Post-Game: Capitals vs Kings

Some games you lose, and that's that...Other games you lose and you have that sour taste in your mouth. Tonight's game was more of the latter.

• 15 seconds in, I thought the game was over. Great hustle by Brooks Laich and a great finish by Alexander Semin for his 20th. I'm sure the Caps thought they were going to run away with this one also, but the Western Conference has been their kryptonite: The Caps are 7-9 in non-conference games.
• I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but the power play needs to play defense also. Giving up shorthanded goals and breakaways are momentum killers and good teams don't allow chances when the other team is a man down.
  
• How many times has a hot goalie on a mediocre team (See: Steve Mason) come into our house and stifle our sharpshooters? Jonathan Quick stopped 41 shots, and listeners had to deal with lame puns every time Quick moved side to side.
• Alex Ovechkin's nine shots were a game-high and Ovi was rewarded with his 200th goal in his 295th game.
• Jeff Shultz- Tisk, tisk. Yeah just keep backing up, let the King's best player have his space and time to pick his target. Great scouting.
• Eric Fehr did have five shots, but didn't look that good. No worries (see image below).

Pre-Game: Capitals vs Kings

Heading into the 53rd game last season, Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals had just defeated the Canadiens in overtime in one of the most exciting game of the season. Ovechkin had 18 points in his last nine games, heading into a home match against the Atlanta Thrashers. Even without Ilya Kovalchuk, the Thrashers still shutout the Caps 2-0 for Washington's only home shutout loss.

This year, the Capitals welcome the LA Kings, winners of four of their last five. Like the Thrashers of last year, the Kings are .500 at the time they will face the Capitals...and also have as many points as games played (just like the Thrashers did last season). Similarities aside, the Kings are a hot team that Washington should not take lightly at home (i.e. Edmonton, Columbus).

If the Caps want revenge for their 5-2 loss in the City of Angels, they will have to do it without Viktor Kozlov. Tarik is also reporting that Eric Fehr will skate on the first line with Fedorov and Ovechkin. Fehr likes to shoot and Ovi only had one shot last game (after recording at least four in every January game), so it will be interesting to see if how the group will click.

Sorry for the short post, I have a psychology paper due in a few hours, but please enjoy this "old" video of our opponents:

NHL Image of the Night- January 12th

Ryan Malone of the Tampa Bay Lightning sends Matt Greene of the Los Angeles Kings into his bench during the first period. Tampa Bay defeated Los Angeles to move out of the cellar in the Southeast Division. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

NHL Image of the Night- December 27th

Daniel Carcillo of the Phoenix Coyotes is owned tossed to ice by John Zeiler of the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings recorded their second shutout in three games and blanked Phoenix 4-0. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

NHL Image of the Night- December 15th

Teddy Purcell (R) and Kyle Quincey celebrate Purcell's 1st period goal against the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks won the game in the shootout 3-2 (2-1). Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

NHL Image of the Night- December 1st

Michal Handzus talks with Anze Kopitar during a break in action between the Los Angeles Kings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto won the game, 3-1. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

NHL Image of the Night- November 22nd

Los Angeles Kings' forward, Alexander Frolov celebrates his goal in the second period to cut the Avalanche lead to 2-1. The Kings came back, but fell 4-3, losing in the shootout. LA showed off their new jersey last night and Getty Images was able to capture the photo.

Post-Game: Capitals @ Kings

Man this west coast trip is killing me, staying up this late night after night...just to watch the Capitals lose 5-2 (it was really 3-2) at the Staples Center.

I missed the first period (Thanksgiving dinner, college style), but I saw the last two periods.

