over the Cats early on. Florida didn’t have a shot on goal until after the 10 minute mark of the first period as Washington continuously got pucks deep and used their size to cycle the puck on a soft Panthers defense to generate numerous scoring opportunities. The Caps could have had at least three or four goals in the opening stanza but they either fired wide or the Swede, making his first NHL start, denied them with his large frame.

“I think we tried to do that. They were tired. They played two very emotional games against their cross town rival and had to fly here so we thought this was the perfect advantage for us in the scheduling. I’m sure probably somewhere down the road it will reverse itself. We got a break and if you don’t take advantage of the breaks, shame on us,” said Boudreau on how the NHL slate helped his team on Tuesday.

- It was encouraging to see the Capitals simplify their game and not get caught up in to trying to make the perfect cross ice pass. Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Ovechkin, and Troy Brouwer played smart hockey and were physical on a not so big Panthers defensive unit. Washington seems to play their best hockey when they play as a team and don’t get fancy. Their work ethic was outstanding on Tuesday and the score was much closer than the game actually was because at no point did I ever feel like Florida had a chance to win this contest.

“The first two lines got pucks deep, so that really helped. When we get in trouble we try to play too skilled. When we get pucks deep, it’s hard to contain big bodies like Ovi (Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin), Knubs (Capitals forward Mike Knuble) and Semin (Capitals forward Alexander Semin),” said Chimera on why the Caps were so dominant.

“We were getting it and getting it deep and moving it. I thought for the first time this year we could have had 7 or 8. We were missing nets and their goalie played pretty good. I thought it was a well rounded effort by us,” added Boudreau on the victory.

- Vokoun only had to face two shots in the first period but in the next two stanzas he stopped nine each. There were times when he had to make a solid save to bail out a poor defensive play but overall his team was solid in front of him, which allowed him to challenge shooters. The 35 year old on a $1.5M one year deal, since a shaky opening 60 minutes against Tampa, has been everything the Capitals have needed in goal and more.

“He’s pretty solid and when we did have breakdowns he was there to help us out. That is what you need,” commented Boudreau on his net minder.

- Special teams are so important in NHL games and on this evening the Caps were perfect in that department. They only took two penalties, both on Roman Hamrlik (although I thought the first one was a bogus call), and they stymied a highly skilled and dangerous Cats power play. Washington swarmed the puck and took away any space the Panthers had and on both occassions, they weren’t able to get much of a sniff of the net. The only power play the Caps received was quite effective as Johansson buried the biscuit after some solid zone time. The key to that power play was the work of Ovechkin in the slot, who was flanked by MJ90 and Backstrom with Mike Green and Dennis Wideman at the points. When all three Panthers converged on Ovie, Johansson had a lane to the cage and he slid the puck under Markstrom less than five minutes into the contest. Those who’ve followed this blog know that I much prefer Ovechkin down low (slot or half wall) on a 5 on 4 power play because he can use his size in front for screens or in getting to rebounds. With so many good shots on the point now, to include Green, Wideman, Hamrlik, and John Carlson, it makes much more sense for the Gr8 to be down low. I am okay with Ovechkin getting point time in 5 on 3 or even 4 on 3 situations because in those instances there will be more open lanes for his powerful shot to get through. But overall, putting Alexander the Great down low will likely lead to more power play goals for the Caps and Johansson’s marker tonight drives that point home.

- In summary, this was a total team effort, granted it was against a tired club. But the Panthers have some talent, although they appear low on grit. Just about every Washington player had a good game, but Green was superb despite getting slashed in the lower body region by Jay Garrison at the end of the second period. Semin was excellent as well and he’s been the best forward on the top two lines this season. Backstrom is off to a nice start too and #19 looks to be regaining the form he had in 2009-10. It’s only been five games, but the Caps have 10 points. Boudreau, however, knows you can’t win the Stanley Cup in October and he talked about that after the victory.

“When it comes to April and May I’m not going to be able to sit here and say, ‘Hey we were 5-0, we got that record, isn’t that great.’ It is not going to hold a lot of weight. It is nice, but it is just the process of getting where we want to get. Right now we’re looking toward an opponent like Philadelphia who is 4-0-1,” finished Boudreau, noting that the Capitals next game is the hated Flyers on Thursday night in Philly. That will be a can’t miss contest.

Notes: Washington lost the faceoff battle 24-22 but Jeff Halpern was 8-1. MJ90 was a dismal 1-6 from the dot…Matt Hendricks had a game leading six hits…Semin was +2 and had 4 shots on goal in 16:03 of ice time…Mathieu Perreault returned to the lineup and played 9:53 (even, 0 points)…Dany Sabourin was recalled from Hershey to be the back up goalie as Michal Neuvirth continues to struggle with a lower body injury…Jay Beagle is not practicing right now and DJ King was the other scratch at forward.

Through two games of the regular season, the Washington Capitals are playing what I will call Clint Eastwood hockey: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly! I’ll get to more on that in a minute but thanks to Tomas Vokoun’s superb overtime and shootout goaltending combined with gimmick tallies by Matt Hendricks and Alexander Semin, the Caps are 2-0 after a 6-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at sold out Verizon Center on Monday evening. Instead of the young guns, it was the grinders who got it done for the Capitals on this night as Jason Chimera scored twice and he now has three goals in two games. Dennis Wideman, Troy Brouwer, and Marcus Johansson also tallied for Washington while Tampa got goals from five different players, none of which had the last name of Stamkos, St. Louis, or Lecavalier.

Wow, that was one crazy hockey game and one that both coaches likely would call a nightmare to be involved in. The Caps only allowed 23 Tampa shots in 65 minutes and for the most part played well defensively but their goalie gave up some really bad goals, three of which were shot from below the goal line. Vokoun (18 saves) was really shaky and struggling to properly hug his post in regulation and the Bolts took the charity en route to a 5-4 late third period lead. But then Tampa made another terrible turnover in their own end and that allowed Chimera to rifle one by Dwayne Roloson (33 saves) with Mike Knuble screening on the door step with 2:44 to go and that paved the way for the Washington triumph.

Here are the quotes and analysis from this second straight Southeast Division win for Washington:

- During the peak of the Caps losing streak last December, Coach Bruce Boudreau basically called out the mental toughness of his club. Through two games, he has to be pleased with how far his team has come in that department. In each of the first two contests Washington has had moments where they’ve just dominated play and had nothing to show for it. Then to compound those situations, they have given up a goal via a bad bounce or mental mistake. But so far the club has answered the bell and recovered instead of slumping then eventually losing in those instances. Tonight his goalie didn’t allow a terrible first 60 minutes to prevent him from showing how good he can be in overtime and in the shootout to get a win. In addition, instead of his skaters shrugging their shoulders and saying “Our goalie doesn’t have it today, it’s not our night boys,” they just kept working hard to try and get the win. Of everything that has happened in these first two games, perhaps that mental toughness is the most telling part of the 125 minutes of hockey in this campaign.

