Photo: Rob Carr
Happy new year and happy snow day, Caps people! 2013 was fun. 2014 is going to be even better. We’re kicking it off with a home game against Seminlina Staalicanes and their goalie for the night, Anton Qdoba. This first game of the year featured a second-period bulge in the scoresheet, Alex Ovechkin getting off the schneid (whatever that is), and a whole bunch of that thing where the Caps get scored on right after getting a goal. I hate that thing.
Jeff Skinner roofed it on a first-period 5-on-3 that was more like a 5-on-2 once Nick Backstrom broke his stick.
Alex Ovechkin struck back with a “dart” in the second, but Manny Malhotra (whom I love) returned fire a minute later. Troy Brouwer tied it up with a backhander from the backdoor, and Steve Oleksy earned the lead, but then Jeff Skinner returned fire a minute later.
The third period was pointless except that it guaranteed both teams a standings point. Skinner got the hat trick and the win with a 3-on-1 in overtime setup by a no-look Ovechkin pass and a bad pinch by Orlov.
Canes beat Caps 4-3 (Overtime).
Johansson-Backstrom-Brouwer
Fehr-Grabovski-Ovechkin
Chimera-Erat-Ward
Laich-Beagle-Wilson
Guys, I figured it out. Grubauer has, like, nude photos of Oates or something. And unless he gets every single start in net, Grubi is gonna put the #OatesNudes on tumblr. I’d say I’m about 87% sure about this.
As long as Grubi plays well, it’s fine that coach keeps playing the hot hand. But the thing about the hot hand is that it doesn’t stay hot forever. And also that it pisses off the cold hands and then they request trades, sending their asset values plummeting.
The Caps played a solid possession game, lost the lead due to special teams, but kept plugging away anyway. The goal-after-goal disease is as bad as ever, and it obviously cost them a regulation win. With the score eternally close, any dumb mistake can cost the team the game, and that’s exactly what happened. Let’s not dwell on the mistakes; let’s dwell on the circumstances that made them matter so much.
We’re halfway now, and that kinda tells the story. The Caps *can* own possession if they (and their coach) can get out of their own way. It they can button up after scoring, they can start blowing out their opponents. And if Ovi can shoot, Ovi can score.
No one thinks the Caps are there yet, but with half the campaign yet to go, they can get there. It ain’t gonna happen without some bold moves though. I hope you’ll join us to watch it together.
Now drive safe, y’all!
Russian Machine Never Breaks is not associated with the Washington Capitals; Monumental Sports, the NHL, or its properties. Not even a little bit.
All original content on russianmachineneverbreaks.com is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)– unless otherwise stated or superseded by another license. You are free to share, copy, and remix this content so long as it is attributed, done for noncommercial purposes, and done so under a license similar to this one.
Share On