(Originally published on March 28, 2011, I think this is appropriate for where my life stands with #JennStrong & #BmorePositive mojo. nja)

Twenty-seven years ago today I awoke to see my father crying in my kitchen in Dundalk. It was one of two times that I ever saw him cry. The Baltimore Colts’ infamous ride of the Mayflowers out west on I-70 just two months after I started interning at The News American defined the end of my childhood at 15 and the beginning of my lifelong education about money and the real world of sports for the remainder of my sports fan and business life as a journalist.

It’s been a tumultuous quarter of a century plus a year for my feelings of anger, anguish, desperation, loss and bad vibes about the Colts leaving Baltimore on March 28, 1984. My Pop died in 1992 and never got to see the Ravens come back to town to avenge the loss of the horseshoe. I never got to go to one more football game with my father. And over the years, it’s really been a civic badge of honor to hate on all things Irsay and Indianapolis.

I’ve been to Indianapolis more times than I can count since 1996 – always for a football game or the annual March combine. There’s never been a time that it hasn’t taken me 15 minutes on the ground there to get ill seeing the horseshoes and “Go Colts” kind of marketing that is ubiquitous in Indy from the minute you land at the airport. It drives my wife batty — my almost irrational instant anger, ranting and self-inflicted torture when I’m in Indianapolis. I’ve always figured that I’d proudly be like the old dudes in Brooklyn, still pining away about the Dodgers 50 years later.

Here’s an example:

It’s taken me years of internal therapy and self soothing to calm myself when I see the game day experience there in Indy as those Midwestern hillbillies parade around in my father’s stolen laundry. In many ways, our “friend” Merton From Indianapolis (and no, none of us has any idea who he is or where the whole gimmick started – honest to God!) sort of exemplifies the entire experience of dealing with their fans when you travel to the “friendly heartland.”

My loathing of all things Irsay and Indianapolis is a bit legendary – there are plenty of pictures of me carrying Bob Irsay’s head on a stick through the streets of Indy — and my rants and raves throughout the 1990s are all very “on the record” and still accurate. What happened to this community at the hands of Bob Irsay and how I saw it affect my father and the psyche of the citizenry here will never been forgotten. The degrading and demoralizing “begging” to get back into the league that fell on Herb Belgrad. Paul Tagliabue’s “build a museum” expansion declaration in Chicago. All of it…I’ll remember those feelings and emotions for the rest of my life. Most Baltimoreans older than me — and I was born in 1968 – still can’t begin to imagine a world without the Colts of that generation. If you’re from Baltimore, sports is etched into your DNA.

(And if you doubt those feelings, imagine how you’d feel if the Ravens packed up and left tomorrow morning and never played another game here? For you young’ins that’s essentially what happened here in 1984…)

But after long and careful consideration – and as today’s 26th anniversary of the dastardly

Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby once again teamed up to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat for the Washington Capitals. In a game in which the Caps treated the puck like a hot potato and turned it over more times than a Cleveland Browns quarterback, Ovi and the Holtbeast (34 saves) made just enough plays to rally Washington to a thrilling 5-4 overtime win in Raleigh.

With the triumph, the Capitals are 25-13-3 (53 points) at the season’s halfway point and are in first place in the Metropolitan Division. They won’t play again until Sunday afternoon against the St. Louis Blues at 3 pm at Capital One Arena.

Without further adieu, here are my thoughts and analysis on a huge two points for Coach Barry Trotz’ squad.

Ripken-like Dedication Ovi and Holtby were certainly the major reasons the Caps won, but #1 center Nicklas Backstrom, who missed the morning skate due to feeling sick, gutted it out and suited up in a key contest. It was #19 who positioned himself properly to make the intercept and feed on Ovechkin’s game tying tally. Backstrom also had the only assist on Alex’s game winner. Per Caps analyst Alan May, since Coach Trotz put 8 and 19 back together the Capitals are 13-3-2. In those 18 games, Ovechkin has 13 goals and 10 assists (23 points) and the Super Swede has five goals and 13 assists (18 points).

Trench Warfare Everyone knows the Caps have a deadly attack led by stars Ovechkin, Backstrom, T.J. Oshie, and Evgeny Kuznetzov, but it was the role players from the trenches who really stepped it up to help Washington win a game they were very sloppy in. The Caps first goal was something that has to make you smile because it was just simple hockey. Chandler Stephenson carried the puck up the left wing boards and free agent Alex Chiasson smartly went hard to the net with his stick down and put home #18’s pass behind Cam Ward after John Carlson had gifted the Hurricanes the game’s first tally on an unfortunate flubbed pass. Devante Smith-Pelly, another low cost offseason free agent acquisition like Chiasson, then scored a sweet goal to make it 2-1 Caps when he fired from the right wing circle with most people on the ice thinking he’d force a pass to Ovi to his right. Good things happen when you play simple and shoot and those two goals were key for the Capitals in a first period where they were getting out played and out shot (13-7).

Stud on the Backend Dmitry Orlov continues to play fabulously on the blue line for Washington. With Matt Niskanen out day-to-day with another injury, #9 had to step up for the Caps in this affair and Dima did just that. In the middle frame with Carolina buzzing the tower but the Holtbeast holding things at bay, Orlov skated up the ice with speed and fired on Ward (21 saves). The rocket hit the goalie in the blocker, then came off of the backboards to Cam’s right, and like Moses Malone tracking a basketball off of the glass, Orlov skated through the Canes D and deposited his own rebound into the cage to make it 3-1 just shy of the game’s midpoint. For the night, Dmitry played 21:13, blocked three shots and was +2.

Turnover City The Capitals, who had two straight days of practice, were extremely sloppy with the puck in this affair! Zone clears were often off of the mark and there were some really lousy passes in the Caps own end with Carolina getting many grade A chances as a result. When Madison Bowey was stripped of the biscuit by Sebastion Aho in the corner to generate Teuvo Teravainen’s weird goal with just under 13 minutes left, one had to think this would be a loss for the guys in white given the way they had unceremoniously handled the biscuit in this tilt. Clearly not having Niskanen hurt the team on the back end, but that’s no excuse for the squad to execute so poorly.

