CAPS Week 4 - October 25-28

[Senators2005]

This Thread Dedicated To The Following Three Games:
October 25th @ Colorado Avalanche at 9:00PM EST
October 27th @ Vancouver Canucks at 10:00PM EST
October 28th @ Edmonton Oilers at 10:00PM EST

"HORN-HORN-HORN!"
"LETS-GO-CAPS!"

[Senators2005]

Caps Start Trip Against Avs in Denver
by Mike Vogel
October 24, 2006
LINK: http://www.washingtoncaps.com/news/news.asp?story_id=4260

Washington Capitals (2-2-3)
Colorado Avalanche  (4-3-2)
Time: 9:00 pm
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Radio: SportsTalk 980 AM

Washington opens its longest road trip of the season on Wednesday in Denver when it takes on the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center. The game is the first of four contests in six nights as the Capitals finish out their 2006-07 slate against the NHL?s Northwest Division.

The Capitals are 4-1-2 in their last seven games against the Avalanche.

The Caps have picked up points in each of their last two road games, but are still seeking their first road victory of the season. Washington.

The Capitals? last game was a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Verizon Center on Saturday night. The Caps committed a single-game season high 18 turnovers in that game, and several of the giveaways led directly to Lightning goals.

On the plus side, Washington?s special teams were quite good against Tampa Bay. Despite taking seven consecutive minor penalties in the game, the Capitals killed off the first six and killed six of seven on the evening. Washington?s power play unit had only three chances to operate all night, but converted two of those opportunities.

The Capitals changed up their power play alignment prior to the Tampa Bay game, putting Alexander Semin ? the team?s leading goal scorer ? on the point along with Brian Pothier. Alex Ovechkin, Dainius Zubrus and Richard Zednik play up front, from left to right.

?There were some really good plays by Semin on the point there,? observed Hanlon, ?one was a diagonal pass to Zubie. There were a couple of really good plays that didn?t result in goals. He had really good composure back there.?

In the two days of practice after the loss to Tampa Bay, Hanlon has also tweaked his even-strength forward lines.

Matt Pettinger has been sidelined for the last three weeks after suffering an upper body injury late in the preseason. He is slated to return to the lineup on Wednesday in Denver.

Pettinger will skate on a line with Donald Brashear and Kris Beech, and Jakub Klepis will slide into Beech?s former slot between Semin and Zednik.

?I like the chemistry between Pettinger and Beech,? said Hanlon. ?They played together in junior and Petty should have had about five goals in training camp. I wanted to put them together. I thought Kris Beech played very, very well last game. With about 12 minutes left in the third period I just sort of played a hunch that [Klepis] would bring his speed and do something, and he made a couple of real nice plays.?

Beech ranks third in the NHL in faceoff percentage among those skaters who have taken more than 100 draws. Hanlon said he may deploy Beech out of turn occasionally for important draws, and Beech did take a few key draws with Klepis? linemates late in the third period of the Tampa Bay game.

Pettinger averaged 15:29 per game in ice time last season, but Hanlon doesn?t expect him to skate that much in his first action of 2006-07.

?I don?t think he?ll be that high,? said Hanlon. ?I think when guys get back that first game their ice time is maybe two-thirds, so somewhere between 10 and 12 minutes, see how you feel and get a feel after that.?

The Capitals are 15th in the league in power play prowess with a 15.9% success rate. Washington?s penalty killing corps ranks 19th with a kill rate of 80.5%.

Colorado is coming off a 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Pepsi Center on Monday night. Half of the Avs? goals in that victory were 5-on-3 power play strikes. The power play goals ended a 1-for-20 slump by the Colorado power play. The Avs have won three of their last four.  

Avalanche netminder Jose Theodore suffered a third period meltdown in Saturday?s 8-5 road loss to his former Montreal Canadiens teammates. Peter Budaj played against the Kings, and Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said the team would consider going with Budaj in Wednesday?s game against the Capitals.

The Avalanche hosted sellout crowds in their first 411 games after moving to Denver at the start of the 1995-96 season, but each of the last two home games this season have failed to sell out.

Colorado?s power play is 11th in the NHL with a 19.3% success rate. The Avs? penalty killing outfit ranks 15th in the league with a kill rate of 83.3%.

