Thirty Stories Up

Pretty good first period out of these guys, ending with a 1-0 Islanders advantage off a sweet little backhanded scoop by Bergenheim that simply found its way between Lundqvist’s legs.

The Rangers started off strong, with a flurry of nine shots very quickly. Particularly impressive so far have been Callahan, whose strength visibly improved during the offseason, and Gomez, who seems to have a good handle on the European style of entering the zone, zigging and zagging as he carries the puck in; he’ll be a good replacement for Nylander in that regard, and I expect that this is why he’s probably going to start the season as Jagr’s pivot. Dubinsky has also had some quality shots, and seems to be displaying pretty good aptitude for a turning shot that lets him get a quality chance even when he’s closely covered.

The big story of the first period has been Joey Macdonald, the Isles netminder; the Rangers came at him hard right out of the gate, and he made some solid, impressive saves to keep the clean sheet so far. If he’s going to go all the way, he could quickly build up favorable impressions among fans and coaches.

The game’s been moving quickly, and there’s no sign that the brawl that was the previous Isles-Rangers tilt has carried over yet; there are too many young kids on both sides trying too hard to prove something right now for rivalries to boil over at the moment. In the third period, however, when people start getting tired and taking lazy penalties, there still could be the potential for some heated arguments.

2nd Period:

Well, the floodgates opened for the Rangers here. The one line that has really been clicking is Gomez, pivoting Dawes and Shanahan. Dawes has really worked on his passing, and has been setting up Shanahan left and right, leading to two classic goals from the elder statesman of the Rangers’ forward corps. Gomez’ puck-carrying skills paid off for him as well, with his goal opening the floodgates.

Dubinsky is trying to introduce some edge to his game, laying a poorly-thought out late hit to Johnson of the Flyers, which led to a couple of rounds of fisticuffs; Dubinsky handled himself decently, freeing up his left enough to lay out a pretty good series of shots.

Macdonald’s hot streak couldn’t last, with two of the Rangers’ goals finding their way past him into the twine; still, he played an outstanding 20 minutes, and with some work on his consistency, could be a guy to watch in the future.

Also, I can’t say this enough about Blair Betts: the man knows how to use his body to get in the way of the puck. He blocks shots, he blocks passes, he deflects the puck out of the defensive zone, and he generally just gets in the play. I really love his dedication and the style of hockey he plays; he has to have a lot of hockey smarts to shut down the lanes the way he does.

Third Period:

Lots of scrapping here, but not much goal-scoring; the Isles bring it to within two goals, but Prucha buries an empty-netter at the end to put the Rangers up 5-2.

Isles-Rangers has every potential to be just as scrappy when the games count.  Things looked good for the whole group tonight, with that scoring line of Dawes-Gomez-Shanahan being an absolute standout, and getting all three stars of the game.  The Isles’ loss here doesn’t mean too much, as they were dressing a young team against the Rangers’ veterans, but both sets of coaches still have difficult decisions left to make in the coming days.

Filed under: Hockey
No Comments

Finishing is still a problem, and I have a feeling it’s going to be what separates the Capitals’ bubble guys from the others; Green has had no trouble converting this preseason, but Bradley today had the goalie beat and put a puck into the crossbar instead of the water bottle. After 12 minutes of the first period, when you get your first shot of the game and it’s that good, you have to make sure that you find the twine with it.

Boyd Gordon is really impressive this preseason; if he hasn’t made a case for his spot on the Capitals, nobody has. I’d hope at this point that he has that third-line center spot for Clark and Pettinger just about locked up, which is going to make for a fantastic shutdown line with Gordon’s defensive ability, Clark’s grit and ability to cause chaos, and Pettinger’s goal-scoring ability.

Eminger must have read the piece in the Post today about being a bubble player; he sends it towards the net, and Sutherby pokes a stick in there to redirect it and find the twine to tie it up. Jurcina and Fleischmann immediately follow it with a 2-on-1; I already think that Jurcina is one of the best defensemen on the team, and if he keeps jumping into offensive plays and making a difference, a lot more people are going to take notice this season.

Vogel makes an interesting point that Flash was benched for the last half of the third period last night, which is something I hadn’t noticed; I had known he was jumping ahead of the play and killing some good rushes by being a step offsides, and tonight he’s been ahead of the play and taken an unnecessary slashing call.

The Flyers owned the first in terms of puck possession and shots, but Sutherby’s tip-in keeps the Capitals tied up where it counts.

Also, apparently the Alexanders (one each of the Ovechkin and Semin varieties) made the drive together from D.C. to come watch their younger teammates play. That’s got to be good for team chemistry, knowing that your star teammates will come on their night off to watch an away game.

A shot by Eager from the point after a clean faceoff win beats Brent Johnson and puts the Flyers up 2-1.

Laich makes his way down the tunnel briefly after a big hit shakes him up midway through the second.

Biron holds up against a fantastic flurry. Eminger is just flurrying shots at the goalie here, he’s definitely angling for a big game tonight.

Gordon is still impressing, making a wraparound shot that ricochets off of Biron’s skate.

Despite a few good flurries by the Caps, the Flyers hold the 2-1 lead going into the third.

Erskine doesn’t get beaten in fights often, but tonight he gets taken down by Boulerice.

Nice move by the Flyers’ arena production staff, putting Bradley and Klepis on the ‘Kiss-Cam’. They may be on the bubble, but they play to the camera enough to get a laugh out of the road crowd.

