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Heading into Tuesday night’s Caps-Flyers game at the Verizon Center I was anticipating a raucous arena and an incredible amount of intensity from the Washington Capitals in a contest that figured to be competed at a playoff-like level. However, for about 35 minutes it was a very quiet building and the Caps were struggling to control the play and more importantly, get the puck by Philadelphia goalie Ray Emery.  In fact, after defenseman Braydon Coburn scored the Flyers second goal of the game to put the Broad Street Bullies up 2-0 immediately after Washington had failed to score on a 101 second five on three advantage, things looked bleak for the boys in the red sweaters.

But then the Caps got a bit of a lucky bounce on a Jeff Schultz dump in and Nicklas Backstrom (1 goal, 3 assists) set up Alexander Ovechkin (2 goals) in the slot and the Great #8 buried the puck by Emery to suddenly give the Caps and the Verizon Center life. Then Backstrom scored on a one-timer off of a perfect pass from Alexander Semin (1 goal, 2 assists) on the power play to tie the game just over two minutes later at 18:12 of the second period. The Caps power play had been in a major drought (0 for 14) but Keith Aucoin made a good play on the boards to get Semin the puck to start the whole scoring sequence. Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau credited Aucoin (1 assist), who was called up from Hershey last week due to injuries, with sparking things for Washington with the man advantage.

“It was really important [to end the drought] and Keith Aucoin was the catalyst for the whole thing and that is why he leads the league in the American League. He might not have the size or anything else but he sure knows what to do with the puck when he gets it,” said Boudreau.

Washington then scored the winning tally 5:24 into the third period and even though Boudreau called the goal “lucky” I say that only a player with the talent and skill of Semin could have pulled that maneuver off. Semin, after a nice breakout feed from defenseman Mike Green (1 assist and +3 overall), skated across the blue line down the left wing and started looking at a streaking Backstrom down the middle of the ice seemingly tipping everyone off that he was going to get the puck to #19 down the slot. Then #28 let go of a laser quick snap shot that fooled Emery and everyone else and just like that it was 3-2 Caps and the sea of red went nuts at the “Phone Booth.”

After the Caps killed off a Mike Knuble hooking penalty and a Flyers onslaught (Philly had 20 shots on goal in the third period), the Great #8 sealed this game with his NHL leading 11th goal of the season into an empty net.

Here are some thoughts, notes, and quotes from the win over the Flyers, which has to taste nice for Caps fans:

• Jose Theodore (game’s #1 star) was phenomenal in goal on Tuesday night stopping 41 of 43 shots including a penalty shot by Darroll Powe when Caps defenseman Tom Poti was called for tripping him on a clear breakaway. I thought that Poti hit the puck before getting Powe’s skate but in fairness to the officials, they have a split second to make that call and I had the luxury of seeing a couple of replays. Powe skated in and fired a shot into Theo’s pads once again sending the Capitals fans into jubilee. As I mentioned after the Caps win over the Islanders on Saturday night, #60 has seized the #1 goalie job with a vengeance. Jose also said the Caps played tonight with an edge.
  • “It seemed that after [Ovechkin's first goal] everyone got going and we wanted to win really bad,” said Theodore.

• This was the fifth win in a row for the Caps and they are now 7-2-2 overall. Tonight’s game was the first of 4 in 6 nights.
  • “We always have a thing, the first game of the week is the most important. I always like the baseball analogy it is like a doubleheader and winning the first game is very important so we knew, especially in a big week like this where it is the most games we’ve played this season in one week, that it would be great, against a good team, to start off really well. It was well earned but I hope it didn’t take too much out of us that we don’t have enough left in the tank for the next three,” said Boudreau.

• Aucoin logged 10:29 of ice time and he is making a difference being a spark plug for the Caps.
  • “He is instant energy, I can identify with him so well, I think, because that is pretty well what I was when I played, a full time minor league guy and when you get the chance to get in the NHL you just go, go, go. He is as smart as any NHLer, he just doesn’t have the physical attributes that a lot of them do. That is why he was overlooked, a division three player, and coming out he is a self made player. Those kind of guys are driven. When we played against him when he was in Albany [AHL] in the playoffs, even though we [Hershey] won in five games, everytime he was on the ice he was a threat and I thought he was so much better than I originally thought, he is a good player,” added Boudreau who was clearly enthusiastic to talk about #20 and his contribution to the Caps.

