Russians Are Golden

There's been hockey aplenty this weekend, with international play colliding with NHL conference finals in an all-out battle for hockey supremacy and the attention of hockey fans everywhere.

Without a doubt, though, the most exciting (and least painful, unless you're Canadian) of these games was today's World Championship gold medal game. It was the ultimate game, a clash of the titans, two undefeated teams meeting to continue a historic rivalry, Russia vs. Canada. After falling behind by two goals twice, Russia stormed back to win in dramatic fashion thanks to Ilya Kovalchuk's overtime goal - his second of the game and the tournament.

And for Caps fans, it was certainly a proud moment to see some of our very own receiving their gold medals. In fact, it's hard to see pictures of Ovechkin, Semin and Fedorov, clutching the trophy and bringing it to their lips...and not picture a different trophy in its place.

The three of them made up the formidable "Capital Punishment" line, and every shift they lived up to their name. Today was no exception - at many times they appeared to be the best line on the ice, matching Canada's top line shift after shift, and Semin's two goals kept Russia in the game early on when it looked like the Canadians would run away with the gold.

Ovechkin was dominant as expected but he wasn't alone. In fact in just nine games, the trio of Russian Caps combined for 17 goals and 20 assists, and were an astounding +32. All three finished in the top 10 in tournament scoring, joining their teammate Mike Green - whose 12 points made him the top scoring defenseman in the tournament, by the way.

Should Fedorov decide to sign on with the Caps for another year it seems the possibilities are endless. We saw how well Ovechkin and Backstrom played. We saw how well Backstrom and Semin played. And Fedorov is able to center them both, on separate lines or together. It's called depth, folks, and it would be nothing short of a coup to have Fedorov join Backstrom and Nylander down the middle.

Just another thing for GMGM to mull over in the coming months...because he won't have enough on his plate.

The World Championships showed us just how promising this Caps team is; eight different Capitals represented their countries in the tournament, and six made it to the medal rounds with their respective countries. Four of them finished in the top ten scorers. Five of them received medals.

And so today as the Worlds wrap up we join in the celebration.

Congratulations to Backstrom and Sweden, congratulations to Sami Lepisto and Finland, congratulations to Green and Canada for their superb play throughout the tournament. And of course, congratulations to Team Russia - gold medal winners, World Champions, and proud Caps!

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Stop, You're Making Us Blush

It's always fun to see ESPN's "experts" weigh in on different hockey-related subjects - it's more fun when they're nice, even glowing, in their discussions of the Caps. Observe:

1. Which player do you think will be one of the out-of-nowhere role players who surprises everyone in the playoffs?

Scott Burnside: I would keep an eye on Tom Poti. The veteran in Washington has put some injuries behind him and moves the puck well. He plays in the shadow of Mike Green now, but that's not a bad thing.

E.J. Hradek: I think Capitals forward Brooks Laich and Red Wings forward Johan Franzen could be two under-the-radar type players who can be surprisingly big contributors in the coming weeks.

Barry Melrose: That's a good question. I think you'll see players like Mike Grier of San Jose as well as a fan and team favorite like Ian Laperriere of Colorado step up, players who play a hard style that's perfect for the playoffs. Steve Ott of Dallas is another one; he gets under people's skin. In the East, look for Scott Hartnell (Flyers), Matt Cooke (Capitals) and Nigel Dawes (Rangers) to score big, timely goals.

5. Which arena will have the most electricity in the first round?

Burnside: It's hard to believe I'm writing this, but the Verizon Center in Washington.

Hradek: The Bell Centre just ain't the Forum, but the place will be nuts when the Habs take the ice to face the Bruins. The atmosphere will be nuclear! The Verizon Center in D.C. should be jumping, too.

Melrose: The Shark Tank. It's the loudest building in the NHL. All of the first-round arenas will be great; Washington will be unbelievable. But with all of the optimism and the team's strong finish to the regular season, San Jose will be rockin'.

They also go on to say that Sid will go further than Ovie in the playoffs, but that's neither surprising...nor necessarily wrong. As much as I love our boys, the Penguins are a Cup favorite, the Caps a Cinderella story - and if both win the first round they'll probably have to face each other.

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Cox on Board

Lately it seems like someone new jumps on the Caps bandwagon every day. Our newest traveling companion, though, is the most unlikely of supporters - Damien Cox. Yes, the man who has consistently berated and mocked and belittled this Caps team is finally on board with a staggering statement: the Caps are so much more than just Ovechkin.

Read on:

A team that was the NHL's worst in November and not much better as the calendar flipped over from 2007 to 2008, the Capitals are now demonstrating that they are about more than just trying to sneak into the No. 8 seed. They certainly are not just a team being carried on the back of a single man toward the franchise's first playoff berth in five years.