Second Line Struggles Kuznetsov had one of the worst games I’ve seen him play. Not only did he fail to attempt a single shot, he took two lazy penalties, the first of which allowed Carolina to get back in the game at 3-2 on the power play. Then he was abused by Jeff Skinner in his own end on the sequence that led to Elias Lindholm’s tying tally just 5:40 into the third period. #92 is back to a pass first mentality and his play has dropped off sharply, as a result. In addition, he is playing a Land O’Lakes style when defending, soft as butter. He’s not moving his feet and putting his shoulder into his opponent to strip him of the puck. As for Oshie, well he just hasn’t looked right since coming back from the Joe Thornton cheap shot. He’s still making some good stick checks on the wall, but his timing seems a half of a second off. The Osh Babe needs to get his head clear and start shooting more. Jakub Vrana had three giveaways, but he did use his speed to draw a penalty late in period two. That was pretty much the only good shift that unit had all night. They were terrible and it might be time to break that trio up and give Andre Burakovsky, who was scratched for the second straight contest, a shot to play some top six minutes.

Stars Shine Bright At the end of the day, it was the Holtbeast who made some huge stops to give Washington any chance at all of getting to the Ovechkin magic show. Carolina had 72 shot attempts to just 46 for the Capitals and many of the 38 the Canes put on net were high danger ones, including a Justin Williams chance late in the game from the slot after a terrible turnover. Holtby also made a big save late in regulation with the Hurricanes on the power play. As for Ovi, well he just seems to find another gear at important times. On his game winning goal he was on the ice for 91 seconds yet he somehow found the energy to come into the offensive zone like a locomotive and back off the Carolina defender enough to laser one by Ward. I’ve said this many times this season, but Ovechkin’s dedication to getting in better shape and playing faster in the offseason is a big reason why Washington is in first place at the season’s midpoint. Ovi now has 26 goals in 41 games. Finally, Carlson, despite the bad early turnover, was a rock star on the back end logging 30:51 due to the Niskanen injury. The guy is playing some great hockey and should get some Norris Trophy attention.

Overall, this was a win that Washington likely didn’t deserve, Carolina was better for the majority of the game, but the scoreboard is all that matters and when you have the greatest goal scorer ever on your team and an all world goalie, you can find ways to come out on top when you probably should have lost. That was the case on Tuesday night in the Tar Heel state.

All hail Ovi and the Holtbeast!

Notes: Washington lost the faceoff battle, 30-27, Kuzy was a dismal 2-8, but Backstrom was 10-9…the Caps were 0 for 2 on the power play and killed off three of four Carolina power plays. All four penalties the Capitals took were bad and were not to disrupt a scoring chance, just lazy and/or poor decisions. It’s not often you win when losing the special teams battle and have so many defensive zone mistakes…Christian Djoos played 17:41 and was +1. His skating ability was big against a fast Canes squad…Taylor Chorney received 13:28 of time and was +1. It was one of his better outings.

Dmitry Orlov scored twice, Braden Holtby made 25 saves, and the Washington Capitals continued to crash the net to bury the Carolina Hurricanes, 6-1, at the Verizon Center on Monday night. The Caps have now gone 14 straight games without losing in regulation (12-0-2).

That streak started with a terrible shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils back on December 29^th where the Caps had 40+ shots on goal, but not many from the paint or prime scoring area.

Since then, everything has changed. The Capitals have gone to the net with authority since that perimeter defeat and they’ve rocketed to the top of the NHL standings (32-9-6, 70 points) and are now third in the NHL in goals for (155) after a slow offensive start to the season.

All four lines are going and the goals are a flowing.

Carolina came out of the gate fast in this one and took an early lead after a weak holding call on T.J. Oshie. Jordan “Can’t Stand Ya” Staal scored just six seconds after “Osh Babe” was sent to the sin bin. Shortly thereafter, the Hurricanes had some good looks and it took a Nate Schmidt block of a sure tap in with his stick and a couple of big saves by the Holtbeast to keep this a 1-0 affair.

Washington then received a power play and Orlov unleashed a rocket that nicked Staal’s stick and went by Cam Ward (19 saves) short side. Justin Williams had set up shop in front of the Carolina net minder and that didn’t help the Stanley Cup winning goalie, either. Then with just under three minutes to go in the opening frame, Williams skated to the top of the high slot and snapped one towards the cage. Marcus Johansson was tied up in the middle of the ice with a Carolina defender and as a result, Ward never saw the biscuit go inside the far post to make it 2-1.

After killing off an early Carolina penalty in period two, the Hurricanes pressed the play for several minutes, but then they came undone by more Washington net presence. The third line of Brett Connolly, Andre Burakovsky, and Lars Eller, which has been very stellar, created offensive zone pressure and with #20 screening Ward, Orlov fired another laser that found the twine to make it 3-1 with 8:06 gone in period two.

The Caps then smelled blood in the water and kept going hard to the net. Tom Wilson nearly made it 4-1 on a deflection in front off of a great Jay Beagle pass, but the shot went over the crossbar. Evgeny Kuznetsov would then get it to a three goal cushion with 1:20 left in the middle stanza when he drove to the net and fired a shot on the cage that hit Karl Alzner in the back right in front, yes, I said Karl Alzner. King Karl tipped the puck to his left and Kuzy smartly was following up his original shot and buried the rebound. Williams was also in front there battling with Carolina defenders.

That whole sequence though was set up by #14’s great back check at the other end that broke up a potential Canes odd man rush. All night long the Caps were aggressive in the offensive zone, but when they got beat and Carolina went the other way, they back checked with a vengeance. It was outstanding hustle and hockey and the coaching staff has to be extremely pleased with that aspect of Washington’s game. When you do that, you can cover up for the mistakes you make, and the Capitals did make a lot of those, but again, they back checked well and covered the front of their net in terrific fashion.