“If you asked Tomas (Vokoun), he’ll be the first one to tell you that’s probably not the way he wrote the script. I guess if you’re trying to look at the big picture, it takes a guy with a lot of mental toughness to play like that. And then in the overtime when you’re having four-on-three against you and you make those three or four huge saves.  I got to believe if it was me, I would have been so mentally out of it… and he comes up and he makes those big saves and he makes the save in the shootout. It told me a lot about his character and it ends up as a positive thing even if he didn’t have a positive game for the most part,” added Boudreau on what stood out for him with Vokoun on Monday.

- Tampa’s 3rd and 4th lines really helped the Bolts win last spring’s playoff series against the Caps but Washington’s bottom six forwards, if you will, came through tonight. The Brooks Laich, Joel Ward, and Chimera line once again carried the play when they were on the ice and Mathieu Perreault, Hendricks, and Jeff Halpern were a big positive as the fourth forward unit. When the young guns fail to score, and the Washington top line was atrocious on Columbus Day, the Caps rarely win but that was not the case tonight.

“[We’re] just three guys working hard. We all really take pride in going against their number one line and playing really good defense. And mostly when you play good defense, it leads to good offense,” said Chimera, who was the game’s number one star.

- As bad as Vokoun was in the first 60 minutes he at least redeemed himself in the extra portion of this contest. It would have been nice if Alexander Ovechkin could say that as well but the Gr8 was downright awful in this one. He made mental mistakes and worse yet he had an atrocious shift in the third period after coming out of the penalty box that led to the Bolts fifth goal. Ovechkin had a chance to generate some offense on that shift but basically just gave the puck up in the Bolts zone allowing Tampa to come the other way and create the pressure that led to the go ahead goal. Ovechkin does not want to watch the videotape of that shift because it will show his total lack of effort in both the offensive and defensive zones. In addition, he and Mike Green didn’t think on a 5 on 3 and allowed Pavel Kubina to get a shorthanded breakaway when he came out of the box in the second period. Overall Alexander the Great was -2 with just three shots on goal in 21:47 of ice time. What makes this performance even more disconcerting is the team captain opted out of the morning skate. Unacceptable move and performance from the guy who is supposed to lead the team.

- Marcus Johansson was a major positive after being scratched on Saturday for the opener. MJ90 looked like he was shot out of a cannon on most shifts and he used his speed to create scoring chances and draw penalties. The young Swede worked hard and showed that he is physically stronger on his skates than last season when he was pushed around, at times, below the goal line. Johansson had a goal and an assist and really played well with Semin and Brouwer. On Brouwer’s goal he took a Ryan Malone stick in the mouth but he still played over 15 minutes and was +1. The only downside for Marcus in this one was his 3-10 faceoff total. His play was inspired, something Boudreau definitely liked and took note of.

“That’s absolutely what you’re looking for. Here’s a guy that sat out a game, he came out, he just said, ‘I’ll show them’ and that’s the kind of attitude you’re hoping for,” commented Boudreau on how the sophomore Swede performed against Tampa.

- Special teams is something that every coach focuses on. After Saturday’s poor PK performance, the Caps were better on Monday and they had to be because they took two stupid too many men on the ice infractions. Washington’s shorthanded unit came up large, especially in the OT thanks to Vokoun, and forced the Bolts to go 0-4 in 5:20 overall of man advantage time. Now for the ugly of the ugliest on the night: the Capitals power play! It was just pathetic and reverted mostly to the mode of last season where the Caps would pass the puck around the perimeter to try and get one-timers. There was not enough of passing it to the point for slappers with traffic and net crashing for rebound goals. Too much young guns out there tonight, if you ask me, especially when Ovechkin and Green were on the points. I’d like to see more of John Carlson, Wideman, and Roman Hamrlik on the blue line with guys like Brouwer, Knuble, and Laich screening in front. It is not a hard concept and I hope the coaches hold the young guns accountable and sit them for a few power plays to show them how it should be done. Washington was a putrid 0-7 in 9:14 of power play time. They were so bad that they took themselves off of three power plays with their own penalties. Again, this is unacceptable!

- I railed on Ovechkin’s play tonight and Green (0 pts, -1) and Nicklas Backstrom (0 pts, -2) both had poor nights as well. But did anyone see Vinny Lecavalier or Steven Stamkos tonight? What about Steve Downie? Malone, other than his stick infraction to the face of MJ90? Nope, those guys all stunk in this one as well. As for Guy Boucher’s 1-3-1 system, the Caps pretty much hammered it tonight as Washington effectively used their speed to go around orange looking pylons on the Bolts defense named Kubina and Eric Brewer. My gut tells me teams will figure that system out quickly this year after having a summer to digest it on video.

- At the end of the day, the Caps are 2-0. When they play their system and think on the ice, they have shown they can be dominant. Mentally this club looks to be a lot stronger, at least through two games, but they need to clean a lot of things up going forward. Fortunately there are 80 more tilts to hone their game before the post season.

Notes: Tampa won the faceoff battle 34-32…Brouwer led the Caps and all Bolts with seven hits…Chimera had seven shots on goal, most of any player in the contest…Jay Beagle and DJ King were the forward scratches…next up for the Caps are the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night from the Steel City at 7 pm.

After Saturday night’s thrilling 4-3 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Washington Capitals will take the ice on Monday night at 7 pm at the Verizon Center against the team that swept them in the second round of the playoffs last season, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Naturally, some revenge will be at the forefront of the Capitals players minds but this is a new season, and only the regular season at that, so you can only take so much from winning game two of an 82 tilt season, if the Caps do prevail.

Since training camp opened Capitals players and management have talked about their work ethic and the need to ”bring it every night,” something they have not done consistently in the past. The acquisitions of skaters Joel Ward, Jeff Halpern, Troy Brouwer, and Roman Hamrlik has certainly helped with that so this is a different Washington club than last May, when the Bolts seemed to take advantage of every Caps miscue en route to wins in four close contests. On Saturday versus the Canes the Capitals work ethic was very good but they made several mistakes in their positioning and it nearly cost them the game. Assistant coach for video, Blaine Forsythe, was likely a very busy guy after last night’s game and today going over the errors with head coach Bruce Boudreau and the players. I don’t think energy or effort will be a problem on Monday night given the opponent but the key for Washington will be to play within their system and themselves.

Tampa, who missed making the Stanley Cup Finals by a game, has many of their key players returning in Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Eric Brewer, Victor Hedman, and Dwayne Roloson. St. Louis, Lecavalier, and Roloson, however, are really starting to get up there in age so it remains to be seen how they handle another long season. I expect #26 to pass with flying colors but I have doubts about their goaltender and team captain. One of the players who absolutely killed the Caps last spring was the speedy Sean Bergenheim, but he was a free agent this past summer and took big money to play for the Florida Panthers. Bergenheim was part of a crew of bottom six forwards who made a difference in the series against the Caps, while Washington’s third and fourth lines struggled.