Ovechkin, with the Art Ross (leading scorer) and Rocket Richard (most goals) Trophies both sewn up, is surely making a compelling case for his candidacy for the Hart (league MVP), regardless of whether the Caps qualify for the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. But to suggest Washington is a one-man team would be wrong. For starters, you don't win nine of 10, as the Caps have done at the most important time of the season, if you don't have more than one weapon.

Second, Ovechkin was there for the first 21 games under then-coach Glen Hanlon, and the club started 6-14-1 and looked headed for a lottery draft pick. Clearly, the tactics and decisions of Hanlon's replacement, Bruce Boudreau, over the past 59 games has had an awful lot to do with the resurgence of the Caps.

Finally, GM George McPhee might as well take a bow now, for it appears that while other teams were busy landing bigger-name players, he made the best moves at the February trade deadline. In Tuesday's crucial game against Carolina, the players McPhee acquired -- goalie Cristobal Huet, winger Matt Cooke and center Sergei Fedorov -- all played significant roles.

Check out the rest here.

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Sweet Sixty

How sweet it is indeed...on to Raleigh.

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Two Points and a Million Heart Attacks

Photo courtesy of AP
Congratulations to #8 for #100 and #300...and thank you, Cristobal.

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Olie Douses Flames and Other Non-Punny Thoughts

One down, 11 to go...

- First off, congratulations again to Olie Kolzig on his 300th win, an amazing feat. It's been a chaotic couple of months, a chaotic season, a chaotic career - but the way he's been playing lately and the way he played last night, it's not hard to see how he achieved 300 wins.

Photo courtesy of capitals.nhl.com
Whatever happens after this season, the incredible things he's accomplished and the impact he's had on the team, the organization and the community should never be overlooked. Truly a class act.

Be sure to swing by NHL.com to vote in their Olie-centric poll of the day!

- Another tremendous game by Alex Ovechkin kicks his season totals (and his career high totals) up to 56 goals and 97 points on the season. He's four away from his first 60 goal season, three points from his second 100+ point season, and five points from 300 on his career. I just don't think he has an off switch...

- Checking around the interwebs, the general sense is that the Caps were victimized by the refs in the first half of the game - and the Flames were victimized in the second half. There's probably a little truth to both arguments and more than a little bit of homerism in each as well, but it does beg the question: has the officiating been incredibly unbalanced this season or does it just seem that way?

- To the fair citizens in section 427 last night...I missed the memo, were the Penguins in town for another game? Maybe the Rangers? Seriously, never have I seen a fistfight erupt in the stands when a former Patrick Division rival wasn't in town, but this one was completely started by the Caps fans who insisted on pelting a few Flames fans with peanuts. Remember, kids - beer and stupidity don't mix.

- John Erskine apparently was hurt and played sparingly in the second half of the game. The Caps proceeded to come back from a 2-1 deficit to win it. Coincidence? I think not.

- Also not a coincidence - the fact that the Caps have allowed four goals in the last three games while down two men and both Dave Steckel and Quintin Laing were out of the lineup. It's great that the two of them have become such a solid fixture on the PK but the Caps have got to learn how to kill off a two-man advantage without them.

Or, you know, stop taking penalties when someone else is in the box...

- Here's a headline that is sure to take the buzz off any Leafs fan's happy dance this morning: Sundin Hurt. Reports are varied on whether he'll even miss any time, but you have to think losing him puts a serious dent in Toronto's playoff hopes. Of course, as the team currently tied with them in the race for 8th (and while we would never wish injury on anyone) it's hard not to see that as a positive at this point.

- I know the Canes are a good team, but why is no one able to beat them? There is no reason for that team, with the injuries they have and the senior citizen status most of their players hold, to be running roughshod over the entire league right now. We get two cracks at them in the coming weeks, better make them count.

- And finally, Quintin Laing has been nominated by the Washington chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association for the Bill Masterton trophy. Hard to argue with that choice - read about it here.

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Assorted Pregame Goodies

- With Huet still not 100%, Olie gets the nod tonight...so start your engines, everyone who wants to whine and moan and throw in the towel before the puck even drops.

But first, remember a few things. One, Olie was not the only reason or even the biggest reason the Caps lost on Saturday, but he was a big reason they won last Monday against the Wild. And two, Huet resting tonight means he'll be fresh this weekend for a rematch against a very pissed off Bruins team - and maybe even Sunday's visit from the Crosby-fied Penguins.

- Next week's matchup with the Flames will not only be the first post-lockout visit to DC by Calgary but also the premiere of the OvechKam. From the Comcast press release:

Bethesda, MD (March 5, 2008) – Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, the leader in local sports television, will unveil its latest innovation, the “OvechKam,” when the Capitals host the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, March 12.

