 |
Photo credit: Rob Carr
In an unconventional move, Eric Fehr chose to play the Boston Bruins solo on Tuesday night. After falling back in the first period, Eric Fehr, completely unassisted, clawed his way back before scoring a spectacular overtime game-winner.
It was a night of first and a night of comebacks. Fehr was a hero, Wojtek Wolksi redeemed himself, and two plucky kids got on the scoreboard. A great team performance.
Eric Fehr beats Bruins 4-3 (OT)
The Washington Capitals’ loss to New Jersey Devils on Thursday was one of their worst games in years. Saturday’s matinee still had some problems with penalties, but they added a magic ingredient: Alex Ovechkin’s thirst for SCOAR MOAR GOALS.
Alex Ovechkin sank a one-timer to cap off a great entry sequence by Chimera and Ribeiro. Ilya Kovalchuk used John Erskine as a screen to beat Braden Holtby late in the second period. Alex Ovechkin got his second of the day– coming up the right side and shooting between Volchenkov’s legs. Eric Fehr scored a shorthanded goal after robbing Johan Hedberg behind his net. Ovechkin converted a power play goal late in the third, and the hats rained down. Then Troy Brouwer got everybody wings, and it was party time.
Caps beat Devils 5-1.
GIF by welshhockeyfan
Last season with the Winnipeg Jets, Eric Fehr had a disaster season. Still feeling the effects of shoulder surgery, the big six-foot four-inch winger had two goals in 35 games. Winnipeg did not offer him a contract to come back.
His shoulder sure looks healthy now. During the second period of the Capitals match-up Sunday against New York, Fehr drove his shoulder into Anton Stralman’s chest, leveling him to the ice.
Fehr is riding a four-game point streak after assisting on John Carlson’s first period goal. The winger has three goals and three assists during that span.
Good signing, GMGM.
Fehr, center, celebrates his first goal against the Bolts on Thursday. (Photo credit: Scott Audette)
I was sitting in section 112 of Heinz Field as the rain steadily picked up. It was New Year’s Day, night time, and the Capitals were clinging to a 2-1 lead in the third period of the 2011 Winter Classic in Pittsburgh. As puddles were forming on the temporary ice sheet, Jason Chimera fired a centering pass to a player streaking down the middle of the ice. A couple seconds later, Eric Fehr had his second goal of the game. Washington won 3-1.
Two years later, things are different. Their coach at the time, Bruce Boudreau, is gone. As is his successor Dale Hunter. The Caps are no longer competing for the best record in the National Hockey League. Right now they’re just trying to stay relevant.
But Fehr got out before all that. When he left the team, they just finished their second straight year being eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the number one seed. Fehr had a rough last year in Washington. A victim of nagging shoulder issues (which had previously required surgery) the Manitoba native dislocated his shoulder just two weeks after the marquee match in Pittsburgh, tearing a ligament in the joint. He tried to come back after rehab, but former 20 goal scorer wasn’t the same. In May of 2011, he went under the knife to repair the damage. Two months later, Fehr, a fan favorite, was traded in a salary dump to the newly minted Winnipeg Jets. It was the team — albeit in a different incarnation — he grew up loving as a kid.
Fehr, though, didn’t step on the ice much for the Jets in their inaugural season. His shoulder never fully healed. He would play for a few weeks and then be sidelined again. In 35 games, Fehr scored just two goals. Winnipeg showed no interest in resigning him. He couldn’t get a deal before the NHL lockout.
“It was frustrating because knew I wasn’t at my best, I wasn’t at the top of my game,” Fehr said of his time with the Jets. “I feel like I was more in survival mode.”
Ovechkin palmed a plasma globe during intermission. (Photo credit: @HockeyBroph)
The Capitals have been undefeated, 3-0-0, ever since fans sacrified a rubber cow and goat at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. That doesn’t mean the games have been pretty. Or graceful.
For example, take a look at Thursday’s game against division rival Tampa. The Capitals gained a 4-1 lead, only to surrender two third period goals and barely escape with a win. There were missed poke checks, goals scored from a seated position, and lots of enthusiastic coaching. You know: Caps hockey.
Presenting… the best pics from Caps at Lightning!
Photo credit: Scott Audette
Happy Valentine’s Day, hockey lovers! I hate this stupid day, but I found a good way to pass the time. The Washington Capitals served the Tampa Bay Lightning to some offense-go-boom and peppered it with all the careless defense that makes Caps hockey both fun and infuriating.
Troy Brouwer executed a lovely passing sequence on the game’s opening power play, but Martin St. Louis evened the score with a series of swats at Holtby’s pads. Eric Fehr scored his second goal in as many games by going straight to the net, and then made it three with a rocket from outside in the third period. Jay Beagle reintroduced himself with the dirtiest goal ever scored by a half-human/half-hound. Teddy Purcell got one back with a zero-angle shot that probably went off a Caps skater’s boot, and Nate Thompson made it darn close with a breakaway that Holtby misread. The Caps survived a late-minute panic and earned the win.
Caps beat Lightning 4-3.
Last week, Ted Leonsis spread his wings by launching Monumental Network, a site to aggregate all the Caps, Wizards, Mystics, and Verizon Center coverage his company produces. They’ve got original reporting and a network of blogs to cover the living heck out of each team.
Earlier this week, Casey Phillips, Monumental’s digital correspondent crowded in on RMNB’s beat with a story that we should have had. After Cosmopolitan Magazine named Mike Green the sexiest player in the NHL, the Monumental crew asked the team who they thought was truly the most handsome guy around.
The answers will amaze you. Or maybe they won’t. I mean, you know they’re gonna say Brooks, right?
Photo credit: @emilymorgann
Coming into training camp, the Washington Capitals had a few question marks around their forwards. Brooks Laich was sidelined by a groin injury, and Wojtek Wolski was tentatively slated [gulp] as a top-six winger. But on Saturday, as the lockout ended, George McPhee got himself some insurance, inking longtime-Cap Eric Fehr to a one-year deal worth $600,000. The signing made a lot of fans happy.
None more so than Kathryn Barry.
Photo credit: Gregory Shamus
The man Ted Starkey called the “franchise leader in outdoor goals” has returned to the flock. The Washington Times’ Stephen Whyno reports that Eric Fehr is ready to sign a one-year contract for $600k.
Fehr left the Caps in ’11 for the newfangled Jets of his hometown Winnipeg. Fehr was one of the principle contributors to the Capitals’ previous SCOAR MOAR GOALS style of hockey, so his return may bring good tidings for the those yearning for a more offensive Caps team. I’d like to see him take the right wing on the top line with Ovechkin and Backstrom. What do you think?
I invite you now to peruse RMNB’s Eric Fehr tag.
The Jets are five points behind the Caps with one less game played. They have the worst road record in the Eastern Conference.
And since this happened, Alex Ovechkin has scored four goals in three games. Thanks a bunch, Winnipeg!
It’s been a long time since Verizon Center has seen their boys. How will we greet them? And how will we welcome the Jets, whose fans have been so snarky lately?
A few suggestions:
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.