Lots of back-and-forth play in this third period, with nobody really dominating.

Bigger cheer from the crowd for the Nationals rallying from a 6-run deficit to take the lead over the Mets, which keeps the Phillies (who are also winning) in the race for the NL East.

Philly hangs on late on the penalty kill, stopping a 6-on-4 power play and running out the clock to cling to the 2-1 win over the Capitals.

Filed under: Hockey
No Comments

Listening to the game on online radio, provided by WashingtonCapitals.com.

Final Score (OT) - Capitals 3, Hurricanes 2

Thoughts from overtime:

4-on-3 time - big penalty kill for the Caps if they can do it. Shootouts shouldn’t be such a curse this year, with our two big free agent forwards both having a good track record in the shootout.

Poti intercepts a pass and goes. Gets taken down hard and draws a penalty, and he’s shaken but not hurt. 3-on-3 time.   Caps can’t convert the power play.

Green to Backstrom and they SCORE!  A revenge preseason OT win for the Capitals over the Hurricanes, and Green is showing that he deserves a spot on the Caps’ roster tonight.

Thoughts from the third period:

Well, I may have jinxed the Caps there. Kolzig gives up the early rebound and goal. Caps 2, Canes 1. Not much that Kolzig could do after giving up that rebound.

First 3rd-period Caps penalty… Eminger starts the march. Let’s see if they can stop it before it gets out of hand again tonight.

Not a lot of whistles, but a lot of scoring chances for the ‘Canes, as Walker fails to finish after beating Kolzig thoroughly.

Hearing that Dean McAmmond of the Senators got hurt badly and is out on a stretcher in the Senators-Flyers tilt. It was Downie of the Flyers who laid out the elbow to his head, which is a shame; he was a kid with a tough start trying to get things back on track, but he had behavior problems in his lower leagues too, and if the new NHL is serious about punishing unprovoked shots to the head, this should effectively derail his rise to the NHL for now. Off Wing Opinion had an excellent article recently on concussions in the NHL that now seems spookily prescient.

‘Canes score again to make it 2-2. The Caps just can’t hold the 2-goal leads for now, which is worrying; the Rangers had a tough time with those last season, and would have gone into the postseason in better position had they won a few more that they took 2-goal leads into the 3rd in.

The Caps are getting a ton of chances this period, but so far no luck getting anything past the ‘Canes netminder. Poti especially is getting a lot of shots from the point, which is encouraging for a club that needs the D-men to step up offensively if they want to be a playoff contender this year.

Gordon is really, really good on faceoffs right now, I like that they’re sending him in for all the important face-offs. Alexander Semin takes a poor penalty to stop a meaningless end-of-period breakaway, instead leaving the Caps to kill the penalty in overtime.

Thoughts from the second period:

The Caps’ power play unit gets another chance right at the top of the tilt, but still isn’t impressing; miscues keep sending it back into neutral or defensive territory. Kozlov seems to be the weak link in some of the passing when he’s on the ice for the man advantage.

Green to the box again, this time for tripping; I’d rather see the Caps be taking penalties on edgy penalties and not delay of game or tripping. On the plus side, he’s given the team their chances tonight to show that the penalty kill is looking good.

Kolzig is still solid tonight. Not facing many shots, but he’s stopping the ones he’s seeing so far.

The offense is still out of sync. Flash has stopped a couple of rushes by being a step offside, and I’m hoping that’s just an issue of him getting used to Ovechkin’s speed and not a worrying lack of timing.

The Caps’ Russian duo (2007-’08 edition) does it! Power-play finally clicks, with good puck movement getting Ovechkin a shot, Kozlov a redirect, and the Capitals a 2-0 lead late in the 2nd (on only their second or third scoring chance of the period, no less).

The Caps hold up, even though they allow 10 shots on goal this period; they carry the 2-goal lead into the second intermission. Let’s see if they can finally hold onto a 2-goal lead this preseason.

Thoughts from the first period:

Klepis had a wide-open net, but failed to finish on an early chance. That’s not going to help his case right now; when you get a chance that good, you have to put it in the back of the net.

Green may have made a mental error taking an early delay-of-game penalty, but he makes up for it right out of the penalty box by taking the wing position and starting a give-and-go play with Fleischmann that Green eventually backhands into the twine to give the Caps a 1-0 lead. Maybe Flash is trying to prove my skepticism of his first-line potential wrong.

How low is the glass at the Verizon Center? There have been three penalties so far, two for delay of game.

“Nylander… to Semin, back to Nylander… feeds it to Semin… Semin, behind the net, to Nylander…” I have a feeling we’re going to hear that call a lot on the power-play this year.

For a team that sent the scorers out tonight and not the heavy hitters, the Caps seem to be doing a decent job along the boards tonight.

The Caps’ power play units still need some time to mesh. They didn’t sound tremendously effective in the first, and failed to convert on the man advantage three times; they’re moving the puck well, but just not putting together the quality chances that they’ll want to see.

The Capitals lead one to nil after the first, holding the Hurricanes to seven chances; along with the Bolts game this weekend, this has to be a validation of the puck-possession style they’re moving towards.

Filed under: Hockey
No Comments

One of the more interesting stories that has developed out of Washington Capitals training camp is the story of their forward line combinations.  While Pettinger, Gordon, and Clark make a natural shut-down line that the team looks to want to keep together, the other three lines have been fairly surprising so far.

