November 03, 2006
Hockey Night In Washington: Caps vs. Thrashers
The Thrashers are in town to take on the Caps, and I'll be in my usual seat in the press box recording my observations. We'll have one little twist tonight -- I'll be accompanied by a photographer. In addition to the two interns I've added to the roster at Off Wing, my friend Ellen Blanchard will be at the game to take pictures.
If we run things the right way, I may even be able to share some of those photos with you in between periods. So be sute to stop by.
More later.
FROM THE PRESS BOX: Greetings form high above Verizon Center as the Caps get ready to take on the Thrashers. Pre-game previews:
Mike Vogel
Southeast Shootout
Japers' Rink
Caps Nut
OFB
View From The Cheap Seats
The Peerless Prognosticator
As Puckhead mentioned, the Barenaked Ladies are in town this weekend, and will be singing the National Anthem before tonight's game. What am I expecting tonight? The Thrashers are coming of a thrashing of their own against Carolina, so they're sure to be fired up. What I'd like to see is a strong effort at home against a team they'll need to pile up some points against this season in order to slip into the 7th or 8th spot.
Starting goalies announced: Olie Kolzig and Johan Hedberg. Looks like Karoi Lehtonen is getting a rest tonight. Rest of starting lineups momentarily.
STARTING LINEUP: Atlanta: D Exelby, Sutton; W Rucchin, Kovalchuk; C Metropolit. Washington: D Muir, Green; W Ovechkin, Clark; C Zubrus. Scratches: Atlanta: Havelid, Boulton; Washington: Klepis, Eminger.
That's two healthy scratches in a row for Eminger -- not a good sign. As Dave Fay mentioned today, Hanlon doesn't hesitate to sit players who aren't measuring up. You have to wonder whether or not that extends to sending somebody to Hershey. Certainly Rico Fata found that out the hard way.
A nice surprise: Ellen got a photo hole, at least for the first period.
BONUS PIC: Zubrus and Exelby.
Photo by Ellen Blanchard
Be sure to stop by EB Imagery, the official photography studio of Off Wing Opinion.
Here's Johan Hedberg:
Photo by Ellen Blanchard
Ben Clymer on the dump-in:
Photo by Ellen Blanchard
Even more, later.
PICS FROM SECOND PERIOD: Olie Kolzig can't hide what he's thinking:
Photo by Ellen Blanchard
Steve Rucchin celebrates. It was that kind of period.
Photo by Ellen Blanchard
More pictures and a recap of the action, after the jump.
END FIRST PERIOD: CAPS 1 ATLANTA 0: If I had to pick a MVP for the Caps so far this season, it would be Center Dainius Zubrus. There was no better example of how well he's played this season than the sequence that led to the Caps' first goal on the power play.
After holding the puck in at the blue line, Zubrus found Ovechkin with a backhand pass just above the left wing faceoff circle. Ovechkin hit Richard Zednik with a pass as he drove to the net. Zednik had some trouble handling the pass, but he righted himself in time to find Zubrus streaking toward the net for the goal, his eighth of the season.
I don't doubt that playing alongside Ovechkin would improve the stats of most players, but what we're seeing with Zubrus is an entirely different thing. He's raised the level of play in all zones, and the Caps are the better team for it.
Shots for the period were tied at 11. Caps went 1-1 on the power play, while Atlanta was 0-1.
END SECOND PERIOD: CAPS 3 ATLANTA 3: One of the problems we've identified so far this season in Washington is this team's inability to close teams down when they have a lead, and tonight is another example of that, albeit rather extreme. After Chris Clark got his 4th goal of the season shorthanded, the Caps seemed to have everything well in hand with a 2-0 lead. But then, in less than a minute in the middle of the period, the Thrashers scored three goals. First there was a goal at 4-on-4 from John Sim, the Greg DeVries tied the game with his first goal since last March on a nice pass from Rucchin, and it all ended with a Slava Kozlov goal just 35 seconds later.
But just when everything looked lost, who bailed the team out in a scramble in front of Hedburg but Dainius Zubrus who banged home a loose puck for his ninth goal of the season after a lengthy review.
Shots after two periods: Atlanta 29 Washington 19. That means the Caps are well on their way to getting to their average of yielding 36.8 shots a game. Not a good thing.
Take a deep breath. Whew. Third period coming up.
FINAL: ATLANTA 4 CAPS 3: The period couldn't have started worse, with Steve Rucchin scoring just 27 second in on a backhander that beat Kolzig to the near post. Stuff like this is just maddening.
Ugly moment at 15:44 as Jon Sim tripped Ovechkin as he was heading off for a line change. Sim got the gate for tripping, but the Caps didn't get the power play as the refs called a bench minor for too many men on the ice -- caused, ironically, because Ovechkin had been tripped.
More photos. The ref gives Bobby Holik an earful after putting Zubrus on the ice:
Photo by Ellen Blanchard
The ref checks out JP Vigier as everyone looks on:
Photo by Ellen Blanchard
Just another candid shot of Alex:
Photo by Ellen Blanchard
More in just a few minutes.
Alex has a laugh inside the faceoff circle:
Photo by Ellen Blanchard
Hedberg snatches the puck:
Photo by Ellen Blanchard
Kolzig back on his heels:
See you right back here on Monday night.
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Scary moment? Hopefully you Tivoed the game so you can relive AO's glorious mid-air acrobatics. Ovechkin was gliding, got touched, and went air-born. It wasn't quite this bad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVe4XNWVFUM
Close though. Very close. It's a shame, because the kid is a tough player and doesn't need to stoop to that level.
Posted by:
at November 4, 2006 08:38 AM
Eric and Ellen,
Nice work on the write up and the pictures. We aim to have an OFBer up there near you in the not too distant future.
Well done.
Posted by:
at November 4, 2006 09:40 AM
Great job on the photos from the game last night.
That second period was frustrating! It looked as if the ice were tilted towards the Caps goal. The Thrashers were skating circles around the caps in the 2nd. I'm expecting a far better effort from the guys tonight. An effort that lasts all three periods.
Posted by:
at November 4, 2006 04:54 PM
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