This unique broadcast, which will be available on CSN+ and replayed on Comcast On Demand, will feature a dedicated view that follows Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin throughout the entire game, providing viewers with an unprecedented look at the most prolific player in the NHL today.

The CSN+ broadcast will use a split screen so viewers are able to watch the "OvechKam” and regular game broadcast simultaneously. Comcast SportsNet’s primary channel will air the Capitals-Flames live in high definition with the traditional full-game view.

- Lindy Ruff on how the Sabres will stop Ovechkin:

"We're going to put three guys on [Ovechkin]. Then we're going to watch [Alexander] Semin and then we're going to watch [Mike] Green on defense. So obviously we're going to have too many men on the ice again."

Joke all you want, Lindy...but someone sounds nervous.

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Ten is Enough

Quote of the Night:
"We heard them. [Matt Bradley] was like, 'The fans wanted it, and I am a fan favorite, so I had to give them what they wanted." - Brooks Laich, on the fans chanting "we want 10" with the Caps up 9-2

There are a number of ways to look at this game - feel free to pick your favorite.

One way would be to write it off as yet another chapter of the Caps' ongoing inconsistencies, off one night and on the next. Just one more reason why a postseason berth is not only out of reach but also not advisable. They can't keep it together for any length of time, they don't know how to get a lead/hold a lead/put together a string of wins.

Another would be to look at this recent stretch and point to it as the third dominant performance in the last four games, the third time in four games the Caps scored four or more goals against a hot goaltender, and the second time in three games the Caps ended another team's winning streak.

Or you could just look at it as a simply thrilling, amazing, incredible performance, built on a foundation of Ovechkin's talent, by a team that is starting to find its way. Whether that way is on the road to the playoffs is not yet known, but the way the Caps came out last night - came out and didn't let up - was enough to give even the most jaded fan hope for the future.

First things first, though: in case you haven't heard, Alex Ovechkin is a beast. Three goals (numbers 50, 51 and 52 which ties a career high), two assists, and step aside Mr. Malkin - there's a new sheriff in town. It was the kind of performance that not only had you believing once more that he could reach the 60-goal mark, you started to think he could do it by the final horn.

Everything he touched seemed to turn to gold; it was the Ovechkin of January, not the one recently mired in a 7-game slump. He was everywhere, doing everything, and we were all treated to that familiar gap-toothed smile once more.

But he wasn't the only one grinning tonight. When all was said and done fifteen different players had registered a point in the definition of a team win. Only Semin, Laich and Fedorov were in the minus column (all -1), and only Morrisonn and Green were even. Seven different players registered multi-point games; three different players had multi-goal games. Donald Brashear even had a multi-fight game...sort of.

Everyone, from wide-eyed rookie to seasoned vet to longtime Cap to brand new face had a role. Matt Cooke made his presence known early with his first goal as a Cap just over thirty seconds in, then followed it up with a bruising four hit performance and two assists.

Fedorov may have been held off the scoresheet pointswise but he won eleven of his sixteen draws, made some nice passes and certainly wasn't invisible. And before leaving the game after the second period (a purely precautionary move after experiencing some back spasms), Huet had turned away 20 of the 22 shots he faced.

Even better is the fact that the Caps, old and new, did it all in front of a huge audience - the fans continue to fill the seats and let their cheers ring from the rafters as the Caps continue their winning ways. Official attendance figures put tonight's game at 17,189...for a Monday night game. Unheard of in recent years when a different gold and black clad team isn't in town, that's for sure. Add in those of us watching on Versus and on TSN up in Canada, and you've got hundreds of thousands of people checking out the Caps and being treated to a phenomenal game. Nothing sells the rest of the hockey world on this team better than showing them firsthand.

We always like to say that a game like this is the elusive 60-minute game this team always looks for yet rarely finds. After all, there were little moments of confusion and the Bruins did get on the board twice, but there was never a sense that the game was in jeopardy, never a sense the Caps would let up. As the horn sounds we ready ourselves for the inevitable feeling of landing back on earth, always waiting for the other shoe to drop and the team to revert back to their bad habits the next time out.

But is such a game so elusive anymore? Does that blasted shoe really have to drop?

Go back and look at the last four games again. In the last four games only once did this team look outclassed and outworked for any stretch of time, and then it wasn't a case of taking off a period or two so much as it was not showing up at all. They took on three elite teams to get their three wins in this most recent stretch, outscoring their defensive-minded opponents 18-3. Two of their last four were of the coveted "game in hand" variety, and they won both - decisively. They're still very much alive in both the race for Southeast Division champ and the race for 8th in the conference, sitting three and four points out respectively. Inconsistencies? Or growing pains? You decide.

