 |
Photo credit: Francois Lacasse
The Washington Capitals’ final road game of the season was a demonstrable blowout. The Montreal Canadiens, purportedly a good hockey team, played like a troop (sorry, troupe) of clowns led by their porous ringleader Carey Price. The Habs got just one past Braden Holtby, and the Caps served wings and discount pizza to their loyal fans.
Caps beat Habs 5-1.
Riding high on an eight-game win streak, the Washington Capitals had all kinds of confidence before their game at the home of the Ottawa Senators. Confidence apparently doesn’t translate into puck possession, as the Capitals got totally tyrannized by the Senators. The Capitals had only a nominal offense and seemed to be suffering from some rare disease that you see on House that disables your ability to pass the puck. Meanwhile, the Senators were smothering and aggressive and a pretty darn hockey team. Don’t wanna see them in the first round playoffs– knock on Joel Rechlicz’s stick.
Senators beat Caps 3-1.
Photo credit: Patrick McDermott
Looking to extend their season-high seven game win streak, the Washington Capitals hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. In a match-up of possible first-round opponents, the Caps came off a shaky ending to their last win and played a game that was anything but against a tired Leafs team.
Jack Hillen scored (when doesn’t he?), Nicky got boarded, the Caps got mad, Erat got his first in red, the Brouwitzer a nice backhand shot was unleashed, Ovi had a scoar, and MoJo hacked one in. Caps smack Leafs 5-1.
Photo credit: Patrick McDermott
Thursday night against the Hurricanes, the Washington Capitals continued their march up the Eastern Conference standings with some Ovi scoring and Brouwer yelling (what else is new) as they defeated the Carolina Hurricanes. Tonight, they looked to extend their six-game winning streak against another flailing Southeast Division team from more humid parts, the Tampa Bay Lightning. They did. It was fun ’cause the Caps scored a lot of goals, until Tampa did that too.
It started with a Brouwitzer, then a Hillen blast (just kidding), and then some Russian dude with a missing tooth. In the second it was JASON FREAKING CHIMERA, Panik for Tampa, Panik puns for people on Twitter, and a Fehr tap in. The third, as usual, was where the Caps screwed things up, with two St. Louis goals, another for Panik, and one for Purcell. However…
OVERTIME = GAME OVER GREEN.
In the end, there were wings for the people in the stands and two points for the people on the ice. Caps edge Bolts 6-5 (OT).
Photo credit: Patrick McDermott
The Carolina Hurricanes lost 9 of their last 10 games before visiting the Washington Capitals for their final meeting of the season. Since re-signing a contract for too much and too long, Alex Semin had cooled off in a way that literally no one on earth could have expected, but the team was motivated to climb out of their rut on Thursday night. Dominating the early minutes, the Canes seemed to have a handle on the game until Verizon Center released the long-dormant kraken of secondary scoring.
Caps beat Canes 3-1.
Photo credit: Francois Lacasse
The Washington Capitals have had it too good for too long. After filling their greedy maws at the trough of the Southeast for so long, they traipsed up to French Canadia to lay a beating upon the beast of the Northeast, the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs, sporting one of the best power plays and possession numbers in the league, were a worthy foe, but the Caps had Ovi. And that’s all you really need these days. Just a big plate of Ovi and wash it down with some Backstrom. Put some greasy Fehr in there if you want, but Ovi is the main dish.
Caps beat Habs 3-2.
Photo credit: Mitchell Layton
The Washington Capitals continued their drive to the postseason with a convincing win over the Southeast’s beaching whale, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite having the league’s best scorer in Steven Stamkos and veteran talent from Martin St Louis and that other guy I don’t like, Tampa has been a wreck this season. They fired the bad guy from Casino Royale, but they did pick up a really large person to guard their net now. The Caps scored on him a lot.
Caps beat Bolts 4-2.
Photo credit: Joel Auerbach
Thursday night, the Washington Capitals moved into a playoff spot for the first time all year, taking over first place in the Southeast Division. Tonight, the Caps fought to defend their position against Miami’s other other other other team, the Florida Panthers. And they did.
OVI SCOAR, RIBEIRO SCOAR, OVI SCOAR, OVI SCOAR (ruined by Hendricks penalty), OVI SCOAR, HATS, Florida goals we don’t care about. Caps beat Cats 4-3.
Photo credit: Patrick McDermott
The Washington Capitals emerged from the trade deadline a more dangerous team. Facing the New York Islanders in a pivotal game, they didn’t muster much offense, but they mustered enough.
A sleepy start allowed the Caps an early lead, but the Isles surged in the third and tied it up in the waning minutes. Thanks to some superior work in the Holtbestiary, the Caps made it to OT and all the way to the shootout.
SHOOTOUT MADNESS, HERE WE GO: Hendricks failed to paralyze. Nielsen couldn’t find the five hole. Ovechkin scored backhand. Boyes deked Holtby but lost the puck. Ribs got poked. Tavares denied. CAPS WIN! TAKE THE SOUTHEAST DIVISION LEAD!
Caps beat Islanders 2-1 (Shootout)
Photo credit: Gregg Forwerck
It’s a busy week in the world of the Washington Capitals with the trade deadline coming tomorrow, but there was actual hockey to be played on Tuesday night as the Caps faced off against Alex Semin and his Carolina Hurricanes. It was like old times at PNC Arena, as the Caps did the thing where goals come in torrents but defense is like eh whatever, maybe if we have time.
As the guy who has been misspelling “score more goals” incorrectly for a few years, I am completely okay with this style of play. The Caps fought back from a deficit and then took a big ol’ lead that wasn’t hard to hold onto when you’ve got Braden Holtby between the pipes. Am I doing run-on sentences tonight? Okay fine, let’s do that.
Caps beat Canes 5-3.
RMNB depends on reader participation. If you’ve got news, photos, or a cool story, send it our way.
All original content on russianmachineneverbreaks.com is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)-- unless otherwise stated or superseded by another license. You are free to share, copy, and remix this content so long as it is attributed, done for noncommercial purposes, and done so under a license similar to this one.
