January 01, 2007
Hockey Matinee In Washington: Caps vs. Coyotes
Happy New Year to all of our readers here at Off Wing. Thanks to the New Year's holiday, the Caps have a 2:00 p.m. start today against the visiting Coyotes and I'll be in the box watching all the action.
I'll be headed into the city shortly, so be sure to check in about an hour before the puck drops. See you then.
GAME PREVIEWS: Not a whole lot out there today. There's a reason why they call this the "hangover game" here in Washington.
The Peerless Prognosticator
NHL.com
Mike Vogel
Actually, I've come to enjoy New Year's at the rink with the Caps over the years. Next to the traditional early game on Super Bowl Sunday, this has always been one of my favorites on the calendar.
In other news, by now you've heard that the league handed out suspensions to Donald Brasher and Colton Orr over the nastiness that took place on Saturday night in New York. Get your recaps here:
Caps Insider (Tarik el-Bashir)
Japers' Rink
Dump and Chase
As JP pointed out in the immediate aftermath, the most important impact seems to be that Brashear's absence essentially leaves the Caps defenseless in the absence of a heavyweight like Orr. That's more than apparent this afternoon, as I was looking forward to a possible faceoff between Brashear and his opposite number with the Coyotes, Georges Laraque.
Peering down on the pre-game warmup, I see Lawrence Nycholat is on the ice. Hard not to notice that he's been getting significant ice time while piling up a goal and three assists in his call-up from Hershey. Maybe he'll stick this time.
STARTING LINEUPS: COYOTES: G: Tellqvist; D: Morris, Ballard; W: Doan, Saprykin; C: Zigomanis. CAPS: G: Kolzig; D: Nycholat, Eminger; W: Ovechkin, Clark; C: Zubrus. Nycholat gets the start, which has me wondering if he's not forced himself permanently into the rotation here in Washington.
SCRATCHES: COYOTES: Seidenberg, (Joel) Perrault, Ricci. CAPS: Brashear. He got a big hand when his name was announced. Puck to drop in about 12 minutes. Sorry, I'm riding solo again today, so no pics. Ellen ought to be back for the next game.
Complete real-time recap after the jump.
END OF FIRST PERIOD: PHOENIX 3 CAPS 1: For lengthy stretches of this first period, it looked like the Caps were the ones skating with a hangover as Phoenix took a two goal lead into the first intermission.
* With Shoane Morrisonn in the box for high sticking, the Coyotes grabbed a 1-0 lead courtesy of Owen Nolan. Yanic Perrault picked up a drop pass from Ladislav Nagy and flung the puck on net from along the goal line on the left wing. Nolan was there for the re-direct and it was 1-0.
* Nycholat seems to be moving up in the world. We're not even ten minutes into the game, and he's not only taking regular shifts, he's also spent time on the PK and worked the point on the team's top PP unit with Alexander Semin. Jakub Klepis is also seeing time on the top PP unit.
* Brian Pothier might not be on the top PP unit any longer and he's seen his minutes cut back significantly, but he picked a good time to get his first goal of the season and his first goal as a Cap. With Dave Scatchard in the box for tripping, Pothier collected a rebound from in front of the Phoenix net and backhanded the puck past Mikael Tellqvist to tie the game 1-1.
* The happy feeling didn't last long as the Coyotes re-took the lead off the stick of Coyotes defenseman Keith Ballard. Skating down the left wing boards, Owen Nolan found Ballard all alone in the slot in front of Kolzig. Ballard neatly wristed the puck past Kolzig to make it 2-1.
* Phoenix extended the lead to 3-1 on a power play. This time, Travis Roche dropped the puck off at the left wing point for Shane Doan. He wasn't touched as he skated the puck deep into the slot and beat Kolzig through the five hole. 3-1 Coyotes.
* For the period, Phoenix outshot Washington 15-12. Washington won only 7 of 19 faceoffs. Nycholat led all Caps players in ice time with 8:50. Hershey call-up Dave Steckel had 4:47, more than Brooks Laich, Kris Beech, Ben Clymer, Klepis and Mike Green.
END OF SECOND PERIOD: PHOENIX 3 CAPS 2:
* I ought to point out that Semin's game has really grown by leaps and bounds over the past few weeks. There was a time earlier this season when he could be muscled off the puck -- not so now. I've seen plenty of instances where Semin has been able to fight off checks on his way to the net to get off a shot, whereas earlier in the season we would have seen him get knocked to the ice.
* The Caps cut the lead to 3-2 thanks to a play that was all Brian Sutherby. Picking up the puck along the left wing boards in the Caps defensive zone, Sutherby skated through the neutral zone before breaking in on net just over the Phoenix blue line. Sutherby let go of a wrist shot that beat Tellqvist top shelf to the stick side.
* A few minutes after the Sutherby goal, the jumbotron featured a montage of Wile E. Coyote cartoons and slugged it as Phoenix's 2006 highlight film. Given how poorly the Coyotes have played so far this season, it seemed all too appropriate.
* Just inside of 2:00 on a Phoenix power play, Kolzig made a sprawling save on Perrault. Team gets a polite hand as they skate to the locker room, a marked contrast to the boo birds who came out at the end of the first period.
* Caps outshot Phoenix 11-10 for the period. Faceoffs were tied 11-11.
* Score a goal, get more ice time. Pothier is now up to 17:02 for the game after logging just over 7:00 in the first period. Likewise, Nycholat, who led all Caps skaters in ice time with 8:50 in the first period, saw his time drop to 6:51.
* This is as quiet as the arena has been between periods as I can remember this season.
FINAL PHOENIX 3 CAPS 2: The Caps had a golden opportunity to tie the game on a 5-on-3 power play but couldn't convert. The result: The team's fifth straight loss and seventh in their last eight.
* Play was stopped early in the third when Coyotes defenseman Ed Jovanovski was struck in the face with the puck.
* With 14:48 left in the third and Jones and Roche in the box for Phoenix, Caps head coach Glen Hanlon calls timeout. He sends Nycholat, Green, Semin, Zubrus and Ovechkin out for the two-man advantage. Though they generate scoring chances -- and Nycholat looks comfortable at the point -- they can't cash in as both penalties expire.
* Ovechkin crushes Derek Morris into the plexiglass behind the Phoenix net and wakes up the crowd. Too bad it didn't wake up the Caps offense.
* Attendance: 12,079. Overall, Caps outshoot Phoenix 32-28, but the difference has to be the failure on the power play.
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Even though the first quarter of the season had the Coyotes wondering if they could play NHL hockey, they have been steadily improving.
Teams should not take the current version of the Coyotes for granted otherwise they might lose the game - they are a much better team than they were at the start.
Posted by:
at January 1, 2007 10:42 PM
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