Two Wins Does Not a Day Off Make

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Deuce:

Well, that didn't take long, did it? After putting in two good efforts against two strong teams, New Caps bench boss Bruce Beaudreau gave the team the day off on Sunday. The result: The Caps apparently forgot how to try again.

Last night, the Caps put forth another stinker, a lackluster effort on national TV. Once again, The Russian Machine was the only one who appeared to care out there. Particularly stinky were Alex Semin, back from a 17-game absence (with a game or two in between), Michael Nylander, and Tomas Fleischman. Nylander and Fleischman should both be credited with assists on the Sabres second and third goals, since their horrible giveaways directly contributed to Buffalo scores. I like Nylander a lot, and he is a wizard in the offensive zone with the puck on his stick, but when he has an off game, he REALLY has an off game.

The rest of the Caps looked like they have all season, tentative, slow, and weak. The lack of a bruiser on defense who can actually move his feet (sorry, Erskine) is really starting to get old. In fact, I'm afraid our father, Original Six, is going to burst a blood vessel in his head if the D don't start hitting out there.

The Sabres forwards (and every other team's for that matter) fly around in the Caps' zone all game, trying spin-a-ramas and behind the back passes and all manner of things they would NEVER try against, say, the NJ defense. Somebody, at some point, has just got to tattoo someone out there. Also, could somebody tell Morrison and company that when somebody slashes Olie, you are allowed to shove them, push them, give them a face-wash, SOMETHING for crying out loud?! Anyway, on to the game analysis, depressing as that may be.

Going in to the game, I told Grumpy 3 that the speedy Sabres forwards would give our D fits, and that we would have a tough time beating Buffalo with all the speed they brought to bear. Well, they were faster, and we didn't hit them, but it was actually the Caps, not the Sabres, who killed the Caps last night. If not for the two egregious turnovers mentioned earlier, we might have been in this game until the end. Miller made a couple of great saves against the Russian Machine, and Nylander again missed a wide-open net. But what was most noteable last night was the lack of effort on the Capitals' part again.

I hope Bruce bag-skates them today until they puke. Somebody needs to motivate these guys. Before it kills our father.

The Deuce: Lineups and Special teams

Ladies and gentlemen, the Deuce:

As I watched with helplessness the Caps embarrass themselves in front of a lukewarm home crowd filled (yet again) with Pittsburgh idiots, I got angrier and angrier. And Glen Hanlon is now the focus of my rage. I like Glen. I really do. I think he has shown a great ability (up until now) to get the most out of minimal talent, get his guys to play hard every game, and stay positive in the face of mounting losses. But now he has a real NHL team to work with, and the results are not good.

I know we're only 7 games into the season, but the Caps are going to need all the points they can now get to make the playoffs this year. So, I ask you, what are the signs of a good coach in the NHL? How about these, for starters: Good matchups, good special teams, good effort. Glen's one for three. Let's take those first two in turn, shall we? Matchups/Line combinations: First, let's look at the Caps lineup on Saturday:

Ovechkin-Kozlov-Motzko
Backstrom-Nylander-Fleischmann
Pettinger-Gordon-Clark
Brashear-Steckel-Laich

Not exactly Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson, are they? Or Lecavalier-St. Louis-Prospal? Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom? Not even close. Now why is it that most of the guys on those lines are always near the top of the NHL in scoring? Maybe because they are playing with other WORLD CLASS players!

Now I like Joe Motzko, and it's nice that Kozlov and OV can talk Russian together on the bench -- but if I hear any more about their great "chemistry" I'm going to puke. Chemistry is important, but great talent often creates great chemistry. And Kozlov is not a great talent. He is a pretty good player, and, as tsn.ca stated in last year's scouting report: "does not look good playing the pivot." Does that sound like a center you want to pair with your franchise, all-world left wing? NO! In fact, it sounds a lot like Zubrus II.

