Your Goalie Recap of the 2012 NHL All Star Game

A few quick hits from today's All Star game...

-Maybe it was because I was overseas for the entire season last year, but man do I love me some hockey. And today, we we got the best from the best. Defense not included.

-I have always been a fan of the different sports putting mic's on their star players. Today, I loved the goalie's being mic'ed up. The players....ehhh.

-From my perspective, Carey Price, in one weekend, has made himself into a star once again in the league. With his struggles in net a few seasons ago, most thought that Price would be an after-thought. Yet, he rebounded and kept the #1 job in montreal and turned in one amazing season last year. Then this year, having a good year, he came into the all star weekend and won over the crowd. From the skill competition to his play in the second period, he was fun to watch and listen to. His Tebow'ing or his backwards save to his take on why everyone thinks goalies are weird and his ridiculous glove save, Price won me over. In a game where you knew the game was going to have a ridiculous score, Price chatted up the play-by-play callers during his time on ice and won everyone over with his witty remarks. You could even dare to say that the 2nd goal he allowed in was due to him talking to the crew while making the save attempt. Regardless, in the end, Carey Price won me over as a fan in today's game.

-I wish Quick could have came out with a highlight reel save today. Looks like he'll return to us in SoCal and we'll continue to be the only ones to see him shine while everyone else is asleep.

-Sort of felt bad for Brian Elliot out there today. Solid play all season, then get rewarded with the All-Star Game nod while Halak has emerged of late, then get 6 scored on you in your only period of work. Hope he can rebound and stay dominant in the second half.

-Tim Thomas made some ridiculous saves out there today. Gotta love his 180 spin and donkey kong punch save to knock the puck out of mid-air. Thomas continues to be an enigma off the ice but damn, he's got some skills.

All Star Skills Challenge Goalie Highlights

Finally, everyone gets to see what us on the west coast see every night the Kings play, and that's Jonathan Quick's incredible saves. The one last night in the skills competition was no exception. Enjoy.



Other observations from the night include Carey Price showing his character to those not in Montreal. Good to see that on the national media stage. Even if that means "Tebow'ing."

Recap: Caps 5 - Bruins 3

After the news of losing their captain for 3 games, one would expect the Capitals to come out flat.  And they did, but the play of Knuble to inspire his team to rally in the first period, in which they had only 2 shots on goal about 12 minutes through, helped get the team back on track.  With many expecting the Capitals to come away with zero points versus the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Caps got two huge points tonight.  If these Caps are to make a run and solidify a playoff spot, every home game is a must win with our current trend of not showing up to play on the road.  Now onto some highlights and quick notes from tonight's game.

Your Ovechkin highlight of the game...yes Ovechkin highlight of the game...

Your Save of the night...



Notes:
- Vokoun earns his 20th win of the year.  Another solid performance in net tonight.  29 saves on 32 shots for a .909 save pct.  A little bit below his season average, but take away the own goal deflection from Alzner, then he's right on par with his season average.

-When I looked up the stat line about halfway through the first period, I saw exactly what I expected....a grand total of 2 shots on net.  The Capitals rebounded and finished with 10 shots on net in the first period alone.  That could be a first in the Hunter era...With 8 shots in the 2nd, I expected the Caps to continue putting the pucks on the net as if they had listened to all the critics but they returned with a 5 shots on net performance in the 3rd for another low, 22, shot performance.  Outshot AGAIN.

-Perreault.  Congrats on the hat-trick.  Well earned for a hard-working young player.  Looks like one of our depth offensemen has answered the call to step up their play.  We will need more of this in the weeks to come. 

-Good to see Ovechkin down on the bench afterwards giving Perreault the pie in the face.  Speaks to his character and his love for his teamates in a day where Ovechkin has come under heavy scrutiny in the media for backing out of the All-Star game. 

-Absolute horrible turnover by Carlson on Seguin's goal to tie the game at 2.  Looked like a play from my pickup game last night.  We need our young, talented and prized defensemen to step up while Green is out this year (all season? we'll see).  Carlson and Alzner continue to make mistakes.  And the recent split of their pairing, seems to be Coach Hunter's attempt and offsetting their mistakes they've been making on the ice this season.

