Photo credit: Bill Smith

With the Capitals down 4-1 to the Blackhawks late in the second period, Alex Ovechkin carried the puck solo into the Blackhawks’ zone. With three defending players marking him, Ovechkin didn’t wait for his teammates; he did it Rambo-style. The Russian machine dipped his shoulder, slid the puck between his skates, and walked around one of the NHL’s best defensemen, Duncan Keith. He finished the sequence by putting the puck over Corey Crawford’s left pad to score.

Video is below the jump.

Sick, unbelievable.

It was Ovechkin’s 30th goal on the year, and according to the Caps PR, he became the 9th player in NHL history to score 30 or more times in each of his first 7 seasons in the league. Even more impressively however, Michal Neuvirth recorded his first career point, netting the secondary assist on the goal.

Photo credit: Bill Smith

This is it. We’ve had a big red circle around this week since the schedule was announced. Washington Capitals @ Chicago Blackhawks kicks off three very tough road games (Detroit and Philly are the other two). With the Eastern Conference standings as dense as they are, this game means a lot.

Duncan Keith caught a lucky rebound up the middle that Andrew Shaw tipped in, then Viktor Stalberg smoked Dmitry Orlov for a big breakaway goal. Mike Knuble scored a long-distance goal (okay, it was just 32 feet) early in the second. Patrick Kane restored the two-goal lead with an easy wrister after a series of defensive goofs. Wideman and Schultz let Shaw skate away with the puck, and his wraparound become the Hawks’ fourth goal. Alex Ovechkin got some open ice and roofed it. Chicago got the empty netter as soon as Neuvy cleared out. Hawks beat Caps 5-2.

• Capitals-Blackhawks is kind of a March tradition. Remember 2010′s big comeback? What about last year’s Spring streak? This is the Return of the Jedi in that trilogy. I’ll let you decide who are the muppets in this analogy.
• The Capitals recorded just three shots in the first period, and all three came in the last four minutes. I’ll give you a million dollars if no one makes a St. Patrick’s Day/hangover joke. Regardless, you can’t win a game without shooting. It’s not an optional thing like fighting or showering. The rubber has to go towards the net or you will lose. Am I blowing your mind with my incisive hockey analysis?
• Viktor Stalberg left Dmitry Orlov in the dust on that first period goal. John Carlson‘s flubbed check led to Kane’s goal. Jeff Schultz‘s velveteen presence behind the net allowed Shaw to get up front. The D-man had a bad night, but they frustrated and over-leveraged all game. That’s what happens when you have no coherent offensive presence.
• No Caps player has fallen as far as John Carlson has under Coach Hunter, which is weird because Carlson played for Hunter in Ontario. If this is an epic mismatch of player and system, how do you fix it?
• “Let’s go, boys!” That’s what Mike Knuble said after scoring the Caps’ first goal. That goal by #22 came at 2:22 of the 2nd period, and it served to quell the haters. Mike jumped from fourth line to first after that one.
  
• That Alex Ovechkin goal was classic: end-to-end with open ice, schooling Duncan Keith using his skates, all alone against the goalie. That was Alex’s 30th tally of the year, putting him approximately two bazillion goals behind Steven Stamkos.
• Also on that Ovechkin goal: Michal Neuvirth‘s first NHL assist. Hopefully he gets another before his 200th game.
• Special teams is a thing. The Caps couldn’t draw a penalty through two periods, and they didn’t have much mojo on their solitary power play. Refs suck, sure, but Caps up-a-man suck harder.
• The Caps got blown off the faceoff dot again, which is sort of expected with Jeff Halpern getting (healthy) scratched. Pet theory: between Hamrlik, Knuble, and now Halpern, former junior-level coach Dale Hunter is ageist in his scratching. Dispute?

Joe B in a polo shirt of the night

The Capitals just looked awful for long stretches. Without a sturdy offense, they spent most of the game in their own zone, where they were overwhelmed. They failed to challenge Chicago’s forwards on attack, or they lost many of the battles they did choose. The cracks in Washington’s defense looked more like vast fissures. Jim Johnson needs to take these kids back to school.

Engblom’s “hair.”

No time to linger on this one. Puck drop for Caps at Red Wings is in like 25 minutes. Last time we played them, well, it was awesome. The Caps have changed so much since game 7, and this one is going to be very very important.

