Russian Machine Never Breaks

Carolina Hurricanes Preview: Point Break

Doug Johnson: Puck Buddy, dog owner, hockey fan, public intellectual. Follow @PuckBuddys.  

The Pregame: So you gotta give credit where it’s due. Whatever your political leanings (ours is usually doubled over, holding our stomachs, in the loo) that ol’ Newton Leroy Gingrich gets points for some sassy thinking. Seems then-Speaker Stay-Puft, some six years into an affair with a young House staffer (and Tiffany connoisseur) named Calista, basically told his wife Marianne that she would need to “share” him with his mistress. (There we are in the loo again.) At least, this according to ex-wife Marianne – no, not the one he divorced while she was in the hospital, that was a totes different wife! – who basically told Newt to get stuffed. He dumps her, marries the mistress who promptly begins a powerful benziodiazepine regimen (we’re making that part up) and now all is lollipops, the end.

We bring this up, in part because it’s still a larf-riot, but also because we’re doing some sassy thinkin’ of our own. Let’s just say, completely hypothetical here, that you’re the GM of a professional sports team with loads of potential but some underperforming talent. What to do? You want to keep him; sure, who doesn’t? But maybe you could also find a comely, pliable team somewhere else that may just want to share a little of his upkeep and tending while making you look genius. Everyone wins, right?

And thus American civic life dies a muffled death.

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Halfway

The Capitals’ 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins was their 41st game of the season. The halfway point.

Let’s take a quick moment, without any pomp or heavy opinions (except GIFs), to appreciate where the Caps are right now.


Overall Record

Overall: 22-17-2
Home: 15-5-1
Road: 7-12-1
Standings points: 46

The Capitals currently sit 8th in the Eastern Conference, essentially tied with Pittsburgh.

They are second in Southeast Division, one point ahead of the Winnipeg Jets and four behind the Florida Panthers. The bright side is that the Caps have played one game fewer than those teams. Still, the Caps are battling for standing in the division that used to be their feeding ground.

As Neil Greenberg pointed out on the Post Tuesday, the Caps’ home record is 5th best in the league. Their road record is 24th.

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Video: Mike Green Reinjures His Groin or Something

Photo credit: Greg Fiume

In the Capitals’ 3-1 victory over the Flames Tuesday, Mike Green made his grand return to the line-up after sitting out nearly two months with a groin injury. We made him signs. It was a thing.

The best part of the win was that Green made it completely through the game without re-injuring himself. In his last two comeback attempts from injury, Green has found himself back on the shelf his first game back (concussion on February 25, groin injury on November 11).

Well, two games into his latest return, Green took a rough run from San Jose Sharks’ center Andrew Desjardins behind the Capitals’ goal. Take a look for yourself:

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Dennis Wideman swims with the sharks. (Photo credit: Bruce Bennett)

The Washington Capitals had a good bit of time off before heading to California to face the San Jose Sharks. In that time, Mike Green continued his rehabilitation, Alex Semin returned to game-shape, and Nicky Backstrom’s head kept him out of action. No one was expecting an easy opener to the road trip, but this was ridiculous.

The back of Tomas Vokoun’s skate knocked in the first goal of the night, but Jason Demers got credit for it. Dennis Wideman crashed the net on the power play to tie it back up. Brent Burns converted a late second period power play with the help of a few screens. Joel Ward scored his first goal since November 5th to tie it up, but Patrick Marleau re-established the lead just 16 seconds later. Marc-Edouard Vlasic put the Caps in a pickle with a 4-on-4 goal, then Torrey Mitchell got the empty netter. Sharks beat Caps 5-2.

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San Jose Sharks Pregame: Bringin’ Sexy Back

Doug Johnson is a Puck Buddy. You will read his website and follow his Twitter thing.

The Puck Drop: Hey everybody! It’s a pajama party! Whooot! ZOMG, we’re gonna stay up late, an we’re gonna make popcorn, an an we’re gonna have hot chocolate! An an an we’re gonna get in our PJs and an an an we’re gonna watch the Caps!  Squeeee!!!

