Last summer, after the Caps won the Stanley Cup, Caps forward Brett Connolly said he would not visit the Trump White House. “It has nothing to do with politics,” Connolly said. “It’s about what’s right and wrong.”
On Tuesday, after scoring his twentieth goal of the season, Connolly said he stands by that decision.
By Peter Hassett 1 month ago
The Carolina Hurricanes downed the Pittsburgh Penguins in the shootout on Tuesday night. To celebrate, the Funnest Team In The League™ went on a Duck Hunt. It’s time for another Storm Surge!
By Peter Hassett 1 month ago
The Washington Capitals looked darn good in Tuesday’s convincing road win over the New Jersey Devils, who aren’t even really trying at this point.
Andre Burakovsky began the scoring with a smart release. The Devils replied with one second left in the first period, when the Caps got a bit careless in their own zone. The second period was a bonanza. Brett Connolly caught a pass from Djoos to hit twenty goals for the first time in his career. Then the Devils surrendered odd-man breaks to allow both Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov to score. A speedy third period ended without a change to the scoreboard.
Caps win!
By Peter Hassett 1 month ago
The Washington Capitals will visit President Donald Trump and the White House on Monday, March 25. This news was broken on Tuesday by Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post.
The White House visit follows months of delay and controversy following the team’s 2018 Stanley Cup championship.
By Peter Hassett 1 month ago
The Washington Capitals have won seven of their last eight games, but that means nothing if they can’t beat the best. So here comes the best. The boys are in Tampa today to visit the best team in the NHL and maybe also the best team of the last two decades. The Bolts have the league’s leading point-scorer, a coach who should win the Jack Adams, and enough depth to punish teams who underestimate them. This is going to be a big test for the Caps.
The game begins at 7 PM, and fans who are taking their significant others out to Wine Kitchen for their birthday dinners can sneakily stream the game from their phones using the My Teams App. Chris Cerullo will have recap duty and also basically temporary dictatorial powers over all of RMNB, so look out.
By Peter Hassett 1 month ago
The NHL trade deadline was on February 25. Since then, the Washington Capitals have won seven of eight games, taken hold of the Metropolitan Division lead, and generally looked awesome. The last few weeks have been a dramatic shift from earlier in the season, when the Caps looked just sorta okay. Something has changed.
There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?
By Peter Hassett 1 month ago
The Washington Capitals will play their 69th game of the season tonight. There were 68 games before this one, so this one is number 69. That’s one less than 70. It’s 69. The other team is the Jets. 69.
The 69th game begins at 7 PM. Streamed the niceness using the My Teams app, and delight in the recapitulatory wonders of Chris Cerullo here on RMNB. 69.
By Peter Hassett 1 month ago
Two-time Stanley Cup champion Brooks Orpik had an okay Friday night. In Washington’s win over New Jersey, Orpik played 18:20 and put two shots on goal. Plus, he earned a $250,000 performance bonus for playing in his 40th game of the season. With his $1 million base pay and his payment from Colorado, Orpik is now effectively made whole after last summer’s buyout.
That invites reasonable questions and doubts about how the team might use him going forward. In a league growing quicker and more finesse-driven, Orpik, 38, is neither. But criticisms and condemnations of his play this season have often missed the mark. Orpik has put forth a solid outing in 2018-19, and his play is nowhere near the worst of Washington’s problems.
By Peter Hassett 1 month ago
Scott Hartnell spent his first six seasons in the NHL as a Nashville Predator, and though he spent a decade with Columbus and Philadelphia after that, he made it a priority to finish his career where he started it. On Saturday night, Nashville celebrated Scott Hartnell night, bringing back the ginger-haired forward for a ceremonial puck drop.
Hartnell reportedly wanted a real competition on the faceoff between Roman Josi and Carolina’s Justin Williams. Rumored to have promised $100 to the winner, Hartnell is sort of responsible for Williams, the mischevious architect of the Hurricanes’ storm surge celebrations, taking it a bit too far.
By Peter Hassett 1 month ago
The Washington Capitals jumped out to a commanding lead early in Wednesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, but a late-game surge by the home team almost made it interesting. Almost.
Tom Wilson scored the game’s first goal, taking a pass from Ovi on his knees. Brett Connolly made it 2-0 with an in-and-out goal that required an official review to be ruled a goal.
In the second period, Alex Ovechkin got left alone on the Ovi Spot to record his 46h goal of the season. Andre Burakovsky stayed red hot with a solo effort, then Nicklas Backstrom caught a goal-line pass from Jakub Vrana to roof the five-spot. Before the second period was up, Claude Giroux set up rookie Philippe Myers for his first NHL goal.
Giroux opened the third period with an early goal as well, and the Caps’ lead diminished to two with 12 minutes left when Scott Laughton got a clear shot up the slot past Holtby.
Caps win! Five in a row!
By Peter Hassett 1 month ago