In the final frame, the Capitals top line kept their point scoring streak alive after all star Nicklas Backstrom out worked three Canes for the puck in the neutral zone and slid it ahead to Alex Ovechkin. The Gr8 carried the biscuit into the zone and he found Oshie flying down the slot all alone. #77 gathered in the great feed from Ovi and abused Ward with a dandy of a move and backhander. It was Oshie’s 18^th goal of the season. Pay the Man! Eller then closed out the scoring when the sensational third line scored late, once again from in close with all kinds of traffic on Ward.

All six goals the Capitals had were either in close or with lots of traffic. That’s been a consistent aspect of this team’s game since January 1^st and it’s why they are consistently scoring and winning. In addition, they have played excellent team defense, especially at home, and that starts with the hustle and back checking.

Sure they got out shot and out shot attempted, but most of that occurred after the Capitals were in command (Washington out shot attempted Carolina 20-14 in period one). This trend of a high shooting percentage would normally be overly alarming, but when you look at where the goals are coming from and what the Capitals are doing to earn them, it makes a lot of sense why they are lighting the lamp so often.

Add in superb team defense, especially the back checking aspect, plus great goaltending, and you see why they’ve earned 26 points in their last 14 games.

On to Ottawa.

Notes: Shot attempts were 61-42 for Carolina. That and Fifty Cents might get them a Coke (not stinking Pepsi) at a local soda machine…each skater on Eller’s line was +2 for the game…the Caps blocked 20 shots and were 3 for 4 on the penalty kill…Daniel Winnik was sensational on the PK, once again…the Caps won the faceoff battle, 36-25. Beagle was 12-7, Eller was 9-5, and Backstrom went 8-5…Kuznetsov had a goal and an assist and continues to play extremely well. He’s going to the hard areas of the rink more often…Orlov led the Caps in ice time with 22:40, but Matt Niskanen logged 22:22. Coach Trotz was able to roll the lines with such a big lead…the Caps play in Canada’s Capitol at 7:30 on Tuesday night. Philipp Grubauer will be in net for Washington…John Carlson missed his fourth straight game and likely won’t return until after the all star break. Taylor Chorney once again suited up in #74’s absence and he beat up Joakin Nordstrom at the buzzer. It was payback for a high hit that #4 did not like late in a blowout contest.

In hockey, sometimes the pucks just don’t go your way, especially when playing a team that seems to have your number.

On Tuesday night at the Verizon Center, the Washington Capitals played hard, and well for stretches, but ultimately the bounces went against them and the mistakes they made resulted in Sharks tallies, where the errors San Jose committed somehow didn’t result in the Caps lighting the lamp.

The finally tally was 3-0, San Jose, with the last Sharks goal coming into an empty net. Washington is now 8-3-1 on the season.

Simply put, that’s hockey. The Sharks, who swept the Capitals last season in the regular season and went on to the Stanley Cup Finals before losing to the Penguins, are an extremely good team. Their blue line, anchored by Brent Burns and Marc Edouard-Vlasic, is arguably as good as any in the NHL.

San Jose, losers of three straight games, including getting blown out by the Penguins in their own barn last Saturday, were the more desperate team in this game and as a result they were able to get to the Caps net a little bit better than Washington did, and that ultimately decided this contest.

On the Capitals side, they knew San Jose would make a push and for the first 30 minutes or so, Washington matched them. Justin Williams and Alex Ovechkin had some great chances to put the Caps ahead, but on one instance for the Gr8, the puck rolled off of his stick when he was one on one with Martin Jones (24 saves) in front of the net.

Shot attempts were 14-13 for the Sharks after one frame and the game was still on the verge of going either way late in period two when T.J. Oshie made a turnover in the defensive zone corner. After that miscue, San Jose worked the puck around to the middle of the point and Vlasic fired a shot towards Braden Holtby. On the way towards the net, Joel Ward and Karl Alzner were tied up in the slot and the biscuit glanced off of King Karl and changed direction on the Holtbeast and into the net with 7:37 left in the middle frame.

Just over five minutes later, the Capitals lost an offensive zone draw and on the way back into their own zone both Tom Wilson and Andre Burakovsky found themselves on the same side of the ice, which was bad because it left Burns all alone at his right point position. Logan Couture fed the bearded #88, who skated in and fired a shot through traffic that appeared to hit a Capital and go past Holtby (20 saves). Afterwards, Caps Coach Barry Trotz blamed the blown coverage on a lack of communication and said it would be something the team would review.

Washington would really do everything they could to come back in the final frame. They had at least 10 scoring chances in that period, but they either shot wide or Jones was able to make the save. For the game, the Caps would out shot attempt the Sharks, 63-44, including 29-11 in the third period, but as Coach Trotz often says, the only thing that matters is the scoreboard.

He’s right, but overall, you can’t feel negative about this defeat, and the players made available to the media afterwards, to include John Carlson, Alzner, Williams, and Holtby, all were disappointed, but didn’t see the game as a negative.

The scoreboard is what counts in the standings on Tuesday night, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s all about the process for Washington. They did a lot of good things in this loss to a team that seems to own them. Sure there are things to clean up, like better communication in their own end and finding ways to get more pucks and bodies to the net, but overall, this was not a bad loss, especially against a quality opponent like San Jose.

Notes: The Caps were 0 for 3 on the power play. They had some good looks, but couldn’t finish. Part of that was the terrible condition of the Verizon Center ice. Pucks were bouncing all over the place…Washington won the faceoff battle, 28-23. Nicklas Backstrom was 11-5…Carlson logged 23:35 to lead the Caps in ice time, but Matt Niskanen was only three seconds lower at 23:32…Ovechkin played 21:12…Dmitry Orlov logged 19:05 and had one of his better games. He was more solid in his own end and he had two shots on net. The team needs points out of him, but most importantly, they need consistency on defense as well as with his ability to break the puck out of Washington’s end cleanly. He did just that against San Jose…next up for the Caps are the Blackhawks in Chicago on Friday night at 8:30 pm.

 

Good teams find ways to win when the odds are stacked against them.

On Monday night in Raleigh, the Caps faced a hot and rested Carolina team less than 24 hours after they earned a big emotional victory in Madison Square Garden against the archrival Rangers on Sunday night. There was no doubt this was going to be a struggle to come out on top and they’d definitely need some solid goaltending.

