Posts by Patrick Holden

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Back in business: Caps win 5-3!

RMNB recaps are back! Peter’s luggage isn’t, but RMNB is just in time for RIVALRY NIGHT against the Bruins.

The Caps took the lead just over three minutes into the game when Nick Backstrom sprung TJ Oshie in all alone. Oshie had a cup of coffee, took a couple drags off his smoke, tied his skate, and then deposited the puck behind Tuukka Rask before any Bruins player could catch him. Later in the first period, the Caps first line struck again as Backstrom one-timed home a Matt Niskanen rebound. Brad Marchand, who is annoying, scored a PP goal to cut the Caps lead to 2-1 before the first ended.

Nice Guy Brad Marchand added another PP goal early in the second to tie the game. Alex Ovechkin put the Caps back in the lead 3-2 with a PP in the last minute of the second.

Brett Connolly gave the Caps a 4-2 lead early in the third after a tic-tac-toe passing sequence from Evgeny Kuznetov and Dmitry Orlov. Kuznetsov decided to put a bow on it with a late goal. The Bruins scored a late goal. Whatever.

Caps win 5-3!

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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The beard stays: Caps beat Devils 5-2

The Caps rolled into Newark looking to bounce back from Tuesday’s listless loss to the Senators. This wasn’t just any old hockey game though. A beard was on the line, people.

Alex Ovechkin opened the scoring with a goal that should remind all of us how lucky we are to watch this guy every game. Then the PP converted as Andre Burakovsky  put the Caps up 2-0, showing the Devils why it’s a bad idea to pass the puck in front of your own net.

The Devils struck in the opening minutes of the second. The Caps got caught chasing in their own zone, and the lead was cut to to 2-1. The Devils continued to tilt the ice for the first half of the second period but there’s no need to worry because the best third line in hockey got to work and put the Caps up 3-1. Soon after, Dmitry Orlov sprung Evgeny Kuznetsov who slotted home the breakaway and, just like that, the Caps were up 4-1 and Keith Kinkaid’s night was over. The Devils scored before the second was over to make it 4-2. It was a PP goal against a Caps defensive pair of Brooks Orpik and Taylor Chorney…

Kuznetsov added an empty netter in the third.

Caps win 5-2! The beard stays!

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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Caps vs Hurricanes pregame: More Monday hockey

Happy Monday, everyone. After playing just twice on Mondays in the first three months of the season, the Caps play for the third consecutive Monday, as they host the Hurricanes. Carolina has an even 5-5-0 record in their last 10 games and currently sits in sixth in the Metro division.

John Carlson will be out again tonight and he will likely be held out through the All-Star break.

CSN has your puck drop at 7 pm.

Team Record SA% PDO Power Play Penalty Kill
Carolina Hurriances 21-18-7 51.6% 98.2 16.5% 88.7%
Washington Capitals 31-9-6 53.2% 104.1 20.3% 86.0%

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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Dad is proud: Caps beat Blues 7-3!

The Caps and their dads rolled into St Louis looking to bounce back from Monday’s loss to the Pens. The Blues came out firing but Andre Burakovsky put the Caps up 1-0 after his curious shot selection was rewarded. Soon after. Jay Beagle continued his career season and put the Caps up 2-0.

Nineteen seconds into the second period, the Blues were rewarded for playing better then the Caps in the first 20 minutes and made the game 2-1. TJ Oshie, who has never scored 30 goals in a season, put the Caps back on top by two before the period was five minutes old. A few minutes later, Brett Connolly, who is one-third of the best third line in hockey, put the good guys up 4-1 and Allen was pulled again. Before Carter Hutton could even introduce himself, noted jerk Marcus Johasson rudely scored his first goal of 2017 to put the Caps up 5-1. Justin Williams added a PP goal for good measure to put the Caps up 6-1 before the end of the second.

Evgeny Kuznetsov made it 7-1 on a fluky deflection bank shot that he totally meant to do. The Caps gave the Blues a couple sympathy goals before it was over.

CAPS WIN 7-3!

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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Elite company: Snapshot 5

We’re now into January, and the Caps are sitting in good shape. The team has 55 points, good for fifth in the league. The team is fourth in the Metro division. Yes, the Caps are the fifth best team in the NHL yet sit in only fourth in their division. The Metro division is the best division in hockey this season and the Caps are one of the reasons why. They are sitting among elite company.

