Bruce Boudreau

Puck Drops 3/6: RMNB Gets You Ready For Caps vs. Rangers

Will Sean Avery be a prick tonight?

The Capitals, who are 24-3-3 at home this year, currently have a club-record 12 straight wins and look for (unlucky?) number 13 tonight against the New York Rangers at 7:05pm. Unfortunately for the Capitals, against them tonight is the dreaded reverse-lock. For those who don’t know what that is, that’s when a scenario presents itself where conditions seem so perfect for a win – that it’s fair to assume the other team will do so because of unforeseen happenings. Why do we feel that way? Well, John Tortoralla has decided to rest Henrik Lundqvist tonight (Matt Bradley’s Best Friend), and is instead giving the keys to backup goaltender Alex Auld. Auld’s numbers on the year are: W/L: 9-6, GA: 3.00, SV%: .894 and his career numbers against the Capitals are W/L: 3-4, GA: 2.73, SV%: .896. Um, weak. Bruce Boudreau will counter with our time-traveling buddy Jose Theodore.

Anyways, since the reverse lock may be in effect – look for a 5 goal game from a gentlemanly Sean Avery who’ll concentrate more on forechecking than being a complete prick, and zero points from Marian Gaborik, who’ll be in the lineup for the first time since February 12th. And oh yeah, a 45 save shutout from Alex Auld.

Back in reality land, Tarik El Bashir has the Capitals Forward Lines for Tonight’s Game:

1st Line: Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble
2nd Line: Laich-Belanger-Semin (Belanger promoted)
3rd Line: Chimera-Fleischmann-Fehr (Flash back to center)
4th Line: Bradley-Steckel-Walker (Bradley returns!!)

Also, our partner Michael Hoffman, who will be supplying us quotes for the rest of the year, asked Bruce Boudreau about Alex Ovechkin’s slump since returning from the Olympics. Here’s what he had to say:

“Every year I’ve been here, Alex has had a little bit of a stretch where he just can’t find the net and then the next thing you know once he gets one in, he gets ten in four games. That’s the way’s he’s been and this is his little funk. I expect him to come out of it very soon.” – An Ovechkin goal scoring slump? Coach Boudreau isn’t concerned

Will Ovi come out of the slump tonight? Will Sean Avery be an a-hole? Make sure to watch the game on CSN and follow the Russian Machine on Twitter for all your updates.

Also, below the jump are your must reads before tonight’s game. We will be referring to them as Puck Drops for now on!

(more…)

By 14 years ago

0 Comment

Hershey Bears Continue Dominance With Weekend Sweep

Mathieu Perreault Scores on a Penalty Shot

The Hershey Bears concluded a brutal stretch of four games in five mornings/nights today, as they took on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 1:00 p.m. The game, originally scheduled for 3PM, was bumped up two hours early to accommodate the Gold Medal Game between the United States and Canada.

In his first start since returning from the Russian National Team in the Olympics (and eating McDonald’s everyday), Semyon Varlamov played splendidly against the Baby Pens stopping 30 shots and thwarting three consecutive opportunities in the shootout as the Bears prevailed 2-1. After falling behind 2-0 in the shootout, clutch goals by Keith Aucoin, Alex Giroux and the previous night’s hero (more on that later) Mathieu Perreault allowed Hershey to win the shootout 3-2. Kyle Wilson scored Hershey’s lone goal of the game during regulation, despite the Bears peppering Baby Pens goalie Brad Thiessen with 33 shots. The win was Hershey’s 46th on the season.

Bruce Boudreau and Bears President Doug Yingst take in the 9-2 Beatdown (Photo Kyle M.)

Bruce Boudreau and Bears President Doug Yingst take in the 9-2 Beatdown (All Photos by Kyle M.)

Saturday night with Bruce Boudreau in attendence for a pregame book signing, the Hershey Bears pushed their incredible AHL Record home winning streak to 21 with a resounding 9-2 victory over the New York Islanders farm team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Hershey jumped out to a 5-1 first period lead on the heels of a first period hat trick by everyone’s favorite miniature-sized-center Mathieu Perreault.

Perreault ended the night with an incredible four goals, including one on a penalty shot in the second period. Other crazy stats accumulated during the night? Prepare yourself:

(more…)

By Ian Oland 14 years ago

0 Comment

What Went Wrong With Team Russia?

Alex Ovechkin and his friends have left Vancouver by now, and surely that’s a good thing. For the greatest conglomeration of hockey talent we may ever see, Team Russia played like amateurs. The 2010 Men’s Olympic hockey tournament was a disaster for the Russians, and that comes as a surprise to many of us. But why did the Russian Machine break? (Did you really think we’d let that go?)