Heck, they’re all gonna be very important. Judgment Day on April 7 at Front Page just got a whole lot more judgementaler.

Photo credit: Chris Gordon

Over the summer, General Manager George McPhee started snatching players like a rabid mom snatching groceries on Supermarket Sweeps. In are gritty NHL veterans like Joel Ward, Roman Hamrlik, and Jeff Halpern. Out are fan-favorites like Matt Bradley and Boyd Gordon.

Beyond the discounted signing of Tomas Vokoun, there may have been no better addition to the line-up than the Draft-night trade McPhee swung with the Chicago Blackhawks in which he landed Troy Brouwer for a first-round pick. Brouwer, who signed an affordable two-year deal worth $2,350,000 per year on July 6, was part of the Blackhawks’ 2010 Stanley Cup Champion squad and is known in part for his physical, hard-hitting game. The 26-year-old right wing has also been a proven scorer at every level he’s played, tallying 20 goals in the NHL, 40-plus goals in the AHL, and 100-plus points in Juniors.

So with Opening Night only a few days away, what can Caps fans reasonably expect offensively from Brouwer? Also, how about some bizarre facts about Troy that only RMNB can dig up? Follow me past the jump to find out.

How do you pronounce Troy’s last name?

Brow-er, not Brew-er. And I’m talking with experience here because I’ve actually been guilty of butchering his last name for the last three months or so. Peter seems committed to re-naming the Capitals’ man-advantage “the Brouwer Play”, so I’ll learn.

What number will he be wearing in Washington?

#20. Troy will be the first player to wear the number full-time for the Capitals since Rico Fata did in 2005-06. Other notables who wear the #20 include Gary Rissling (1979-80), Michal Pivonka (1986-99) and Robert Lang (2002-04).

What interesting fact about Brouwer is going to blow my mind?

In Troy’s first NHL game with the Blackhawks on December 23, 2006, a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, he was put on the same line with a former Caps great. “I’d like to see him and say hi to him. I don’t know if he’ll remember me because it was six or seven years ago. But it’d be cool to see him again.” The player he’s referring to? None other than Peter Bondra.

So he’s won a Stanley Cup?

Yeah, dude. In 2010. Troy had four goals and four assists in 19 games during that fateful playoff run, his only goal in the Finals coming in Chicago’s 6-5 win over the Flyers in Game 1.

What did he do on his day with the Stanley Cup?

I’ll let Troy explain: “We had a full day with it. For me, I had it at my house early in the morning and ate some cereal out of it – Fruit Loops. My wife’s sister wanted to do that so we did. My dad was in the hospital throughout the playoff run so we took it to the hospital that he was staying at to say thank you to all the nurses and doctors. Hopefully, it brought some cheer and happiness to everyone else that was in his ward. Then I brought it to the Minor Hockey League rink for the minor hockey league kids to see just because their numbers have been spiraling downwards a little bit lately. So hopefully it brought some enthusiasm to hockey there. And then afterwards, I had it at my Parents’ house. A nice big yard, we had a barbecue and partied with about 200 people.”

Does Troy own a pet?

Yes. Troy has two dogs. Above, Brouwer introduces the world to Ari, a beagle mix (we think). We find out that “some of Ari’s favorite things to do are chase squirrels and cats” and that she has “designer clothes,” like any good princess would. The video’s worth watching just to see her play dead.

Was Troy Brouwer cuter than me as a child?

Yes. Though that Sharks jersey gots to go.

Is Troy Brouwer better than me at Poker?

I wouldn’t bet your wife’s wedding ring on a good hand with him. Brouwer was the last Chicago Blackhawk standing at teammate Brian Campbell’s charity poker tournament two years running.

Any injuries I need to know about?

Brouwer had to have surgery this past May to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, an injury that he suffered sometime in 2009-10. “It was pretty ugly,” Brouwer said of his shoulder. Troy avoided the surgery two summers ago, because the recovery time would be four months, four months that he didn’t have because of the Blackhawks Stanely Cup win in June. So he played through the pain last season and reaggravated the injury in April after flying into the Montreal boards on a missed check. Troy’s first pre-season game came against his former team two Monday’s ago.

Does Brouwer fight?

Ask Mike Richards how that right hand tastes and you’ll get your answer. Hockeyfights.com has credited Brouwer with 43 career bouts, 13 of them at the NHL level.

Why did Chicago trade him in the first place if he’s so good?

