Results tagged “nhl”

Heat 93, Wizards 89: It was the Dwayne Wade show at the Phone Booth last night. When Wade was on the court, he poured in 40 to lead all scorers; unfortunately for the Wizards, they couldn't transplant their very good play for the short periods of time when D-Wade was on the bench to when he was playing. Gilbert Arenas had 32 to lead Washington, and Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler both chipped in double-doubles -- although the three were an ugly combined -34 in plus/minus. Statistics aside, it just wasn't enough to overcome Wade, who was hitting key baskets all night. With back-to-back games against two of the league's five best players, the Wizards will probably be relieved to see mega-star-deprived Indiana next on the slate. Oh, and Mike Miller picked up an injury to his arm -- but as Dan Steinberg notes: what's new?

Sometimes, when you have as much talent as the Caps' roster, you get in your own way. Despite coming in on a six-game winning streak, facing a team that was 2-4-5, a hefty 40-28 advantage in shots, and a solid performance by Jose Theodore, the Capitals lost 4-3 in overtime on Friday.

Capitals 5, Thrashers 4: Last night's game between Washington and Atlanta was a tight affair for the first thirty minutes. It was at that point that the Caps unleased an offensive fury, the likes of which hasn't been seen since that glorious day when I mastered the unstoppable wraparound glitch in NHL '95 for Super Nintendo. Jeff Schultz, Matt Bradley, and Chris Clark all scored in one minute and 22 second span in the second period -- and Washington needed them all, holding off Atlanta's late surge to win 5-4 on the road. In a matchup of two of the league's most prominent scorers, Alex Ovechkin's team topped Ilya Kovalchuk's, although Kovalchuk scored twice and the Great Eight was held pointless for only the second time this season. Ondrej Pavelec certainly had a bad night between the pipes for the Thrashers -- not only did the Caps smoke five past him on only 14 shots before he was pulled, but Schultz's goal was on a simple clearance attempt from 85 feet away which took an incredibly fortuitous hop into the back of the net.

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.

• Flyers 6, Capitals 5: As someone who spent some formative years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there's plenty of things about the current NHL which really don't resonate with me. No teams in Quebec and Winnipeg. A two-week break in the middle of the season for the Olympics. Only three players in the last two seasons reaching 100 points. But while the first two are more complex issues, at least the Capitals are bringing that heyday of NHL offensive play, the one that I fondly remember, back. Coming into the game, the Caps boasted the top four scorers in the league. And sure, they may have lost in overtime to Philadelphia on Tuesday night in a matchup of the two teams which, along with the Penguins, have to be considered the favorites in the Eastern Conference. But this is the kind of game that was straight out of 1991 -- 11 goals (including seven in the second period), 12 power plays (four of which ended in goals), 78 combined shots, and offensive superstars all over the place. Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin -- harkening back to speedy goal scorers like fellow Russians Pavel Bure and Alex Mogilny -- both had two goals, but were outshined by Philadelphia's Mike Richards, who netted his second career hat trick. It was the kind of game that brought this observer back to the days when 6-5 games in the league were the rule, rather than the exception, and hockey was dynamically entertaining. Maybe it was Peter Berg's excellent Gretzky-to-L.A. documentary which got the juices flowing (a must see, by the way), but it sure feels good to come back to a league where scoring lots of goals is, once again, chic.
• Wizards 101, Grizzlies 92: Who says the NBA preseason can't be exciting? The Wizards had two buzzer beaters, and Caron Butler had a big time flush (or so I'm told), as Washington won it's first exhibition game of the year against Memphis in Richmond. The first quarter was a positive sign, as Agent Zero had seven of his ten assists and both Antawn Jamison and Butler were in double figures in the first fifteen minutes.

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.

By Eli Resnick and Elisabeth Meinecke With another hockey season upon us – the opening faceoff in Boston is mere hours away – it's time for the DCist hockey crew to look foolish and guess what the Caps will do this year. We'll take a wide turn of the stories heading into tonight's opener, offering our prognostications on the season to be along the way.

The Pittsburgh Penguins claimed Chris Bourque off waivers today.

       

By DCist contributor Hemal Jhaveri

The Caps' roster may be leaner (six cuts Tuesday trimmed the roster down to 36) but it showed some serious muscle offensively and defensively in a 6-2 preseason win over Chicago Wednesday at the Verizon Center.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Last night, Alexander Semin chipped in two goals and three assists to blow out the Carolina Hurricanes at Raleigh and help the Capitals take sole posession of first place in the Southeast. With 15 games played, Semin leads the NHL in points (27), goals (13), and game winning goals (3). Often misconstrued as a "shoot-first" player, Semin is fourth in the NHL with 14 assists. Just as often considered a defensive liability, Semin currently leads the NHL in plus/minus with a +17.

Coming into this hockey season, Brent Johnson was even more of an afterthought than usual. After leaving Johnson in the press box to watch games and leaving him on the bench to watch practices at the end of last season in favor of Olaf Kolzig and Christobal Huet, the Caps replaced those two aging starters with former NHL MVP Jose Theodore. Johnson battled through training camp to regain his NHL backup job against a couple of highly regarded European teenagers, and figured to start 20 games in Theodore's shadow, while possibly taking up a few new hobbies and obsessively rereading Dostoyevsky's seminal Notes from the Underground.

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.

Last night, Washington D.C. provided a strange setting for a hockey game. With fans wearing shorts and the ice surface taking a beating, the Capitals beat the even-warmer-weather Carolina Hurricanes on the strength of Alexander Semin's two goals in the final three minutes.

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 Washington Capitals signed NHL MVP Alexander Ovechkin to hockey's first hundred million dollar contract last season, so the Capitals once again boast the league's leading scorer. Welcome back fast-skating, obscenely talented left winger Ovechkin, who likes to warm up for games by playing soccer in Crocs, falls to the ice with joy when he scores, and ignores jellyfish postings when he goes for a swim.

Yes, earlier this week the Caps blew out the Vancouver Canucks by a score of five to one. Yes, they set a team record by only allowing their opponent to take ten shots in that game. But that doesn't mean the Caps are a great team this year, because, as the Vancouver Sun reports, the Vancouver Canucks "weren't, obviously, ready."