Photo credit: @nickludeman

The Washington Capitals have long been divided when it comes to music. The Capitals captain, Alex Ovechkin, loves weird Russian techno and rap, most notably Drake. Nicklas Backstrom enjoys Tiesto and pop music. Brooks Laich digs classic rock. Mike Green dabbles between both rap and hard-rock, Jay-Z and Seether in particular.

Then there are some other Caps who jam to country music. That group includes Eric Fehr, who once detailed his love of the genre during his first go around with the Caps.

“When it comes to my music, you can tell I grew up on the farm,” Fehr was quoted by the DC Sports Bog as saying. “I really enjoy listening to country music. The guys on the team don’t let me put it on in the dressing room, but I’m pretty sure they’ll come around. Alex Ovechkin could be one of the biggest country music haters of them all.”

On Saturday night, Karl Alzner and Matt Hendricks showed they are country music aficionados too, going to WMZQ Fest held at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia. The show was headlined by Luke Bryan, who recently won the Academy of Country Music Awards’ Entertainer of the Year award and is best known for his boom boom single Drunk On You.

Alzner wore an awesome Killian’s Red t-shirt and a Nats hat. Hendricks wore a blue plaid button down shirt and a 42 hat, which Joel Ward approved of on Twitter before the show. In fact, Hendricks and his teammates chatted a bunch Saturday.

@matthendy26 stopped in St.Cloud for the night and was greeted by a whole team of wagons in the making! #hallwayministicks

— Braden Holtby (@Holts170) May 18, 2013

@matthendy26 also can’t believe there isn’t a statue here of you with your long golden locks and the flaming stick! twitter.com/Holts170/statu…

— Braden Holtby (@Holts170) May 18, 2013

@holts170 what a town eh bud? They just don’t make #wagons like that anymore not to mention my sweet mullet!

— Matt Hendricks (@MattHendy26) May 18, 2013

@jrandalward42 sporting the old 42 tonight pal, hope you like it! #jackie42 twitter.com/MattHendy26/st…

— Matt Hendricks (@MattHendy26) May 18, 2013

@matthendy26 #jackie42 fits like a Rawlings!

— Joel Ward (@JRandalWard42) May 18, 2013

“@jrandalward42: @matthendy26 #jackie42 fits like a Rawlings!” Na I’m a Mizuno kind of fella! Atta Boy

— Matt Hendricks (@MattHendy26) May 18, 2013

Good to see the guys having fun despite a disappointing end to the season– and making a bunch of Caps fans happy in the process.

I’ll end this post with some lyrics from Luke Bryan’s song Rain Is A Good Thing, because this guy knows how to write. Rain makes corn, Corn makes whiskey. Whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky.

Full disclosure: I grew up on country music as a kid, though I love rock music now. Frederick, Maryland, mann.

Photo was touched up to remove the NHL executive handshake-passing the ref a 100-dollar bill. (Photo credit: Greg Fiume)

With their 5-0 loss to the New York Rangers in game seven, the Washington Capitals have been ungently booted from the postseason again. A period of healing and reconciliation now begins (also probably some suntans), but first we need to take a look at the sadness. The infinite, infinite sadness.

Let’s just take it all in, mope around for the next day or two like red-rocking Eeyores, and wallow in the wah wah wah (that’s what a sad trombone sounds like). It’s not fun; no, but we need to give the grieving process time to do its thing.

