Saturday Roundup/Gamenight: Devils @ Caps
Japers' Rink — [image] [ AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview (coming soon)] The Caps' Conference-leading offense will be put to the test tonight as Martin Brodeur (he of the 1.23 GAA and .944 save percentage) and the Devils visit the VC. Brodeur's mastery of the Caps, while by no means exclusive to the boys from D.C., of course, is substantial - the Quebecer is 32-12-0/2.11/.913 against them in his career, including 2-1-0/2.28/.923 in 2007-08 (and he's had Number Eight's number, too - Alex Ovechkin has just three goals in 12 games against Jersey). And guess what? In the early goings this season, the Devils are winning games but not scoring goals (shocking, I know). Somehow ...

Where's your crown King Wellwood?
Waiting For Stanley — It's no secret that I have been a Wellwood fan since he first played for the Leafs. It's great to see a story like this where he has been blasted for his lack of fitness, becomes unwanted through waivers, then becomes needed because of a Demitra injury, and then performs as well as he has. That's 3 points in 2 games. That would be the game-winning goal he scored last night. Was that a pretty goal or what? What patience he has with the puck. His talent is undenied. The Canucks have found themselves a power play specialist. Another thing that I like about Wellwood is that he'll chase the puck in the corner knowing he is going to get hit, but rather than turn the puck over, he ...

Tuesday Roundup/Gamenight: Preds @ Caps
Japers' Rink — So Mr. O is taking a few days off to be with his ailing grandparent far away - and I thought that was last week's news . While the Caps haven't won a single game without Alex Ovechkin in the lineup since March 30, 2004 (they lost the only game he has missed in his NHL career so far), one could easily view the current melancholy situation as one that presents somewhat muted silver linings for both the player and his team. For the Caps, the opportunities abound for every player on the team to step up where they might have thus far been over-relying on the League's best player, consciously or otherwise. It's an opportunity for Nicklas Backstrom to re-assert ...

Thursday Roundup/Gamenight: 'Canes @ Caps
Japers' Rink — [image] [ AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview ] Ah, the Southeast Division. If the Caps were in the Atlantic and facing the division leader tonight, a loss would drop them to eleven points out of first place. In the Pacific, a similar hypothetical would find them an even dozen points out of the top spot. In the Northeast, another loss would have the Caps sitting in the division's basement. But not in the Southeast, baby. With a loss tonight, the Caps would be a half-dozen points out of first place, and with a win? Second place, just one win out of first. For all the mediocrity we're seen out of the Caps so far this year - an MVP scoring champ who can't score, a ...

Monday Roundup/Gamenight: Bolts @ Capslightn
Japers' Rink — [image] [ AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview ] It's hard to recall a game in which the starting netminder match-up was of as much interest to Caps fans as tonight's tilt between the Bolts and the host Capitals. For the locals, the question of who the number one goalie is hasn't been as unclear as it is currently since, well, the guy who will likely be between the pipes at the other end of the ice tonight lost his last job, and it makes for a somewhat difficult decision for head coach Bruce Boudreau - if he starts Brent Johnson , it will be four straight starts for B.J. with a likely tougher opponent (Carolina on the road) looming on Wednesday night before a ...

Friday Roundup/Gamenight: Devils @ Caps
Japers' Rink — [image] [ AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview ] Uh oh. Here come the Devils and... Scott Clemmensen ? Perhaps Lou Lamoriello went to Brent Sutter and said, "Give this start to Clemmensen. I want reliable people, people who aren't going to be carried away. After all we're not murderers in spite of what this undertaker thinks." Or not. If you're not familiar with Clemmensen, here's a look at the 31-year-old's career stats (he has actually played in three games against the Caps, starting two, and going 1-1-0/2.61/.893). If you're not familiar with why Kevin Weekes isn't starting, here's a look at his stats on the season (plus, the two ...