Most people assumed when talented puck-moving pivot Michael Nylander was signed by the Capitals, it was for the express purpose of setting up Alexander Ovechkin; while nobody (except maybe coach Glen Hanlon, if he knows more than he’s telling) knows the final lines that will be taking the ice, Alexander Ovechkin seems pretty confident that it’s going to be Viktor Kozlov centering his line this year.  This struck me at least as a strange move; the team brought in a premier Swedish center at a premium price, and one of their talented rookies this year is a Swedish center who’s well on his way to converting his potential upside to actual performance, so the assumption was that the team would put Alexander Ovechkin and Nylander on the first line, and Alexander Semin and Backstrom on the second, so that Nylander could lead by example and feed Ovechkin chances.  Instead, Nylander has played almost from the beginning of camp as Semin’s pivot, with Backstrom moved out of position to play as the second-line right wing.  In addition, Kozlov is out of position (he has played center, but it’s not his natural position), leaving a big question mark on the right wing, currently being filled by Tomas Fleischmann, or “Flash“.

Now, while these are all talented players, it means that what Hanlon considers his optimal lines don’t have what the fans would expect, based on previous player performance.  I’m sure there are a lot more factors going into this than anyone outside of the Capitals locker room understands, but at a glance, the two options seem to be that somebody in camp is performing well under or over expectations, or that certain players have had so many intangibles when together on the ice that it’s worth sacrificing an optimal configuration to get them on the same line.

What originally was worrying when Nylander got his bump to the second line was that perhaps he was performing well below par; however, having watched him in New York frequently, I didn’t see him as the kind of player who could possibly have that sort of drop-off in his game in one off-season.  I also trust that Tarik or the OFB Team would tell everyone if they were seeing the flameout of the decade from him in camp, and so far they’ve only had good things to say.  However, I also haven’t heard anything so outrageously good about Kozlov that would indicate he’s done enough to elevate his game both overall and at the center position to make skill alone account for the move.

Having Kozlov play first-line center is what’s really interesting.  I know NHL superstar-turned-blogger Alex Ovechkin wanted to play with Kozlov (he was a big part of having him brought here, if memory and rumor serves me correctly), and he already had great chemistry with him (this Q&A from Mike Vogel’s blog has Ovechkin saying that playing with Kozlov is as good as with Zubrus from a chemistry standpoint).  However, the “natural” configuration would have been Kozlov at right wing and Backstrom at center; the addition of Poti and the shot-stifling play against the Bolts this preseason indicate that the Capitals coaching staff want the team to move to a more puck-possession centered game, and placing a sub-par faceoff man like Kozlov at first-line center seems to go against that philosophy.  If the Caps want to get Ovechkin the puck so he and Kozlov can work together, it’s going to be a lot more difficult when they have to go retrieve it from the other team well over half the time.

The biggest issue that this would seem to create for the Capitals, besides Kozlov in the face-off circle, is the first-line right wing spot.  With promising 2003 first-round pick Eric Fehr injured, Flash seems to be the go-to guy; while I agree that he’s got every chance to be a top-6 forward, I’m concerned about his ability to finish plays.  Again, with the assumption that the Capitals are moving towards a puck possession strategy, they’re going to be looking to hold and move the puck in the offensive zone and wait to punish the defense for their mistakes.  Although there are already two snipers out there on the first line who can punish mistakes, Flash’s game seems like a marginal fit to work with them within that gameplan.

However, those of us looking in from the outside move forward with the (justified) assumption that Hanlon knows what the hell he’s doing.  So, the burning question for me going into this season is going to be:  Just how good are Semin, Nylander, and Backstrom when they’re on the ice together?  If the Capitals are moving forward with these lines based in large part on the play of that second line, they must believe that disrupting Ovechkin’s gameplan and making it harder to get the puck to him, as well as reducing the scoring threat from the other wing while he’s on the ice (letting teams ratchet the pressure up on him) is a necessary evil that comes with getting this second line, and that indicates that they believe that the second-line is going to be huge this season, perhaps even a bigger threat than any combination of Ovechkin, a Swedish center, and Kozlov.

What do you think?  Do you think Hanlon is looking to experiment early in the year, or does he have this set in his mind as the configuration of the 2007-’08 Washington Capitals?  Is putting together Semin, Nyls, and Backstrom going to be as good as putting together chocolate and peanut butter (along with an Islanders-orange wrapper named Poti at the point)?  Will adding Kozlov on that first line keep Ovechkin from getting frustrated that he’s going to carry the first line on his shoulders for another year, or will the two Russians together be able to convince the league (and the fans) that Flash can be a premier threat worthy of the position?  Most importantly, do you think that this lineup gives the Capitals the best chance to win?

Filed under: Hockey
No Comments

As long as I’m a traveling man, at least to the extent that I am, I’m unfortunately going to remain unable to carry out my lifelong dream of being a bench player for a low-ranked amateur hockey league in Chelsea Piers. Until I settle down long enough to pick up an equipment bag and grab some pine, however, EA Sports has me covered.