Regardless, it can't be denied that this team has been given a jolt. Maybe it's the new players adding a bit of life to the lineup. Maybe it's the young guys finally recognizing what the playoff push looks and feels like, what it takes to win against the league's best. Maybe it's just time for this team.

What matters now is that, like the team, we don't get too high with the highs. A win is a win is a win, two points no matter how many goals you score.

Translation? This game means more only if the next game is a win...fifteen games left, buckle up.

All photos courtesy of WashingtonCaps.com

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The Big 5-0!! ...and 5-1, and 5-2

Photo courtesy of AP

The look says it all. Big night for Ovie but a bigger night for everyone involved - talk about bouncing back!

Much more to come on this one later, but for now...just enjoy the afterglow.

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Skills Out the Wazoo

Frozen Moment courtesy of NHL.com

I know I'm supposed to be all serious and say that I hate the All-Star Game and I snooze through the Superskills...but that would be a lie. A big one.

I adore it. Every single overhyped, overdone moment of it. Can't get enough.

I love seeing if anyone can hit four targets in four shots. I love watching the YoungStars. I love the hardest shot. I love seeing which player will step up to get the MVP, expected or unexpected, of the game itself. I love hearing players mic'd up, a la Marty Turco last year.

It seems like we've gotten too cynical as hockey fans - we snark at anything bordering on frivolous entertainment, saying that it's "ruining the game" or that it's "not real hockey". But I'm not sure exactly what is wrong with taking a weekend away from the game before the real serious business of playoffs starts. I'm not sure why we decided that a showcase of skill and talent and personality is anti-hockey, something to be avoided at all costs. It is central to what hockey is and to me, there's nothing wrong with that.

Anyways.

Tonight we kicked off the festivities with the new, improved Superskills competition, and yes, there were some misses. The camera work for one was enough to give a fan vertigo and made it hard to follow sometimes. The obstacle course had entertainment potential but fizzled a bit. And technical difficulties abounded to kick it all off, which always puts a damper on things.

But if people were willing to just sit back and enjoy, they saw a lot to like. The three on three YoungStars game was more exciting than I thought it would be, with Backstrom getting two goals (yay Nicky!). The accuracy competition was actually a good one, with Kaberle joining the four for four club and winning the head to head with Arnott on one single shot. Lecavalier stunned everyone by shooting 101.9 in the hardest shot competition...and then Chara demolished that mark by breaking 103.

And Ovechkin? He was having more fun than anyone out there, just loving the crowd and the atmosphere and breaking out the most creative shot of any of the participants in the breakaway challenge. Twice.

It's all just...fun. The players are clearly having fun, the fans there are having fun, and the game tomorrow, while it won't be anywhere near an actual hockey game, has the potential to be fun as well. Forget the rest, leave the attitude at home, and give in to the fact that every once in a while a little frivolity is fun.

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Tuesday Thoughts

Last night's game was incredibly intense and exciting - it's hard to get all your thoughts together at once. Here's a few more:

- With Crosby out, Versus was really hyping up this battle of Ovechkin vs. Malkin because...I don't know why. Maybe they feel like every hockey game needs an angle to be interesting. Not only were they right on the money with that one (for once) but every minute that passed and every goal that was scored made you wonder why this wasn't the rivalry the NHL targeted in the first place.

Crosby and Ovechkin? Completely different creatures. They score goals differently, they approach the game differently, they collect points and lead their teams and interact with their teammates differently. Both incredibly, stunningly talented players but different and really beyond comparison

Ovechkin and Malkin on the other hand are incredibly similar. Watching them battle it out on both ends of the ice last night was a show for the ages, a treat for any true hockey fan. In the coming years that is going to be be a rivalry to watch - and to me it's much more interesting than any battle Ovechkin and Crosby have had since coming into the league.

- Had Ovechkin connected with that hit on Malkin it would have been one for the highlight reels. With the miss it was one that made the collective hearts of all Caps fans leap into our throats. Alex, we love you, but please do not kill yourself trying to behead a Penguin. It's just not worth it.

- Give the Versus guys a lot of credit. They did do a fair amount of Sid-spotting (and if I never hear the words "high ankle sprain" again it'll be too soon) but they also did a good job of trying to include all the players on both teams. One word of advice though - when the Penguins score a goal, maybe focus on the guys who actually did the work instead of cutting to a shot of Crosby in the press box. He had nothing to do with it...he's good, but even he's not that good.

- Speaking of the Versus guys, why did they sound so surprised everytime Ovechkin or Malkin did something amazing? This just in, they're both very talented players. Is this seriously a newsflash?

- Brian Engblom's hair gets poofier and thinner with every broadcast.