• The Caps played decent, killing off a 5-3 and scoring on the power play for the fifth straight game.
• Nick Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin kept their point scoring streaks alive at seven and six games, respectively.
• I am going to miss Michael Nylander...I just feel as though I will wake up tomorrow and see him in a Blackhawks jersey. Either way, if he does not stick around, more cap room for the future of the Caps (Alzner, Bourque, etc..)
• Whoa, Washington doubled their shots in each period...three in the first, six in the second...and yeup, you guessed it: 12 in the third! Grand total of 21 shots on net, their lowest total of the season.
• Looked as though Tom Poti attempted to dump the puck through a Kings' 'D' man, who settled the puck and set-up Dustin Brown for a goal as Poti was trailing the play.

I get to go back home tomorrow for Thanksgiving break! I'm pretty excited, I havn't been to a Capitals game since opening night, but I'll try to get out and watch either the Atlanta Thrashers or Montreal Canadians next week. I also plan on purchasing Capitals Road Crew tickets for a game against the Carolina Hurricanes later this year.

Here at "Simply Sensational!", we would like to be known for esoteric, yet relevant stats, so check back on Friday and Saturday for interesting statistics about San Jose, Minnesota, and whatever else is related to Washington Capitals news and notes.

Anze Kopitar: The Pride of Slovenia

Tonight the Washington Capitals will face the Los Angeles Kings for just the second time since 2005.

In that year's draft class, The Kings selected Anze Kopitar with the 11th overall pick. In his career, Kopitar has 151 points in 171 games, which ranks third behind Paul Stastny (164 points) and Sidney Crosby (316 points) for players in that draft year.

Kopitar recently signed a 7-year contract extension worth over 47 million dollars, and will be in a Kings jersey until 2016.

Kopitar is a fan favorite and the FIRST player from Slovenia to play in the NHL.

He has one goal in one game in his career against Washington.

Pre-Game: Capitals @ Kings

Washington (11-4-3) will carry a seven game point streak (6-0-1) into the Staples Center, a venue that the Caps have only played at once since the lockout. The last meeting there was a 3-2 Washington victory in 2005 when Jamie Heward (of all people) had a two goal game.

Los Angeles (7-8-2) has been a streaky team thus far...They won four in a row recently, but are currently on a two game skid. Goal scoring has been a big problem for the Kings: They rank near the last in the league in goals-per-game, 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio, and total goals scored. The Kings leading goal scorer is Dustin Brown with six goals... Meanwhile the Capitals have four players with more than Brown's total.

Erik Ersberg should get the nod tonight and has been pretty successful this season. Ersberg has only allowed more than two goals once this season, and has put up a 1.95 GAA. Although his record is just 4-3-1, that can be attributed to the Kings averaging 2.14 goals when in games that Ersberg starts.

Yesterday, Washington's power play scored multiple times for the first time in over a month, but success with the extra man will be a little more difficult tonight. First off, the Kings rank third in the NHL in penalty killing at home... And the Capitals could be without Mike Green and Alex Semin.

On the Capitals end, fans should be ecstatic with the way Tomas Fleischmann is playing. He scored his seventh goal last night and is just one tally behind Alex Ovechkin. At this rate, Flash will finish with his first 30-goal season. (Last year Tomas had 30 points)...And oh by the way, the only three teams that Ovechkin hasn't scored a goal against are the Capitals next three opponents.

Hopefully the defense can step it up this game as parts of last night's game were hard to watch. One of the goals was scored as Green was skating back from an offensive rush. I understand that's what he's paid for, but his teammates need to recognize this, and cover his spot when he goes on the attack. I also noticed on the second goal, Jeff Shultz attempted to punch the puck out of the defensive zone, and he hit it right to the stick of Bobby Ryan, who fed Ryan Getzlaf who had all day to do what he does best.

The banged-up Capitals' 'D' needs to shut down the LAPD line (Anze, Patrick, and Dustin) and continue to provide offensive power (4.33 GF in last six games) if they want to take down a Kings team that is peppered with young talent.

Washington Capitals Preview

Los Angeles Kings Preview

NHL Image of the Night- November 1st

The Calgary Flames celebrate their sixth straight victory beating the Los Angeles Kings by the score of 3-2. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.