Brouwer was a restricted free agent and due a hefty raise from the $1.025 mil he was making in the final year of his two-year contract with Chicago. Plus, he also struggled to find consistency last season and wasn’t a factor in the playoffs, where he went pointless in seven games against the Vancouver Canucks. In the Blackhawk’s final 22 regular season games, Troy failed to tally a goal and had only three points. How much that can be blamed on his wonky shoulder we’ll never know.

Where does Brouwer score most of his goals?

In the bakery. 10 of Brouwer’s 17 goals last year were scored within 15 feet of the net, mostly off rebounds and deflections.

But 20 Goals is a lock right?

Not so fast. Neil wrote a great piece about this for Capitals Insider. Here’s a sampling.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound forward scored 22 goals during the Chicago Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup-winning season in 2009-10, and he potted 17 goals last year.

But those numbers came in some of the most optimal conditions possible.

[. . . ]

Brouwer’s even-strength shifts started in the offensive zone almost two thirds of the time, and a third of those were with Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, three of the league’s best players.

Is Brouwer going to play on the first line?

Yes, at least for the season opener. Brouwer will play with Marcus Johansson and Alex Ovechkin, while Nicklas Backstrom will most likely center Alex Semin and Mike Knuble on line two.

Where can I see every goal Brouwer scored last year?

Right here, just step over my passed out body and its cramped and worn-down typing hands.

Goal #1 – 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild, October 30, 2010

Troy corrals the rebound and scores on the backhand.

Goal #2 – 7-2 loss to the Calgary Flames November, 19 2010

Brouwer knocks in a rebound from the waist area past Mikka Kiprusoff.

Goal #3 – GWG, 7-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks, November, 20 2010

Brouwer puts his shoulder down, takes the puck strong to the net, and puts one past Roberto Luongo. Goals in back-to-back games.

Goal #4 – 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks, November, 26 2010

A big hit by Brouwer starts the Blackhawks on an odd man break. Brouwer takes a pass from the boards and rifles a slapshot from the middle of the circles past Jonas Hiller.

Goal #5 – PPG, 7-5 win over the St. Louis Blues, November 30, 2010

Joe B.’s commentating! The goal is a gimme. Puck takes weird bounce off the boards on a dump-in. Brouwer collects and rifles it into a yawning net. This marks four goals in six games for Troy.

Goal #6 – GWG, 5-3 win over the Dallas Stars, December 8, 2010

Brouwer takes a slick pass from Bolland on a 2-on-1 who then takes the puck in, dekes to the backhand, and roofs it past Andrew Raycroft.

Goals #7 and #8 – 2 PPG, 7-5 loss to Colorado, December 13, 2010

A fortunate bounce finds Troy in front of the net on the Brouwer play.

This goal gives the Blackhawks a 5-4 lead. Brouwer tips a shot from the point into the net from about waist-high.

Goal #9 – 4-3 loss to Colorado, December 15, 2010

Brouwer scores a meaningless goal in front of the net with a second left on the clock. Props for the reserved goal celebration. He currently is enjoying 8 goals in 12 games at this point.

Goal #10 – PPG, 5-3 loss to San Jose, December 30, 2010

Brouwer’s centering pass on the powerplay redirects off of Niemi into the net.

Goal #11 – GWG, 4-0 win over Colorado, January 12, 2011

Brouwer jams the puck towards the net and in after a good battle along the boards.

Goals #12 and #13 – PPG, GWG, 6-3 win over the Preds, January 16, 2011

Brouwer scores on the powerplay after taking a rebound and jamming it home.

Brouwer scores 40 seconds later. Takes the puck from the corner, uses his speed to curl to the middle of the ice and wrists a shot past a helpless Anders Lindbeck. It ends up standing up as the game-winning goal and is potentially Brouwer’s most impressive individual play on the year.

Goal #14 – 4-1 win over the Red Wings, January 22, 2011

Jonathan Toews sets Brouwer up in front of the net, and Troy snaps her home.

Goal #15 – 4-2 loss to the Wild, January 25, 2011

Puck finds Brouwer in the crease. Five goals in six games streak.

Goal #16 – PPG, 3-2 (OT) loss to Phoenix, February 12, 2011

Brouwer takes a pass from Marian Hossa and one-times the puck past Ilya Bryzgalov.

