By Rodger M. Wood
Looking good after starting the New Year off with a four game winning streak against the Rangers, Sabres, Blue Jackets, and Flames, the Caps couldn’t continue their winning ways on the road against tough Western Conference competition, losing back to back games 5-2 to San Jose and Los Angeles.
With 44 points overall, the team has fallen to 10th place, out of playoffs in Eastern Conference.
standings.
Although Marcus Johannsen tried to fill the void with his 8th and 9th goals against the Kings Monday night, with Niklaus Backstrom and Mike Green out of the lineup again, the Caps couldn’t muster enough offensive power to do the job.
While Calgary’s Rene Bourque serves only a five game suspension for his elbow to Backstrom’s head, it seems unjust that Backstrom’s injury was not avenged in like by another Cap taking out the offender. I’d hate to be Bourque if I had hurt a Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins player or even a Capitals player during the day of Coach Hunter or defensemen Rod Langway and Scott Stevens.
With the exception of Jason Chimera and Matt Hendricks, the Caps continued to lay down against the tough Kings competitors. Hendricks took Kings tough guy Colin Fraser down in the first period and Chimera defenseman Willie Mitchell in the 3rd for cheap shots on him and teammate Joel Ward in the 3rd period.
Caps defensemen also laid down in the defensive zone both games, exposing Caps goalies, Vokoun and Neuwirth to 39 shots in the Sharks game and 35 in the Kings.
Until the Caps learn to stand up and be counted on the road as they do at home, they will continue to lose dismally and look down to the ground.
The Caps return to the ice against Pittsburgh away 7:30 Wednesday.
By Rodger M. Wood
Even though they’re only a modest 3 – 3 W- L under his tenure, Coach Hunter has pushed the right buttons to jump start the Caps onto a winning streak the past two games at Ottawa 5-3 and home with Toronto 4-2.
Midway through the second period of the Ottawa game, Caps down 3-1, he started triple – shifting Alex Ovechkin, effectively communicating to the super star he could bring the team back to the victory circle.
Skating fast and hitting hard the past two games, using different moves and shots to break a dry spell by scoring a goal, becoming a playmaker on offense with three assists, and getting back to help the defense with back checking, Ovie may have been restored to the “great one” again.
Whether the reason was injury, poor play, or a combination of both, Hunter kept Alexander Semin and Roman Hamrlik out a couple games, with the results being a rejuvenated forward and defensemen when both returned to the ice last game against Toronto.
When Semin returned, Hunter put him back on his old line with Niklaus Backstrom and Ovechkin and the resulting high powered line scored a goal and three assists their first game back together.
Hunter has kept Brooks Laich, Jason Chimera, and Joel Ward on the same line, and the trio has rewarded him by shutting down the opposition’s top line and racking up the points.
In the six games under Hunter, Laich has scored three goals and three assists, Ward, two assists, and Chimera, two goals and an assist and Chimera has become the Caps top goal scorer with 11.
With Mike Green still out of the lineup, Hunter has given Dmitry Orloff and John Carlson more playing time. In the last four games against Toronto, Ottawa, Florida, and Ottawa, Orloff has assisted on two goals, and Carlson has scored a goal and seven assists.
Until last game, the Caps power play hadn’t produce a goal in the last 17 power play opportunities, but looking like Bobby Orr against Toronto, defenseman Dennis Wideman scored two power play goals, and forwards Nicklaus Backstrom and Brooks Laich one each to improve that statistic quickly.
Hunter was rewarded for giving John Erskine a regular shift on defense when Erskine punished Aaron Asham with three hard rights to the head for taking Jay Beagle out of the lineup the past 16 games with a knockout punch in the first Pittsburgh game, and ridiculing him in the battle scene afterwards.
It looks promising that Hunter has the Caps on the right road with some good coaching moves and effective few words motivational talents, but the Caps aren’t in the playoffs yet.
They have another big test coming up Tuesday when they face the Broad Street Bullies at the Verizon Center.
By Rodger M. Wood
Newly Announced Washington Capitals Coach Dale Hunter Image by Rodger M. Wood
After a debacle 5-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night, GM George McPhee announced 200 NHL-game winner Coach Boudreau had been fired and named former Capital forward Dale Hunter to take over the team.
McPhee was quoted as saying, “The players weren’t responding to Bruce, and when that happens, you have to make a change.”
Translated, his statement, “not responding” means star player Alex Ovechkin, who was -4 in the Sabre game, a -7 for the first 20 games of the season, and other star players have been “shaving effort,” just like basketball players who shave points to let the opposition win games.
And Ovechkin sets the tone for his buddy Alexander Semin, who was in Coach Boudreau’s dog house all season for taking foolish penalties and benched one game recently for lackadaisical play, and line mates Niklaus Backstrom, who was also a – 4 culprit against the Sabres and is a -6 for the season, and Troy Brouwer, a -3 for the game and even on the season .
His influence may also extend to defenseman Roman Hamrlik, who was a -3 for the game and a miserable -10 for the season, Dennis Wideman, -3 and -6, and goalie Tomas Vokoun, who saved only 23 of 28 shots in the Sabres game.
The +/- stats and save % indicate these players are either underperforming or aren’t the big stars they are said to be.
Boudreau made the mistake of trying to make a $9 million “super star” and a few other highly paid prima donnas accountable for their performance.
By firing Boudreau, Caps management abdicated the throne and gave Ovechkin the crown.
A Struggling Alexander Ovechkin Image by Thom Wood
You have to believe in the fairy godmother if you think these players unleashed from Boudreau will ever play the kind of hockey needed to bring home a Stanley Cup now.
But maybe new coach Dale Hunter will be the Caps new fairy godmother.