News Update! Dit-dit-dit-dah-dit-dit-deee-dit! Realignment on hold! Flash – Icers cry Foul on Fall festivities! Yups, the players union has turned nose down at the realignment plan handed down from on high. We’ll have more in the coming days. Stay tuned to this station…and now, we return you to your regular programming.

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Patrick McDermott

Ovi celebrates an early powerplay goal. (Photo credit: Patrick McDermott)

The Washington Capitals entered the new year with three wins in their rear-view and a convalesced Mike Green. Jarome Iginla and the Calgary Flames stopped in D.C. at the worst time.

Alex Ovechkin scored on the first shot of the night, a power play rocket one just 71 seconds in. Troy Brouwer crashed the net for number two, but Curtis Glencross got one back by snatching a behind-the-goal pass from Iginla. Nick Backstrom set up Dennis Wideman for the Caps’ third goal. Caps beat Flames 3-1.

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Download and Print the MIKE GREEN: GAME ON Poster

As we learned earlier, Mike Green will return to active play tonight after missing 73 billion games due to an injury to his love machine.

To celebrate Green’s return to the ice, here is a printable poster!

The mondo link below will download a PDF, which fits an 8.5″ x 11″ page splendidly. Download the file and print a million of these to pass out to everyone you see at Verizon Center. Mike Green is back. GAME ON.

DOWNLOAD THE GAME ON SIGN
DOWNLOAD THE GAME ON SIGN IN BLACK & WHITE

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Hark! Mike Green Has Returned

According to John Walton, Mike Green will play tonight vs. the Calgary Flames, his hometown team. It will be his first game since November 11th, his 9th game of the season.  Green played just 33 games in the calendar year of 2011.

We will have a printable poster after lunch. In the meantime, deal with this ridiculous photoshop.

Top row: John Carlson, Dennis Wideman, Roman Hamrlik, John Erskine, Karl Alzner (with Raccoon Hat), and Marcus Johansson
Front Row: Dale Hunter, Alex Semin, Jason Chimera, Dmitry Orlov, Jeff Schultz

Mike Green Finally Returns to Practice

Mike Green Washington Capitals

Mike Green looks on during Caps practice Tuesday at Kettler. (Photo credit: Margaret McGuire)

Green practicing with his teammates. (Photo credit: @melly2508)

As the Washington Capitals continue to struggle under new coach Dale HunterMike Green has become a beacon of hope for a Caps turnaround. For good reason. As you probably already know, the Capitals are 8-0 — un-frickin’-defeated — when Green has suited up this season.

On February 6, Green took a puck to the face in a game against the Penguins. 19 days later, in his first game back, the Rangers’ Derek Stepan elbowed Green in the head. This season, after notching four points against Detroit (tying his career high), Green missed the next six games due to a twisted ankle. In his first game back (detecting a pattern?), Green suffered his latest injury, a strained groin after taking a rough run from the Devils’ Ryan Carter. Since then, Green has missed 20 games and has not practiced with the team. Until now.

Tuesday, Green made his first steps towards a(nother) comeback, taking the ice for a full Caps-practice for the first time since November 11th.

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Why Alex Ovechkin Throwing Gang Signs is a Good Thing

Photo credit: Michael Martin

For those of you who stayed up late Saturday with the hopes of getting an up-close-and-personal look at #AvsFailWatch, sorry. The Capitals are scuffling. The team has mustered only one goal in each of the past three games (1-2-0), they have failed to win more than two straight games since starting the season 7-0, and they have an unimpressive 4-5-0 record since Dale Hunter was hired as coach. 31 games into the season, the Caps are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference and would not qualify for the playoffs if they started today. Bummer city.

While it’s easy to fret about all the unmet expectations this season, there are also some positive changes going on– though you might have to get out a magnifying glass to see them.

First, the Capitals are giving up nearly one less goal per game under Hunter (3.27 GAA with Bruce, 2.55 with Dale). Five-on-five, the Capitals are finally subscribing to more of a chip-and-chase system and are trying to be a tougher team to compete against. “Unfortunately, it’s a really hard way to play,” Tomas Vokoun recently explained to CSN’s Chuck Gormley. “But it’s the only way you can win a Stanley Cup. And the sooner we learn it as a team the better off we’re going to be.”

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