MVP. (Photo credit: Patrick McDermott)

And so we said goodnight to the Southeast Division. With one last dance between the Washington Capitals and the Winnipeg Jets (née Atlanta Thrashers), the stakes were a division title and a guaranteed ticket to the postseason dance for the home team. It was a barn-burning good time, which doesn’t sound like a good time if you own a barn but you don’t so it was. The Capitals came out of the gates shooting and hardly stopped to catch their breath. All four lines were clicking, and that’s exactly the kind of hockey we want to see one week before the playoffs start.

Alex Ovechkin is the best.

Caps beat Jets 5-3. The Capitals make the playoffs. The Capitals are Southeast Division champions.

• Southeast Division: You were the best and the worst. You were a bad girlfriend, but we had some great memories anyway. The Capitals owned you and your sad, sad banners.
• Matt Hendricks had gone pointless (adj. - without a point) for over a month and goalless since March 2nd. That ended on Tuesday when Hendy scored on the scramble, bouncing the puck off Pavelec’s shoulder. If you were waiting for secondary scoring, your wait is over.
• Jason Chimera and Matthieu Perreault exchanged pretty passes behind the Jets net until Chimmer stormed the crease and scored his third goal of the season, the first one I’ve seen live. I actually called a Chimera goal right before the game (#thebank), but I guess that matters less since this is the 46th consecutive game I have predicted such a thing.
• The star of the first period was Big John Erskine. Along with Martin Erat, Ersk dove in front of a Winnipeg shot on an empty net to save an early goal. A few minutes later, Erskine swatted away a puck that bounced off and dropped behind Holtby. The play was reviewed, and Erskine was the savior.
  
• Evander Kane is sadly awesome. Fresh in the middle period and on the power play, Kane used Erskine as a screen and scored on Braden Holtby’s far blocker side. That should have been a wake-up call that the Jets would not go quietly into that good night.
• Steve Oleksy coudn’t clear the puck late in the second, allowing Blake Wheeler to tie the game up and make it exciting, but the MVP set up Nick Backstrom a few seconds later for a timing play goal, making it 3-2. Backy’s goal was reviewed because, once again, the guys in the war room in Toronto are huge fans.
• Matthieu Perreault got his tiny French Canadian frame into a scrum and came out with a goal with a couple minutes left in the second period. He thinks he’s people.
• Alex Ovechkin’s hit on Evander Kane was clean and devastating. Kane looked shook up, but he was back in the third in time to put a dirty elbow into Oleksy’s pretty pretty face.
• The Verizon Center blacksmiths were at the ready in the third as the Caps started targeting the posts with pinpoint accuracy. Even Volpatti pinged one.
• Nick Backstrom got boarded, no call. Referees are a joke in your town.
• Nik Antropov made it a one-goal game with a high slot shot to the top shelf. He had to fight through three Caps to get the shot off, and it was telekinetically directed to the twine. Gorgeous, but kinda deflating, but what happened next made it so much worse.
• Matthieu Perreault high-sticked Antropov with just five minutes to go. The Caps PK unit kept the Jets shotless, and Verizon Center went ape-bananas.
• MVP Alex Ovechkin scored the empty-netter, his 31st of the season. He’s taking over the world.

Joe B suit of the night

Fun hockey, to me, is Capitals hockey. That means tons of offense, creative passing, and lots of playing where the ice is painted. The Caps played fun hockey tonight. Every line was pressuring and producing, and anything could happen. That and the possession domination made this a very encouraging game to watch one week away  of the postseason.

You want to see your players dancing. And they did.

So this was the first of what’s now officially a five-game homestand. The Caps have two more games to play in the regular season, and then the real game begins.

I cannot freaking wait.

That was just a distinct ass-kicking motion.

