Nicky celebrates his hat trick. (Photo credit: KHL.ru)

Fresh off their week-long break for national team competition, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstsrom, and the rest of Dynamo Moscow crew returned to action Wednesday against infamous Vityaz Chekhov. It was worth the wait. Backstrom, who finally switched his number during the Karjala Cup break, went APE NUTS in his new 69 jersey, registering his first career KHL hat trick and scoring the game’s decisive goal – an overtime game-winner.

While Backstrom was dominant, registering six shots during 22:04 of ice time, his BFF Ovi was no slouch either, assisting on one of Nicky’s goals and firing nine shots on net in 27:05 of game action.

Now let’s see these goals.

Backstrom’s goals can be seen at the 0:34, 3:00, and 5:00 marks.

In the middle of the first period, Backstrom began his reign of terror, tying the game at one with some nifty passing from teammates Alex Ovechkin and Richard Gynge. Former Capital and Hershey Bears defenseman Brian “Mr. Excitement” Fahey put Vityaz back on top, scoring on the power play with a two-man advantage. Five minutes into the second period, Anton Korolev made the score 3-1. Vityaz took a two-goal lead into the second intermission.

But Dynamo was ready to fight. Two minutes after the break, Nicky scored his second of the night. Then with less than six minutes to go, Konstantin Volkov tied the game up for the Muscovites. The overtime session was scoreless for four and a half minutes until Nick sealed the win for the visitors with a wraparound tally, making it three goals on the night and four during his six-game-long KHL campaign.

The stud in the 69 jersey.

Photo credit: khl.ru

On Monday, we detailed how Dynamo Moscow, Alex Ovechkin‘s former Russian Super League team, was not terribly interested in bringing back one of their most famous sons if a NHL lockout forced a cancellation of all or part of its 2012-13 season. Dynamo’s president Arkady Rotenberg told R-Sport, “If we really need [Ovi], maybe we will offer the money. But I don’t think we need him.”

Well, Vityaz Chekhov, a team better known for its fists, habitual losing, and owners with questionable connections, wants Alex Ovechkin to know that Hey, we’re interested.

“We don’t have any of our alumni in the NHL, so in the case of Ovechkin not coming to an agreement with Dynamo, I’m ready to talk to him,” Vityaz president Mikhail Golovkov told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

Signing the Capitals captain would obviously be a coup for Vityaz Chekhov, a team who has never made the playoffs and finished last in its division in each of its four seasons in the KHL. They’re also in serious need of star power, scorers, and someone who will put butts in the seats.

And despite Vityaz’s less-than-honorable past, this could actually be a good fit for Ovechkin. Yes, really. Last year, Vityaz found themselves in trouble financially, but Golovkov, the former president of Dynamo, bought the team. Golovkov has strong ties to Ovechkin: he was the person who gave Ovi the position of adviser with Dynamo Moscow, which he still holds to this day.

Since buying the team over the summer, Golovkov has also tried to bring respectability to Vityaz and distance itself from its former sideshow past.

Like this.

This.

And this.

Nick Tarnasky was not re-signed and is now with Rochester of the AHL. Kip Brennan was also sent walking. The only enforcers on the team now are Trevor Gillies, whom Golovkov recently signed from the NHL’s New York Islanders, and SIGH Jeremy Yablonski (who is prominently featured in the bottom two videos above). The best part, Ovi would actually know one of the players on the team: former Capital and Hershey Bear Brian Fahey signed with Vityaz over the summer.

So while Dynamo only has tepid interest in The Great Eight, it looks as if two of Ovi’s former friends would totally employ him in the KHL if a lockout wipes out all or some of the NHL season: Golovkov and CSKA’s Sergei Fedorov.

See, Ovi. You’re still loved.

Additional reporting by Fedor Fedin.

Videoclip via the Hershey Bears YouTube page

It was a milestone night in Hershey on Saturday. Keith Aucoin registered his 700th career AHL point, Brian Willsie scored his career-high 30th goal of the season and Dmitry Orlov tallied his first career goal at Giant Center. The Bears went on to defeat the Albany Devils 7-4 in front of a sold-out crowd. With the win, Hershey clinched a playoff spot and earned the right to defend their back-to-back Calder Cup Championships.