Know who IS a world-class talent at center? Michael Nylander. I don't know how many times during Saturday's game I turned to Grumpy One and Original Six and said, "Look at Nylander. He's UNBELIEVABLE with the puck on his stick. He's playing keep away with NHL defensemen, and they can't get the puck away from him." And I actually had time to say all that while he was still holding the biscuit. Then he made two beautiful passes to a breaking Backstrom (whom I like), who promptly flubbed both of them. Think OV's going to miss those? Neither do I. If OV and Kozlov have such great chemistry, let them play together: How about OV-Nylander-Kozlov. Then Kozlov can take advantage of that huge frame to park it in front of the net or dig pucks out of the corners while Nyls and OV play keep away together.

I don't know why Caps coaches always insist on having two average lines instead of one great one. Anyone remember when Oates came to DC, and everyone said, "watch out. Bondra's going to score 60 goals now!" Well, guess what? Oates and Bondra played on separate lines, so we could have a "deeper" lineup. Great.

As for the second line, I'd be perfectly happy with Backstrom centering Semin and Clark. Or Flash, if you still want to give him a chance to show what he can do. In fact, while Semin is out Flash could have the perfect opportunity, playing with Backstrom and Clark! Now, I know, Glen doesn't want to "rush" Backstrom to center. I can only assume that's because of either 1) faceoffs and/or 2) defensive responsibilities. OK Glen, that's fine. Put Steckel or Gordon up with those guys until he's ready. They'll still be potent, but more importantly, WE'LL STILL BE STACKED ON THE FIRST LINE! I'll take the above stated first line against any checking line in the league. Let it ride! And we still have a shut down line of Pettinger-Gordon/Steckel-Laich. So there it is. Stop converting wingers to center to play with OV, and give him the setup man he deserves. Did we really pay all these millions to Nylander to play him with two rookies?!

Next - special teams:

Well, really this is just a repetition of the previous rant. Last year (to start off the year), Glen tried to have two good power plays by breaking up Semin and Ovechkin, his only all-star caliber players. The results were so atrocious that (thankfully) he scrapped the idea three games in and just "stacked" the first PP. What's the quote about those who forget history are doomed to repeat it? Well, see all Glen's quotes this year about all the best teams having two great PP units. Um, Glen, at this point, I'd settle for one average PP unit!

Once again, we're throwing out JOE MOTZKO, Kozlov, OV, Poti, and Clark. Please see previous paragraph about Michael Nylander. If you're not going to match him with OV on a line, at least, for the love of GOD do it on the PP Glen! The only goal Saturday night was set up by a nice patented Nylander curl around, followed by a pass to the point, a shot on net (no, really!), and a real honest to goodness screen! So please, move Nyls up where he belongs. How about putting Ovechkin on the point, where penalty killers would be forced to respect his cannon and stay up high, thus opening up space down low for Nylander to operate (not that he needs that much space). It has to be better then putting a career minor leaguer out there, doesn't it?

So, there you have it. My expert analysis from the cheap seats (actually, they're not so cheap this year!) The effort is still there, now we need the smarts to go with them. And that starts with the coaching staff. The players are saying all the right things. They buy into Hanlon's systems and strategy. But they'll also buy into any changes he makes right now. Four losses in a row will do that to you. Please Glen. Do the right thing. Save The Russian Machine. And my two-year old from another thirty-three years of suffering and losing to those G-D Penguins.

What is Bill Guerin, like 70 now?

Talk about a bitter taste in the mouth. The Caps played a fairly good game last night, but were undone by stupid penalties and even worse special teams play. The Caps power play is, in a word, awful. In the words of Rick Pitino, "it sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks." Wasted opportunities like this at the beginning of the season are going to haunt this team when the playoff chase comes around.

While plenty of blame goes to the Caps putrid power play, there were other issues that certainly didn't help the Caps cause. A rare poor outing by Kolzig allowed the roughly 340 year old Bill Guerin to record his first hat trick since the league expanded from 6 teams in 1967. Kolzig did a particularly poor job of sealing off the 5 hole, allowing goals that literally slid underneath his pads.