— RMNB (@russianmachine) April 24, 2013

No-goal GIF by welshhockeyfan

Totally not a picture of Grubauer btw. (Photo credit: Bruce Bennett)

The Washington Capitals had a great chance to jump up the Southeast Division in Saturday’s game at the New York Islanders. For awhile it looked like the Caps could do it, but then two rotten, late-game penalties by Mike Ribeiro and Jeff Schultz put it out of reach. A great opportunity, squandered.

Isles beat Caps 5-2.

• I still suspect that neutral-ice possession is intended to be the centerpiece of the Adam Oates system, but turnovers — like the one Alex Ovechkin surrendered leading to the Isles’ second goal — seemed to be all the rage on Saturday afternoon. The Islanders were surprisingly feisty in neutral and on the forecheck, which revealed how shaky the Caps really are setting up their offense. Miles to go before the Caps sleep.
• The Islanders really do have some talent on their team. It makes you wonder what they could do if their ownership weren’t a joke.
• John Erskine skated two shifts worth 1:18 in the first period before the leaving the ice with an upper-body injury. That left the Caps with 5 D for the bulk of the game, putting increased pressure on guys like…
• Steve Oleksy, who had another hard-hitting game. I don’t know if he’s actually contributing to the game events that correlate to winning, but I enjoy watching him do his thing. For example, if two Islanders lay a simultaneous hit on him, and they’re the only guys who fall down, that’s good times.
• Mathieu Perreault continues an impressive season. He’s not scoring on every fourth shot like last year, but he’s still a very strong shooter with good numbers underneath (though he is sheltered in his deployments). Perry’s line was the best today, creating all the best swarms around Nabokov’s net.
• Nicky Backstrom has been eerily quiet this season– with just two goals before today, and both at home. His tying goal in the third period– a blistering one-timer capping off a tight passing sequence– was his way of reintroducing himself to the league’s goalies. It’d be great to see like 10-15 more like that before the season is out.
• Philipp Grubauer earns a big stinking L in his first NHL start. He did face a ton of shots, but he performed pretty much exactly where you’d expect a replacement player to be– roundabouts .886 save percentage. File under not ready for primetime.
• Jason Chimera is not gonna score if he is forever cycling behind the net. I think he needs some tactical adjustments to shake the slump.
• Mike Ribeiro has been rehabilitating his reputation as a hothead this year. That campaign is on a backslide recently, as Ribs’ third-period unsportmanlike + high-sticking double-minor penalty cost the Capitals this game. I count three penalties assessed to Mike for mouthing off so far this season, which is also three too many.
• That goes for Jeff Schultz as well. The Giraffe’s high-sticking call immediately followed Ribs’ and made a win impossible for DC. John Tavares scored (his second of the day) on the first half of that penalty. The refs missed that goal– causing the Caps to have to serve two more minutes shorthanded before the call was reversed. That PK time was added back to the clock, and a weary Caps team had to keep working.
• Nothing kills a late-game rally like a prompt shorthanded goal. Guhh. So this game sucked.

Joe B suit of the night

The Capitals are gonna have to shake this one off. They have to get over the slow start, the dumb penalties, the bad attitude. Not to mention the stench of Long Island in general.

Caps at Rangers tomorrow at noon thirty. Gird your loins, Caps fans. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a pair of milestones: Alex Ovechkin’s 700th career point and Jason Chimera’s first goal since the late 80s.

Have a good Saturday, y’all.

Kevin Dineen needed more than a timeout tonight. (GIF by welshhockeyfan)

The Florida Panthers opened tonight’s game against the Washington Capitals with four straight shots on Braden Holtby in the first 1:44 of game action. They looked sharp. They looked ready to get out of the Southeast division cellar. The wheels fell off 24 seconds later.

As John Erskine wound up from the Panthers’ blue line — in what he would later admit was just a dump-and-change — Florida’s starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom mis-judged Erskine’s blast and allowed the puck to squeak through his seven-hole. 1-0 Caps.

