Early Morning Skate: So, the last time we were here, we were there. Filthy Philadelphia, needing a solid road win, and feeling optimistic to start. In fact, we were all, like, yay here we gowhattheflipwasthat?! and c’mon Holtbeast get it together and then yay Groooouuubsie and boooo Max Talbot grrr grrrr and ow that traffic-cone orange makes my soul weep and that was pretty much the best summary of that ugly mess of a game I can imagine.

Mmmm…tastes like Cheez Whiz

What exactly was it that happened that terrible, cold February night at the F-U Center? Where, exactly, were manimal Troy Brouwer and Captain 8 (despite being probably the best in Red on the ice that night) and John “Towelie” Carlson and the Millionaire and his wife and the nameless rest? Certainly not there to play hard, or at least battle back through a tough start. And why was it, exactly, the Lord Supreme in His wisdom didst create that dung-heap of a burg to begin with?

Now this is our idea of a hot Fly team. Really.

You see, I’d like to chalk up that bumbling bungle of a game simply to our visiting the giant spirit suck that is Philly and its moronic fans. Like to, but cannot. Yeah, there were a couple fluky puck bounces and what-not, but those things give as much as they take. No, what we saw was a failure to launch by the Capitals after a dis-spiriting start. It was not, in any possible permutation of the concept, ‘good.’

The Puck Drop: But it’s Spring, and Easter (for some) or Maru (for others) or Passover or Nowruz or we’re just going to stop this now. Traditionally, it’s a time for rebirth and renewal and rejuvenation and reloading and all that. For the Capitals’ flock, it’s once more the race to the playoffs.

For several years now, the Capitals have demonstrated fine mettle in April, much like the pale gossamer jonquils besotting the landscape, if those jonquils were angry, snarling, forechecking, glass-smashing monsters made of steel and laser beams.

In short, there’s two ways this ends. One: we leave Filthydelphia redolent of Whiz, covered in soot and chagrin; or two, you can eat me Peter Laviolette. No wait, that’s a given. Oh yes; or two, we bounce outta Barftown and kick it into grinder gear for the coming match-ups against the Canes and ugly Islanders (revenge want now) and be the team that showed up to rub Winnipeg’s nose in its own dark, dark shame. I know which one I’m hoping for.

So let’s git ‘er done.

Who’s Hot and Who’s Snot

• Let’s just get this out of the way: what is it with you and first names, Flyers? Maxime? Jody? Zac? Zac?! Fine if you’re a British boy band, but Zac? Ugh, sign two players named Herp and Derp and you’ve got a full house.
• There’s an old adage that goes ‘What comes up must come down’, which is patently untrue if you are helium or the Blackhawks or Lindsay Lohan’s legal bills. We prefer ‘What goes down stays down,’ which we just made up but will use to prove our point. The Flyers haven’t so much been stumbling of late as they have been losing, while the Capitals overall (let’s not quibble, shall we?) have been demonstrating real hockeytude across the squad. The Flyers must therefore lose, QED.
• The Flyers do have some genuine stand-outs – Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux and a Schenn or something – who can be good deal sealers. But like we saw in their recent outings with cross-town rivals the Pittsburgh Flightless Stenchbirds, the energy and kick appears bottled up in just a few players, while the Pens (and oh how I hate myself for saying this) work well together across the squad, and that was before getting Iggy. We were suffering from this dread condition earlier in the season, too, but have at least mitigated it. Which is better: a few star talents and a bunch of mugs, or a more even distribution of skill? Capitalism or soshulizms? Hmmm?
• I have it on good authority that Jesus would particularly like a Capitals win today.
• To be “fair and balanced” – ha! – it is true that the Crapitals have some players who feel a little like large leaden weights tied around our ankles while we’re trying to swim. Marcus Johansson appears to be skating with one eye scanning for the door. Jeff Schultz (who is probably among the most decent people around, so, sorry) might as well be eating Doritos out on the ice, and Mike Green…oof, where to start. I’ve seen more spunk among members of the Whitehills Senior Center’s “Jeopardy!” fan club. (If you’re reading, Mr. Trebek, I love your show!) Is this a “Tale of Two Teams” moment? “It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times.”
• Conventional wisdom – which is never wrong I’ll have you know – has it that Adam Oates has at least one more good year here to show progress before GMGM hits the ejector button, while Coach Laviolette – which actually means “smelly cheese” in French, look it up – has but a few more games. Oooh, everyone’s getting a little snippy, aren’t they? I wonder what could be on people’s minds. I wonder…
• Rough trade. Is what’s on people’s minds, I mean. You know, like the trade deadlines? What…what did you think I meant? Ohhh…and on Easter Sunday, of all days. Hmmph. Oh, one last thing:
• JINX! Jinxjinxjinx. Doublejinx! There, you silly nannies, for those who believe in ‘jinxes’ we’ve just double-finger-crossed the jinx spirits and you can put your delicate little heads to rest now about the PuckBuddys curse, OK?