A rare moment in which Ribeiro stank both literally and figuratively? (Photo credit: Greg Fiume)

Clockwise, starting from Ovi: Stunned, annoyed, yawning, guffawing, free agent-y, and totally over this crap. (Photo credit: USA Today)

Oh great, next time you wanna be super-depressed, you don’t have to watch Requiem For a Dream. You can just pop open this GIF and save yourself two hours. (GIF by SBNation.com)

“Boredom is the root of all evil, the despairing refusal to be oneself”. – Kierkegaard (Photo credit: @dcsportsbog)

Sad dad. Sad dad. Sad dad. (Photo credit: @recordsANDradio)

Oh criminy, now we are zooming in on sad dad? Have you no decency, cameraman? (Photo credit: @dcsportsbog)

“I know it was you, Henrik. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!” (Photo credit: Patrick McDermott)

“Well son, since you haven’t learned to respect your elders, it’s time you learn to respect your betters.” (Photo credit: Alex Brandon)

This handshake nearly caused a goals-versus-threshold singularity that would have swallowed Marc-Andre Fleury whole. (Photo credit: Patrick McDermott)

The Building of America’s Hockey Capital is running a bit late and over-budget. (Photo credit: Alex Brandon)

ARE YOU KIDDING. DUDE, THIS IS THE SADDEST THING EVER. CANNOT EVEN CAPTION THIS. WOW. WOW. (Photo credit: Alex Brandon)

Someone in the press corps just told Oates that Sun-In Hair Lightener is no longer in fashion. And that punk is dead. (Photo credit: Nick Wass)

How this guy got no points in seven games is a puzzle for the ages. (Screengrab via Monumental Network)

Karl Alzner forced to stand by silently while his beard conducts a lengthy interview. (Screengrab via Monumental Network)

Green looks like a tougher and only slightly sadder version of the singer from Brand New. Who sucks by the way. (Screengrab via Monumental Network)

Mama Backstrom is disappointed in her son’s play, sure. But his facial hair is an outright disgrace to the family name. (Screengrab via Monumental Network)

No snarky caption. This guy is boss. Plus: hands-down best neckbeard on the team. (Screengrab via Monumental Network)

The sadness will pass soon. Try to put a smile on your face. And keep your head up. <3 RMNB.

It was mid-March and Karl Alzner was on the Internet. Like most twentysomethings, he looked up silly videos on YouTube to kill time. He stumbled across one from early last year — it was of Peter Dill, a basketball player for Seton Hall. Dill scored a single basket in his two years playing for the school, but he did get very excited when his team scored. Alzner played the clip for Mathieu Perreault.

“The guy would just go crazy, pretend he had Thor’s Hammer and he’d be smashing the ground,” Alzner told me Saturday afternoon. “Perry, I could just see his eyes, like ‘this is awesome!’”

“We should do that after we win games,” Perreault responded.

A couple weeks later, Alex Ovechkin put the puck past Jhonas Enroth during a shootout in Buffalo, ensuring a 4-3 victory for Washington. Perry followed through on his agreement with Alzner, letting out a primal scream, pumping his fists, and shaking on the bench. CSN’s cameras zoomed in, GIFs were made, and a meme was born — all within about 20 minutes.

“I didn’t know if he was gonna do it or not — but he did,” Alzner said.

“I get excited when we win!” Perreault added. “It’s just fun.”

A few days after Perreault’s inaugural freakout, the Capitals won another game in the shootout, this time over the New York Islanders, and Matty P. reacted with a manic windmill thing. The Internet took note again. But according to Alzner, he was also going wild at the time, doing some air-archery, a nod to one of Dill’s moves at Seton Hall. No one saw, though, and Alzner gave up trying to match Perreault.

“He’s doing it good — and I haven’t been,” said Alzner.

In the final game of the regular season, Perreault brought back his original convulsing celebration after the Caps beat the Bruins in overtime. Then, when Mike Ribeiro tallied nine minutes and 24 seconds into OT on Friday, Perreault went insane for the forth time.

“He’s a funny dude, so it doesn’t surprise me one bit,” Joel Ward, Perreault’s linemate, said. “For us that’s just a normal episode for him. He’s quite the character.”

There have been parodies, t-shirts, and perpetual replays, but the player at the heart of it has been largely oblivious of the reception the celebrations have gotten. Perreault’s not on Twitter and apart from a few videos, he was unaware it’d now become synonymous with him.