[Senators2005]

No more road warriors
By Dave Fay
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
October 25, 2006
LINK: http://www.washingtontimes.com/sports/20061024-115302-9635r.htm

A few years ago, it was normal for eastern NHL teams to have extended trips of two weeks or more through the Midwest and western Canada a few times a year.  Now, they are as rare as natural hat tricks.

    The Washington Capitals open a four-game western jaunt tonight against Colorado in Denver, a trip that also takes the team to the three western Canadian cities -- Vancouver, Edmonton and closing in Calgary on Monday night.

    The "new" NHL has abandoned yearly home-and-home visits between teams. Instead, teams concentrate on building intra-division and intra-conference rivalries. The Caps play each of their four Southeast Division rivals eight times a season and the other Eastern Conference teams four times each. That leaves 10 openings for games against the West.
 
    Goalie Olie Kolzig, 36, is one of a few Capitals players who can remember the old days, when teams packed for a road swing of 17 or so days, playing seven or more games on the road while the Capital Centre hosted an annual horse show.
 
   "And I think they should go back to that," Kolzig said yesterday.
    "Yep, I do miss that," he said. "I understand they want to create rivalries but to see the same team in your division eight times a year, that's a little too much. Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, towns like that, they aren't going to see [Alex] Ovechkin or [Alexander] Semin until next year and that's too bad."

    Washington played the three California teams and Phoenix during Ovechkin's rookie season, and the left wing had five goals, including all of the Caps' scoring in a 3-2 win at Anaheim. Against Phoenix, Ovechkin swept the puck into the net while lying flat on his back, a remarkable goal often described as the NHL's goal of the decade.

    "I think we have such an exciting team with Ovechkin that it's difficult to have an NHL season and not see him," said coach Glen Hanlon, who broke in with Vancouver as a goalie in 1977. "We're so proud of him and Semin. There's a strong argument for rivalries but I like [the new concept] because I'm not away as much. I think you have better hockey now through six or seven months because there's less fatigue. If you eliminate some of the division games to go out west, your product ends up suffering."

    Vancouver, with the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Canadian Rockies as a backdrop, is one of the most beautiful cities on the NHL circuit but it is also the toughest place to play. Every away game is a lengthy plane flight, whereas the Caps can drive to Philadelphia in two hours and fly to half a dozen other cities in an hour or so.

    The western trips also give players from that part of Canada the rare chance to play in front of family and friends. Center Brian Sutherby, a native of Edmonton, has been a Caps regular since 2002 but will play in his hometown for just the second time as an NHL player on Saturday night.
 
    "I'm going to have a lot of family and friends there, probably close to 50," he said yesterday, already excited about the prospect. "I haven't played at home since my rookie season so yeah, going home is pretty special."
 
    It will be extra special for left wing Matt Pettinger, who will likely play his first game of the season tonight against the Avalanche after recovering from an injury. He is also an Edmonton native, played college hockey in Denver, junior hockey in Calgary and now lives in British Columbia in the offseason. His parents have leased a luxury box for the game against the Canucks so they can play host to other family members and friends.

[Senators2005]

October 25th at the Pepsi Center
Washington Capitals 5
Colorado Avalanche 3

What a great game!  The goal by Mike Green was a thing of beauty.  And Kolzig was a MONSTER - the guy was in some kind of groove.  Freaking 45 saves!  Glad Ovechkin is gonna be ok...the way he hobbled off the rink had me worried.   :oops:

[Nats Bruin]

Great road win....solid effort. The need to make 45 saves must stop
though, we're going to kill the man or we're going to
get run out of more buildings than we want to think about.

On to BC!

[sportsfan882]

Indeed,  it was a nice win against a good team on the road.  Kolzig had alot of amazing saves.  It was nice to see us limit the penalties after the first period as well.  3 more games left on the road trip.  It would be nice to come home with 2-3 more points.

[Senators2005]

How bout Ovechkin breaking the Penalty Box glass and forcing game stoppage for 10 minutes while they clean up the mess?  

Video can be found here:

http://www.washingtoncaps.com/news/news.asp?story_id=4263

[UMDNats]

It's been confirmed by TSN that AO is 100% fine for the game tommorow...to me it seemed like a stinger that just really, really hurts, but is ok the next day.