The bright spots for the Caps occured within 5 minutes of one another. After apparently not realizing he was playing with the most dangerous winger in the league for most of the game, Joe "don't call me dead meat" Motzko finally fed a pass across the slot to Alex Ovechkin two minutes into the third period. Ovechkin did what he does best, one timing the puck into the twine before Rick DiPietro had a chance to react.

Less than five minutes later, Nicklas Backstrom showed the world why he is considered one of the top prospects in the game. Backstrom charged up the left wing boards, fought off two defenders, then made an amazing feed from behind the net to Tomas Fleischmann, who banged the puck home to knot the game at two.

Now I'm not one to say I told you so, but Flash looked a whole heck of a lot better playing with Backstrom and Nylander than he did on the top line. Flash and Backstrom looked like they had been playing together for years, and for stretches of the third period looked like the most dangerous line in the arena. Their uptempo style and aggressive play in the offensive zone had the Isles on their heels, and it looked like only a matter of time before the Caps would take the lead...

... and then, faster than you can say "they just need to avoid taking a stupid penalty here" Captain Clark upended an Islanders defenseman in the offensive zone, giving the Isles the man advantage. Clark has not looked like himself since the beginning of the season. While some of that can be attributed to his move off Ovechkin's line, he just looks like he's forcing the issue right now instead of allowing the game to come to him. Clark's intensity and his willingness to put everything he has into every shift he takes is what makes him Captain material, but he needs to dial it down a notch and just play his game right now.

Bryan "Just because I wear an eye patch it doesn't make me a pirate" Berard promptly beat Olie Kolzig on the ensuing power play, and the momentum pendulum swung fully the other directions. The Caps continued to take bad penalties, and Guerin put the game out of reach with two late goals to complete the hat trick.

So what can we take away from this game? Well, I certainly wouldn't bet on Olie Kolzig having another bad game any time soon, so that's not an issue. The power play continues to let the Caps down, primarily because they continue to go against conventional wisdom and spread the puck around instead of force feeding it to Ovechkin at every available opportunity. If Joe Motzko has the puck on his stick for more of the power play than the Russian Machine, there's a fundamental problem with the power play strategy. We said it last year, but it bears repeating; It's time for the Caps to go find a power play coach/consultant. There has been no improvement on the power play in the time Hanlon has coached here, and while he's done a good job overall, it's clear that nobody's buying what he's selling with the man advantage.

The Caps also need to cut down on the penalties in the attacking zone. There's no excuse for that. Ever. And without Boyd Gordon in the lineup, the penalty kill looks average instead of unbeatable. Hopefully Boyd's back spasms will settle down and he'll return to the lineup sooner rather than later.

And finally, everyone's burial of Flash might have been a bit premature.

Next game is this Saturday against the Flightless Devilbirds. If you are in the area and consider yourself even a passing fan of the Caps, there's no excuse for not buying a ticket to this game. Seriously. Go do it. Right now. We'll still be here when you get back. Remember, if you're sick and tired of other fans coming in and taking over our building, you can absolutely do something about it. Buy a ticket. Get your friends to buy tickets (as long as they're not from Pittsburgh). Don't let some idiot Pens fan in your section even start that pansy little "let's go pens" chant in your section. Drown their voice out with your own. Do not, however, attempt to drown them in the literal sense. I know they're annoying, but attempted murder is not the answer. Yet.

What's wrong with Flash

Yesterday, JP posted a note on Flash Fleischmann's less than stellar output to open the year. While his assesment that Tomas has been "virtually invisible" is right on the mark, let's explore why that has been the case.

First, lets examine Flash's strengths and weaknesses. From TSN.ca's scouting report, Fleischmann "has outstanding setup ability and an understanding of what to do with the puck on his stick... Still needs to add significant strength before becoming a regular in the NHL. Must continue to improve his play without the puck at the highest level."

Having strong skills with the puck is all well and good, but skating on a line with the Russian Machine, Flash is not going to have the puck on his stick very often. Throw in the chemistry between Oveckin and Kozlov and the way they give and go with one another, and the chances for Flash to play to his strengths decreases significantly. Instead, he's being asked to do two things he doesn't do well - play in space without the puck and play strong in his own end.

