Orlov and Max Pacioretty fight for the puck. (Photo credit: Richard Wolowicz)

Way back on November 23rd, Dmitry Orlov registered his first NHL point in his second NHL game against the Winnipeg Jets. That night he also made his presence felt physically with two monster hits. On one, he hit Evander Kane so hard into the boards that his stick flew into the crowd. On the other, he laid out an unsuspecting Blake Wheeler with an open-ice hip check.

“I really like the physical element of the game,” Orlov told RMNB’s Igor Kleyner a few days later. “Always have, since I was a kid. One of the reasons I came to play here – there is more hitting. I like that.”

Well, here’s a hit you may not have even known happened. On January 13th against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Orlov caught Steve Downie with a hip check after the pest rifled a shot on goal. The hit flipped Downie end-over-end to the ice in hilarious spectacular fashion. Video is below the jump.

The animated GIF is even better.

When Dima was called up, it was assumed that the six-foot, 200 pound Russian defenseman would be more of a contributor on the offensive end. Yet, Orlov has found his niche as a rugged, puck-moving defender. This year he has dished out 50 hits, which ranks him eight on the Capitals despite playing in 18 fewer games.

While many NHL defenseman have taken the hip check out of their repertoire due to the high risk:reward nature of the play, we’ve seen Orlov perfect the art in his time with the Capitals. In a league that’s watching high hits closely these days, a well delivered hipcheck can be the best way to send an opposing player – legally – head over heels, and if Orlov keeps this up, it looks like teams facing the Caps in the future are going to get a taste of what Lars Eller did tonight.

Video courtesy of VazorProduction

S/T to @broflacco who initially posted the Orlov hit on Downie and inspired this post.

Doug Johnson of Puck Buddys offers this game preview. @PuckBuddys.

[Ed. note: for coverage of Rene Bourque, uhhh... check out RMNB on Wednesday morning.]

The Pregame: Fun game! Everyone from a malfunctioning family, raise your hand. Or, if you’re in a public place, just give a little squee inside. Yeah, we thought so. Show me the person who says their family is perfectly normal and I’ll show you a glue-sniffing, trick-turning, psychopathic cat hoarder. You know: like [fill in hated politician here] Oh, biting wit!

And speaking of glue-sniffing (bet you thought it’d be sociopathy), we come to Wednesday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. Les Habitants. You know: the Baldwin family of contemporary hockey. Or should that be the Donner Party? Either way, they eat their own to the amusement of all.

Oh you bet, we’ve all had a hearty laugh – a long, hard laugh – at the goonish antics of our Quebecois neighbors of late. Like watching the Spuckler family argument spill out onto the un-mowed back lawn, hurling rotting plastic chairs at one another as they jockey for “superiority” amid the weeds and used Timmy Hos coffee cups. Too much back bacon, eh?

The Puck Drop

Andrei Kostitsyn

Where to begin, presented with such a luxe buffet? Start with a hearty slab of Cammalleri’s trade… mid-game. Larfs! Kris Humphries divorce ended more graciously (or should that be John Huntsman? Oh… oops, that’s right… nevermind.)  Then again, at least according to PuckBuddys’ Habs correspondent Matt Skolnikov, Cammalleri “…was a prima donna that was all chiseled good looks and bags of beauty products in the locker room for touch-ups during intermissions but not, in my opinion, much of a hockey player.” Snaps high, girlfriend.

Beyond the other – many other – examples we could cite, the key point is that the Habs blow this season. Like [redacted, sorry guys!] blow. Les Canadiens (17-20-8) are at the bottom (ahem) of the Northeast Division, behind (heh-heh) the Sabres for Crimminy’s sake. They stink at home (8-8-1); they stink worse on the road (9-12-1); shorthanded goals have deviled them; and while they have a sorta decent PP, they munch at their primary job: goals in net (a lame 115).

Still, we – your humble PuckBuddys – have resolved to not face-wash Les Lame-o’s we’re playing, nor wriggle with delight at our opponents troubles. Which makes this whole enterprise rather comical. Whatever, here we go with

What Makes Them Hot

Lars Eller

1: Tish, I Love French!  Brian Gionta, gap-toothed menace Ryan White, and the seasoned Andrei Markov are all out on injuries, leaving the Habs to seriously regroup. Among those stepping up, center Scott Gomez. At 0G/5A, minus-2, he may not seem like a threat, but watch this kid; he’s been hot of late. Another colleague, Max Pacioretty (15G/17A, minus-1) sounds like something we’d put on a pizza, but of late he’s eating opponent’s lunch.

