The Washington Capitals head into a showdown tonight in New York with the Islanders. The Caps go to New York with a 3 game winning streak and winners of 5 of their last 6 games.
The best part of the red hot Caps right now is they continue to get healthier after a nasty streak of missing nearly 9 different skaters. But, the Capitals have gotten back Alexander Semin, Mike Green, and Tom Poti. Still questionable are Sergei Fedorov, Eric Fehr and Tomas Fleischmann. Fehr and Fleischmann are more likely a go than Fedorov.
Meanwhile, backup netminder Jose Theodore remains on the sideline with an injury, meaning young 20 year old super prospect Simeon Varlamov remains up in the NHL. If you missed Varlamov’s NHL debut in Montreal, you have to go watch the highlights on WashingtonCaps.com. What an outstanding performance, stopping 32 of 33 shots, in Montreal, no doubt one of the hardest places for a road team to play, and picking up his first NHL win, first of many, many to come. Varlamov made the Washington Capitals organization giddy over his performance.
It is no secret to any Caps fan that the 2006 draft yielded two future goalies in DC, Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth. These two young kids are the very reason the Caps were unwilling to go 5 years, let alone 4 years, with a contract for Cristobal Huet. The Montreal game gave a glimpse of why. The Caps will ultimately not rush Varlamov and he will head back to Hershey when Theodore is healthy, but the glimpse in DC was worth it. I half suspect we will see something similar sometime this season from Neuvirth.
When, or even if, Varlamov will get another start in his first NHL stint is unknown. But this much is certain: The 20-year-old gave Capitals fans something to look forward to with his memorable debut at Montreal’s Bell Center, where he overcame his nerves, blocked out the raucous capacity crowd and was named the first star in Washington’s 2-1 victory, its third in a row and fifth in six games.
The 2006 first-round draft pick became the youngest Russian goaltender to start an NHL game and the first goalie to win his NHL debut in Montreal since the New York Rangers‘ Hardy Astrom on Feb. 25, 1978.
Varlamov will serve as Brent Johnson’s backup tonight against the Islanders. Johnson has a nasty win streak in tact himself. He goes into New York winning his last 4 games and allowing just 1 goal in each of those 4 games.
NHL.com has a prospect article up on Caps 2007 first rounder Karl Alzner. Alzner has been playing very well since being recalled when John Erskine went down to injury. One thing the Caps got form Alzner was steady play and a boat load of minutes.
Alzner, who ranks fourth on the club in average ice time at 20:01 during his 10 games, is slowly coming into his own and beginning to showcase the poise and confidence the Capitals brass saw in taking him with the fifth pick of the 2007 Entry Draft.
“(The amount of ice time) surprised me quite a bit actually,” Alzner said. “I knew coming in, our blue line was thin and I knew there was an opportunity for me to play a lot, but at the same time, I never thought I’d get to play in the situations that I have.”
As a die hard caps fan, the last few weeks have been nothing short of gleeful for me. Watching Alzner (2207 1st rounder) develop and come into his own in DC then watching young Simeon Varalmov (2006 1st rounder) stuff Montreal in Montreal, well, it is damn exciting. Both of these guys are going to play absolutely vital roles in DC hockey for the next ten years, along side guys like Alexander Ovechkin and Mike Green.
I actually like the way Milan Jurcina and Alzner have gelled on defense as partners. It isn’t just what Alzner is learning in the system, learning from Jurcina, but Jurcina’s play has been better with Alzner on ice with him. That combined with the best duo of Mike Green and Shaone Morrisonn have been limited shots on goal and playing well in front of the net. The defensive play has been instrumental in the streak over the last 6 games.
Good article by Corey Masisak on Sean Collins and his brief stay thus far in DC.
“I was almost out to the parking lot when Ian chased me down,” Collins said. “He said, ‘Collie, Collie, hurry up – we’ve got to hurry,’ so we both started running. I was just like, ‘Why? What is going on?’ We threw my stuff on the bus, and [general manager George McPhee] told me that I had been called back up.”
Getty Images Sean Collins: “I am thankful every day that I wake up and I’m still [with the Caps], and I’ve tried to take advantage of it.”
Such has been the story for the Caps and their injury woes. Players are coming and going, staying and leaving – or in Collins’ case, thinking they are gone but sticking around.
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