- Mario Lemieux's hair gets greasier with every game...and now he's passed on his hair gel issues to Sid.

- How many people laughed when Semin scored the shootout winner and accidentally opened Johnny's door in his celebration, releasing the backup goalie onto the ice?

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The 124 Million Dollar Man

Photo courtesy of WashingtonCaps.com

There is something wonderful happening in Washington right now. People are excited to be Caps fans again, people are talking about the Caps again...and it all comes down to a goofy Russian kid with a beaming smile.

Last night at a Meet the Team party for season ticketholders Ted Leonsis made public what many of us already assumed - that Alex had signed a contract extension. What we didn't know was that the length of time was something beyond even our wildest dreams. Thirteen years. Thirteen years of Ovechkin's grins, his goal celebrations, his joyous tackling of teammates. Thirteen more years of his ever-evolving talent, his leadership, and his presence on and off the ice.

There are some - in fact there already have been some - who will sneer at the length or the amount, claim he's not worth the bucks or he's handcuffed himself to a team that can never really fully appreciate the great talent that he is. Ovechkin is insane. The Caps are insane. This is a horrible idea.

...is it? $124 million is a lot of money, yes. 13 years is a long time, absolutely. But the way the contract is designed, it will pay him $9 million a year for the first half (that's only $300,000 more than Crosby gets with his new "hometown discount" contract, by the way) and $10 million in the second half. Anyone thinking that Ovechkin wouldn't be making that kind of money anywhere he goes has underestimated his value severely - it just sounds like a more insane amount because it's over 13 years.

As for that number...the Caps have said time and time again that Ovechkin is the cornerstone, the building block of this team. He is the face of the franchise and we want him to continue to be the face for as long as possible. All this does is remove the burden of having to renegotiate with Alex every few years - it removes the pressure from the team and removes the distraction from Ovechkin.

It's also a statement. A statement by ownership and management that all their rhetoric about wanting to keep Ovechkin and build around him was not just a bunch of words but a true belief in his ability to lead this team to a championship. A statement by Ovechkin that he may like playing in Montreal or Toronto for the hockey atmosphere - but he loves being a Cap. He could have signed a shorter deal and still said he loved being here...maybe somewhere in the, oh, I don't know, five year range? But he didn't. He jumped in with both feet and proclaimed to fans, ownership, and the rest of the league that DC is where he wants to play.

There are two arguments likely to crop up in the coming days from those bitter journalists and analysts who hate seeing successful players in anything short of a hockey mecca. It's not hard to predict - we've heard them all before.

The first is that Washington is a horrible hockey town, a place where good players go to fade away from the spotlight and waste their talents on a team going nowhere. I'm not even sure where this stigma came from, but after years of following Washington hockey I can tell you it's not true.

Yes, the excitement has dwindled slightly - but anyone who attended games back in the late 80s, the heyday of the Caps and their consistent playoff appearances, knows that there was once a passion for this team that rivaled the best hockey cities in the league. And anyone who was at the Meet the Team event last night knows that the passion has never really faded away. There's still a buzz of excitement around this team and someone like Ovechkin is helping to fuel it - it may be moving slower than we'd like but it's happening and it's only a matter of time before this team is back in the spotlight where it deserves to be.

Furthermore, in recent years we have seen four or five players give up the chance to play for a so-called "contender" or to earn more money by staying in DC. Alexander Semin, coming off a 38-goal year, signed a two year contract extension to stay here. Kolzig has continually turned down the option of trades or free agency to stay here. Chris Clark, also coming off a career year, chose to ink four more years with the team. Michael Nylander turned down more money to come here. And now Ovechkin has made the biggest statement of all - he never wants to leave.

So on to the second argument. It's too many years, too much money, and the Caps will find themselves burned like they were with Jagr.

I almost don't know how to respond to that except to say that, luckily, Ovechkin is no Jagr. Good ol' JJ showed signs of being a temperamental diva and an underachiever long before he signed that big money longterm deal with the Caps. Ovechkin, on the other hand, never seems to take a shift off. He never phones it in. He hates not scoring but hates losing more; his celebrations when his teammates score is just as big if not bigger than if he had scored the goal himself. The guys so obviously love him just as we all love him - and that makes him worth every penny.

If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at the video from last night of Ted announcing the deal, courtesy of the wonderful people at OnFrozenBlog. Watch the looks on the team's faces; listen to the sound of the crowd. It was an amazing moment and one I'll probably never forget. Check it out:

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You Like Us! You Really Like Us!

Yeah, I guess he really did want to play in Montreal or New York, right?

Ovechkin Signs 13-Year Contract with Caps

More later, plus (hopefully) pictures from tonight's Meet the Team party. Until then, raise your glasses and drink a toast to Alex Ovechkin - a Capital until at least 2021!