“I didn’t think it was gonna be that big of deal,” Perry said. “I mean, if people like it then it’s good.”

Alzner, though, knew he had something interesting from the start.

“I’m not too surprised,” Alzner said with a wry smile when asked for his reaction to the reaction. “I’m pretty happy about it actually.”

For Perreault, the celebrations are an illustration of his progression this season. It’s silly and it’s funny, but the scene would have seemed foreign back in February. The Caps were awful. Perreault was skating on the fourth line, only getting a few minutes of ice time a night. He hated it. As Adam Oates promised, though, Perreault got his chance. Now Matty P skates on the Washington’s superb third line, part of a Capitals team that hopes to win a Cup.

When that team wins, he celebrates more than anyone.

Boom. (Photo credit: Greg Fiume)

Whether he’s riding a Vespa on 66, sporting hair that doesn’t make sense, or scoring an overtime goal, Mike Green is always cool. Even in some of the game’s most heated moments, he retains his composure. After Saturday’s one-time blast to put the Capitals up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, he now has eight overtime goals in his career.

Because of his late-game abilities, his “Game Over Green” nickname is well known. But now, it seems, Greenie may have another one.

“He’s calm all the time with the puck in regulation, so when it gets to overtime and guys start to get the shakes a little bit, he’s still calm Mike Green,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “We call him Casual Mike every now and then.”

For a guy with a hand tattoo and a orange white Lamborghini, Green is remarkably level-headed. He didn’t think his goal was anything special (“It was just a lucky one. It could have been any of us. … I just happened to be open”) and he was already looking towards Monday’s Game 3 in New York (“You can’t get too high or too low. It’s just about staying consistent.”)

Still, his late-game stats say enough. Saturday’s one-time blast was the 18th game-winning tally of his career. While his play dropped off the last couple seasons, Green was plagued by injury most of the time. He’s healthy under new head coach Adam Oates, and once again playing a system that suits goal-scoring, puck moving defensemen. But scoring or not, he’s always relaxed.

“You need guys out there that are calm and that’s one of his gifts,” said Oates.

Photo credit: Patrick McDermott

Looking to extend their season-high seven game win streak, the Washington Capitals hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. In a match-up of possible first-round opponents, the Caps came off a shaky ending to their last win and played a game that was anything but against a tired Leafs team.

Jack Hillen scored (when doesn’t he?), Nicky got boarded, the Caps got mad, Erat got his first in red, the Brouwitzer a nice backhand shot was unleashed, Ovi had a scoar, and MoJo hacked one in. Caps smack Leafs 5-1.

• In a nice gesture, the Caps held a pregame moment of silence for the victims of yesterday’s bombing in Boston. There were long lines outside the arena as increased security slowed entrance into Verizon Center.
• Jack Hillen, man! The Minnesotan scored his third goal since his second son Knox was born just 10 days ago. The dude tallied just two goals during the entire year last season with Nashville. It’s been a remarkable stretch for Hillen, one which is certain to continue indefinitely.
• Jay McClement did a bad thing. Late in the first, the Toronto center boarded (though it went uncalled) blonde beauty Nicklas Backstrom. Nicky’s face slammed into the top of the Leafs bench while Ovi hugged McClement super hard to show how mad he was. In the final minute of the frame, not always mild-mannered Jason Chimera dropped the gloves with Nicky’s aggressor. Given what happened with Rene Bourque, you can understand why Washington didn’t approve of McClement actions on Backstrom.
• Congrats to Martin Erat on his first goal with the Capitals. The Czech winger crashed the net and made a sublime deflection on an Ovi shot from the circles. Craig Laughlin even named him the player of the game. “Why not give him a steak from the Palm?” Laughlin asked viewers.
• Nice game for Troy Brouwer, who continues his superb season. In addition to his forehand, backhand, five-hole undressing of Ben Scrivens, Brouwer also ringed a cannon of a shot off the post. He now has 17 goals in 42 games. He had 18 tallies in 82 games last year.
• It wouldn’t be a Caps game without an Alex Ovechkin goal. The Great Eight rocketed a one-timer from the circles for his league-leading 15th power play goal and — wait for it — league-leading 28th overall. Two points and five shots on the night for the Russian Machine. #OviforHart
• Braden Holtby‘s shoutout was ruined by a third period goal by Mikhail Grabovski. Luckily, the Caps didn’t do their whole let’s be completely awful at the end of games shtick.
• In fact, they actually scored a goal in the third (!) when Marcus Johansson knocked in a Mike Green shot that bounced off the end boards and into the crease. Ian was thrilled!
• Karl Alzner had five shots on goal and Steve Oleksy had four. They do not normally have that many shots on goal.