Philipp Grubauer provided just that with 31 saves and the Capitals received goals from their bottom six forwards to defeat a fast and pesky Hurricanes team, 2-1. Michael Latta scored in the first frame batting home the rebound of a strong Andre Burakovsky shot and then Jason Chimera deflected a John Carlson point shot past Cam Ward (19 saves) right after Jay Beagle won a faceoff in period two.

Washington would narrowly miss taking a 3-0 lead on a late second period power play and shortly after it expired in the third period, Carolina’s Kris Verteeg scored easily from the side of the net to cut the Washington lead in half.

The Canes would fire 13 shots on goal in the final stanza and they also had a late six on four when the zebras tried to take another game from the Caps by calling a very questionable too many men on the ice penalty on Washington when it looked like Nicklas Backstrom was about to hit the empty net. But the furious late Carolina rally was thwarted by some unbelievable sacrificing by the Caps on the penalty kill, including Beagle and Matt Niskanen sprawling out to block shots in the dying seconds. T.J. Oshie and Tom Wilson also played big roles in that sequence. Oshie was clearly fighting a bad leg, but had a very strong game. The guy eats rocks for breakfast.

So the Caps finish a stretch of 11 games, where they played eight on the road, with a torrid 9-1-1 record. Yes, they were out possessed in several of the contests, even with score adjustments, but playing on the road wears a club out. Their best puck possession game was at home against Detroit on December 5^th and it took a shootout for the Caps to win that one. The Caps were really good in the home Ottawa contest and Rangers road game (after the first 20 minutes in New York). Those possession stats are of the 5 on 5 variety and with the Capitals power play so hot and their PK excelling, it’s easy to see why they are coming out on top.

Washington is clearly wiped out from the travel and grueling play with every club they face seemingly bringing their A game, so they deserve this four day rest they are about to receive. Guys are banged up and need some time away.

After 33 games, in which they’ve played 17 at home, the Caps are 25-6-2 (52 points) overall and lead the Metropolitan division by nine points over the second place Islanders, with two games in hand. Washington will play six of their next eight games on the road, so the schedule remains tough before they play six of their last eight in January at the Verizon Center.

It was far from a pretty victory in Raleigh on Monday night, but the Capitals found a way to get two points and at this point, a win is a win is a win. They’ve now won six straight games and in their next contest they’ll face the Montreal Canadiens at the Verizon Center on Saturday, December 26^th at 7 pm.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you, this blogger could use a rest too from the recent busy schedule, but when the Caps win, it’s a lot easier to pump these recaps with analysis out for you to read.

Cheers!

Notes: Shot attempts “officially” were 80-48 for Carolina, but I’d be curious to see what the Capitals themselves had for those totals as well as the quality scoring chances. Clearly Carolina had the better of those numbers, but I’m not sure the game was really that lopsided until the third period…the Caps were 26-17 on faceoffs and Beagle led the way at 14-4…Beagle was the game’s number one star and Grubauer was third star (Versteeg was number two)…Wilson led the Caps with four hits…Carlson led the Capitals in ice time with 24:57.

For those who routinely watch the Washington Capitals, they know just how good Nicklas Backstrom is at hockey. Just in case anyone forgot, Nicky took care of that quickly on Saturday night as he scored a goal and set up two others in his season debut, a 4-1 Caps victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Backstrom’s performance in his first game back even impressed his head coach.

“A guy who hasn’t played any exhibition games and comes into the National Hockey League, in a fast game, against a fast team, and he looks like he didn’t miss a beat – we realize how good he is….it looked pretty easy for him,” said Caps Coach Barry Trotz following the win.

Saturday’s game really was as one-sided as it gets in terms of scoring chances. Washington was all over a Carolina club that played on Friday night and if not for Cam Ward, it could’ve easily been five or six to nothing after two periods. Amazingly the 2006 Stanley Cup Champion goalie stopped 26 of 27 Capitals shots through forty minutes and Washington was forced to sweat this one out a bit in the final frame.

T.J. Oshie, Backstrom, John Carlson, and Alex Ovechkin all scored against Carolina with the last three coming in the third period. The Caps first and third goals were on the power play, the only two opportunities they received all evening. Carolina had four power plays, including a 38 second two man advantage in the middle stanza, but Washington killed that sequence off. As is often the case, a team that fails to score on a two man advantage usually loses the hockey game.

With Backstrom back in the lineup, the Capitals moved Andre Burakovsky down to the fourth line. The 20 year old forward had struggled a bit at center in the first three games and with Marcus Johansson playing so well, #65 was the odd top six forward out. As I blogged after Thursday night’s win, the key will be for Burakovsky to just keep working hard and keep his confidence level up. He will be a big part of this team this season and the Caps will need him in the playoffs, when things really matter.

As for Johansson, well he was dynamite despite being held without a point. MJ90 has been doing a great job of going to the net and creating screens and the Caps don’t score goals two and three without “Jojo” doing just that. Marcus also had some quality scoring attempts in the game, but Ward was very strong on this night.

Oshie now has two power play goals and he is a huge upgrade over Troy Brouwer as the man in the middle with the man advantage. Eventually teams will have to shift more attention to him, which will open things up for Ovechkin and the others. Speaking of Ovechkin, he now has three goals in three games and he, Oshie, and Evgeny Kuznetsov were really good as a first unit, once again. Backstrom, Johansson, and Justin Williams formed a potent second line. Basically, trying to stop the Caps is going to be a lot harder this season now that GM Brian MacLellan has upgraded the skill on the top two lines.

On defense, the top two pairs were solid, but the third defensive pair is still working through things. Dmitry Orlov only logged 13:36 and Taylor Chorney played 15:31. Against an Auston Matthews sweepstakes team like Carolina, you’d like to see that pairing get more ice time, but until they earn it, Coach Trotz can’t risk victories for the team in order to develop that new duo.