Goal #17 – GWPPG, 3-1 win over the Wild, February 16, 2011

Hawks keep the puck in at the blue line. Play breaks down and Brouwer ends up having a 2-on-1 with Hossa from close range. Brouwer tries to send the puck to Marian Hossa but instead the biscuit deflects in past Jose Theodore. Goals in back-to-back games.

In the end, Troy scored his goals from 6ft, 15ft, 7ft, 31ft, 14ft, 7ft, 12ft, 11ft, 11ft, 10ft, 20ft, 16ft, 21ft, 23ft, 10ft, 22ft, and 11ft away from the net. The more you know.

GROUP HUG! (Photo credit: Rob Carr)

Jason Chimera brings the intensity in a second period fight with Brent Seabrook. (Photo credit: Jacquelyn Martin)

In dramatic fashion, in front of a national television audience  and a sellout crowd at Verizon Center, the Cardiac Caps were once again back at work as Washington pushed their winning streak to eight. Less than one month ago it would have been hard to imagine any of this happening. Nevertheless, the Caps are now just a single point out of first-place in the Eastern Conference.

“Guys have a bit of a swagger right now, back to the way things were,” said Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby.

The Blackhawks opened the scoring less than five minutes into the contest. After receiving a feed from Marian Hossa, Nick Leddy put the puck past Holtby. Just under two and a half minutes later, however, Boyd Gordon would knot the game at one. After picking up an errant pass by the ‘Hawks power play, Gordon raced down the wing before firing a slapper past Chicago netminder Corey Crawford for the shortie. Late in the first frame, after John Erskine drew a holding penalty, Washington headed to their recently anemic power play. This time, however, it would be different. New Cap Jason Arnott fired a bullet from the point that found twine, giving Washington their first lead of the game.

Three minutes into the second period, Chicago would tie the game at two when Holtby gave Tomas Kopecky a little too much daylight. Kopecky seized the opportunity, banking the puck off ‘keeper’s back from behind the goal-line. In the waining moments of the stanza, things got physical when Chicago’s Brent Seabrook delivered a hard check behind the net to Jason Chimera. Everyone favorite fire-footed, stone-handed forward took exception to Seabrook, challenging him to a duel. Seabrook appeared to come out with the win in the bout but it was Chimera got the take-down.

“Chimmer, I thought, he was a factor. He did not get a star or anything, but I thought he was a real big factor in the game,” said Chimera’s teammate Brooks Laich. “He was the one that sort of instigated that little rhubarb there. I think he does a good job and takes one of their top defenders off. So I think he had a very good night.”

Six and half in to the final frame, the aforementioned Laich put home Matt Hendricks’ (or more accurately Eric Fehr’s) feed from the corner to put the Caps on top. Washington appeared to be in control until Marcus Johansson was called for hooking at 18:10. “I thought it was a pretty chintzy call,” said Boudreau. On the ensuing Blackhawks power play, Jonathan Toews converted on a mad scrum in front of the net, as the puck bounced in off Holtby’s skate.

In overtime, the Capitals missed numerous chances until, finally, Mike Knuble — with a little help from Johansson — came to the rescue. Ballgame over. Caps top ‘Hawks, 4-3.

• Braden Holtby continued his determined play of late, making 27 saves on 30 shots despite, as he said later, not feeling at the top of his game. The first two goals he gave up he’d most likely want to have back. On Leddy’s opening goal, a diving Matt Hendricks and a standing Boyd Gordon screened Holtby on the shot from the point. On Kopecky’s “no-angled” tally from behind the net, Holtby cheated off the right post, thinking it was a centering pass. Plain and simple, a rookie mistake.
• “I did not feel that great out there. Today was kind of a battle the whole game,” Holtby said. “Thankfully the guys played a great game, especially defensively, and did not give up too much. A little bit of a mistake by me in the second, but we were still able to come out on top.”
• Still, Holtby was praised by head coach Bruce Boudreau after the game, saying “they are really not making it easy” for him to chose a playoff starter. “I am going to be ready if called upon, willing to put my heart on the line for this team,” said Holtby of that prospect.
• Holtby cleared the puck on a penalty kill again, prompting NBC’s Pierre McGuire to say, “this guy’s about as good as Marty Brodeur when it comes to handling the puck.” We’re still waiting for that empty net goal, Braden.
• 

  DJ Pauly D poses for a photo with Eric Fehr and John Carlson after the game (Photo credit: JC74)