[Senators2005]

It's been confirmed by TSN that AO is 100% fine for the game tommorow...to me it seemed like a stinger that just really, really hurts, but is ok the next day.

Thank God for that.   :oops:

[Senators2005]

Oct. 27 vs. Vancouver Canucks at GM Place

Time: 10:00 pm
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Radio: SportsTalk 980 AM

Washington Capitals (3-2-3)
Vancouver Canucks  (6-4-1)

Matchup
The city of Vancouver is abuzz over Friday night?s game between the Capitals and the hometown Canucks. The tilt between Washington and Vancouver is the second game of the Caps? current four-game road trip, but more importantly to the locals, it offers their first chance to see Washington winger Alex Ovechkin on the ice at General motors Place.

Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary are the only three NHL teams against which Ovechkin has yet to play. And those three cities are the only three Canadian NHL towns where last year?s Calder Trophy winner has yet to play. Ovechkin?s arrival in town on Thursday is being treated as an event of great significance by the local print and electronic media.

For many of the Caps who hail from or have played in Western Canada, the trip represents a homecoming. Winger Matt Pettinger and defenseman Shaone Morrisonn will each have dozens of friends and family in attendance at Friday night?s game in Vancouver.

Washington got off on the right foot when it began its longest road foray of the season in Denver on Wednesday night. The Caps took an early lead on Chris Clark?s goal in the game?s first minute, and Washington never trailed. Olie Kolzig made 45 saves, the most he has ever recorded in a win in his career. The Caps got out of town just ahead of a big blizzard, taking a 5-3 win and two points on the plane with them.

?It?s so much more enjoyable winning that first game,? said Caps coach Glen Hanlon after the team opened the current trip with a win. ?It sets up the trip to give you an opportunity to get on bit of a roll. You spend the first night talking about winning the next game as opposed to what you are going to do to correct your mistakes. It?s a good win. These teams are so fast out here and they?re all well coached. It?s real tough hockey for us. Any points that we pick up are big.?

Washington is now 7-3-3 in its last 13 games, dating back to last season. Washington?s win at Colorado made the Capitals 3-2-3 on the season, the first time the Capitals have been over .500 eight games into the season since 2002-03 (4-3-1; they lost their ninth game that year and haven't been over .500 after nine games since 1997-98, 7-2-0).

Washington is third in the league in goals with an average of 3.62 goals per game. The Caps ranked 23rd in that department last season.

The Capitals have scored on 17% of their power play chances this season, the 14th best rate in the league. Washington has clicked on three of six (50%) power play tries in its last three games. The Caps have killed off 81.3% of the opposition?s power play chances this season, the 19th best figure in the NHL. Washington has killed 18 of 21 (85.7%) opposition power plays in the last three games.

The Canucks opened the season with a four-game road trip, and just completed a five-game trip. In between those two jaunts, the Canucks played their only two home games of the season to date, going 1-1. Vancouver is 5-3-1 on the road, with three of its victories coming in overtime.

First-year Canucks coach Alain Vigneault has the team in the middle of the pack offensively and defensively. Buoyed by the addition of workhorse goaltender Roberto Luongo, the Canucks are looking to rebound in 2006-07 after narrowly missing the playoffs last season.

Last season, former Capital Anson Carter had a huge season playing alongside Vancouver?s Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik. Carter led the Canucks with 33 goals in 2005-06. Over the summer, Vancouver added ex-Cap Jan Bulis, hoping he might enjoy similar success with the Sedins.

Instead, former Islanders first-rounder Taylor Pyatt has experienced a rebirth with Vancouver and the Sedins this season. Pyatt has never scored more than 14 goals in any of his five NHL campaigns, but he has five in his last seven games this season while skating with the Sedins.

The Caps haven?t defeated the Canucks since a Valentine?s Day visit to Vancouver on Feb. 14, 2001. From this year?s Capitals, only Olie Kolzig and Richard Zednik remain with the team from that game, and Zednik spent most of the intervening time in Montreal.