The Late Line:

While intubated in the emergency room following the Hinckley assassination attempt, President Reagan scrawled a note to one of his nurses. Cribbing from W.C. Fields, it read “All in all, I’d rather be in Philadelphia.” It was touch-and-go, but he survived.

On the whole, I’d rather we not have to be in Philadelphia. There should be a law against having to travel there on a High Holy Day, or a birthday, or any day with a “y”. But here we are. At least Jaromir Jagr isn’t around anymore (tee hee.)

Flyers lead early, Caps battle back, 4-3, but close, kids.

Japers’ has a great primer on who in the Caps system is up for grabs: Arnott, Sturm, Hannan, Gordon, Brouwer, Bradley, Alzner, Varlamov.

We’ll update this post with each development relevant to the Caps, and you can share your panic-struck ravings in the comments.

• Boyd Gordon to Phoenix: 2 years, ~$1.3M per. That’s a big raise.
• Jeff Halpern returns to the Capitals! 1 year, $825k. Clear the parade route.
• Jose Theodore to Florida: 2 years, $1.5M per. Nice deal for JT60 at a team reaching up to the salary floor.
• Jaromir Jagr to Philadelphia: 1 year, $3.3M. Haha, Pittsburgh.
• Hershey Bears sign Paul Baier of Rochester. Need pronunciation check on last name.
• Semyon Varlamov to Colorado for picks! (And not per anyone’s Russian agent.) $2.75 per year, which is $1.60M more than what Michael Neuvirth currently makes.
• Not strictly Caps-related, but Max Talbot to Philadelphia, 5 years, $9 M. Philly has gone insane.
• Caps sign RW Joel Ward (ex-Preds)! 4 years, $12M.
• Caps sign D Roman Hamerlik (ex-Habs)! 2 years, $7M
• Marco Sturm to Vancouver. 1 year, $2.25M. Can’t keep ‘em all!
• Caps sign AHLer Ryan Potulny. 2 years, 2-way deal. Go Bears.
• Panthers sign Tomas Fleischmann. 4 years, $18M. This is a joke right?
• Sheldon Souray returns to the NHL with 1 year, $1.65 deal from the Stars. That’s a lot for a guy who didn’t even dominate in Hershey.
• Columbus signs Bears captain Andrew Joudrey to a two-way, two year deal. Sounds like he’ll be in Springfield of the AHL. Great guy. We wish him all the best.
• Caps re-sign Sean Collins to a 1 year deal. Say hello to next year’s Tyler Sloan.
• Washington signs former Bear and Cap Chris Bourque to a one year contract. The 2010 Calder Cup Playoff MVP spent the past year playing in Russia and Switzerland.
• The Florida Panthers have signed Matt Bradley to a two year deal.

Developing… This post will be updated. Go freak out in the comments.

UPDATE, 4:00 PM – Tons and tons of movement from the Caps today. Salary cap room is quickly evaporating and we still have no word on Brouwer or Alzner. Are some big-time trades imminent?

UPDATE, 6:30 PM – One of Neil’s tweets just got read out loud by EJ Hradek of ESPN. Really, we’re not kidding:

Please knock Neil down a peg in the comments. He’s going to be unbearable.

UPDATE, 7:00 PM – George McPhee just spoke to the media about today’s moves: “We wanted to complete our team. Didn’t get where we wanted it last summer. I felt we needed to add a defenseman last year in the summer and we didn’t do it. We made the trade the during the year but it’s a hard process to go through. I’d rather complete it now and we’re in good shape now. We have good depth — all the holes are filled — and I think we have a good, strong team.”

A few other notes from McPhee via Sky Kerstein: The Caps were hoping to get value for Semyon Varlamov back next summer and were surprised they were able to get it now; McPhee said Washington was close to a deal with Varlamov last week, but Varly wanted to be guaranteed the number one spot and the Caps wouldn’t make that assurance; according to the GM, Braden Holtby and Michal Neuvirth will be in net next year and the Caps are pretty much done with the free agent pool; Tom Poti’s status is still unknown which is why they signed Hamrlik.