Joe B. Suit of the Night

Eight in a row! Granted, the streak will end sometime, but this team is bound for the playoffs and peaking at the right time. How’s that for a change?

The Caps will take on another plausible first-round opponent when they head to Ottawa on Thursday. Peter will be back with you and I’ll be on United Flight 897 to Beijing.

Stay safe, everybody.

Photo credit: Greg Fiume

Note: I’m writing this post heavily medicated and a day after right-leg surgery. Yes, I’m hockey-player tough.

While the Washington Capitals got outplayed in the first period of Saturday’s game against the Jets, they came out strong in the second , scoring some goals and getting a little cocky. I love it when my favorite team gets cocky. Particularly because it can lead to a line brawl, one started by five-foot, ten-inch (yeah right) French Canadian Mathieu Perreault.*

After absorbing a legal shoulder-check from tough guy defenseman Zach Bogosian, Perry decided to get a lil’ saucy and slash Bogosian in the legs. Bad idea.

Where is Ovi going? (Jets feed video from welshhockeyfan)

Bogosian puts Perreault in a headlock, and everyone gathers at the red line, fash-washin’ and brawlin’. Two important developments occur.

First: Hendy Face. It’s just a little bit tougher than Oates Face.

Hendy Face

GIFs by welshhockeyfan

Second, Karl Alzner: Tough Guy Edition makes his first appearance since January 13, 2012, when he threw down with Steve Downie.

Watch as Karl forcefully removes the plumpest guy in the league, Dustin Byfuglien, from the scrum with ease.

Enforcer Karl Alzner

GIFs by welshhockeyfan

I love Alzner.

Then, a few minutes later, Alex Ovechkin laughs at Mark Stuart, attempting to check the Russian machine with his hand around his throat.

Ovechkin is soooo very intimidated. Apparently Stuart doesn’t remember about the whole Russian machine not breaking thing.

* This is actually the second line brawl Mathieu Perreault has started. What’s the deal and why does he always play The Rag Doll role?

Photo credit: Elsa

Washcaps Philaflyers. Last game good. This game less good. Make words hurt so use less. Puck not in good net. Puck in bad net. Giroux make goal. Simmonds make goal. Gagne make goal. Maxbag Talbutt make goal. Ward make goal make Bryz sad. Groooooooooooo.

Flyers beat Caps 4-1.

