A Fun Weekend | Ted's Take

That was a fun weekend and an interesting and enjoyable exhibition game to watch.

The stars were shining. Alex Ovechkin was entertaining and played well when needed. He scored the game winner in the shootout and was his usual charismatic self.

The players were all respectful to one another although I would not want to be a goaltender in an All-Star game that is for sure.

No one got hurt. The fans and sponsors were well entertained. The city got a great infusion of tourists and dollars and the city of Montreal was paid homage for its 100 years of NHL establishment.

And now it is time to get back to work and get focused on the main event. Listening to Eric Stahl talk about how Carolina wants to “hunt us down and turn the tables on us catching us for a playoff spot” still rings in my ears. We were well respected in Montreal as a franchise but if we want true long term respect, developing a long term culture of winning will truly establish us as a class organization and as winner. Being focused on a championship has to be our calling. No time like the present to play hard and earn our place in the league hierarchy, right? Go Caps!

0 thoughts on “A Fun Weekend”

Staal may want to hunt down the Caps, but the Caps were a lot closer to the ‘Canes at last years break than they were this year. In fact, at the break in 2008, the Canes had 52 points and the Caps had 51. After the break, *both* teams went on tears, and each had a great finish. The Canes got 40 points in the last 30 games, and the Caps got 43 points in their last 32 games. The Canes didn’t lose the division title last year, the Caps took it from them.

This year, if the Caps have 34 games left. If they play exactly .500 the rest of the year, they’ll finish with 97 points. To match that, the ‘Canes would need 46 points in their remaining 34 games.

If we want to talk “magic numbers”… the most points any other team in the division can get is 122, and that would be Florida if they win all of their remaining 36 games (72 points). Not realistic of course. The Caps magic number right now is 60, meaning any points they get, or the division doesn’t get adding up to 60, they clinch the division.

All that is well and good, but there are 10 points worth of games remaining between the Caps and Fla. 2 in DC, 3 in Miami. Those five games, and the remaining 3 games with Carolina are the critical games for the Caps.

I said before the season the Caps would get about 112 points, and I’m thinking that’s still the right value. A computer analysis at Japers indicates the Caps remaining schedule is the easiest of all 30 teams in the NHL, and a lot of that is that the Caps have only 3 games against the top 4 teams (2 with Boston, 1 with Detroit, none with San Jose, and, of course, none with themselves.)

Thank you for stating that Ovechkin scored the game winner in the shootout. Both Tarik El-Bashir and TSN.ca claimed that Kovalev scored the game winner, but as we both know, it was Alex’s goal that prevented the West from attempting a third shot (which could have tied the game if Alex did not score).

Mike L. on January 26, 2009 at 12:22 PM said:

Staal may want to hunt down the Caps, but the Caps were a lot closer to the ‘Canes at last years break than they were this year. In fact, at the break in 2008, the Canes had 52 points and the Caps had 51. After the break, *both* teams went on tears, and each had a great finish. The Canes got 40 points in the last 30 games, and the Caps got 43 points in their last 32 games. The Canes didn’t lose the division title last year, the Caps took it from them.

This year, if the Caps have 34 games left. If they play exactly .500 the rest of the year, they’ll finish with 97 points. To match that, the ‘Canes would need 46 points in their remaining 34 games.

If we want to talk “magic numbers”… the most points any other team in the division can get is 122, and that would be Florida if they win all of their remaining 36 games (72 points). Not realistic of course. The Caps magic number right now is 60, meaning any points they get, or the division doesn’t get adding up to 60, they clinch the division.

All that is well and good, but there are 10 points worth of games remaining between the Caps and Fla. 2 in DC, 3 in Miami. Those five games, and the remaining 3 games with Carolina are the critical games for the Caps.

I said before the season the Caps would get about 112 points, and I’m thinking that’s still the right value. A computer analysis at Japers indicates the Caps remaining schedule is the easiest of all 30 teams in the NHL, and a lot of that is that the Caps have only 3 games against the top 4 teams (2 with Boston, 1 with Detroit, none with San Jose, and, of course, none with themselves.)
Joe on January 26, 2009 at 12:15 PM said:

Thank you for stating that Ovechkin scored the game winner in the shootout. Both Tarik El-Bashir and TSN.ca claimed that Kovalev scored the game winner, but as we both know, it was Alex’s goal that prevented the West from attempting a third shot (which could have tied the game if Alex did not score).