-On a night where Ovechkin and Backstrom were both out, you'd expect to see everyone's playing time rise.  For most, it did.  For others, it continues to show Coach Hunter's shrinking of the bench by the 3rd period.  Whether this is based on his lack of trust in their ability or his strategy, one must hope it doesn't burn our players out.  If players like Ward, Beagle, and Schultz (with no playing time) continue to see their ice time get cut, one has to wonder if Hunter is telling GMGM that he wants to have a say on his personnel and he's not happy with his current squad.  Thus, making the Caps players at the trade deadline to bring in personnel more to Coach Hunter's liking. 

-It should be an exciting second half of the season after the All-Star break for the Capitals.  Taking a look at the rest of the schedule, I see the Capitals final point number being 95.  I expect the Caps to make the playoffs based on winning their division with the playoff cutoff for the 8th spot being around the 88 point total.  The Caps are just brutal to watch on the road.  They must win their games at home and hope for some points on the road.  It won't be like the past seasons where we've coasted into the playoffs.  We may just need to break out the maalox down the stretch.

-As always, GO CAPS!

Caps 3 - Pens 4 (OT)

A 1 point night. Some things to like in this OT loss and some things to hopefully learn from and get better...

Your Ovechkin highlight of the game...Penalty or fine worthy?



Your Save of the game...



With the game 2-2 and Hendricks coming out of the box, Fleury makes a beauty on the breakaway.

If the Capitals who played the second period can repeat that performance for all three periods of a game and consistently put that effort out, watch out...if not, like today, then we'll get games like today.  A coin flip. 

Let's admit it, after the first period, I was already gearing up to write a scathing recap.  The Caps simply did not show up to play in the first.  4 shots on goal and got outworked by a injury-plagued Penguins.  But, the Caps finally played Dale Hunter hockey in the second and damn was it entertaining.  If the second period is an indicator of the type of effort/play he wants to put on the ice then I can't wait till he can get that effort from the team for a full 60 minutes.  Hopefully that comes sooner rather than later.

Quick Recap Points from the game...

-After pairing Ovie with Knuble and Perreault for the beginning of the game, Coach Hunter switched Knuble for Semin and instantly, it became one of the more effective lines tonight in the game.  Ovechkin with his first 3 point game of the season with 1 goal and 2 assists.  Semin with a goal and assist.  And Perreault with 2 assists.  My recomendation is to keep this line together until Backstrom gets healthy.

-The decision to start Neuvirth over Vokoun still baffles me.  Just when I think I've got Coach Hunter figured out, he goes and starts the obvious #2 goalie over a real hot #1 goalie of late.

-Nonetheless, Neuvirth played pretty decent.  The first two goals were tough with good screens in front of him and the final game winner in OT had to be a heartbreaker.  Neuvy had plenty of dazzling saves though that kept this Caps team in contention.  So I applaud Neuvy for his game tonight.

-Troy Brouwer.  What a fight with Tyler Kennedy.  Brouwer landed a ton of quality uppercuts early in the bout.  Drawing blood on Kennedy.  Kennedy came back and it ended in a stalemate with Brouwer getting the takedown.

-We got 20 shots on net!!!!  LETS CELEBRATE!...really?  This is starting to get absurd.  Look what happens when everychance they get, they put a shot on net in the second, 10 shots and 2 goals, one shot that somehow didnt go in on Knuble's breakaway, etc...Then it's back to playing let's get 5 shots on net type of hockey in the 3rd period. 

-If I'm George McPhee, why am I still holding onto Jeff Schultz?  Obviously Coach Hunter does not intend to use him, so go get either a last pairing D-man or future nhler 3rd or 4th liner to replace Halpie here in a few years.  With Kundratek still with the club, it's obvious that Schultz will no longer be in the plans with Hunter at the helm, so use him as tradebait.  Hell, use him in a package deal to get us some secondary scoring...come on GMGM.

That's all I got for today, I've gotta go finish watching the Ravens now try to make it into the Superbowl.  As always, GO CAPS!

Saves of the Week ending 1/20/12

Enjoy!