First of all, some clarification for those unfamiliar with this year’s hockey video games: There are essentially three different video game hockey offerings this year. Take Two has released their NHL 2K8 for next-gen platforms, and EA has put out one version of NHL ‘08 for next-gen platforms (360 and PS3) and another for the current-gen platforms (PS2 and PC). NHL 2K8 has gotten some flak for a less-intuitive control scheme, and the PS2 and PC versions of ‘08 have been fairly universally panned. I won’t be covering either of those products in any more detail. If you have a 360 or PS3, the EA offering is the one with a guy with a red Carolina Hurricanes jersey.

Some of us poor saps known as sports fans will buy a sports video game every year, only to find out that we haven’t gotten much more for our bucks than an incremental upgrade and a roster update. Last year, EA definitely took home the ‘most-improved’ crown for introducing a completely new control scheme that allows the player to control the player’s stick actions (deking and shooting) entirely with the right thumbstick, with passing being handled by only one button beyond that. It revolutionized the genre; unfortunately, a total lack of AI left the player last year feeling like one able guy playing hockey against zombies, and after the novelty of the control scheme wore off, the game got old fast against the AI.

EA took the criticisms last year to heart, and seem to have set their priorities on this year’s edition just right. The first thing that you’ll notice is the AI; in comparison to last year’s total failure, this time EA has put together a hell of an offensive and defensive AI. On offense, the CPU player will cycle the puck, set up properly in the zone, feed to the point, and generally play like you’d expect the team’s real-life counterpart to play. Defenses will set up to shut your scoring opportunities down instead of just skating around ineffectually chasing the puck-carrier last year. These AI improvements alone would have given this year’s edition some great staying power.

Fortunately for us sports fans, however, they decided not to stop there. The skating engine from last year was also scrapped and rewritten from scratch; players now feel like they have some weight and inertia to them, and they have more difficulty hanging onto the puck when making a series of tight maneuvers; this is especially noticeable across players with different skill levels… try to dangle in the zone with Alexander Ovechkin and you’ll get a lot farther than with, say, Donald Brashear. The skating engine is actually so good that it makes the skating practice mini-game tolerable and worthwhile.

The other big addition from a casual gamer/hardcore hockey fan perspective is the addition of other leagues; in addition to the NHL, the game now covers the entire AHL (essentially the highest minor league for American hockey), as well as two European leagues and international teams. It’s a lot of fun to finally take the Hershey Bears out for a few games. These improvements are more than just cosmetic; during a career mode the game tracks the AHL fully, allowing the GM-minded to try players from their real minor-league systems.

The improved AI and skating engine has a ripple effect that just makes the rest of the game better, too. Teams now play much more like their real-life counterparts, with less skilled teams having to play more conservative games to keep from getting caught out of position (which is far more dangerous this year than in years past). Run-and-gun hockey still works with a highly-skilled, fast team like the Rangers, but they can also fall back on a ‘pass-first’ European style of hockey and be as effective, while teams like the Capitals with less skill and speed can still be effective setting up in the zone and feeding to the slot or up to the point; this, along with the game adapting to the strategies you use, really does make every game so far different, instead of a contest to set up the best one-timers as in years past.

Of course, it wouldn’t be EA if they didn’t improve the graphics, and the virtual players now bear a striking resemblance to their real-life counterparts; sticklers for detail will be happy to hear that I could even recognize a couple of faces from the Hershey Bears who were back-and-forth to the Capitals last season. The game, at least on the 360, runs at an absolutely smooth frame-rate, and technically appears to be sound.

Online play is fantastic this time around too; ranked matches let you track your stats in games against opponents of similar skill level, and the matchmaking did a great job of keeping me with opponents against whom I was very evenly-matched. There’s little to no lag, even playing a game with one end in NYC and the other in Vancouver. There also don’t seem to be that dreaded killer of online hockey, the ‘money plays’ that score on a goalie every time; the variety of goals is great, but in general the only reliable way to score is to set up a play that would have a good shot at scoring in real life, and goalies seem pretty good about stopping hard shots from all angles.

Overall, I’m quite happy with the improvements made to this year’s NHL offering, and for the first time in several years, I can’t think of a glaring oversight that I’m already waiting for next year’s game to fix.

Filed under: Hockey
No Comments

Managed to catch the last period of the radio broadcast after watching the Flyers trounce the Rangers 5-0 on MSG-HD.

The Caps spent the entire third clinging tenaciously to a 2-1 lead over the Lightning.  From a Capitals perspective, there seem to be two big stories to this one: the penalties, and the shots on goal.

Through two periods, the Caps held the Lightning to 9 shots on goal, which, when you compare it to last season, has to feel good.  The Caps defense seems to be starting to solidify after last season’s shaky start; though I have yet to see a game, I’m hoping this means that our young defensive corps, now with another year of experience under their belts, are starting to step up and solidify their games.

However, the other big story of the night threatened to undo all the good our defense did; the Caps, once again, got extraordinarily penalty-happy in the 3rd.  I’m hoping that they can cut this out, since this is the 3rd consecutive preseason game with 3 or more penalties in the final tilt; this time it was 5, all while they were struggling to hold that 2-1 lead.  Especially with one and two goal leads, the Caps can’t afford to let this become habit; giving up goals because you took the unnecessary penalty is a morale killer for sure, and the Caps are still too young a team to hold together if they start losing games because of mental errors like this.

It’s a lot harder to draw conclusions from a close matchup like this in the preseason than it is to take something away from the Rangers-Flyers contest; here we simply had a lot of young, hungry guys battling, with the ones from out of town taking this one.  It’s a nice momentum-booster, it certainly is always positive to get a preseason road win against a Southeast opponent, but I’m not sure it has much long-term meaning past that.

