The Dry Cut: Boston 1, Capitals 3

Your post-game analysis that barely scrapes the surface:

The Washington Capitals went bear-hunting last night, and while they collectively lost some jump in the second period and into the third, and the Bruins plainly showed just how they’ve been terrorizing the league this season, a final burst of effort in the waning minutes felled the mighty beast.  It was damn near a holiday miracle last night.

But before all of that — plant the result of this match firmly into the category of games stolen by Brent Johnson.  We still hope that José Théodore eventually establishes himself thusly, but #1 between the pipes last night looked like a guy that could steal a Stanley Cup Finals game for his team.

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Let’s re-cap his performance last night:  precious few rebounds and, if so, redirected toward the wall, rather than out in front; a two-on-one sprawling glove save on Chuck Kobasew in the first; another jaw-dropping denial on a shorthanded P.J. Axelsson breakaway later in the period; another dynamite stop in the second, with the outstretched stick, on Blake Wheeler; and 33 of 34 shots stopped overall.

Praise the Lord for having a goalie in a contract year.  And an upcoming contract about as important to Johnson as was a long term bonanza to Cristobal Huet, we should point out.  Carry on, Johnny.

J.P. asks today if Johnny can now be “the guy,” but the way the season is rolling along, it doesn’t seem necessary to make any decision on that front until we get closer to playoff time.  This 2008-09 season in the NHL is tending to be the year of the backup though, isn’t it?  Joey MacDonald on the Island; Alex Auld in Ottawa; Scott Clemmensen in NJ; Pekka Rinne in Nashville; Craig Anderson in Florida.

Now onto the rest of your red-clad heroes:

If you were like me, watching Alex Ovechkin go offside on that early three-on-one golden opportunity with Nick Backstrom and Alex Semin felt like an ominous sign.  But the efficiency with which the PP unit, thankfully including again the likes of Tom Poti and Semin, struck first quieted those voices.

And brought the crowd’s voices even louder.  I watched, really by accident, the NESN feed of the game last night, and the broadcast team made repeated mention of the noise of the crowd throughout the first period.  From my living room coach I heard a definite buzz in the arena, fitting a bear hunt.

Damn, did I miss watching Semin.  That play in the first where he basically hopped over the defender and collected the puck on the other end?  Injury rehab-wise, he sure looked 100% last night.  And Alexander Giroux’s goal would not have happened without the versatility and awareness of Poti.  Let’s hope these two are both back for good.

Know who really impressed me on the blue line?  Sean Collins.  The palindrome pairing of #26 Shaone Morrisonn and #62 Collins proved quite effective.  Collins’ passes to his pair mate, for the most part, went tape-to-tape.

Unlike another recent callup we’ve seen, Collins was wonderfully poised behind the net, even under pressure of two forwards, using the boards effectively to chip the puck along the wall, relieving pressure from around Johnson quickly, clearing guys out of the crease without taking a penalty.  He used his 6′1″, 212 frame to shove forwards off of the puck elsewhere in the D zone as well.

He fared well one-on-one a few times too, including a diving poke check to save a point-blank shot on Johnson.  Collins skated the least of all D-men, but still a healthy 16:48.

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Seeing a guy like Collins perform like that, against a relentless offense which ranks third in the league in goals, and with the best five-on-five GF/A ratio, speaks volumes for Jay Leach’s coaching abilities.  Keeping the system both easy-to-execute and effective.  The coaching staff is making the absolute best of what they have on defense.

Tyler Sloan, though, looked stiff, still likely suffering the effects of his heel injury.  I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he rushed himself back, given that this is his first, and maybe only, big shot in the show.

At forward, Viktor Kozlov again was a force in keeping the puck deep, especially in the first.  Intercepting clearing attempts, cycling, muscling the biscuit towards the net.  Dude’s had a strong couple of games in a row, going back to the match at home last Thursday against the Islanders.

And while the team seemed almost overwhelmed by the Bruins in the second period and well into the third, Kozlov’s line turned in a real strong shift to halt the assault, authoring perhaps the only consistent offensive pressure for the Caps in the final period.

How about Oskar OH-sah-lah?  He looked like an NHL rookie, skating just over 11 minutes and registering one shot.  But he was part of a key shift early in the second that, along with linemates Brooks Laich and Matt Bradley, kept up the cycling game for a good minute.  And that momentum eventually led to the Giroux goal, the GWG.

I noted that the Caps won all four of the remaining four draws in the game, which effectively sealed the result, with the Caps clinging to the one goal lead.  Two of those wins took place in the defensive end, courtesy of Laich and David Steckel, respectively, and later via Boyd Gordon at center ice.  The game might have been dramatically different with the puck not on a Caps player’s stick for most of those final 3 minutes.

Couple of great one-on-one battles last night:

(1)  Ovechkin vs. Zdeno Chara.   Chara was on for just about 90% of Ovechkin’s ice time.  The two didn’t disappoint in the hitting department, though Chara still owns him coming down the wing.

(2) Karl Alzner vs. Phil Kessel.  Alzner was on for about 60% of Kessel’s time, and Kessel was limited to 1 shot and had four attempts blocked.

(3) Poti vs. Marc Savard.  Though the two were only on the ice together for about 3 minutes, they sure took advantage of those few minutes to exchange plenty of holiday pleasantries.

Finally, great flow to this game, and very entertaining to watch.  Remember when the “new” NHL debuted and players were getting called for obstruction fouls left and right?  This was the sort of game to which I think the league aspired in those early days:  fast paced; plenty of scoring opportunities, and few minor penalties (five in total).  Aside from a curious penalty shot call, Kerry Fraser and Gord Dwyer called a nice game.

Mike Babcock, coach of the defending Cup champion Red Wings, gave an interview yesterday on the Fan590 in Toronto wherein he assessed his team so far this season and revealed that the coaching staff aims to focus on a single theme each week, an element of the game on which the club can improve.  On what theme would you like to see the Caps focus in the coming week?

PS:  Our native Maryland heart was warmed and amused by seeing this on the score sheet of the NYR @ ATL game last night:  J. Crabb, assisted by N. Oystrick.