Every game, Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz jots his notes onto a notecard he keeps in his suit coat. As the Caps and Rangers left the ice for the first intermission on Wednesday, NBCSN showed a close-up shot of Trotz looking all philosophical-like, holding his top secret notes for all the world to see.
Alex Ovechkin is nearly impossible to stop on the power play– even if you know a shot his coming. He’s even more difficult to stop when one of your teammates deflects his shot and makes it go in the opposite direction.
That’s what happened during the Caps’ first-period power play against the Rangers. Evgeny Kuznetsov found Ovechkin near the right circle. Ovechkin shot, and then suicide-diving Jesper Fast deflected the puck past Cam Talbot.
Photo: Elsa
In Saturday’s 6-1 trouncing of the Sabres, Evgeny Kuznetsov caught my eye on a couple of goals. On the lone Sabres tally, Kuzy seemed confused on where he should be. On one Caps goal, Kuzy was instrumental in helping to end Brooks Laich’s long goal-less streak.
Before taking a look at the two plays, I’d caution against reaching grand conclusions on Kuznetsov’s game based off of any two plays, including these. But, Kuznetsov has been criticized for inconsistent play this season, and performances like the one detailed below are an example of what draws that criticism.
Here’s what Barry Trotz had to say about the rookie’s development this morning:
By Patrick Holden 5 years ago
Photo: Alex Brandon / Associated Press
It’s “Rivalry Night”, kiddos, and there’s nearly no better rivalry in the NHL right now than the Capitals and the Rangers.
Last time around– can you believe we’ve only played them once this season? — didn’t go so hot. We were fumbling and they were ascending. Things have turned around a bit, but tonight’s match is really just the beginning of the end of regular season play. We’ve only got three chances to nail these guys, and chance one starts tonight.
Both teams are coming off wins, but very different ones at that. The Sabres’ face-plant against the Caps was hardly a meaningful test, unlike Tuesday’s Rangers’ win over the Metropolitan Division-leading Islanders. Add in the Pens, and you’ve got a fairly tight bunch at the top between those four teams.
Every Rangers post must include a shot of Lundqvist. It’s the law.
We’re both playing well, although the Caps have been getting a might sloppy of late, and both squads are in relatively decent condition, considering how deep we are into the season. On the Rangers side, handsome ol’ Henrik Lundqvist is still out, healing his pretty, pretty face, but so, too, might be Mike Green and Brooks Orpik, who are two D-men we do not want to lose.
Less meaningful, but more irritating, will be the likely flood of Rags fans who will pollute Verizon tonight. Some things are simply, self-evidently, inescapable. Death and taxes. Daylight Savings Time is stupid. And right up there, Rangers fans are just awful.
We reached out to the decidedly non-awful Neill Fowler — writer, owner, operator and bottle-washer at New York Rangers Blog — for some insight about the Rangers, and the second of what we expect will be several more meetings before this whole thing is through. He was good enough to share his thoughts after a tense, but ultimately successful, evening for the Rangers last night.
By Doug Johnson 5 years ago
Photo by Alex Prewitt
The Rangers come to town fresh off a 2-1 win over the Islanders last night. The Rangers are one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. They currently sit second in the Metro, one point behind the Islanders and seven points ahead of the fourth place Caps. If the Caps hope to go far this Spring, they’ll likely have to go through the Blueshirts. Expect a playoff-like atmosphere at Verizon Center tonight.
Puck drop is at 8pm on NBCSN.
By Patrick Holden 5 years ago
Photo: @CapsFan070
Alex Ovechkin is a top candidate for the Hart Trophy again this season. And if the national media has been paying any attention at all, Ovechkin will also be a finalist for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy at the end of the year too.
Ovechkin’s contributions to the community include giving away a car, fulfilling the wish of an 8-year-old with diabetes, going out on a sushi date with a 10-year-old with Down Syndrome, giving away countless sticks and pucks, and secretly supporting a bunch of Russian orphanages.
On Tuesday, the Capitals announced on Facebook that Ovechkin was fulfilling another young fan’s wish: Reagan Everett got a signed stick from the Russian Machine after Tuesday’s practice. According to the team he will “help cheer on the Caps during [the Rangers game Wednesday] night!”
Photo: Alex Brandon
Jay Beagle is having a career-best season. With 10 goals and counting, he’s got more offensive flair than ever before. That offense has come with criticism– not for Beagle himself, who is a talented and beloved bottom-sixer, but for the coach(es) who deployed him on the top line with Alex Ovechkin.
We, among others, criticized Adam Oates for playing Beagle and Ovechkin together in 2013-14. In 42 minutes together last season, Beagle and Ovechkin and were outscored 8 to 1 and outshot 94 to 58. This season, inexplicably, Barry Trotz has used Beagle and Ovechkin together even more (112 minutes and counting), though he’s seen much better results.
In 2014-15, Beagle and Ovechkin get outshot by merely 15 shot attempts every 60 minutes, which is only as bad as, say, John Scott.
Hockey, I’ve been told, is about results. So here’s every top-line Beagle goal I could find from this season.
By Peter Hassett 5 years ago
Smile!
The Caps have announced that they have recalled defenseman Nate Schmidt from Hershey. This is an emergency recall. Apparently, Mike Green is banged up. The Caps listed him a day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Schmidt has 2 goals and 4 assists, and a 53.4-percent shot-attempt percentage in 29 games for the Caps this season. He recently returned from a fractured shoulder blade.
We like Schmidt around here. We like him a lot.
We also like Mike Green.
While the loss of Green on the blue line is a big blow to the team, it appears as if it’s a short-term thing. Having a replacement as capable as Schmidt waiting in the wings speaks to the blue-line depth that Brian MacLellan has built in his short time as General Manager.
By Patrick Holden 5 years ago
Photo by Amanda Bowen
David Johnson of Puckalytics and Hockey Analysis released a new feature over the weekend called Super WOWY. Super WOWY allows you to select up to 6 teammates and 6 opponents and see how the groups fare in head-to-head matchups dating back to 2008-09. For those of you who like to play armchair coach by considering different line combinations and matchups, you’ll love this new tool.
I’ve been noodling around with Super WOWY, specifically by looking at Caps’ line combinations for this season. While our admiration and respect for Head Coach Barry Trotz has been well documented here on RMNB, so too has been our bewilderment over some of his line combinations, though we acknowledge Trotz is in a no-win situation when he puts together his lines.
Here are the best four lines the Caps could possibly ice– based on a nifty new data set.
By Patrick Holden 5 years ago
I’ve got some great news to share with you. Well, actually I’ll let Bensten tell you.
