2009 Washington Capitals thread

[Chadd 916]

How does taking Federov off of the second line prevent him from mentoring the Russian kids?

Well I would assume he talks to Semin as they skate (probably in Russian since I think Semin still not talking English), directing people, giving sort of on the job training. It just wouldn't be the same if he did it from the bench as the guys skated by.

You talk through and explain on the bench, not on the ice. Sure you need to communicate on the ice but you can't explain in detail.

[interpathway 9]

Boy if Federov is giving Semin tips we might be in trouble!

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

I just caught the tail end of a feature on one of the sports channels, Sportsnet I think...they were saying that Fedorov is moving to "D". Has that happened...? Will that happen? Any updates?

Caps were very close to the cap, so sent Lepisto and Alzner to hershey, and decided to carry only 7 D-men, and use Fedorov as a spare if needed.

Erskine had a stinker of a game, so was a healthy scratch against the Nucks, Fedorov took his spot and paired with Milan Jurcina.

Caps won 5-1, Fedorov said he was happy because he was getting more ice time, and still playing his regular position on PP/PK, so it may stick for a bit, until they have the room to bring someone up who is better. I still think Erskine will get regular rotation against the weaker opponents, but Fedorov is an OK (but, in my opinion, not ideal) option for the short term

[interpathway 9]

The injury that caused Caps forward Viktor Kozlov to leave last night's game in the second period will keep him out of the lineup for a couple weeks. One man's ailment is another man's opportunity, and it appears as though Kozlov's ailment could be Eric Fehr's opportunity to get into the lineup.

[chippa13 1844]

How does taking Federov off of the second line prevent him from mentoring the Russian kids?

Well I would assume he talks to Semin as they skate (probably in Russian since I think Semin still not talking English), directing people, giving sort of on the job training. It just wouldn't be the same if he did it from the bench as the guys skated by.

Mentoring happens at practice, between periods, on the bench, on the drive to the rink, on the plane ride to [fill in city here] when he takes them food shopping or out to dinner.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

So, former (albeit briefly) cap Matt Cooke is out of the lineup for tonight, as is Donald Brashear, who I saw wincing with his hand after taking a shot on it monday, but I thought he finished the game, so didn't think too much more of it.

So, to get a bit more toughness into the lineup, the Fedorov on D experiment ends to allow Erskine back in, who is inconsistent, but tough.

Lines will likely look like this (clark back on top because of the Kozlov injury, Fehr makes the lineup for the first time this season)

Washington Forwards

8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 17-Clark

21-Laich, 92-Nylander, 28-Semin

14-Fleischmann, 91-Fedorov, 16-Fehr

39-Steckel, 15-Gordon, 10-Bradley

Washington Defensemen

26-Morrisonn, 52-Green

3-Poti, 55-Schultz

4-Erskine, 23-Jurcina

Goaltenders

1-Johnson, 60-Theodore

[dangle 0]

Isn't Theadore starting tonight?

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

Isn't Theadore starting tonight?

Yeah, but vogel always lists the goalies by number, not sure why, but he does.

Theo is in goal tonight

[HattrickSwayze 3]

Just in case anyone really wanted to watch the Caps vs Pens game tonight, but can't get it on TV, Yahoo Sports will have it streaming live on their website. You can hit "Watch it Live" in the lower right corner when it starts.

sports.yahoo.com/nhl

[NoAngleDangler 0]

Bring back Olie.

[camhockey16 5]

does anyone know the story between malkin and ovie?

malkin doesn't seem to go after ovie - but ovie is taking runs at malkin every chance he gets like he is trying to hurt him.

i remember some old story about ovechkin beating up malkin's agent or something - could it be related to that?

[mik3 1]

It is funny watching him take wild charges at Geno. He's eventually going to hurt himself doing it and fanboys everywhere will cry.

[HattrickSwayze 3]

The Pittsburgh announcers on the Yahoo stream are talking about that too. They think Ovie deserves a penalty for a hit he just tried to put on Malkin, but Malkin clearly ducked to try to get outta the way. I think for whatever reason Ovie just doesn't like Malkin. I haven't watched enough of the game though to see Ovie charging Malkin, but the announcers certainly seem to think he has been taking "15 steps" at Malkin.

[Chadd 916]

Just in case anyone really wanted to watch the Caps vs Pens game tonight, but can't get it on TV, Yahoo Sports will have it streaming live on their website. You can hit "Watch it Live" in the lower right corner when it starts.

sports.yahoo.com/nhl

that would be great if the hotel wireless here didn't suck completely. I was watching the game earlier and it just started going from freeze frame to freeze frame.