Overall though, the Capitals look like a really strong team. Their three wins have come against hockey teams that played the night before, but you can only face the opponents as they are scheduled. Now at 3-1 after four home games, they head out to Western Canada for a three games in four nights road swing that starts on Tuesday night in Calgary (9 pm on CSN). This will be a good measuring stick to see how improved they are, last season the Caps went 1-2 on this trip with the lone victory against the Flames.

Notes: Braden Holtby made 18 saves. He had a scary moment in the middle period when the Canes had a two man advantage and his helmet was knocked off. Somehow the officials took several seconds to blow what should’ve been an immediate whistle and luckily a shot on net went over a covered up Holtby…Carlson led the Caps in ice time once again, at 23:26…Oshie now has two goals and two assists in the four games…the Caps outshot Carolina 34-19, Oshie led the Caps with six shots on goal…Brooks Orpik had five hits while Ovechkin had four…the Caps lost the faceoff battle, 31-29.

As if Caps fans weren’t happy enough after last night’s signing of three time Stanley Cup Champion Justin Williams, Washington GM Brian MacLellan struck again landing top six forward TJ Oshie from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for third line forward Troy Brouwer, minor league goalie Phoenix Copley, and a third round pick in 2016.

Oshie will count $4.175M against the Capitals salary cap, which is just over $500K more than they were paying for Brouwer.

Wow! What a great move by the aggressive GM who in 13 months, along with head coach Barry Trotz, have changed the dynamic, culture, and roster of a team that was headed downhill under ex-GM George McPhee and former head coach Adam Oates.

MacLellan has now brought in two top four defensemen in Brooks Oprik and Matt Niskanen and two top six forwards in Oshie and Williams. That’s impressive given the salary cap limits MacLellan inherited from his predecessor.

It’s clear that both Williams and Oshie are excited to be members of the Capitals organization based on their conference calls with the media on Thursday. Williams indicated that his seven year old son told him a month ago “to go to Washington so he can play with Ovechkin, he’s the best.” Justin said that his son was all smiles when he woke up and heard the news. Both were thrilled to be playing with such skilled centers as Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

What’s even more exciting is that for the first time since 2009 the Caps have a legit top two forward lines. Based on the media conference call held with MacLellan on Thursday, it appears those lines will be configured as follows:

Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – TJ Oshie

Andrei Burakovsky – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Justin Williams

That is an impressive top six. Is it October yet??!!

The Caps GM will now hopefully get deals done with Braden Holtby, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Marcus Johansson. MacLellan indicated that he’s flexible on term with Holtby, who is clearly priority one. After #70, the Capitals need to lock Kuznetsov down. As for Johansson, well his leverage just got significantly weaker. While his regular season stats have benefitted from him playing in the top six, his playoff performances and pass-first mentality is something that isn’t worth breaking the bank for. MJ90 will now play on the third line with the Caps, but he still should see power play time, if he is resigned and kept (a trade is a clear possibility).

Brouwer’s move is also significant because it opens up the third line right wing slot for Tom Wilson, who the organization expects to improve considerably, especially since he has a complete off season and training camp to get ready (Wilson was injured last summer). Third line center is still an open hole and it appears unlikely that Eric Fehr will be back to fill it. Joel Ward’s tenure in DC is clearly over too.

There are still cheap options out in the free agent market for a third line center, such as Shawn Matthias, but that will have to wait until at least Holtby and Kuznetsov are inked.

Coach Trotz told the media today that the fifth, six, and seventh defensemen spots are wide open. Dmitry Orlov, Nate Schmidt, and Taylor Chorney will be the favorites to snag those slots, but depending on how negotiations go over the next few weeks, there could be money left for MacLellan to add another defensemen, likely a legit 3^rd pair right handed d-man.

Overall, the last 24 hours in Caps land have been electric. MacLellan has proven to be very aggressive and has backed up his words every time he’s talked about the areas he’d like to see the Capitals improve in terms of personnel. He’s been transparent and refreshing. The second year GM clearly gets that the Caps have to win now given how close this club came in 2015 and he’s done it without mortgaging the future.

Dare I say it again, is it October yet??!!

Washington Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan stated that he thought that his team would be relatively quiet during free agency, and for good reason. The Caps still need to sign restricted free agents Braden Holtby, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Marcus Johansson and they were roughly $19M or so under the cap heading into this week.

While there were numerous deals that occurred during the early portion of NHL free agency, including the Penguins trading for Phil Kessel and Mike Green signing a three year, $18M deal with the Detroit Red Wings, MacLellan stayed true to his words throughout the majority of the day and didn’t make anything more than minor moves, re-signing restricted free agent forward Stan Galiev and depth defensemen Taylor Chorney for $700K.

In addition, on Tuesday, the Columbus Blue Jackets boldy traded for center Brandon Saad from Chicago, so some Metropolitan division teams appeared to be improving their forward cores.

With Joel Ward and Eric Fehr on the open market and unsigned, there was the thought that the Caps GM might be trying to bring both back to at least keep pace with some of the other teams in the division up front. It seemed that MacLellan’s patience was paying off in that regard with Ward and Fehr still available late on Wednesday night. Then lightning struck the Capitals, but in a good way.

Washington was able to ink 33 year old forward and three time Stanley Cup winner, Justin Williams, to a two year deal at $3.25M per season. The dollar amount and term are likely lower than what Ward will receive on the open market and the former King, Hurricane, and Flyer is a slightly younger player (Ward is 10 months older) with a wealth of championship experience.

Williams, who missed the post season this year with a tired Los Angeles team, is a smart player who has incredible possession numbers over the past five seasons. I watch a lot of Kings games and he is as intelligent and solid a player as they come. He can play anywhere from first line right wing to third line right wing giving the coaching staff a lot of flexibility with their lineup decisions.

While he isn’t speedy, he is very clutch, and his nickname, “Mr. Game 7,” is well earned, he’s 7-0 in those tilts (h/t @VogsCaps).

This move, combined with the promotion of Philip Grubauer to back up goalie, along with the projected improvement from Kuznetsov and Andrei Burakovsky (rookies last season), and the expected better season from Tom Wilson has the Caps positioned to be a strong contender in the Eastern Conference once again.