Wednesday Roundup/Gamenight: Caps @ Ducks
Japers' Rink — [image] [ AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview ] The last time the Caps were in Anaheim, Alex Ovechkin potted his first career hat trick in a 3-2 Caps overtime win over J.S. Giguere and the Ducks, and that OTL still stands as one of only two blemishes on Jiggy's unbelievable 3-1-1/1.39/.951 resume against Washington. In fact, take away that night's "shelling" and Jiggy is an even more ridiculous 3-1-0/1.00/.966 against the Caps... of course, take away AO and a lot of goalies' numbers look much better. Besides being the site of one of the Great Eight's many coming out parties, Anaheim was also home to Sergei Fedorov for just over a season - 85 ...

Canucks' D a bit banged up and sick heading into Pittsburgh
Waiting For Stanley — ... Demitra looks cozy with the Sedins, Wellwood continues his creativity with Bernier and Pylon/Raymond, and of course there is the always-threatening Burrows-Kesler-Hansen line. Luongo is in a zone. The defence is pretty steady. But the team defence is going to have to be there against the Pens. I hate watching the Penguins steal the puck and race up the ice the other way. Deadly offensive weapons. We can't match up to the Pens in a wide open tilt IMO. -Surprisingly, the Canucks and Penguins have the same goals-per-game average of 3.10. -The Canucks have the ...

Canucks-Flames preview
Waiting For Stanley — I like the attitude of Ryan Johnson. When asked if he will change his game when he comes back 3-5 weeks from now, as he has a broken finger and foot, he said "No." Johnson is a gutsy, character guy. He will be hard to replace. Alexandre Bolduc will try to fill Johnson's role the best he can. “Here, I’m not going to try to do anything crazy, I’m going to play my game, play it safe,” said Bolduc. “Not get noticed in a bad way, keep it simple and go from there. “I think there are lot of guys they could have called up from our team, we’re on a roll right now. Ryan Johnson is a defensive guy and they wanted someone who could fill that role, so I’m just ...

Tuesday Roundup - Gamenight: Cats @ Caps
Japers' Rink — ... - WashingtonCaps.com Preview] When the Caps last welcomed the Florida Panthers to the VC, the hosts had a simple goal in mind. The stakes aren't quite as high this time around, of course, but the points in December count the same as the points in April (and are often easier to come by), and there are two out there for the taking tonight. Sure, Craig "The Ogler" Anderson is on fire of late, but the Panthers - who couldn't score to begin with (thanks, in part, to a putrid power play) - are without two ...

Saturday Roundup - Gamenight: Caps @ Leafs
Japers' Rink — ... All-time, Crazy Ron is 7-2-1 against the team he took to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first year behind the bench for them. What does he have in store for the Caps this time around? If yesterday's practice is any indication (h/t TRS on the link), it may very well be sixty minutes of hell. The Leafs come into the game with a crappy record due largely to the fact that they're giving up a ton of goals (funny how things tend to work out that way). They can score, though, and they shoot the puck a ton, which is more than a little bit ...

Can the Canucks finally beat the Avalanche?
Waiting For Stanley —

Tuesday Roundup
Japers' Rink — ... One of the reasons many believed at the outset of the season that Theodore had a good chance to succeed in D.C. is that the team in front of him would score a ton of goals, thereby providing a bit more room for error than he might have had in the past. Sure enough, the Caps are one of the highest scoring teams in the League, and Jose has been a recipient of that outpouring of offense, receiving 3.31 goals of support per start; Johnson has gotten just 2.92 goals per game of offense in his starts. It ...

Wednesday Roundup - Gamenight: Bruins @ Caps
Japers' Rink — ... Brashear's triple-minor meltdown, a goalie duel that the good guys won in a shootout, and what was likely the last game of Brian Pothier's career (speaking of which, make sure to read Corey's piece today). One only can guess what tonight has in story when the best team in the Eastern Conference comes to the VC. The B's have won five straight and 14 of their last 16, have the League's best goalie by the numbers, and are scoring the most goals per game in the East while allowing the fewest in the entire League. They've been ...