Looks like that’s it for the day. We’ll keep you posted if anything else breaks.

Karl Alzner congratulates Michal Neuvirth on his third shutout of the year and second straight blanking of the Penguins. (Photo credit: Gregory Shamus)

Alex Ovechkin celebrates his second period goal, his fifth power play marker of the year. (Photo credit: Christian Petersen)

After besting the Sabres on Sunday, the Capitals took the 178 mile journey down to Pittsburgh to take on a depleted Penguins team. Much was up for the taking Monday night. With a win versus the Pens, the Caps could go finish their pivotal 5-game road trip above .500, move within a point of the Lightning for the Southeast lead and take the season series with Pittsburgh. But despite their injuries, the Penguins remained no slouch. Added with the motivation of playing a Washington team that defeated them on Feb. 6 and in the Winter Classic, the Capitals couldn’t take the Penguins for granted. And they didn’t.

The first period, though scoreless, was certainly energetic. Both teams weren’t afraid to mix it up and play physical as the goalies shut things down. The Caps may have been outshot 18-7 for the frame but they were not without opportunities, including an Alex Ovechkin breakaway chance where the Great Eight was stoned by Marc-Andre Flurey.

The fireworks really began in the second period when Matt Bradley delivered a huge hit on Capitals fan favorite Matt Cooke, receiving a charging penalty in the process. The Pens Jordan Staal proceeded to tackle Bradley to the ice as a scrum formed. Ryan Craig would ask Bradley to answer for the hit when the two dropped the gloves at 11:26 but Craig ended up getting the worst of Bradley’s fists. Shouldn’t Cooke be fighting his own battles? I don’t think I have to answer that one.

While on the power play at 16:38 in the frame, Marcus Johansson fed the puck to a waiting Alex Ovechkin. Ovi then unleashed an unreal, laser beam of a one-timer. BOOM! Caps: 1, Pens: 0

And that would be it. Pittsburgh put 14 shots on Washington netminder Michal Neuvirth in the third period but Neuvy remained as solid as a brick wall. Shutout. World Peace. Something funny here. Caps beat Penguins, 1-0.

• When was the last time the Penguins scored a goal against the Capitals you ask? Early in the second period of the Winter Classic. That’s 157:47 of game time. Michal Neuvirth, whom Dan Bylsma referred to as “shaky” on HBO’s 24/7, has secured the last two shutouts. Disco Dan should probably keep his lips sealed in the future when it comes to masked men.
• Monday’s team win was made possible by brilliant, individual efforts such as Boyd Gordon’s first period tackle, John Carlson’s textbook lift check on Max Talbot’s breakaway and John Erskine’s first period step up on Craig Adams. All around good effort from everyone.
• Did Matt Bradley‘s name trend worldwide on Twitter because hockey fans hate Cooke just that much? Or was it just because of Caps fans love for the paper-thin skinned one? Regardless, Ian is snail-mailing him a one dollar bonus for doing what DJ King is supposed to do: enforce.
• Alex Ovechkin, who has tallies in four out of his last six games, scored the Capitals first game-winning power play goal of the year. Ovi also had eight shots, four blistering hits and two blocked shots. In a post several weeks ago when the Great Eight’s season was looking grim, Neil believed that Ovechkin was suffering from bad luck and that his goal totals would go back to normal. He forecasted that Ovi would total fifteen goals after the All-Star break. He’s now on pace for fourteen. Neil will be predicting Powerball numbers for the rest of the week.

• How tough was tonight’s game? Both teams combined to dole out 64 hits and and it seemed like every whistle lead to a whole lot of head-locks. Nicklas Backstrom even got into the fray by powerfully removing Jordan Staal from a small fracas during the last minute of the game. Mean Lars.
• The Capitals, who were heavily out-chanced by Pittsburgh 22-13, managed only two scoring chances in the third period and were out shot 39 to 24. Would a healthy Penguins team have been able to come back tonight?
• The only thing regarding Alexander Semin that most fans will remember about this game was his first period delay-of-game penalty where he airmailed a clearing attempt into the seventh row. We’re glad no children were harmed in the making of that two minute minor.

The Capitals finished their road trip in style beating two stubborn teams including their arch-rival, picking up six points overall for the journey. It could have been much worse. Washington should build on that fact for the stretch run. It’s going to be tough battle for the Southeast Division crown.

The Caps will have a few days off. I will have a few days off. Yes, the spa does sound lovely. We’ll see you here Friday night.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland and Neil Greenberg.