Reports from today's practice are that Nicklas Backstrom is "under the weather" but Caps sources are stating that he is not suffering from the dastardly swine flu. Swine flu sufferer Quintin Laing has apparently emerged from the worst of it and was back on the ice at Kettler this morning (good news)!
Our splendid young center Backstrom will be lending a hand to D.C.'s homeless population as he participates in The Salvation Army’s Grate Patrol program alongside Mix 107.3's Chilli Amar and Comcast SportsNet's hockey reporter extraordinaire, Lisa Hillary on Monday, November 2. The trio will help the Salvation Army by making stops at eight different locations in northwest D.C., delivering meals and blankets to those in need.
The Grate Patrol program started in 1985 and operates 365 days a year with service to more than 1,000 individuals each month. Originally the program offered meals alone, but today an outreach coordinator helps homeless get back on their feet.
The Washington Capitals would like to encourage fans to volunteer with the Grate Patrol program by either preparing or delivering meals any day of the week. Go to www.SalArmyDC.org, Facebook, or Twitter for more information.
Meanwhile, the Capitals host the Columbus Blue Jackets for an early evening matchup tomorrow. The Jackets are coming off a loss at the hands of our arch rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins in a shootout. Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason thought he'd gloved one on Sidney Crosby's shootout attempt, but lost sight of it and the puck with a mind of its own made a slow, wacky slide across the line. That bugger, let's hope the Caps can have the same kind of luck against Mason tomorrow. Washington and Columbus met twice last year and both games ended as 3-0 wins for the Blue Jackets. The Caps fired a combined 71 shots, which included 18 from the Great8, on the Calder Trophy winning Mason, but could not score. Let's bounce back from that loss to the Islanders boys and play a full-force 60-minutes tomorrow (and don't indulge in too much candy tonight - don't need any sugar hangovers)!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Caps/Isles Recap
Sorry sports fans for my total lack of coverage of last night's win over the Kovy-less Thrashers. I had to get my hair done and missed much of the game - ugh, the things we women have to sacrifice to be presentable!
So tonight the boys from the "Island" rolled into Verizon Center trying to avenge an overtime loss at the hands of the Capitals during their last meeting. The Caps didn't have much downtime between tonight's game and last night's match in Atlanta. HM hopes that the resulting fatigue of the quick turnaround played a part in the sometimes sloppy mistakes during the first and second periods. As Coach Boudreau noted during today's practice, "great teams need not be happy with mediocrity." The boys lost the puck too many times this evening, trying to be "too cute" (another Gabby exclusive) or skate the puck up the middle and not quite getting it out of the zone.
The positive spin is that the boys continued their streak of lighting the lamp first with a power play goal from none other than Alex Ovechkin. The Islanders' young talent Kyle Okposo tied it up shortly after with an impressive goal of his own against our Jose Theodore.
End of first period: Caps 1 - New York Islanders 1
The second period did not get off to a smooth start as Mike Green (again boys with the skating the gosh-durned puck up the middle) made an ugly giveaway right in front of Theo's residence, resulting in a goal by the Islanders' Frans Nielsen. A bright spot for the Capitals was their second goal, courtesy of Tomas Fleischmann - yes, FLASH is back in business! Flash netted his first goal of the season after missing training camp, pre-season and most of this month after being diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg.
About eight minutes later, Flash struck again on a power play goal to give the boys a very temporary lead. The Caps' defense continued to play without a sense of urgency (or consistency for that matter) and the Isles' Frans Nielsen netted his second of the night, sliding a ridiculously soft one past Jose Theodore. So many needless turnovers in this period, HM thought she was watching the Redskins (ouch!). End of second period: Caps 3 - Islanders 3
Caps fans held their collective breath midway through the third as AO appeared to take a puck off the ankle and skated off in obvious pain. But as the saying goes, "Russian machine never break" - right? Flash was absolutely all over the place trying to score in the third - love that guys energy! But in the end, the boys couldn't put it together against the Isles' elder statesman in net, Dwayne Roloson and once again, these two teams were headed to overtime. The Capitals failed to put it away and this year's numero uno draft pick, one John Tavares, made a nice behind-the-net pass to team mate Mark Streit for the Islanders win. Final Score: Isles 4 - Capitals 3
Gabby mentioned the breakdowns in the post-game press conference but did not appear to be as upset as we've seen him in the past. He gave the boys credit for a 60-minute effort but again with the "too cute" business. I'm sure he'll be all sorts of chatty at his book signing tomorrow!