As ever, I’d appreciate any perspective from anyone who caught more of the game than me, or thinks they caught something interesting that I missed.

Filed under: Hockey
No Comments

Final score:  Flyers 5, Rangers 0.

The Flyers continued to dominate in the third despite having far fewer shots on goal than the Rangers.  The big concern for the Rangers right now just has to be the lack of finishing; Prucha had that near-miss, and Gomez and Jagr had back-to-back scoring chances with Nittymaki out of position that ended in both of them missing the net; either chance really should have been a buried puck.  In contrast, when the Rangers played sloppy hockey in the defensive zone, which was often, the Flyers were right there to punish them every single time.

Knuble is going to be a threat this year; his hand-eye coordination is just fantastic, as shown by his mid-air redirection of the puck into the back of the Rangers net.

The Flyers also might have an interesting story to add to my goaltending thoughts  from a couple of days ago; Martin Biron looked solid for two periods, but Nittymaki was just absolutely rock-solid in the 3rd, and both faced a barrage of Rangers scoring chances.  According to the commentators, Nittymaki isn’t ready to think of himself as a backup quite yet, and tonight he made every effort to prove that he’s just as capable in net as Biron.  Expect to see this situation develop as we approach the regular season.

It’ll be interesting to see the lineup the Rangers put together for the next game.  As much as they’d certainly love to see the tremendous amount of talented youngsters keep battling to prove there spots, there were worrying weaknesses exposed tonight that perhaps require a little more play from the big guns to shake off rust than they would have hoped.  If the Flyers keep playing like this, they’re going to make themselves a big story very quickly; likewise, if the Rangers big guns don’t step up, they could be having a few long talks in the locker room about what exactly the salary cap should be buying the team.

————————

After two periods, this game has been a pretty interesting contrast from last night. The first thing that comes to mind so far is that the Rangers, who have a lineup including only 4 players from last night.

You might recall that I was impressed with the drive and play of the prospects for the Rangers last night, and that they were putting together a good game. Well, the big guns for the Rangers have come out tonight and left me cold; Drury, Gomez, and Jagr are all out there tonight, but the Flyers so far have been putting together a clinic, taking a commanding 3-0 lead.

Some thoughts:

• Drury is doing all the little things right, including sacrificing his body to block some impressive slapshots from the point and setting up some nice passes; however, I’m seeing no indication so far that he’s doing the most important job, which is leading. Gomez is similarly underwhelming so far; I haven’t seen him rallying the guys, and it doesn’t look like he’s either setting up or inspiring many good plays.
• Henrik Lundqvist doesn’t appear to have his game on so far; I’ve really always found his strength to be in the positioning and mental side of the game, rather than having to make the athletic saves; tonight, I don’t see him playing as dominant a mental game as usual, which probably has more than a little to do with the Flyers margin. I hope this is just a symptom of either rust or having nothing to prove, because it’s not a good sign.
• That said, he’s not getting much help in front, either. There’s a reason we’ve been hearing so much the first two periods about Drury’s presence on defense; he’s making the big plays around the crease because the Rangers D-men aren’t.
• Despite the commentators on MSG raving about Jagr’s camp experience so far, he’s been fairly invisible tonight. Prucha has been the visible force on the Rangers offense, with a near-goal that just took an unlucky skip off the crossbar and out instead of in.
• Jessiman apparently took some lessons from a boxing instructor in the offseason, but they must not have stuck; he instigates a fight and then gets dominated, throwing a few wild shots that miss badly and throw him off-balance. Don’t instigate the fight in a way that’ll draw you the extra 2 minutes if you’re going to lose the fight.

The Flyers, however, are showing every indication of being a team on the rise. Briere is doing all the things on offense that I haven’t seen Drury doing through 40; he’s been involved in a lot of good offensive chances, and it does look like the Flyers are rallying to him. Part of this may have to do with his role on the Flyers vs. Gomez or Drury’s roles on the Rangers; Briere is obviously, 100% intended to be the leader of the new-look Flyers, whereas Jagr (not a player I ever considered an effective leader) still holds the C for the Rangers.

From a puck-possession perspective, the Flyers have dominated tonight; while the Rangers are holding well on power plays, they’re not converting. It’s been a fairly crowded game in the neutral zone so far, although near the end of the 2nd it started to open back up with some longer passes.

Back after the 3rd.

Filed under: Hockey
1 Comment

Figured I could live-blog this, since it’s the first televised preseason game I’ve had a chance to catch. Watching on MSG-HD.

3rd Period:

The Devils manage to turn this one into a thriller late, despite failing to convert on a lengthy 5-on-3 power play - a goal with about 6 minutes left beats Valiquette.

Still, the kids hold on, and the Rangers manage to pick up their first preseason W in the home opener, despite not having either of their big free-agent centers out.  Sauer and Staal both looked good on defense, and Blair Betts was up to his usual shot-blocking mastery.  The Rangers coaches are going to have some tough decisions to make at the next round of cuts.

Final score:  Rangers 4, Devils 3

2nd Period:

MSG is off their game. They just totally missed a goal, they were showing archive footage. Betts on a garbage goal, but at least it show’s he’s working. 3-0.

