Caps win again!

Another great game.  This time against a very tough Montreal team played in Canada.  Caps owned the first part of the first period and just dominated.  They are starting to look really good.  This team may not be as talented as the teams a few years back but this looks to be the better team.  Guys really seem to have picked up on Oates' system and are thriving on it.  There seems to be a good mutual trust between the players and coaches and it all seems to be clicking. 

The Caps are the hottest team in hockey and Ovi is the hottest player.  The puck keeps going in for Alex Ovechkin.  The league's co-leader in goals finished a spectacular play with a tricky shot that fooled Montreal goalie Carey Price on Tuesday as the Washington Capitals beat the Canadiens 3-2 to extend their winning string to five games.

The Capitals are a perfect 5-0-0 in April and Ovechkin has eight goals in that span. The center on his line, Nicklas Backstrom, picked up two assists and has 11 points, all helpers, in the same five games.

Ovechkin said getting the win was bigger than the goal he scored to tie the game at 1 in the second period. It helped the Capitals stay two points ahead of Winnipeg atop the Southeast Division, with a game in hand.
"It's big two points for us right now," said the two-time Hart Trophy winner, whose level of play looks to be back near its peak after dipping the last two seasons. "We beat a team in front of us (in the standings).
"We know we can play against good teams. If we play hard and play our system it gives us results."

Eric Fehr and Jack Hillen also scored for Washington, which is 6-0-1 in its last seven.

Ovechkin's 26th of the season left him tied for the league lead with Steven Stamkos, who got the winner in Tampa Bay's 3-2 victory over Ottawa.

When told Stamkos had scored, Ovechkin said "good for him."  LOVE IT!  Ovi doesn't seem to care what anyone else is doing only that he does his job.  For the first time, I do feel like he is maturing and doing what the coach is telling him to do and trusting Oates in that he has his best interests in mind.  Ovi is starting to really thrive on the right wing and he is doing well camping out in front of the net.  He is a big boy with offensive skills and will command extra attention in front of the net thus freeing up other guys to get better shots. 

I just feel like this team has a confidence building as opposed to cockiness and recognizes the opportunity at hand whereas before I think they took winning and playoffs for granted.  Hopefully they can keep this up and get healthy as I don't think anyone will look forward to playing the Caps in the playoffs.

Caps beat Canes - right back in playoff mix

Alex Ovechkin had two goals and an assist, and the Capitals rallied to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 on Tuesday night.  Mike Green scored two goals, Joel Ward added a goal, Nicklas Backstrom matched a career high with four assists and Braden Holtby made 31 saves.

Washington trailed 2-0 early  but needed just 11 shots over the first two periods to score all five goals.  With the win, the Caps take over second place in the SE division and find themselves only two points behind division leading Winnipeg.  The win marks the Capitals seventh win in 11 games and they are 5-1-1 over the last seven.  Ovi has been on fire in this stretch and the Caps look like they could actually do some damage should they make the playoffs. 

Big game on Thursday against NY Islanders who are three points ahead of the Caps and hold the eighth spot in the East.  Another must win for the Caps.  Then its games against TB and FLA this weekend.  We need these games as the last few games of the season are against tougher opponents so we need to take advantage against some of the weaker teams.

As a side note, will be interesting to see if the Caps make any moves before the 3 pm trade deadline today now that they are in the thick of the playoff race.  They certainly could use an offensive winger to help out down the stretch.

Hopefully they can keep this going.

RG3 running on the field next week!

WHAT?!!!  This guy is a machine. 

RG3 could begin running on the field as soon as next week, the quarterback’s father confirmed to CSN Washington.

Griffin has been running in the pool and on a treadmill, Robert Griffin Jr. told The Washington Post, which first reported on the quarterback’s progress Monday afternoon.

“But they’re just about ready to take it out on the field,” the newspaper quoted the elder Griffin as saying.
Griffin Jr. later told CSN’s Chick Hernandez that “it would be feasible” for RG3 to begin running next week. He did, however, note that he had not spoken directly to Redskins trainers.

The team has not commented much on the progress Griffin has made since undergoing surgery after the season, other than Coach Mike Shanahan saying on a few occasions that the reigning offensive rookie of the year is rehabbing six to eight hours a day and remains ahead of schedule.

Griffin had the ACL, LCL and meniscus in his right knee repaired by Dr. James Andrews on Jan. 9.
Two weeks ago, Andrews described Griffin’s recovery as “superhuman” and the quarterback himself said his target is to be on the field for Week 1.