Take a look at the top-5 NHL teams in the standings, as four of these teams come from the Metro.

The same is true for league-wide goal differential. four of the top six teams are in the Metro.

This all just goes to show that the concept of divisions for playoff seeding, as well as divisional playoffs, are a complete failure. Chances are this season, once again, an elite team from the Metro will be knocked out in the second round.

But I digress. Let’s dig into some Caps-specific numbers.

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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Caps at Senators pregame: Keep streaking

The Caps are fresh off a streak-busting win against Columbus and currently have a four-game winning streak of their own. They’ll look to push the streak to five tonight as they visit Ottawa for a battle of the nation’s capitals. The Sens have a solid 44 points in 37 games, but a juggernaut they aren’t. The Caps can pick up two points tonight to try to keep pace in the excellent Metro division.

Puck drop is at 7 PM on CSN

Team Record SA% PDO Power Play Penalty Kill
Ottawa Senators 20-13-4 47.4% 99.8 16.0% 82.5%
Washington Capitals 24-9-5 53.5% 102.7 16.7% 87.9%

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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Dmitry Orlov’s high-risk, high-reward style worked out for the Caps

Dmitry Orlov may be the player on the Washington Capitals roster that fans and analysts alike are most divided on. Known for his high-risk, high-reward style, Orlov is a dynamic player, but his style of play can lead to very noticeable mistakes when opponents are able to make him pay for his risky and sometimes ill-advised maneuvers. To his detractors credit, the chances that the Caps allow when Orlov is on the ice are often quality chances.

However, the point of many of his defenders is that despite his very noticeable gaffes, Orlov is a net-positive for his team. Since 2014, the Caps have scored 57.5 percent of the total goals when Orlov is on the ice, second only to Mike Green during the span.

Both sides of the Orlov debate have valid points. But on Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, there were many examples of why Orlov’s supporters are willing to excuse so many mistakes. Without his high-risk, high-reward style, the dynamic plays he made last night to help the Caps to victory wouldn’t be possible.
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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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With production lacking, Lars Eller still brings stability to Caps’ third line

The Capitals’ defeat by the Penguins last season was due in part to Pittsburgh’s bottom six outplaying Washington’s. In the offseason GM Brian MacLellan vowed to make an upgrade the team’s third line his number-one priority. That upgrade was the acquisition of Lars Eller.

Through 32 games in a Caps’ uniform, Eller has posted just six points. Some people have been understandably underwhelmed by his lack of production. After all, the lowest point total Eller has posted in the previous five seasons is 26 points. Eller’s 15-point pace is not impressive.

But underneath his lagging production, Eller has brought stability and strong play to a Caps’ third line that needed it badly. And, while this strong play will need to drive more production at some point, there’s reason to believe the third line is in good hands with Eller at pivot.

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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Carlzner isn’t working as a shutdown pair

Barry Trotz shook up his defensive pairings a few weeks ago and in doing so he reunited John Carlson and Karl Alzner as the Caps shutdown defensive pair. Carlson and Alzner have skated just over 3,000 minutes together in their career, but only 212 of those minutes have been during the Trotz regime.

But 128 of those 212 minutes have come since the recent reunion. The pair has been Trotz’s first choice to shutdown the top offensive players on the Caps’ opponent any given night. Unfortunately for the Caps, the reunion isn’t going very well. The Caps are getting outplayed when they’re on the ice. This pairing either needs to be broken up or have the difficulty of their assignments reduced.

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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Scratching Nate Schmidt is a terrible coaching decision

According to the Caps official Twitter account, Taylor Chorney is in for Nate Schmidt tonight.

Over the course of 82 games, in-game and lineup decisions over a small handful of games aren’t worth looking too far into. So, this season when the Caps have sat Schmidt in favor of Chorney, it’s been pretty easy to write it off as needing to get Chorney work. And hey, it’s only one game so sitting Schmidt isn’t a huge deal.

Until it is a huge deal. Schmidt continues to absolutely dominate on the Caps third pairing. His name should be written in the lineup in permanent marker every single night. And while it may feel petty to care about a lineup decision for one game, this kind of decision making process is what leads to Mike Weber getting a sweater for a playoff game.

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By Patrick Holden 6 years ago

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