Fury: Unleashed

After the come-from-behind victory against Ottawa to end the miserable 8-game losing streak, I thought that it was almost more important to win the NEXT game after the losing streak had come to an end to start something that the Caps and their fans would be much happier about... a winning streak.

And it looks as though the boys from DC thought so too.

The Capitals dismantled the New Jersey Devils tonight, 5-1. The Caps scored 5 or more goals for the ninth time this year, and the offense looked like it was back to the powerful machine that the Capitals faithful are used to: free-flowing, creative, precise, and nearly unstoppable. Goals were scored by Andrew Gordon (his first NHL goal), Jay Beagle, Jason Chimera, John Carlson, and Mike Knuble. Gordon scored his inaugural goal on a beautiful assist from Marcus Johansson. Beagle's goal came down in the dirty area on a tap in. Chimera scored on a breakaway even while he was being hooked by the NJ defender. Carlson fired an absolute missile past Marty Brodeur after Ovechkin left the puck all alone for number 74, and Knuble tipped-in a rebound late in the game.

My Player of the Game is (much to Catie's delight) John Carlson. He recorded a goal and an assist while maintaining a +4 rating. Plus, his bomb of a goal in the 2nd period had me jumping out my chair and rewinding the DVR multiple times.

The most impressive part of this win to me has been the play of the so-called "no name players". No average non-Caps fan would be able to recognize all the names of the goal scorers, but they all have skills that make the Caps one of the deepest teams in the league. Gordon is known as a natural goal scorer in the AHL (where he has spent most of his career) and Chimera is one of the fastest skaters in the NHL, which allowed him to break away from the defense and put the puck top shelf on the New Jersey net.

But it was not only these men who were making plays for the Caps. Marcus Johansson had a brilliant game. His magnificent, cross-ice assist set up Gordon's goal and he dominated control of the puck, which allowed for him to set up other teammates for some easy chances, especially in the 2nd period. Matthieu Perreault played his usual high-energy role, getting into the dirty areas and helping to set up his line mates, Brooks Laich and Mike Knuble. The defense as a whole, including Neuvirth, also stepped up and did not allow an early goal, which it had been susceptible to do not only during the losing streak, but all season.

The play of the guys on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines took pressure off the Capitals' superstars, who as a whole did not have the spectacular game that is expected out of them on a daily basis. Towards the end of the game, they started to gain some of their swagger, but none of the big name players (Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Green) scored, something that should still concern Caps fans going into the two match-ups with the rival Penguins within the next two weeks. Alex Semin in particular played absolutely horrible. I realize that he has been out for 3 games, but he just looked lost and did not look like he was putting in a lot of effort throughout the entire game. The other Alex, Alexander Ovechkin has only scored 2 goals in his last 18 games. If he does not get back on track, the Capitals will have a tougher time keeping the wins coming. Another small area of concern has to be the power play. The Capitals had all of their opportunities killed off in this game, something that can absolutely not happen in the next couple of games. If the boys do not capitalize on the man-up opportunities against the better teams in the league, they will have a much harder time winning.

The play of the Capitals tonight gave fans, especially this one, much more hope for the near future. After watching this dominating performance on both ends of the ice, I know that the Caps are indeed back to their winning ways and that the teams that are on the schedule in the near future (I'm looking at you Montreal and Pittsburgh) are going to have to fear the most potent attack in the NHL. Were back, baby.

Told Ya

Okay so I know I haven't been on here to post in a while, the middle of the semester is always the hardest time to get other things done. The last time I posted almost every Caps fans was starting to worry. The offense, especially the power play, was non existent, and the boys in red, white and blue had just been embarrassed twice by Tim "Super Human" Thomas. Even the games the the Caps WERE winning were always very close.

But now, all is well.

Since then, the Caps have won 7 of 8, their only loss coming to Minnesota, the second game of a back-to-back in which the Caps had to travel from Washington to Minnesota overnight. They have also won 5 straight, including a great come from behind win last night against a gritty NY Rangers team in which the Caps did not hold a lead until Matt Hendricks' goal midway through the third period.

There have also been many other noteworthy accomplishments during this 8 game span. The Caps have outscored opponents 33-19. They have won two more overtime games against Atlanta and Philadelphia (they haven't lost in overtime this season) and won their first shoot out of the year against Toronto (hear Steve Kolbe's call of the shootout here: http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?intcmpid=nav-video-main). They pitched their first shutout of the season against division rival Carolina, and exposed Tim Thomas for 3 goals before he was pulled in a 5-3 Capitals victory. October's Rookie of the Month Michal Neuvirth continues to play like a seasoned veteran. He leads the entire NHL with 9 wins and is currently holding a 2.46 GAA and a .912 Save Percentage.

The Caps need to keep the momentum going with two games against a sizzling Tampa Bay team in the next two and a half weeks. In that time span, the Caps also face Atlanta and Buffalo each twice, as well as games against Philadelphia and New Jersey, two teams who will look to get back at the Caps after being beaten by them earlier in the year.