Adam Oates second goal of the game won that game for the Caps at 4:19 of overtime. Earlier in that season, the Caps downed the Canucks at MCI Center, also winning in overtime. Andrei Nikolishin?s goal at 4:17 of the extra session gave the Caps a 3-2 win in that Nov. 22, 2000 game, played the night before Thanksgiving.

Since the start of the 1998-99 season, the Capitals are 2-6 against the Canucks and have been outscored by a combined 34-14. Oates? goal is the last scored by a Capital in Vancouver; Alex Auld blanked the Capitals (6-0 on Mar. 23, 2003) in Washington?s most recent visit to GM Place.

The Caps? last regulation win in Vancouver was a 3-2 triumph on Mar. 28, 1998. Washington?s Brian Bellows netted two goals in that game, his first in a Capitals? uniform.

Vancouver?s power play ranks 22nd in the league with a 12.5% success rate. The Canucks? penalty killing unit is 10th in the NHL with a kill rate of 87.3%.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I used to live pretty close to GM Place...that's one hockey-mad city.  Tonight's game must have sold out ages ago.  With Luongo in the net and having unloaded Barbarian Bert, I'm surprised the Canucks aren't doing better.

[Senators2005]

I'm so looking forward to this game!

Tuesday afternoon, three days before the Alexander Ovechkin show rolls into town, and the floor of GM Place is covered strewn with guts.

They don?t belong to this season?s batch of hardhats. No, the guts scattered around the rink are comprised ? quite literally ? of the wires, fibres, and synapses of the stadium?s new central nervous system.  Meet the NHL?s latest ProStar? centre-hung video display system ?most of us would call it a score clock, albeit a fancy one.

(Image removed from quote.)

Hovering above the wood-covered ice-surface is the new half-installed brain of GM Place ? an integrated super-system developed by Daktronics.  Suspended from metal cables as thick as your forearm, the cutting-edge score clock looks as formidable as the specs. It makes the forklift idling in its shadow look like a Tonka toy.  It weighs 49,000 pounds and its four large HD-ready light emitting diode (LED) screens (13.5 feet by 24 feet) display 4.4 trillion colours. Up close at full power it?s like standing on a Tahitian beach.

?It?s not so bad up here,? says Daktronics project manager Jacob Frein, the engineer in charge of lighting the behemoth. ?Down south in Texas they need air conditioning for each panel just to keep it cool.?  But could you cook an egg on it if you dropped one on it midway through the third?

?No, probably not that hot,? says the lanky Frein, screwdriver in hand.

Still, it?s an impressive beast. And no, don?t try the egg test. A 12 by 12 inch panel costs about $1,000.  In all, the eight computers and 1.2 million pixels spread over eight screens draw as much power as your average house ? which isn?t too bad considering it?s roughly equivalent to 80 big-screen televisions.  It?s the absolute largest clock they could get.

(Image removed from quote.)

?We figured out our limitation was how high it could be,? says Harvey Jones, Vice President and General Manager of Arena Operations. ?Then we calculated the largest possible screen we could fit in the building.?

The four large main displays are 3.3 times larger than the old screens, but that?s just the start. Four medium-sized screen (13.5 feet by 5.5 feet) hang at the corners, and a ring of ribbon displays wrap around the entire top of the clock. All told, it costs upwards of $5 million.  It?ll rival English Bay fireworks for sheer eye candy once the switch is flipped Friday.  When accounting for size and spacing between pixels, Frein says it?s comparable to an LCD television when viewed from lower-bowl seats behind the benches.

?It?s pretty much like TV I guess,? says Frein. The lanky engineer with the slow American drawl takes a few strides back and has another look up at the black screen. "I suppose it depends on how far away you are."

Frein has a 56-incher wedged into his living room back in Sioux South Dakota, so he knows a bit about screens and resolution, though he says he doesn?t get a whole lot of time to sit around and drink it in.  With everyone from US high school football stadiums to NFL arenas clamouring for high-resolution video screens, there?s not a whole lot of down time.

(Image removed from quote.)

In fact, the GM Place screen had to wait until the 25th to get installed because there weren?t enough LED (tiny light bulbs) in production to build the massive panels.

?Texas Instruments makes the lights,? says Frein. ?They can?t produce them fast enough because we?ve sold so many. Basically we have more work than we can handle.?

