A few things are clear about these Washington Capitals — they are gutsy, they are deep in depth in the minors, and they know how to endure. All of it combined have led the Capitals to a 19-10-2 record, third best in the Eastern Conference, only 5 points out from the overall most points, and an 8 point lead in the Southeast Division. Better yet, they have done it with various combinations, line formations, personnel, and adjustments. The Capitals rarely this season have been able to sport their anticipated starting 4 lines when the season began.
But, they win. And they win often.
That’s a big feat for Washington DC right now considering the miserable play of the Washington Bullets and the annual let down of the Washington Redskins. With success comes increased expectations. Just look at how losses are dissected to figure out why. This team is expected to win. Why? Because their damn good.
Such is the burden of high expectations, which seem to grow with every victory. Despite a season-long rash of injuries, the Caps (19-10-3) have now won four games in a row, eight of 11 and sit eight points clear in the Southeast Division. But no one was satisfied with the effort against the lowly Islanders, ranked 29th out of 30 NHL teams.
So Caps coach Bruce Boudreau conducted a full-scale practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex on Wednesday – a rarity the day after a road game. The players skated hard for over an hour and everyone healthy enough took part, including Ovechkin, who scored twice against New York.
Hey, the expectations are high, and regardless of a win, allowing two late goals to the Anew York Islanders to force over time, well, it just isn’t acceptable. At least to this Coach. And this team. And that is awesome!
Here is another, more widespread article on the expectations the Caps have for thenmselves and the expectations George McPhee expects.
“We didn’t play well enough last night. We didn’t respect our opponent, and we didn’t play hard for the entire game. You could see early in the game that we had a couple of players that were playing far too cute. It was our grinders that got us through,” McPhee said. “We expect and demand a lot from these guys now.”
Ever thing that we should be saying more thanks to Caps owner Ted Leonsis for staying the course with George McPhee and the rebuild? Especially when we were all doubting? This kind of attitude breeds nothing less than success.
We’ve said a few times in our game reviews as well as some of our notable nuggets that we have been impressed with the play of Milan Jurcina since he was partnered with 2007 first rounder Karl Alzner. I was glad to see Jurcina get the recognition from Tarik at the Washington Post, in a pretty nice article.
Not only is Alzner, the prized Caps prospect, learning a ton here in DC from Jurcina, Brian Pothier, and just overall game experience, but he is also elevating Jurcina’s level of play. This duo is not your Green/Morrisonn duo where one scores while one stays back, they are a consistent, solid defensive pair that sees a ton of ice time. My bet is, they are well liked by Brent Johnson and Jose Theodore as well. Between those two pairs, the Caps defense has been nothing short of outstanding this season.
After the Washington Capitals lost one player after another to injury last month, Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau had little choice but to give more responsibility to Milan Jurcina, who, at the time, was the team’s No. 6 defenseman.
It has turned out to be precisely what Jurcina needed to turn his season around.
But after his defensive partner, John Erskine, suffered a concussion in Minnesota on Nov. 24, Boudreau paired Jurcina with top prospect Karl Alzner, then gave the tandem a bigger role.
In the 11 games since, Jurcina has skated 17:20 or more 10 times, has notched two goals and three assists and is a plus-5. He has also been so reliable in his own end, Boudreau has matched him against the opposing team’s top offensive players in recent games.
On playing with Alzner …
“We have chemistry,” Jurcina said. “Karl is a great player, one of the best young defensemen in the NHL right now. He skates well and moves the puck well. So you can count on him when he goes to the corners. You don’t have to watch him, you can trust him. He’s steady.”
Bourdreau agrees …
“Playing with Karl, who is a steadying influence even though he’s only 20 years old, isn’t hurting him at all,” he said. “Juice and Alzner seem to fit. We’ve kept them together and they’re getting better every game. Milan is the kind of guy who really thrives on confidence, and right now his game is really at its” best.
Some of the big success of the Capitals have been from the Russian players. Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Sergei Fedorov, Victor Kozlov, and even young prospect goalie Simeon Varlamov, all have helped fueld the Capitals surge to the top. But, as the Washington Times writes, the Russian influx is slowing to the NHL.
But, Victor Kozlov puts the Russian ties into perspective …
“It is good for us, so five Russian guys is nice. As long as the team is winning and doing good, it doesn’t matter how many players are from each country. As long as team is winning, it is not Russians, Slovaks, Czechs and Swedes – it is Washington Capitals.”
Meanwhile, while the Capitals are getting healthier by the day, the St. Louis Blues, the Caps opponent tonight, are suffering the same type of wrath of injuries the Caps are now just climbing out of. Here’s a game preview from the St. Louis Dispatch.
Washington Capitals Attendance Report: AVG per Game: 17,801 (13th in the NHL)
YOUR WASHINGTON CAPITALS LEADERBOARD
Goals: Alexander Ovechkin, 19
Assists: Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, 23
Points: Alexander Ovechkin, 42
PP Goals: Mike Green, 7
+/-: Alexander Semin, +20
Def Scoring: Mike Green, 20
GAA: Brent Johnson, 2.46
Save%: Brent Johnson, .920
Won/Loss: Brent Johnson,10-4-2
Down in the Minors …
Now that the Capitals are getting healthy, the Bears are getting their corp players back as well, so goes it for South Carolina in the ECHL as well. The Bears have reassigned Victor Dovgan and Maxime Lacroix to South Carolina.
Newly signed free agent Kip Brennan practiced yesterday in Hershey.
South Carolina’s Travis Morin was named ECHL Player of the Week in a week he scored 4 goals and 7 points. Kudos to Travis.
Hershey Bears Attendance: AVG Per Game: 8,352 (1st in the AHL)
South Carolina Stingrays Attendance: AVG per Game: 4,755 (6th in the ECHL)
Minors Leader Board
HERSHEY BEARS
Goals: Alexandre Giroux, 18
Assists: Keith Aucoin, 27
Points: Keith Aucoin, 36
PP Goals: Alexandre Giroux, 5
+/-: Mathieu Perreault, Oscar Osala, +17
Def Scoring: Sami Lepisto, 14
GAA: Simeon Varlamov, 2.34
Save%: Simeon Varlamov, .909
Won/Loss: Simeon Varlamov, 10-3
SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS
Goals: Michal Dubuc, Maxime Lacroix, 10
Assists: Travis Morin, 18
Points: Travis Morin, 26
PP Goals:Michal Dubuc, Keith Johnson, 4
+/-: 4 Tied with +12
Def Scoring: Brad Farynuk, Johann Kroll 14
GAA: Michal Neuvirth, 1.70
Save%: Michal Nuevirth, .938
Wins/Loss: Bobby Goepfert, 6-1
Possibly Related Posts:
- The Calder Cup
- Belanger inks one year deal with Caps
- Redskins Link Dump (8/9)
- Nats trade Christian Guzman to Rangers
- El-Bashir leaving Post Caps beat
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