• As advertised heading into Tuesday’s contest, the Flyers had a very good power play operating at over 25% efficiency and they took advantage of two lazy penalties (hooks by Brendan Morrison and Tyler Sloan in non-threatening areas) to get two goals with the man advantage. Overall the Flyers were 2 for 5 on the power play.
  • “Well I’m happy with the effort but we can’t be satisfied with what’s going on. We’re not scoring goals right now. We’re getting a lot of chances but we got to do more. We got to dig in around the net. We got to find a way to get those pucks in the net. And we got to start winning these tight games,” said Flyers Coach John Stevens, whose club dropped to 5-4-1.

• The Caps won for the second straight game after trailing 2-0 and they have fallen behind by two only twice this season and have responded with goals 2:18 and 1:39 later. Backstrom talked about the confidence the team gains from wins like the last coupl.
  • “It means a lot. Last season I think we did it a couple of times too. I don’t know what happened, we were down 2-0 and it just turned around….You can’t panic, it is just two goals, you know it is half of the game left, so you keep working and hopefully something good happens, like tonight,” said Backstrom, who now has 3 goals and 12 assists in 11 games this season.

• Washington was better in the face-off department tonight going 37-32. Dave Steckel was 16-11 but Backstrom was only 6-10. I spoke with #19 afterwards about the advantage, from the dot, that he receives at home (the home team player gets to put his stick down second).
  • “I think it is a lot. You have the advantage of seeing how [your opponent] puts his stick down first and I get to go after him so that is a good thing, especially when you’ve been struggling,” said Backstrom, who is winning only about 40% of his face-offs this season.

Next up for Washington is the Thrashers, who lost star forward Ilya Kovalchuk for at least 4 weeks due to a broken foot, in Atlanta on Thursday. The Caps return home on Friday night against the Islanders and then face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday afternoon at 5pm at the Verizon Center.

You can bet the Verizon Center will be  ”Rocking and Red” on Tuesday night as the vaunted and despised Philadelphia Flyers come to town for a 7pm tilt (shown in HD on VERSUS). The Caps look to avenge a 6-5 OT loss suffered back on October 6th when Danny Briere scored the game winner in Philadelphia. You can sum up this contest in one sentence:

These two teams do not like each other!

The Caps are off to a 6-2-2 start and are in first place in the Southeast Division while the Flyers are 5-3-1 but in 4th place in the very tough Atlantic Division.

Washington will get forward Alexander Semin back (illness/soreness) on Tuesday night after he missed the past two games and this should help a struggling Capitals power play that is 20th in the NHL at only 16.7%. The Caps were 2nd overall in the league last season, scoring at a 25.2% clip. Jose Theodore had a very strong game against the Islanders on Saturday night so I expect Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau to have #60 in net. Philly will likely go with Ray Emery.

The key for Washington will be to stay out of the penalty box and prevent the Flyers power play, which is ranked 8th overall at 25% efficiency, from deciding the outcome. Philadelphia is led by star forwards Mike Richards (6 goals, 4 assists) and Jeff Carter (4 goals, 6 assists) up front and they have superstar defenseman Chris Pronger (2 goals, 6 assists) on the back line along with Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn. Timonen and Coburn, who were coach John Stevens go-to pairing  on defense last season, are a surprising -7 and -8, respectively.

This should be a fun game to watch and if you are interested in a live chat, former Capitals forward Kevin “Killer” Kaminski will be on-line here:

More Accolades for the Great #8

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin has been nominated for two ESPY Awards – Best Play and Best NHL Player – with the winners determined by fan voting that is open now at ESPYS.tv. Voting continues in 37 categories through 11:59 p.m. ET on July 11.

These are the fourth and fifth ESPY nominations of Ovechkin’s career, as the two-time NHL MVP hopes to win for the first time at The 2009 ESPYs when the show is televised Sunday, July 19, at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN HD. A one-hour nomination special will be broadcast tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Ovechkin is the only hockey player and one of a select group of athletes nominated for two ESPYs. Also nominated twice are the likes of Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Usain Bolt and Tim Tebow. He could become the first hockey player ever to win the ESPY for Best Play – his remarkable goal in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Rangers is nominated.

The ESPYs gather top celebrities from sports and entertainment to commemorate the past year in sports by recognizing major sports achievements, reliving unforgettable moments and saluting the leading performers and performances. The ESPYs honor ESPN’s commitment to The V Foundation for Cancer Research, a partnership launched with the late Jim Valvano at the inaugural ESPYs in 1993.