Montoya got beat on a miscommunication; overhandled and got beat. Mishandled again later, but squeaked out a save and Callahan bailed him out with a block on the rebound. Pulled in favor of Valiquette halfway through the period.

Vishnevsky is tough to knock down at the best of times, whether he’s hitting you or vice versa. Zubrus, however, goes down when you hit him hard enough.

Dubinsky is going to lock himself into a roster spot if he keeps playing like this. Yet another outstanding pass to a free stick across the crease nets him yet another assist. Straka puts it in, but by that point Devils backup Jordan Parise (yes, there is a relation) was long since beat, so it was just a matter of burying it. 4-1 Rangers.

Valiquette beat on a Parise wrist shot late, to cut the Rangers lead to 4-2.

After 1 Period:
Well, the Rangers appear to have read my article earlier today, since they’re both trying to render it irrelevant as quickly as possible. Rangers goalie prospect Al Montoya is making a very compelling case stonewalling the 8 shots he’s faced so far as a potential backup to Henrik Lundqvist, and a challenge by Avery in the offensive zone sent a Devils player into Kevin Weekes, getting him shaken up badly and an early exit. No word so far on the severity of the injury.

Things I like so far from the Rangers, who are up 2-0:

• The Rangers are playing great possession hockey. They’re holding the puck, working the zone, cycling well, and forcing the Devils to stay pinned in the zone for long shifts. Especially on the power-play, they’re just keeping a stick on it with strong forechecking.
• Marc Staal: for a guy who wasn’t slated to play tonight (he’s replacing Fyodor Tyutin, out with the flu), he looks ready. He’s staying in the play with strong hits and good positioning, and has an assist so far to show for it.
• Dan Girardi, one of my favorite young defensemen. He has an assist on both Rangers goals, and is looking every bit the NHL-ready D-man that he appeared as a call-up last season.
• Byers - another guy who’s looking strong so far. He’s staying in the mix and obviously looking for his chance to prove himself, with a goal to show for it.
• Dubinsky - I think he has a legitimate shot at 4th-line center for the Rangers this season. He looks fantastic so far, with an assist to his name already.

Filed under: Hockey
No Comments

I think, at least here in the Eastern Conference, there are three really interesting stories developing in the goalie department this season, and all are going to bear a lot of close watching by fans and managers alike as they look forwards to how their teams will be built in the future.  The three teams involved are the Rangers, the Capitals, and the Devils; I think each of them are going to tell us this season a little about how to build the goalie position within a franchise in the coming years, as old legends retire and young upstarts take their place.

For the Capitals, venerable starter Olaf Kolzig will, once again, take his place as primary netminder.  He’s still a top-tier NHL goalie, but his age combined with injury concerns lingering from last season have me far more concerned about the position than I have been in the past.  ‘Zilla may have a new uniform, and even a new mask to match, but he’s still going to be carrying the same old burden of indispensable leader and backstop to an improving Capitals team.   The fact is that the team simply plays much better in front of Olie than they do in front of backup Brent Johnson (who started 28 times last year, and 23 the year before); his leadership presence is undeniable.  The Caps look to have every chance of keeping Johnson on the bench this season.  While Johnson is a serviceable backup goalie, he’s no backup ‘Zilla.

However, it’s tough to see any alternatives to the current situation.  With the lack of any seriously viable backup candidates in the system (I don’t think Cassivi is what we’re looking for, and promising prospect Michael Neuvirth is still a ways off from readiness), the Caps would have to go the free agent or trade route to pick up a new backup ‘tender.  While they’re holding the available prospects to trade (see my earlier posts on their depth this season), those trades would still be better served enhancing the team’s defense to give a better chance at wins every night.  The upshot is that, in a risky situation, the Caps have elected to maximize their exposure to a goalie injury in exchange for building other parts of the team (all of which, admittedly, needed work this offseason).

The Rangers have elected to go another route - with a ‘win-now’ mentality brought on by a combination of pushing the salary cap limit, the ever-increasing age of veterans like Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan, and the addition of key components like Sean Avery (whose unhappy experience in arbitration makes me doubt that he’ll stick with the team much longer), they elected to spend money on other things than retaining backup goalie Kevin Weekes.

Their primary, of course, is steady young franchise ‘tender Henrik Lundqvist, an instant fan favorite in the Garden; whether that’s more due to his early success with the Rangers and his gold-medal performance for Sweden in the Olympics, or his rock-star personality (no, really; guitarist for a Swedish rock band once upon a time) that meshes well on Broadway I’m not sure.  Still, he’s been steady for them even as he plays a ton of games, and this article in the NY Daily News makes me think he has the drive to continue to be an every-night goalie.

However, their pain point is also backup goaltending; with Weekes walking, they have to turn to Stephen Valiquette, who has up to now been a serviceable minor league journeyman with extremely limited NHL duties.  If ‘King Henrik’ gets hurt, which is admittedly far less likely right now than Olie getting hurt, he’ll be much more of a question mark than the Caps’ younger but more NHL-tempered Brent Johnson, who has at least been on NHL backup duty for a lot of games (even if it hasn’t been a lot of years).

While both the Caps and the Rangers have elected to go with high-risk routes emphasizing one goaltender, the Devils looked this offseason to mitigate risk at the position.  Of course, they still feature Martin Brodeur (both the man and the legend for one low price) as their primary, but with the signing of Kevin Weekes as his backup, they obviously have sought to mitigate much more risk.  Brodeur still gave every indication with his record-breaking season in 2006-07 that he can be a solid and dependable goalie even at a sprightly 35 years old (to Kolzig’s 37), which makes it all the more surprising to me that the Devils elected to spend the money to bring in Weekes, who could have been perfectly serviceable as a lower-tier starter for a rebuilding team elsewhere.

