Results matching “caps briefing”

Tonight the Capitals came from behind to beat the Florida Panthers 7-4. With Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green among a slew of injured players, Mike Knuble put up four points to spark the win. The total tied his personal best, from Valentine's Day, 2003. Asked what it was like to be a leader on this team, Knuble calmly dismissed the assertion. "It's just one game," he said, talking up the importance of hard work over a long season.

On a night when the Caps nearly came from behind to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team did something else to help cement their identity as a D.C. institution. With 8:35 remaining in the third period, and both teams readying for a faceoff in the Capitals' defensive end, the team's sound crew played Chuck Brown's "Bustin' Loose" over the arena speaker system.

In a contest of teams built from the ground up by the two best general managers in Washington Capitals history, the Caps beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 last night at the Verizon Center. The two men -- former GM David Poile and current GM George McPhee -- have worked together in the past, when Poile made the best offer for his disgruntled former employee, Brendan Witt. Right now, the Capitals enjoy a 4-0 winning streak over their former boss' squad, the last three of those wins coming in overtime.

After last night's 6-4 victory over Toronto, the season the Caps are undefeated and scoring two goals for every one they give up. They have been defensively perfect from the start of any match until they have at least three goals of their own. Superstars Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin have scored three points in each game. Both Caps starting goalies have won. The whole team is playing well. Everybody is doing their job to a tee and the fans are going crazy.

The Pittsburgh Penguins claimed Chris Bourque off waivers today.

In the history of the Washington Capitals, only one goalie has carried the team to the Stanley Cup Finals. That goalie retired today, after a decade in D.C. and a brief curtain call with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Olaf Kolzig may not play in the NHL any longer, but Caps fans will always remember him as one of the most dedicated, team-focused players in Washington history.

There was no lack of big names on the ice for the start of Capitals training camp Sunday, but everyone was talking about the one guy who wasn't skating -- veteran center Tomas Fleischmann, who spent all last season with the Capitals after yo-yoing on and off their roster for the previous three. Fleishmann was diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg (a deep vein thrombosis) this summer, and is out of contact workouts until the first week of the regular season.

Rejoice, hockey fans, for the season is almost upon us. On Monday, head coach Bruce Boudreau led some of his charges out onto the ice, as Caps rookies started working off summer rust Monday during the first day of the team's rookie camp at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex. The team spent the morning working through on-ice drills and receiving pointers from the coaching staff, including head coach Bruce Boudreau.

Upon seeing that the Capitals had "signed Morrison for 1.5 million dollars," this hockey fan was delighted that Washington had locked up their reliable stay-at-home defenseman for another year. That move would take some of the pressure off the team for fellow blue-liner Milan Jurcina's pending arbitration hearing. Still, I was surprised that as reliable a source as USA Today had left the second "n" off the end of Shaone Morrisonn's last name.

After the first draft in nearly a decade where the Caps didn't make an exciting trade or a high-profile pick, it's good to see the front office back into the mix of things, adding forward Mike Knuble at the dawn of free agency this afternoon. Costing just over $5 million for two years, Knuble snugly fits into the team's payroll as a replacement for Viktor Kozlov, who will play in his native Russia this season.

Okay, maybe it's not coming up. Maybe it's not tomorrow. Maybe it's not next year. Maybe it won't happen this decade, but someday, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will face Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs again.

Tomorrow night's Caps game at Verizon Center features the four most talented hockey players on earth competing in a winner take all, game seven, series final struggle for playoff survival. We'll have the last two winners of the NHL's Hart Trophy (player most valuable to his team) playing out a rivalry that has made hockey important even to non-fans. Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby have been billed for years as the greatest talents of this generation, and this will be the first time one of them eliminates the other from the playoffs.

Going into the Caps' opening round playoff series with the Rangers, hockey writers across the country said the key matchup would be Sean Avery on Alex Ovechkin. The Rangers' Avery has made a name for himself as one of the most annoying people in hockey, if not in all of sports. The Capitals were thought overmatched, but the fans, like a seventh man with a vile temper, came through.

Tonight, the Caps face the luckless Tampa Bay Lightning at Verizon Center. They will welcome Tampa coach Rick Tocchet, who suggested his team should have started fights with the Capitals in protest of Alex Ovechkin's three-second celebration of his 50th goal of the season, which he scored in Tampa last week. Ovechkin put his stick down after the goal and mimed trying to pick it up, but moving his hands away from its immense heat.

The Washington Capitals have played in the Southeast Division since it was first created in 1998. It's about time they start to really care about some of the other teams in it. On Saturday night, the Carolina Hurricanes made a big play to get noticed when their captain, Rod Brind'Amour, grabbed the back of Alex Ovechkin's head and pushed the Capitals superstar, face first, into one of the metal poles holding up the glass around the rink.

Wednesday was the NHL trade deadline; this is the time of year when teams expected to contend for the Stanley Cup traditionally make big splashy acquisitions of nearly-washed up superstars desperate to make one more push for a championship. This year the Washington Post thought the Caps might try to pick up Chris Pronger. Some New York City media thought the Caps had tried to acquire Bill Guerin. We thought the Caps should go after Jay Bouwmeester. Instead the Capitals did nothing.

