Tag Archives: Ottawa Senators

Grind Continues

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Wish us well this weekend in Canada. Two games in two nights.

Try to be happy. You can do it.

We clinched a playoff spot. Many of our players get a chance to heal up in the next three weeks or so before the playoffs begin.

We are 2nd in the East for now. We are 3rd in the NHL for now.

But to be honest, all we want to do is get healthy and play good hockey from here on out.

There is a lot of negativity in the blogosphere and in my emails and blog comments right now. I am not sure why. It is probably more about “you” right now than “us.”

We have met one of our first goals of each and every season, clinching a play off spot. It is OK to feel positive for a minute or two. Only three teams in the NHL right now can breathe that sigh of relief.

Onward. Go Caps!

Two for Two This Weekend

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Another two points; another sellout crowd; and another productive day of work.

We have so many things to work on. We need to get better but we do have 68 points right now playing mostly against teams NOT in our division. I am pleased with where we are and that we have gained 5 of 6 points available since the All-Star break.

Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals and Mike Green leads all D men in goals and points. That is a powerful one–two punch, isn’t it?

It is amazing to consider that Alex isn’t even finished with his fourth year as a pro – he has 30 or so games left in the regular season - and already has 199 goals scored, one more to get to 200. That is astounding. He is averaging 50 goals per year for 4 years. Yikes! :-)  I think he will be number 4 on the Caps all time goal scoring lead by season’s end too…in just 4 seasons!

We now have the second most points in the East and we play NJ on Tuesday in NJ. That will be a very tough and very competitive game.

Beating Ottawa today felt good as well. I remember a game where they put up 11 goals on us. They were scary good. The tables have tuned now and we play with a lot of confidence against them. Go Caps!

Back to Back Spooning with Our Fans

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It is Super Bowl Weekend but here in Washington we have back to back sold out hockey games to play.

We have bookended two games this weekend. This is a very unique programming and marketing platform and a really terrific way to say thank you fans for loving the game and for enjoying the way our team plays.

We play Detroit on Saturday. This is a total sellout game and one that everyone has been looking forward to as Detroit is the defending Stanley Cup champions and one of the best teams once again in the NHL this year. This will be a good game to see how we measure up to the best in the league. I hope we are up for the challenge.

And then on Super Bowl Sunday, we play Ottawa and try to get back at them for their win over us right before the All-Star break. I have had this weekend circled on my schedule all season as this back to back concept over a big football weekend is a very unique and one of a kind event. Wear Red. Be loud and proud and know we are grateful for your support. Go Caps!

Tables Have Turned

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Ottawa, for many years, had our number and simply dominated us. I remember one game in particular where they beat us 11 to 5 but it felt like a 100 to 1 win for them. They were that good. We couldn’t stop them or slow them down in any manner. They were deep and talented and confident. Our team of brand name players at that time couldn’t respond and wilted under their relentless pressure and system. Ottawa was just confident it could beat us - and they did - time after time.

Even though last season we had great success against them sweeping our series 4 to 0, it wasn’t until last night that I felt that the tables had turned; that they were chasing us; that we were the more confident team; and that we truly expected to win.

Confidence is truly an underestimated factor in success in sports. Overconfidence is dangerous and lacking confidence is a sign of trouble. Believe in your system, coach and each other. When a team exudes confidence, good things happen and wins start to mount up.

As Japers’ Says: Take the Point and Thank You Very Much

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There was a lot to like last night. We played once again with our full team in place. That was a giant relief as we haven’t played as a full unit for quite some time. We played with energy and we got good goaltending. And we played very well on the penalty kill.

We are NOT on our game yet. We gave up too many shots on goal and we didn’t take enough shots on goal. We didn’t dominate possession of the puck and we took too many penalties. We also didn’t draw enough power play time. I am most troubled that to date, we have let in more goals (36) than we have scored (33). And we have lost three games by a 2-1 score.

With all of that, we get a point and now come home to some home cooking. We have played 11 games to date, seven on the road and only four at home. We now play four of the next five games at home all against Eastern Conference foes. We are now entering the meat of the schedule. We play lots of games in short periods of time and it is now time to build some momentum in front of Red Outs and our passionate fan base.