Still, the Devils got hit hard in free agency this off-season, and maybe they’re banking on Weekes and Brodeur being able to keep each other rested and give the team solid backstopping for 82 straight games.  The X-factor here is that we simply haven’t seen many nights where the Devils take the ice without Brodeur; how much of his leadership Weekes will be able to replace on game nights is certainly a question mark, since it’s not something he became known for in his time on the Rangers.

These three teams are going to bear close watching this season.  Will Olie hold up and play enough games to backstop the Caps into the playoffs again?  Will the Rangers expensive win-now mentality be sabotaged if Henrik is disappointing or hurt this season?  Can Weekes keep Brodeur rested and relieved solidly enough to make up for offseason losses?  Only time will tell, but I can guarantee you that the GMs are going to be watching these three goalie pairings as closely as us fans.

Filed under: Hockey
1 Comment

Over on Off Wing Opinion (another one of the fantastic Caps blogs) I saw a mention of an interesting drill that the Caps were running in practice the other day.

During the first hour of practice, the Caps ran an interesting passing and cycling drill. The coaches put about a dozen guys in the offensive zone, and had them working the puck along the boards and to the points. It looked like the goal was to feed someone in the slot for a quality shot, but there were so many guys that it was nearly impossible to get the puck in there.

I have to say, I really like the idea of this drill. With the scarcity of good stay-at-home defensemen in the East, it seems like more teams than just the Rangers could go to the fast, free-flowing European style of play; this drill seems to be meant to sharpen the players’ ability to deal with a lot of traffic in unexpected places. The fact is that it looks like the Caps are going to be facing a lot of teams this year that are going to be moving around and chasing puck carriers along the boards this year; I just don’t think that most Eastern Conference teams are going to have the personnel on the blueline to consistently stand up and adopt a more static defense. This isn’t to say that I don’t like the young breed of defensemen like Rangers midseason call-up Dan Girardi, but I don’t think they’re typically going to be able to depend on outmuscling the abundance of forwards this year with really dynamic skating and puck-handling skills.

So what the Caps are preparing for is smart: how to deal with a crowded situation in the zone, where there are bodies in places you don’t expect. This ought to help them move the puck more crisply, and hopefully when they’re set up on the power play, that ice is going to seem wide open and the pass to the slot will be a piece of cake.

This, combined with the news that the Caps practiced the shootout in camp for the first time, is an encouraging sign for the team; there are so many guys who want spots, who are playing so hard in camp every day, that I think Coach Hanlon can spare a few practice sessions to do three things the Caps have lacked in the last few seasons: first, to see who’s already doing all the little things right; second, to see who’s willing to work to do the little things better; and finally, to, as a team, improve all the little things.

If this is any indication of the mindset and work ethic of the Caps this year, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the special teams come out dramatically better this year, even accounting for the addition of Poti (who handled himself well enough in last night’s preseason game in Ottawa to notch a goal and an assist).

Filed under: Hockey
3 Comments

On Tuesday a man was killed just north of Springfield along I-55 and two others put in the hospital when a southbound car veered across the median and slammed head-on into a semi truck, which then jackknifed across the highway. This is yet another all-too-grim warning that, when driving, you need to keep your head on a swivel at all times and be totally aware of your surroundings, even on a ’safe’ drive.

I’ve driven that part of I-55, both north and southbound, more times than I care to count over the last four months. It’s your classic safe, boring road; no turns, no variations in speed, and most of the time, not a whole lot of traffic compared to, say, the Chicago area. It’s very, very easy to step your alertness down there.

Let’s be conservative and estimate that both vehicles were going 60 miles per hour (from my experience out there, the semi was probably going 60 and the car around 70 when he hit the median, and let’s estimate that crossing the median at that speed loses him 10 mph). That gives us 120 miles per hour relative speed, or, from my loose estimate on the back of an envelope, 10,560 feet per minute, which comes out to about 176 feet per second relative speed.

Put yourself in this situation. You’re John Q. Driver out there on I-55 northbound, after a long day of work, settling in for the long drive up to Chicago, which is about four hours north with traffic at this time of day. Maybe you’re fiddling with the radio, on the cell phone (even handsfree, because you’re a careful driver, of course), but you’re definitely hitting about 70 mph and planning on staying there. In short, you’re not at a heightened mental state.

Driver reaction time, according to this website, is ‘typically’ about 1.5 second from a totally relaxed mental state to beginning physical action to react to an entirely surprising event (with the huge caveat that ‘typical’ time depends on age, time of day, road conditions, and the individual), but let’s assume if anything that it’s a little longer because this is such a ’safe’ road to drive on. At 176 feet per second closing rate, that’s 264 feet before you’ve done a thing, and that’s if you were watching the road to pick up the distraction ahead right as it happened. It takes another .2 seconds or so to move your foot from the accelerator to the brake, and another .3 seconds to push the brake all the way down, so in 2 seconds, or 352 feet at the absolute minimum before you start to take any corrective action whatsoever.