Caps General Manager George McPhee has rebuilt the third and fourth lines in the offseason and much has been made of the Ward, Brooks Laich, Jason Chimera unit. That crew was very good against Carolina but if the fourth line comes out right after that unit and continually lays an egg, then any momentum Laich and company generates is wasted. For one game, the fourth line of Jay Beagle, Matt Hendricks, and Halpern held up their end of the bargain in their roughly nine minutes of time on ice together. On media day last Thursday, I had a chance to catch up with Beagle and get his take on the new fourth line and what they are looking to accomplish each game.

“Personally I’m excited to help this team win every night and create energy out there and chip in where I can. In a couple of preseason games me and Hendy and Halpy were saying as that fourth line when we need a big goal in the third, I think we can do it. It’s going to be a gritty, grindy goal and that’s the kind we’re going to have to make and produce. It’s just an exciting time and to be playing with those two guys is awesome. They’re extremely good to play with, talk a lot, and just make the game easy on you. For me personally, they always say we’re not looking for you to put in a lot of goals and a lot of points but when you can it’s a big help for the team. I want to chip in and score some goals this year. I want to make a mark on this team and be a power forward. I got to get more physical and be more physical, fight when I have to, and just try and be an all around player,” said Beagle about what could very well be his first full season in the NHL after playing the last half of 2010-11 season with the Caps.

Vokoun should make his Caps debut against the Lightning on Monday night. Michal Neuvirth was a main reason Washington was able to find a way to win on Saturday but Boudreau prefers to rotate goalies this early in the season. The 35 year old Czech is still learning the Capitals system and given how many mistakes the Caps made in their own end on Saturday night, I expect it to take time for #29 to gel with his teammates and become the dominant netminder he is expected to be. Beagle provided insight into how that transition has been going for Vokoun with his new teammates.

“It’s been really good, he’s looked great in his preseason games and in practice. Every day he’s looking stronger and with the d-core that we have, we got a vocal d-core that talks a lot. As forwards we got to take pride in talking a lot too. If you talk you make the game that much easier, especially in the d-zone if you know where everyone is and if you can share the puck and get the puck out of the zone. Tomas has been doing great, he’s a great goalie, I know even just coming down and shooting on him, [there's] not many holes on him. He’s a very strong goalie in the net and he’s only going to make our team stronger,” finished #83 on the difference Vokoun can make for Washington.

Notes: According to Caps beat writer Katie Carrera of The Washington Post, Marcus Johansson will center the second line with Alexander Semin and Troy Brouwer while Mathieu Perreault will be a healthy scratch (Monday Morning UPDATE: Carrera is now reporting Perreault is in the lineup. MJ90 status is unknown)… Caps beat writer Steve Whyno of The Washington Times reported that Semin will not be suspended for his hit at the end of regulation on Saturday…the Caps have announced that 400 tickets still remain for Monday night’s game. It appears that Washington is making a big effort to make single game tickets available each contest giving that season tickets are sold out for the season.

Mike Green blasted a slapper that nicked off of the shin pads of Carolina defensemen Bryan Allen and then through the legs of goalie Brian Boucher (32 saves) to give the Washington Capitals a 4-3 overtime victory in their season opener at sold out Verizon Center(18,506) on Saturday night. When these two teams play, the game always seems to be close, and despite the fact that the Caps went 5-0-1 against the Hurricanes in 2010-11, five of the contests were decided by one goal. This night was no exception and Carolina sent this marker to the extra session with a tally with their netminder pulled and the extra attacker on the ice with 79 seconds remaining. Alexander Semin, Jason Chimera, and Brooks Laich scored for the Caps before #52′s game winner while Eric Staal had two goals and assisted on the other to Jussi Jokinen.

Here are the quotes, highlights, and analysis from an entertaining start to the 2011-12 Capitals season:

- While the Capitals were victorious on this night, the coaching staff will not be happy with several things when they dissect the videotape of this one. Carolina was able to get a lot of quality scoring chances and all three of their tallies came with a manpower advantage. The first two were power play goals and the last one came on a 6 on 5. The Caps, who were 2nd in the NHL in penalty killing last season, gave up goals on two consecutive shorthanded situations (overall Carolina went 2 for 4 on the PP). Each of those came on cross ice passes that allowed Staal to pretty much have an open net. On the final Canes goal, both Karl Alzner and John Carlson got caught behind the Caps net allowing Jokinen to notch an easy game tying tally. Carlson made the same mistake, leaving the front of the net when his d-partner is already behind the cage, in the pre-season game against Buffalo last weekend. The Caps want to be aggressive defensively but playing smart is important too. Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau was not pleased with the penalty kill and winger Joel Ward talked about the miscues his club made to allow those goals.

“I’m a little disappointed in our penalty killing, but that will get better. Dean [Evason] does such a good job, him and Woody [assistant coch Bob Woods too], I know that’ll pick up. Specialty teams in today’s game are so important and that is what it came down to again tonight,” commented Boudreau on Washington’s shorthanded ability on Saturday.

“Just bad sticks and just in positioning, kind of not bearing down on certain chances, getting pucks out of our own zone. We definitely have to concentrate and just be more sturdy, so there is some work we’ve got to do. Fortunately it is only game one,” added Ward on how Carolina was able to get the open looks that led to their goals.

- Washington’s power play went 2 for 5 and the last two goals were scored in man advantage situations. However, in the first period the Caps had two power plays and both were not good at all. Alexander Ovechkin played the point for over three of those four minutes and was not effective. When Boudreau received a late third period power play with the game tied, he opted to put the Gr8 in the slot instead. That move worked well as Ovechkin received a puck between the circles and had a golden chance to give Washington the lead only to be tripped and slashed. The Capitals were awarded a five on three and 30 seconds later Laich scored on a rebound of an Ovechkin point shot that went wide and bounced to #21 at the right post. I was okay with the Gr8 being on the point on the 5 on 3 but in 5 on 4 situations he would be best utilized on the half wall where he can fire one timers or feed the point and go to the cage for rebounds. Despite the early troubles, Boudreau attributed some credit for the victory to his team’s play with the manpower advantage.

“When our power play is scoring, then we’re usually successful. I wouldn’t doubt [it was nerves on the first two power plays]. You were all asking me about nerves. It’s the first game, the crowd is into it, lot of new guys, nerves were there. It’s like the first day being on the job and going into the office. You’re nervous whether you are a 20 year vet doing the job or just brand new. The first period the passes weren’t very crisp and I’m hoping that was due to nerves,” finished Boudreau on the impact of his power play on the game.

- Michal Neuvirth (28 saves) received the start over Tomas Vokoun primarily due to his stellar preseason plus he shut the Canes out in the first meeting between these two clubs last October. It is hard to fault #30 on any of the three goals as they all came via cross ice passes to the back side of the defense. When Semin took a very unnecessary and undisciplined boarding penalty at the end of  regulation, Boudreau and company needed #30 to come up big in net. The two time AHL champion goalie did just that robbing both Jokinen and Staal on quality chances. Given the issues Washington had in their own end, at times, I am not sure they would’ve won this contest with Vokoun in goal given that he is still learning the intricacies of the Caps defensive zone play.

