On a night when the Washington Capitals retired the jersey of NHL Hall of Famer Mike Gartner, they put forth a somewhat forgettable performance on the ice. In the aftermath we can ask if they decided to have the retirement against one of Gartner’s old teams, or was it more like a college football powerhouse scheduling the 1-AA team for homecoming, a guaranteed win. If the Caps were playing a higher quality team, or a Toronto team not currently reeling, I don’t think the team walks away with a victory.
One question about the pregame ceremony — If you invite all these ex-Capitals to the arena for the ceremony, why do you limit the players on the ice for the ceremony to the two players in attendance with retired jerseys and the player giving Gartner’s introduction? If this night is about honoring a player from the past, it would have been nice to see those players from the past that were his teammates and were part of the Capitals history. Because as cool as it was to see Gartner, Langway, Labre and Jarvis, it would have been even cooler if Gould, Stevens, Murphy etc. were given an introduction as well. Although, who knows what kind of reception Murphy would have received?
capitals.nhl.com
[Ed. note: Was it too much to ask to have each individual letter of the vintage wordmark sewn on these throwback jerseys, rather than a single patch reminiscent of the cheap replicas offered in those days?]
On to the game. The story of the game is Toronto goalie Vesa Toskala and Toronto’s defense. It is as if he was two different goalies during the game. Early on he is a brick wall and keeps the Caps off the boards. But the three goals he let in were not world beaters, although help from his defense might have been appreciated. Hey Toronto defense, letting Brooks Laich score from right in front of the net twice without him having to pay the physical price is inexcusable. Put a body on him and maybe he doesn’t score.
Alex’s first goal…well this certainly wasn’t the first and won’t be the last time Ovechkin beats a goalie with a shot from the wing. But that shift was a reminder of who and what Ovechkin can do. That whole shift he seemed to be possessed and determined to score. From hitting the post, causing havoc behind the Leafs net with two checks, to finally getting the goal with 10 seconds left. That is the third time he has done that in recent memory (just off the top of my head), I mean scoring so late in a period/overtime. He did it with one second left to tie the Devils in New Jersey, won the game in OT against the Isles with 11 seconds left and potted another one tonight with only 10 seconds left in the second.
Those goals are back breakers and Alex seems to be turning it up a notch in those circumstances, looking to create even more than he usually does. As for the empty netter, you could just see Alex wanting to get that pass across the ice to Brooks for the hat trick, but it just never opened up.
capitals.nhl.com
The Caps defense put up another good effort. Theodore got some help in the third from the post while it was still 2-1, but all-in-all Jose and the defense seem to be stiffening up a bit. Though they still have work to do in that area. The Caps’ defense has not allowed a 10 shot period since the middle stanza of the Rangers game. Just like against Buffalo, they only allowed Toronto 24 shots on goal, and didn’t seem to leave Theodore hung out to dry as often as they were early in the season. Maybe that is the key to Theodore’s improving numbers over the past 2 1/2 games, fewer shots faced and fewer quality chances faced (taken from the Craig Laughlin book of pointing out the obvious).
Lastly, with Alex’s two goal night (187) he is now within 1 goal of Bobby Carpenter (188) for 6th on the all-time Caps goal scoring list. He will most certainly pass Dave Christian (193) and Bengt Gustafsson (196) before the season January is over and should be close to catching Mike Ridley (218) for third all-time in goal scoring by the end of the year. Leaving only Mike Gartner (397) and Peter Bondra (472) for him to catch.
On to Buffalo, home of Dominik Hasek’s blocker pad, Daniel Briere’s stick to the groin and Matthew Barnaby’s capped tooth smile.
-The Yellow Laces
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December 29, 2008 at 8:59 am
Wittcap79
BTW, Ol’ Larry COULDN’T WAIT to get outta there; he was taking off his Caps polo and moving toward the exit while the guys were still waving to the cameras. I was right in front of them (you can see me on the broadcast, “Hi Mom!”) he turned around to Scottie and said, “let’s get outta here”, f’n douche.