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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Bumps and Bruises and Voodoo Dolls

This was supposed to be a great year for the Caps. This was supposed to be the year that they finally start to regain some of the respect we lost during the Jagr years. And while there's still time to turn things around to a certain extent, there just seems to be a rash of nonstop bad luck preventing a major renewal, the latest being the injuries to key players Clark and Gordon.

So my question is this - do you get the sense that this season might just be cursed?

Let's break it down...

- Alexander Semin goes down with a sprained ankle in preseason. Preseason. We didn't even make it to the regular season before losing our 38-goal scorer. The injury continues to crop up at inopportune times (read: every other day), keeping Semin out of the lineup and preventing any real chemistry from developing between him and the other forwards.

- A team with three 30+ goal scorers and bolstered by offseason offensive producers Nylander, Kozlov and Poti, finds it impossible to find the back of the net. This makes the fact that both goaltenders are standing on their heads irrelevant, as allowing one or two goals a game doesn't help when you can't score at all.

- Alex Ovechkin tries to kill Chris Clark with a slapshot to the head. At the same time Semin is out once more and Boyd Gordon then goes down with an injury, sending the Caps reeling. For the first time in years the Caps are in last place in the NHL.

- A fifth straight loss in which the Caps look flat and unable to do the basic things correctly costs Glen Hanlon his job.

- On new coach Boudreau's first day of practice with his team, Semin reinjures his ankle. Again. In his fourth game the Caps go to their first shootout of the season and lose Clark, Gordon and possibly Semin to injury. Again.

And so on and so forth...

But don't worry, Caps fans, because here's the good news - not only do we get to play Carolina and Florida in back to back games this weekend, but we also get to see each of them four more times before the season ends. (At least this is the last season with such a lovely schedule.)

The better news? Only 57 games left...and counting.

If you're looking for a gameday preview for our next two games go here and here. I'm running out of ways to make these "intense" division matchups interesting, and I'm inspired by the current writers' strike in Hollywood to just run reruns in protest. Luckily after next week we get a bit of a reprieve from the Southeast and I'll return to my usual witty self.

All photos courtesy of AP

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Clean Slate

Well, that's a hell of a way to welcome the new coach, isn't it? An overtime victory on the road in Philly, off the stick of our rookie phenom, to snap a five game losing skid. Excellent.

This game, while more interesting than it had to be, was really entertaining from start to finish and just a great 60 minute effort by the Caps. Everyone had a good game, as is usually the case when the team gets a win like this.

The Flyers did a pretty good job of keeping Ovie fairly quiet (or as quiet as you can keep someone like Ovie) and that meant everyone else had to step up. And step up they did - we get a goal from Brashear (deflected from a Morrisonn slapper), a power play goal from Green off a beautiful Backstrom pass, an equally beautiful play by Kozlov to set up Clark, and of course, Nicklas Backstrom with the overtime winner. Happy Birthday to Nick, indeed!

The power play looked good and connected, but the real special teams success story was the penalty killing, which was really phenomenal today despite the two goals during Clark's double minor (one of which shouldn't have happened had the whistle blown in time). Anytime you can kill off an extended 5 on 3, there's a good chance you'll come out on top. We saw it against Ottawa a few weeks ago and once again today it was guys like Gordon, Steckel, Laich and Pettinger stepping in to keep this game competitive.

Going back to that double minor, good for Chris Clark for stepping in to defend Boyd Gordon. I was surprised there was no call on Hartnell for that hit at center ice, but since there wasn't it was the captain's job to make things right. I'm sure we all would have preferred he not pick up a truckload of penalty minutes and put the team down a man for four, but that's one of those "good" penalties that, especially with the win, are easier to swallow.

And then there were just strong performances by Kozlov, Nylander, Morrisonn, Bradley, and everyone else in a white jersey to cap off Boudreau's first career NHL win as a coach.

It's hard to judge this team, and this coach, by one game. We've certainly seen them come out and play like this on isolated situations this season, and with a new coach I expected nothing less. We know they have it in them. What we haven't seen is this kind of effort in back to back situations and that's what is needed at this point - a string of wins to get them out of the cellar and back into the mix where we all know they belong.

But for now let's just enjoy this win (made that much sweeter by happening in Philly, which is always a fun place to win) and look ahead to tomorrow night's game against the Canes. Back to back games against tough teams is the first test for this new coach and the new phase for the Capitals.

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Buh-bye, Joey

Hang in there, Caps fans - one more day until we get to put this losing streak behind us and get back to some real hockey...

- That "paper" transaction has now become a real transaction, as Joe Motzko is headed back to Hershey. Poor Joe. It's not really his fault. Had he been used on a third or fourth line rather than thrown to the wolves alongside Ovechkin and, dear god, on the power play point, he might have made a better impression. As it was I think the majority of people saw what I saw - a fairly balanced combination of decent plays and forehead-slapping blunders. Back to Hershey you go, Joe, and best of luck.

- Motzko's departure means but one thing - Alexander Semin is back. And not a moment too soon, if you ask me. Scary stat of the day: Semin's power play goal total from last season (17) is greater than the total number of goals scored by the entire team to this point (14).

- Hanlon is taking the opportunity (i.e. the horrific losing streak and continued ineffectiveness of the power play) to mix things up a bit, moving Clark back up to the top line alongside Ovechkin and Kozlov and shifting Steckel up to the checking line in his place.

This is one of those "good in the moment" moves, because as much as I like Clarkie and as much as I want to see some sort of production out of him, he's really much better suited to a checking line role. And anyone who doubts the beauty that was the Pettinger-Gordon-Clark line only has to see the number they did on Crosby Saturday night - the Kid had only 2 shots. That's it. Brilliant, brilliant work against a very tough player.

- Tinkering continues on a flailing power play and Mike Green makes his return to the point alongside Poti, which is good news for everyone. I know that ideally you want at least 4 forwards out there, but Greenie's got more points than a lot of our forwards right now and he doesn't seem to have this crippling fear of shooting the puck. And with Semin coming back you have to think that they're bound to get one in eventually...right?

- Good piece in the Times today about bloggers working with the Caps to lead the interweb revolution, filling a void left by shrinking mainstream media budgets and attention spans. Oh, the irony.

- Kind of a big night around the NHL, as the Canadian media is wetting themselves over Ryan Smyth's return to Edmonton - the city he left in tears last season. Meanwhile a true battle of the titans takes place across the border as the Maple Leafs host Atlanta, and Sidney Crosby is revealed tonight before the Pens-Rangers game. Revealed as what, they don't say...I'm guessing some kind of robot.

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You Spin Me Right Round

Guess I should talk about the Caps at some point...

So Gordon continues to be day-to-day with back spasms and his status for tomorrow is unknown. Schultz was recalled, meaning Erskine will probably head to the press box. Semin was placed on IR retroactive to the 7th, so he's possible but not probable for tomorrow's game against the Islanders. Sutherby remains in green jersey purgatory. Motzko is getting a crack at the right wing slot.

And the wheel o' players continues.

Anyone else miss having a stagnant roster for more than two games?

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