The Washington Capitals defeated the Buffalo Sabres yesterday evening to earn their first victory of the season. After coming from behind to take a lead and hold it for an extended length of time, they capped off the game with a stick salute to fans. Joel Ward went RG3ing after scoring his third goal of the year, John Erskine scored and Alex Ovechkin netted the game winner.
See my photos over at Japers’ Rink or on flickr. If you’re a Caps fan, they should be well worth your time.
Jay Beagle scored and Ian Oland from Russian Machine Never Breaks tweeted this last night. Somehow, that led to me finding this and if you don’t watch it, I don’t think we can be friends.
The Washington Capitals clinched a playoff berth with their 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers last night (and a loss by the Buffalo Sabres to the Philadelphia Flyers). That was good. Really, really good.
The Washington Capitals lost goalie Michal Neuvirth after former Capital Marco Sturm fell on his leg. That was bad. Really, really bad.
The Washington Capitals got goals from both Alexes for the first time since, uh, the last time they played Florida (and Jay Beagle and Brooks Laich knocked in goals of their own, too). That was good.
The Washington Capitals let a 3-0 lead slip to a 3-2 lead in an all too familiar manner. That was bad.
The Washington Capitals scored a fourth goal before the Panthers managed to score a third goal. That was good.
The Washington Capitals power play was not very powerful. Again. That was bad.
The Washington Capitals penalty kill was very successful. That was good.
The Washington Capitals had lots of trouble removing the puck from their zone. Again. That was bad.
The second season begins sometime next week. I wonder if this team has found their identity.
Read more insightful thoughts at the regular places like On Frozen Blog, Japer’s Rink, Ed Frankovic, District Sports Page, and Russian Machine.
Oh, and what’s this? After missing 80 games with concussion like symptoms, the Capitals Outsider Box Score has returned!
My photos are below and on flickr.
Before the Washington Capitals hosted the Buffalo Sabres at Verizon Center last night, former Capitals Peter Bondra answered questions from Capitals season ticket holders in a “chalk talk” session. It was pretty lightweight, but enjoyable, which was good, because for Caps fans, everything went downhill after that in a 5-1 beat down from Buffalo.
Braden Holtby gave up 3 goals on 18 shots. In a follow up to his excellent defensive play while on a power play Sunday night, Alex Ovechkin coughed up the puck leading to a Sabres shorthanded goal. Bah. Everyone was talking about how this game was going to be like a game seven in the playoffs. Sadly, they seemed to follow the model of the Eastern Conference Semis game seven in 2009 against the Penguins.
The added salt in the wound heartbreaker of the night was seeing a flag flying (literally) Sabres fan occupying the seat of Capitals super fan, Elliot Segal from DC101’s “Elliot in the Morning” radio show.
I made my own mistakes, too. I kept accidentally changing (and not noticing for a while) a camera setting that led some serious overexposure. Like the Capitals, I’ll hang my mistakes out in public for everyone to see. Except maybe some of these might be kind of cool.
If you want to read about the game (do you really want to?), try the regular places like Japer’s Rink, Russian Machine, Ed Frankovic, District Sports Page and On Frozen Blog.
My photos (overexposed and all) are below and on flickr.
It was brutal, it was punchy, it was smily, it was like old times. But, was it really like old times, or was it more like new times where the Washington Capitals show their fans glimpses of the good old days of late last decade before falling back into all the bad habits again? I don’t know, but I’m sure you can guess which one I’d like to think it is.
What I do know is that I didn’t a single half decent photo of the Jason Chimera’s fight with Mike Weber and the photos I got of Troy Brouwer’s fight with Christian Ehrhoff were not the greatest either.
I also know I got some nice photos of the Caps showing something they haven’t been showing much of in Verizon Center for a long time…joy. From Alex Ovechkin’s nearly classic post goal posing with huge smiles to Troy Brouwer skating back to the bench with an ear to ear grin after his fight, the Capitals looked like they were having fun on the ice last night against the Buffalo Sabres. It was good to see. It’s always more fun taking photos of that kind of stuff.
Bet you can guess what I’m gong to say next…yup. For more details on the game instead of mindless babble, read the write ups at Russian Machine, Ed Frankovic, Japer’s Rink and District Sports Page. Look at my photos below or on flickr.
The Washington Capitals game against the Buffalo Sabres was another thriller that ended with an overtime victory, this time off the stick of Alex Ovechkin. It was a milestone night in several ways. Jason Arnott scored his 400th goal in the NHL, it was the 100th consecutive sellout at Verizon Center for the Capitals, and it was the 1,757th and final game in referee Bill McCreary’s NHL career. It also saw a Capitals defensive pairing of Sean Collins and Tyler Sloan…who managed to be nowhere near the ice for the combined nine goals.
It was also fan appreciation night and the Capitals gave their jerseys to fans. I’ll have some photos from that up later today [update: a bunch of them turned into video].
Read about it at the places that know how to write about games like Japer’s Rink, Russian Machine, and Ed Frankovic. Look at my photos here or on flickr (and check out @ikeastan‘s pics, too!)
Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller (#30) sprawls to protect his net from Washington Capitals forward David Steckel (#39) and Matt Bradley (#10) during their NHL ice hockey game at Verizon Center although both Capitals would score later in the game
The Washington Capitals left last year’s Vezina Trophy winning goalie Ryan Miller sprawling last night getting three past him from Nicklas Backstrom, Matt Bradley and David Steckel. Alex Semin added an empty netter to seal the win at 4-2. Coach Bruce Boudreau mixed up the lines last night putting Backstrom on the second line centering Semin and Laich while moving up rookie Marcus Johansson to center the first line with Alex Ovechkin. I thought there was a lot to like about these lines aside from the fact that Ovechkin continues to be mired in…something. Despite the fact that the Capitals seem to be *gasp* making do without Ovechkin hitting the scoresheet in a meaningful way, am I alone in wanting some more Ovitine about now, please?
Anyway, you know the deal, not much worth reading here, just photos below and on flickr. If you want to read, check out Japer’s Rink, Russian Machine Never Breaks, the Peerless and all the rest of the Capitals based blogs.