(more…)

By Peter Hassett 14 years ago

0 Comment

Varlamov does the opposite of shine in Caps 6-5 Loss

Sasha's Compete Level = Meh. Nets Hat Trick & Assist in Loss. (Photo by Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images)

Sasha's Compete Level = Meh. Nets Hat Trick & Assist in Loss anyways. (Photo by Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images)

The Washington Capitals officially have a defensive crisis. Despite an offensive onslaught, the Capitals allowed (at least) one too many goals in tonight’s match-up with the Senators. With Tom Poti and Shaone Morrisonn out, Karl Alzner and Tyler Sloan did their best to fill in. They failed. The defense seemed incapable of winning battles in the corners or clearing the puck, and the offense seemed too concerned with goal-scoring to be bothered with work in their own zone. These are not new problems for the Caps, but they have worsened in the last five or six games. Led by Alexei Kovalev and Jason Spezza, Ottawa seized on the Capitals’ weakness to win the night. Sens Beat Caps 6-5.

Bah.

(more…)

By Peter Hassett 14 years ago

0 Comment

Come on, how could you suspend this guy?? (via facebook)

For raising an elbow on Michael Frolik during last night’s game against the Panthers, Mike Green will be suspended for three games [Tarik!]. The hockey powers that be in Toronto have said all season they were going to start getting tough on elbows and shots to the head, and apparently they’re starting with Canada’s best defenseman.

The angle of the shot broadcasted over CSN-DC made the hit look like nothing more than a stiff shoulder to Frolik’s dome. Seeing that view first will likely spark outrage of Caps fans, but the perspective below removes any doubt about the penalty’s provenance:

(more…)

By Peter Hassett 14 years ago

0 Comment

If you’re Bruce Boudreau, you’re livin’ large. You’ve got a Book Deal, a budding acting career, a Bobblehead, a Jack Adams Trophy, and the two-time NHL MVP on your team. How could life be any better? It’s hard to say.

But realistically, even with all of those luxuries, you’ve still got some problems. BIG problems. Like your GM just signed a guy barely playing NOW to a two year contract, you watch your team get beat up every fight it accepts, and your number one goalie has been out half the year with a multitude of weird, crotch-related injuries.

So if you’re feeling like Bruce is feeling after your “other” star winger gets whistled for another offensive zone penalty in the third period, then protest along with Gabby, and buy our WTF T-Shirt, available in Men’s and Women’s Sizes. Also available in Blue and White in Men’s and White in Women’s.

Protesting bad ice, a flat beer, or a nasty breakup with your girlfriend after you find out she’s cheating on you with the Capstronaut, has never been easier – or more stylish with this tee!

Want to see the rest of our Gabby T-Shirts in this series? Take a look below the jump.

(more…)

By Ian Oland 14 years ago

0 Comment

Everything Clicks In Capitals 8-1 Victory Over Thrashers

Pretty Much Summarizes The Entire Night For the Trashers (Photos via AP)

As we prepared for tonight’s Caps/Thrashers game, we were alerted to three crucial things: 1.) The Caps had plane troubles again and had to depart for Atlanta very early this morning (per Capitals Insider) 2.) Japers Rink told us via Twitter that the Caps have never won in Atlanta on a Saturday night (0-3-1) and 3.) Capitals 9th string Goalie Brett Leonhardt made this awesome observation on Twitter: “There is legit spots on the ice in ATL where you can see the cement… guess the teams’ not the only ones mailing it in.”

Wow, huge #verbfail there, Brett.

But with these convenient excuses on hand, we here at the Russian Machine felt like it was a perfect night for our hometown team to have another mindless, letdown game and be done in by the dreaded “Reverse Lock.” Or – at the least – witness Sasha take 6 offensive-zone penalties and see just how hard Bruce could angrily stare at him without his eyes bugging out of his head.

But alas, we were treated to a blowout victory, as the Capitals took the Thrashers to the freakin’ woodshed and won by a Touchdown. … Sorry, it’s Saturday… I’m a little drunk… I’ve gotta do it:

VIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCTTTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOORRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
(Ed note: fast foward to 1:47 mark)

On to the bullet points:

(more…)

By Ian Oland 14 years ago

0 Comment

My Best Christmas Present? An Autographed Copy of “Gabby”

Book cover art courtesy Potomac Books

Look I might be an intellectual, but I’m not much of a reader. Hence why when I go over to Redskins Insider for my daily visit, I generally get bored after the 6th straight paragraph about how much Carlos Rogers sucks. I just can’t help it, you know? I guess it’s ADD.