The most fascinating part of the evening, however, was the line-brawl that was ignited after Brian Willsie scored against the Devils’ fourth line. As the five Bears on the ice went to congratulate each other, Albany tough-guy Chris Murray gave Mathieu Perreault a shove. The feisty, 174 lb. Perreault responded with a flurry of punches and Hershey’s entire line engaged Murray. Pierre-Luc Leblond – yes, the same guy who was suspended earlier in the year for jumping Marcus Johansson – then came to his teammate’s aid, charging towards the pile of Bears as if he were a bowling ball looking for a strike. Mayhem ensued thereafter, as everyone on the ice squared off except for the goalies.

All in all, 34 penalty minutes were doled-out between the two teams, including 14 PIM’s to Leblond and 12 PIM’s to Louis Robitaille. The Bears swept the contentious and brutal season series with Albany, 6-0-0.  Below the jump, Sweetest Hockey On Earth‘s Kyle M. has shared his photos of the brawl.

Photos by Kyle M. (Click to enlarge)

After the GTG, 21 busts out the classic "flying hug" move. (Photo credit: Susan Walsh)

Bad stick penalties, better goals. Vintage Sasha. (Photo credit: Mitchell Layton)

The upshot: The Caps squeak by an uneven bout with the trouble Toronto team to win in the shootout. But man, there’s a lot more than that. The Red Army has yet to play solid games back to back. The defensive end had lots of trouble, especially in the third, but the oh-fense was spectacular. The first period was sleepy, the second period electric, the third period a near disaster.

If that last paragraph reads disjointed, it’s only because the game was too (that and I’m not using conjunctions).

For the nth game this season, the Capitals were polite enough to let the other team score first. Nikolai Kulemin takes the puck, gets John Erskine to dive, and lures Michal Neuvirth a bit wide before shooting. MG52 answered with a PPG (now that’s what we’ve been missing!). Jason Chimera showed determination in the slot, accepting a deft pass from Boyd Gordon in the corner and then repeatedly swatting the puck until it snuck under Jonas Gustavsson‘s loins for the go-ahead. Either John Carlson (slapper) or Tomas Fleischmann (tip-in) scored the third goal, and the jury may be out on that one for a long time.

The third period was a bloodbath, filled with a troika of Leafs goals from Kaberle, Versteeg, and Bovak. Toronto claimed the lead, and it seemed the Caps were headed for a loss. And then Alex Semin, whom Boudreau almost scratched due to illness, converted an unlikely power play chance. Overtime came and went. The shootout found Ovechkin and Semin scoring wizardly goals and Michal Neuvirth stopping two attempts. Even though the Canadian bastards escaped with a point, at least we can say Caps beat Leafs 5-4 (Shootout).

• Alex Semin: player for all seasons. As if to make up for his self-discipline of late, Sasha Minor produced two stick penalties. Both came in the offensive zone, so we knew he was hungry. To sate that hunger Alex fed at the meaty trough of Jonas Gustavsson. Semin scored the tying goal late in the third: a power play tally rescued from behind while Jonas went a-wanderin’. On top of that was his epic shoot-out goal, a classic lightspeed-slapshot-from-two-feet-out maneuver.
• Mike Knuble came out of the gates on a mission, recording four shots on goal in the first period alone. But that was it. The only reason we know Knuble played the next two periods was because the event summary told us so.
• Mike Green scored a picture-perfect power-play goal, but he and D-buddy Jeff Schultz had some trouble on their own end. They were minus-3 and minus-2 (respectively) on the night, on the ice for all four Leafs goals and generally looking defensively slovenly. Not to be a conspiracy theorist, I suspect Schultz wasn’t feeling well. He was playing exactly like would were I A) a hockey player, B) awesome at hockey, and C) losing a battle with diarrhea.
• Alan May called it. Colton Orr versus D.J. King. It was epic…ly boring and manifestly pointless. Colton Orr went on to do nothing all game. King however went on to go minus-2 in only 5:17 of ice time. Yech. <sarcasm>Enjoy that paycheck, D.J. You earned it.</sarcasm>
• Are you sitting down? Good. Brian Fahey was stellar: -4 Corsi, 1 chance for, 1 chance against over 10 minutes on ice. Subjectively, Fahey belongs on this roster more than King. Let us know when #NeedsMoreFahey goes viral.
• Eric Fehr (obligatory: Uno Seis in Yo’ Face!) was plus-5 in scoring differential. Bruce will think twice about scratching him again.