Sure the loss of Green will hurt some, but Washington is expecting Dmitry Orlov and Nate Schmidt to help fill the void on the blue line. You can also expect Matt Niskanen to step up on the offensive side of the puck now that he’ll get more power play opportunities that went to old number 52.

MacLellan still has work to do to get the three big RFA’s (70, 92, and 90) signed, and he has roughly $14.4M to achieve that (h/t to @AlexPrewitt and @GeneralFanager). It would be ideal if he can ink those three and also find a way to bring back Fehr, too, since he can play third line center as well as wing.

But a day that looked to be a sad one in Caps history with the departure of Green, who was always a class guy in the community, with the fans, and the media during his 10 year tenure, turned out to be much more positive with the surprise signing of Williams.

The game is always played and decided on the ice, but the Capitals organization and their fans should feel even better about their club with the addition of a proven winner, in Mr. Game 7. Williams should help a Caps franchise that has struggled to win those contests (4-10 in game 7s) throughout their 40 year history.

Notes: Caps development camp will be held at Kettler IcePlex next week (July 7-11). All four draft picks, including first round choice Ilya Samsonov from Russia (22^nd overall), are expected to attend…MacLellan signed center and face-off/penalty killing specialist, Jay Beagle, to a three year deal at a cap hit of $1.75M per season on Monday.

Last Wednesday, in a thrilling and razor close series, the Caps found a way to end their season in heartbreaking fashion once again. They blew a 3-1 series lead in the second round for the first time in team history, including two games at Madison Square Garden in overtime. They were a 101 seconds from the Eastern Conference Finals in game five and fell short.

There have been 40 years of Washington Capitals hockey and 0 Stanley Cups.

As they say, it is what it is.

You can call the series loss whatever you want, a choke, a collapse, a lack of clutch play, or an absence of a killer instinct, it doesn’t matter, at this point. The bottom line is the Capitals lost while the Rangers, who I’ve been asserting since January are the best team in hockey, move on to take on Tampa and likely the Western Conference champion following that.

Make no mistake about it, the Rangers were the best team in the NHL in the regular season, and they are working on proving it in the post season. They were resilient and stuck to their process, for the most part, and that allowed them to move on. I expect them to win the Stanley Cup in June.

The Caps were oh so close, though. How tight was this series? Here are some numbers to back that up:

13-12, Rangers, in goals (all games decided by a single goal).

236-223, Rangers, in shots on goal (1.86 per game).

458-438, Rangers, in shots attempted (2.86 per game).

232-220, Capitals, in hits (1.71 per game).

One stat that wasn’t close was face-offs, the Caps dominated those, 250-199 (55.7%), thanks primarily to Nicklas Backstrom and Jay Beagle. Ironically, though, it was some key draws that ultimately did Washington in. Most notably the series winning sequence where Eric Fehr was beaten badly by Derek Stepan, which caused both Fehr and Andre Burakovsky to become confused defensively, allowing Stepan to sneak to the far post for a wide open rebound goal. Another key draw that the Capitals lost was the one with 3.6 seconds left in the opening frame in game six. Chris Kreider scored on a rebound with 0.3 seconds remaining to give New York a 2-0 lead that the Capitals ultimately could not overcome despite a furious and dominating rally.

Simply put, the Rangers, who had a major focus lapse at the end of game one, didn’t have as many “lack of focus” sequences as the Capitals did in the series, and that’s ultimately why they won. Washington struggled out of the gate in many first periods as well as in the third period in game six. Also, after a dominating first period in game seven, their best opening frame by a mile in the series, they took some terrible penalties to lose all of the momentum they had built up. Mike Green’s cross checking penalty on Dan Girardi was a classic lack of focus moment. It was a terrible decision at the wrong time, especially after two straight Capitals penalty kills, and it was a big factor in Washington not winning game seven.

Adding to the lack of focus issue was a putrid Washington power play. For the series the Caps were 1 for 15, while New York went 3 for 18. That’s a big factor in a super tight series. The Caps, who had the best power play in the NHL in the regular season, struggled with zone entries and when they were able to get set up, were far too predictable in their attempts to force Alexander Ovechkin the puck. The playoffs are all about adjustments. The Washington coaching staff did a nice job of making adjustments in the series at even strength, but they failed to change course on the power play. That was a mistake. They have used a set up where they put two guys in front of the opposing goalie and fire away from the point, but they failed to employ that strategy in the Rangers series.

In the opening round series win over the Islanders, the Capitals had success at getting pucks deep and hitting the New York defense with a relentless fore-check. Washington had a much harder time of that with the Rangers. The New York forwards are lightning fast, but their defense was an area that the Caps needed to exploit better with pressure and physicality. In game three, particularly in period two, the Rangers defensemen were petrified of Tom Wilson. “Willy” had his best game of the series and had the Rangers defense backing up from him. I’m surprised that the Capitals coaches didn’t try to use that tactic and advantage more often in the series. In addition, when New York did get the puck, the Capitals first forward too often flushed or chased the Rangers D-man behind the net causing an easy exit for New York on too many occasions. I didn’t think that was a wise strategy and I’m not sure if it was the coaches instructing the players to do that or the players choosing to do it on their own? Either way, it is best, especially with no red line, to shade the defensemen one way or the other and try to trap him before he exits the defensive zone. Washington did that well in their 5-2 regular season beat down of New York at Madison Square Garden, but they couldn’t repeat that fore-checking success in the playoffs against the Blueshirts.

Overall, the better team won the series. But in sports the better team doesn’t always win and the Capitals let an opportunity to close out the series and possibly win the Stanley Cup slip by.

It was a bitter defeat and it was as close as Washington has come to making the conference finals since 1998. Make no mistake about it, it stinks to lose, but the Capitals are once again a Stanley Cup contender after not being one since prior to the Montreal loss in 2010 (and you could argue that team had too many holes as well, especially at second line center and on defense).

So going forward there should be lots of optimism, but a busy summer of business and roster tweaking looms ahead for General Manager Brian MacLellan and Head Coach Barry Trotz. The Capitals were a big and physical team, but they struggled against teams with speed. Adding team speed will need to be addressed with the off season moves.