Catching up...Caps 0 - Canes 3

Your day late, dvr reviewed, recap...a dissappointing 0 point night against the Canes. Another stellar performance put forth by Vokoun, only wasted away by his teamates and their lack of offensive production.

Instead of your Ovechkin highlight of the game, maybe I'll start putting your daily Hendricks' fight since Ovie likes to put some stinker games together here and there...so here you go...

Your Save of the game, Vokoun had many beauties..

Ok, down to the dirty truth...

A stelllar night by Vokoun is wasted by the lack of offense once again.  Seems to be the broken record of the Caps now.  Goaltending is not the problem right now.  It's the offense, or lack of it.  23 shots tonight vesus 33 for the Canes.  The Caps had their chances tonight but just could not put together any real sustained offensive effort.

The strong powerplay (whoops I forgot, only at home) let us down again and even gave up a short handed goal.  Not acceptable.  Matt Hendricks having more shots on goal than Ovechkin, who logged 24 minutes of ice time, NOT ACCEPTABLE.

The enigma that this team is right now is very frustrating.  When we win, we are still left frustrated as fans.  We'll win and have 20 shots on goal verus 40 or so for the opponent.  Ovechkin and the skill players only putting 6 shots on net per period, mind-blowing.  Especially when you consider the talent we have on this team and the numbers these same players have produced before.

Nevertheless, we will continue cheering on the Caps.  They'll pull it out this season and be a better team in the end from all these bumps along the road.  GO CAPS! 

Catching Up...a West Coast Dandy from Thursday, Kings vs Flames

For those on the East Coast, you probably never watch the Kings games unless you stay up real late and you have the NHL gameplan with your local tv service. But for those of us out here on the West Coast, you can always count on switching to the Kings game in the middle of the third period and the game being tied or only a 1 goal differential. Leading to exciting final minutes of the game, Overtime, and then shootouts. This past Thursday's game was no exception. In fact, the game featured plenty of amazing saves between Quick and Kiprusoff. So here are a few to share...

  

Back to back amazing saves in OT to force the shootout, which the Flames win.

Must Read Blog by The Peerless Prognosticator today

http://peerlessprognosticator.blogspot.com/2012/01/tale-of-opportunity.html

A must read in my opinion.  Enjoy.

Caps 3 - Canadiens 0

Lots of Video clips tonight in the win...enjoy...my recap to follow Your Ovechkin highlight of the night...

Your Wacky play of the game ...


Your Save of the Game...

I chose this save because of his reaction to pickup the rebound (off Hamrlik's skate) where if the Canadiens had put it in, it would have changed the game.  Neuvy had a few quality glove saves as well.  He did get lucky on Bourque's shot at about 6 mins into the second that went off the post glove side.

Now to the Recap...

SHOOT THE PUCK!  This will continue to be my major problem with this team right now.  Canadiens outshot the Caps 31-16 tonight.  If not for a stellar night in net from Neuvirth (31 Saves for the Shutout), the Caps could have gotten off to a sour start on another road trip.  But they didn't and finished with a valuable 2 points on the night to keep them tied with Florida for the points race in the SE division (even though the Caps are now 3rd in the Division with the tiebreaker).

Congrats to Neuvy for the shutout tonight after many expecting some signs of rust from him.  Hopefully this will build his confidence and provide some good goalie competition with Vokoun for the rest of the season.  Vokoun is still the clear cut #1 netminder though and that should be apparent to everyone and if it is not, it will be over the next stretch of games.

Ovechkin nets his 19th goal of the season (on 1 shot on net all night?, come on Ovie, shoot the puck!), Hendricks fights Bourque (with Bourque coming out victorious), and nine different Capitals had points in the victory.  Quality secondary scoring from Perreault and Johansson tonight.  All good signs, but this trend of not getting shots on the net needs to end.  With the talent on the roster, it baffles my mind why they aren't putting more shots on net.  It is not like the new defensive scheme of Coach Hunter has shut down our weapons, we're being outshot more times than not in most games.

Luckily, tonight we made the most of our chances and got some good goaltending.  Until next time, GO CAPS!  