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Big News?

We're hearing rumors, murmurings and whispers that a deal has been struck between the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin...no official confirmation yet and an earlier report from TSN has been pulled down, but stay tuned!

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Same Old, Same Old

Reading the headlines the morning after, one would get the sense that Sidney Crosby outdueled Alex Ovechkin to lead his team to a win.

Anyone who watched that game, Caps fan or Pens fan, would have to respectfully disagree.

That's not to say that Ovie came out on top, either. He finished the night with a goal and a +2, Crosby had two assists and a +1. Both respectable stats for a game that saw each of them have a few chances and a few good shifts...but neither player dominated this game.

This game was in fact a workshop on how to shut down a superstar, a clinic on how to take away time and space. Neither one had much room to maneuver, although being the phenomenal talent that each of them is, they were able to create that room when it was needed the most. When your offense for the night consists of names like Taffe (who?) and Brashear and Pothier and Armstrong...this ain't a battle of the number one draft picks that the NHL seems to want so badly.

I'm not sure when, if ever, the NHL and the media will decide to stop making this into the Ovechkin vs. Crosby show. If anything the likelihood goes down with every meeting that games between these two teams will end up panning out that way. Sure, they have different styles, but you have to think that practicing with Sidney Crosby gives you a better idea of how to shut down Ovechkin - and vice versa. Learn how to take away time and space from someone and you're going to take the power away from any forward.

Yesterday in the gameday preview I mocked how much the commentators love to drool over Crosby, and the same can probably be said (to a lesser extent) for Ovechkin. It's understandable. Two amazing talents cannot be denied. But at what point do we start recognizing the real heroes of a game, even when they're not named Ovechkin or Crosby?

Last night the Penguins got an overtime winner from Gonchar, who had a horrible game otherwise but more than made up for it by...well, winning the game. Evgeni Malkin was everywhere and took more than a few bone-rattling checks from Ovechkin while still making plays and Taffe (WHO?) came out of nowhere to get the Pens on the board early.

For the Caps you had Brashear with an absolutely dominant first period that included a fight and a goal. Then there was Nicklas Backstrom, who continues to thrill and basically created two of the Caps three goals just by being his hard-working, talented self. And Boyd Gordon, returning from an injury that kept him out most of December, slipped right back into his old role of shutdown master, keeping Crosby virtually silent for a majority of the game.

Oddly enough not one of them, with the exception of Gonchar (OT goals are sexier than just being a talented hockey player, I guess) shows up in the headlines. Instead we get things like "Crosby Outduels Ovechkin" and "Crosby Leads Pens Over Ovechkin" and so on and so forth. It almost makes you think they've just got headlines already written regardless of how the game turns out.

Guess what, members of the mainstream media, AP headline writers, whoever you are - it's been three years now. Enough is enough.

All photos courtesy of AP

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Gameday Preview: Caps vs Lightning

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas or, like me, some good Chinese food and a movie or two. It's time to get back into the swing of things - and what better way to do that than with a home game against the lovely Lightning of Tampa Bay? Can't think of a one.

Who: Washington Capitals vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Where: Verizon Center
When: Wednesday, December 26, 7 pm

Broadcast Info: CSN, 3WT Radio; SunSports

Media Notes:
Caps' Site
NHL.com
Washington Post
Washington Times
St. Petersburg Times

As the Caps near the halfway mark of the season it's not an exaggeration to say that just about every game becomes do or die, and with six games in the next eleven nights, they need to get things going now. The word "momentum" seems to be missing from their vocabulary for whatever reason, be it in between goals or in between games, and the last thing you want to see as the second half of the season looms is a lack of momentum. You want to be picking up speed, picking up points, and picking up intensity.

The Caps can start tonight as they host division rivals Tampa Bay. The gruesome threesome - Lecavalier, St. Louis and Richards - just love feasting on the Caps. On the flip side, our own Russian duo seems to like scoring on the Bolts (as does Dave Steckel), and games between these teams tend to be on the high-scoring side.

Right now the Lightning sit three points ahead of the Caps, further representing the wonder that is the Southeast Division in the basement of the East and struggling with inconsistency of their own. The Bolts have a tendency to extend their streaks a bit longer, dropping five or six in a row before storming back with a handful of wins, while the Caps have been employing the win three lose three strategy thus far.

Both teams entered the holiday break having lost four of their last five. Neither is particularly adept at achieving balanced scoring. Goaltenders for each team have struggled off and on at various points in the season. In other words, we're gearing up for yet another thrilling Southeast Showdown sure to keep you on the edge of your seats.