2:36 later, the Capitals would score on their very next shot, as Markstrom was caught off guard by Wojtek Wolski‘s strong net crash. Enter Scott Clemmensen.

Clemmensen gave up two more goals — one to John Carlson and another to Mike Ribeiro — in the next six shots. The Capitals received a standing ovation and headed into intermission with a 4-0 lead, their biggest goal explosion this season.

“I don’t know what to say,” Markstrom told reporters after the game. “It was terrible. I feel like I let the team down. I am there to stop pucks, and I didn’t do that tonight.”

The Capitals beat the Panthers 7-1.

Now enjoy fun facts from the first period –plus video of all  four goals.

First Period Facts

8 – The number of shots it took for the Capitals to get their first four goals of the game, a 50% shooting percentage.

10 – The number of different Capitals skaters who recorded a point in the first period (Erskine, Ovechkin, Ribeiro, Wolski, Backstrom, Brouwer, Hendricks, Oleksy, Carlson, Perreault).

190 – The number of seconds Jacob Markstrom would last in net for the Panthers.

8:10 – The amount of time that elapsed until Kevin Dineen took a timeout.

3 – The number of times Calle Johansson described the team’s 4-0 lead as “tough” during an intermission interview with Al Koken.

100% – The shooting percentage of Erskine, Wolski, Carlson, and Ribeiro at the end of the period.

0% – Markstrom’s save percentage for the night.

2 – The number of points Alex Ovechkin got in the first period. He is now one short of 700 for his career.

10 – The number of shifts Caps rookie defenseman Steve Oleksy played (8:56) in the first period, a game-high.

-3 – The plus-minus of Florida defensemen Tyson Strachan and Brian Campbell after the first twenty minutes.

148 – The total number of feet the puck traveled for the Capitals to score all four goals in the first period.

8 – The number of Panthers regulars that were out tonight due to injury.

5 – The number of times Alex Ovechkin’s fiancé Maria Kirilenko tweeted during the first period. Including this photo showing how and where she was watching the game.

John Erskine’s Goal

Wojtek Wolski’s Goal

John Carlson’s Goal

Mike Ribeiro’s Goal

Photo credit: Greg Fiume

The Washington Capitals just freaking obliterated the Florida Panthers. I don’t know how else to say it. Any flowery language would make the point less elegant: this was a thrashing. One of these teams is the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the other one is the Washington Capitals.

We learned that early, as John Erskine’s muffinly dump-in baffled Jacob Markstrom. We were reminded soon after– when Wojtek Wolski caught a Steve Oleksy pass and made it 2-0 on the Caps’ second shot. That was enough for Markstrom, who got the hook in favor of Scott Clemmensen, who promptly gave up two more goals on the Caps’ next four shots– one from Carlson, one from Ribeiro.

That was all in the game’s first 10 minutes. I could go on, but you get the idea. This was all Caps. Even when the shooting slowed, Braden Holtby was so on top of his game that this was never really a contest.

Caps beat Panthers 7-1.

• Braden Aloysius Goshdarn Holtby. A stinker in the season’s first ten games, he’s been truly elite since. I don’t know how long it’ll be until we find out if he lives up to the hype, but I– and the Capitals defense– are certainly enjoying the wait. Even without the shutout, Holtby had a gorgeous 29-save night.
• Serious stuff: Jason Chimera took a dirty hit from Tyson Strachan in the second period. It was a blindside elbow to the head, and it should earn Strachan a three or four game break from pro hockey. He should prefer that over my recommended punishment, which involves him dying in a fire. This was supposed to be Chimera’s night, dammit. Chimera returned to the ice after the hit, although did show signs of wooziness, which is actually a word according to my autocorrect.

