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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.
Not all cheers have to end in “sucks.” Way to go, Verizon Center.
You ain’t hockey-famous until you get a feature on Hockey Night in Canada. As of right now, Caps goalie Braden Holtby is officially famous. On CBC’s Inside Hockey segment (brought to you by the little blue pill), 30-dimensional thinker Elliotte Friedman gave Holtby and his family the Barbara Walters treatment.
In the video beyond the jump, Friedman talks to Holtby about growing up in Saskatchewan, following in his father’s footsteps with the Saskatoon Blades, Holtbyisms (natch), and how he keeps cool under pressure. Braden gives an affable interview, but he also talks about controlling his emotions as if he were a Vulcan. Holtby’s parents get some good screen time while rocking Caps merch (check out Braden’s dad Greg rolling his eyes during the Holtbyisms chat), but the star of the clip is Holtby’s hair.
Goodness gracious. Just look at it.
Not the face! (Photo credit: Drew Angerer)
Much has been written about the Caps’ new commitment to shot blocking. Simply put: they’re blocking more shots than the Rangers, a team who talks about shots more than the cast of “Jersey Shore”. Through two games, the Caps have blocked 39 shots to the Rangers’ 30, and some of those those blocks have saved goals– or even games.
When you’re not wearing goalie pads, blocking shots takes some nerve. Ever wonder what it looks like afterward?
Photo via @ngreenberg
When the Caps met the Rangers in the playoffs last year, the fans got into the action. At Game Four, Madison Square Garden chanted “Can You Hear Us?” At Game Five, Verizon Center responded with “We Are Louder.” This year, the Rangers faithful have come up with a somewhat more sophisticated chant, and they seem quite pleased with themselves: they count down the seconds to the 8:00 mark and then shout Ovi Sucks in unison.
They appear to have picked this up from their first round opponents, the Ottawa Senators, who had been in the habit of counting down to 11:00 to support their captain Daniel Alfredsson — so really, it’s not just a highly complicated chant, it’s also a highly complicated knockoff. We’re almost insulted.
When the Capitals drew the New York Rangers in the second round of the playoffs, we were a bit relieved that we wouldn’t have to deal with a player like Brad Marchand diving all over the ice this series.
Perhaps we spoke too soon. 3:50 into the first period, Rangers captain Ryan Callahan cross-checked Alex Semin as he went to the bench for a change. Semin responded appropriately by giving him a whack to the calf, which must be why Callahan dropped to the ice like he was shot. Video of the play is below the jump.
Photo credit: Brian Babineau
While Braden Holtby and Joel Ward will be receiving all the attention after last night’s Game Seven victory, it was Karl Alzner who may have made the most clutch play of the game.
Thirty-five seconds into overtime, an energetic Bruins team camped out in the Capitals offensive zone and looked to end the game early on their first shift. As Dennis Seidenberg blasted a shot from the point, Braden Holtby stopped the puck with his right pad. However, a rebound squirted loose and landed right onto Patrice Bergeron‘s stick.
That’s when Alzner — a two-time WJC gold medal winner with Team Canada (and its captain) — cooly and calmly dove to the ice and got a piece of Bergeron’s shot with his stick. Video is below.
Photo credit: Brian Babineau
Joel Ward was a playoff hero for Nashville last year, leading the league in postseason goals at one point in the first round and ending with better than a point per game.
That grit and clutch goal-scoring was why General Manager George McPhee outbid a number of other teams to sign Ward in the summer to an expensive 4-year, $12 million contract.
In the regular season, however, things didn’t go as planned. Ward was benched one game for missing a meeting, scratched several games for poor play, and managed to tally just six goals. It was the worst offensive season of his career– though he spent most of it assigned as a fourth liner.
But Joel Ward’s play in the regular season isn’t what got him glory in Nashville. And it’s not what just put him in Capitals’ record books forever.
Holtby’s not impressed.
Before the series started, the Bruins talked a tough game about getting in Braden Holtby‘s face and making life difficult for him. Like many players before them, they soon learned that was easier said than done. With the score tied at 1-1 at the end of a tense second period, Rich Peverley got a little too close to Holtby and Holtby let him know by shoving him off his skates. Peverely retaliated — or at least, pretended to, taking a two-handed slash at Holtby that he stopped just short, clearly trying to spook or scare him.
Video is below the jump.
Video by Roxanne Wilson
Braden Holtby has been a demigod in this series, a rookie goalie going toe-to-toe with a reigning Conn Smythe winner for the first time in NHL history and handling the pressure more brilliantly than any of us could have guessed. Holtby has a .935 SV% and a 2.18 GAA for the series so far, has stopped 202 of the 216 shots directed his way, and tonight, he has an opportunity to etch his name on Caps history.
