Caps may not win pretty; but win nonetheless

The Washington Capitals have faced two glaring obstacles this season. The first being a rash of injuries that decimated the roster through the early part of the season. The second would have to be their inability to beat inferior opponents.

However, in spite of their marginal victories against the leagues bottom dwellers, the Capitals still manage to win. It might not be a pretty headline, but it's pretty in the standings column.

Capitals fans need to realize that this team is not going to play lights out hockey for an 82 game season. That is just not realistic.

Nor is believing you're going to get a quality offensive output from your star players game in and game out. Sorry, the NHL just doesn't function that way (unless your name is Alexander Ovechkin).

Capitals fans are spoiled by the talent level their team possesses, and their ability to explode for six goals on an opponent any given night. And no, any given night should not to be confused with every given night.

Every NHL team will go through a slump, or play down to their opponents. This is not a Washington Capitals exclusive. Scorers will go through droughts, while defensemen and goaltenders can go hot or cold within a moments notice. Thus is the parody of the NHL.

To illustrate my point, earlier today, Boston lost to the lowly St. Louis Blues (15th in the West) in shootout.


Yesterday the Calgary Flames got hosed 6-2 by the Colorado Avalanche (11th in the West).

Hell, even the Tamp Bay Lightning (12th in the East) trounced the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 last week.

While it is true the Capitals normally play down to the bottom tier of the league, the same can be said of them playing "up to" the standards of elite teams.

The Boston Bruins lead the East, but have fallen twice so far to the Capitals. Washington is also 2-1 in games against the Montreal Canadiens, 3-0 against the Atlantic leading Rangers and 2-0 against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins.

As the second half of the season gets underway, there are already a handful of teams that are destined to miss the playoffs. But be sure that when the Capitals, Bruins, Sharks or Red Wings come to town, they're going to give them their best.

So please, don't be upset how the Capitals won today's game.

Just be glad they won.


NOTE: With his two goal performance, Alexander Ovechkin has taken over the lead league in scoring (31).

Alzner continues to grow as member of Capitals

Over the past few games, rookie defenseman Karl Alzner has seen a drop in ice time.

Part of that has to do with line management, as coach Bruce Boudreau doesn't want to see Alzner, along with defensive partner Bryan Helmer out against the opponents top lines.

The other part of the receding minutes equates to the lack of confidence Karl has played with lately. It started becoming apparent that his game had changed since his call up in November, and that he was struggling.

Then I read up on Tarik's blog and it all made sense.

[Bruce] Boudreau had a heart-to-heart with defenseman Karl Alzner a few days ago after suspecting that the rookie was becoming distracted by the possibility of being sent back to Hershey for salary cap reasons. (When Poti returns, unless the GM George McPhee manages to clear space some other way, Alzner will likely have to go down.)

"I talked to him because you can't do that - it'll kill you," Boudreau said. "Trying to control things that you can't control is murderous on your psyche. If it just so happens that there's an issue, that will happen anyway, whether you scored five goals tonight or didn't score five goals tonight or played 35 minutes. I told him to just go out an play."

"He struggled there for a few games, so I knew something was bothering him," he added.

Alzner said: "I was worrying about getting sent down much too much earlier. About a week ago, that's what I was thinking about. I know the situation. I know who is going to be coming back and approximately when. If it happens, it happens. Not too many guys get to play a full season, or even a half season, when they are 20 years old. My focus now is to make it hard for them."

Since their chat, Alzner seems to be regaining the confidence he showed through the month of December. His minutes are still in the 13 minute range, but his play has been noticeably better.

Case in point, Saturday night's home game against the Bruins. Washington was nursing a one goal lead late in the third period, when John Erskine took an unnecessary elbowing penalty.

With their goalie pulled, the Bruins had a 6-4 man advantage and were controlling the play rather effectively, when Karl Alzner made a crucial defensive play to eliminate a cross ice pass to David Kregci, one of Boston's leading scorers. After intercepting the pass, Alzner calmly dumped the puck the length of the ice ending Boston's chances at a comeback. (video available HERE)

Despite his effective play, it is widely believed that Alzner will be sent down once the defensive corps regains it's health, but it will be strictly driven by the financial position that the Capitals find themselves in.