Huge Trade at NHL Draft

The big news at the NHL Draft so far, other than forward John Tavares going as expected as the #1 pick to the New York Islanders, is that the Philadelphia Flyers have acquired superstar defenseman Chris Pronger from the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks, who also gave up forward Ryan Dingle, received forward Joffrey Lupul, the Flyers 2008 1st round draft pick in defenseman Luca Sbisa, and two first round picks (2010 and 2011) plus a conditional 3rd round pick. Due to the salary cap, the Ducks had to move Pronger or goalie Jean-Sebastian Giguere when defenseman Scott Niedermayer announced today that he was going to play next season.

The Flyers, who will have to clear some salary to fit Pronger under next year’s announced salary cap figure of $56.8M, get one of the best defenseman in the NHL and now have a top 3 defense of Pronger, Braydon Coburn, and Kimmo Timonen. This trio is as strong as any in the NHL, at this time.

Caps Pick Center

As we’ve been telling you, the Caps need centers, and after picking Anton Gustaffson of Sweden in the first round last year they have gone back to that same country and taken with the 24th selection, center Marcus Johansson, who played for Farjestad last season (Gustaffson’s father, Bengt-Ake, played for that team as well). Johansson is 5′ 11″ and 189 lbs. Here are his stats.

Caps Update

So I just finished watching Ray Ferraro of TSN via the NHL network declare that Caps goalie Jose Theodore can’t win 16 playoff games to lead Washington to the Stanley Cup this year. Ferraro, who pretty much single handily ended the Caps playoff season back in 1993 with his overtime winning goals with the Islanders (not to mention the Caps goaltending was awful that year) is in DC for game one. Ferraro, who used to do studio analysis for ESPN, now spends most of his time doing the analysis for Edmonton Oilers games.

For those of you who have read my blog all season long, I disagree with the criticism of Theodore and will remain in his corner. The weakness for the Caps this year has been their defensive zone play which makes it very difficult for a goalie to know where the shots are coming from. Since December 23rd Jose has been good primarily because he’s learned the tendencies of his defensemen (when they show up to play, and that has been the case when the team has felt challenged), so if Washington can play solid positionally and with the puck in their own zone I don’t see why #60 can’t take this team to a championship. However, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves as the first round is going to be tough against a very good Rangers team but chalk me up in the crowd (and it sounds like it is a small one in media circles) that says Theodore is the right guy to lead the Caps in net this playoff season.

NHL News

For those teams that are not in the NHL playoffs, especially ones in the bottom three of the league, (Islanders, Tampa, and Avalanche) tonight was a big night to see who would win the draft lottery and get the first pick in the 2009 entry draft (which appears to be a no-brainer in John Tavares). The Islanders won the lottery but Leafs GM Brian Burke said before it took place that he will make a serious attempt to pry the number one pick away from the winner (he obviously wants the local Ontario boy Tavares to lead Toronto in the future). Now that New York has won it could the Islanders, who had a horrible track record in keeping high draft picks under former GM Mike Milbury’s regime (Garth Snow is the current GM), make another colossal mistake and trade away this top notch player? Don’t be surprised if the Islanders get sucked into an offer from Burke and move the pick. I talked to one scout tonight who thinks they will trade the choice to the Leafs. I think the Islanders have to keep the pick and take Tavares.

Remaining Eastern Conference Playoff Predictions

Series A: Boston vs. Montreal

History says that Montreal has the edge here as they hold a 24-7 overall playoff series advantage, including a 4-3 win last year in the first round. But Boston was the best team in the Eastern Conference and Montreal has folded under the pressure of playing in their 100th season. Before the season I had the Habs picked first in the East and the Bruins to finish right behind them in second in their division and a team on the rise. Montreal had no team chemistry this year while the physical Bruins gelled as a team.

What I like about Boston: There is a lot to like about this club from Zdeno Chara, who is one of the best defenseman in the league, to goalie Tim Thomas who led the NHL in goals against average and save percentage this season, to a solid group of forwards that include Marc Savard, Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic, Chuck Kobasew, Michael “I only play for Claude Julien” Ryder, David Krejci, and Blake Wheeler. Boston has home ice advantage and can be physical. They were the only team in the league to give up fewer than 200 goals (196)! Their power play clicked at 23.6% which was second to the Caps in the East.

The concern about the Bruins: As Peter Laviolette pointed out on TSN tonight they could be considered weak at No.1 center with Savard and he does not have a lot of playoff experience. Boston has had some trouble with fast teams (like the Caps), but it is hard to find weaknesses with this club.