Skins bring back D. Hall

From ESPN - It looks as though the Washington Redskins are serious about not letting their salary cap penalty break up their 2012 division champion team. A few weeks after cutting veteran cornerback DeAngelo Hall for cap reasons, the Redskins have agreed on a deal to bring Hall back to their secondary. He was going to cost them $8 million for 2013 under his previous contract, but obviously this one-year deal will be for considerably less.

Hall is not without his flaws as a cornerback, but the Redskins know him and like him and have seen him have success in their defensive system. They prefer to sign younger free agents to longer-term deals, but their salary cap problems this year have limited their ability to do that, and their best option in the secondary at this point is to sign a veteran to a one-year deal and then address the situation in a longer-term way next offseason. They courted free-agent cornerback Antoine Winfield, and some reports Monday night were saying they were still in the running for his services, but it's hard to imagine how they can pay him and Hall.

Assuming no further additions at corner, it's likely they'd use Hall and Josh Wilson as starters as they did last year and that Hall would move inside to cover slot receivers when opponents go to three-receiver sets, with E.J. Biggers filling the outside cornerback role Cedric Griffin filled last year. They still need to find a free safety (a role for which I actually think Hall would be well suited if he'd be willing to make the move), but it's likely they'll address that need in the draft later this month. They don't have a first-round pick, but most draft analysts believe the draft is deep at safety and that starters will be available in the second round.

What's remarkable at this point about the Redskins' offseason is how little they've lost from their 10-6 division champion team. With Hall back, reserve linebacker and special teams captain Lorenzo Alexander is the only significant loss they have suffered in free agency. Part of the reason is that the market didn't take off the way guys like Hall or tight end Fred Davis may have hoped it would, and another part of the reason is that they were able to convince several of their current players and restricted free agents to do deals that helped them fit others under the cap.

I like the move.  Hall is a known commodity and while he has a big mouth, he is a decent CB.  He wasn't worth the money he was getting but a one year deal is good for both sides.  It allows the Skins to bring back a known guy and it allows Hall to prove that he is deserving of one more bigger deal.  Question is if the Skins are still looking to sign Winfield.  We may have gotten tired of waiting but I wonder if Danny Boy has a trick up his sleeve and will try and get Winfield.  Would be interesting if we got him and if we tried to move either Hall or Winfield to FS.  We'll see but as the article mentions, it's pretty good that the Skins have been able to keep their team largely in tact outside of Alexander.  Given the cap penalty, I really like what the Skins have done this offseason.

Caps weekend recap

A tale of two stories.  On Saturday, the Caps had a great come from behind win against the Sabres.  We outplayed them for most of the game but still found ourselves down 3-1 in the third.  Brouwer cut it to 3-2 on a shorthanded goal and then Green tied it up with under a minute as we pulled Holtby and Green hit a slap shot off the post that ricocheted off the Sabres goalie's back and into the net.  No goals in OT and on to shootout.  Sabres missed their first shot.  Hendricks (the Paralyzer) put on his patented move and froze the goalie and scored.  Sabres missed their second shot.  Ovi finished them off to win the game.  Great come from behind victory and a much needed two points.

Sunday we faced the Flyers and in a 2-2 third period, the Caps got a four minute PP.  We ended up scoring on both ends of that PP to make it 4-2 with 10 minutes left.  The Flyers cut it to 4-3 with seven minutes remaining.  They pulled their goalie in the final minute and we could not clear and they scored with 9.5 seconds left.  Pretty frustrating.  A minute and a half in OT the Flyers found the net to win it.  It was still good to come away with a point but we really could have used the two points.  Still, the games on the weekend were similar and we experienced both ends of the spectrum in the two games.

I believe we have 12 games remaining and we are 5 points out of the divisional lead and 2 points out of the 8th spot.  Essentially the playoffs have already started for us and every game is a must win.  Tomorrow is a critical game against the Hurricanes.  In fact, the next four games are pretty critical as they are against some of the weaker teams in the conference.  Given that the Caps end the season against some of the tougher teams, we need to get some wins in our next few games. 

GO CAPS!!!

Nats opening day

I'm not a huge baseball fan but I suppose this season is a bit more exciting given the buzz and expectations surrounding the Nats.  Anything short of a World Series victory is a disappointment for this team.  The window is open wide and as the Caps know, those windows start to close a little more with each passing year. 

They have the star power and are strong on offense and in pitching so they have every reason to believe they will win it all.  SI projects them to win it all but they have to prove it.

It all starts today against Miami.  Strasburg is going so it should be fun.  Hopefully they get started out on the right foot.

Go Nats!

BTW - I'm still a Cubs fan but expectations are pretty low for them.  Maybe next year (HA!).