• Nicky Backstrom missed a lay-up — or maybe Gustavsson got a piece of it. Regardless, the next time Nicky spaces out while making love to a beautiful woman, he’s probably thinking of this play.
• Alex Ovechkin‘s shoot-out goal was marvelous. Last year we were critical of his eagerness on free shots; it looked like he was rushing. Tonight Alex swooped wide like an elegant Chesapeake blue heron and scored the decisive goal.
• Only one Cap finished the game better than 50% on the faceoff. You guessed it: David Steckel.
• Michal Neuvirth was on track to observe his two-goal limit until Ian jinxed it. No blame here: the defenders let him down. And when the Leafs (why not Leaves?) turned it on, they were awful hard to stop.

Joe B suit-of-the-night: PLUM!

Great game from an entertainment perspective, but Caps fans looking for a full hour of effort will not find it here. The plentiful defensive gaffes and neutral-ice foolishness will keep the tacticians busy for a few days, and there’s more fodder for roster talks. Blogosphere: go!

See you on Friday night, when the Caps match up once more with the Boston Bruins, suppliers of two mighty beatdowns last week. Ready yourself for revenge.

Additional reporting by Neil Greenberg.

The Capitals are undefeated in games in which Boyd Gordon plays. (Photo credit: Greg Fiume)

Another week has passed, and we saw Alex Ovechkin get his first power play goals, Perreault make a case to be sent back down to Hershey, and the duo of Erskine and Sloan have such a good game that NHL.com decided it would rather shut down its whole server than to acknowledge it.

With 13% of the season in the books, here is my weekly recap of the Caps scoring chances.

I use a specific definition of what I consider a scoring chance based on shot quality data and log everyone who is on the ice at the time using the script from Vic Ferrari. As always you can find the spreadsheet online.

The cracks in the “Flash as 2C” experiment seem to be showing. If we adjust his Corsi for his offensive zone starts he is a -9 at 5v5 per 60 min. He is on the wrong side of the scoring differential at even-strength and does not even register a full chance per 2 min of PP time. Add in a woeful 39.8% faceoff win percentage, and we see why Boudreau went with HHBL21 at the pivot on Saturday night.

Not sure when we realize Brian Fahey may not be an NHLer. Boudreau has started him in the offensive zone 90% of the time, yet he still can’t keep the puck possession in the offensive zone: -1.5 Scoring Chance differential at evens and a negative 33.6 Corsi per 60 min of 5v5 ice time when adjusted for zone starts. That means a team full of Faheys would  barely beat the Mites on Ice. It’s difficult to make me long for Tyler Sloan, but seeing Fahey rocking the red comes close.

Poor John Carlson. His rookie mistakes are magnified given all the hype, but his defense has not been that bad. He has full faith from Coach Bodreau, who continues to use him as a shutdown blueliner, he does a decent job on the PK, and he has only a slight negative in the scoring chance differential at 5v5. This is what future Norris Trophy winners are made of.

Know Boyd Gordon, know win. No Boyd Gordon, no win. The Caps are now 5-0 when Gordon is in the game. His contributions may not show up in the game recaps, but he continues to do “the little things” that help a team win: keep the scoring chances on the plus side, provide stability in the defensive zone and kill penalties. Perhaps a “Vote for Boyd” campaign is needed?

Green scores. Ovi tackles.

DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (All photos by Jeff McIntosh)

Halloween. This is the time of year when the eerie and unlikely are commonplace. This is the season of mists, of despair, of loss.

Nah, forget that. The Caps struggled mightily in the first period with the Calgary Flames. Going down by two goals early on, the Caps looked vanquished. A pathetic power play only hurt our wavering confidence. Maybe we should turn the game off and hit up that costume party after all? Nyet. Nicky Backstrom turned the Caps second power play into a goal reminiscent of ’09-’10′s best, and then the second period happened.

