Hockey Night In Washington: Caps vs. Bolts

I'll be in the press box for tonight's game, while my buddy Allen Clark will be down low with his camera. Again, we're short a photo processor, so don't look for images until after the game.

Ken Berard was at the pre-game skate this morning, so look for an update from him momentarily. More in a bit.

UPDATE: Greetings from press row. Some interesting news here: Looks like the crew from Comcast SportsNet is involved in some kind of job action. No word yet on how it might affect tonight's telecast, but I'll pass along details as soon as I'm able.

Nothing on Google News or DCRTV as of yet, so I guess this is the first word.

More in a bit...

THE PRE-GAME: First of all, why not start with Ken Berard's post from earlier today, complete with photos. Expect to see Ken pull this sort of duty more often these days.

Japers' Rink
Capitals Insider (Bashir)
Mike Vogel
Caps Nut (AWOL to Vegas)
Peerless Prognosticator
The Sin Bin
Caps Chick

More in a second on the Comcast walkout.

UPDATE: We're waiting on a statement from Comcast, but I'm already hearing about mangement types being pressed into service for tonight's telecast. It ought to be interesting. Stay tuned.

Some more news: The Caps have called up Alexandre Giroux as a precaution as multiple unnamed players are dinged up. Whether or not he plays won't be decided until the pre-game skate. Giroux is currently tied for second in the AHL with 21 goals. I was just talking to Hersey Bears stat man John Sparenberg, and he tells me Giroux isn't just scoring this season, he's also hitting with some authority and is playing like a "natural goal scorer".

John Erskine will not play tonight. More in a bit.

STARTING LINEUPS: BOLTS: G: Denis; D: Janik, Kuba; W: Craig, Prospal; C: Richards. CAPS: G: Kolzig; D: Heward, Eminger; W: Pettinger, Semin; C: Beech.

SCRATCHES: BOLTS: Richardson and Karlsson. CAPS: Erskine, Bradley and Brashear. That means Giroux gets to play with the big club. We'll keep an eye on him tonight.

Was talking with Tarik el-Bashir a few minutes ago, and he commented on how empty the arena looked. We're less than 4 minutes to faceoff, and I have to admit it's looking pretty thin.

That's it for now. More after the game.

ON COMCAST: Here's a statement from Comcast. From here, it looks like everything is coming off ok:

"Comcast SportsNet is a pro-employee company, and we invest in our employees with the belief that our company can only be as strong as our workforce. We are negotiating a labor agreement covering certain technical employees at Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic that reflects these principles. While these negotiations are underway, we stand by our commitment to deliver high-quality sports coverage to our viewers."

For those who noticed that Joe Beninati isn't working the game, that's because he's doing a game on Versus tonight.

UPDATE ON COMCAST WALK-OUT: From the DCRTV Mailbag:

Hey Dave, I am actually one of the crew member who walked out of the Verizon Center tonight. I would like to correct the version that CSN have given to you. About 18 months ago the freelancers in the area chose to enter union negotiations with Comcast Sports Net because they offer the lowest pay rates in the area, and also give the least in benefits as well as various other grievances. They have not even given a pay raise in 4 years roughly. Of course being that they are under heat for it now they will say they were planning on but the day rate for CSN VS. MASON or ESPN any of the other networks in the area, is about 25 to 60 dollars a day depending on position and company. As for what happened tonight, After stalling for over a month with the most resent proposal the Freelance Technicians, they decided to walk at dinner, (4:15) giving Comcast Sports Net 3 hours to settle a contract and have us back to work. The show was set up and ready to go by us. They tried to stall, and decided in the end that the employees do not matter to them. If they did, the company would sign a contract giving us the same rates and benefits as the other networks. We stayed around until 7pm, waiting to hear if Comcast would come to terms with the Union. This being on of the first times the company has actively negotiated, being they were in a pinch. We are all very disappointed that Comcast Sports Net does not value the Freelance Employees, and will be picketing and striking until they decide to fairly compensate us. One final note, Not only are we looking to make the same as other networks in the area, Comcast has signed a deal giving exactly what we are asking for in Chicago for their broadcasts, so it is not like the company wont sign a similar contract. Please give our side some publication as well Dave. Thanks... (12/19/06)

Recap is after the jump.

