Retired - Washington Capitals

**mikerocksthered** · February 26, 2011, 6:34 PM

I am leaving the confines of my apartment to watch the game tonight and will not be able to post the starting lineup tonight.

It will be available at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalsinsider/ 15-25 minutes prior to puck drop.

**Dean Youngblood** · February 26, 2011, 6:56 PM

Mike asked me to post the lines for tonights game

Caps lines:
8-90-22,
19-21-28,
26-15-83,
25-39-10.

**mikerocksthered** · February 27, 2011, 8:54 PM

Great article/recap of Caps vs. Islanders.

**mikerocksthered** · March 1, 2011, 5:03 PM

Capitals vs. Islanders 3/1/11

Tonight the Caps face the Islanders for a second time in four days. The Capitals pulled of a come-from-behind win Saturday night against the Islanders. Only one day after the trade deadline and all of the Capitals new pieces will be in play. Marco Sturm and Jason Arnott will be playing on the second line with Alex Semin. Dennis Wideman will be paired with Scott Hannan. Hannan has proven to be a valuable asset to the Capitals this season due to his ability to vocalize on the ice. This has helped young defense-men John Carlson and Karl Alzner and will be vital to Widemans success with the Capitals tonight.

Today during the Caps pre-game radio report I posed the question, "There is a lot of chatter amoungst the Caps tweeps about dropping Hannan next season with the addition of Wideman, does that put pressure on Hannan, or is Hannan safe because of the leadership and guidance he offers to the younger d-men like Carlson and Alzner?" Mike Vogel indicated that he spoke to GMGM specifically about that and Hannan is an asset the Capitals want to keep around. A podcast of the Caps Pre-game show can be found here. The full show is pretty informative and answers a lot of questions about the trades. My question is at the twenty-two minute mark.

Semyon Varlymov left the ice early today and is still fighting an injury. Michal Neuvirth will be starting tonight and will be backed up by Todd Ford who was recalled from Hershey today.

Jay Beagle has an upper body injury and is not expected to play tonight.

Mike Green is in another country due to a death in the family and will not start tonight. Green is also expected to miss several weeks due to a ear/head injury.

I just got free tickets to tonights game via a fellow Caps fan on twitter, so I have to cut my pre-game short today. As always stating lineups are posted on http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalsinsider/ 15-25 minutes.

**mikerocksthered** · March 3, 2011, 6:57 PM

Here is your starting lineups for tonight Caps vs Blues game.

Can Michal Neuvirth set a franchise record for the most wins by a rookie goalie?

Posted at 5:00 PM ET, 03/ 3/2011
Open thread: Capitals vs. Blues
By Washington Post Sports Editors

Faceoff: 7 p.m., Verizon Center; TV: CSN; Radio: 1500 AM

Update: 6:39 p.m.
Based on warm-ups here is what the lineup should look like against the Blues:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble
Laich-Arnott-Semin
Chimera-Johansson-Sturm
Hendricks-Gordon-Bradley

Defense
Alzner-Carlson
Schultz-Hannan
Erskine-Wideman

Goal
Neuvirth
Holtby

Scratches: Jay Beagle (upper-body), D.J. King and Tyler Sloan.

**mister_mcgoo** · March 3, 2011, 9:27 PM

Backstrom owners like myself are probably wondering wtf is up with him lately, here's the straight dope courtesy of Fantrax:

Nicklas Backstrom isn't believed to 100 percent since returning to the Washington lineup from a fractured thumb. He doesn't have a point in the three games he has played since coming back despite taking 11 shots on goal and has been unable to take the majority of his faceoffs as well. "He's been dealing with it internally," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "He's just a tough kid. He doesn't say anything, he doesn't ask for pity, he doesn't ask for time off. He doesn't ask for anything. He just goes out and plays." Backstrom should return to form again soon though.

not a major injury I know, but with a guy like Backstrom who has some of the sweetest hands in the league its gotta be a big detriment

**mikerocksthered** · March 6, 2011, 3:03 PM

Washington Capitals 35-20-10 vs. Florida Panthers 26-31-7

Capitals on the road: 16-12-3
Panthers at home: 12-13-6

Last ten games:
Capitals 6-4-0
Panthers 2-7-1

The Capitals take to the ice this evening at 5pm with the opportunity to regain first place in the Southeast Division. Tampa lost last night against Montreal keeping them within one point of the Washington Capitals. Tonight is the fourth meeting between the Capials and the Panthers this season and the Caps have recorded one win, one loss, and an overtime loss in the previous three meetings.