Friday Roundup - Gamenight: Sens @ Caps
Japers' Rink — ... . The Sens still have their "big three," but unfortunately for them, that's pretty much all they've got, and, as a result, they're near the very bottom of the League in scoring (and wouldn't you know it - the offense craps out right when ...

Tuesday Roundup - Gamenight: Caps @ Isles
Japers' Rink — ... tonight, last met just 11 days ago in the nation's capital.  And while the game was close for forty minutes, the hosts blew it open in the third period and skated away with a 5-2 victory. Since then, the Caps are 4-1 and have outscored their opponents 13-7. The Isles? Not so much - five straight losses, having been outscored 25-9 along the way (yes, you read that correctly). The 'Ders now have given up more goals than any team in the League, are in the bottom five in goals per game (and still haven't scored more than four goals in a ...

Mats Sundin Needs To Go Away
Yankee Canuck — Welcome from underneath your rock; allow me to bring you up to speed on the latest Mats friggin Sundin news: no decision yet but he’s whittled it down from 30 to 10 to five to, apparently, two teams . It’s fitting that both the Rangers and Canucks are still in this race because if anyone knows what it’s liked getting burned by an aging bald center with an ego complex, well, it’s them. And the absolute latest is that he is rumored to have picked the Rangers ( h/t Kukla ). We can only hope. James Duthie has a wonderful take on the last six months during which I’ve done my best to ignore this entire ordeal; first when it started then the fun August and ...

Saturday Roundup - Gameday: Caps @ Flyers
Japers' Rink — ... The Flyers come into the game with an impressive 10-4-3 home record (and an even more impressive 8-0-2 mark in their last ten at the Bank du Jour Center), and are scoring bushels of goals, thanks to the League's ...

Canucks have to put aside distraction and beat the Hawks tonight
Waiting For Stanley — ... , outscoring their opponents by a whopping 28-9 margin in the process. They are now tops in the NHL in goals for per game. -the Hawks have also won 7 of their last 8 and gained at least a point in 8 straight -they have 11 power play goals in the past 8 games (now ...

We should be able to beat a slumping Senators team, right?
Waiting For Stanley — The Senators have lost the first 2 games of their season-high 8-game road trip, a 6-3 loss to Calgary last night and a 6-4 loss to Flyers on the 23rd. Ottawa has not won a game on the road in 11 games now (0-9-2). However the Canucks have lost 3 of their last 4 games and are taking a lot of penalties in the process. -Ottawa is 29th overall in goals per game ...

Tuesday Roundup - Gamenight: Flyers @ Caps
Japers' Rink — ... (cry us a river), and are making their last stop on a six-game road trip that has swung them out west and seen them go 2-2-1 so far. The offense has dried up a little (scoring just ten goals in their last five games), but they're still near the top in goals per game and  ...

It’s That Time Again
Yankee Canuck — If you are familiar at all with my mindset ever since I started this blog, it’s been basically this: 1. I bash every team 2. I trash the Canucks when appropriate 3. I dislike Alain Vigneault as Vancouver’s coach I’m a team-specific blogger, so #1 goes without saying. And I prefer brutal honesty delivered like a Boogaard punch to a Fedoruk face, so #2 makes sense. And #3? Ohh…#3. I provided my best salvo on this over the summer ...

Saturday Roundup - Gamenight: Bruins @ Caps
Japers' Rink — ... directions - Washington has gotten healthier (that night in December they were without Mike Green, Sergei Fedorov, Tomas Fleischmann, Jeff Schultz and John Erskine, among others), while the Bruins have been bitten by the injury bug (losing Patrice Bergeron, Phil Kessel, Milan "I Love" Lucic in the interim). But the juggernaut that is the 2008-09 Boston Bruins seemingly cannot be stopped. They're second in the League in goals per game and first in goals against average. They're killing it ...