  DJ Pauly D of “Jersey Shore” fame was at the game today after accepting Alex Ovechkin’s invite at Shamrockfest Saturday. Mr. D (?) stayed through overtime and even met with the boys in the locker room after the game, despite having a scheduled show in Harrisburg, PA at 5pm. Outfitted in a Caps jersey, a large chain and diamond earrings, Pauly D rocked the red with Slapshot, filmed an interview with Guerin Austin of Caps Red Line and took a photo with Fehr and John Carlson after the game. I would make some sort of joke here but I’m still dumbfounded.
• Thanks to Arnott’s late power play goal, the Caps came into the first intermission with a lead for the first time in 13 games.
• The Capitals third line of Jason Chimera, Brooks Laich and Eric Fehr played playoff style hockey. Laich won seven of his eight face-offs, Fehr had five shots while Chimera racked up three hits, two shots and, of course, his fight with Seabrook. Chimera’s fight was notable, if only because it took Seabrook – one of the Blackhawks best defensemen – off the ice. With Brian Campbell struggling with a foot injury and playing only 7:05, the Blackhawks opened the third period with only four rearguards. The group’s hard work was also rewarded by a second period goal from Laich. Fehr did all the heavy-lifting, outmuscling Duncan Keith behind the net for the puck before then dishing out a no-look backhander to Laich for a one-timer. It’s Fehr to say, Caps fans Laich goals by Brooks. Yeah, we’re horrible
• Marcus Johansson not only had the game-winning assist, but he also had a game-high seven shots on goal, two hits and three blocked shots. Can we assume his unintentional appearance at RMNB Party Two spurred his inspired performance today?
• Alex Ovechkin‘s seven game point streak — during which he accumulated four goals along with seven assists — may have ended but Ovi was still a force to be reckoned with. Ovechkin had six shots while registering three hits. He saved his most impressive effort for his last shift of the game, where he went one-on-three in the offensive zone, breaking through the triangle of players to fire a wrist-shot just wide of the net. Given how much criticism Ovechkin received for his poor — at least by his standards — play earlier in the year it’s important to note the renewed energy, creativity and hustle that he has displayed over the past month or so.
• Tomas Kopecky unintentionally boarded Dennis Wideman face-first into the glass in the third period, giving the Caps a two-minute power play. But this bullet is actually dedicated to Kopecky’s good sportsmanship after the hit. He tried to hold Wideman up as he fell down, stopped playing and asked to make sure he was okay. With the Zdeno Chara-Max Pacioretty hit dominating sports headlines over the past week, this was good to see. Wideman returned for his next regular shift and logged a team-high 27:27 of ice time.
• Jeff Schultz had five blocked shots. He also happened to miss the net by about 15 feet on a wide-open shot from the point. Nevertheless, a good performance from Sarge despite that fact he finished minus-one for the day.
• Finally, NBC did a nice feature on John Carlson during the second-intermission. View it here.

Joe B. sign of the game (Photo credit: Chris Gordon)

“I just like our team so much more than at this point last year,” said Knuble. “I think we’re definitely headed in the right direction.”

Still, Boudreau doesn’t want to worry about being the top dog in the East. “It is a nice feather in your cap,” he said. “In the end, I mean, I don’t care if we are eighth or first. I got to believe the eight can beat the one. It’s happened, I think.”

The Caps in Montreal Tuesday night. We’ll see you right back here.

Bonus Video: Homer McFanboy captures DJ Pauly D meeting up with Ovi after the game

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

On Friday afternoon, President Barack Obama welcomed the Chicago Blackhawks to the White House to celebrate their Stanley Cup championship last season. The ‘Hawks presented Mr. Obama with a jersey bearing his name and the number 44. “I think we’ve even got some blood on here,” the president said after he was given the sweater. “It shows it’s authentic. Fantastic.”

After the ceremony, First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a street hockey clinic with local children on the South Lawn as part of her “Let’s Move” campaign to help keep kids fit. Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green was attendance to help Mrs. Obama kick off her event. Below the jump, I chronicle the day in pictures.

(Click to enlarge — All photos by Chris Gordon)

Mr. Obama shakes the hand of Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz.

Blackhawks president John McDonough lets Mr. Obama try on his championship ring.

“That’s what you call some bling,” Mr. Obama quips.

‘Hawks captain Jonathan Toews gives a miniature Stanley Cup to the Commander-in-chief as a gift.