Defensive play will never be the strongest part of Flash's game. He doesn't yet have the strength to move players off the puck, and his positional play in his own zone has been spotty at best. His physical game has about as much edge to it as a spoon. Indeed, Flash has found himself firmly planted to the bench in late game situations where the Caps are protecting a lead. This makes sense from a coaching standpoint, but it gives Flash even less time to create a rapport on-ice with his linemates.

It appears clear that if Fleischmann is to stay a part of the Caps everyday lineup, some changes have to be made. First, he is not the type of winger that should be paired with Ovechkin and Kozlov. As long as Nick Backstrom isn't ready to center that line and move Kozlov to the wing, the right wing on the first line needs to be responsible defensively and capable of wreaking havok without the puck, but with strong enough skills to contribute in the offensive zone when needed. And if you think I'm talking about anyone other than Chris Clark, you're way off the mark.

So, moving Clark up to the first line, the lineup looks something like this:

Ovechkin - Kozlov - Clark
Backstrom - Nylander - Semin
Pettinger - Gordon - Sutherby/Laich/Motzko
Brashear - Steckel - Bradley

Flash is still the odd man out.

It's too early to declare Fleischmann's tenure here in DC as a failure, but unless he's put in a position to play to his strengths, I don't see him sticking around past this season. But considering Semin's current injury, why wouldn't the Caps at least take a couple games to see if Flash can make an impact on the second line with Nylander and Backstrom? Paired with a couple defensively responsible linemates who both think pass first, wouldn't Flash be in a better position to play to his strengths?

Can't we all just get along?

Apparently former cap Lawrence Nycholat and "Granite Chin" Brian Sutherby had it out last night in Ottawa's 5-4 preseason win over the Caps. C'mon, boys, how about a little fellowship among former Caps prospects? Then again, with Nycho fighting for a roster spot and Sudsy being, well, Sudsy, I guess this kind of thing is to be expected.

If you're looking for positive signs coming out of yesterday's game, look no further than the scoresheet, where you'll see Tom Poti twice (goal and assist, 3rd star), Flash Fleischmann twice (goal and assist), Mike Green twice (one assist at even strength, one on the PP) and, of course, Alex Ovechkin bagging his first goal of the preseason.

If you're looking for the bad, all 5 goals were scored against Olie Kolzig (who was scheduled to watch Michael Neuverith, who went down with an injury before gametime), while Ottawa spread theirs between Martin Gerber and Brian Elliot.

What a difference a weekend makes.

Wow, that sure felt good, didn't it?

The Caps finally broke out of their slump this weekend, lighting up both Toronto and Tampa by a combined score of 12-2. The Caps rode strong goaltending by Olie Kolzig and two superhuman games by Alexander Semin. The scoring line on Semin for the two games? 4 goals, 2 assists. That's six points in two games. And it's not like he was tapping in easy scores and racking up second assists. His incredible display of stickhandling drew coverage away from Boyd Gordon, which gave Gordo a shot roughly as difficult as hitting the ocean from the beach. And as for his goals? They were really, really, really, REALLY great individual efforts.

Just as impressive was his puck possession game, which has reached a ridiculously high level. At one point, Semin stickhandled around two pressing forwards and shed a solid body check from a defender, all the while keeping the puck within two inches of his stick. At times he looked like a coach playing a game of keep away with mites on ice, such was his dominance.

Not entirely unrelated to his play, he also broke his own unofficial record for most smiles in a game. Quite a change from a guy we weren't sure had teeth for most of the season because of his stoic demeanor.

Semin's outstanding performance overshadowed strong play by rookies Tomas Fleischmann and Alexander Giroux. Giroux scored his first two goals as a Cap, and Fleischmann made several top quality plays including a great behind the net feed that netted Boyd Gordon his second gimme of the weekend. If Flash's strong play continues, and there's no reason why it can't, he looks like a viable long term second liner on the right side.

All in all, it was a good weekend to be a Caps fan.