The Capitals have done a good job of putting more shots on goal recently but continue to turn the puck over with poor passing. In the last two games the Capitals have had nineteen giveaways and their opponts have had a total of four. This has caused the Caps to lose many chances to get the puck out of the defensive zone and has directly lead to goals against.

This is the first meeting between the two teams since the trade deadline, and both teams have made quite a few changes. The Capitals have added defenseman Dennis Wideman, left winger Jason Arnott and center Marco Sturm. The addition of three veteran players has helped spark the Capitals to two connsecutive home wins since the deadline. The power play seems to be clicking better than it has been, and the Caps have done a much better job of keeping the puck inside the blue line and not spending half of their man-advantage time chaising down pucks.

Jason Arnott has recorded seven shots on goal, a goal, an assist, and is plus-2 in his two games since joining the Capitals. His assist was on a game-tying goal, and his goal was the game winner.

Dennis Wideman who has seen more ice time in the previous two games than any other Capital has been able to fill in for injuired Mike Green without missing a beat. Wideman has a plus -2 rating in two games.

Eric Fehr has been skating with the team after missing twenty games with a seperated shoulder. Fehr is on the trip with the Capitals and could see some ice time tonight. Fehr's return could mean reduced ice time for Jason Chimera.

Semyon Varlamov is expected to miss seven to ten days with a knee injury. Braden Holtby who is coming off of a recent knee injury for the Hershey Bears has been recalled to back up Michal Neuvirth. Bruce Boudreau would like to start Holtby at some point before Varly returns from his injury, but is not sure when that will be.

Fantasy recap from Caps vs. Blues on Thursday, 3/3/11:

Ice Time leaders:
-Dennis Wideman 22:20 total
-Dennis Wideman 1:43 power play
-Scott Hannan 3:05 short-handed

Blocks:
-Karl Alzner and Scott Hannan - 4

Hits:
-Matt Hendricks - 5
-Dennis Wideman - 5
-Matt Bradley - 3
-Alex Ovechkin - 3

Points and Assists:
-Alex Ovechkin - 2 points, 2 assists

Goals:
-Jason Arnott - 1 (first goal as a Capital)
-Nicklas Backstrom - 1 (Baseball style)
-Scott Hannan - 1 (first goal in 118 games)

Plus/Minus:
All with plus one: Alzner, Arnott, Backstrom, Carlson, Hannan, Hendricks, Laich, Ovechkin, Semin

Penalty in Minutes:
-Matt "Momma said knock you out" Bradley - 5 minutes fighting

Goalie:
-Michal Neuvirth (27 SV, 2 GA, .926 SV%)

Tonights starting lines will be posted 15-25 minutes prior to puck drop.

**mikerocksthered** · March 6, 2011, 4:53 PM

Tonights lines thanks to Katie Carrera.

Jeff Schultz is a healthy scratch. I have the full Laich-Semin-Arnott line on my yahoo team know so good luck to those guys!

Open thread: Capitals at Panthers
By Washington Post Sports Editors

Faceoff: 5 p.m., BankAtlantic Center; TV: CSN, NHLN; Radio: 1500 AM

Update 4:49 p.m.
Michal Neuvirth makes his sixth consecutive start for the Capitals this evening against the Panthers. In his pre-game comments to the media, Coach Bruce Boudreau said it's Neuvirth's time to prove he can carry a heavy workload for Washington.

