Hey Caps, there’s a game going on…

The Caps are about as consistent as my cooking skills, so not very. They looked like everything was going great and they were turning around their disappointing play of late,last game against the Jets.

Then the Caps decided playing well and winning was no fun, so they reverted to their old form. Old form meaning barely their defense, heart lacking more than the tin mans, and sloppy offense.

I don’t get what these guys are trying to do, or not do it seems. They have a star-studded offense (and defense) capable of putting up huge numbers, but they’re playing like they’re lost and don’t know what they’re doing. They certainly can’t be “saving themselves” for the Playoffs, because the way they’re playing, they might not make it.

I get that they just got a new Coach and are adjusting to a new style of play, but no Coach wants a little over 20 shots on goal in a game. Not to mention the frequent defensive lapses. If a player hardly ever makes a good play and is near invisible 90% of the time, shouldn’t you bench him instead of a guy who isn’t as much of a defensive liability? Take notes, Hammrlick.

I just don’t get it, they have the ability to be winning the majority of the games they lose, that’s no secret. What is would be how they’re playing, they just act like they don ‘t give a crap a majority of the time. Hopefully Hunter can figure it out and turn it around, they’re screwed if he doesn’t.

To quote the veteran winger Mike Knuble, “Playoffs? What Playoffs?”

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What the Caps are missing…

To quote the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz (those summers spent watching the Wizard of Oz while eating mint chocolate chip ice cream were the best) “When a mans an empty kettle, he should be on his metal…if only I had a heart”. Now the Caps players are clearly not made of metal, nor do they go to an Emerald city to see a Wizard. But they are lacking in one dire area; heart.

The game against Philly was a prime example of that, the Caps could have won. Maybe not easily, but they have the talent and ability to win games against teams who top two players are out.

You could make the excuse that Bryzgolav was on, and there is no doubt he was. But I find it hard to believe a team that wanted to win would wind up 5-1 because of a goalie.

While not playing like they give a care in the world is the reason they played like crap, their defense and shots on net didn’t help either. You can’t score goals without taking shots on net, guys. If you don’t believe me, the Flyers score is a prime example.

They got shots on net, granted, against an off goalie. I can guarantee you that a few of those pucks are going to make it in. That’s just how it works, ask your poorly defended goalies. When playing any team, best players out or not, having 5 shots on goal in any period is inexcusable.

Which leads me to yet another glaring weak spot from last nights game; DEFENSE. It’s that awesome thing of where you help the poor fellow in ten jillion pounds of ear try to keep a little rubber disk out of a 6X6 ft. net. You should try it some time, good stuff. Another helpful hint; When the defense actually shows up and plays, the other team doesn’t score. Mind blown, right?

Speaking of defense, forwards, it isn’t your primary job but you can help when you see you zone being taken over by the opponents. Ovechkin, I’m talking to you. You can be the most offensively talented player in the world, but that don’t mean potatoes if you don’t play all aspects of the game at least decent.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s wrong with the Caps, but it’s going to take a lot to figure out how to fix it. There isn’t a “one size fits all” band-aid equivalent, the Caps are just going to have to through a lot of trial and error to figure this mess out. Does it involve major trades and acquisitions at the trade deadline? Who knows, but expect something big to shake this team up.

Oh those Broadway Blue Shirts…

The Caps lost to the Rangers with an embarrassing score of 6-3. To be quite honest, there really wasn’t a good facet of the game. No one really played all that spectacularly. That is, on the Caps.

The Rangers really kicked some Washington tuchus in the second period. Not that it’s surprising, the Caps have this knack of letting other teams roam free during the second period. Tonight was a prime example, as the Rangers scored an impressive four goals. While Washington only managed to tally two, via Brouwer and Carlson.

The Caps defensive coverage was forgettable, as usual. They had no presence whatsoever and during a few goals, a couple of select players were just standing there letting the puck go in. The Caps know what needs to change here, but they clearly haven’t put into place how they’re going to do it. Let’ s hope it’s soon, because what’s happening now is clearly not working for anyone (but the opposing team) involved.

