Capitals-Canadiens Winners & Losers

Winners:

Eric Fehr. This is the year guys. This is it. It's been six (going on seven) years since we drafted him, but this is what we've been waiting for. Six goals in the past 12 games. We just have to thank god Gabby didn't put him in on the shootout. That could have been bad (well, not as bad as his last attempt).

Semyon Varlamov. 14-1-3 in the NHL. Nuff said. Good luck getting your job back Theo.

Alex Ovechkin. Injury? What injury? Ovi dangled (thanks for saying that 4256459 times Locker) all night long and finished with a goal and an assist. Although I've come to assume that he'll score on every time he gets a breakaway so props to CP for shutting down Alex twice. He also added on six zero hits.

Nicklas Backstrom. Did have one giveaway (one more than he's usually good for)...Made up for it by winning the game. 47% from the dot isn't terrible. Let's see more shots on net, though.

Brian Pothier. He has become a (very) poor man's Mike Green. Gotta love the fact that he's willing to drive the net and pay the price late in the game. Why was he ever a healthy scratch?

Alexandre Giroux. Just kidding!

Medium:

Mathieu Perreault. Keeps creating = keeps playing with the Caps.

Karl Alzner. Picks up his first assist of his career in 20+ minutes. More King Karl plz.

Jay Beagle. Almost knocked in Ovechkin's rebound. Shoulda, woulda, coulda Jay. Next time.

Losers:

The Rooster. Boo! Hiss! Dude, seriously go away. Who died and promoted him to the first line? Okay maybe that last one was a little harsh, but I digress. Giroux did not have a good game. Two stupid #$%@ing penalties. The first interference call was kinda bogus, but as he was leaving the box (for a second time) in the third, Travis Moen was celebrating Montreal's third goal. He is indeed a 'tweener' (no, not this). Good in the AHL, not so much in the NHL ('Inbetween' the AHL/NHL...get it?). Words spoken by Locker. Yes Craig, I make up words too.

10 Stats - Buffalo Sabres at Washington Capitals

All four of Nicklas Backstrom's goals have come at home.

Mike Green was penalized seven times in Washington's first eight games. In the 15 games since then, he's been sent to the sin bin just once.

Brendan Morrison has scored more goals (seven) against Buffalo than against any other Eastern Conference team.

On Saturday against Toronto (23rd game of the season), Brooks Laich registered his sixth five-shot game. Last year, Laich's sixth game with five or more shots came on February 3rd (52nd game).

Jose Theodore is 8-3-1 against the Northwest Division as a member of the Capitals.

Buffalo is 5-1 in when Thomas Vanek scores a goal.

Jason Pominville has two goals and three assists in the past four games played between these teams at the Verizon Center.

The Sabres are 7-2 this year when Tim Connolly gets three or more shots on net.

Henrik Tallinder has four goals in the last 193 games (including the 2007 Playoffs).

Ryan Miller is 5-1 in his career playing in the nation's capital.

10 Facts - Montreal Canadiens at Washington Capitals

Tomas Plekanec has 10 points (4+6) in his last 10 games against the Caps.

Glen Metropolit has more Power Play goals in 15 games this year with Montreal than he did in 101 games with Washington in 1999-2002 (then again from 2002-2003).

Max Pacioretty was three years old when Roman Hamirlik played his first NHL game. If you were curious, Pacioretty celebrates his birthday on the 20th day of the 11th month.

Washington has four players with 20+ points. The Canadiens have zero.

Carey Price is 0-3-1 in his last four games on Fridays.

The Caps are 4-0-1 at home this season when Alex Ovechkin has a multi-point game.

In his last 14 games against Northeast Divisional teams, Eric Fehr has just one goal and one assist.

Through 21 games, Brooks Laich is on pace for 35 goals and 78 points. Up last year from 23 and 53, respectively.

Washington is 2-7-1 in their last 10 home games that Mike Green has not registered a point in.

Semyon Varlamov has a career record of 6-0-1 with a 2.22 GAA on home ice.

Capitals-Wild Winners & Losers

Winners:

Mathieu Perreault. Sure it was Pothier who got the game-winner, but Perry has been money since he got here. Mathieu has an impressive four points in five games. It should be noted that he's out there for nine minutes, not 19 like the top six forwards.

Semyon Varlamov. Yes, he should have stopped Cal Clutterbuck's 'flutter-dipper' (as the Minny announcers call it), but since that's the only mistake, we'll take it. Me thinks he's earned another start, but seeing how the Caps travel tomorrow to play in New Jersey, the smart move is to throw Theo back in net.

Shots. Two straight games with 40+ shots. The Caps won't lose many games doing this.

Special Teams. The Penalty-killers did not allow a goal in three chances and the Caps converted once in three chances on the extra man. A beauty of a pass from Flash to Green. It's nice to know things don't fall apart with Ovi out of commission.

David Steckel. 15/18 in the face-off circle including a perfect 11/11 in the neutral zone.

Medium:

Nicklas Backstrom. Questionable call but a stupid penalty none-the-less. Backstrom knows better.

Mike Knuble. Got injured...doing what he does best. So I guess that's okay. Get better soon now.

Eric Fehr and Tomas Fleischmann. Combined, they had two assists. Combined, they also had as many shots on net as Steckel. With Ovechkin out, it's okay to shoot it once in a while.

Losers:

The Caps. Here me out... None of them have mustaches! If Green rocks the hawk, someone, anyone needs to rock the 'stache. It's a great cause and you'll look like a porn star as manly as Kyle Brodziak:

Capitals-Islanders Winners & Losers

Winners:

Alexander Semin. Despite most fans doing this (above) after the Islanders' third goal, your two three goals made up for it. Semin "could have easily scored five goals", but two and a shootout goal will have to suffice. His 11 shots were the most since...ever.