• The flu is ravaging Kettler, but that’s nothing compared to the Florida Panthers, who had 8 dudes on their roster scuffed up in way or another.
• After a three-point night in which he was strong at both ends of the ice, Alex Ovechkin now has 699 career points. So this weekend should be fun.
• John  Erskine reported that his opening goal wasn’t even supposed to be a shot– he was just dumping the puck in for a line change. Proof positive of the old maxim: shoot early and often. Erskine is one goal off his career best.
• Three-point game for Wojtek Wolsi, whom a lot of you thought was a chump. Penitence now accepted in the comments section.
• Chalk up another one for Eric Fehr. He’s got 4 points in the last three games and deserves every bit of credit he’s been given for it. Fehr worked through what many considered a career-ending injury, and is now so much more than just a good “character guy” for the locker room. He’s been a point-per-game player since getting promoted from the checking lines.
• Time for the Mike Ribeiro faceoff check-in: 3 for 7.  That’s an improvement!
• Matt Hendricks was denied a third period goal– a greasy kick that would have given the Caps a full-on touchdown. Hendyface status: teh sads
• Matthieu Perreault’s 7-spot was a thing of beauty.

Joe B suit of the night

So pretty much everything is going right for the Caps right now, which makes sense after the way this season started. They’re firing more pucks, asserting themselves in the possession game, but most of all — the Holtbeast in net. The team needed this run so very badly, and now they’ve got it. The question is what happens now.

We’ve got two games coming up this weekend. Can the Caps keep it up? Will Alex join the 700 club? Will Michal Neuvirth get over the flu and take his net back?

I have no answers, but I’m genuinely excited to find out.

Go Caps.

@ngreenberg You shithead

— RMNB (@russianmachine) March 8, 2013

Okay, this one makes somewhat less sense. (Photo credit: Rob Carr)

Busy day! The Capitals have announced they have re-signed tough guy D-man John Erskine to a two-year contract extension worth just south of $4 million. Erskine is the team’s lowest-ranked defenseman when it comes to possession, although he’s not getting tagged for that yet in the goals-against department. He’s currently eating up career-high minutes– 19:30 per game.

Here’s Sky’s tweet, also timestamped weirdly:

#Caps officially announce the John Erskine two-year extension for 3.9 mil, 1.9 mil in 2013-2014, 2 mil in 2014-2015

— Sky Kerstein (@SkyKerstein) February 25, 2013

So… thoughts? Press release below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 25, 2013

Capitals Re-sign John Erskine

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have re-signed defenseman John Erskine to a two-year, $3.925 million contract extension, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. Erskine will earn $1.925 million in 2013-14 and $2 million in 2014-15.

Erskine, 32, currently ranks sixth on Washington in average ice time per game (19:30), the highest total in Erskine’s 11-season career. His previous high came in 2006-07, Erskine’s first year with Washington, when he finished the season with an average ice time total of 18:03 per game. He has tallied one goal and one assist this season and ranks fourth on Washington in hits (31) and tied for third in blocked shots (19).

The Kingston, Ontario, native has recorded nine goals and 32 assists along with 452 penalty minutes in 294 career games with the Capitals. Washington is 9-0-0 in games that Erskine tallies a goal and he currently ranks 17th all-time in games played among Washington defensemen. Just five other players remain on the current Washington roster from Erskine’s first season with the club in 2006-07.

The 6’4”, 220-pound blueliner has compiled 46 points (12 goals, 34 assists) and 788 penalty minutes in 435 career NHL games with Washington, the New York Islanders and Dallas. He currently ranks 16th among all active defensemen in penalty minutes. Erskine has appeared in 32 career playoff games, all with Washington, and ranks eighth among active players in career playoff games played with the Capitals.

Erskine was originally drafted by Dallas in the second round (39th overall) of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.

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!

