Washington Capitals

Capitals Green suspended three games

March 9, 2012

Caps defenseman Mike Green was suspended three games by the NHL for an illegal head shot on Tampa Bay forward Brett Connolly during Thursday's game.

Green, a seven-year veternan, has been both fined and suspended for illegal hits in the past.

Here is NHL player safety representative Brendan Shanahan's explanation:

Ovie'd: Caps catch Lightning late, win in OT 3-2

March 8, 2012

Mike Dusak

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With just under 4 minutes left in the third period the Washington Capitals found themselves amid a three-game losing streak, down 2-1 and staring another crucial loss in the face.

Then a persistent forecheck paid off tenfold.

A great shift by the Caps in the offensive zone resulted in a chance for Marcus Johansson on the doorstep, with the game on his stick.

Head up all the way, Johansson calmly slipped a wrist shot through the five-hole of Lightning rookie goalie Dustin Tokarski to even the score at 2-2.

Then in overtime it was the captain's turn. Alex Ovechkin took a pass from Dmitry Orlov and found the back of the net ...

Flyers Turn in Playoff Effort in Shutout Win over Caps

March 4, 2012

Mark Trible

1 Comment

Sunday, Kimmo Timonen’s consecutive game streak ended at 248 games. Fellow defenseman Andrej Meszaros was also ruled out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. James van Riemsdyk was on the shelf for 6-8 weeks with a foot injury.

The Flyers? Well, they made due without.

Philadelphia turned in a playoff-like performance in a 1-0 win over the Capitals in Washington.

How’d they do it? They blocked shots, much-maligned goalie Ilya Bryzgalov was flawless, and the call-up for van Riemsdyk, Eric Wellwood, scored the game’s only goal.

Flyers Must Make Every Minute Count

March 4, 2012

Kim Pollock

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It was the same old story for the Flyers (35-21-7) on Thursday night.

They allowed the opposing team to score first for the ninth straight game, and were forced to play from behind less than two minutes in.

Yet another poor start was enough to make Peter Laviolette call a timeout soon after that first goal was scored, and whatever it was that he said to his players, it worked.

Matt Read broke his 12-game goalless streak with a tally at just about ten minutes in, and the Flyers didn’t look back, going on to beat the Islanders 6-3 behind a jump-started offense.

Capital comeback; Caps win wild one 3-2 in OT over Isles

February 28, 2012

Mike Dusak

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Troy Brouwer scored two goals, including forcing overtime with 24 seconds to go in the third period to play hero for the Washington Capitals.

Then in overtime, it was captain Alex Ovechkin's turn to play the part.

Ovie played hero in D.C. as the Caps came back to beat the Isles 3-2 in OT.

Ovechkin flew down the left wing and released a seeing-eye wrist shot that stuck between the five-hole of Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov at the 1:35 mark of the OT period to give the desperate Caps a much-needed two-point night in D.C.

The play was vintage Ovechkin. He took a...

Neuvirth steps up in big way for Caps

February 28, 2012

Mike Dusak

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It's a bird...it's a plane...it's not Superman, but backup goalie Michal Neuvirth that is saving the Capitals season.

Since coming in of relief of starter Tomas Vokoun and stopping all 14 shots he faced in a 5-2 loss at Ottawa on Feb. 22, Michal Neuvirth has stopped 58 of 61 shots in back-to-back wins over the Canadiens and Maple Leafs.

This is important because Neuvirth bailed out Vokoun after he was pulled in two-straight games, and pulled the Caps out from rock-bottom following a 2-7-1 stretch for the club.

The club, which sits just one point from a playoff spot (with several games in-hand on teams ahead of them), needed someone to step up...

McPhee, Caps stand pat on Deadline Day

February 27, 2012

Mike Dusak

2 Comments

At the end of the day, George McPhee and the Washington Capitals decided not to enter the Trade Deadline fray, choosing instead to stand pat and keeps things status quo in D.C.

While that may be all well and good in previous years past, it doesn't make sense considering the Caps currently find themselves out of the playoff picture in the East.

Caps GM George McPhee didn't help out his team this time at the deadline.

If the goal was to keep things status quo, then the Caps must be content with missing the playoffs in a season in which much greater was expected of them, Cup-wort...

Ovi-less Caps pounded 5-2 by Sens

February 23, 2012

Mike Dusak

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"It's officially time to panic for the Washington Capitals."

I wrote that after Monday's 5-0 embarrassment in Carolina. And after tonight's dreadful road performance in Ottawa, those words right truer and truer with each passing game for these Caps.

Ottawa, one of the teams the Capitals currently are chasing in the playoff race, jumped on the Caps early by scoring four unanswered goals through two periods to send the Caps to their seventh loss in 10 games.

John Carlson and Mathieu Perreault softened the blow for the struggling Caps with back-to-back third periods goals to produce a 5-2 result. The lone bright spot for the Caps was perhaps...

Rock bottom Capitals style

February 21, 2012

Mike Dusak

2 Comments

With Monday's 5-0 shellacking in Carolina on national television, it's officially time to panic for the Washington Capitals.

Sure they're only one point out of a playoff spot in the sub-par Eastern Conference, and just two points away from being the third-seed in the conference as the Southeast division leader, but this team doesn't feel like one that is that close.

It could be the defensive lapses, the turnovers, the inability to score, or the inability of the team to stay disciplined for any stretches of time.

It could be loss of Nicklas Backstrom, who has missed the better part of the last month-and-a-half thanks to a gutless cheap sh...

Sharks bite Caps 5-3, paging Green and Backstrom

February 13, 2012

Mike Dusak

1 Comment

Yes, the Washington Capitals lost a hockey game tonight. And yes, they did lose a hockey game 5-3, to a good team who is clearly far superior in the San Jose Sharks. And yes, they were playing the second of back-to-back games after playing in New York on Sunday, but so were the Sharks.

The Caps fell behind 3-0 and then 5-1 before late goals from defenseman Roman Hamrlik and the oft-scratched Jeff Shultz gave the Caps hope at a miracle at 5-3 with six minutes remaining.

Washington peppered Sharks goalie Thomas Greiss with 42 shots, but the German keeper stopped 39 shots to outduel Brayden Holtby in net for the Caps, who gave up the games first goal on a red line blast...