Semyon Varlamov. Tonight we saw the same Semyon Varlamov that we saw in the playoffs last season. Varly was bombarded in the final period and stood up to the challenge. A brick wall couldn't have stopped that Trent Hunter goal. Talk about earning a start.

Tomas Fleischmann. His sixth goal in seven games puts him on pace for over 60 goals this year. Realistically? Let's go for 30. Still somehow -2. Huh.

Mike Green. Two assists in 25:26. He's probably still banged up, but that shouldn't be his excuse for not passing it once in a while when he does these full-ice rushes into the offensive zone.

Nicklas Backstrom. When you have a share of the league-lead in assists, even when you lose the puck, it turns into an assist.

Medium:

Eric Fehr. Ugly shootout attempt, ugly goal. Whatevs. Take em as they come.

Special Teams. 2/3 with the extra man. Ovechkin who? (Kidding, please come back soon). Allowing a power play goal late in the third is never fun. Especially when it forces Overtime.

Losers:

Jose Theodore. There's the Jose Theodore that we all love and remember. Maybe the three goals weren't his fault? Maybe you're in the dog house if you give up three goals in a six minute stretch?

Chris Cooley. Do I think Cooley is a loser? No (but the people on Twitter tonight do...you know who you are). Do I think that the Redskins are losers? Yes. So stay away from our (non-injured) hockey players. Or just keep the interviews to less than the time of a whole freakin period.

10 Facts - New York Islanders vs Washington Capitals

The Islanders are led by players drafted in the 9th round. Do they even have a 9th round anymore?

Richard Park's 6 goals against the Caps (21 GP) in his career is tied with Philadelphia (29 GP) and Calgary (28 GP) for the most against any team.

New York is 5-0 in the past five games that John Tavares has picked up a point.

Kyle Okposo has swine flue. Sucks.

Radek Martinek is out for the season. Sucks.

Andy Sutton has scored eight times (35 GP) against Washington, the most against any team. Florida (30 GP) and Buffalo (21 GP) are tied for second on that list with three goals against by Mr. Sutton.

Brendan Witt scored two goals in his final 108 games with the Capitals back in 2003-2004 and into 2005-2006...He already has two goals in 17 games this year for the Islanders...and they came in the same game.

Frans Nielson's six points (six GP) against Washington is more than any other team.

Nate Thompson has 11 PIM this year. If he doesn't have at least 16 by the end of tonight's game, part of Washington's game-plan was flawed.

In his last four starts, Dwayne Roloson is 4-0 with a GAA under 2.00 and a .939% save percentage.

Mike Green Interview

If you haven't already, you should head over to The Hockey Writers to check out my interview with Mike Green. VERSUS did a great job putting the Podcast together and I was able to ask all the questions I had prepared.

Green was the third person I interviewed since I started the blog last October, with the other two being Brian Engblom and Brett Flemming.

On some housekeeping notes, I'm trying my best to post after every game, if not more. The loss to New Jersey was so boring I actually fell asleep during the 2nd period and missed the finish. That was most likely a combination of New Jersey's style and the fact that I almost saw the sun rise while studying the night before for an Accounting exam.

Caps play the Panthers tonight... Washington has lost three straight while Florida has won three straight. Something's gotta give, right? Right?

Capitals-Blue Jackets Winners & Losers

Winners:

Brooks Laich. With Ovechkin out, Laich's two goals in 128 seconds put the Caps in the lead (for a measly three minutes and 13 seconds). On the first goal, Laich was where he should have been, and he was rewarded. His second goal was a gift. Whatevs. Take em as they come.

Quintin Laing. How's that for secondary scoring? The Q-Man's second NHL goal was sandwiched between two Raffi Torres goals in the third period. Laing also had at least one dandy of a blocked shot.

Rick Nash. So good. So underrated.

Medium:

Alexander Semin. Four shots in the first five minutes are nice. Too bad he totaled two in the 55 minutes after that. Okay he did have two assists, but stop doing those stupid toe drag/curl-and-drag moves (hey, at least Brian Pothier is taking notes, right?).

Mike Knuble. That 30-second span of fore-checking sparked a somewhat exhausted Verizon Center crowd. We could do without the two slashing infractions (one of which, Columbus scored a Power Play goal on).

Losers:

Tom Poti. Quintin Laing threw up a little when you tried to block Rick Nash's eventually assist to the GWG in OT. Actually Laing was too busy not rotating down toward the crease to help out... your fault too Quintin!

Jason Chimera. Ever just watch someone play and decide you hate everything about his game? Me neither too. Nate the Great puts it best here.

Guy wearing a Jaromir Jagr jersey behind the Capitals' bench. For a three-month period in 2001, wearing this jersey might have been respectable. Now it's just pathetic. No word on whether the person next to him was wearing a Sergei Berezin jersey.

Other comments:

• I don't understand what constitutes goalie interference, and I don't think I ever will.
• If you've ever played goalie at any level, when you lose your goalie stick, you feel naked. So take it easy on Theo while watching the replay of that "soft" goal that squeaked through the 5-hole.
• Antoine Vermette and David Steckel took 26 and 25 face-offs, respectively. That just seems like a lot.
• Finally, there is no ***king way Bruce ***king Boudreau is fatter than this mother ****king fat ***k. (Note: Sean Avery's words have been changed/altered, this was not sic'd)