Their offense wasn’t abominable, but when playing against the likes of Richards, Callahan, Gaborik and Lundvquist, mediocre isn’t going to cut it. Not to mention the (depressingly) usual penalties by the usual suspects, when one of your teams best Penalty Killers is out, is it really a good idea to take stupid penalties?  The Caps were simply not capitalizing on their (rare) opportunities, due to the fact the Rangers were simply out playing them. It’s never a good sign when the road team is out playing and capitalizing on chances more than the home team. 

As far as Neuvirth, it isn’t entirely his fault the Caps lost. Considering a goalie is only as good as his defense, he did have a good excuse for a majority of the goals. But a few of the goals that went in should have been stopped by him, crappy defense or no crappy defense. Which, in his case, was crappy defense. Goalies can’t win games by themselves, fellows.

All in all, the Caps definitely have areas they need to work on. As exhibited by their 6-3 loss, but it’s not something you can just blanket on one or two people. A team is a team; you win as one and, unfortunately, lose as one. Don’t use Ovechkin or Boudreau as the easy scapegoat. Look at the entire teams performance. They’re all accountable.

Canada 3, Caps 0

Canada pulled another win on the Caps yet again. But I must note, and to quote the great Holden Caufield, Semin played like a “sexy bastard” during the first period. And he wasn’t the only one, if hockey games were only 20 minutes long we would have so had that one in the bag! (or at least a pity point).

It doesn’t work that way, though. Sadly. you know, I could just go on and on about the Caps defense and how they were left in Nashville,scratch that, first round against the Rangers in the Playoffs last year. But I’m not, it was so blatantly obvious the players might have well just not been on the ice.

what I’m going to address is effort and accountability. Those are two things the Caps are severely lacking in, which they really shouldn’t be.

It’s one thing to be playing good, smart,a nd hard hockey and lose. No one’s going to be extremely pleased about it, except the opposing team, but no one’s going to pitch a temper tantrum and throw their shoes at the wall.

It’s a completely different matter if you’re playing like a bunch of girl scouts, standing there looking like an idiot watching a guy go one-on-one with your goalie and score.

I’ll give you one guess to figure out what way the Caps played last night, and if you watched the game, I don’t really think you need to guess. The Caps played pitifully last night, I’m honestly shocked every player on the Jets roster didn’t score a goal! We had absolutely no presence in that game. Effort? unheard of.

If the Caps just played like the team they’re capable of playing like, our losses would be less frequent (I know we’d still lose games) and a little bit more close. Unlike a 4-1 loss that wasn’t even a game after the Jets scored their third goal. It was a game we could have easily won! but maybe that’s the problem, we get cocky with a lead and blow it. But I would think after dancing around this barn, game after game and Playoff crap out after Playoff crap out, they’d figure it out! Clearly not.

That leads to my next point, accountability. No one can make the Caps play, no matter how many times Boudreau goes on a F-bomb laden rant until his face goes blue, no matter how many bag skates he makes them do, and no matter how many wackadoo line combinations he makes.

It’s not going to do a damn thing unless the players themselves commit to playing every game like it’s their last and just playing with heart and grit. Honestly, Ovechkin has never been the kind of player to be a Captain and never will be. He’s a fantastic player, but he isn’t Captain material. I don’t care that he’s the “face of the Caps franchise”. The Caps need a real leader who’s going to actually motivate them, because that’s what’s going to motivate them.

Until we have a real leader who makes his players accountable for their actions and makes them go out and play like a respectable hockey team, they aren’t going to play any harder or any better.

Incase you weren’t aware…

There are THREE count them THREE periods in a hockey game Caps! AND GUESS WHAT!? If you don’t play all three you get screwed and lose. ANOTHER THING rounding doesn’t work in the NHL, if you play 55 mins. you can still lose 3-1 to the Predators!

Also, just because you get the lead late in the game doesn’t mean you’re just automatically going to win taking the last few minutes off. The defense has to show up, and you know, PLAY! And the offense can’t skate in circles either, you have to be present and playing hard until that final buzzer goes off if you expect to win.

I am utterly disgusted with the Caps effort of late. It’s not Boudreau’s fault either, he tries everything under the gosh darn sun to get these guys to play! They’re the ones on the ice making the plays, not Boudreau. He can yell, gnash teeth, pull hair, and eat Hageen Daaz all he wants; but until the players show up it’s about as useful as doing the hula.