- This game could be put in the Clint Eastwood file (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) but one thing Washington was good with was not getting emotionally or mentally drained when something went against them. This occurred at a couple of key points in the game. The first occurrence was in the second period when Washington had the heat on the Canes for seven or eight consecutive shifts. However, Carlson took a tripping penalty and Staal scored to make it 1-0. At that point a mentally weak team might have slumped their shoulders or moped, but that didn’t happen. Just over two minutes later #74 hit a streaking Semin for a breakaway and the highly skilled Russian beat Boucher like a rented mule depositing the puck by him on the backhand. The second time was when the Canes tied the game up late in regulation and despite Semin’s stupid infraction, they managed to find a way to keep working and pull out a victory.

“We were working, then things weren’t going our way..then we stayed positive at the end when that bad goal went in for them at the end to tie it up. I think that’s the biggest thing, that just shows our character right now. I’m telling you positivity is everything, especially around here..but at the end of the day, it was imperative that we didn’t quit. We kept working hard and sticking to our game plan. It’s something that we worked on over the course of preseason is the mindset that were going to be the hardest working team. Sometimes it just gets too high and too low during the game and it’s just a matter of staying on an even keel and we were fortunate enough to get the win tonight,” said Green, discussing his team’s resiliency and their focus on work ethic.

- Green was paired with Roman Hamrlik in game one and the two meshed well. Last season #52 spent much of his time with either Jeff Schultz or Scott Hannan and neither of those guys skate as well as #44 does so Green will have less pressure on him to move the puck by himself. In addition, that should prevent him from taking so many big hits and his health is key to his offense. As I mentioned in my season preview for The Washington Post’s Capitals Insider, it looked to me in preseason that Green’s slap shot was back, something he agreed with when I asked him about it after the win over Carolina.

“Yeah, it’s a lot better when you are a 100%. You don’t have the aches and pains that restrict you from certain things and yeah, I feel good,” commented Green on his ability to fire the biscuit this season.

 - In summary, a win is a win, despite the mistakes Washington made in this tilt. But a sold out and boisterous crowd got to see a Capitals victory, something Ward was just happy be a part of.

“It was pretty loud, that is for sure. You can tell the fans were right into it. We had a couple of chances to put away the game but that is just how it goes, it is a pretty competitive league and we kind of capitalized on our chances and things worked out in the end,” finished Ward (1 assist).

Next up for the Caps are the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night at the Verizon Center at 7 pm. Vokoun is expected to the get the start in goal.

Notes: Nicklas Backstrom went 15-10 on faceoffs and had two assists. The young Swede looked much stronger on his skates than last season. Perhaps his conditioning has improved and that shoulder he injured in the 2010 Montreal series might finally be totally healed?…Washington won the face-off battle 37-31 and Laich was 10-6…Marucs Johansson was scratched in favor of Mathieu Perreault who was +1 in 12:50 of ice time…Green led all players with 23:18 of ice time…Schultz played the fewest minutes on defense, logging 15:47…Hershey improved to 2-0 on the road and overall with a 3-2 victory over the Wilkes Barre-Scranton Penguins. The Bears are in Norfolk on Friday night and then come home for Saturday’s opener at the Giant Center against the Admirals again.

All week long, while waiting for their round two opponent, the Washington Capitals talked about maintaining their focus so they would be ready for game one of the next series. If this was school and I was the teacher grading the Caps on their performance towards that goal they would not get a passing grade. The Capitals started slow, came on strong for twenty minutes, then completely got away from playoff hockey, and as a result lost, 4-2, thanks to two late second period tallies by the Lightning. Steve Downie and Steven Stamkos notched those markers and the Bolts now lead this best of seven series with game two set for Sunday night at the Verizon Center at 7 pm.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis from a game that the Capitals basically gave away to Tampa:

- A lot was made of Tampa’s 1-3-1 defensive scheme and how the Caps needed to be patient against it. In order to defeat that scheme, I blogged that Washington needed to find a way to enter the Bolts zone with speed and make sure they put the pucks in the correct areas on their dump-ins. They also could not turn the puck over and allow the Lightning to get breaks and odd man rushes in transition. In fact, a couple of very smart hockey fans over at Japers Rink posted a great blog on how to technically defeat Coach Guy Boucher’s scheme. For the first 30 minutes of game one, the Caps seemed to be following the necessary script but then something happened that sent Washington into a downward spiral midway through period two. Instead of being content passing the puck D to D like they did in a win in Tampa in February, which forced the Bolts to send a forechecker in and open up the neutral zone, the Caps decided to attack the 1-3-1 without being responsible. As a result, the Bolts started getting chances and got the momentum necessary to regain control of the game.

“We went away from our patient game and tried to lure them in and kind of open up some seams, but I think we got the lead and we just figured we need to get more and more instead of kind of protecting,” said Caps defensemen Jeff Schultz on how Washington got away from what had been making them successful recently.

- Schultz hit the nail on the head as the Capitals played more like last year’s team or more like a game from November from there on out in the middle frame. Washington got too fancy with the puck trying drop and low percentage passes, had too many individual moves in the neutral zone and blue line that zapped them of speed and often lead to offsides calls, and made too many turnovers. Washington stopped moving their feet and as a result their physical play dropped off and they took some lazy penalites. All three Caps second period infractions could have been avoided had the player kept working and played smarter (Boyd Gordon’s slash, Matt Hendricks interference, and Jason Chimera’s rough).

“I think we play very well, the last 10 minutes of the first period and the first 10 minutes of the second period. When we get the lead, we didn’t play our game, I think we play too cute and we took lots of penalties and that cost us. It’s over and we have to prepare for next game,” said Caps captain Alexander Ovechkin on what led to the demise and where his mindset was following the contest.

- Tampa’s special teams have been outstanding in this postseason and they killed off all five Capitals power plays while scoring on one of their four attempts. That goal edge to the Lightning was the difference in the game (Tampa’s last tally came into an empty net). Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau was disappointed in the lack of shots his team took on the power play while Boucher credited his club’s attention to detail for thwarting the highly skilled Capitals attack.

“There’s always the luck element in there. Our players put a lot of work into the details. They really do. They spend a lot of time watching video by themselves or in little groups on top of what we made them watch. They figured out a lot of the small details that make you successful. You look at their power play, they still had a lot of time of possession in our zone,” commented the Tampa coach on the key to his club’s special teams success while pointing out that there is still work to be done by his crew.

- Boucher, just two days into the series, has picked a theme with the media and stuck with it. He has likened his team’s chances against the Caps to that of David vs. Goliath. He continually praises the Capitals players calling them extremely skilled, a juggernaut, powerful, etc. So far, his rhetoric is working because his club won the majority of the battles to the loose pucks on Friday while Washington must have been reading the press clippings and blogs. The Caps played rather stupidly when they got ahead, as if they thought they were the high powered Edmonton Oilers of the 1980′s, and they also forgot about what it takes to win in the playoffs. Their hits were down and their turnovers were up, which is a recipe for the golf course if it continues.

