Learning to win... ugly

The game against the Rangers on Sunday afternoon marked a turning point for this young Capitals team. It's one of the first times I can remember that the Caps have been thoroughly outplayed, outshot, taken too many penalties and still escaped with a victory. For a young team learning to win ugly, to get two points despite playing a less than stellar game, is one of the hardest things to do.

The Caps got off to a good start, with Alex Ovechkin pouncing on a loose rebound to put the Caps up 1-0 after a delay of game call on career minor league goaltender Steve Valiquette. But after that, the Caps would show only short spurts of offense, and spent most of the game mucking it up in the neutral zone or chasing the puck in their own.

Agitator and all around douchebag Steve Avery was able to take a freak bounce off the sideboard, cut inside Shoanne Morrison (who was unable to control the bouncing puck) and fire a quick wrist shot past Olie Kolzig to tie the game at one. The score seemed to lift the Rangers to life, as they spent the next period dominating puck possesion and the flow of play. They were rewarded with a Chris Drury putback of a Martin Straka shot from the hash marks that put the Rangers ahead.

That is where the Caps newfound confidence seemed to keep them in the game. Instead of panicking and having the players break out of the system and attempt to win the game singlehandedly, they stuck with their gameplan, kept firing pucks at the net, and caught a break when Alex Ovechkin fired an off balance one legged shot on goal, which Valiquette was unable to fully control. Boyd Gordon pounced on the rebound and slid it underneath the diving goaltender, and the Caps were back in business.

The Rangers still held control of the game for the rest of the game, but strong goaltending by Olie Kolzig combined with an effective penalty killing lead by Dave Steckel and Brooks Laich kept the Rangers off the board. And then, less than a minute before the third period was to expire, Ryan Hollwig blatantly tripped a Capitals player, setting up almost a minute and thirty seconds of 4 on 3 in overtime. It wouldn't take nearly that long, as Mike Green blasted a shot from the top of the circles past Marc Staal and a screened Valiquette for the win.

Other notes on the night:

It was good, no, it was GREAT to finally see the Caps win a game in front of a big home crowd against a team whose fans tend to be real jerks when the visit DC. Don't believe me? After a burrito giveaway between faceoffs, the Caps mascot pretended to dump an empty box of burritos on the head of a Rangers fan. The "fan" punched the box, and stood up as if he was going to strike the mascot (and generally for liability reasons the mascots are girls). Really classy. It's one thing to come support your team when they come to town. It's entirely another to be a drunk jackass when you do so.

Great job by the fans of stifling any attempts at a "let's go Rangers" chant in our building. Nice job, folks. Give yourselves a pat on the back. Especially Horn Guy. Way to cut 'em off at the knees.

Jaromir Jagr is past his prime. Waaaay past it.

Good to see Olie looking like the Olie of old (instead of old Olie), stopping 31 of 33 shots and being named the games first star.

Alex Ovechkin's goal was made possible by Eric Fehr's presence in front of the net. Fehr's got the tools, but it's still too early to pencil him in as a top line NHL power forward.

Jaw all you want, Colton Orr. It's become clear you're scared as hell of the Donald. And with good reason.

The Caps get a much needed rest until Wednesday, when they look to avenge one of their poorest performances of the year, a pathetic home loss to the Atlanta Thrashers in which the Caps allowed only 12 shots but lost 2-0.

Join The Deuce's Boycott

The Deuce is ticked. The Deuce was looking forward to watching The Russian Machine dominate Kovalchuk tonight, and in the process forgetting about that-which-need-not-ever-be-mentioned-again that-happened-last-night. But then, thanks to J.P., the Deuce discovered the following:

"Because the NHL has decided to give the Versus Network exclusive rights to some Monday and Tuesday night telecasts, Tuesday’s game from Atlanta will not be telecast in the Washington or Atlanta areas. Instead, viewers can watch the New York Rangers against the New York Islanders on Versus."

Now the Deuce is pissed. I have to watch two teams I can't stand rather than watching the Caps try to finally break out of this horrible slump. And you just KNOW now that I can't watch, OV will have four goals, three set up on beautiful passes by Nylander. Damn you Versus. Damn you to hell. Why couldn't you black out LAST night's game? Now there's one I wouldn't have minded. Anyway, The Deuce encourages everyone to join him in a boycott of tonights NYC Suckfest. We may not be able to watch the Caps, but the least we can do is refuse to watch Jagr and Witt.

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Update: Looks like we're going to miss Chris Bourque's NHL thanks to the "exclusivity agreement." This sucks.

Rage, rage against the dying of the... Scott Burnside?

This just in from my brother, Grumpy Caps fan #2

"We must rage on Suck Burnside. I hate him. He must die." Concise, eloquent, to the point. I like it. See Burnside's idiotic comment below.

"Washington Capitals: Let's review. Fans in the nation's capital wouldn't come out when the Capitals boasted Jaromir Jagr, the game's most exciting player. Now, they won't come out when the Caps boast one of the hardest-working teams in the NHL and one of the game's most exciting figures in Alexander Ovechkin. Maybe that's a sign. We're just guessing, but we bet fans in Houston or Kansas City, or even Waterloo, Ontario, would appreciate Glen Hanlon's squad a whole lot more."

Let's see... fans here wouldn't come out to support a team of overpaid underachievers with Jaromir, "Mr. Regular Season" Jagr, only the least likeable, most aloof superstar this side of Terrell Owens. The team played its home playoff games that season at the worst possible time, right smack dab in the middle of the Easter holiday, a fact that had Ted boiling about his scheduling arrangement with Abe Pollin, the owner of the arena (and the Wizards). The team lost games because the glaring weakness at defense was never addressed, which made it less fun to see the team because you knew they 1) had a bunch of hired guns that didn't care all that much (two from the dreaded Pittsburgh Flighless Devilbirds, nonetheless!) and 2) were just as likely to lose a game 7-1 as they were to win one. It's hard to get excited about a team like that.

Sideburns is right about one thing. The Caps do have the league's hardest working teams and the best hockey player in the world today. But he also has to look at this from a potential fan's perspective. Last year, the Capitals were not a good team. They were a young team that made a lot of mistakes, had a few players that were not NHL calibur, and got outskilled (not outworked) by many of the teams in the NHL. It's very difficult to attract new fans (and to regain fans still raging over the moronic labor dispute) when your team loses the majority of its games, and loses big to the better teams in the league.

I admit the attendance numbers this year have not been stellar, but to say that the Capitals are a lost cause in DC as Burnside LOVES to do is moronic. We're on 5 year plan V2.0, and I think Ted has done a great job of working to get fans to the game, with the 4 for $20 Eagles Nest tickets during last year, our worst rebuilding year. He continues to make the team accessible to the fans by doing things like moving the practice facility to Ballston, (light years closer than Piney Orchard or Ashburn) and making all practices free and open to the public. The Caps players are some of the finest ambassadors the league could ask for. They consistently stay late after practice to chat with fans, sign autographs, and generally carry themselves as well as could possibly be expected of professional athletes. Their work and generosity with their time and energy WILL pay off. The team WILL get better. And the fans WILL come. Then maybe we can tell Suck Burnside where he can stick it. Right in Houston or Kansas City, or even Waterloo, Ontario.

Jerk.