Canadian television personality Don Cherry grabbed some press this weekend for saying that Alexander Ovechkin celebrates his goals with too much exuberance. Cherry said he favors the Canadian way. Don Cherry is famous for making inflammatory statements while wearing suits in which Elton John would not be caught dead.

It's not often in professional sports that the home team has the chance to keep the best player on the visiting team after the game, but that might be the case this afternoon if the Capitals can make the right impression on the Florida Panthers. Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester is an emerging star. He plays defense well, passes the puck well and scores goals. All year, Florida has tried to secure a long-term contract to keep him in a Panthers uniform. But this week, the Panthers' general manager said he is actively considering trades for the All-Star.

The Capitals have launched hockey's first official website for female fans. The web site mixes player stats and bios with videos depicting the personal lives of Capitals players, dreamy headshots and, of course, shopping.

As D.C. prepares to host college hockey's Frozen Four, the NCAA is discussing whether or not the ice will be, as the illustrious event's name indicates, frozen. Of course they'd like it to be frozen. That's the traditional condition of ice, especially for ice hockey. It's just not how it usually is at Verizon Center...

Willie O'Ree came to Washington, D.C. yesterday to enjoy a hockey practice with kids at Fort Dupont Ice Arena. O'Ree was the first African American player in the NHL.

Nicklas Backstrom is skipping the NHL's Young Stars Game because he wants a day off. The Caps' second leading scorer is sitting out a competition that pits second year players against rookies. Last year, when the Young Stars game featured only rookies, Backstrom competed. This year, many fans and analysts have asked why Backstrom isn't on the Eastern Conference All Star team. While it's nice that the NHL expanded the Young Stars game to include more developing talent, Backstrom deserves to appear on a larger stage.

For all the criticism out there about Caps left wing Alexander Semin's fighting style, we'd like to point out that New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal is equally bad at curl and drag fakes, nifty stickhandling moves and goal scoring. While the big lumbering defenseman may fight in a more traditional hockey style, we like Semin's originality in the above video from this weekend's Caps victory. Yes, Semin might be the first NHL player to attempt a series of overhand slaps, but he comes out on top. The supposedly tougher Staal has to hug himself for safety on the ground after losing his balance and falling over. What good is being big and tough in ice hockey if you can't stand up on ice skates?

We all know the Capitals are known to rock a microphone. This year a few Caps prospects will get a little more exposure on the world circuit. Darren Machesney, the starting goalie for the Caps' top farm team in Hershey, will represent Canada in the Spengler Cup. Machesney has been in the Caps system since the 2005 draft, and has worked his way up from the South Carolina Stingrays to play for the Bears. The opportunity to represent his country, even if it's only in a Swiss tournament, is a testament to just how hard he has worked.

Simeon Varlamov's long trip from Hershey, PA meant he didn't arrive in time to back up Brent Johnson when the puck dropped Friday against the Ottawa Senators. Instead, the Caps had to rely on team Web Producer and former Division III goalie Brett Leonhardt as their backup goalie for ten minutes of nail-biting NHL action. The Senators took every possible opportunity to try to hurt Johnson and get to Leonhardt, the only Division III goalie in the NHL this year. But once Varlamov got his pads on and joined the bench, the Sens stopped crashing the crease, as though Johnson had taken on the powers of Obi Wan Kenobi. Last night in Montreal, Varlamov showed exactly why.

Last night the Capitals continued their domination of the once-mighty Ottawa Senators with a 5-1 win at home. Goalie Brent Johnson had fans asking "Olaf who?" as he held the Senators scoreless until the game's final minutes, stopping every shot and holding on to every puck that came near him.

When the NHL named Alexander Semin its First Star of the month for October, we chided our media colleagues for paying more attention to Alex Ovechkin's visit to his sick grandfather. Yes, Ovechkin won all four of the NHL's trophies for scoring leaders and most valuable players, but that was last year. Why, we asked, was the best player of October 2008 any less exciting than the best player of 2007-2008?

It seemed like things couldn't get more difficult for the Washington Capitals this week. The Southeast Division leaders were missing enough talented players to field a respectable power play. Alexander Semin, a former first-round pick who had been leading the NHL in scoring, was injured. Sergei Fedorov -- frequent All-Star, holder of multiple Stanley Cup rings, and the highest scoring Russian-born player in NHL history -- was injured. Boyd Gordon, a former first round draft pick who once centered Jaromir Jagr, was injured. John Erskine, the team's toughest defenseman, was injured. Jeff Schultz, a former first round pick and the team's tallest defenseman, was injured. Mike Green, a former first round pick who led NHL blue-liners in goal scoring last season and was first-team All-Star, was injured.

Sports Business Journal writes that the Washington Capitals are launching a new television show. The show will be produced by the team and will provide biographical information about players, coaches and fans, and will be chopped down into short segments to show online and during games.

Caps left wing Alexander Ovechkin is back in the spotlight today. The NHL named him its second star of the week. Last week, of course, Alexander Semin took over the NHL's scoring lead for the second time this season, and Ovechkin was among the first to suggest that his teammate would make a good MVP candidate this season.