Adam Oates close-talks Mathieu Perreault. Perry responds with a MattTrick of assists. (Photo credit: @JennRubenstein)

Calle Johansson makes TB20 laugh after the opening Brouwer Play goal. (Photo credit: @recordsANDradio)

The Erskine Smile, gloriously incomplete. (Photo credit: Scott Audette)

Ovi almost rips Eric Fehr head off while congratulating him on his second goal. (Photo credit: @recordsANDradio)

#Oatesface mode: scowling, thattaway-ing. (Photo credit: @recordsANDradio)

A supine goal-scoring clinic courtesy one Jay Beagle. (Photo credit: @recordsANDradio)

A look at Hendy’s broken nose during an intermission interview. Imagine having to sneeze.

A liiiittle too aggressive. Braden Hextall got a bit out of position on Nate Thompson’s breakaway.

If you photoshop some beers into their hands, it’s a Miller Lite ad. P.S. drink Flying Dog. (Photo credit: Scott Carlson)

John Carlson and Braden Holtby share post-game victory hug. The third in a week. (Photo credit: @recordsANDradio)

GIF by welshhockeyfan

Lil’ Muffin John Erskine has been awesome this year. He beat up George Parros, he scored a clutch goal, and he’s been quietly playing 18 quality minutes per night (when he’s not suspended).

Unfortunately for John, this is not going to be a fun story. Towards the end of the third period, with the Capitals down 5-4, Big John jumped off the bench as the Florida Panthers came down the ice for a 4-on-2 break. Instead of actually contributing to the play, Erskine falls onto his back and does a 360-degree tumble onto his face. Or in Fedor’s words, he “Colaiacovo’d.”

The Panthers would waste the opportunity, taking a slap shot from beyond the circles, and the Capitals went on to win the game in overtime.

How does Big John’s moment tonight rank with other classic GIF’s? I don’t know. You tell me.

• Blues player trips himself on penalty shot.
• Shea Weber skates into the net at full speed.
• Rangers awful shift change.

Saturday night, John Erskine was suspended for three games and fined $24,324.33 for his elbow to the head of Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds. Erskine, whose play has earned him a sweater in five consecutive games, will sit out Sunday’s game at home against the Penguins, Tuesday’s game against Toronto, and Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh.

This will be the first time the 11-year veteran defenseman has been suspended in his career. His only other questionable play in a Capitals uniform came on Nov. 8, 2011 when he elbowed Dallas Stars defenseman Trevor Daley in the face. The hit, ruled a two-minute boarding penalty, did not merit a fine or suspension later. This time Big John wasn’t so lucky.

At 18:09 of the first period, Erskine elbowed Simmonds’ in the jaw, making the enforcer crumple to the ice. Simmonds woozily made his way to the bench, had two tampons stuck up his nose, and then walked down the tunnel to the Flyers dressing room. The forward did not return to the game. Later, Flyers’ general manager Paul Holmgren said that Simmonds has a “head injury” and “probably a little bit of whiplash.”

“From the bench it looked like a clean hit, it looked like accidental contact,” Matt Hendricks told the press after an optional practice on Saturday. “It looked like they were both fighting for the puck, fighting for position and they just kind of ran into each other. Once you look at the film, it looked a little bit different, but it was an accidental play, if anything, because Erskine isn’t a dirty player.”

When explaining his ruling, Brendan Shanahan disagreed. “Erskine looks up and clearly is aware of Simmonds’ proximity before delivering the illegal hit.”

The video:

Photo credit: Patrick McDermott

DFL. The Washington Capitals came into Friday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers in dead last place. Not in the southeast, not in the east. In the whole damn league.

Here’s the part where they turn it around.

Halfway into the game, Bruno Gervais sent a loose puck deep into Holtby’s net. Nick Backstrom tied it up with his first goal of the year, a patient deke to beat Ilya Bryzgalov one-on-one late in the second. Troy Brouwer took the lead with a brilliant near-side roofer. Wojtek Wolksi robbed Baby Schenn and put a one-touch goal on Bryz to make it 3-1. The Flyers got one back with a Brayden Schenn rocket right as the power play expired.

Caps beat Flyers 3-2.