[Chadd 916]

Just in case anyone really wanted to watch the Caps vs Pens game tonight, but can't get it on TV, Yahoo Sports will have it streaming live on their website. You can hit "Watch it Live" in the lower right corner when it starts.

sports.yahoo.com/nhl

that would be great if the hotel wireless here didn't suck completely. I was watching the game earlier and it just started going from freeze frame to freeze frame.

Finally got gamecenter to work on the lowest resolution. Nice shot by Sid on Ovechkin after the horn, classy.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

Finally got gamecenter to work on the lowest resolution. Nice shot by Sid on Ovechkin after the horn, classy.

He did the same to Semin in the second, skated past, shoved him, semin shoved back, then crosbys stick came up and moved his helmet (I would say knocked it, but it didn't come off)

EDIT: Not sure what the quality of your stream was, but we have it in HD here so easier lipreading, and what he said to crosby at the end was "Shut the f**k up"

[Chadd 916]

Finally got gamecenter to work on the lowest resolution. Nice shot by Sid on Ovechkin after the horn, classy.

He did the same to Semin in the second, skated past, shoved him, semin shoved back, then crosbys stick came up and moved his helmet (I would say knocked it, but it didn't come off)

EDIT: Not sure what the quality of your stream was, but we have it in HD here so easier lipreading, and what he said to crosby at the end was "Shut the f**k up"

The stream was pretty bad, couldn't see anything and the Pens announcers couldn't understand why Alex was picking on Sid.

[raygunpk 0]

Semin's wrist shot is insane.

[interpathway 9]

Hell of a gutsy win tonight, boys. That's the way to come back. Chadd.. missed the ending due to the bar being up in arms for the Caps, but did Crosby's shot at Ovie go unnoticed?

And to the Ovie/Geno comment, I know they used to room together when they both lived in Russia, but as far as I could tell, Ovechkin's run at Geno on 1/21ish/2008 started a hatred that rivals the media's hyping of Crosby/Ovie.

[interpathway 9]

To answer our question on why Geno/Ovie...from tsn.ca/nhl....

"Ovechkin, last year's scoring champion, and Malkin, the runner-up to Ovechkin, were Russian Olympic teammates and friends at Turin in 2006, but they've since become rivals who play with an unaccustomed physicality when they oppose each other, often going out of their way to try to deliver a big hit on the other.

"Ovechkin is a great player, but every time he hits me - I don't know why," Malkin said.

Ovechkin's explanation?

"It's just a hockey game. I hit hard with everybody," Ovechkin said, although he rarely gets involved in the defensive end in most games."

*those last 12 words are unfortunate though...

[HattrickSwayze 3]

Finally got gamecenter to work on the lowest resolution. Nice shot by Sid on Ovechkin after the horn, classy.

He did the same to Semin in the second, skated past, shoved him, semin shoved back, then crosbys stick came up and moved his helmet (I would say knocked it, but it didn't come off)

EDIT: Not sure what the quality of your stream was, but we have it in HD here so easier lipreading, and what he said to crosby at the end was "Shut the f**k up"

I caught that part in my stream as well. They didn't turn the camera's on it, but I saw Crosby hit him, and then Ovie turn and start to glide towards him. As they showed the teams skating off, a bunch of the Pens and Caps were there, Crosby was skating away from Ovie, and then Ovie said "SHUT THE FUCK UP" to someone as the teams skated away. It looked like maybe they had been starting to get into it, but they didn't really touch on it in the broadcast. I'm sure Hal Gill came to Crosby's rescue like he did earlier when him and Semin were shoving.

[camhockey16 5]

im not trying to defend crosby, because he certainly isn't an angel - but with as close knit as most nhl teams are wouldn't you be a little pissed if someone from the opposing team was taking runs at your star player all night? I can certainly understand why crosby or any one of the penguins would be upset with ovechkin a little.

on a side note did anyone see therriens press conference - he was pretty pissed to say the least

[adam14 182]

i agree about the whole being pissed about taking runs, but it isnt really crosby's role to go take a cheap shot at ovi is it?

[troy 12]

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Crosby tried to legitimately stand up Ovechkin. Crosby's massive lower body is well documented.

[chippa13 1844]

No need to be pissed about the runs Ovechkin takes at guys. His shortened career due to the abuse to his body will be payback enough.