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Video: Troy Brouwer Hits Erik Gustafsson, Knocks Open Bench Door

Photo credit: Nick Wass

Early in the first period of the Flyers-Capitals game, Troy Brouwer delivered a hard (but clean) hit on Philly’s Erik Gustafsson. Gustafsson crashed into the door to the Caps bench and forced it open, which Scott Hartnell considered ungentlemanly.

Hartnell challenged Brouwer to a fight at 5:33 of the first. They spent a long moment duking up, staring each other down, and adjusting their carrot-y curls (that last one does not apply to Troy).

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By Ian Oland 9 years ago

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Dmitry Orlov Signs Autographs, Babies at Caps Kids’ Club Day

In addition to being Alex Semin’s birthday, Saturday’s practice was Caps Kids’ Club Day– with some added Russian flavor. Capitals’ employees cordoned off the mezzanine level of Kettler Capitals IcePlex, creating stations for games, face-painting, and sign-making.

Dmitry Orlov manned the autograph station. Having one of the Russians, who is still learning English, interact with children might have been awkward, but Dima was beaming the entire time– especially when a child wearing his number asked for an autograph.

My pictures of the day are below and please note: a) these pictures aren’t nearly as good as Chris Gordon’s would have been; b) the lighting was bad; and c) I may or may not have stolen some juice from one of the stations. I think I owe Ted Leonsis 75 cents.

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By Ian Oland 9 years ago

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Philadelphia Flyers Pregame: Who Got Game?

Ed. note: Here comes your Puck Buddys pregame! Check out their lovely website and delightful twitter thing.

This is a test. This website is conducting a test of the Emergency Capitals Broadcasting System. This is only a test. 

The Pregame: Crazy… you know crazy? Not like “dingo ate my baby” crazy, or “I love Dan Snyder” crazy, but like, Groundhog Day crazy? As in: not only have I seen all this before, but I recall the precise taste of last week’s warm beer and bitter defeat? And why am I tasting it again? Am I at the Mystery Spot?

You have good reason. Here we are, thinking back to Friday’s collapsing defeat on the tail of a hot performance or two (or three), wondering what went wrong, how it could have happened, and what encouragement we might have to offer. Alan May: help us!

And suddenly we’re seized with deja vu; worse, even – not that we think we’ve sorta kinda been here before, but that we’ve been exactly completely here before, several times, right down to Alan May tossing us the lifeline of straight talk, to have it fall on plugged ears.

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By Doug Johnson 9 years ago

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Alex Semin Has Fun at Caps Practice on his 28th Birthday

Photo by @cnichols14 of the District Sports Page.

We headed down to Kettler today to see how number 28 was spending his 28th birthday. We expected a low-key, downbeat practice after last night’s 5-0 loss to the Devils. That turned out not to be the case — and Alex Semin in particular seemed to be in a good mood.

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By Ian Oland 9 years ago

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Link: Read Puck Buddys’ “The Thin Blue Line”

Hopefully you’ve noticed that RMNB engaged the Puck Buddys website in a partnership this season. Their pregamers and features have been clever and kind-spirited, and we’re honored to count them among our friends.

Over at their site, the Puck Buddys have been running The Thin Blue Line, a long-read profile of a gay player in high school. The series culminates with this weekend’s installment, which is transcendentally good and we strongly recommend you read it. They’ve got a lot of big stuff cooking too, but we’ll get to that soon enough.

Read “The Thin Blue Line”

Our website is for Everyone, and we believe hockey should be that way too. It makes us happy beyond words to align ourselves with people who not only believe the same, but actually work to make it happen. Bravo, guys.

By Peter Hassett 9 years ago

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Photo: Injured Evgeny Kuznetsov Spotted on JumboTron at Traktor Playoff Game

It’s been a week since we last saw Evgeny Kuznetsov in the flesh, writhing in pain and being strechered off the ice after suffering a knee injury. On Friday, however, the Traktor Chelyabinsk in-game entertainment crew featured him on the Jumbotron early in the first period so that the young Caps prospect could do a bit of advertising. In a photo published on VKontakte – Russia’s most popular social media site – and later posted on Sports.ru, a laughing Kuzya can be seen holding a sign which reads,”Selling Garage.” Underneath, it features a fake phone number. Clever.

Traktor went on to lose to Yugra, 5-2. Their playoff series is now tied 1-1.