Enjoy the Hendricks Fight...Too bad Erskine didn't get to him first

Capitals (0) - Islanders (3)

Your Save of the Night...

No Ovie Highlight tonight.  In 22:06 of Ice time, Ovie registers 4 shots on net and 2 missed shots.  Sits 2 minutes for Cross-Checking.  Need more inspiration from our Captain to motivate the team to get more pucks to the net.

Pucks to the net.  A novel idea.  SHOOT THE PUCK!  Should be a new shirt Coach Hunter should pass around in the locker room.  17 Total Shots on goal for the Caps.  That's about the same number of shots I face in any given period in my Adult League.  Hats off to Japersrink.com for pointing out that so far in Coach Hunter's regime, the Caps have managed fewer than 20 shots on net 3 times.  During the entire length of Coach Boudreau tenure, the Caps only did this 4 times.  This is a very disturbing trend.

I will still stick to my prediction that Coach Hunter will ride Vokoun for all he is worth this month.  I still think that Vokoun will help us win more games than not in this 12 game span (6 before and after the All-Star Break).  BUT, this trend of not putting shots on goal has to stop.  A night where Vokoun plays "decent,"  25 of 28 saves for a save pct of .893, his teamates barely muster up the wood and hardly average 5 shots a period.  A simple solution that Knuble raised in his post-practice interview yesterday was that the team needs to put more shots and pucks towards the net.  Good things happen when more pucks go to the net.  We let Nabokov walk out of our arena with a shutout after only facing 17 shots. 

So after losing to a team tied for last in the Eastern Conference, we face a familiar feeling in the Dale Hunter Era. Three good wins followed by a uninspired stinker versus a team we had no business losing to.  With a blown opportunity to get all four wins at home on the home-stand, we now must go on the road and get some points to stave off falling out of the 8th and final spot for the playoffs. 

It'll happen, but hopefully the guys are learning from the lessons during this period and will use it to build some second-half success here in the season.  At least we didn't sign Rick DiPietro to a 15 year deal.  I would hate to be a part of their fan-base and be a goalie fan.  I could at least take a shot to the noggin' by good ole Brent Johnson and not fracture my face.  GO CAPS!

1/15/12 Save of the Night (NHL.com's Save of the year, really?)

Niemi's save is ridiculous BUT as you see on the third replay it is merely luck that the puck went into his glove. There was no reaction to the shot direction. He reacted to being beat and threw his leg and glove in that direction and the puck happened to go right into his glove. It was still a sick save.

Capitals (2) - Canes (1)...Vokoun shines

Your Ovechkin highlight of the game...

Your Top Save of the Game...

With the 2-1 lead, Vokoun makes a marvelous pad stack save.

Vokoun's stats for the night are 43 saves on 44 shots for a save pct of .977. Besides the obvious standing ovation he deserves for his play tonight, one also has to be pretty disturbed by the fact that the Caps allowed 44 shots on goal and blocked another 25 that never made it to him. thats 69 attempted shots. That deserves a WOW. The Caps need to shore this D up quickly. As predicted, and I will continue to stick to this prediction, the Caps will ride Vokoun in the month of January and February and will come out at the end back on top in the SE division and amongst the leaders in the Eastern Conference, but as fellow blogger The Peerless Prognosticator pointed out in his recent article, the Caps' next 12 games (tonight included) are all against far inferior teams and the Caps could come out with 20 points or so during this span. Once this stretch is up, the Caps will need to have their D issues solved because the Caps will once again be facing the top tier teams again.

Back to tonight. You can really see the difference between early Vokoun from this season to his play now. In tonight's game, he was on his game. It is very apparent when you see his aggressive puckhandling and post to post play. He's picked up an extra step or gear in his play and is getting himself into position to make a save quicker. Alot of his recent highlight saves, are examples of how if he didn't have that gear, he'd be coming up just short for the save.

Ovechkin's hit...WOW. I love that type of hockey. On a day when his rap video is making circles in the media, he lays the wood and gets an assist on the night. I'll take it. Feel good story for Orlov's first NHL goal is also the game-winner. So much young D talent on this roster, lets just hope they continue to get better and healthy (Green), and the future looks scary good for them.

