Hanging out at the morning skate here in Rochester as the Bears prepare to take on the Amerks here Friday. Four inches of snow has fallen since our arrival, and the wind chill is just about at zero. Fantastic.
I'll have more later on this afternoon about tonight's game, but for now, enjoy Randy Rock's latest Washington installment as the Caps prepare for Colorado this evening in D.C.
CAPS PREPARE FOR AN AVALANCHE
by: Randy "Rock" Johnson
JohnWaltonHockey.com
The Washington Capitals continue to benefit from home-cooking as they hop on the Verizon Center pond tonight to tangle with the Colorado Avalanche in the second game of a five-game homestand. They enter tonight atop the Southeast Division and tied with the New Jersey Devils for second place in the Eastern Conference, with the Caps having a game-in-hand over the Devils.
The Caps opened the homestand Wednesday night with an entertaining 4-3 shootout victory over Les Canadians, who seem to be Les Trying-To-Flush-Their-Season-Down-The-Drain.
The highlight of Wednesday night’s tilt was another one of “those goals” by Alex Ovechkin, who beat Montreal’s Carey Price low on the short side while sliding sideways by the Montreal net. I strongly suggest that you check out NHL.com for the highlights if you haven’t already seen the goal. It may not be quite as spectacular as the goal he scored while flat on his back in Phoenix a couple of years back. But it’s still falls into the “nobody should be able to score goals like that” category, and is more proof why Verizon Center is saturated with Ovechkin sweater-wearing fans on game nights. Ovechkin is not only making a mockery of the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy – he currently leads the league with 42 goals, with New Jersey’s Zach Parise next in line with 35 – but he is also making a helluva case for being the Hart Trophy winner as league MVP at season’s end. He also has an insane 28 goals in his last 30 games, something I don’t think I could do if I were Ovechkin on PS3. I have a feeling that Alex will be reeling in some hardware at the NHL Awards banquet!!!
WHY NEUVIRTH SHOULD START SUNDAY VS PENS---To me, this almost is a no-brainer. When the Caps called up rookie Simeon Varlamov in the December, they through him right into the fire by giving him his first career start against the Canadians at Montreal’s Bell Centre (I just wanted to spell “Centre” the way they do in Canada. This is a hockey blog after all). Varlamov responded by allowing but one goal on 33 Canadians’ shots, an impressive debut for the kid!!! Now let’s see what Michal Neuvirth can do in a pressure situation. He’s already had an impressive debut in Tampa last Saturday by allowing one goal on 32 shots against the Lightning. Now let’s test him against Sid the Kid, Evgeni Malkin, and what should be an extremely desperate Pittsburgh team Sunday afternoon on national television. Yes, it’s an important game for the Caps considering the fight they’re in with New Jersey for the second spot in the Eastern Conference. But to me, that’s even more reason to throw Neuvirth into the deep end of the pool and see what he can do. If the Caps were fighting for their playoff lives, then probably you’d start Jose Theodore. But the team leads Florida by thirteen points for the division lead. I say the Caps should take a chance, throw Neuvirth in against the Pens, and see what they have!!!
IN JURIES---Brian Pothier (concussion)-indefinite; Chris Clark (wrist)-indefinite; Brent Johnson (hip)-six-to-eight weeks; Viktor Kozlov (groin)-day-to-day.
WHAT’S ON TAP---Tonight, VS Colorado; Sunday, VS Pittsburgh; Tuesday, VS Philadelphia; Thursday, VS Atlanta.
Until next time…