Mr. Obama joked that “it looks so much bigger on TV.”

Mr. Obama greets the children in attendance for the First Lady’s event.

Wirtz speaks with the media after the ceremonies.

First Lady Michelle Obama enters to conduct her “Let’s Move” campaign.

Mrs. Obama is presented with a Team USA jersey emblazoned with “FLOTUS” — standing for First Lady of the United States — and number one.

Mrs. Obama poses with the kids participating in the street hockey game.

The First Lady drops the puck to officially begin the festivities.

According to Capitals defenseman Mike Green she inquired about the correct way to do so. “I told her, ‘Just drop it. Don’t throw it up in the air,’ Green said. “She was fine.”

In you are so inclined, check out Caps Snaps for some additional photos from the day.

With only 12 games to go the Washington Capitals are within striking distance of another franchise first: The Presidents’ Trophy.

Along with the cash bonuses to the organization it ensures home ice advantage throughout the playoffs – a huge plus to a team with a 26-4-4 record at the Phone Booth and PK issues away.

It is a five horse race (Washington, Chicago, Phoenix, Vancouver and San Jose) and the Caps have the easiest road to the prize.

The Caps play their remaining games against teams with an average .464 Win %. The other four contenders all play teams that average .507 or above:

• WSH .464
• CHI  .507
• SJS .520
• VAN .528
• PHX .538

Looking at the Simple Rating System (SRS) of each team’s remaining schedule once again shows the Caps have the easy road:

• PHX .20 SRS for remaining opponents
• VAN .16
• SJS .13
• CHI  .02
• WSH -.21

An average team will have a rating of zero. An above average team will have a positive rating while a below average team will have a negative rating. Every team will have a rating that is the equal to their average point margin plus the average of their opponent’s ratings, so the teams’ ratings are all interdependent: the Caps’ rating depends upon the ratings of all their opponents, which depends upon the ratings of all their opponents (some of which are the Caps), and so on.

And finally, if we look at the Goals For and against for the remaining teams, the Caps play teams that give up an average of 2.94 Goals per game while only scoring 2.77, giving them the best Pythagorean Win % of the finalists at .527. Next best is Chicago with an expected win % of .505 with the rest sub-.500.

So to sum up: The Washington Caps should lead all NHL teams with 119 points and have all roads for the Cup run through DC.

Oops. Russian Machine screw up big time. (AP Photo)

At around 2:00pm, after Alex Ovechkin was tossed and Chicago was starting the third period with a 3-0 lead, I got a call from RMNB lead writer Peter Hassett who’s currently spending his last day in California for a weekend wedding. He said and I quote:

“I thought the Tampa Bay Game was the disaster game of the season. I guess it’s this one now.”

I reminded him that there was still 1 full period of play left- which is a lot of time for the Capitals even without Ovechkin – and that Chicago blew a similar 3-0 lead to the Flyers the day before. Undeterred, Peter replied “Dude, It’s Over.”

So of course, the Capitals were victorious and won in Overtime over a stunned Chicago Blackhawks team, 4-3. SORRY PETER. We’re just going to warn you now, we’re not in the mood for happy bullets.