2: Bargain Bin. Carey Price is exactly who he is. His GAA of 2.551 isn’t King Lundqvist worthy (but almost exactly Racoon-worthy) but his .913 SA puts him right up among the best this season. Too bad he may not be playing for the Habs next season, or not. Halak or Price? It sounds like the Canadiens management may be lining up behind Price for contract renewal – perhaps at a large (don’t say it) price.

3: Loose Change: Erik Cole (17G/16A, plus-5), Danish treat and recent hattie Lars Eller (8G/9A, plus-1), and others; they all help. But Montreal’s forward play has been, ummm…lacking. So what if you’ve got hotties on the ice – can they score?

Why They’re Not

1: Home town! Teams are expected to play well at home. Teams from the elite of hockey are expected to whip opponents at home. Teams like the Habs – strike that, there is no other team like the Habs – are demanded to perform in front of the hometown audience… which means, win. This season, at le Centre Belle, the Canadiens have turned in a cringe-inducing 8-8. Hé Grenouilles, votre équipe pue!  (And by that, we mean Le Pew!)

4-time cup winner Gilles Tremblay

2: Shadows of Glory. This, even for us, is something we come to with humility. The Habs were (and we expect will be, some year) a fixture of hockey’s glory. Maybe it takes an original six fan to say this, but Montreal has been a hated favorite of mine. Boston? Dirty-playing dirt dicks, frankly. Les Habs? Right up there with the Wings: class, class, classy-class-class. Gordie Howe, meet Gilles Tromblay. Steve Yzerman? Jack Laviollette. Sergei Federov, here’s Guy Lafleur. Here’s the point, other than slobbering in fanboy daydreams: the Habs are a team of tradition, of longevity, and of class.

It is a sad fact that today, however, that tradition is rendered as little more than clown car. That, mes amis, will not end before this season. Nos bras meurtris vous tendent le flambeau, à vous toujours de le porter bien haut. Flambeau away, dear Habs; flambeau away.

3: One Word: Sasha-stacular! H8rs, the line forms somewhere between the men’s room and the exit sign. Our other Russians have mixed results – Ovi, who totes gets the whole “crash the opponent” thing, and the “crash the net” thing, too, except for the part where he actually gets the puck IN the net; and Dima – SCOARLOV! – who is showing every bearish sign of moving up and up save for the fact that he’s barely out of shortpants and is still a class act.  But we have to come back to Sasha Major. 11G/13A, plus-1? That doesn’t even start to tell the story of our heavy-metal, pipes-crashing, sniper-tastic Sasha of late. Good Sasha, you may take the stage.

Prediction

Because we’re dopes, we go out on the line. Caps 4, Habs 3.

The OT

The PuckBuddys, and the RMNB family, welcome a new addition this week. Specifically a huge, black-furred, long-snouted girl, with the adoption of retired greyhound racer and brood-mom, Uma. A home with boys isn’t quite complete without a a boy’s best friend, so we welcome her in all her giant rat-snaring, couch-hogging, mess-making fuzzy glory. Rats of DC beware: Uma is on the prowl. We <3 U.

Meme of the Night

Brooks Laich gives Braden Holtby the ol’ congratulatory helmet tap. (Photo credit: Francois Lacasse)

Marco Sturm seems, let's just say, pleased with his goal. (Photo credit: Graham Hughes)

Less than 24 hours after being shutout at the hands of the Ottawa Senators, the Washington Capitals turned the tables against the Montreal Canadiens on Holtby — err — Hockey Night in Canada. The 21 year-old stonewalled the Habs on the way to his tenth victory this season.

The Capitals dominated the play during the first period of play, outshooting the Canadiens 12 to three and scoring the only tally of the frame. The goal came just 84 seconds into the contest when Marco Sturm knocked in a rebound off a Nicklas Backstrom wrist shot.

Washington continued their strong play in the second stanza, outshooting the Habs once again while Braden Holtby held the fort in net.

In the third both teams managed good opportunities, but it would be the Caps who would convert. After, guess who, Marco Sturm poke-checked the puck away at center-ice, Backstrom started a three-on-one break before Alexander Semin finished the play off by flicking the Swede’s pass past Montreal goalie Carey Price. SHUTOUT FOR BRADEN! Caps stonewall Habs, 2-0.