“You can’t play river hockey and I’m looking and thought this isn’t the way we play, it was reverting back to an older day,” finished Boudreau on why the Caps were not successful after seemingly taking command of the play near the game’s midway point.

- Another game and another injury on the blue line for Washington. John Carlson was shaken up late in period two and only logged 36 seconds in period three. #74′s ice time total was just 14:39, way down from the norm. Boudreau stated that he was “day to day” and that the loss of Carlson cut his offensive ability from the back line nearly in half. That left Mike Green as the only puck rushing defensemen, making it easier for the Lightning to channel their top defenders to the times when #52 was on the ice. Green’s ice time, 27:05, led the Caps and 11:25 of it came in period three. That is way too much, but with the Capitals down a goal, Boudreau didn’t have any options.

- In summary, this was a really poor effort on Washington’s part. They forgot what made them successful in the opening round and didn’t stick to their game plan when they were on the verge of locking this tilt down in period two. It was a lazy and low hockey IQ type of performance, plain and simple. The Caps cannot play that way and win against an opportunistic Tampa club that has the skill to make the Capitals pay for mistakes, unlike the Rangers, who worked hard but just couldn’t finish. Those last 30 minutes were nothing like what we saw from Ovechkin and company in the last 52 minutes of game four and much of game five of the opening round. It was a real stinker and as one of my friends from Canada texted me near the end of the game, “The Caps were lazy and lacked intensity. The Royal Wedding was more entertaining than this hockey game.” I think that pretty much sums up my thoughts on this clunker too.

Notes: Simon Gagne was hit clean by Scott Hannan in period one, lost his footing, and fell to the ice hitting his head in the process. He did not return. In addition, Pavel Kubina hit his head on the glass as a result of Chimera’s roughing penalty and did not return…Ovechkin was not good at all getting only two shots on net. He had seven attempts blocked and he tried too many one on one moves that went nowhere. His best play was a feed to Nicklas Backstrom in the slot but #19 missed wide. Backstrom is struggling big time and if the Caps are to prevail in this series, he must get going offensively…Alexander Semin and Eric Fehr scored the Washington goals…Marcus Johansson set up the tally by #16 and was one of the better Caps on the ice…Washington won the face-off battle, 35-30. Brooks Laich was 6-3…Michal Neuvirth (21 saves) made some great stops in net. About the only thing I could fault him on was the first Tampa marker where he seemed to have the puck covered at one point and then lost it.

There would be no stopping the Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon in game five against the New York Rangers. No slow start, no lack of aggression, and no let up on New York. The Caps totally dominated the Blueshirts en route to a 3-1 victory and won the series four games to one. Michal Neuvirth stopped 26 of 27 shots (140 of 148 in the series) and Mike Green, Alexander Ovechkin, and Alexander Semin scored for the Caps, who came out on fire in front of a raucous crowd at the Verizon Center. Washington will now get some much needed rest, because as Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau stated after the contest, “We’ve got a lot of guys hurt,” to sit back and wait to see who they will face in round two. If Buffalo defeats the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday afternoon, the Capitals would draw the Sabres, who are the lowest remaining seed in the Eastern Conference.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis from a game and series that was extremely physical:

- The stat of the post season for Washington, so far, is 15 for 15. That is how many straight playoff series that Neuvirth has won in North America. The 22 year old rookie looked composed in the cage in every contest and rarely gave up rebounds. #30 did a super job of covering the puck and getting faceoffs any time the Rangers started getting sustained pressure, something he said he was instructed to do.

“Yeah, that’s what the coaches told me, they want me to freeze puck every opportunity I have to freeze the puck, so I think I did a pretty good job today with it,” said the young Czech goaltender, who won back to back Calder Cup titles with the Hershey Bears the last two seasons.

- While Neuvirth was very good in goal, he also was aided by outstanding team defense for all but one period in the five games (second period in game 4). The Capitals have dramatically improved in this area thanks to better personnel and a new system that Boudreau put in back in December. All of the Caps have signed up to play more responsibly and Washington became a stronger shot blocking team that learned to play better away from the puck. Both Boudreau and Ovechkin talked about that improvement following the series victory.

“I think they really bought in. I think from that 7-0 game on, and I haven’t checked the numbers, but I bet we had the best goals against in the league because these guys want to win. When they heard that this is the way we think we have to play to win they all said let’s do it because we want to win. So I think it’s come a long ways,” said Boudreau on Washington’s great team defense.

“You can see how we sacrifice our bodies, Mike Green blocked the shots, everybody block the shots, it was very important for us to don’t give them any chances to score goals and to give them momentum, because after 1-0 you never know what’s going to happen. We score second goal and then we play very well defensively,” said the Great #8, who scored another one of his patented highlight reel goals to make it 2-0 just 7:04 into the middle frame. 

- As Rangers Coach John Tortorella stated after the series, his team is still in a building mode and they only had one style of play to take in order to try and win. That was to be physical, dump the puck deep, and try to wear down the Capitals in their own zone. While New York had some games where they had periods of puck possession advantage, they never really generated a lot of offense. When the Caps moved their feet and were the aggressor, this was a major mismatch, which was evident in period one when the Capitals poured 13 shots on Henrik Lundqvist. If not for King Henrik standing on his head, Washington would have been up more than 1-0.

“Just being down 1-0 after that first period just felt like a good result the way [the Capitals] were playing. We just had a tough time getting in  front and creating great chances,” said the star Swedish goalie.

- Kudos to the Capitals star players for stepping up in this series and leading the way, which allowed their teammates to follow suit. Both Ovechkin and Semin had three goals each, Green was superb on the backend, and Nicklas Backstrom was an absolute beast of a two way forward in this series. In fact, in the history of the franchise, this might be the best group of centers that the Caps have ever had in Backstrom, Jason Arnott, rookie Marcus Johansson, and Boyd Gordon. Perhaps an argument could be made for the 1991-92 quartet of Michal Pivonka, Mike Ridley, Dale Hunter, and Dave Tippett, but nonetheless, this team is dominant because they are so solid up the middle now since the acquisition of #44 to go along with MJ90′s continual improvement. Boudreau certainly credited his star players as a major reason for the Capitals success against New York.

“They were all vested today. You could tell from the first shift on…when your best players are your best players the rest of the team just sort of picks up from it, and they play accordingly. I thought our best players were our best players tonight,” concluded Boudreau.

- Finishing this series so quickly is likely to pay dividends this spring for the Caps. The next round probably won’t start until next Friday (4/29) and that gives time for injuries to Mike Knuble, Green (puck to the head, but according to Boudreau could’ve come back and played, if needed), Arnott, and anyone else nicked up to heal. In addition, if  d-man Dennis Wideman is recovered from his leg hematoma, then Boudreau will finally get on the ice, for the first time this season, Green, John Carlson, and Wideman. That is three fast skating, puck rushing defensemen, which makes the Capitals a very deep and dangerous team going forward.