Canucks-Predators Preview: Updated all day
Waiting For Stanley — I think Elliot Papp from the Vancouver Sun summed up all of our thoughts on the potential post-All Star Break Canucks squad storyline: Mats Sundin is here. The all-star break is over. Roberto Luongo is back. The schedule isn't bad. The Canucks are almost completely healthy. I don't know about you but I can't find one itty-bitty excuse for this team if it continues its follies of the previous three weeks. The Canucks found every conceivablle way in which to lose a game in the last six -- fall behind, catch up and then lose; fall behind and never catch up; take the lead and blow it; lose in regular time; lose in overtime; lose in a shootout. They lost to lousy ...

Senators fire coach Craig Hartsburg
Nucks Misconduct — It took a lot of failures and second chances before Hartsburg was finally fired. The Senators have only won 17 of 48 games. They are 14 points out of a playoff spot in the East. A big damning stat for Ottawa is their road record, which is 6-16-3. Their home record is a decent 11-8-4. It is almost impossible to believe that the Sens rank last in the NHL in goals for. But their 116 goals for places them at the NHL basement. More Senators team stats here. The Binghampton Senators' coach Cory Clouston will take over as head coach of Ottawa. Clouston's ...

Senators fire coach Craig Hartsburg
Waiting For Stanley — It took a lot of failures and second chances before Hartsburg was finally fired. The Senators have only won 17 of 48 games. They are 14 points out of a playoff spot in the East. A big damning stat for Ottawa is their road record, which is 6-16-3. Their home record is a decent 11-8-4. It is almost impossible to believe that the Sens rank last in the NHL in goals for. But their 116 goals for places them at the NHL basement. More Senators team stats here. The Binghampton Senators' coach Cory Clouston will take over as head coach of Ottawa. Clouston's ...

Tuesday Roundup - Gamenight Caps @ Devils
Japers' Rink — ... But by now you know that this isn't the same Devils team you're used to seeing piling up the 2-1 wins - these guys can score, to the tune of 3.06 goals per game thanks to ...

Numbers Game: “Shoot the Puck!”
IllegalCurve.com — Shoot the puck - One of the oldest adages in the game; coaches preach it, some players follow it (see Alexander Ovechkin, Jeff Carter), while others seem to painfully adverse to it (see Tomas Kaberle).  The 18,000+ “qualified” coaches that attend the NHL games (with obvious notable exceptions in Atlanta, Phoenix, etc.) scream it on every offensive rush.  What do the stats say though?  Do more shots lead to more goals?  It makes sense.  More shots, more rebounds, more offensive pressure, more goals. The numbers confirm it, to a certain degree (check stats below).  ...

Suddenly hot Canucks look to beat Desert Dogs
Nucks Misconduct — ... part of the Western Conference pack that are close to-but do not hold a playoff spot. A win by them puts them 1 point away from 8th spot Vancouver.  A loss by Vancouver in regulation means they will fall to 9th spot as the Oilers have more wins. So it's going to be a playoff-like game. For a team that has the same amount of wins as us, the Coyotes suck in most of the significant categories:   They rank 20th or worse in the following categories: Goals per game: 25th Goals against per game: 21st 5 on 5: 28th ...

Game Day - Avs @ Caps
Japers' Rink — [AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview] If you're searching for the Colorado Avalanche in the League standings tables, you may want to save yourself some time and start looking from the bottom up. Injuries, mediocre goaltending and a lack of scoring depth have conspired to have the Avs possibly headed for their first losing season since moving to Denver. Their power play has been bad, their penalty kill worse, and they've been terrible at five-aside as well. They've been decent at home, but ...

Numbers Game: Aggregate Rank - Goals For/Against
IllegalCurve.com — In last week’s Numbers Game, I compared each team’s combined power play and penalty kill ranks to their point totals.  For the analysis, I assigned each team an aggregate score which was the sum of their power play rank and penalty kill rank, with the idea being that teams that ranked higher in both categories would be more likely to win games.  The numbers indicated that teams that ranked higher in aggregate score tended to have more wins. However, the difference between the top ranked teams in aggregate score and those in the middle of the pack was not as significant as one would expect. Continuing on that analysis, in today’s ...