Daktronics had enough to install the new 360-degree ProAd? ribbon board that wraps around the face of the 300 seating level for the home opener, but had to wait for the factory to churn out a million more lights to assemble the clock itself.  In order to get it hung and flashing in time for the Washington Capitals on the 27th, engineers have had to press just as hard.

?We?re trying to put it together in a week,? says Frein, who spent 17 hours on Tuesday hunched over a binder of schematics. ?Usually this would take about three weeks.?

Simply put, it?s the best in North America.  ?No other NHL rink will have the video screen size and clarity that we have,? says Jones. ?Some will have the same 10-millimetre pixel-spacing, but their screens won?t be as big. The combination of size and clarity will be the best in the NHL.?

(Image removed from quote.)

?We?re going to be able to motivate and excite the crowd like never before. We?re going to be able to make them feel like they?re part of the game.?

?It?ll help us to pump up the crowd at key moments in the game, and the team tells us that this really helps to motivate them.?

The smaller screens will provide real-time stats, like hit totals, face-off percentages, and blocked shots, while the larger screens will display the score, shots on net, penalty times, and play-by-play recaps ? all in 4.4 trillion colours.  The ceremony for the old clock was a private affair, cut gently from the rafters with blow torches after more than 10 years of solid service.

The old clock?s reign came to an end on Tuesday, October 17th, less than a day after the Canucks defeated the Oilers 2-1.

Maintaining the Mark IV?s outdated cathode ray tube (CRT) system had become a burden ? to say the least. Orca Bay engineers have scoured the technological dust-piles of North America and Asia for the past three years in search of extra light-cubes.

?We bought up all the spares in the world,? explains Jones. ?We basically had a scavenger hunt through North America and Japan, and we acquired all the spares that were available. We were running out and we weren?t going to be able to keep all the little cubes lit through this year.?

Simply put, it was time for all 50,000 pounds of the old scoreclock to go unceremoniously the way of Betamax and Laser Video Discs ? to the scrapheap. It took ten workers two full days to lower and dismantle.

Once the Canucks hit the ice for pre-game skate, nobody's going to care much about the diode's, the tight time frames, or power. It's all about the show, and this one's going to go on.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Vancouver is the only place in Canada where you can ski in the morning, drive 5 km, go surfing in the afternoon, drive 6 km, and attend an NHL game at night.

[sportsfan882]

FINAL
CAPS 2
CANUCKS 3

Very good job to get a point tonight but all of these overtime losses are really tough to take. Not only are they not getting the extra points in the standings (4 pts they have failed to get in OT this year), the team has got to start getting frustrated with all of the OT losses.   Kolzig was absolutely MAGNIFICENT tonight. The rest of the team was pretty bad though.  We really didn't deserve to get a point so losing in shootout wasn't too bad.

[UMDNats]

Disappointing loss. We should have gotten destroyed but Olie held us in it.
I hope those shootout losses turn into wins at some point.

AO had a real good game.

[Senators2005]

Kolzig is saving our bacon.  42 saves tonight - 45 a couple of days ago in Denver.  We were pathetic in the first period.  I think we had like 2 shots on goal vs. 21 by Vancouver?     Whenever we were equal strength we couldn't hang with the Canucks.  Vancouver played better and deserved the win.  

The beach ball dropping in on the ice during OT was particularly amusing.  Watching that puck dribble between Kolzigs legs at a snail's pace during the shootout though was not.  

Looks like Johnny mans the net in Edmonton tommorow.

[Senators2005]

Oct. 28 vs. Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place

Time: 10:00 pm
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Radio: SportsTalk 980 AM


Washington Capitals (3-2-4)
Edmonton  Oilers  (6-4-0)

Matchup
The Capitals arrived in Edmonton in the wee hours of Saturday morning, less than 18 hours before they take on the hometown Oilers at Rexall Place. Saturday night?s Hockey Night in Canada tilt is the third game of Washington?s current four-game road trip, and the back end of back-to-back contests. Washington dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the Canucks in Vancouver on Friday.

For the second straight game, the stellar goaltending of Olie Kolzig kept the Capitals out of the loss column. The Caps were outshot 16-1 in the first period and 15-2 in the third, but Kolzig stopped 42 of the 44 shots he saw on the night. He made 45 saves on Wednesday in a 5-3 win over the Avalanche in the first game of the trip, the most stops he has ever made in a game he won in his career.