Notes: The Caps won the face-off battle, 31-25 and Gordon was an outstanding 12-3…Carlson and Karl Alzner were superb in shutting down Marian  Gaborik again (1 goal in entire series) and they played 26:31 and 24:28, respectively, in game five…Washington’s first goal, a vitally important one, came on their first power play and it was the only first stanza marker for either team in the series…Johansson had two goals and two assists in his first playoff series. He continues to get better and better and his speed is phenomenal. He could have had another assist in the 3rd period but Jason Chimera missed a wide open net off of a beautiful feed from #90…Brooks Laich assisted on the first two Caps goals…New York broke Neuvirth’s shut out bid with just 32 seconds left with the goalie pulled and John Erskine fighting with Ruslan Fedotenko…New York went 0 for 2 on the power play and 1 for 20 in the series. The Caps PK drastically improved in the regular season and was excellent all series…I haven’t heard the VC that loud since the last five minutes of game seven in 2009 versus the Rangers. The crowd was into it and the players said that the energy the fans brought helped them prevail.

It was the worst of times, then it was the best of times. The Washington Capitals totally took the middle period off on Wednesday night and it nearly cost them the game and perhaps the series against the New York Rangers. But somehow this resilient Caps crew got refocused in the intermission, came roaring back in the third period to tie the game at three, and then sent the game to overtime. After a scoreless first overtime, one that included Alexander Ovechkin not converting on a clean breakaway, the game went to a second extra frame. At the 12:36 mark the Rangers miscommunicated on a puck that was thrown towards goalie Henrik Lundqvist (49 saves) and Jason Chimera, who was hustling on the play, got the biscuit after the Blueshirts Marian Gaborik knocked it into him by the right post and #25 tapped it home for a miraculous 4-3 Washington victory!

For the Caps, the game four win pushes their best of seven game series lead to three games to one, a familiar place we can talk more about on Thursday and Friday, but for tonight we’ll focus on a contest in which Washington took over once they started skating and being aggressive. It had to be mind boggling for Capitals fans to watch that second period, the worst since the Rangers 6-0 victory in DC on February 25th. The Caps stopped moving their feet and even worse, their play away from the puck was downright atrocious. Every one of the Rangers three goals came because Washington was caught looking at the biscuit and not looking around and covering open Rangers players. As a result Washington goalie Michal Neuvirth (36 saves), who was fabulous in this tilt, was hung out to dry too often. It was almost like Washington went brain dead because they had skaters in position on defense but the Capitals players became puck memorized.

In the past, the Capitals might have been run out of the rink in the final frame but this club is different. Alexander Semin turned it up several notches and his goal 2:44 into period three gave Washington some reason to believe. Just 57 seconds later some hard work by Brooks Laich in the corner resulted in him finding Marcus Johansson at the side of the net for a tap in to make it 3-2. MJ90 would then get the tying goal by going to the cage once again and Carlson’s laser, just after Sean Avery’s slashing penalty against Ovechkin expired, hit the young Swede in the pants and went into the net with 7:53 remaining in regulation. The Rangers and their normally boisterous crowd were stunned.

Here is the rest of the analysis and some quotes from a win for the ages for this young Capitals team:

- I did not like at all the way Washington was sitting back in the first 40 minutes. The Caps have a major speed advantage on this physical Rangers team so I was happy to see the Capitals get more aggressive in period three. Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau’s message of getting pucks deep was finally heeded from the 40 minute mark on and Washington dominated. The Capitals started moving their feet and when they do that New York just can’t keep up.

” If we play the same way, no one can stop us — the way we played in the third period and overtime,” said Ovechkin after the victory (h/t to Tom Gulliti of the The Record for that quote via Twitter).

- Young players make mistakes, no doubt, and Carlson made several in the first 40 minutes. Johansson also wasn’t playing well either. But the great thing about these rookies is they have no memory plus their youth allows them to get stronger as the game goes on. Both #74 and especially #90 played big roles in the comeback. Boudreau said afterwards that he thought the line of Johansson-Chimera-Eric Fehr was his best and freshest unit in the extra frames and that their skating helped them take over (h/t Comcast Sports Net). MJ90 and #16 were both +3 on the night. Chimera started on the top unit with Ovechkin (-2) and Nicklas Backstrom (-1) and was moved down so he ended up -1.

- For the most part, Washington looked like the fresher team in the overtimes while the Rangers looked gassed. The Caps are a better skating team and perhaps the weight of blowing a 3-0 lead on home ice with the crowd going crazy caught up with the Blueshirts? New York relies heavily on the d-pair of Dan Girardi and Marc Staal and those guys had the highest ice times of any other players on either team at 39:45 and 36:55, respectively.

- Neuvirth was fabulous and he made some big saves to keep the Capitals in this game. One of his best stops was on Gaborik in the overtime when Carlson was caught a little flat footed. #30, who was run into twice for penalties by Brian Boyle, didn’t let the Rangers get him out of his game and he is on the verge of going 15 for 15 in North American playoff series.

- So here we are again, a 3-1 Capitals series lead, this time after an incredible comeback. We all know this situation too well and this series isn’t over yet. Will this year be different and Washington finally learns to put the dagger in their opponent in game five? I’d like to think so but we’ll get into that more on Thursday and Friday. For now just enjoy a tiring yet thrilling and exciting victory for the Caps.

Notes: Carlson logged 34:50 to lead the Caps in ice time…Washington won the faceoff battle, 46-44. Jason Arnott was 12-8 and Boyd Gordon went 8-5…Washington was 0 for 4 on the power play but the game tying tally came just seconds after Avery’s slashing penalty ended…the Caps killed off all seven Rangers power plays. The trips on Gordon (second one) and Mike Green were bad and the interference called on Marco Sturm in the first period was atrocious. Backstrom did get away with a crosscheck on Staal in the 2nd OT…the zebras were Paul Devorski and Steve Kozari and let’s just say I could do without seeing either of them again in the playoffs…down on the farm the Hershey Bears lost, 3-2, in game four in Charlotte. The Bears and Checkers will play game five on Friday night in North Carolina. Game six will be at the Giant Center on Sunday at 5 pm. Game seven, if necessary, would be Monday night at 7 pm in Chocolatetown.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: I will be on at 715 am on Thursday talking Capitals hockey with Drew Forrester on the Comcast Morning Show on WNST 1570 AM Baltimore. Listen Live at WNST.NET.