Not the Sort of Octopus I'm Used to Seeing
Winging It In Motown — ... This frame of mind however, does not exactly prepare me for 8-0 losses to teams ranked in the bottom five in the league in goals per game.  Certainly not when the Wings are the league leaders in the same stat.  Last night's loss was a culture shock to be sure.  I'm not sure if I've ever heard Mikey Redmond and Ken Daniels express embarrassment at the Red Wings performance.  Watching the game with my Dad brought comparisons to 'the Dead Wings' era of the 60s and 70s.  This may be a bit too harsh for one game's worth of poor play, but Wings ...

Game Day - Hurricanes @ Capitals
Japers' Rink — ... as the Hurricanes appear on the Caps' schedule three times in the next 18 days (a span of ten games). It's not quite the three head-to-heads in four games the two teams had back in late January of 2007, but it's still more than enough time for these pseudo-rivals to get plenty reacquainted. How are our old buddies from N.C. doing these days? Well, they're fighting for their playoff lives, and not doing a great job of it. They're in the bottom half of the League in goals per game and goals against average, five-on-five ratio ...

Canucks vs Ducks (Uh-oh, not another game against a non-playoff team)
Nucks Misconduct — ... hard. Can the Canucks bring a better effort? I'm not even going to bag on the team anymore. I think Mike and I have done that enough already over the past couple of days. Oh wait, Kyle Wellwood's stats are worth a look..no goals, 2 assists and 24 shots in his last 21 games. Does Woody have any finish left in him? Keep in mind that Mattias Ohlund only needs 1 more point to break the Canucks' points record by a defenceman. COMPARATIVE STATS -The Canucks have scored more goals per game on average than the Ducks. -The ...

Game Day - Capitals @ Flyers
Japers' Rink — ... The Flyers are cruising right now - 10-4-1 in their last fifteen games, top ten in the NHL in goals for and in both special teams units (including ...

The Other Thirty Reached Last Night
Japers' Rink — ... Right now, the team enjoys the third-best G/G average in the league.  And so while a 2.80 GAA and a .902 SV% through 54 GP might not kickstart your red heart, we might reach a bit, and begin to draw an analogy between JT and the 2008-09 Caps and Grant Fuhr and the mid-80's dynasty of the Edmonton Oilers.  Fuhr has five Stanley Cup rings to his credit, but his ...

Third Line's A Charm
Japers' Rink — ... And not a moment too soon, as the Caps next face a Pittsburgh team with the sixth-best G/G during the regular season and two of the top three point scorers during the regular season and through this postseason's first round.  Further, these Penguins may not have the same balanced attack as last spring's Flyers, but they do boast six skaters with over 20 goals in the regular campaign, and thirteen with at least ten strikes.  (By contrast, the Caps had nine such players in 2008-09.)  So having an effective checking line going into Round two that can ...

Eulogy: Remembering the 2008-09 New York Rangers
Puck Daddy — (Ed. Note: As the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue, we're bound to lose some friends along the journey. Gone but not forgotten, we've asked for these losers to be eulogized by the people who knew the teams best: The fans who hated them the most. Here is Washington Capitals blogger J.P. from Japers' Rink fondly recalling the New York Rangers.) By J.P. from Japers' Rink Friends, we gather today as we have 68 times over the last 69 years, to mourn yet another spring without a Stanley Cup championship for our beloved New York Rangers, victims this season of death by asphyxiation; ...

2008-09 Rink Wrap: Viktor Kozlov
Japers' Rink — ... (though 57% of his production there came via secondary assists) and he had ten multi-point games on the season (the flip side of that coin, however, is that in he had 18 single-point and 39 scoreless outings playing largely on the top line for the third-highest scoring team in hockey). ...

The Dany Heatley Situation
St. Louis Game Time — ... The Blues have need for more offense. The Blues ranked 19th in the league last year, averaging 2.77 goals per game in the regular season (and just 1.25 per game ...