Recently we here in the Cheap Seats had a somewhat bizarre epiphany that Vincent Lecavalier and Beauty and the Beast's Gaston bear a striking resemblance to one another. No comment on whether this epiphany grew out of temporary sleep deprivation or not...but what follows is the musical result.

Vinny and Ovie
(to the tune of "Gaston"...with apologies to Disney)

Vinny's slicker than most
Even quicker than most
And a neck so incredibly thick Vinny boasts

For there's few men on ice half as manly
Perfect, a pure paragon!
Just a few years since hoisting Lord Stanley
Every man in the league knows to watch when he's on

He can deke to the right
Give the d-men a fright
And then pass the puck off to the midget in flight
As a twosome, yes, they're quite intimidating
Vinny's a true superstar!

He'll drop the gloves
Or dent the twine
In Tampa he's god and the rest are all swine...

But there's one player here
Who can give Vinny fear
Just a certain young Russian who grins ear to ear

He plows through guys with no second glancing
You can see he's got power to spare
Nothing stops him when he starts advancing
The puck's in the net and his fist's in the air!

Vinny ought to beware
Ovie's setting his glare
As he scores goals at will and he does it with flair
He's especially good at the celebrating
Millions of points for Ovie!

Vinny may have been the king of the South
Long before Ovie stepped on our shore
But now that he's here number 8's here to stay
And you know that he's going to score!

No one shoots like Ovie
Makes those beauts like Ovie
Then goes tearing around on a segway like he
Ovie's giving Lecavalier cause to fear him
My what a guy...Ovie!

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The Cheap Seats Award for Dumbest Idea Goes to...

In the latest chapter of insane analysts we get today's entry by THN columnist Mike Brophy. His premise? The Caps should trade Ovechkin.

Before I get into this - show of hands, how many people would cancel their season tickets right then and there should GMGM pull off such a trade?

Brophy is saying that basically the Caps are floundering. They aren't drawing crowds. They're not a contender nor is there any proof they will be in the near future. So clearly the thing to do is trade the superstar Russian for some obscene package of players, the way Quebec did back in the days of Eric Lindros.

That's his theory, based on one phenomenally lopsided trade in the annals of NHL history.

But actually it's not.

Pay close attention to the following line: "What if the young superstar tells the Caps he’d prefer to play someplace a little more cosmopolitan than Washington?"

This isn't an op-ed piece on making the Caps a better team, although it is certainly doing a great job masquerading as such. It's a deeply veiled attempt to say that Ovechkin would be better served playing in a more cosmopolitan city, a city that clearly will treat him better than DC ever could.

First of all, I've lived in and around DC all my life - it's a pretty cosmopolitan city in it's own right. So is Brophy suggesting a move to Toronto or Montreal on the basis that hockey love makes a city cosmopolitan?

No, I'm thinking he's referring to a different city, a city that they say never sleeps - a city like New York. Shocking that someone would again suggest that one of the best players in the league should go to what everyone has decided is hockey heaven. Never mind that New York is notorious for being unable to grow their own young talent, or that they are captained by someone who despite being among the greatest hockey players in the league has managed to do little more than lead them to stunning mediocrity.

But okay, we'll pretend for a minute that Brophy actually does care about the state of the Caps (and ignore the fact that in the last month the Caps have played like more of a playoff contender than a number of teams already in the top 8). We'll grant him the notion that this is actually a piece about the future of the Caps, the darlings of the NHL and all media types as we well know.

"Because it worked for Quebec/Colorado" means nothing to me. Eric Lindros in his prime was no Alex Ovechkin - character-wise, talent-wise and personality-wise. Their impact on their respective teams could not be more different. And I'm thinking the knowledge that Lindros did little to increase the number of Cups in Philadelphia probably would give some GMs pause about pulling the trigger on a lopsided trade like that anyways.

And his argument that Ovechkin being a Cap is no guarantee of success also holds little water because...well, what is the guarantee? Signing Scott Gomez to an obscene amount of money? Hiring Wayne Gretzky to coach your team? There's no such thing as a guarantee in sports and I'm betting our chances are slightly better with a talent that only comes along so often among our ranks.

But more importantly, trading Ovie would be disastrous to this team right now because the team has been built around him. Players have been drafted to complement his skills, players have been signed to create plays just for him. Trade Ovechkin now and you've got a shell of a team but no core - and in a town that has merely a passing interest in hockey as it is, trading the flamboyant superstar player would be far more catastrophic for DC hockey than even I can imagine.

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No Time to Panic

Since this summer there has been a lot of hand-wringing among the Caps faithful on the subject of Alex Ovechkin's contract. The second the Caps were allowed to negotiate with the Russian superstar people have been waiting for news that we've locked him up for twenty years, an anticipatory stance that only intensified after a number of big names signed long-term deals with their current clubs. I think some kid in Steeltown was in that group, but I could be wrong...