?The [scoring] chances against were so one-sided, it?s not even worth almost addressing,? said Caps coach Glen Hanlon after the game. [Kolzig] made about four [saves] alone in the third that were just pure goals. He was terrific.?

With a 3-2-4 mark and 10 points through nine games, Washington is off to its best start since 1997-98 when it opened the season 7-2 in its first nine en route to the lone Stanley Cup finals appearance in the franchise?s history.

Opponents are breaking the puck out of their own end quickly and efficiently while the Caps are very much struggling in that department. This leads to Washington spending far too much time in its own end. As a result, it is on the penalty kill more than its opponents and it allows far more shots and shots on goal.

?We?ve got to make that first pass,? said Caps defenseman Steve Eminger. ?We can?t look for the second pass. If that first pass is there, we?ve got to make it quick and just make it easy on ourselves. If we don?t have a play, don?t force anything, just chip it out.?

In the first two games of the road trip, the Caps have been outshot 92-51. Adding in ?intended? shots on goal (those that were blocked and those that missed the net), the Caps have been outgunned 164-83 in the last two games. The opposition has had 14 power plays to Washington?s seven.

The Capitals? power play unit now ranks 13th in the NHL with a 17.6% success rate. The Caps are 19th in the league in penalty killing with an 81.8% success rate in that department.

Edmonton?s last game was a 6-2 whipping at the hands of the floundering Coyotes in Phoenix on Thursday night. Prior to that win over the Oilers, the Desert Dogs had dropped four straight by a combined total of 19-3.

The Oilers have won each of their previous five home dates this season, outscoring the opposition 19-9 in the process. It is the first time the Oilers have won as many as five straight games at home since Mar. 15-28, 2003. This season marks the first time since 1986-87 that Edmonton has opened the season with five straight home victories. The ?86-87 Oilers went 6-0 at home and were undefeated in seven straight (6-0-1) before finally suffering their first home ice setback. Edmonton won the Stanley Cup that season, its third title in four years.

The recent history of the series between these two teams is of home team dominance. The Caps have defeated the Oilers five straight times in Washington, dating back to a Super Bowl Sunday matinee game at USAir Arena on Jan. 26, 1997 when the Oilers prevailed, 3-1.

Edmonton has similarly dominated at Rexall Place. The Caps? last win in Edmonton was a 2-1 squeaker on Feb. 7, 1996. Jim Carey got the win in goal for Washington that night; Michal Pivonka and Peter Bondra scored for the Caps.

The Oilers? power play ranks 18th in the NHL with a 15.9% success rate. Edmonton is eight in the league in penalty killing with a kill rate of 87.9%.

[sportsfan882]

Edmonton is 5-0 at home this season  

[Dave B]

Edmonton is 5-0 at home this season  

I like stats like that. its gotta end sometime.

I'd be more scared if they were 5-1

[Senators2005]

FINAL
WASHINGTON: 0
EDMONTON: 4

Another loss - Caps were unable to get anything started offensively against the Oilers at all.  It seems to me that they are missing just one peice of the puzzle to make them truly competitive.  What peice that is...I do not know.

[sportsfan882]

Disgusting game by everyone.  We have to beat Calgary on Monday to come home off the road trip with 5 points.

[Senators2005]

Disgusting game by everyone.  We have to beat Calgary on Monday to come home off the road trip with 5 points.

I think Calgary should be a good showing for us.  The Flames have been having their own "issues" so far this season.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Northlands (or "Rexall" as I guess they bcall it nowadays) is a tough place to play...louder than hell. Best (or worst, depending on how you choose to look at it) hockey fans on earth.

[Senators2005]

Northlands (or "Rexall" as I guess they bcall it nowadays) is a tough place to play...louder than hell. Best (or worst, depending on how you choose to look at it) hockey fans on earth.

Caps offensive woes had nothing to do with the crowd last night.  In fact, Joe and Craig were commenting on how subdued the fans were compared to normal because the Caps defense was able to neutralize the Oilers "run and gun style" that generates excitement in the rink.