• After two weeks of bad breaks and ugly losses, it’s absolutely refreshing to see them score two or three pretty skill goals.
• It’s a sign of how dire things are for the Caps that John Erskine is their most interesting player right now. Erskine has been his usual angry gorilla self, but now he’s quicker and oh yeah he’s scored that one time. When Erskine landed that elbow on Wayne Simmonds’s head on Friday, the fun kinda got sucked out. I think John’s best chance to avoid suspension is that he might’ve been taking a defensive posture.
• The Caps of the first two weeks saw their decent puck possession marred by bad luck. Their losses in Toronto and Friday’s game vs Philly brought a much less aggressive Caps team. The Flyers tilted the ice something mighty after the game’s first couple minutes, and though the Caps came back later in the game, they’re gonna need a more complete effort from here on out.
• Welcome to the scoresheet, Nick Backstrom! After two unlucky weeks, Backstrom was finally rewarded for his efforts. It was a great one, too: John Carlson breaks up a zone entry while the Flyers are on the line change, the puck finding Backstrom at center ice. Backstrom strides into the Philly zone, looks around and notices he’s all alone. After that, he slows down and deliberately puts a backhand deke on Bryz. No better way to start your scoring season off.
• Russian enigma Ilya Bryzgalov took an Ovechkin slapper to the ribs during a third period power play. It was Ovi’s umpteenth shot from above the right circle, and it probably hurt a bit. It’s even more probable that Bryz was taking the opportunity to buy his penalty killers a breather. Smart move.
• When people go see PSY play in concert, do they ever think, I hope he plays something off the new album?
• The Capitals improved their discipline compared to Thursday night, but it would have been hard not to do that short of some deer antler velvet spray or a on-ice Catfishing incident.
• What’s the deal with delay-of-game penalties? If it weren’t Friday night, I’d make up some numbers about how many more DOGs the Caps have had lately, but it is Friday and it’s probably a boring stat anyway. Let’s just say they’re up 5734% from last year.
• The Caps got pwned on the dot. Ribs, who is awesome, was pwned in particular, winning just 5 of his 12 faceoffs.

Joe B suit of the night

And that’s how ya do it. Even without winning the puck-possession game, the Caps won this one– due in part to increased discipline as well as some solid goaltending and fancy moves.

I know everyone is a bit jammed up over the Caps right now. Our brains tell us they’re not a bad team, but as those losses keep piling up it’s easy to get cynical. I don’t have anything profound to say about that right now except: Yeah. That’s the point.

The Game is going to test you as a fan. Sometimes you’re up, and it’s important not to be cocky then. Sometimes you’re down, and then you cannot despair. From where I stand, what matters is that we celebrate success and think hard on defeat.

Tonight was a success. Hopefully, the first of many. We came, we saw, we wolski’d. There are more bad beats coming, and definitely a few our team will deserve to lose as well. And when those happen… well, I’ll turn it over to Toby Ziegler:

We win together. We lose together. We celebrate and we mourn together. And defeats are softened and victories sweeter because we did them together.

Good win. Let’s do it again on Sunday.

Kanoooobs! With the poorly timed nose-picking. @russianmachine twitter.com/stopthehats/st…

— StopThrowingHats (@stopthehats) February 2, 2013

GIF via welshhockeyfan

Late in the first period of Friday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Big John Erskine got himself into some trouble. Skating up the ice, Erskine connected with Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds, drawing blood but no penalty.

As you can see, Erskine’s elbow makes contact with Simmonds’ face. The question Brendan Shanahan will be asking is whether or not Erskine was putting himself in a defensive posture– or whether there was a suspendable intent to injure.

Matt Hendricks had to answer the bell for the hit. Before the next faceoff, Zac Rinaldo summarily beat Hendricks in a bout. Both players recieved game misconducts.

Nice Canada hoodie, Elliot! (Video)

Wayne Simmonds stuck a tampon up his bloody nose before retreating to the locker room with Philly’s trainer.