What I like about Montreal: Not much as they collapsed down the stretch and the loss of Robert Lang to an achilles tendon injury seemed to really hurt them. Carey Price has potential but he has had a horrible year in net. The Alexei Kovalev, Saku Koivu, and Alex Tanguay line seemed to click late in the year

The concern about the Habs: There are lots of them. Inconsistent goaltending, a key injury to defenseman Andrei Markov, small forwards who can be pushed around. Too many unrestricted free agents. The pressure on them to produce in their 100th season. I could go on and on.

Analysis: Despite the playoff dominance Montreal has had over Boston throughout the years I just can’t see the Canadiens winning this series, especially if Markov can’t go.

Prediction: Boston in 5

Series C: New Jersey vs. Carolina

These two teams met back in 2006 when Carolina knocked off the Devils en route to their first Stanley Cup. I was totally surprised when the Canes beat New Jersey but I won’t be surprised at all if this red hot team knocks off Martin Brodeur and company this year. The Canes went 13-3-2 down the stretch (losing their last two) to make the playoffs after being a bubble team. Will that effort wear them out and can the Devils, who struggled down the stretch, ramp up their game in the second season?

What I like about New Jersey: Martin Brodeur, the best goalie on the planet and in the history of the NHL. He should be able to overcome his 4-6-1 finish after setting the NHL record for wins. Zach Parise (94 points in 82 games), Patrick Elias (78 points in 77 games but banged up down the stretch), Jamie Langenbrunner (69 points), Travis Zajac, and Brian Gionta carry the scoring load. Brian Rolston has a huge shot that he unleashes on the rush and on the power play. A good defensive team that only gave up 209 goals and sticks to Coach Brent Sutter’s system.

The concern about the Devils: They really lack scoring from the blueline which allows team to focus on their forwards. New Jersey’s forwards are not big so a physical approach could work against them.

What I like about Carolina: Their speed, this team can fly with Eric Staal, Ray Whitney, and Sergei Samsonov. Staal seemed reinvigorated when GM Jim Rutherford went out and re-acquired Erik Cole from Edmonton at the trade deadline. Cam Ward has been playing at the same level that won the Stanley Cup for his team and the Conn Smythe trophy for himself.

The concern about the Hurricanes: Did they burn themselves out during the month of March playing so many intense hockey games? Can their fairly weak defensive corps hold up?

Analysis: This will be another very good series and it will be interesting to see how Paul Maurice does as a coach back in the playoffs for the first time since losing the Stanley Cup finals to Detroit in 2002. Also, there are reports that Sutter wants to move back closer to his family and could hang it up after this season as the Devils coach. Could Sutter be Calgary bound to work with his brother Darryl should Mike Keenan get the boot after the Flames get knocked out by the Blackhawks?

Prediction: Carolina in 7 games.

Series D: Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia

For Caps fans this series will be fun to watch as one of the two teams Washington fans despise the most will be golfing in two weeks. The bad news, one of these squads moves on and would face Washington if the Caps win and the Canes upset the Devils. Washington fans, can you say let’s see a long series with lots of physical play between these two teams? The battle of Pennsylvania will be a good one and I think the winner might be too worn out to go far in the East.

What I like about Pittsburgh: 18-3-4 in the 25 games since Coach Dan Bylsma took over for Michel Therien. This change seemingly brought Jordan Staal and Sydney Crosby back to life this year as it was reported that neither of them cared for the Frenchman’s coaching style. Evgeni Malkin, who led the NHL in points with 113. Sergei Gonchar is back on defense after missing four plus months of action. Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin are forwards who know how to win and can get to the front of the net.

The concern about Pittsburgh: Team defense and consistency from Marc Andre-Fleury. Fleury appears to have found his game but is he at the level he had his game last spring? The defense really improved once Ryan Whitney (-15) was shipped to Anaheim for Kunitz and a prospect (Eric Tangradi).

What I like about Philadelphia: They have a great group of forwards that go hard to the net. I am a huge Scott Hartnell (30 goals) fan and Mike Richards (80 points) and Jeff Carter (46 goals) are outstanding two way players and leaders. Simon Gagne, Daniel Briere, Mike Knuble, and Joffrey Lupul are also major threats to put the puck in the net. On defense they rely heavily on the pair of Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen.