• The first period was the story tonight. Despite Bruce Boudreau telling CSN before the game that he only hoped that the Caps would “weather the storm” in the beginning of the game, the Capitals completely dominated the opening stanza. Washington had nine of the game’s first ten shots, drew three penalties and held a six to three scoring chance advantage. The Capitals also held their opponent without a first period goal for the third straight game. The Bell Centre was not a “Hornet’s nest” as Joe B. described earlier. Instead it was more like a library.
• While the Caps had four power plays on the night, they managed just three chances on the man-advantage. The power play is the team’s biggest hole as we head into the postseason.
• Alexander Semin continued to be his enigmatic self tonight. While he picked up a goal and an assist, Sasha Minor took — you guessed it — an offensive zone penalty and fired five shots wide of the net. [Something about getting Jason Arnott back here.]
• Marco Sturm – who was promoted to the top line — had his best game as a Capital. He finally potted his first goal with the club, a heads-up tap-in on a two-on-one odd man break with Backstrom. What’s that old adage say? Go to the net and good things will happen? Sturm had two points, three shots and was on the ice for eight of the Capitals 13 scoring chances. You can thank Neil for bending the hockey gods to his will. If Sturm can play like that when all the injured Capitals come back healthy, this team will be lethal.
• Sure, Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin score all the goals, but the person most vital to the Capitals offense clicking is none other than Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom — who looked like he took it as a personal challenge after the team got shutout for the tenth time last night — rifled six shots at Price, beautifully set up Semin’s third period insurance marker while being on the ice for seven scoring chances for and just one against. When Backstrom was in a funk in the beginning of the year, the team struggled badly. Over the last few weeks, he’s really found his game, and to no surprise, the Capitals can’t stop #winning.
• Horn > siren
• The Habs finished their season series with the Capitals without registering a power play goal, misfiring on 17 straight extra-man opportunities. Tonight also marked the first time Montreal has been shut out in three consecutive games since 1949. Look at their roster back then. Everyone on the team was born in 1920.
• Speaking of shutouts, Braden Holtby recorded his second career blanking tonight — with sass. Holtby stopped 18 shots and with the victory, he also joined Michal Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov as Caps ‘keepers with a least ten wins on the campaign. When both Ian and I talked to Holtby at the AHL All-Star Game, the Saskatchewan-native told us that beating the Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada in front of family and friends was “the highlight of his career “. In total, Holtby stopped 53 of 54 shots while on HNIC and 99 of 102 shots in four games against Canadian teams. Big game Braden stikes again.
• Alan May gets props for correctly stating on CSN’s post-game show that Holtby was “somewhat arrogant in the crease”.
• Bruce Boudreau told reporters post-game that Holtby was “fantastic” and “gave the team a lot of confidence.” Does that mean that Braden has put himself back into the conversation as a potential starter in the playoffs? Probably not, as you don’t want one of the three goaltenders on this team sitting out every game and not having a net during practice. That breeds bad blood. Think back to the situation with Kolzig, Johnson and Huet in 2007. Wait a second! There was a team back then? The Capitals also want Holtby to get more experience and playing time in high-pressure situations. That is guaranteed in Hershey. Think about it, this has been his first full year he’s been a starter in the AHL and he should have an opportunity to do the same in the playoffs — just like Varlamov and Neuvirth. His play actually has larger ramifications for next season and beyond as the Caps will most likely have to pick two-thirds of the trio to go with in the future.
• Did that Lars Eller counter-hit on Karl Alzner in the first period (the video is below) look like a dirty play to you? It sure did to us. Why that wasn’t whistled for interference — especially after how Matt Bradley was given a “boarding” call for his check on Patrick Wiercioch last night — we’ll never understand. On replay, Eller blasted Alzner head-first into the boards several seconds before he even touched the puck. We really don’t understand the officiating sometimes.

• Don Cherry’s plaid magenta suit was horrendous (Joe B.’s brown duds weren’t exactly great either), but it’s actually not that bad when you compare it to some of the other ones Cherry has worn.

Joe B. and Don Cherry Suits of the Night

Five of the Caps’ remaining six games are against non-playoff teams and Washington sits just two points behind Philadelphia for the number one spot. Yep, it’s going to be an interesting race to the finish.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland, Fedor Fedin and Neil Greenberg.