Last note of the night...as much as I absolutely despise all things Penguins or Crosby related, the antics of Jeff Skinner tonight were childish. I'd be embarassed to call him a teamate. Since Crosby will probably not see the ice again this season in any meaningful role, I will now be hoping that Skinner's season absolutely tanks (more so than it already has).

Washington Capitals: A Mid-Season Look at the Capitals' Goalie Gear

Neuvirth

Neuvirth has gone against the grain/ trend this year.  Instead of all white pads or all white bases for pads like most goalies use (the thought is the shooter will not be able to distinguish goalie pad from net/ice/background in the shooter's vision), Neuvy has gone will all red pads.  They are the same Vaughn pads as last year, just different color.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of this switch.  As a goalie with all black pads, I like more color than the all white, bland pads that are now predominant in hockey.  Also I'm a fan of the Vaughn gear as well.  I wear Reebok leg pads, glove, and blocker, but I wear a Vaughn Velocity V4 7600 Chest protector and a Vaughn mask and they work for me.  I know alot of goalies in the SoCal area that wear the Vaughn gear and I hear nothing but praise. 

Here's my set.

Now on to Vokoun,

Whose made an in-seaon color-scheme switch on his Bauer Supreme One100s.

For his original set, it is actually the same set he wore in Florida last year.  He's now switched to a more predominant red base on his set.  I like the new look and how they go with Caps' jersey.  He has also seemed to have turned up his game since he switched pads too.  He's 6-2 over his last eight.  Maybe this will lead to giving more validity to the saying that if the player "looks good, feels good, he'll play good."

Thoughts?

Your Top Ten Saves of the Week ending in 1/13/12...(Flash needed)

Personally think numbers 10 and 9 should be ranked higher but all ten saves are pretty legit (except #8 maybe, basically a normal butterfly save)...One save that is an absolute sick save is the Kari Lehtonen of the Stars. I was watching this game and the save is a beast. Too bad I don't remember much of the game because of a drunken stupor...

1/14/2012 Save of the Night (Flash Player Needed)

Hopefully he got a good stretch in before the game...

Caps (4)- Lightning (3)

First, your Ovechkin goal...

Second, your top Caps Goalie save (based on media available at this time)

Third, Congrats to Ovechkin and Wideman on the All-Star nods. Based on my west coast, box score watching, nhl.com video highlight watching, analysis, since the NHL Network is not a part of my NHL Game package or Time Warner Cable in San Diego, the Caps got a easily predicted TWO points tonight. As I said in a previous post, watch for the month of January to become the Cap's "move in the standings month." Until the third goal tonight, my prediction of Vokoun turning the corner and owning the Caps Crease and staying on par with his .91t save percentage looked dead on. Nevertheless, he finished as ESPN's third star with a .903 save percentage. Still, look for Vokoun to shoulder the load for the month of January. With 28 saves out of 31 shots, Dale Hunter's confidence in Vokoun continues to build.

Secondary scoring problem? Well...how about the third option on the top line counting towards secondary scoring. Hats off to Troy Brouwer on his first career NHL hat trick. And quietly, Brooks Laich' slump has ended with a two assist night. Also, the enigma of the Caps' powerplay continues to amaze. Unstoppable at home on the powerplay, the Caps powerplay goes 2 for 4 amd remains hot. One of these days the Caps' road powerplay will turn the corner. Nonetheless, quality win tonight for the Caps. After last year, especially since I had to wake up at 4 am in Afghanistan to watch the Caps get swept, these beat downs of the Lightning are always fun to enjoy. With the two points, the Caps remain in 8th place for the Eastern Conference playoffs with one game in hand and only two points back of the Panthers, who received a beat down of their own by hands of the slumping Penguins, for first in the Southeast Division. So, as always, GO CAPS!

1/12/2012 Save of the Night (Flash Player needed)

The Flyers' Bobrovsky with a wicked glove save, plus sporting some new Reebok P4s.