He played 1,407 games in 19 seasons with Quebec, Washington, and Colorado and never once, even in bad times, took a shift off.
I can remember how he built up game intensity an hour before the game under the stands at the old Capital Center sitting outside the dressing room on a bench by himself. You wouldn’t dare make a peep or distract him in any way.
I will never forget seeing him hit Pierre Turgeon from behind when he scored a decisive goal in game six of the 1993 Patrick Division Semi Finals between the Capitals and Islanders.
The game meant a lot to him and he paid the price for the Turgeon hit with a 21-game suspension.
With 3, 565 penalties minutes, he ranks second highest in NHL history.
He was tough on himself, but was always the first player to come to practice, was gentle to his teammates and gave all of himself in every game. His coaches called him “the perfect player.”
Judging by his own standards, Dale Hunter will not put up with an under-performing player and is tough enough to back up his value system.
Ovechkin and his sidekicks had better be aware that what they wished for may not be what they have gotten. Hunter will not put players on the ice if they don’t perform.
It’s not too late for Capitals management to resolve the real problem. They can bite the bullet and trade Ovechkin now before he decides to get back at Hunter for trying to coach him.
By Rodger M. Wood
Although the Caps are 1-4-1 in the past six games, not all is bleak with the Capitals nowadays.
They started the season off with 7 straight wins, have won 10 games of 17 for the season, and are tied with the lowly Florida Panthers for the Southeast Division lead with 21 points.
Forwards Mike Knuble, Troy Brouwer, Matt Hendricks, Brooks Laich, Jason Chimera, Joel Ward, defenseman John Erskine plus goalie Tomas Vokoun are playing hockey and earning their keep.
But at the game last night, I could hear the lowly 6-9-3 W-L –OL Winnipeg fans sarcastically jeering Ovie and Coach Boudreau after the home team Jets took a 4-1 lead at 10:54 of the second period.
Indeed, the Caps looked like a joke. Coach Boudreau wasn’ t getting 100% effort from his stars, they weren’t forechecking, chasing down the puck, or crashing the net, were taking more foolish penalties, and getting weak goaltending, while Jets goalie Ondrej Pavalec did acobats, stopped shot after shot at the other end of the ice and Jets second year pro Evander Kane, scoring two goals, almost had a hat trick.
Awhile back In the Pittsburgh game, which the Caps won 3-2 in OT, it was embarrassing when Penguins tough guy Arron Asham, former Capitals forward Dale Hunter’s lookalike, mocked the Capitals manliness after he decked Caps forward Jay Beagle, effectively putting him out of the lineup with a concussion the last nine games, and in return, was not pummeled by a single Caps teammate’s blows.
Except for fluky wins against the Red Wings away and the Ducks at home, the Caps have also been embarrassed in successive losses to the Oilers, Canucks, Predators, Stars, and the other physically tough Western Conference foes they have faced this season.
If the stars are not scoring goals, and shying away from the toughness of the game, what would be the loss in keeping one of them off the ice watching the game from the stands?
After the Jets loss, the Caps were tied with the rejuvenated Florida Panthers for the Southeast Division lead and 6th place in the Eastern Conference playoff race, only a point ahead of defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins and division rival Tampa Bay Lightning. If they don’t start winning again soon, the Caps will fall out of the 8-team conference Stanley Cup playoff contention.
Resting Ovechkin and Semin during game critical situations, Boudreau is desperately trying to awaken his fading star power. So far unsuccessful, maybe instead, he needs to sit one of his super stars down in the stands for a game or two, while other Capitals restore Capitals’ self – respect.
By Rodger M. Wood
Like the Marines, our theme for the Caps’ 2011-2012 season will be “acta non verba,” or “actions not words.” We’re tired of getting all fired up at the beginning of a season, only to be let down with the team’s early departure from the Stanley Cup playoffs.
After the Capitals hockey season started the season off with an overtime 4-3 win over Carolina Saturday night, Caps fans are hearing the same old song and song, “The Caps will win the Stanley Cup this season.”
The sage editors of the Hockey News are singing the same song predicting, “This will be the season the Capitals bring home the Stanley Cup.” However, without showing the heart, or mental and physical toughness the Boston Bruins did last spring while winning the prized trophy, I think we’ll be in for another long hot summer, our 36th in a row, since the Caps came into being the 1974/1975 season.
We can only hope Caps VP and GM George McPhee watched how the Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens up in seven games last spring, the Philadelphia Flyers in four, Tampa Bay Lightning in seven, and the Vancouver Canucks in seven.
Goalie Tim Thomas, forwards Patrice Bergeron, Nathan Horton, David Krejic, Milan Lucic, Shawn Thornton, defensemen Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg, and Johnny Boychuk and the rest of the Bruins were talented, but more importantly, demonstrated they had the courage, grit, durability, mental and physical toughness to beat tough opponents.
Our Caps were more talented than the Bruins, and displayed star power during the regular season, but core stars, captain Alex Ovechkin, Nicklaus Backstrom, Alexander Semin, and Mike Green failed to show the internal fortitude necessary to win in the playoffs.
You can’t measure the heart of a hockey player or team until they are in the thick of the playoffs. During the summer, McPhee acquired some free agents, Troy Brouwer, Joel Ward, Roman Hamrlik, Jeff Halpern, and Tomas Vokoun , who look good on paper and may perform well in the regular season, but without Ovie and the core stars setting the example in the playoffs, our Cup efforts will still be futile.
Novice Caps fans, I hate to dampen your enthusiasm, but we’ve heard the same old story many times before, and won’t believe it until our Cap stars bring us home the Stanley Cup.
Winning the Stanley Cup will speak louder than any words used to drum up season ticket sales or fill up the Verizon Center stands.
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