We now have 66 points which is good enough – for the moment – to rank us first in the Eastern Conference in terms of points. We are humbled but our expectations are quite high.
We beat Philly again yesterday 5-3. I think we have now taken 7 of 8 available points from them this season and we have scored 22 goals in four games. Philly is a great team with a great D corps so this set of achievements is impressive in my book.
We are rolling four lines now, all of them that are tough to play against and all can score. We are playing well on special teams too, all eight seconds last night on our one power play when we scored that is. 
Really, we only drew one power play all night. What was up with that stat?
When we get reasonable to good goaltending, we are a very tough team to play against.
We now move on to Tuesday’s big game against the Red Wings.
We sell out every game. It will be a sea of red but for us this time not the Red Wings. Thank you Caps fans - you all rock! And you sure Unleashed the Fury at the game. The roof almost came off when Alex scored on his penalty shot.
Onward. If you are what your record says you are, we should feel pretty good for one moment.
Pause. Smile.
OK – back to being hyper nervous about every little detail. Go Caps!
Ted – as someone who can’t afford tickets often, we’ll be at this one tonight – can’t wait to Rock the Red in person!
Ted, I think the fans know that they are now watching the most entertaining team in hockey. It isn’t just a successful team — it’s great entertainment. IMO, that’s what drives a lot of the enthusiasm.
As for the lack of PP against Philly on Sunday and more generally recently, I really think that Philly in particular, and other teams in general have been on their [relative] best behaviour recently. I saw a few things on Sunday, a couple of holding the sticks in particular, that could have been called, but I think that teams generally are trying to tone down their actions and be very subtle if they do have to break the rules. I don’t necessarily think it’s because they fear our power play as such, though we do have as good a PP as any team (a little inconsistent, but I suspect all teams have ups and downs in that regard.) But we are not head and shoulders above the rest of the league in that regard.
I think where we are really in the process of distancing ourselves offensively from the rest of the league is at even strength, and I think it has to do with what the team learned about itself while Ovie was out, and how the team learned to use Ovie more effectively from a total team standpoint once he returned. If teams are struggling to keep up with us at even strength they have to look for an advantage somewhere, so it has to be by gaining a PP advantage. There’s only one way we can answer that — by being more disciplined ourselves.
“Really, we only drew one power play all night. What was up with that stat?”
I’ll tell you what was up with that, Ted.
What was up with that is very easy to tell.
It has two names.
Those names are: *drumroll, please!*
Dan Marouelli and Kelly Sutherland.
I knew for a fact, without even watching the game, that we would be called for heavy penalties, and the opponent would not, because Sutherland was on the ice. Just like I know for a fact that we will have to overcome roughly a 2:1 penalty deficit to beat our opponent just about any time Bill McCreary is on the ice. I notice how fairly he called the series against the Penguins last year… I also noticed that when he was on the ice, the flightless foul went 7-1 during the post-season… and that the only game in *our* series that was called fairly was the one after you called out the referees.
I think it may be time to eat another small fine and do some calling out again. I saw three or four things that happened in our last game that Sutherland and Marouelli “missed” – even right in front of them.
* A cross-check to Nicklas Backstrom while he was down on the ice.
* A blatant interference on Alexander Semin where he was held up against the wall by the benches and had to facewash the guy holding him to get out.
* A trip on Alex Ovechkin…
and that’s just what I can remember off the top of my head.
The NHL will not gain credibility if they do not call games evenly – call a trip a trip no matter who is being tripped and who is doing the tripping. If we did the crime, so to speak, we should do the time. But so should our opponent.
Thanks CAPS for a great game, glad I was there, it was rockin’ !!!!!!
Feels great to watch this whole team perform strongly. It is a joy. I am looking forward to tonight!
Hey Ted: Great game against the Flyers. I will nitpick about one detail at Verizon Center that happens regularly and was particularly bad yesterday at the game – the out of town scoreboard. The only other game going on was Detroit vs. Chicago and the score showed a 2-2 tie for the entire Caps game, even though their game had already been long completed. The out-of-town scoreboard is rarely updated on time at games – sometimes, not at all. I understand a lot of people just check their phones for scores and stuff, but I think this is one small detail that could be addressed. Not a big deal, Ted, but I thought it was worth pointing out this minor imperfection.
Thanks.
Dear Mr. Leonsis, you are the best owner of the best franchise and don’t need my advice, but here goes. At the trading deadline we need an enforcer who can skate and score. All too obvious is the recent strategy, started by Columbus and carried over by Tampa Bay–to irritate and rough up Ovechkin, hoping he will get injured and/or break a hand in a fight. He complained about the loss of Brashear, and that situation you must rectify. If only to insure the Greatest of them All.
I’ve watched hockey over 50 years, know the sport and love our team. Having seen Howe, Orr, Richard, Hull–all of them–I can state without a doubt that OV is the greatest. Now let’s protect him. I lament the need to “play rough.” I myself prefer the old European style: passing, skating. The Canadian style, unfortunately, means a team needs “toughness.” We have players with heart, but we need someone to inspire fear and dread.
Mr. L, you can do this. Now, please do it and
GO CAPS!
Saw you on Comcast yesterday Ted. To paraphrase George Michael: “Nice Sweater”
you deserve all the good that is coming your way now.thank you for caring about our team and their fans as much as you do.
Ted,
it did seem a little one-sided in the power play time although I think the ref was very generous in giving Alex a penalty shot in the third. But we’ll take it!
By the way great picture on the front of the sports section of the post this morning. Did you see that flyer fan in the 2nd row? He seemed a little down.