Next up for the Caps, a tough Columbus Blue Jackets team led by poster boy Steve Nash. The Jackets are sure to put up a tough fight with the likes of RJ Umberger (our former pal from the Flyers), Antoine Vermette, Kristian Huselius (one of the best hockey names ever) and Steve Mason in net. So until then, HM is signing off and wishing everyone a happy, safe and swine-flu free Halloween!
So tonight the boys from the "Island" rolled into Verizon Center trying to avenge an overtime loss at the hands of the Capitals during their last meeting. The Caps didn't have much downtime between tonight's game and last night's match in Atlanta. HM hopes that the resulting fatigue of the quick turnaround played a part in the sometimes sloppy mistakes during the first and second periods. As Coach Boudreau noted during today's practice, "great teams need not be happy with mediocrity." The boys lost the puck too many times this evening, trying to be "too cute" (another Gabby exclusive) or skate the puck up the middle and not quite getting it out of the zone.
The positive spin is that the boys continued their streak of lighting the lamp first with a power play goal from none other than Alex Ovechkin. The Islanders' young talent Kyle Okposo tied it up shortly after with an impressive goal of his own against our Jose Theodore.
End of first period: Caps 1 - New York Islanders 1
The second period did not get off to a smooth start as Mike Green (again boys with the skating the gosh-durned puck up the middle) made an ugly giveaway right in front of Theo's residence, resulting in a goal by the Islanders' Frans Nielsen. A bright spot for the Capitals was their second goal, courtesy of Tomas Fleischmann - yes, FLASH is back in business! Flash netted his first goal of the season after missing training camp, pre-season and most of this month after being diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg.
About eight minutes later, Flash struck again on a power play goal to give the boys a very temporary lead. The Caps' defense continued to play without a sense of urgency (or consistency for that matter) and the Isles' Frans Nielsen netted his second of the night, sliding a ridiculously soft one past Jose Theodore. So many needless turnovers in this period, HM thought she was watching the Redskins (ouch!). End of second period: Caps 3 - Islanders 3
Caps fans held their collective breath midway through the third as AO appeared to take a puck off the ankle and skated off in obvious pain. But as the saying goes, "Russian machine never break" - right? Flash was absolutely all over the place trying to score in the third - love that guys energy! But in the end, the boys couldn't put it together against the Isles' elder statesman in net, Dwayne Roloson and once again, these two teams were headed to overtime. The Capitals failed to put it away and this year's numero uno draft pick, one John Tavares, made a nice behind-the-net pass to team mate Mark Streit for the Islanders win. Final Score: Isles 4 - Capitals 3
Gabby mentioned the breakdowns in the post-game press conference but did not appear to be as upset as we've seen him in the past. He gave the boys credit for a 60-minute effort but again with the "too cute" business. I'm sure he'll be all sorts of chatty at his book signing tomorrow!
Next up for the Caps, a tough Columbus Blue Jackets team led by poster boy Steve Nash. The Jackets are sure to put up a tough fight with the likes of RJ Umberger (our former pal from the Flyers), Antoine Vermette, Kristian Huselius (one of the best hockey names ever) and Steve Mason in net. So until then, HM is signing off and wishing everyone a happy, safe and swine-flu free Halloween!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Caps' Quintin Laing Has H1N1 Flu
Capitals' media is confirming that Quintin Laing (man that poor kid can't catch a break with the health issues) does indeed have H1N1 and is being kept away from the team. From their Twitter post this morning:
@capsmedia To clarify, Quintin Laing has been diagnosed with H1N1 virus and is being kept away from the team and treated.
Get well soon Quintin and let's keep our collective fingers crossed that this is an isolated case in the Caps' room. HM knows that the virus is spreading like wildfire through the youth hockey community and Laing is the third NHLer to be diagnosed. Coaches and parents, check out USA Hockey's guidelines for combatting H1N1. I know several kids who've come down with this nasty bug and it is nothing to fool around with. Until we get vaccinated, I will continue to douse my two in Lysol and antibac hand gel every time they come into the house (especially after leaving a germ-infested rink)....
@capsmedia To clarify, Quintin Laing has been diagnosed with H1N1 virus and is being kept away from the team and treated.
Get well soon Quintin and let's keep our collective fingers crossed that this is an isolated case in the Caps' room. HM knows that the virus is spreading like wildfire through the youth hockey community and Laing is the third NHLer to be diagnosed. Coaches and parents, check out USA Hockey's guidelines for combatting H1N1. I know several kids who've come down with this nasty bug and it is nothing to fool around with. Until we get vaccinated, I will continue to douse my two in Lysol and antibac hand gel every time they come into the house (especially after leaving a germ-infested rink)....