At the very least, the young Burnaby, BC native got a taste of the NHL this year. Next year will be his chance to step into a more influential role with the club and grow from there.

It is of my personal opinion the Alzner has all the tools to be amongst the top 10 defensive rearguards in this league. It's up to him to continue to build on them, whether in the NHL or not.

Bruins injuries mount; Rival those of Caps

Call the nurse, we have a bleeder.

It appears that the hemorrhaging that the Capitals suffered at the hands of the injury bug through the month of December has now befallen on other teams.

Most notably the Boston Bruins (and Pittsburgh Penguins).

Boston will limp into the Verizon Center tonight without the likes of Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm or Phil Kessel. Bergeron is suffering from his second concussion in as many years (Brian Pothier called to say hello), while Sturm underwent surgery on his meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament, and will be out for the season.

Kessel, meanwhile, has a case of mononucleosis (more generally known as mono). While it is unclear when Bergeron will return to the line-up, Kessel is tabled to be back in mid-February.

The Bruins will also be missing shutdown defenseman Andrew Ference, who's broken tibia will keep him sidelined at least a few more games.

Aaron Ward will also be out until at least the 19th with a charley horse.

Finally, Milan Lucic rounds out the list of the battered and bruised with an undisclosed injury that is keeping him out of the line-up.

Sound familiar? Well, if you've been following the Capitals it should.

I for one cannot recall the last time the Capitals played with a fully healthy line-up, but I would have to assume it wasn't long into the month of October before the injury carosel was fired up.

However, for the most part, Washington is begining to get healthy for the second half of the season.

Tom Poti is close to making a return while Brian Pothier will be seeking clearance to return to the ice next week. Boyd Gordon and Shaone Morrisonn are both out, but neither of them are suffering from anything too serious.

The key to success will be staying healthy down the stretch as teams such as Boston, Pittsburgh and Montreal all seem to be going through the motions that this team saw in December.

Washington, so far- has weathered the storm. Only time will tell if these other Eastern Conference teams will be able to do the same.

NOTE: In Wednesday night's game, the Capitals took four (Crosby, Letang, Talbot, Scuderi) Penguins out of the line-up, and all are questionable for tonight's game versus the New York. Rangers

Scorching Caps finish first half strong.

The Washington Capitals played their 41st game of the year last night, and in a game that mirrored the atmosphere of a playoff game they were able to notch their 27th victory of the season over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Washington defeated the Flyers by way of a shootout, as Jose Theodore stopped all three shooters, and Viktor Kozlov scored what turned into the game winner.

Their record now sits at 27-11-3, including a 12-1-0 run in their past 13, which is a far cry from where they were at mid way point last year.

Just to take you on a quick trip down memory lane, the Capitals were 12-17-2 at the same point last year, and were sitting in the basement of the Eastern Conference before their miraculous turn around.


What has been more impressive than last years playoff drive is how well the Capitals are preforming this year despite a slew of injuries to core players.

Many nights this season, the Capitals have more so resembled the Hershey Bears, as nearly half their AHL roster has played at least one NHL game this season.

But despite the bruised bodies the Caps have gotten it done, and now sit at 57 points on the year, good for fourth overall in the league.

Impressive? Rather. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Washington cannot afford to let their egos be stroked on merely half a years work.

Some would call last nights game a Litmus Test for the Capitals, considering they were playing one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference. The real test will be how they fair the remainder of January, as it will be their toughest schedule to date.

Remaining on the calendar this month are trips from the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings, as well as road trips to Boston and Pittsburgh.

This month also features three back-to-back sets, the most the Capitals will see all year.

So lets keep it all in perspective. What the Caps have done so far this season is impressive, and there's no reason not to believe that they won't be able to continue it into the second half of the season, especially if healthy bodies start returning to the line-up.

However there is much work to be done for the Capitals to maintain their image as an Eastern Conference powerhouse.

Hold off the Stanley Cup parades just yet.