• Claude Giroux got credit for the game’s first goal– just 23 seconds in– but it was mostly lady luck’s doing. Before the goal, the puck bounced off Karl Alzner‘s knee towards Scott Hartnell. A few seconds later, it hopped off his skate and into the arms of Giroux. I mark it down as a freak accident–but G was right to be waiting in the sweet spot.
• Despite the two goals against, the Caps of the first period really weren’t bad. They kept the possession game close. If they had kept it up, they could have won. The second period saw cede the puck to Philly with a 32-12 count of attempted shots.
• It’d be pretty cool to watch Simon Gagne get his first goal with his old club if that club weren’t the Philadelphia Flyers and that goal wasn’t scored against the Washington Capitals. But it was, and it was. So, no, hypothetical me, it was not pretty cool at all.
• 34:55 into the game, Braden Holtby got the hook, and Philipp Grubauer saw his first NHL action. Denying two Flyers shots in the first half-minute, Gru seemed up to the challenge. He stopped another barrage in the third and served with distinction during the penalty kill. Nothing not to love about his work tonight except the fact that he actually had to work tonight.
• But let’s not do the thing where we’re like “he stopped 14 shots make him the new starter!” Goalies need to face thousands of shots before we have any real idea how good they are. For now, let’s just say: “Nice [saving], kid. Don’t get cocky!”
• Mike Ribeiro committed a hooking penalty in the first and a pottymouth penalty in the third. He’s had a reputation as a hot head for a long time, and I guess these are the moments when those personality flaws let themselves out. Unfortunate.
• If the Behind the Net Shot Timeline for this game were a ski slope, it’d be the bunny slope.
• Even broken clocks are right twice a day. Even broken clocks can commit assault and battery on a 12-year-old and then get off because some dumb sports network paid him enough money to be obnoxious that he could afford a nice lawyer.
• Some nights you’re not even sure Troy Brouwer will show up to the rink: 0 shots, 1 blocked shot.
• Late in the game, Mathieu Perreault took a knee-on-knee hit from Harry Zolnierczyk, far away from the puck. Perry left the ice, apparently hurt.

Joe B suit of the night

Alex Ovechkin scored a hat trick two games ago. That was good. Last game he had zero shots on goal, but still participated in the offense. That was okay. Tonight he led the Caps with six shots and would have had more if not for a couple bad falls on rough ice. That’s still really good. Don’t believe the hype– especially when the hype comes from people who are paid to inflame and provoke instead of illuminate and inform.

Word on the street is that Edmonton’s front office was in attendance in Philly tonight. If the Caps were to make a move, whom would they move? Hard to say. Three games ago, everyone but Braden was a bum. One game ago, everyone was fantastic. Tonight was torpid overall.

Yeah, the Caps got smoked in the back half of a back-to-back while on the road. They’re gonna have to do better when away from Verizon Center and particularly when playing from behind.

It’s not gonna be all early leads and blowouts for the Caps, and they must learn to deal with that adversity. That was a problem under Boudreau’s leadership, and it seems to have survived his exit. Can Oates do better?

This is what happens when you’re in the box too much. (Photo credit: Patrick McDermott)

Backstrom (boarding), Hendricks (holding), Kundratek (delay of game), Ovechkin (tripping), Erskine (hooking), Poti (interference), Brouwer (misconduct) — seven penalties, one period.

“I can’t really explain it without getting into trouble,” Karl Alzner told me when asked about the Caps’ stunning collapse and the calls that caused it in the third frame of Thursday’s game against the Devils. “It just happened.”

Alzner’s mood was echoed by many in the locker room. The Washington Capitals didn’t want to talk about happened during those 20 minutes. And it didn’t really matter whether they wanted to or not — there were no clear answers. Yes, some of the calls were iffy. Yes, they played a good game otherwise (if you also ignore the first 10 minutes of the contest). But this was unacceptable. It was a baffling display. Six penalties in 11 minutes and two goals: that’s what it took to turn a solid win into a crushing loss. Troy Brouwer added a 10 minute misconduct for arguing with the referees at the end of the game just for good measure.

The penalty killing wasn’t bad. But with five power plays for New Jersey in the span of eight minutes, it became a matter of when, not if, the puck would get past Braden Holtby.

“The penalty kill was good,” Brouwer told reporters after the game. “Our penalty kill blocked shots, we did everything we needed to. Unfortunately there were just too many calls.”

When asked about the penalties themselves, Brouwer was terse.

“I’m not discussing the refing,” he said. “I don’t feel like getting fined tonight.”