Let’s not mince words. The second period of this game was a bulldozer. The Caps scored six goals, two pairs of those goals coming within 13 seconds of each other. I’d tell you who scored the goals, but it’d take too long. Trust me: it’s everyone you’d expect. And also Dave Steckel. The Flames never came back after those early volleys. Caps beat Flames 7-2.

Thick-sliced, Canadian bullets.

The first period was rough. Matt Hendricks gets throttled by Tim Jackman.

• The Caps continue to tackle their lineup issues. Tonight featured Brooks Laich at second line center, Fleischmann at wing, Hershey’s Brian Fahey on D (replacing an injured Tyler Sloan), Fehr and Perreault scratched, and Boyd Gordon returned.
• Not only did Coach Boudreau shake up the lines, but their zone starts as well. 8-19-28 had none of the Caps’ two offensive zone starts in first period. Once they were unleashed, they scored on both 5v5 chances they had in the second.
• Knowing how the second period would go, we’ve come to grips with Olli Jokinen‘s first-minute goal. The oddest-looking man in the National Hockey League received a great chance from Jay Bouwmeester and placed it on the top shelf.
• Jay Bouwmeester. No comment here, just a fun name to say. Bouwmeester.
• The lasting scar of the first period is seeing the D getting physically abused at every chance.  Somewhere, GMGM watched this solemnly by candlelight, banging his fists on a table made entirely from the hull of a wrecked 16th century slaving ship.
• The Caps’ first power play was the worst ever seen that did not end in a shorty for the other team. The team had precious little offensive zone time and choked up multiple breakaway chances for the Calgary PK unit. Embarrassing. How can they recover?
• The Caps’ second power play resonated like the very best of their man-advantage work. Mike Green fed Nicklas Backstrom a perfectly timed, perfectly placed pass that made the goal look easy. All the kvetching about being out of sync? Forget it.
• The second period of this game deserves its own recap. It was the best period I’ve seen the Caps play in memory. The Caps dominated every stat and even looked great on a long 5-on-3 penalty kill. They scored two goals within twelve seconds, and then two goals within thirteen seconds.  There’s lots of individual accolades to go around, but please consider this a 21-person high five.

• Just twelve seconds apart, Alex Ovechkin scores twice– both on the power play, both on nearly identical shots. Maybe the smelling salts in Canada are stronger; Ovechkin looked uncannily aware tonight, and let the hockey gods pity anyone who must face him like that.
• Brooks Laich as second center? For now, let’s call us undecided.
• A sign of holiday weirdness? David Steckel‘s superlative penalty killing leads to a breakaway, leads to a penalty shot. And the fresh-faced kid nails it like a pro: away with you, water bottle!
• Bringing us back down to earth for a moment, both D.J. King and Hershey’s Brian Fahey looked dumbfounded when passed the puck. The caption goes something like, “what is this strange rubber disc, and why is it on my stick!?!”
• Michal Neuvirth. Takes two goals, puts up the wall. I’m telling you guys; he’s something special.
• For the second time, Nick Backstom shows up on the naughty list for an ugly boarding penalty. Again, very unlike him. Two anomalies does not make a pattern, but we’re going to watch this closely.
• John Carlson, unlike his peers, had a rough night. He had a team-worst CORSI of -11, and might have been the Flames’ best ally in the first.
• Former Cap, Brendan Morrison, deserves a note. He’s started this season, now with Calgary, as strongly as he did last. Brendan has 10 points in 11 games. Good for him!
• Not enough room for everyone’s goals tonight: Mike Green with a beauty, Alex Semin with a beauty. It’s a beauty contest for goals, people. The passing was so dialed in, Calgary didn’t stand a chance.

Joe B's suit-of-the-night

Those who stayed up late on this late, Saturday night, holiday game have been rewarded for their trouble. After throwing out one of the ugliest periods in a long time, the Caps delivered a period as good as they ever have– creating goals not just numerous but lovely.

Have a great Halloween, everyone!

