On the sixth day of Capsmas…

Tonight’s a pretty big honking deal; Mike Knuble’s playing his 1,000th game, Marcus Johansson his 100th, and Dale Hunter is officially no longer the shiny new toy, he’s that barbie whose hair you accidentally cut to short.

It’s no secret the Caps suck right now, and by suck I mean stink up the joint. They’ve only won two of the four home games in December. This abysmal statistic isn’t helped anymore by the fact that the last time the Caps played the Preds, they lost 3-1 because of a lapse in defense. Oh dear.

Enough about the poo fest Caps fans have put up with lately, it’s Knuble’s 1,000 game! Mike Knube is that dependable, veteran winger everyone wants. He has spark, snark, and just about everything you need for a strong locker room and a strong, dependable player.

That’s not all, every year he plays, he just gets better and better. Over the two years he’s played with the Caps, he’s scored 53 goals and has 40 assists. Not bad eh, Papa Knoobs?

"Oh, it's my 1,000th game? that's cool"

He’s a stellar player and a great leader, Washington is really lucky to have him to rely on. Without him, who wold we have to spread their sage (pissed) words of wisdom with journo’s in the locker room after a disappointing loss?

best quote ever: “Playoffs? Why are we talking about Playoffs?”  Congrats to Knubs and good luck to the rest of your many seasons.

As awesomesauce as Knuble’s 1,000th game is, let us not forget you have to start at 100 to get to 1,000. And that’ where Mojo comes in.

No more Hershey for me!

The Swedish born center played one year in Hershey before making his permanent NHL debut half way through last season. Since then, he’s been a solid 2nd and 3rd liner whose been a big help throughout the regular and Playoff seasons, respectively.

While he has a while to go before reaching the stardom of Mike Knuble, game 100’s a prett good start.

Here’s to Capsmas, 1,000th and 100th games (respectively, Green and Beags (get better!) and the Predators the Caps are going to (hopefully) smack around tonight.

A for Accountability

You probably heard from your Twitter timeline, or saw during the game; number 42 was noticeably absent from the game. It wasn’t because he was taking dumb penalties or was taking shifts off. Nope, it was because he missed a team meeting.

This may seem trivial, and I guess you could be right. But the Caps are focusing on a different aspect of their game these days; accountability. Boudreau has come to realize you win when your team and players are accountable for their actions on and off the ice. Whether it’s stupid penalties, taking shifts off, etc. He’s employed a “cause and effect” style of coaching. Here are some examples;

You are on the ice when the other team scores a goal less than 30 seconds after our team scores a goal, you don’t play your next shift (Nashville, anyone?).

You have the most dumb penalties on the entire team, you get benched a game. When that doesn’t work, and you get yet another few dumb penalties (diving? really) free press pass (coughsemincough).

You accidentally (We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt) sleep in when there’s a team meeting? You don’t play the next game (Someone get Ward an alarm clock for Christmas, please).

This concept is new to the Caps and fans alike. Some may not like it because of it’s seemingly harsh consequences. But does it work? I like to think 2 fairly solid wins are proof in the pudding. Keep up the work Caps, you have a long road ahead of you.

It all started with the Saber tooth tigers…

Helmet? Check. Intense look? Check. Movember mustache? Double check!

That’s right folks! Onthe  first “real” road trip the Caps face the Predators. Sounds scary, right? Their 8th place in the Western conference? not so much. That’s not to say they aren’t a good team, they are 3rd in their division (that ain’t saying much) and have Defensive fire power Shea Weber.

That’s not to mention the suddenly Pekka Rinne who’s save percentage is an impressive .929%  and has 8 of their 16 wins under his belt. And last but not least, the Preds offense. Well, lack thereof… It seems the Caps have found the Preds kryptonite seeing as their offense (minus 3 players) has shown up about as much as the Caps defense. Yeah, not so hot.

Does this mean this game will be a piece of cake? not at all. With a hot goalie and equally hot defense, we’re going to have to stay on our offensive and defensive toes. you aren’t off the hook either Vokoun! If the Caps stick to their guns and just play good hockey, we should be fine. But without Green *gulp* things could get a little hairy from time to time. I’d also love for Brucie to get the memo his crazy line changes AREN’T working and just causing Caps fans minor heart attacks. Can we win this game? Yes. Will we? depends on who shows up and, most importantly, time.