Results tagged “capsbriefing”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

In the 1990s, Brent Johnson was a terrific starting goalie for the St. Louis Blues. He led a good team, stopped the shots he had to stop and won more than he lost. He set a (since broken) playoff shutout record. At that time, the Capitals had a great starting goalie of their own named Olaf Kolzig. Towering over other NHL goalies of the day at 6'3", Kolzig wore the nickname Zilla with pride, even getting it painted on the back of his helmet. Two years ago, Johnson came to Washington and became Kolzig's unquestioned backup. For two years he struggled unsuccessfully to shake that tag.

When Alexander Semin takes the lead league in points, with 14 in eight games, it is almost news. When Sergei Fedorov matches Alexander Mogilny's record for NHL goals, it is news. When NHL MVP and ESPN presidential nominee Alexander Ovechkin takes the day off to visit an ailing relative, it is multinational front page headline news.

The Caps look good this year. Not only have they kept together a team that made the playoffs last year and added a celebrity goalie, but their starting left wing is now the spokesman for a major East Coast discount beauty shop chain.

Usually at this time of year the Washington Capitals are a distant memory and an icy dream in the warm hearts of their fans. Today, though, we watched 14 likely team members (12 returning Capitals plus Karl Alzner and Jose Theodore) practice together at Kettler Capital Iceplex. This unusual level of commitment is a positive sign for a team on the rise. Even better, we are pleased to report that Caps captain Chris Clark looks ready to play hockey.

Just yesterday, the first reader question Hockey News columnist Adam Proteau answered about the entire NHL came from a Caps fan frustrated about the lack of information about Brian Pothier's recovery from a serious concussion. Pothier missed the second half of last season and all of the playoffs, and was believed close to retirement. But one frustrated fan wanted to know for sure.

Alex Ovechkin, the NHL's 2006 rookie of the year, has already won 2008's Art Ross trophy and Rocket Richard trophy as the league's top point scorer and goal getter. Now he's finally been named a finalist for the Hart trophy as the league's MVP.

In the column of news that we could have told you months ago, the Capitals have agreed to a long-term contract with coach Bruce Boudreau, who led the team to win 37 of 61 games after taking over midseason. This is the kind of first-season coaching record that will have Caps fans forgetting the triumphant debut of Bruce Cassidy. In the department of news we've been telling you for weeks, Nicklas Backstrom has been officially named one of the three finalists for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year.

Last night the Caps went to Philadelphia, gave up two quick goals and then scored four of their own to tie up their best of seven playoff series at three apiece. Tonight they face the Flyers at home in the Phone Booth for the tiebreaker.

If the comments on last Friday's Caps Briefing didn't give it away, the Capitals don't get a lot of respect in other cities around the NHL. We had thought this changed in the last month when Alex Ovechkin led the league in goals and points, led the team into the playoffs, and became the consensus pick as the NHL's MVP. Boy were we wrong.

It is a great time to be a Caps Fan. We've seen media coverage of the guy who brings his trumpet to the games and the rock bands who have sung the team's praises.

Friday night the Caps open their first Stanley Cup Playoff series in what feels like twenty-thousand years against the Philadelphia Flyers. The first six games of the series have all been picked up by national television stations. The team's meteoric rise to the playoffs has even inspired a heavy metal theme song. What makes this the most anticipated Capitals playoff series ever? For one thing, there is a great symmetry between the opponents.