Video via Peter Robbio of Chirps From The Ledge.
Five minutes into a heavy-hitting first period between the Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets, Alex Semin did something very un-Semin like. Sasha Minor stepped up and caught fellow countryman Alex Burmistrov with an impressive open-ice hip check, nearly flipping the young Russian head-over-heels.
Photo credit: Bruce Bennett
In Washington’s 5-4 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday, Dale Hunter went with Matt Hendricks in the fourth round of the shootout. That decision paid off. Hendricks, a gritty, fourth-line player who’s known more for his fists than his goal-scoring ability, faked a shot, deked a few times, and then deftly deposited the puck on his backhand into an empty net. No big.
“I don’t like to talk about it too often,” a bashful Hendricks told the media immediately after the game. “I made a move, and fortunately I beat him. [Nabokov’s] a good goalie.”
In his three seasons in the NHL, Hendy is a surprising 5 for 9 in the gimmick (2 for 3 in 2011-12, 2 for 4 in 2010-11, and 1 for 2 with Colorado Avalanche in 2009-10). His shootout goals have been featured in SportCenter’s Top Ten Lists and teammate Karl Alzner has referred to him as the team’s “secret weapon.”
But where did these Moves Like Jagger come from?
By Ian Oland 12 years ago
Over the last few months, Alex Semin has been one of the most consistent and productive players on the Washington Capitals. He leads Caps forwards in scoring chance percentage (minimum 30 games), he is tied for second in scoring, and he recently went ten games without committing a penalty.
But despite his achievements, Sasha Minor’s media presence is low. He rarely gives interviews in English or Russian, but we’ve learned to adapt. We’ve invented new ways to cover the Caps’ enigmatic star. And these paparazzi-style images are one such example.
Today, via the lovely and talented Caps Girl (read her blog now!), we give you Semin’s failed attempt to prank Nicklas Backstrom during today’s practice.
Photo credit: hotice.ru
On March 12th, the MHL, the KHL’s developmental league, held an All-Star game for under-18 year-old players in Cheylabinsk, Evgeny Kuznetsov’s hometown. KHL president Alexander Medvedev attended the one-day event and made time to meet with the local press. When asked his opinion about the future of the league’s most popular player, Medvedev responded, “Kuznetsov would be better playing a couple more years here.”
Apparently Kuznetsov agrees with Medvedev, because today on KHL-TV’s “The Icing Show,” the 19-year-old Caps prospect revealed that he will stay in Russia next season.
“What is this doing here?”
Halfway through the first period of Tuesday’s Capitals-Islanders game, Matt Moulson sent a shot towards Michal Neuvirth‘s net. Neuvy got his blocker on it — sending the puck flying into the glass.
That should’ve been the end of that, but the puck bounced back over the net, as if being guided by Satan himself, and deflected off Neuvirth’s erogenous zone before going in the net.
The wonder of YouTube. Via Russian TV channel Sport 1, here’s a nifty video of the Caps preparing for their 2-0 victory over the Leafs. You will like this video if you are interested in any of the following:
Go ahead and mine this bad boy for all its worth.
At the tail end of the second period with the Caps up 1-0, Alex Ovechkin absorbed a body check in the Caps defensive zone. We’re guessing he didn’t like that too much, because Ovechkin immediately responded by doling out some punishment of his own.
As Dion Phaneuf advanced the puck up to Mikael Grabovski near the circles, Ovechkin pushed down on the accelerator and knocked the Belarusian flying into the air with a clean open ice body check.
Follow us past the jump to check out the video.
Photo credit: Greg Fiume
In the second period of the Caps home game against Tampa, Lightning forward Brett Connolly got hit with an ugly one-two play when he was tied up in the corner by Dmitry Orlov, and Mike Green came in hard and hit him high, making contact to Connolly’s head with his forearm. Video is below the jump.
Photo via liveinbleublancrouge.tumblr.com
Six months ago yesterday, a plane carrying the KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl crashed near the Russian city of Yaroslavl, killing 44 passengers and crew, leaving flight engineer Alexander Sizov as its sole survivor.
The worst disaster in hockey history, the Lokomotiv crash became a solemn end to the summer that had already taken the lives of Derek Boogard, Wade Belak, and Rick Rypien. Questions were raised as to how it had happened and what could be done to prevent such tragedies in the future. Bernard Goldberg of HBO’s Real Sports uncovers some sobering answers.
In the calendar year of 2012, there had been only one Washington Capital regular who had gone without a penalty. That player? Dmitry Orlov.
That streak ended spectacularly tonight.