Now on the heels of the world's most obnoxious column (written by the world's most obnoxious columnist, Larry Brooks) the anxiety has reached a fever pitch. When are we going to sign him? Why haven't we signed him? Are we just biding our time until Alex, too, departs our fair city?? Are we going to lose OVIE???

I'm starting to feel like the yoga instructor for the DC Metro area. At the risk of repeating myself, I'm going to ask everyone once more to take a deeeeep breath.

First of all, Alex will be a restricted free agent. Restricted. Meaning as of July 1, he can receive offer sheets from other teams but the Caps always have the option of matching it. Let's put this into perspective - Kevin Lowe offered Thomas Vanek a huge, long-term contract. Buffalo matched. Vanek remains a Sabre. Ovechkin is just as much a cornerstone of our team as Vanek is for the Sabres, if not more - do people honestly think the Caps wouldn't match?

For that matter, what makes people think that whatever the Caps offer him wouldn't be upwards of the maximum he'd be able to get from anyone else anyway? Ovie is worth $10 million a year in my mind, more so than Vanek will be for Buffalo on his best day...and Vanek is a pretty decent player. The Caps have been saying for the last few years that they are building this team around Alex. So it would look pretty silly to let him walk after spending time and money to make this team Ovechkin-friendly.

The thing that is making people antsy is the timeline. As soon as Crosby signed his big "hometown discount" contract (oh, seriously, gag me) with the Pens, all eyes turned to Ovechkin to follow suit.

The problem there is that Ovie, for whatever reason, fired his agent this summer and is currently without representation. And no, his mother is not his agent and can't be - she's not licensed to do so. The fact that there is no contract yet and hardly even a whisper about negotiations for a contract makes me think Ovechkin is simply choosing not to deal with it right now. There's nothing wrong with that. He has until July...and it's November. We've only just cleared the turkey and stuffing from the table; if we get to March and there's no deal, then we'll talk.

So why is he waiting? Maybe, and this is just a theory, he's waiting to see what happens this year. And I'm not just referring to the team, although getting a winning record under their belts would certainly help the Caps in their bids to woo him into a long-term deal.

Ovie is coming off a somewhat disappointing season - yes, I know it sounds ridiculous to say that a 92-point season is disappointing, but frankly after his rookie year it wasn't what we expected and it definitely wasn't up to his standards. Last year at this time Ovie had 25 points; he was also a -6.

This season he is quietly putting together the best stretch of games we've seen out of him in his young career, with one more point through the same number of games and a surprising +1 rating on the year. And as the team starts to play better, so will Ovie (which has to be terrifying for the other 29 teams who have to play him).

Beyond that he's starting to grow into his leadership role and has taken it upon himself to be a mentor of sorts for both Semin and Backstrom while pushing himself and the team on the ice every night. I've said it so many times this season - he continues to be one of the best players on the ice night in and night out, and that's something I don't think we could always say about him in the past.

I don't think it is so hard to believe that maybe he wants his new contract to be based on his best performance and not on a year that he likely wants to forget. When all is said and done, sport is a business like anything else and if he's as smart as I think he is, the delay has less to do with him wanting out of DC and more to do with him simply wanting to be rewarded for and judged by his best work.

I think that's something we can all appreciate.

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A Kiss for Luck

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Ovie kissing his stick blade before last night's Panthers game.
He scored a goal.

...maybe the rest of the team should give it a shot.

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Blackouts Stink

- There were some strange doings around the league last night. On a night when Pascal Leclaire wasn't even playing, there were 5 shutouts among the 8 games - three of those by a final score of 5-0.

- Yahoo! Sports has put out a list of underrated players for each team, and I don't think it's any surprise that Boyd Gordon is the Capitals' representative. Even less of a surprise? The fact that 85% of them are guys I enjoy watching. What can I say, I love the underrated underdog.

- Kolzig and Ovechkin both will appear on this year's All-Star ballot - again, no surprises there, although it's nice to see Olie get on there. People, I beg of you, let's avoid the whole embarrassment we had last year. Vote early, vote often to get them both in there. It may be a meaningless, badly played game but it shows the league that Caps' fans have passion for a change. I know we can do it. Voting opens November 15...

- And finally, Chris Bourque gets the call tonight for his long-awaited NHL debut. Of course, none of us will get to see it (thank you, Versus) but I think this could be a spark for the Caps. Frankly it has to - something has to.

- So Brent Johnson will probably get the nod tonight against Atlanta given his numbers against them and the fact that Olie was chased in last night's game (although you can't really blame him for any of those goals). The Caps on the other hand will be facing Lehtonen's backup's backup, Ondrej Pavelec, who will be appearing in just his fourth NHL game.

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