"It's a reflection that two points are two points no matter where you get them," Boudreau said. "We understand Braden [Holtby] hasn't played in a couple weeks even though he's fully healthy. We want to see if Michal can do the job as a No. 1 back to back to back. We'll see how it goes."

Jeff Schultz did not take part in warm-ups and is a healthy scratch, according to a team spokesman. When discussing his line combinations this afternoon, Boudreau said that he believes Eric Fehr, who will miss his 21st game since dislocating his shoulder on Jan. 14, is close to returning.

"There's a hunger," Boudreau said of the lines. "They all want to stay in the lineup. We've got Eric Fehr ready to come back, who's a pretty good hockey player for our team. He's dying to get in so if there's a bump in the road he'll be in....I think he'd be ready to play if we needed him to."

On to what the line combinations should look like against the Panthers:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble
Laich-Arnott-Semin
Chimera-Johansson-Semin
Hendricks-Gordon-Bradley

Defense
Alzner-Carlson
Hannan-Wideman
Erskine-Sloan

Goal
Neuvirth
Holtby

By Washington Post Sports Editors

I am pretty sure it should be Sturm listed for the 3rd line instead of Semin.

**mikerocksthered** · March 9, 2011, 4:22 PM

Washington Capitals 37-20-10 vs. Edmonton Oilers 23-26-8

Capitals at home: 19-8-7
Oilers on the road: 11-17-4

Last ten games:
Capitals 8-2-0
Oliers 6-4-0

Goalies:
Braden Holtby 5-2-2 2.22 GAA .918 SV%
Nikolai Khabibulin 10-26-2 3.33 GAA .893 SV%

Nicklas Backstrom will miss tonight's game after having his hand put in a hard cast yesterday. It sounds like Backstrom will miss one or two games, but should need not be out for much more than that. Marcus Johansson will between Alex Ovechkin and Mike Knuble to center the first line for the Caps tonight in Backstrom's place

Michal Neuvirth will not start tonight after receiving a hard shot to the head on Monday night against Tampa. He will be the back up goalie for Holtby tonight.

Eric Fehr will make his return tonight after missing twenty-two games with a separated shoulder. Fehr has seventeen points in forty-one games this season. Six of the seventeen points have come on the power play.

Mike Green has been skating this week in practice but will not play tonight.

A win tonight would give the Caps would match a season high six-game winning streak.

Alex Semin has scored in the last two consecutive games. His last five goals have all been game-winning or game-tying goals. It is not sure where Fehr will fit into tonights lines, but I think Boudreau will keep the Laich-Arnott-Semin line together. All of Semin's twenty-four goals this season have come in games that Washington has won.

Dennis Wideman who scored his first point as a Capital on Monday night with an assist, is 1 point shy of 200 points. Wideman saw twenty-eight minutes of ice time against Tampa.

The Capitals are still continuing to struggle on the power play. Edmonton is ranked 29th in the league for penalty killing so the Capitals need to take advantage of that and get their power play into gear.

**mikerocksthered** · March 9, 2011, 8:21 PM

I am not sure how I missed Arnott being close to a milestone, but Joe B and Locker just reminded me...

Jason Arnott assisting Alex Ovechkin records his 900th point in the NHL!

and another milestone has been reached....I will make sure to feature all of tonights milestones from tonights game in my recap tonight or tomorrow.

**loco man** · March 15, 2011, 7:25 PM

Hey man

Can you give me your take on Fehr next year? I just dropped him (stretch run drive - third line and second PP just not enough).

I keep envisioning him riding shotgun with Ovy on the top line and I thought that was the plan for him, but now I am not sure.

I know a lot depends on the playoffs regarding the makeup of the team next year, but where does Fehr fit in?

Thanks

**ericdaoust** · April 1, 2011, 2:08 PM

Every time I watch Nick Backstrom play I come away impressed with his strong play all over the ice. In my Habs thread I wrote that I think he will win the Selke before his career ends. Is it a reach to make that statement?