But there are some things that I will force myself to sit down and read. And one of them is the new book written by both Tim Leone and Capitals Head Coach Bruce Boudreau called “Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer.”

Over the summer, our friends at Japers Rink pretty much sold us on the book after the first teaser. But then JP shared with us 4 more (Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) , and we pretty much wanted to drive to the nearest Barnes and Noble and rip through all the bookshelves until we found it. But alas, the book wasn’t going to be released until the upcoming October, so I decided to play the waiting game and just get it then.

Well months passed by, and I tried to keep the book in the back of my mind, but I kinda just forgot about it. Well, that is until our other friends at On Frozen Blog mentioned that Bruce Boudreau was having a book signing on December 21st after practice at Kettler.

Oh, if I didn’t work in Columbia, I could just drop on by during lunch!! But taking a 3.5 hr lunch break wasn’t going to fly especially with having to have 6 websites done by the end of the year. Sigh.

Well, a few days ago, I posed a question to my Twitter Followers. I asked them “What’s the Best Thing About Caps Fans?” And here are some of the responses:

(more…)

By Ian Oland 14 years ago

0 Comment

As an artist, do you know what I love? Flash. No not, Tomas Fleischmann, you fool. I love flair. I love skill. I love sick moves and highlight reel goals. I love potential and thinking I have it all.

When I think of Alex Semin, I think I have the most talented hockey player in the world. I love seeing that. I love knowing that. I love telling my hockey friends in other NHL cities that he’s more talented than Alex Ovechkin and having them laugh at me like I’m some kind of disturbed fool.

But tell me, Can Crosby do this?
(more…)

By 14 years ago

0 Comment

Are the Caps sizing up Kovalchuk? Let’s hope not!

Michael Nylander has left a hole beneath the salary cap to the tune of $4 million. Nylander’s awkward and only somewhat amicable exit from the Washington Capitals opens up doors of possibility for the team. Naive I was to think that this discussion need not happen until nearer the draft or at least the trade deadline. Nope, we’re already hearing rumors that the Caps are interested in Ilya Kovalchuk. The left winger superstar has been firmly ensconced in Atlanta since 2001, and his hefty salary is still greater than what was freed up by Nylander’s exit. So what’s gonna give? Well, it better not be my boy, Alexander Semin!

Listen. Try not to act shocked, but this site is called Russian Machine Never Breaks, so we’re sort of in the business of hyping up the Sashas and the junior goalie with the currently sore crotch. Sure, Kovalchuk is a Russian, too, but then we won’t be able to do the “Lesser Sasha” and “Sasha Proper” jokes. Really, our Sasha joke quotient will be cut in half. Plus, there’s also that I think Semin is a terrific hockey player and an asset to the team.

The current Caps roster is built around Alexander Ovechkin, right? So wouldn’t the adding of another star left wing dilute that focus? Semin compliments Ovechkin, and on some days he outshines him. Kovalchuk’s numbers (593 points in 573 games) aren’t even that much better than Semin’s (244 points in 278 games), or at least perhaps not good enough to excuse the salary differential.

Yeah, I’m aware of the problems with Semin. He willfully won’t speak English, he went AWOL after the lockout, he gives up offensive-zone penalties like a (offensive joke about senior prom here), and he’s got more flash than substance. Guess what? I don’t care. Alexander Semin is under the wizardly guidance of Bruce “You had me at no problem” Boudreau. Bruce is upfront about his unhappiness with the lesser Sasha (see? You don’t wanna lose that!), and I think we’ve seen Semin respond with increased discipline and focus since returning from his wrist injury.

Alexander Semin’s presence on the Caps rewards both him and the team. Yeah, Kovalchuk is attractive, but we can’t ditch our date everytime some flirty girl at the other end of the bar flashes us a kind look. And if this truly is a championship season after all, we ought not mess with the magic halfway into it.

(This post’s Sasha count = 5)

By Peter Hassett 14 years ago

0 Comment

« First ‹ Previous 14 15 16 171819 Next ›

Page 18 of 19

Bruce Boudreau

Puck Drops 3/6: RMNB Gets You Ready For Caps vs. Rangers

Hershey Bears Continue Dominance With Weekend Sweep

What Went Wrong With Team Russia?

Alex Semin’s Hat Trick for Naught! Sens Beat Caps 6-5.

Mike Green Suspended For Three Games, Probably Going to Play Some Mass Effect 2

T-Shirt Tuesday Part II: The Gabby Series

Everything Clicks In Capitals 8-1 Victory Over Thrashers

My Best Christmas Present? An Autographed Copy of “Gabby”

Ian’s Take: What Should The Capitals Do With Alex Semin?

Are the Caps sizing up Kovalchuk? Let’s hope not!