You can’t say the Capitals aren’t trying to dramatically improve.
Late Saturday night, TSN Insider Bob McKenzie reported that the Caps inquired about several “notable” veteran defensemen ahead of the trade deadline.
Now we’re hearing the names and they’re substantial.
By Ian Oland 6 years ago
Who’s in and who’s out in a competitive Eastern Conference playoff race may determine several sellers ahead of the February 26 trade deadline. The New York Rangers, who could stand pat or begin a partial rebuild, are currently in last place of the Metropolitan Division (55 standings points). What complicates matters is that the Rangers are still within ten standings points of the first-place Capitals (65) and three points out of both of the Eastern Conference’s wildcard spots.
Monday, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported that the Rangers have asked 33-year-old, former 40-goalscorer Rick Nash for the teams on his no-trade list.
With twenty seconds left and a million dollars on the line, Alex Ovechkin went to the next level to ensure the Metropolitan Division All-Stars would hang on to their 4-3 lead.
He became the team’s waterboy.
Photo credit: Kathy Willens
With 11:51 left in the New York Rangers season, Al Pacino came onto the massive screen at Madison Square Garden. In a video familiar to Capitals fans, a scene from Any Given Sunday played.
“The inches we need are everywhere around us,” Pacino yells in the film.
For the Rangers, the winners of the Presidents’ Trophy this year, a few inches here and there had put them on the verge being eliminated from the postseason in early May. In their last eight periods coming into Friday’s game, they had scored two goals. After every loss to the Capitals, three of them heading into game five, they insisted they were about to break through. Every night, the Rangers showered Capitals goalie Braden Holtby with pucks. Though his teammates prevented many of those shots from reaching him, most made it through towards the net. Holtby, as he has all season, stopped nearly all of them.
In a series with some of the most spectacular goals imaginable, Holtby, 25 and a restricted free agent at the end of season, has been Washington’s most remarkable player. In the regular season, Capitals coach Barry Trotz played him more than any other goalie in the league, 73 games total. Through game four of this round, he had given up just 15 goals in 10 postseason games. His 1.48 goals against average and .950 save percentage topped all goalies still playing in the postseason.
But the Rangers offense, which netted 248 goals in the regular season, never disappeared. As their head coach Alain Vigneault reiterated after every game, they were knocking on the door. In the opening three games of the series, they put 94 shots on net. They added another 35 the first 58 minutes of game five. But their chances were running into the league’s hottest goalie, a guy who had been benched for weeks on end just a year ago.
But finally, 101 seconds before New York’s season was set to expire, Chris Kreider beat Holtby on the Rangers’ 36th shot of the night, a one-timer from the near circle.
“I just didn’t see it,” Holtby told reporters after the game.
By Chris Gordon 8 years ago
Hit play before watching the GIFs.
It’s game seven. It’s do or die. Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin isn’t going to stand idly by as his team’s season hangs in the balance.
With 11:38 left in the first period, Ovechkin stepped out on the ice for a shift, and it was inspiring. Ovechkin laid out three New York Rangers players with big hits and left the ice to a roaring standing ovation from the sold out Verizon Center crowd.
Let’s recap.
Ovi reacts after being slashed by Brad Richards in the third period of game three. (Photo credit: Bruce Bennett)
A few summers ago, Alex Ovechkin did an interview with Mike Vogel where he slouched. I didn’t think it was a big deal. A few screenshots later, Ovi’s bulging belly was the topic du jour and commenters everywhere opined about the Russian machine’s new chubbiness. The whole Fat Gate thing was ridiculous to me, because if you’ve ever seen Ovechkin, you’ve noticed how strong his core area is. It sticks out past his chest. It’s one of the reasons why Ovechkin’s such a physical player and has such explosiveness in his strides.
But since Ovechkin absorbed a crushing hip check from Anton Stralman to his leg, hip, and core in the first period of game three, he hasn’t been quite the same player.
Photo credit: Patrick McDermott
Four hours and 34 minutes, 222 attempted shots, and a 2-1 lead in the series for the New York Rangers. Those are some numbers from Wednesday/Thursday’s triathlon triple overtime Game 3, which ended with a Marian Gaborik wrist shot after over 102 minutes of play.