Brooks Laich celebrates his OTGWG. (Photo Credit: Joe Howell)

With Tom Poti and Mike Green out due to injury, we all knew that the Caps’ defense was going to be a little bit suspect tonight. But really, the main issue for the visiting team ended up being their collective effort. Case in point was the opening face-off where Tomas Fleischmann lost the draw cleanly to Cal O’Reilly. He then turned and watched helplessly as Steve Sullivan raced past his four other unprepared teammates and went in alone on Michal Neuvirth.

But for Neuvy, it was no big deal. He stone-walled Sullivan 8 seconds in. He stone-walled five Predator powerplays, including 29 seconds of a 5 on 3. And he made 37 saves in total to collect his fourth straight win.

Thanks to ten minutes of actual hard-work in the third period and two minutes of pure domination in the extra session, the Capitals leave Bridgestone Area with a huge 3-2 character victory.

Onto the bullets!

• Nashville’s fans really suck. Sorry, there’s no other way to put it. I’m not Peter and I don’t have a thesaurus. Watching tonight’s game was so booooorrring, and only half of it was because Al Koken did the play-by-play. In the first fifteen minutes of the first period, I didn’t count a single chant or cheer. The only thing I heard was muffled conversation and train whistles (don’t get me started on that). This isn’t a book club people, this is a hockey game.
• Many of the statistics tonight were flat-out horrifying: John Erskine led all Caps with 8:14 of ice time in the first period, Jordin Tootoo had more shots on goal (5) than Alex Ovechkin (3), and Brian Fahey spent 1:32 on the powerplay. But a win’s a win, right?
• Speaking of Fahey, in his NHL Debut, he finished the night -2, the worst on the team. He still deserves our congratulations however, for not looking that out of place.
• In substitution of Mike Green on the powerplay, John Carlson was both awesome and reckless. At times, he looked like a natural, a Green Life clone. At others, it looked like he was expecting Karl Alzner to swoop in and save the day when he pinched in deep. Unfortunately for Captain America, his defensive buddy was Alex Ovechkin. And that guy’s not too concerned for defense on the power play. The Predators ending up having several high-quality scoring chances during the Capitals man advantages including a breakaway in the second period. Worse yet, Carlson was credited with 4 giveaways on the night. No other Capital had more than 1.
• Tomas Fleischmann went 1 for 12 in the face off dot tonight. Ugh. How about we just give him a free pass for slamming home the Capitals second goal of the night when things still looked grim?
• JP says that through five games, Jeff Schultz leads he #Caps in ice time and has yet to be on for a single goal against. That’s an incredible stat.
• Also, incredible: the Capitals have killed off all 21 powerplays that they’ve faced this year. What’s the difference? Could it be because Alex Semin is now a PK regular? No. But a man can dream!
• Lil’ Mikey Newbear reminds me of Nikolai Khabibulin. Much like the Bulin’ Wall, Neuvy sags deep in the crease and is very, very strong when challenged. Neuvy basically stole the win tonight. He never got flustered at any point – even after he took a slapshot to the mask in the late stages of the second period.
• I’m sure Nicklas Backstrom won’t be suspended for his dirty hit on Marcel Goc, but boy was that dangerous and out of character. Goc left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return. Katie Carrera reports that Barry Trotz was fuming when he met with reporters after the game. And I don’t blame him one bit. If that was one of our guys, I’d be p#$$ed off too.
• Finally, what drew that 4-on-3 powerplay in Overtime? Alex Ovechkin going ONE ON THREE in the offensive zone. Brooks Laich gets credit for deflecting the Russian Machine’s point shot home on the GWG, but once again, the Great 8 was money when it mattered.

Waiting in the wings this upcoming week will be the Bruins, whom the Caps have a home-and-home with Tuesday and Thursday. Hopefully by then, our heroes will be all healed up and ready to go. If we take anything from tonight’s game it’s that the Caps are talented enough to coast for two periods and win in the third period, much like last year. And that’s really a bad lesson to learn.

The Caps need to be consistent. To take weaker, more-inferior teams and punish them for even getting on the same ice as them. I know the Predators were 3-0 coming into tonight’s game, and the Caps were missing some of their studs. But they are a better team. Play like it!