In the NHL playoffs, the ability for one team to make adjustments and seize momentum when behind in a series is key to winning and turning things around. On Friday night at the Verizon Center the New York Rangers, who were down 1-0 after losing game one in overtime, came out hard in the first 10 minutes against the Washington Capitals but Michal Neuvirth stood strong in net and then the Caps took over in the second period scoring two goals in the first five minutes en route to a 2-0 victory. Jason Chimera tallied after some hard work by Scott Hannan and Brooks Laich help set up a beauty of a pass by rookie Marcus Johansson to #25 to put the Caps on the board. 117 seconds later Jason Arnott buried a deflected Mike Green shot into the cage on the power play to make it 2-0. The Capitals then went into a defensive posture in the final frame and now lead the series two games to none as this matchup moves to Madison Square Garden for game three on Sunday (NBC, 3 pm) and game four on Wednesday.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis from a game which ended with New York pretty much trying to play rugby:

- The Caps overall team defense was outstanding and that includes everyone from the goalie, to the blue line, and the forwards. Neuvirth had to face 13 shots in the opening frame but there weren’t a lot of quality chances. After that the Rangers only got nine more shots and just six in a third period that Coach John Tortorella felt his team dominated. The best save for #30 came on Marian Gaborik in the slot in the final 10 minutes. In another goal mouth scramble really late, the Rangers fired wide in tight and then a shot destined for an open goal was blocked by John Erskine’s skate. As John Keeley of On Frozen Blog pointed out to me following the contest, Washington blocked 21 shots to only 15 for New York and it is clear that this year’s Capitals team is more committed in their own zone.

“They’ve been buying in since the middle of December. I said it many times, they just want to win. They’ve all said it to a man. I think the important thing is that they get success. We’ve had a lot of guys that have won a lot of awards and that doesn’t mean anything to them now. The success of what could happen is what they want. So when we started changing this a little bit they said if it’s going to work, we’re going to do it,” said Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau on Washington’s improved defensive abilities.

An example of that defensive commitment was how Washington countered a major offensive tactic from New York in Friday’s game. The Rangers repeatedly tried to get the puck behind the Caps net, have a forward go one way in an attempt to drag Neuvirth and the Washington defenders in the direction the player was going, and then backhand the biscuit behind them to a teammate at the back post for an open net. Tortorella’s crew used this play in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 times with no sale. In fact, the Capitals routinely had a defensemen or a forward covering the back post and centers Backstrom and Johanssson were superb at snuffing that play out. Green pointed out the forward support as a big reason why the Caps were able to blank New York on the scoreboard.

“[That play] was just something we picked up throughout the game. You just have to be in the right position as a d-man or else you are going to get caught. Not only that our forwards were helping collapse down to the net so even if they did get a chance they didn’t have much time,” said Green on how they stopped a play New York clearly thought would bring them success versus the Caps.

- Washington has a speed advantage on New York and they used that in period two to dominate the game and get the lead. The Capitals did a good job of getting pucks deep in that middle frame and they didn’t make the big turnover in the neutral zone or inside the offensive blue line that can lead to odd man rushes. The Rangers may have had one or two of those type of breaks all night, if that. The second period dominance by the Caps came from Washington using their speed to create offense in transition. It is something the Caps must continue to do to win this series.

- The advantage of having a 2-0 game lead heading into the third period for the Caps is that Coach Bruce Boudreau could pretty much roll his lines and keep everyone fresh. The Washington ice time leader was Hannan with a modest 21:34 and he played just 18 seconds more than Karl Alzner. #27, who appeared to get knicked on his first shift, was a beast in this game. He had three more team leading blocked shots (tied with John Erskine and Nicklas Backstrom) in game two and has 11 total in the series. He was superb at getting the puck out of his zone and it was his heads up long bomb off of the boards that gave Alexander Ovechkin a breakaway in the third period. Henrik Lundqvist (16 saves), however, made a big sprawling stop on the Great #8 to prevent the roof from being blown off of the Verizon Center. For the Rangers, Tortorella once again relied on his top d-pair of Marc Staal and Dan Girardi and both played roughly 23 and a half minutes. Those two have to be wearing down.

- Green, in his second game back since a long absence due to a concussion, was the target of several Rangers hits. He played just 16:27, took a high stick from Ruslan Fedotenko in period two, and late in regulation Brandon Dubinsky hit him hard up high in the Washington zone. But #52 told me that #17′s hit was not a penalty and he was just finishing his check. Green also said he was fine and he talked to the media for over seven minutes after the contest, which is far above the norm.

- So the Caps have a 2-0 series lead and their mettle will be heavily tested by a desperate Rangers club at The Garden on Sunday at 3 pm. Washington has done a good job of playing this series one shift at a time so far. They were a little complacent in the third period on Friday night and as a result, Tortorella felt pretty good about his team’s efforts despite the loss. In his mind, he thinks they have some momentum but need to score to feed off of that. But as Mike Vogel and I discussed after the post game press conferences, the Blueshirts only had six shots in the 3rd and the Caps had two quality chances with the Ovechkin breakaway and Backstrom’s steal and wraparound chance. So I am not sure that New York has much momentum but let them think that. Washington has a chance to put New York in a serious hole and will need to play more like they did in the middle period of Friday’s tilt when they really had the Rangers on the ropes. If they find a way to keep the momentum on their side then they have a good chance to take a commanding 3-0 series lead.

Notes: Semin’s hard work off of the faceoff allowed him to get the puck to Ovechkin (1 assist), who then fed Green for his shot that fortuitously clipped Matt Gilroy’s stick and went orthogonally to Arnott for the power play tally. The way the puck went right to #44 was lucky, but you need that to win in the playoffs…#28 did take a bad hooking penalty late in period two but Washington killed that one and the other Rangers man advantage…the Caps PP goal stopped a playoff streak of 20 straight advantage situations without scoring (h/t to Ted Starkey of The Washington Times for that stat)…the NHL Off Ice official tallying hits on Friday night had a very busy evening in this physical game. The Caps won that battle, 38-35…John Carlson logged 20:25 but he was in the locker room for about eight plus minutes of game time in period one. #74 took a shot off of the right leg, went to the bench at the whistle, and then ran down the tunnel. My guess is it was either an equipment problem or he got cut and needed minor repairs. Either way he came back and played a strong final 50 minutes… Johansson was +1 and had an outstanding night. His play in his own zone is top notch and the pass to Chimera on the game winning goal was of the elite variety…the Caps won the faceoff battle, 29-28 with Boyd Gordon going 8-4 while Laich won 6 of 9 draws…Rangers super pest Sean Avery tried to stir things up in a third period in which he received nearly six minutes of ice time. At one point, #16 tackled Semin after a whistle and didn’t receive a penalty. He did do a good job of forechecking and he had three shots on goal…Defensemen Dennis Wideman skated on his own for about 15 minutes today at Kettler Iceplex, which is very encouraging news. He could be back faster than originally thought.