352 feet is a pretty good distance. We’re talking about the length of a football field, from the back of one end zone to another. Now think of all the times you’ve been out driving in a safe area; maybe you turn your head to check traffic behind you, maybe you look down to scan your speedometer or look at the radio. Let’s say it’s another second before you see the situation develop in front of you. Suddenly, going from 2 seconds to 3, you’re looking at a distance of over 500 feet between you before you can see, react, and take action; keep in mind that, in either of these cases, you’re still dead in the end because you didn’t react fast enough to let any reaction take effect and either slow you down or get you out of the way. If you’re over 60, if you’re driving at night, if any other number of things are the case, it could go up to 4 seconds and a whole lot of distance.

You may also be jerking the steering wheel at this point, but let’s call that a 50-50 proposition at best; instinct is to steer away from the impulse, so if the other car is cutting across your path from the left side, your body will want to jerk the wheel right, a move that will probably just put you right in his path and ensure that he broadsides your driver’s side door instead of hitting you head-on in the engine block. If you’re a good driver and have trained yourself to turn into skids, however, hopefully the same instinct would kick in, turn you towards the left, and send you into the median, buying you time to react or at least crash somewhat more safely (hitting something at a lower relative speed than 120 mph, at least).

Cars are heavy, dangerous machines, and drivers typically travel at speeds that would make a head-on collision instantly fatal if they’re driving anything smaller than a semi. Because of the speeds and reaction times involved, the ONLY WAY to keep yourself safe, even on a long, boring road with little traffic, is to keep your head on a swivel, keep yourself alert, and be ready to act to keep a situation from developing instead of trying to react once it has developed.

This message brought to you by the Department of Protecting Yourself from Crazy People Whenever Possible.

Filed under: Column
No Comments

Well, according to fantastic hockey blogger and Capitals Insider author Tarik El-Bashir, training camp has had some interesting wrinkles for the Capitals this year.

I’ve already mentioned that fan favorite and Caps top draft pick Karl Alzner is on his way back to juniors this year, where he’ll get a chance to grow and mature a little more as a player before getting another shot next season, probably a very good one. I can’t wait to see this kid on the ice.

Of course, the depth of the Caps that I mentioned previously is going to lead to some interesting shuffling of lines as they try to fit all of this talent onto the ice. The big surprise for me is that Tarik lists the possible lines as follows:

Ovechkin - Kozlov - ?
Semin - Nylander - ?
Pettinger - Gordon - Clark
Brashear - ? - ?

And the following defensive pairings:

Poti - Jurcina
Morrisonn - Pothier
Boumedienne - ?

There are 9 guys fighting it out for those last four forward spots, and 4 jockeying for the last spot on the blueline. At this point I’d say that everyone left in camp has at least a semi-serious shot: Hershey Bears camp starts today, and the big roster cuts were already made to send most of the marginal or prospect talent back there in time for camp. Remember what I said about depth - the fact that they’re going to have to send eight guys home that have a very serious shot speaks well to their ability to absorb some injury this year.

The really interesting thing comes when you look at our center situation. Kozlov can play center, but it’s not his natural position, and I was under the impression that Nylander was going to be our first-line center and pivot for Ovechkin. Even more interesting is that young Niklas Backstrom has a good shot at being in the mix on one of those two first lines.

Coming into the camp, I had expected that by this time we’d be looking at a first line of Ovechkin, Nylander, and Kozlov, with a second line of Semin, Backstrom, and the best other winger from camp. At this point, we’re looking at Kozlov out of position, Nylander on a lower line than expected, and Backstrom either out of position or pivot for the fourth line.

So what does this indicate? To me, this says that either Kozlov has stepped up his play significantly, or Nylander and Backstrom are both huge disappointments so far (which isn’t a sentiment I’m seeing reported by Tarik). Throw in chemistry issues (Ovechkin spoke very highly of Kozlov, and was a factor for bringing him in), and I think the Caps could be looking at a season where their top-caliber players are all stepping up beyond expectations. Kozlov isn’t a premier (or, I hear, even very good) faceoff guy, so having him as first-line center means that either Ovechkin and Nylander just aren’t gelling, or Kozlov is making up for it in other ways, either by gelling really well with Ovechkin (which wouldn’t be a surprise, but why center in that case?) or simply by elevating his overall play. Nylander has to be a little disappointed if this is in fact how it’s going to go (I’m sure, even after Kozlov was signed, Nylander was still hoping to be pivot for Ovechkin), but I’m hoping it’s going to breed healthy competition and not locker-room drama.

So how would I like to see the season start, given that the positions Tarik called are locked in? Personally, I think the line combos on the ice today would do just fine: Ovechkin-Kozlov-Fleischmann and Semin-Nylander-Backstrom. If Backstrom is moving to wing, I’d rather see him on the ice with Nylander whenever possible, so hopefully the young Swedish center can pick up more from the veteran Swedish center. I think Backstrom is good enough to be a first-line wing if he steps up, but then, I thought Nylander was good enough to be our first-line center. While Flash might be a bit of a reach as first-line winger, apparently he and Ovechkin are also gelling pretty well in camp.

Overall, things look promising; the fact that Hanlon isn’t afraid to shake up the expected lines, along with the sheer number of guys fighting for increasingly scarce spots, means that a trade before the season starts isn’t out of the realm of possibility; the personnel to move are there, and the coach seems plenty willing to slipstream a guy in if he’s a better fit.

Filed under: Hockey
No Comments