END OF FIRST PERIOD: BOLTS 3 CAPS 1: I met JP and Ken Berard downstairs in between periods and they both asked me to explain how the Caps could come out so flat in the first period. I honestly don't have an answer. All I know is that the Caps were outshot 17-5, looked listless at times and simply seemed content to let Tampa Bay take the play to them rather than the other way around.

Scoring opened at 3:34 of the period when Filip Kuba pounced on a bouncing puck in the Caps crease on a power play. The goal came with Alexander Semin in the box for high sticking. The second goal came at 12:54 when Vincent Lecavalier found Martin St. Louis with a sweet pass at even strength to make it 2-0.

The Caps got one goal back at 13:54 on a goal that was all Alexander Ovechkin. After swooping down the slot and finding no room to manuver, Ovechkin curled out of the scrum and let go with a wrist shot from around the left wing faceoff circle that beat Marc Denis.

The scoring came to a close at 17:15 with Brian Pothier in the box for high sticking. I've always thought the Tampa Bay power play looked better than they've been playing, and they finally broke through on a nice pass across the Caps defensive zone from Kuba to Lecavalier. From there, Lecavalier just unleashed a laser beam that Olie Kolzig had no hope of handling as the puck squeezed through to make it 3-1. The goal was #200 for Lecavalier.

END OF SECOND PERIOD: BOLTS 4 CAPS 2: The Bolts jumped on the slumbering Caps early in the period when Lecavalier hooked up with St. Louis again to make it 4-1, with St. Louis beating Kolzig on a beautiful backhand that he put top shelf.

The Caps got one back on the power play when Jamie Heward took a pass from Ben Clymer and unleashed a wrist shot that got past Denis to make it 4-2.

But the Bolts tallied another before the end of the period, and it was all thanks to the hard work of Ruslan Fedotenko -- the same man Ken identified earlier today as giving his all in Tampa Bay's optional morning skate.

In deep along the left wing boards with a Caps defenseman draped on his back, Fedotenko broke free and drove to the net along the goal line before slipping the puck to Nikita Alexeev. He put a wrist shot past Kolzig and it was 5-2 Tampa Bay. Through two periods, the Bolts are outshooting the Caps 29-9.

FINAL: BOLTS 5 CAPS 4: The 10,417 in attendance got treated to a furious comeback attempt that just fell short.

The Caps got a power play chance at 6:20 when Vinnie Prospal got the gate for delay of game, but they didn't do much with it other than give Eric Perrin a shorthanded scoring chance. The boo birds came out as time ticked down on this one.

The Caps got it together on the next power play chance. Ben Clymer slid the puck from the right point along the blue line to Alexander Semin at the left point. Semin caught Beech cutting to the net inside the right wing faceoff circle for a wrist shot that beat Denis, 5-3 Tampa Bay.

The lead was cut to 5-4, once again, thanks to an incredible effort from Ovechkin down low. After somehow getting a shot off on Denis from along the goal line, Ovechkin circled back in deep and threw the puck to Bryan Muir at the point. He threw the puck back on net through a screen, and it found the back of the net to cut the Tampa lead to just a goal.

Next, with Cory Sarich in the box for hooking Ovechkin, the Caps mounted a furious charge, but simply couldn't cash in despite creating multiple scoring chances -- including more than one instance where it seemed impossible for anyone to get a stick on a loose puck in front of the Tampa Bay net.

Later, with Kolzig pulled for an extra attacker, the Caps put some serious pressure on Tampa Bay again, but simply couldn't produce the game-tying goal. It was a nice effort that just fell short.

Other thoughts: Here's a prediction. One day, Boyd Gordon will have his name mentioned as a serious candidate for the Selke Trophy (click here for Dave Fay's take). Once again he created a scoring chance through some tenacious forechecking. Perrin was impressive on the penalty kill as well for Tampa Bay, creating shorthanded breakaway chances twice in the third period.

PHOTOS: Some pics. For Allen's entire set, click here.

Alexandre Giroux and Shoane Morrisonn put the hurt on Tampa Bay's Dan Boyle.

Photo by Allen Clark

Boyd Gordon carries the puck in deep on Marc Denis.

Photo by Allen Clark

Tampa Bay celebrates a 1st period goal.

Photo by Allen Clark

Eric 01:18 PM

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