From flying high to crashing low, all in one weekend

Hm. I was too hung over to post anything about the Caps edge-of-your-seat win on Friday night. And now I am glad I didnt.

As I have mentioned, there are some aspects of the Capitals' collective game that make them successful. Consistent play and a good forecheck are the two most present factors in the Capitals wins. Unfortunately, neither of these two showed up for very long on Sunday (if at all), and the Capitals lost an important game on home ice. They now go into Tuesday's game in Philadelphia under the gun -- they have to win at least one on Philly's turf in order to return to DC with the series even. A much better prospect then returning with three losses, and their head on the chopping block if they should lose one more game.

Here is what sticks out for me the most:

I've got to give it to the Flyers, they found a way to shut down Ovie, sneak some past Huet and keep the game under their control. The Caps looked as nervous as a virgin on prom night, which certainly helped the Flyers keep their game going.

Give me Steve Eminger over John Erskine. John Erskine has got two inches and six pounds on Steve Eminger. Steve Eminger has got a brain. I'll take Eminger, please.

It was pretty plain to see that the Flyers were picking on Cristobal Huet. In the third period, Huet was finally fed up and tossed around some healthy shoves. Good for him, but the Caps d-men need to do a better job of kicking those Flyers out of the crease. Scott Hartnell was parked there for so long, I memorized every wrinkle in the back of his jersey.

Ovie might have been shut down offensively, but defensively he did a pretty good job. In that category, he is a ton better then he was last season.

Milan Jurcina. Not sure what to do with him. When he uses his huge size, he is scary and effective. But more often then not, I see him playing too tentatively for a guy who is 6'4 and 230 lbs. Consistency and confidence issues are what got him booted out of Boston, lets hope they dont continue to haunt him here.

I would give anything to see Scott Hartnell stop being a little bitch and actually fight Donald Brashear. It would be the ass kicking of a lifetime.

So, anyone braving Philly for a game?

Flyers vs. Capitals, Game 1

LETS GO CAPS!

Too much hype

Dear ESPN, TSN, Pierre McGuire, Don Cherry, etc:

Stop talking about my team. Pretty please? Stop talking about our "Cinderella run", how under-rated we are, how hard working, how we are definitely going to trounce the Flyers. Please, please, stop. Have I officially lost it? Maybe. Read on, then judge.

I've had Caps season tickets for two years and watched them on and off for a handful of years prior to that. What I have liked most about being a Capitals fan (and this is essentially selfish) is our little community. Yeah, there isnt a huge hockey community in DC but its a loyal one that has been selling out homes game. But the community here is tight and we all sort of recognize each other, going in and out of the metro to the Verizon Center for six months. We see each other at practice, nod hello on VC escalators, comment each other to death on blogs. And since DC is a classic band wagon town, we'll see a our ranks swell when the Caps are on a run, then even out again to the loyalists. Its as intimate an experience as you will ever get in professional sports.

But all of sudden, the Caps are everyone's team. And after watching a painful rebuilding process for the Caps, I cant help be a little weary of all these new accolades coming our way. As Shan pointed out, where are all the gloating Caps fans? Well, we are hiding behind our computers and vintage Langway jerseys, hoping that all this sudden attention doesnt distract our very young team, the majority of whom have a season or two under their belt and no playoff experience. I cant help but be a little fearful when I hear that the press box can hardly contain all the out of town journalists, after the press box used to ring if not emptily, then at the least was a bit lonely with beat writers from the Washington Post and Washington Times as the only print news regulars.

I also want to add the caveat here that I am not worried about all the chatting blogs are doing about the Capitals (including, of course, my own). I'm superstitious about all the talking heads claiming that the Flyers are going down because the Capitals are hot, hot, hot. And Cinderalla. Or some version of that.

Its entirely possible and likely that I am being paranoid, and as the Caps are consummate professionals, they will go into the playoffs with the same vigor and determination they showed in the last weeks of the off season. But I hope you dont blame me for being just a bit scared, and crossing my fingers every time I see the words "Cinderella" and "Capitals" in a story.

Note: I regularly blog over at Hockey's Ladies of Greatness, and this is a piece originally written for that site. Be sure to head over there and check out a great hockey website, written entirely by fangirls.

Note 2: I may have blogged too soon! Here is another article on the Caps, and its nice to see some love for Tom Poti.

Lecavalier to have shoulder surgery

Something tells me that Matt Cooke isnt going to be on Big Vinny's Christmas card list this year:

Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier will have surgery to repair damage to his right shoulder.

Lecavalier was hurt in Thursday's game at Washington. His shoulder was dislocated when he fell awkwardly after a hit by Washington's Matt Cooke.

Personally, I saw the hit and thought it was clean. Cookie (a perfect nickname for a top instigator, no?) was fined $2,500 for it, but that seemed more of a "OMG, how could someone hurt NHL superstar Vinny?" type of deal to me. The refs didnt call anything on the play for a reason.

In other news, the Caps will play the Flyers in the first round of the playoffs, most likely to start on Thursday. I'm still flying high from yesterday's win, but when I come down, I'll have lots to stay about the league's dirtiest team. Most of it will start with the letter F.

I never thought I would say this

Thank you Pittsburgh Penguins. For today, you are off my shit list. If you lose to the Flyers on Sunday, you are back on. Actually, you are back on no matter what but enjoy these few days of less hatred being aimed at you.

And Crosby, this was unnecessary.

Photo blatantly copied from ESPN

Coming full circle

It seems fitting that the Caps moved into first place tonight in the SE Division by winning a 4-3 game against the Flyers. Bruce Boudreau, who intiated the Caps resurgence after his Thanksgiving Day promotion from Hershey, led this team to a 4-3 win versus the Flyers during is first game behind the bench.

From Ovie after that first win under BB:

This win was very important for us because of the hard situation for our team."

More to come tomorrow, but for tonight, I'm just enjoying the Caps perch.

On the Flyers

Scott Burnside has a pretty good piece on the Flyers, and their...enthusiasm...for hitting people in the head.

The NHL season is not yet a month old, and three times the Flyers have had to answer for how one of their own has gone AWOL and committed an indefensible act against another team's player.

[...]

Rest assured: If a Flyer, let's say, Daniel Briere, had been on the other end of any one of these three assaults, the team would be screaming blue murder.

Good point Scotty. Can you imagine the shrieks that would be coming from Paul Holmgren's office if Briere had been hit like that?

The bigger issue for me is one of respect -- as Marc Savard astutely points out. Every time the Flyers lay a reckless hit on another NHL'er, a hit that was bad enough to cause a Stage 3 concussion, a hit that causes people to lose their memory, or pass out for nearly a minute, they are disrespecting the game, and their comrades who play it with them. While Jones' hit might not have been as bad as Boulerice or Downie, it came from a team with a history of this type of behavior, and a GM who turns a blind eye. And thats just disrespectful.