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:
Let’s go Thrashers! CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP
P-A-R-K / Your kids got no place to play / Winnipeg ooh ooh Winnipeg!
Jets, you suck! Jets, you suck! ExceptforyouEricFehryou’recool! Jets, you suck!
The Pre Game: OK, who among us is not looking forward to smearing turkey gravy over fresh rolls with sage stuffing and a slab of dark meat on top with tart cranberry sauce dripping from the side? Maybe everyone who also has to travel home for the annual ‘Parental Maintenance’ festival. Or those who just aren’t in a position to lay a feast on their table.
Don’t ever dare quote us as saying this, but this is a great time of year to be nice to people. Even those you don’t know. Not just Thanksgiving Day, but the coming months of cold, and dark, and at times hunger. Be nice, people.
We don’t handle “being nice” well, at least publicly, so this Thanksgiving preview we’ve handed over to two honest, sweet-natured souls from the Upper Midwest. (*whisper God’sCountry whisper*) “Puck Buddy Bunny” and “Dave E” write for PuckBuddys, and occasionally hoist a drink to the great hockey teams of the midwest, such as the Fightin’ Souix, the Duluth Bulldogs, or (when they must) the Wings.
Either of them have more hockey knowledge at a hat drop than both PuckBuddys on a sober night, and they’ve offered their thoughts on our second tangle with the Winnipeg Jets. We advise you sit up straight, pay attention, then go back to fiddling with your bird.
If you took a break from hockey after May 4th, when the Tampa Bay Lightning swept the Washington Capitals out of the playoffs, we completely understand. It was rough. But the new season is here, along with reasons for renewed hope. So in case you’ve been avoiding hockey in general and this blog in particular, we’ve prepared a primer to catch you up.
Here is everything you need to know about the Washington Capitals but were afraid to ask (2011-2012 edition).
On September 30, 2011, In Opinion, By Rachel Cohen
Editor’s note: To get you properly revved up for the season, each member of the RMNB crew will take a longing look back at some of our favorite goals from days gone by. You can call it nostalgia or cheap summer content, but it’s really a reminder: WINTER IS COMING.
I wasn’t always a huge hockey fan. My family were Hartford Whalers season-ticket holders, and they took me to an event down at the old Civic Center when I was 4. I would have gone skating but the goal siren frightened me away. I refused to skate and spent the rest of the night sitting on the bench with my hands on my ears. When I finally saw a game at age 12, I was an instant convert.
So: January 1st, 2011. The Winter Classic. Maybe the biggest game of the regular season and my first away from Home Sweet Verizon Center and in Pittsburgh, home of our nemeses. I wanted the win badly.
Saturday night, Richmond International Raceway hosted NASCAR’s 26th race of the year, the final contest before the 2011 Chase field or “playoff” is set. Naturally with such a big race on hand, there needed to be some A-List talent to wave the green flag. So NASCAR trudged out the Jersey Shore’s Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi to be the Honorary Starter of the Wonderful Pistachios 400. Really? You can’t make this stuff up.
Incredibly, Snooki now becomes the third Jersey Shore reality-star that a Caps player has either met or been photographed with. Let’s do the recap thing.
On July 14, 2011, In Interview, News, By Chris Gordon
Photos by Chris Gordon
The Capitals’ trade of right wing Eric Fehr — who had a cap hit of $2.2 million — to Winnipeg may have been nothing more than a salary dump, but the team still got something in exchange for the Manitoba native, picking up prospect Danick Paquette along with a fourth-round pick in 2012.
Paquette, 20, won’t suit up for the Caps in the near future, but just days after joining the organization he is already pointing out his similarities to a former member of the team — and not a well liked one either.
“I’m a pretty dirty player so I did my job — like Matt Cooke,” Paquette told reporters when asked about a questionable hit he dished out in the first period of Thursday’s scrimmage.
Fehr scored two goals in the Winter Classic and was named the #2 star of the game. (Photo credit: Jamie Sabau)
Just after 5pm Friday, the Caps made waves around the hockey world, announcing they had traded right wing Eric Fehr to Winnipeg for the Jets’ fourth-round pick in the 2012 Draft and prospect Danick Paquette.
Part of being a stat geek “numbers guy” means I go on the record a lot with predictions, and this season was no different. Sometimes I’m right and sometimes I am righter. Let’s take a look back and see how I did both on RMNB and on my posts for The Washington Post’s Capitals Insider.
Neuvy celebrates with his teammates after coming up victorious in the shootout. (Photo credit: Graig Abel)
What can’t Knuble do? (Photo credit: Graig Abel)
In their first game of the final back-to-back of the season, the Capitals found themselves in Air Canada Centre to face the surging Toronto Maple Leafs. Since the All-Star break, the Leafs have gone a ridiculous and improbable 18-7-5, riding mid-season call-up James Reimer’s (Oops, sorry!) Optimus Reim‘s incredible goaltending back into playoff contention.
Unfortunately for the Leafs, their chances of still making the playoffs were about as likely as Jason Chimera having a 50 goal season: less than one percent. To stave off mathematical elimination for one more night, they had to have either a regulation or overtime win against DC and a loss from Buffalo.
“They have to have every point,” winger Brooks Laich explained to the media after the Capitals pre-game skate. “They have to have every point in regulation the next three games and then hope for the best. This is an elimination game for the Leafs and they’re going to show us their absolute best.