• Everyone wants to talk about Alex Ovechkin and his ejection. We will too. But we first want to point you to a potential reason for the Caps terribly slow start: With daylight savings the night before and the team flying to Chicago – which is an hour behind on Central Time – the Capitals actually lost two hours. Thus, for them, it felt like the start of the game was at 10:30am. If you’ve ever played a Varsity Sport in High School, we’ll just tell you – it takes awhile for the body to wake up that early. Which is a perfect segway into…
• Alex Semin. WTF dude? You must be misunderstood, because if I went by your body language today, no part of you wanted to be playing hockey. First, you take a horrendous obstruction penalty in the first period. Then in the second, you try to lean in on an imaginary defenseman on a breakaway and go hurling towards the net out of control. The result? Semin AGAIN goes careening head first into the goaltender on a breakaway. No goal, offensive zone penalty number two. Fedor’s comment on AIM: “stupidest penalty in hockey ever for Semin.” It’s hard to disagree. Our favourite Siberian must love soccer, because he keeps trying to bring the “header” into hockey. Finally, when you lose your best player, someone else must step up. And that my friends wasn’t Alex Semin…
• It was Nicklas Backstrom. The unassisted overtime winner was delicious, yes, but Nicklas Backstrom’s first goal of the night – the Capitals second – came at the tail end of a 5 on 3 powerplay and right after one of his most ill-advised turnovers of the year (saucer to Brooks Laich on 2 on 3). Without a goal there, momentum swings back to the Blackhawks and the game’s over. When asked post game about the team’s victory without it’s best player, Lars responded: “It’s a strong sign, especially now at the end of the season. We know he [Ovechkin] is a key to our team and he scores a lot of goals. We have shown that we can play, that our other key players can play, too.”
• Who else can really play when a big game’s on the line? How about David Steckel? We’ll just come right out and say it, Stecks is the type of player you need to win a Stanley Cup. Period. On Fehr’s game tying goal, Steckel hustled to beat out an icing call and deftly threw the puck out to his open teammate. Not only that, all game long he played good defense, finished his checks, and won a bunch of faceoffs. And if it wasn’t for…
• Joe Corvo blowing a terrible assignment off a faceboff on the Blackhawks second goal, Steckel would have ended the game with a +1. We’ll be honest, Corvo’s freelancing is starting to piss us off a little. Yeah, he’s a good defenseman, and he can really move the puck well. But with his brain farts accumulating by the week and the ladies’ already questioning the effectiveness of his goatee, Corvo is close to losing Caps fans complete support already. COME ON CORVO. GET IT TOGETHER.
• It’s hard not to enjoy a game when NBC’s Mike Emrick is calling it. He said two flat out hilarious things. First he said “LAICH GETTING UNSIGHTLY WITH PATRICK KANE.” I’m not even sure what that means. And then Emrick described a ho hum blocker save as Jose Theodore “WAFFLE-BOARDING [THE PUCK] AWAY.” Oh Mikey, you so folksy.
• And oh yeah, how can I forget that Alex Ovechkin guy? We said it on Twitter. And we’ll say it here again. We all know that the Ovechkin hit was not worth a 5 min boarding major with replay. But live – it looked really dirty, Brian Campbell had his back turned and was in a vulnerable position, & Campbell ended up getting badly injured on the play. Sometimes there are hits that are too risky to make. And the Russian Machine needs to stop putting himself in this position. Blame his passion, blame whatever you want. But it’s got to stop. He’s already starting to gain a reputation as a dirty hitter. Since we get to watch him every game, we as Capital Fans know there’s no malice involved here. But in a day of age where video clips of these types of hits are so easily accessible – and you’re the most talked about player in the game – this is going to be another bad black eye.
• NHL head disciplinarian Colin Campbell has already clarified the Ovechkin automatic suspension talk: “The knee [suspension from Dec. 1] does not apply as he was suspended for that. If you get two boarding game-misconduct penalties, you get an automatic suspension if 41 games have not lapsed. In [Ovechkin's] case, 41 games have lapsed since his last boarding [game misconduct], so he is not suspended automatically.” We here at RMNB predict an Ovechkin suspension anyways.
• Ovechkin on the hit: “I didn’t hit him hard. I pushed him, but he fell bad. It probably looks bad.” Um yeah.
• If President Obama saw the game today and wants to be associated with a winner, there’s no doubt who that should be anymore. The Capitals were pretty awful for 40 minutes + and still managed to beat his hometown team. So now, let’s make that transition as easy as possible for him, by you joining our rapidly growing Facebook Petition.
• Finally, the Washington Capitals now have 101 points through 69 games and have gone over 100 points for the 6th time in franchise history!!!! Oh? You don’t give a crap? Bigger goals you say? My bad.

Anyways, today, was just a flat out weird game. Brooks Laich’s goal in the third period made me feel like this victory was inevitable however. And that’s a bad sign. This team spoils us hardcore, and I hope we don’t rely on these crazy comebacks later in the year. Because in the playoffs. It’s Not. Gonna. Happen.

Stay tuned to RMNB this week. We’ll have some fantastic, exclusive Barack The Red content, and hell, we might even get Peter back … sometime. But while we have you now, we just wanted to say that we have been humbled by the incredible amount of attention we’ve received the last few days because of our Obama site. Our success here wouldn’t of been possible without trailblazers like Japers’ Rink and On Frozen Blog leading the way. It’s more of a testament to their awesomeness than anything we ever did. So we say thank you to you and to them and we state emphatically that we realize our place. Which is still the worst blog ever.