Caps’ Tough Guys Win Big Game
By Rodger M. Wood
After Coach Boudreau’s tough guys, Matt Hendricks, and Matt Bradley disrupted the goaltender and beat down the opposition’s bullies, the Caps played physical two–way hockey, which beat Southeast Division leading Tampa Bay last night 5-2.Once they found out the coach’s strategy of defensemen passing the puck to each other in their own zone worked to force Lightning forwards to make the first move, they broke down the Tampa neutral zone trap, which had been so successful the previous two Tampa games in which they had been shutout.Eight minutes into the game, Matt Hendricks took the final step necessary to make the strategy a sure winner when he crashed the nets, and collided with Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson, who responded by throwing four punches to Hendrick’s head and losing his focus the rest of the game.On the ensuing four on four penalty play, Mike Green set up Nicklas Backstrom for the tying 1-1 goal, and ended Roloson’s two game magical shutout spell over the Caps.Upset by his contact with Roloson, Lightning forward Steve Downie took on Matt Hendricks, in their one fight a game series which they’ve conducted the past three games.While Downie and Hendricks were off serving 5-minute penalties, Matt Bradley took on Lightning forward Adam Hall, who had punished Caps defenseman Mike Green moments before with a hard check behind the Caps nets.The fights energized the Caps offense, which seemed to have been intimidated the past two games by those “tough” guys and Tampa Bay defenseman, Mattias Ohlund.The Caps first line of Alex Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Jason Chimera started skating and checking harder, found more open space, and stood in front of the net disrupting the Tampa goalie the remainder of the game.But it was Brooks Laich, assisted by line mates Mathieu Perreault and the ever hard working Jay Beagle, who broke the tie with his 10th goal at the 6:38 mark of the second period.On a power play two minutes later, Alex O’s hard work paid off with his 20th goal, assisted by Backstrom and John Carlson to make it a 3-1 game.With less than a minute remaining in the second period, Lightning forward Brett Clarke made it a 3-2 game with a power play goal, the first the Caps penalty kill unit had allowed in 27 tries.Midway through the third period, Caps forward Backstrom put the game out of reach 4-2 with his second goal of the night, and at the game’s end, giving up a sure goal for himself, Ovie unselfishly assisted on Jason Chimera’s empty netter making the final score 5-2.Caps goalie Varlamov was spectacular in the nets again, stopping 23 of 25 shots.The win, moved the Caps within three points of Tampa Bay in the Southeast Division first place battle.The Caps meet Pittsburgh at home In their own Super Bowl Sunday at 12:30 PM.
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Nicklas Backstrom Powers By The Sabres
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Caps Still Sign Autographs
By Rodger M. WoodCollectors Corner will focus on Washington Capitals autographs, photos, sports cards, game used sticks, jerseys, and other Capitals hockey memorabilia from the present back to the Capitals’ inception in 1974.There will also be an occasional article about my Detroit childhood collecting of Red Wings and other NHL teams’ memorabilia in the 1950s.
In olden days the Washington Capitals players were very generous to their fans. They always had enough time to sign cards, photos, team pictures, everything you’d ask them to sign at the Tyson Corner practice facility, before or after the game outside the waiting room at the old Capital Centre, at the hotels they stayed at on the road, or requests by mail. They never said “no” to my three children or their young friends.The Capitals were truly our hockey team both on and off the ice, and we loved them despite their lowly win-loss record for the first ten seasons.Last week at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex, I thought I’d test our present day Capitals to see if their attitude toward the fans had changed with the great success they’re realizing this season. I was worried in these days of “high cost autographs,” our present day Caps might have changed their attitude about signing an autograph for their fans.
I was hoping Brooks Laich would sign an 11x14 canvas photograph and other Capitals would sign some 4x6 photos I had taken for my young grandson’s “TJ” sixth birthday presents.After practice, Capitals players, Brooks Laich, Quintin Lang, Nicklas Backstrom, Jeff Schultz, and Brian Pothier came over to sign autographs graciously for all who wanted them. They turned out to be just like the good old Caps after all.I was pleasantly surprised - and they made TJ a very happy little boy when I gave him his birthday presents this past Sunday. Thank you very much!
No Break for Backstom
By Thom
While most of the Caps are on an much needed Olympic break, Nicklas Backstrom is working his magic for his home as Team Sweden beats Belarus 4-2 today. Read all about it on the Capitals Insider here.Above, Nicklas warms up before the Caps take on the Ducks on January 27th.Capitalpowerplay.com images by capitalpowerplay.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.