Editor's Note
Hockey Mom in her post-work, doctor's appointment, hockey carpool, edge of the seat Caps/Flyers game state of exhaustion, listed Jose Theodore's number of stops in last night's win at 40. It was actually 41 - and my apologies to Theo, who totally rocked it last night!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Caps/Flyers Recap
No kids, those aren't jack o'lanterns, just those mean and ornery Philadelphia Flyers sporting the orange and black sweaters. The boys from Philly paid a visit to the raucous Verizon Center tonight hoping to return to the City of Brotherly Love with another win against the Capitals.
The Capitals offensive threat was bolstered by the return of Alex Semin (uh, we're still not sure what exactly was ailing the temperamental sniper). But the boys went without the services of Eric Fehr (upper body injury), Boyd Gordon (back issues), John Erskine (hand) and Quintin Laing (flu, hopefully not the swine variety like Av's backup goaltender Peter Budaj). Semin was reunited on the first line with his pal AO.
The Caps came out with the gusto that Gabby's been looking for and with no love lost between these two, the hitting was fierce and frequent. It was astounding to think that the first penalty between these two rivals didn't occur until around the 17-minute mark of the first period! The Flyers' Ole-Kristian Tollefsen took a seat for a cross-check but the Caps' power play continued to struggle and the boys didn't even get a shot off with the man-advantage. Shots on goal pretty even and at the end of the first, this one was scoreless.
Early in the second period, the boys took their first penalty as Brendan Morrison took a seat for hooking. Despite a series of lovely saves by Jose Theodore, Rapunzel - oops, I meant Scott Hartnell fired a humdinger to score the first PP goal and tally of the game.
As per the norm whenever these rivals meet, the hitting and extracurricular activity ramped up in the second as Ovechkin made an absolutely beast of a hit on Mike Richards (HM has a feeling that these two will never be Facebook pals). The boys got a brief 5-on-3 opportunity midway through the second as the Flyers took a too many men call then Darroll Powe took a run at Jose Theodore. Again, the Caps were unable to score the power play goal and they certainly had no assistance from one Ray Emery, who did a great imitation of a wall despite all the traffic. The Flyers got another power play chance as Tyler Sloan got called for the hook and Braydon Coburn shot a rocket to take a 2-0 lead.
Not to be outdone, Alex Ovechkin netted a beauty of his own less than two minutes later, right over the shoulder of an unsuspecting Ray Emery. And yes again, two minutes after Ovie lit the lamp, it was Nick Backstrom's turn. When the Flyer's propensity for trouble drew them a hooking penalty, Caps fans got a glimpse of the power play we all used to know and love as Backstrom scored a fabulous wrister with help from Semin and Aucoin! That makes Nick's third three-point game of the season, let's keep it going shall we #19? End of second period: 2-2
Alex Semin gave the men in red the lead early in the third as his puck hit a piece of a Flyer's d-man and whizzed over Emery's shoulder. Tom Poti committed a major party foul shortly after by tripping up Darrell Powe en route to a breakaway attempt, leaving Caps fans on the edge of their seats on the resulting penalty shot. Jose Theodore stonewalled Powe to retain the lead.
With about 40 seconds left in the game, Alex Ovechkin got a stick on the puck and plowed it right into an empty net to put a fork in this one.
Final Score: Caps 4 - Flyers 2
My vote for tonight's MVP has to be Jose Theodore, who stopped a remarkable 40 shots. What a performance from Theo and not a shoddy night for Nick Backstrom either, who ended up with a four-point night! So congrats to the boys for an always fulfilling victory over the team we all love to loathe!
The Capitals offensive threat was bolstered by the return of Alex Semin (uh, we're still not sure what exactly was ailing the temperamental sniper). But the boys went without the services of Eric Fehr (upper body injury), Boyd Gordon (back issues), John Erskine (hand) and Quintin Laing (flu, hopefully not the swine variety like Av's backup goaltender Peter Budaj). Semin was reunited on the first line with his pal AO.
The Caps came out with the gusto that Gabby's been looking for and with no love lost between these two, the hitting was fierce and frequent. It was astounding to think that the first penalty between these two rivals didn't occur until around the 17-minute mark of the first period! The Flyers' Ole-Kristian Tollefsen took a seat for a cross-check but the Caps' power play continued to struggle and the boys didn't even get a shot off with the man-advantage. Shots on goal pretty even and at the end of the first, this one was scoreless.
Early in the second period, the boys took their first penalty as Brendan Morrison took a seat for hooking. Despite a series of lovely saves by Jose Theodore, Rapunzel - oops, I meant Scott Hartnell fired a humdinger to score the first PP goal and tally of the game.