Trotz and MacLellan have done a magnificent job of changing the culture to be much more team focused and the personnel moves to upgrade the blueline, something I called for along with a “team first” concept last May before either was hired, were spot on. Last summer’s decisions were validated with the strong regular season and playoff performance.

With John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen under contract this team has the foundation for a strong blueline for next season and beyond. Orpik had a fantastic season and brought a physical presence to the back end this club has not had since Brendan Witt left. #44 will be 35 years old in September, but the way he conditions and maintains himself, he’s a very young 35 and should be fine next year. Alzner, under the tutelage of Todd Reirden in Trotz’ system, had his best season as a pro.

In net, Braden Holtby stepped up and was dominant, again, as predicted here. Holtby is a restricted free agent and will be a priority to sign to a long term deal. He played 73 games, including 72 starts, winning 41 of them with nine shutouts. Ideally you’d prefer Holtby to play between 60 and 65 games, so Washington needs to figure out its’ backup goaltender situation in the offseason. Justin Peters is signed for another campaign, but he struggled in his nine starts and 12 appearances going 3-6-1 with just a .888 save percentage. Basically, he played like an AHLer. The other option would be to bring up Philipp Grubauer, who started game two against the Islanders and won, although he wasn’t real sharp in that tilt. Better play from the backup, who will likely see the cage on the latter half of back to back game situations, is necessary in order to not give away valuable standings points during the regular season.

The main priority, other than signing Holtby, for MacLellan and Trotz is to find a top line right wing. That position is the team’s biggest hole and a big factor in why the team isn’t moving on. There is no player on the current roster that can fill that gap, so that has to be the outside focus this summer via free agency or trade.

Second line center, well we won’t be talking about that issue any more. Evgeny Kuznetsov showed in the playoffs that he has that spot covered. What a super finish to his first full NHL season for the young 22 year old Russian! He is so good and strong with the puck and he has the ability to take over games as he did in game five against the Islanders and game six against the Rangers.

With Ovechkin, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, and now the emergence of Burakovsky, the Capitals have four legitimate top six forwards. Ovechkin had a monster season with 53 goals and 81 points. He swung his plus/minus from -35 to +10. A much improved blue line, a structured system, and hard work by the Gr8 led to a sensational turnaround. Big credit should be given to the Capitals coaching staff for properly developing young offensive minded forwards Kuznetsov and Burakovsky. Without their astute handling this team doesn’t get as far as it did. Trotz clearly knew what he was doing in bringing along these two kids in the manner in which it unfolded. Both are strong on the puck and improved immensely in their own zone from where they were in the season opener back in October. Right wing is the big issue now, as mentioned above.

As for Wilson, well the Capitals have to better utilize his talents. His hands and puck skills, as well as his skating, must improve. He has the potential to be at least a third line force or possibly a second liner, at some point. Opposing defensemen fear a guy like him and he can open up lots of space for his line mates. The coaches have to find a way to make him a bigger factor in 2015-16.

Making things tough on MacLellan this offseason will be the salary cap and the contracts he likely won’t be able to move in Troy Brouwer (0 playoff goals) and Brooks Laich (1 playoff goal). That is $8.1M tied up in two players who are bottom six forwards. Joel Ward, at $3M, had far better production than those two in the post season, but the 34 year old is headed to unrestricted free agency and will likely end up elsewhere for more money.

As for Marcus Johansson, he’s a restricted free agent who had a strong regular season, but disappeared too much in the Rangers series. Marcus is bumped off of the puck too easily in the playoffs and is not a threat to throttle opposing defensemen. I’m not sure where he fits in the team’s plans, but if the Caps keep him they can’t overpay him for his regular season statistics when he’s not producing in the playoffs.

When it comes to Jason Chimera, Coach Trotz stated in his final presser that he and #25 butted heads, at times, during the regular season. Chimera had a poor regular season, but in the playoffs he was a different guy. He gave the Rangers fits with his speed and tenacity. He’s under contract next year for $1.9M so he’ll likely be around. It would be nice if “Chimmer” brought the way he played in the post season on a consistent basis to next year’s regular season.

Beagle, Fehr, and Curtis Glencross are all unrestricted free agents so they’ll only return if the price and fit is right. Beagle is great on draws and on the penalty kill so he has a greater chance of being back. Fehr scored 19 goals and goes to the net well. His injury history will likely keep his price down and increase his chances of a return to Washington. He’s definitely a well liked player in the locker room. Glencross added speed, but he had the propensity to make the big mistake. His giveaway in overtime of game five was totally the wrong play. He needed to stride to the red line and dump the puck. If Laich had the advantage he thought he had, then gaining the red line and rimming it would have worked too, instead he opted for the high risk pass and Laich mistakenly changed when he should have headed back on defense. It was a costly lack of focus by both players there.

Speaking of next year’s regular season, making the playoffs is not going to be any easier. It wasn’t until the last week of the regular season that the Capitals clinched a spot in the dance since it took until game 80 to do that. You have to think the Blue Jackets, Flyers, Hurricanes, and Devils will find ways to be better next year, so Washington will have to work hard just to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2015-16.

The Caps were relatively healthy in 2014-15. You can attribute a part of that to luck, but the way the roster was handled and the ice time spread out properly, especially on the blue line, allowed the players to be fresher and not more susceptible to injuries. The coaching staff along with the training staff, led by Greg “Smitty” Smith, did an outstanding job of knowing when to push and back off of this team in terms of practice time, as well.

In terms of the regular season and qualifying for the playoffs in 2014-15, Green played a huge factor in the Caps just getting there. His ability to rush the puck and drive offensive pressure is something this team needed from the back end due to the lack of up front scoring. Unfortunately, #52 was not that same player in the Rangers series. In 14 post season tilts he had two assists and no goals. Against the Blueshirts he struggled to gets shots on goal and his two penalties in game seven were terrible. Green improved a ton defensively this season under Trotz, but under pressure in the biggest game of the season, he failed in key situations. I’ve always been a Green supporter, however, he’s an unrestricted free agent and I can’t see the Capitals spending big money on him when they have other more pressing needs in the top six at right wing. Someone will offer Green a big contract and he’ll have no choice but to take it. Washington will look to Dmitry Orlov and Nate Schmidt to fill the holes that will likely be vacated by Green and Tim Gleason. However, that is a big risk given Orlov and Schmidt’s injury history, not to mention that both players do not have the offensive talent of #52. MacLellan may need to add a defensemen in the summer, as well.

