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:

Post-Game: Capitals @ Wild

The Capitals give up four goals for the fifth straight game and take a loss in the final game of their road trip, 4-3. Washington attempted to make it interesting by scoring three goals in the final six minutes, but it was too little, too late.

Cal Clutterbuck (of all people) scored his first and second goals of his career in the first two periods and gave the Wild a 2-0 lead heading into the third. Goalie, Niklas Backstrom is something like 42-0-3 when leading after two periods.

Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom kept their point streaks alive (eight and nine games, respectivley), but their goals late in the third served to pad their stats...Minnesota outplayed Washington, and without Jose Theodore's superb game in net, this game could have gotten out-of-hand early.

The real story of this game was the Capitals' injuries. With Alex Semin, Mike Green, and Sergei Fedorov already sitting out, they could not afford any more bumps and bruises. Unfortunately, the opposite happened... Jeff Schultz and Boyd Gordon skated just three minutes each and did not return after the first period. In addition, John Erskine left later in the game with a back injury. This forced Brooks Laich to play on the blue line and forced Tom Poti to play almost 30 minutes. Shultz is listed as week-to-week while the others are still day-to-day.

Here's what I also saw during the game:

• Ovechkin took a slap shot to the ankle in the first minute of the second period and limped over to the bench. He was able to return, but that is our franchise player throwing his body around on the penalty kill. I love the fact he can get scoring opportunities while the Caps are a man down, but if the Capitals aren't careful about using OV, one of these shots will send him straight to the IR.
• It looked as though Tom Poti caught former-Cap, Andrew Brunette across the face with his stick, but the refs missed this one... What they didn't miss was three "closing hand on puck" penalties. One was whistled on the Wild (Marek Zidlicky), and two on the Caps (Poti and Ovechkin). Zidlicky scored on the 5-3 while the before-mentioned Capitals were in the box.

The Capitals will return to Verizon Center to host the Atlanta Thrashers the day before the holiday, and the Montreal Canadians the day after the holiday. Expect a call-up by then (Lepisto? Alzner? I don't care, but we need both). Theodore had a good game, but has conceded 14 goals in his last three games (4.67 goals against per game). What Bruce might do is start Brent Johnson on Wedesday (the "easier" game) against Atlanta, and play Theo against his former team on Friday.

Pre-Game: Capitals @ Wild

Washington will finish up their four-game road trip tonight at the Xcel Energy Center against the Minnesota Wild (11-6-1).

• The last time these two met was the first game since the trade deadline. Brooks Laich, Eric Fehr, and Tomas Fleischmann combined for three goals and four assists in the Capitals 4-1 victory.
• Tonight's game will be shown on VERSUS (everyone's favorite hockey network) where the Capitals are 2-0 this year. This year the Caps will have seven more games on national television. Minnesota played on VERSUS a few nights ago against Pittsburgh and looked like a very strong hockey team. They beat the Pens 2-1 in the shootout...And for the Wild that is a textbook win. They are defensively-oriented and are first in the NHL in goals against per game.
  
• Minnesota has dropped their last two games and has averaged under two goals-per-game in the past eight games. The Wild rank close to last in goals for, but Niklas Backstrom (Finland) has been a stonewall in net. Backstrom (11-5-1/2.00/.933) is currently fifth in the All-Star balloting.
• The Wild's penalty kill is ranked first (91%) and they have only conceded three power play goals at home. Minnesota is also 4-0 when leading after the 1st period... but they struggle at playing catch-up and are 0-4 when trailing after the 2nd period.
  
• Washington will once again be without the services of Alex Semin, Mike Green, and Sergei Fedorov. This year the Capitals are 0-2 with Green out of the lineup and 1-2-1 with Semin sitting out.
• The last time Minnesota beat Washington was February of 2002, but the last time the Capitals won at Minnesota was in 1993, so something's got to give...
  

NHL Image of the Night- November 20th

Minnesota's Brent Burns falls on top of Ryan Kessler of the Vancouver Canucks during the Canucks 3-2 victory. Photo courtesy of Getty Images

NHL Image of the Night- November 18th

Jacques Lemaire gives orders to his players before the start of the overtime period. The Minnesota Wild went on to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in the shootout. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

Fight of the Week