You know that sports story about the guy who was benched the game before coming back the next time out and being the hero? Well that happened on Thursday night at the Verizon Center as Jason Chimera scored the game winning goal in overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 4-3 victory against a scrappy Columbus Blue Jackets squad after being scratched in Tuesday’s shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. #25 took the rebound of a Brooks Laich shot and potted it at the door step against his old club at 2:30 of extra time to improve the Caps record to 45-22-11 (101 points). This is the third-straight season the Capitals have reached the 100-point plateau and the only other time Washington has recorded three consecutive 100-point seasons was from 1983-84 through 1985-86. Tampa Bay defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins on this night so the Caps need any combination of points for or Bolts points lost that totals to four to clinch their fourth consecutive Southeast Division title. In addition, they pulled within one point of Eastern Conference leading Philadelphia, but the Flyers have a game in hand.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis of a contest in which Washington played nearly the last 40 minutes or so with just five defensemen due to John Erskine’s injury:

- This game was an up and down performance by the Caps and they did do some good things, like forwards going to the net for the tough, in traffic tallies. All four Washington goals came from in front or in the slot. John Carlson scored first on a rebound of a Laich shot, the second marker came from Mike Knuble at the top of the crease after Alexander Ovechkin (1 assist, +1 in 20:51 of ice time) set up Nicklas Backstrom (1 assist, +1 in 21:42) for a shot in the high slot, Jason Arnott  then notched his 16th goal of the season by finding open space in the slot and burying a nice feed from Marco Sturm, and then you had #25′s tap in for the win.

- On the down side, the Capitals were sloppy in their own end quite a bit and two of the three goals allowed were from defensive zone breakdowns. Columbus’ first goal was the result of Matt Calvert beating Karl Alzner out of the corner and when Carlson went to challenge #11, Calvert banged the biscuit off of Michal Neuvirth (20 saves) and into the slot where Antoine Vermette beat Boyd Gordon to the puck and deposited it in the cage. The Blue Jackets second tally was aided by linesman David Brisebois picking Scott Hannan off while he was covering Tomas Kubalik in the left wing circle and that gave #33 time to find a charging Fedor Tyutin who put a point shot by #30 short side. That shot may have been tipped, which threw the young Czech goalie off. Finally, the Jackets tied the game with 5:37 left in regulation when Alzner and Sturm both seemed to think the other had Scottie Upshall in the right wing circle, and when #9 shook free he fired one past a seemingly stunned Neuvirth. The play away from the puck by Washington was something that Arnott commented on after this tilt.

“We definitely need work. In our own zone, little things, panicking with the puck too much. It all comes with confidence and everything and we got a few key defensemen out right now that can move the puck real well and can skate. I think everybody’s just got to chip in a little extra for us. But our zone, we have to clean up our own zone and its’ starts tomorrow with the video and try and correct it and come out with a better effort to back our goaltender up,” added a straightforward #44, who has become a major team leader since coming over on NHL trade deadline day (February 28th).

“Tonight we had a lot to learn. We talked about it before the game that this was an important thing about playing away from the puck and I thought we weren’t that good at it. So it will be hopefully a learning session tomorrow watching the video,” said Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau when asked for his take on Arnott’s post game comments.

- The two blue liners that Arnott was referring to are Mike Green, who has been out since February 25th due to a concussion, and Dennis Wideman, who was injured on Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes on a hit from Tuomo Ruutu. TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweeted tonight that #6 is in the hospital with a hematoma and the deadline day acquisition is out indefinitely. Knuble mentioned that Wideman had sent teammates some gruesome photos (h/t to Katie Carrera of The Washington Post) of the injury. Based on what I could gather from media members and then talking with a medical doctor there are A LOT of variables to this injury. A hematoma is basically a blood bruise and they are sometimes opened up to relieve pressure. Healing time depends primarily on how deep and large of an incision was made. The good news is that this is not a broken bone or ligament injury. In fact, Wideman could likely be able to work out with this injury once cleared and can stay in shape without contact. Given that the playoffs are two weeks away, it is highly possible he won’t play the rest of the regular season. It is far too early to tell if he will be able to play game one of the post season but again, the fact that this is not a bone or ligament issue is a good thing, according to the doctor I spoke with following the victory. As for #52, there was talk that he could take part in his first practice with the team on Friday. Green has been skating all week on his own before the rest of the Caps have begun their full sessions.

- Erkine got into a bout with Jared Boll, the player who injured Ovechkin on November 1st of 2009 . #4 pounded #40 but he only played one shift afterwards. Boudreau quickly dismissed any hand injury and said that the physical defenseman is day to day and was held out for precautionary reasons.

“It happens to everybody. Everybody’s got injuries. I’ve been on a lot of winning teams and they’ve had to fight with more guys being out than we have,” commented Boudreau when asked about the rash of injuries occurring this close to the post season.

- Jeff Schultz had a solid outing going +2 in 26:35 of ice time. #55 was very strong in the first period and was more physical than usual. With so many of the Caps top d-men out the club will need Sarge to get back to playing at the level he was at in 2009-10 when he lead the NHL in plus/minus at +50. Thursday night was an encouraging step for a d-man who has struggled, at times, this season.

- The Capitals top line was their best on the night, especially in the first two frames when the Caps had a 27-15 shots advantage. Ovechkin was buzzing all evening and narrowly missed notching his 30th goal of the season. I also thought Laich turned in a superb game. Alexander Semin was held off the scoresheet in 18:54 and he had a golden chance early in the contest and then kind of disappeared. He did get to take the first shift in the overtime period after being benched for the extra session on Tuesday following his bad penalty late in regulation. Washington has to hope that #28 ramps his game up in the post season. Too many times tonight he fumbled the puck or fell to the ice without cause or barely being touched. It is one of the reasons that he doesn’t draw as many penalties as he should, the referees see him going down so easy that sometimes they overlook when a penalty really is warranted.

- Speaking of penalties, there were only three minors called on this night and two of them overlapped. As a result this was mostly an even strength affair with the Caps having 41 seconds of man advantage time while the Blue Jackets logged 2:41 on the power play. Neither team scored during that time.

“That seems normal for us. I mean if you look, I think we’re, I didn’t look today, but I thought we had the second fewest power play opportunities in the league and in the upper third of penalties being called [against], so I think there is quite a discrepancy there,” added Boudreau when I mentioned that he didn’t get much time to work on his power play in the game on Thursday.

- At the end of the day, the Caps received a big two points but the injuries on the blue line are becoming a concern. Columbus plays a much more aggressive style under first year coach Scott Arniel, and as a result the shorthanded Washington defense struggled in numerous situations.

“Yes, and add to the fact that that is a really good forechecking team and they came at us and for two periods we only had five D and [that] didn’t help,” finished Boudreau when asked if his team struggled to move the puck out of their own zone versus Columbus.

Notes: Columbus won the faceoff battle, 32-26. Backstrom was 10-7 to lead the Caps…Hannan led the Capitals in ice time with 28:19 and was +2…Washington’s 4th line did not have one of their better tilts going -1. The holding call on Matt Hendricks, however, was pure nonsense and should have been a hook the other way…Tyler Sloan was -1 in 12:55 on the back line, not good, but Boudreau mentioned he was likely tired from lack of recent game time…Ovechkin led the team in shots with five but was not credited with a hit…the Caps are tied for second in the league in penalty kill percentage (86.2%)…next up for Washington are the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night at the Verizon Center at 7 pm. Buffalo is in a dogfight for a playoff spot.