Regardless of whether the game was called tightly, it’s up to the players to adjust their game. And they didn’t do that. This team has struggled most of the year and poor periods are nothing new for them — the five goals scored in one frame by the Penguins a couple weeks ago comes to mind. This showing, however, took it a new level. The boys were playing awful hockey the around the time of the Pens game. Thursday, they played well most of the contest. The cataclysmic end, then, had almost hypnotic feel compared to the rest of the matchup.

“The bottom line is that’s too many,” head coach Adam Oates said the infractions. “Maybe one of them or two that you might question but we still had too many penalties.”

“It’s on us,” he added. “That’s a game that you didn’t think you were going to lose.”

The Washington Capitals still think they are a playoff team. It’s time to start acting like it. Their record is now 5-10-1.

“We’ve gotta find a way to finish out games,” said Alzner. “We haven’t been doing it.”

Photo credit: Eliot J. Schechter

The Washington Capitals schlepped down to that bustling metropolis of Sunrise to face the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. It was classic Caps hockey: dumb penalties, tons of goals, a nominal interest in defense.

Mike Ribeiro found the puck on the weak side to score an early power play goal, but then Tomas Fleischmann banked a shot off John Erskine’s skates to even it up. Shawn Matthias knocked in a go-ahead goal for the Cats from high in the slot. Karl Alzner scored a nasty slapper off the faceoff to knot the score at 2. Let me repeat that: Karl Alzner scored a goal. Peter Mueller Huberdeau bounced a flubbery puck past Braden Holtby, but then Matt Hendricks got a rebound of his own. Jonathan Huberdeau exploited some bad defense to make it 4-3 Florida. Holtby bobbled a loose puck to give Drew Shore his first NHL goal — after a review from Toronto. Eric Fehr finally made it onto the scoresheet with a tip-in just five minutes before the end of regulation. Alex Ovechkin ripped a tying goal off the faceoff during a late-game power play.

And then Troy Brouwer won it in OT on a breakaway. Cause that’s how this team gets down.

Caps beat Panthers 6-5 (OT).

• Wild one. Caps hockey. Dig it.
• Alex Ovechkin delivered a good hit to Kris Versteeg‘s shoulders early in the first. Versteeg went down in pain, but returned to the ice a shift later to deliver a cheapshot cross-check on Ovechkin and start a kinda/sorta fight. In addition to making Versteeg look like an injury-faker (and a generally unaware hockey player), the ensuing power play gave the Caps a tasty PP goal– so pretty much bad all around for Versteeg.
• I’ve been told there is some confusion over my goal report. The Caps’ second goal was scored by Mr. Karl Adolphus Alzner, a hockey player for Washington Capitals hockey club. It was only the fifth for the stay-at-home defenseman. That goal was made possible by rare candy: a Caps’ faceoff win in the offensive zone.
• The Caps have had some bad team defense of late, and there was no better illustration of that than the 3-on-0  Panthers’ rush in the second. Luckily Braden Holtby was able to tap into whatever Iron Fist and Shang-Chi tap into to stop the attack. Stunning work in the paint.
• Despite the DoG and goals-against count, Holtby was pretty great tonight. Now if only he could get his team to play defense in front of him…
• The Capitals gave Florida three power plays in the first period alone, including another dang delay of game call. The Capitals PK unit isn’t totally rancid, but all that time spent in their own zone (sometimes feebly) really dries up the offense. The kind of Capitals who win are the kind who shoot a lot. The third period Caps figured that out, but the Matts teamed up for two more minors in the third that came close to denying the team their comeback.
• News came in that Scott Howson was fired from his job as general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets. I know that sounds like bad news, but anytime someone leaves Columbus that’s a victory for all mankind. But now the Columbus Maw demands to be fed. Someone dry-rub Brian Burke and put him in a hot box.
• Behindthenet.ca’s Fenwick chart for tonight’s game isn’t up yet, but I can tell you the Caps flatlined for a big portion. The Capitals caught up to win even-strength shots 26-23, but they went shotless for over 12 minutes in the first. The foot-on-the-gas metaphor comes to mind.