Neuvy-Vokoun-Varly...at the mid way point

 Neuvy   2011-2012 Statistics
         GP GS TOI/G W L OTL GA GAA SA SV SV% SO       
           17 13 50:14     5 7 2         46 3.23 405 359 .886     1

 Vokoun  2011-2012 Statistics
          GP GS TOI/G W L OTL GA GAA SA SV SV% SO 
           30 28 53:58    17 10 0      69   2.56  814 745 .915    2

Varly's Avalanche 2011-2012 Statistics
         GP GS TOI/G W L OTL GA GAA SA SV SV%  SO      
          29 29  59:19    14 14 1      83 2.89   844 761 .902     2 
*According to ESPN, the Denver Post reports (6pm est) is out Thurs game with knee injury.




SO, this begs to question, at the halfway point of the 2011-2012 season, did we make the right call in the goal?

In my completely unprofessional opinion, yes.  It breaks my heart that we let Varly go via trade since I was a huge fan from day one, but comparing his stats to Vokoun's at the halfway point one would have to argue that Vokoun has been more successful of the trio this year.  Once you start thinking about the offensive weapons each team has, you have to think the chances for Vokoun's numbers to progressively get better over the second half are great since the team has seemingly "bought-in" to Coach Hunter's scheme (Knock on Wood).  The bargain price we signed Vokoun for and with two promising goalies in Neuvy and Holtby, the two draft picks we got from the Avalanche was a complete steal.  Add the fact that Varly now has a knee injury (anyone surprised?), then the Avalanche will have to rely on Giguere from here on out as their work horse.  GMGM did a good job in this one off-season move in my books.  With the number one job seemingly locked up, look for Vokoun to have a killer January, in my opinion, that will leave our painful November-December quietly drifting away in our thoughts. 

As Always, GO CAPS!

East Coast vs West Coast Hockey fans

Three letters can sum up the difference between being a hockey fan on the East Coast versus being a hockey fan on the West Coast and those are D V R.  With the majority of the NHL teams based either in the Eastern Standard time zone or the Central Standard time zone, fans on the West Coast arrive home from their post-work daily commute usually either mid second period or during the second intermission.  As a Caps fan in San Diego, I am dependent on my DVR more times than not to be able to watch my beloved team.  This makes me relish the opportunity to see my team live in person when they make their annual west coast road trip on the schedule.  Unfortunately, for the rest of the schedule, I'm reliant upon my DVR and Caps Media sites to keep me up to speed.

For a fan being three hours behind, this also provides the opportunity to watch more hockey in a night or the ability to watch a game and then go play hockey.  There's multiple times a week when I can catch up on the Caps game and then be able to watch the Kings or Ducks game on at 730 PM PST or take off for a game of pickup at the local ice rink.  I find this as a "win-win" situation.  For my wife, she cherishes the nights I either go to play hockey or the Caps aren't on tv so we can watch normal shows.  We've also found that with the DVR, I can watch the game until one of her shows come on and pause the game until after it is over.  This makes my mild hockey addiction bearable on our relationship (or extreme hockey addiction as my wife and friends know).

To sum up, and to keep the posts relatively short and easy to read for those like me, being a hockey fan on the West Coast isn't too bad after all.  With many thanks to the TIVO and DVR gods, I don't miss a second of any game and I can fit it into my night without allowing it take over my entire evening.  More times than not, I find myself watching more hockey being on the West Coast and keeping up with more media sites covering the sport and the Caps.  Having said that, it is one of my motivations behind this blog, to add to the ever-expanding media coverage of our sport and our beloved Capitals.  I do not believe I would have dreamed of starting this blog if I wasn't on the West Coast.  Hopefully, if you like my material, you'll also be encouraged to broaden your horizons and perhaps contribute.  GO CAPS! 

Kings (5) - Caps (2) in pictures

Most pictures are from the pregame warmup to go along with Hendrick's exit in the first from his fight.  Unfortunately, I was one of the few Caps fans at the exit cheering him on for his victorious bout.  Since this is one of my first posts, I'll only post a few pictures and a few comments.  Once I get used to this format, the posts will come more frequently.  Posts will also vary from all things Caps to all things Caps' goalies and regular goalie topics.  Hope you enjoy my site.

First Post...test

First Post...test test...design updates etc to come