As per the norm whenever these rivals meet, the hitting and extracurricular activity ramped up in the second as Ovechkin made an absolutely beast of a hit on Mike Richards (HM has a feeling that these two will never be Facebook pals). The boys got a brief 5-on-3 opportunity midway through the second as the Flyers took a too many men call then Darroll Powe took a run at Jose Theodore. Again, the Caps were unable to score the power play goal and they certainly had no assistance from one Ray Emery, who did a great imitation of a wall despite all the traffic. The Flyers got another power play chance as Tyler Sloan got called for the hook and Braydon Coburn shot a rocket to take a 2-0 lead.
Not to be outdone, Alex Ovechkin netted a beauty of his own less than two minutes later, right over the shoulder of an unsuspecting Ray Emery. And yes again, two minutes after Ovie lit the lamp, it was Nick Backstrom's turn. When the Flyer's propensity for trouble drew them a hooking penalty, Caps fans got a glimpse of the power play we all used to know and love as Backstrom scored a fabulous wrister with help from Semin and Aucoin! That makes Nick's third three-point game of the season, let's keep it going shall we #19? End of second period: 2-2
Alex Semin gave the men in red the lead early in the third as his puck hit a piece of a Flyer's d-man and whizzed over Emery's shoulder. Tom Poti committed a major party foul shortly after by tripping up Darrell Powe en route to a breakaway attempt, leaving Caps fans on the edge of their seats on the resulting penalty shot. Jose Theodore stonewalled Powe to retain the lead.
With about 40 seconds left in the game, Alex Ovechkin got a stick on the puck and plowed it right into an empty net to put a fork in this one.
Final Score: Caps 4 - Flyers 2
My vote for tonight's MVP has to be Jose Theodore, who stopped a remarkable 40 shots. What a performance from Theo and not a shoddy night for Nick Backstrom either, who ended up with a four-point night! So congrats to the boys for an always fulfilling victory over the team we all love to loathe!
Former Caps Tough Guy Hosts Chat During Caps/Flyers
If you want to diss about the Broad Street Bullies during tonight's game with a gritty guy who has plenty of first-hand experience in playing it tough, join former Capital "Killer" Kaminski for a live chat hosted by Comcast SportsNet!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday Musings
Well another hockey-filled weekend is over and the Caps wait until Tuesday, when they host the always fun and friendly Flyers at Verizon Center. Speaking of the visitors in the Halloween sweaters, their fearless leader Mike Richards was the subject of controversy this weekend for a brutal hit on Florida Panthers player David Booth. Richards did not receive a fine or suspension (unlike Ovie who as you know by now, received a $2,500 fine for slewfooting Rich Peverley) but the subject of hits to the head once again has the hockey community buzzing. There was a plethora of very ugly hits across the league this weekend including one from Carolina Hurricanes' Tuomo Ruutu on the Avs' Darcy Tucker that earned Ruutu a three-game suspension. Here's the video of the hit on Booth and I assure you it is not for the faint of heart:
So needless to say, David Booth is out with a concussion and we wish him a speedy recovery. As Caps fans know all too well, the Flyers are no strangers to the sin bin and are sure to hand the Caps plenty of power play opportunities tomorrow night on a silver plate. Let's just hope that the boys can put their power play woes behind them and get the win! We should have more firepower in the line up as Alex Semin is expected to play.
In other hockey happenings:
Check out this mid-semester report card on the Caps from On Frozen Blog
Please to be welcoming another fabulous female writer to the hockey blogosphere: The Sassy Sharks Fan
Sour Grapes Don Cherry is back to his old tricks (and I do mean old) making xenophobic comments about Swedish players on the Canucks and ranting and raving about Ovie and how "he's gonna going to be very, very sorry one day because someone is going to cut you in half." blah blah blah....
The Capitals launched a new live web podcast called Caps on the Fly that will be taped at the Hilton Garden Inn each month - it made its debut tonight with guests George McPhee and Brian Pothier hosted by Mike Vogel
And finally, Coach Boudreau will be in the house at Kettler Capitals Iceplex on Saturday to sign copies of his new book, Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer, starting at 12:45 p.m. A must-read for any Caps fan!
So needless to say, David Booth is out with a concussion and we wish him a speedy recovery. As Caps fans know all too well, the Flyers are no strangers to the sin bin and are sure to hand the Caps plenty of power play opportunities tomorrow night on a silver plate. Let's just hope that the boys can put their power play woes behind them and get the win! We should have more firepower in the line up as Alex Semin is expected to play.
In other hockey happenings:
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