Ovie, Knuble, and the like can talk all they want tonight; calling their team various names. But until the attitude on the ice changes, it doesn’t matter anymore than what I ate for breakfast.

If we keep playing like this, with the amount of talent we have, we aren’t even a prayer to do well in the Playoffs. Hell! even make the Playoffs. Yes, it really does matter now, because this is when we really see what teams are made of. And I can tell you this much; the Caps are about as impressive as the Florida Panthers were last year.

The only redeemable thing tonight? Vokoun standing on his head and Troy Brouwer’s goal, at least two people showed up tonight.

The message is simple; show up to games and play hard for 60 minutes. Are the Caps receiving it?

Caps vs. Devil wears Prada (3-2 SO)

Better late than never, no? With Hugh Grants “Pop Goes my Heart” blaring in the background infused with baby wails; I recall that late and cold night.

The Caps did part two with the christmas ornaments Devils in the Phone Booth this past Saturday. You read that right, folks. The Caps played the Devils back to back. Don’t ask me why, Gary Bettmen’s the one with all the crazy scheduling ideas.

the second game went down as you might expect; the Devils were tired and angry. The Caps were also tired and angry, just about different stuff. The Devils were angry about losing and the Caps were angry about accountability. Different messages, same vein, eh? At any rate, the Caps came out strong in the first making it 2-0 via Speedy feet Chimers and Brouwer.

The Devils decided that just wouldn’t do as they came back with a presence in the second and third periods to make the score tied at 2-2 by Skyora and Carter. While the Devils had it going on, clearly, the Caps were about as mobile as my Great Grandmama in a wheel chair. Not so much. They recorded just 2 shots on goal! I’m pretty sure my high school’s A team could do better than that.

If you thought the second was drier than the Grand Canyon, you’d be wrong. The third period was icecapades lead by, your favorite, #6 Dennis Wideman! Someone give that man a sticker, preferably sparkly. The Caps and Devils had a total of 9 shots on net. Either they were really tired or the defense was spectacular. I’m just going to go with the first due to our recent issues…

With no score in the last 20 minutes of regulation; the Caps were headed to fan favorite, Overtime! Overtime was even more depressing as both team only recorded one shot on net and no score resulted. You know what that means folks, Shoot out.

Was this the part where I switched to watch Pineapple Express because Shootouts always make me super nervous? I can neither confirm nor deny this. Either way, the Devils ended up with one more goal via David Clarkson with the fourth shootout goal.

All in all, it was a decent game. I wasn’t impressed with the second or third perod but considering they had worked their butts off the night before and were dead dog tired, I give them a pass. Also, a pat on the back for Wideman. Really great job, you workhorse. And a pat on the back for the other hard workers, you know who you are.

My dog ate the Tv feed?

Dang, knew that wasn’t going to work! but sadly, again, I could not watch the Caps game. Why, you may ask? It was a little something to do with flooring…

As all of you know (or will now) I’m going to have a sis come November 9, whom I will enforce hockey upon the day she arrives in Cibly Hospital. THe only real issue is our little 500 sq ft one story was simply not big enough for three women, Mark, and Pepper (I’m exaggerating…a little). So contractors party crashed my summer, meaning I had to get up before mid day, and ripped our roof off adding a second story.

This Odyssey is coming to an end (points if you got that reference) and all they have left is he flooring. It takes two weeks to put flooring in and stain it, two weeks! So I’m laid up in Falls Church’s finest, Marriott: Towne Suites which decided to get every NFL channel under the sun but didn’t spring for the NHL Network.

But that was the least of my worries as my dad decided sharing a room with a 9 month pregnant lady and a teenage girl was a way better decision than springing for two rooms. That also means there s one, count them one Tv. And guess what was on last night? No, not a Caps game (which we LOST) but Greys Anatomy. Which is clearly way more earth shatteringly important than the Caps first West Coast road trip. Does this brilliant logic run in the family?

So no, I didn’t watch the game. I heard all about cracking someones chest open and clearing another persons arteries all the while the Caps chances of going 8-0 were dying. Do we call Dr McSteamy in on that one? So tomorrow, unless McSteamy does overtime…