Joe B suit of the night

The state of the Caps is a lot like the State of the Union. There’s a lot of good stuff going on, but some jackholes still can’t get their acts together long enough to really achieve anything significant. Don’t get me wrong: huge win, but there’s still work to do.

The Capitals are atrocious at defense: particularly clearing traffic and breaking out, but also unforced penalties like a holding call when John Erskine can’t keep up with the rush or Holtby’s nine-iron delay of game.

But the offense is alive and crackalacking. Both Mike Ribeiro and Alex Ovechkin are on scoring streaks. Troy Brouwer is a star. The Caps have real offense for the first time in a very long time; they’re just waiting for the other half of the team to come to life.

They’ll have their chance on Thursday night against the struggling Lightning in Tampa Bay. Unless that city falls into the sea before then. I’m fine either way.

Someone forgot to “leave the gate open” in Sunrise… twitter.com/recordsANDradi…

— Danny (@recordsANDradio) February 13, 2013

Photo credit: Rob Carr

Nothing is going right for the Washington Capitals right now. But one of the biggest problems is clear: the misfortunes of Karl Alzner and John Carlson. Of the 14 goals the Caps have allowed this season, Carlson has been on the ice for nine of them and Alzner for eight. Until they were broken up at the start of third period, this was the team’s number one defensive pairing. That’s not how you win hockey games, something Washington has demonstrated.

“I have no idea,” Alzner said when asked what was going wrong for the two.

“We’re not getting the bounces, plays that I normally would do, an easy poke check — it’s happening for the both of us,” he added. “We weren’t contributing anything good to the team.”

One problem for Alzner and Carlson could be conditioning. Neither played during the lockout. Alzner chose to skate up in Calgary during the work stoppage while Carlson took the ice with a few fellow Capitals at Kettler. Skating three times a week, though, hardly simulates playing for an NHL team. Alzner insisted, however, that fitness is not the issue — at least for himself.

“I feel fine out there,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m too tired. It’s definitely not conditioning.”

Alzner and Carlson have have played together for most of their professional careers, becoming good friends off the ice as well. They first became a pair in 2009 playing for the Hershey Bears. While they have been separated from time to time, the two have consistently been the Capitals’ number one pair the last two seasons. But Thursday night, they were on the ice for all four Canadiens goals before coach Adam Oates mercifully put an end to the duo. For the final frame, Alzner was paired with Mike Green while Carlson shared the blueline with Tom Poti. Alzner said that he was the one who told defensive coach Callie Johansson that something had to change.

“You can’t have two guys where things aren’t going their way together,” Alzner said after the game.

Head Coach Adam Oates agreed.

“They’ve been married to each other for a long time now,” Oates told reporters. “You also have to have the ability to play with someone else.

Oates insists, though, that the two will be back together in less than 24 hours when the Caps head to New Jersey to take on the Devils.

“They were very solid with each other last year and they know each other well,” he said.

The Caps are now 0-3 — their worst start in almost two decades. They have been outscored 14-6. Their penalty kill is at 69 percent. Some struggles were to be expected as the team adjusts to a new coach with a new system. With a lockout shortened season, though, a bad start could kill the team’s playoff chances. And the fans know that. Boos rained down at the Verizon Center for the second straight game. Midway through the third period, the arena was half empty, just like the lean years a decade ago. “Ted, I want a refund!” one fan yelled as the seconds ticked away.

“Embarrassing is almost the right term right now — pathetic is a better one,” forward Troy Brouwer said outside his locker. “I feel bad for the fans. I’d like to finish a game with at least 50 percent of the fans still in the stands. Their actions are completely warranted, booing us. We haven’t earned any of their respect, any of their passion or ambition. We have to turn something around, and we have to do it fast.”