Overall, the fans have to be positive about the state of affairs despite a tough, stinging, and emotional loss that had many proclaiming “Same Old Caps” when it was said and done.

Hey, I get it. I’ve been watching this team since 1974 and I’ve seen the highs and mostly lows when it comes to the post season.

However, I’m as optimistic as I’ve been in five years. The team finally has a coach and GM duo that understands the importance of a blue line and a structure that leads to proper play. The core players are on board with the team concept and style of play. Backstrom stated that they are playing the right way for only the second time since he’s been with the Caps, with the other being the partial season that Dale Hunter coached the team. The way the Capitals played in 2014-15 during the regular season and the playoffs backs that premise up.

Now they need to take the next steps necessary to be good enough to get to the final and win. That starts with finding a top line right wing. In my book, that player is not in the organization right now, so it’s up to them to find one.

Washington made great strides in 2014-15 and because of the better talent level and improved system, they had the puck more than their opponents once again after a downward trend in that category.

But the future is now; there can be no sitting back and patting each other on the back after a second round exit. There is no pity in sports, especially hockey. Yes, the team had a good season, but there is lots of room for improvement from the game starts to protecting leads to putting clubs away when they’re on the ropes. It’s going to take commitment, effort, and focus from the coaches and the players.

In summary, Washington Capitals hockey is back after what was a train wreck situation just a year ago. Now it’s up to the leadership of the club, on and off the ice, to remain relentless until that donut hole next to Stanley Cup titles is finally gone.

 

There were too many “big” mistakes, plain and simple.

Add to that a power play that goes 0 for 4, including a poorly executed one with 2:54 left, and it all adds up to a 3-1 series lead lost, and a game seven on Wednesday night between the Capitals and the Rangers.

What an opportunity lost on Sunday night. Home ice was there for the Caps to hold serve and they squandered it with a terrible start and end to period one.

Then, after a dominant second period where the Capitals would outshoot the Rangers, 18-4, they gave up an early third period goal to make it 3-1. Just over three minutes later it was 4-1 when Curtis Glencross lost Dan Boyle in the defensive zone and #22 shot one by a screened Braden Holtby (24 saves).

In the past, most Capitals teams would’ve gone in the tank and packed it in for game seven.

Not this Caps team coached by Barry Trotz, though. Washington put on a furious rally and closed to within a goal with 9:27 remaining only to see New York find a way to hang on.

The Caps dominated most of the final forty minutes after a first period that saw New York carry the shot attempt totals by 32-26. The Rangers, like they’ve done all series in the opening 20 minutes, had the better of the quality chances.

Chris Kreider scored both goals after Capitals mistakes. On the first goal Washington had a couple of early good chances but the puck came out of the offensive zone and Kreider got position on Matt Niskanen. The big forward scored on a backhand on his team’s first shot. Niskanen needed to haul the Ranger down there, plain and simple.

Then to end the period, the unthinkable happened. After a questionable roughing call on Troy Brower, the Caps lost the defensive zone face off with 3.6 seconds remaining and Kreider scored with 0.3 of a second on the clock after the puck bounced off of John Carlson’s skate right to #20. That’s unacceptable to allow a goal there.

But the Capitals battled back and outplayed the Rangers in period two, but only scored on Jason Chimera’s rebound tally just 28 seconds into the middle frame.

Evgeny Kuznetsov (2 points) and Joel Ward (3 points) would score during the third period rally that fell short. For the 4^th consecutive game in this series, both Alex Ovechkin (12 shot attempts) and Nicklas Backstrom (4 shot attempts) were held pointless.

Rick Nash scored his 1^st goal of the series 54 seconds into period three. The Capitals made several defensive zone mistakes on that goal, with Niskanen’s giveaway the biggest. However, afterwards Trotz felt that the linesmen missed an obvious icing call on New York. The Rangers player shot the puck in the zone six feet behind the red line but somehow icing was washed out?

The Caps, however, did not lose this one due to the referees, in fact, blaming them would be ridiculous. Washington had four power plays and only generated five shots on net. That’s terrible! It might be time to make some personnel changes as the Rangers did a super job of not allowing the Capitals to get in the zone and set up. With so few power plays available in the playoffs, it makes sense to load up your top unit with your best offensive players in order to score. Towards that end, I’d drop John Carlson and Marcus Johansson off of that unit and insert Mike Green and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

So now we have a game seven on Wednesday night. The Capitals certainly did a lot of good things on Sunday night. They outshot attempted the Rangers, 96-55, including 70-23 over the last 40 minutes. Part of that was the score effects, but the biggest difference was the Caps played with a sense of purpose and pressured the Rangers defense with more physical play and hard work.

That pressure the Rangers in their own end recipe is one that Coach Trotz needs to employ more on Wednesday. Sure it opens you up to some odd man rushes, but if the Caps play the system correctly, the third forward should be in position to prevent those.

Washington certainly played some of their best hockey of the series and ended up losing. You can put that on defensive lapses and a poor power play.

As Trotz stated afterwards, the pressure is equally on both teams. The Rangers have the best record in the NHL and are very speedy and talented so they’re expected to win. Washington has an immensely talented squad too and had a 3-1 series lead.

At this point, the two days off actually help the Capitals in this one because they spent a lot of energy trying to come back. Washington would love to have home ice, but that’s gone now. The Garden will be rocking and most people will be picking the Rangers to win.

But it is one game, winner take all, and the Caps have the luxury of not worrying about tickets and distractions, like the Rangers players will endure.

Washington just has to show up and play a hockey game on Wednesday.

If they can play with the ferocity they did in periods two and three and not make so many costly mistakes, they could win the game.

They’ll also need their stars, Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Holtby to deliver top performances.