By Ian Oland 9 years ago

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When They’re Bad They’re Horrid: Devils Beat Caps, 5-0


From the exasperated facial expressions of babes… (Photo credit: Mitchell Layton)

How many times have we said “this is the worst game all season”? It seems like it’s been half a dozen times at least, maybe more. Someone make a slideshow of this and get back to us, complete with sad eighties breakup music.

I don’t know if this was The Definitive Worst Game of the Season, if only because it has so much competition, but it was pretty bad. Please come down from the ledge and let’s talk about it. We’re here for you.

Zach Parise scored a pretty PP goal on a pretty pass from Patrik Elias. Michal Neuvirth let another Parise shot trickle through to make it two goals on four shots. Former Cap Dainus Zubrus closed out the first period with a slapstick falling-down third goal. Parise scored a third for the hat trick, but no hats were forthcoming at the Verizon Center, no sir. Patrick Elias capitalized on a shorthanded chance on a Caps PP. Devils beat Caps, 5-0.

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By 9 years ago

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George McPhee Not Interested in Negotiating With Alex Semin or Dennis Wideman Until After the Season

Photo credit: Gerry Thomas

Last year, the Capitals re-signed Alex Semin to a one-year, $6.7 million extension on January 27th, ending months of speculation about the 27-year-old’s future with the team. This season, Semin’s production is way down (17 goals in 59 games), and he’s on pace to have his lowest goal-scoring season since his rookie year in 2003-04 when he tallied 10 goals in 52 games. No early extension was forthcoming this January for Semin, nor will it be, as Caps GM George McPhee told NHL Live Tuesday — but it’s not because of his off year. McPhee has decided to change his strategy.

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By 9 years ago

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Evgeny Kuznetsov Talks About The WJC, His Outdoor Game Goal, and What’s Next

A week ago in the final minutes of Traktor’s 2-1 win over Spartak, Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov absorbed an awkward hit near the end boards and suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury. Kuznetsov, who can be seen writhing on the ice in pain, was then taken to a local Cheylabinsk hospital where an MRI of his knee came back clean. Accordingly, Traktor Chelyabinsk’s official website announced that Kuznetsov had a bruised knee and would only miss a week of time, meaning he would be ready for the start of the KHL playoffs.

Well, not so fast! The next day, Kuznetsov flew to Germany to have European doctors take a closer look at his knee. On that flight over, Kuznetsov announced on Twitter that he’d be out three to five weeks because of the injury. After being examined, Kuznetsov gave no update on whether the diagnosis had changed.

The saga continued this past Thursday after Traktor defeated Yugra 3-1 in the first game of their KHL playoff series. Traktor’s head coach Valery Belousov told the Russian media that “Kuznetsov is on crutches for now. Don’t expect him to come back very soon.” Suffice to say, that must be one heck of a bruise to put a 19-year-old athlete on crutches.

Meanwhile, the normally chatty Kuznetsov has avoided the media altogether lately, but that wasn’t the case a few weeks ago when he went on Russia-2’s “Week of Sports” to accept the prestigious honor of being named “Russian Athlete of the Month” for January. During the fascinating ten-minute interview, host Alexey Popov asks Kuznetsov about a variety of things including the Outdoor Game he recently played in, his feelings about winning silver in the World Junior Championships, and his relationship with the Capitals. Below I offer a translation.

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By Igor Kleyner 9 years ago

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New Jersey Devils: Where Dat Rally Balloon?

The PreGame: Close your eyes for a moment. Now fling your head out the window.

Wait. Stop that. Open window, fling head, close eyes.

Better. Breathe deep…deeplier deep. Now, what do you smell out there? Summer? Winter? Victory? Streak?

Us? We get mulch, daffodils and notes of flattened street rat. But we much prefer these others. Summer – remember buoyancy and cautious cockiness? Winter; well, early winter means Christmas, and Christmas last was a Capsmas miracle against the Devils, so thank you Baby Jesus!

Victory? Contrary to Maj. Kilgore, victory doesn’t smell like napalm in the morning.  Rather it’s a man-handling of the Habs, a swift start and sustained margin against the Leafs, and a ‘You-Ain’t-Gonna-Win” sass against the dreadful Islanders, all in a row. Yum.

And Streak? Actually, we haven’t really smelled that this year for a long, long time. But still, I think I might recall…

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By Doug Johnson 9 years ago

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