The concern about the Flyers: Goaltending is the top issue with Martin Biron and Anterro Niittymaki still trying to establish themselves as the go to guy. Biron seems to have that job, for the moment. Lack of defensive depth – Coburn and Timonen play so much and the rest of the defense is not that good. Will head Coach John Stevens wear his top two defensemen out?

Analysis: As much as I like Philadelphia’s ability to go to the net I just think the Penguins are too strong for them. For the Flyers to win Fleury needs to be average and Biron must catch fire.

Prediction: Penguins in 7

In what was pretty much a playoff atmosphere at the sold out Verizon Center Tuesday night, Caps goalie Jose Theodore stopped 33 of 34 shots as well as all three Flyers in the shootout to help the Caps beat Philadelphia, 2-1. Theodore was outstanding, as was Flyers goalie Martin Biron, and he has now won six straight starts and the Caps have won seven straight games and 12 of 13 with their only loss being the 7-1 defeat in Philadelphia on December 20th. Viktor Kozlov had the only shootout goal going first and used a beautiful move to set up a backhand shot that he put past Biron.

This game featured the league’s top two goal scorers in Alexander Ovechkin and Jeff Carter and both did their best to score but were denied. Carter had eight shots on net while the Great #8 had five and with Buffalo’s Tomas Vanek netting his 27th tally of the season there is now a three way tie for the NHL goal scoring lead.

Here are some random thoughts on tonight’s game:

Alexander Semin doesn’t look fully healed from his back injury as he was tentative in some areas on the ice, especially along the boards. He did, however, make a great play to set Nicklas Backstrom up for the only Caps goal on the power play two minutes and ten seconds into the game

Michael Nylander continues to disappoint although I thought the hooking call on him to start the third period, which led to Philly’s game tying goal, wasn’t a penalty because it appeared that #92 got all stick and no glove on the replays I viewed. Bad call referees once again! Nylander has definitely lost a step and at the money this team is paying him ($5.5M this year and next, then $3.5M in 2010-11) they need more production from him. Nylander only had 13:08 of ice time so clearly Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau is not playing him at a level commensurate with what he is being paid.

Ovechkin didn’t have one of his better games but he was still a force on the ice. Flyers defensemen Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn, who are one of the best defensive pairs in the league, did a very good job of not giving the Great #8 space tonight. Ovechkin hit the right post in the shootout and his eight game home goal scoring streak was snapped.

The Caps and Flyers are two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference but they have been built a little differently. The Caps have been built primarily through the draft with Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Semin, Mike Green, Jeff Schultz, and Karl Alzner all being first round draft picks while the Flyers have been put together by obtaining Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Scott Hartnell, and Scott Upshall all via trades. Top two forwards Carter and team captain Mike Richards, however, were both Philadelphia first round draft choices.

If forward Sergei Fedorov returns this weekend and noone else gets hurt then defensemen Tom Poti will likely go on retroactive LTIR to allow the team to stay under the salary cap. This would buy GM George McPhee another week to make a deal that would allow them to keep Alzner up with the big club. If Nylander can’t be moved, and his high salary makes that difficult, then defensemen Shaone Morrisonn, who is a restricted free agent this summer and reportedly wants $3M a season, is the likely trade candidate. Btw, Alzner played 21:59 of ice time tonight while Morrisonn only logged 14:51. Green led all Caps defensemen with 27:37 of ice time and Schultz logged 23:06.

Boudreau thought that the Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon, and Donald Brashear line was his most effective one in the Flyers game. That line did a great job of cycling the puck and wearing out the Flyers defensemen.

With the Boston Bruins losing tonight the Caps trail them by only five points for first place in the Eastern Conference. The Caps still lead the Carolina Hurricanes, who won their fourth straight game Tuesday, by 10 points in the Southeast Division. The Caps are now 18-1-1 at home.

There were not alot of Flyer fans at the game tonight, at least they weren’t that loud. Now if only the Penguins fans can be kept out of Verizon Center as well in the future!

When Nestor and I were talking to Caps Marketing Director Joe Dupriest after the first period he told us that there are only about 25,000 tickets left for the REST of the Caps season. The Caps have 21 home games remaining so only about 1,000 are available a game so get your tickets now if you want to see Ovechkin and company in person.

I will have more Caps coverage over the next couple of days. I had a chance to talk with Gordon and rookie defensemen Sean Collins after the game. Also, I will provide my first half of the season grades for each player prior to the Columbus game so please check back tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday.

Programming Note: Drew will have forward and team captain Chris Clark on the air with him at 845am on Wednesday.