For those who left "early" because you had "work" in the morning: shame on you.
“Probably half the players on the ice have blood on their jerseys by the end of it,” Brooks Laich said after the game.
It was a battle all the way to the end. Both teams had numerous chances to put it away in the overtime periods, hitting posts and missing pointblank.
“When you get into that many hours of playing it becomes a mental game,” said Rangers coach John Tortorella. “Just not giving in. That’s the key, just don’t give in.”
“The impact is that we’re up a game,” he added. “They have to win three, we have to win two.”
By Chris Gordon 11 years ago
Matt Hendricks was in some kind of mood tonight. It’s already been the postseason of the grinders for the Washington Capitals, but Hendricks took that to a whole new level with 9 SOG and 10 hits, including one building-shaking crusher on Ryan McDonagh 4:20 into overtime. Video is below the jump.
Update: Nick Kypreos of Rogers Sportsnet reports that Matt Cooke has been suspended by the NHL for the rest of regular season and the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
During Sunday’s Penguins vs. Rangers game, Matt Cooke was up to his old tricks. The 32 year-old former Capital delivered an elbow to the head of a defenseless Ryan McDonagh. The Ranger player went down like a sack of potatoes but fortunately was uninjured. Cooke received a five minute major for elbowing on the play and a game misconduct. As Daniel Tolensky points out, Cooke has played in 881 NHL games yet has only been suspended a total of ten matches in his career. The League obviously deserves some of the blame for allowing Cooke’s dirty play to continue without significant consequences for his actions.
A month ago, Pens owner Mario Lemieux criticized the NHL for being too soft on the Islanders’ players that participated in the mega-brawl between New York and Pittsburgh. Just a week ago, Sidney Crosby said the NHL needed to fight deliberate head-shots. But now their own player, Matt Cooke, is once again under Colin Campbell’s review. Below, we’ve chronicled Cookie’s dirty deeds throughout the years.
Photo credit: Rob Carr
The one bright spot: Neil's latest Capitals Insider post about Ovi was included as part of game's Media's Notes at Verizon Center.
Shutout and embarrassed by the New York Rangers. Now where have I heard that before? The Caps certainly did their best December 12 impression on Friday night, with the added twist of dropping the game in front of their home fans, who didn’t respond kindly.
“I am absolutely not happy,” said Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau. “I mean our fans deserve better. That’s three games in a row at home. You know, we deserved to get booed there. It’s not fun when you come home and you got the best fans in the world and you play like that.”
The first action in the contest came when Jason Chimera delivered a hard check along the boards to the Rangers’ Michael Sauer, who didn’t take well to Chimera’s rough play. After a little back and forth the two dropped the gloves with neither getting too much of an upper hand. Just under six minutes into the game the period got ugly for the Caps. It started when Mike Green and Derek Stepan went for the puck in the corner with Stepan catching Green with an elbow. The recently injured Green immediately hit the ice, clutching his head before heading to the locker room as soon as play stopped. Just seconds after Green’s injury Steve Eminger gave the Rangers the lead, as the puck knuckled past Caps goalie Michal Neuvirth. At 14:47 in the period Sauer got into the action again setting up Erik Christensen in front of Washington’s net, putting New York up by two. The Capitals would get a chance to rally when Alex Ovechkin skated down the wing, beat Ryan McDonagh, and fired a shot on Rangers ‘keeper Henrik Lundqvist as he slid down the ice on his rear. Sounds familiar, eh? This time, however, Ovi was unsuccessful.
In the second frame, things would only get worse for the Capitals. At 4:19, while on the power play, Christensen would pot his second of the night, set up by an excellent backhand pass from Ryan Callahan. The Caps in-game entertainment crew responded by playing “Unleash the Fury” much earlier than usual. But that did little to stop Washington’s poor play as later in the period Stepan would extend New York’s lead to four after a misplay by Neuvirth.
In the third, the Rangers put a five-spot on the Caps when Vinny Prospal flicked a wrist shot over Neuvirth’s shoulder. But that wouldn’t be it. Brian Boyle would extend the lead once again in the waining moments of the game. Are you still reading? Rangers rout Caps, 6-0.
By Chris Gordon 13 years ago
