Jason Chimera
Jets at Capitals In-Game Blog: 11-21-2011
Pregame Preview:
Coming off a four-game losing streak, the Caps returned to Verizon Center on Monday night and improved their home record to 7-1-1 with a 4-3 win over the Phoenix Coyotes.
Now the Caps hope to build off of that win against a Winnipeg Jets team that has won three straight after a five game winless streak. That streak included a 4-1 win over the Caps in Winnipeg last Thursday. The Jets, formerly the Atlanta Thrashers, become the first team from Winnipeg to travel to Washington since the old Jets (now the Phoenix Coyotes) tied the Caps 1-1 on January 16, 1996 at USAir Arena.
Right winger Eric Fehr also makes his return to the nation’s capital as a member of the Jets after being traded this summer in return for a 2012 4th Rounder and prospect Danick Paquette. Fehr made his season debut on Saturday after spending the first 19 games on Injured Reserve with a shoulder injury. In six seasons with the Capitals, he logged 46 goals and 93 points in 230 career games.
Tonight Alexander Semin returns to action after sitting out Monday night as a healthy scratch while Joel Ward is benched for sleeping in and missing a team meeting yesterday.
Fehr will be in the starting lineup. He received a nice cheer from the Verizon Center crowd when his name was announced on the big screen.
Another familiar friend, the Rally Balloon is featured on tonight’s intro video. That was quick.
Coyotes at Capitals In-Game Blog: 11-21-2011
Pregame Preview:
The Caps return to the Verizon Center tonight to begin a three-game homestand against the Phoenix Coyotes. Since starting out the season red hot with a 7-0 record, Washington has gone 3-7-1 since and are currently on a four game losing streak. In the last three games, the Caps have been anemic on offense and defense and were outscored 14-3, including a 7-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Coach Bruce Boudreau is continuing to alter the lineup, this time recalling defenseman Dmitry Orlov from Hershey to make his NHL debut. The addition of the 20-year old to the roster is in the hope of improving a team who has given up almost five times as many goals as they have scored in the past six days.
The Coyotes, however, are hot as of late, posting a record 6-2-1 in their last nine contests to put them at 10-5-3 on the season. They currently trail San Jose by two points for the Pacific division lead.
Boyd Gordon makes his return to D.C. after signing with the Coyotes as a free agent this past July. In 60 games during the 2010-2011 season, Gordon posted 9 points and averaged just over 13 minutes on the ice per game as a Capital. In 18 games this season, he already matched last season’s point total and averages over 16 minutes of ice time per game.
The Caps lead the all-time series against the Phoenix franchise with a record of 28-25-12-1.
Chimera Caps Off Improbable Comeback In Double Overtime
As the second overtime period began on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, I couldn’t help but believe that the Washington Capitals would find some way to win. After the disastrous second period, I never felt like the Caps were out of it and following the glorious third period, I felt as if momentum was on their side. The only real surprise was the unlikely hero.
Capitals at Flyers In-Game Blog: 3-22-2011
Pregame Preview:
Tonight, the Capitals head into Wells Fargo Center just two points behind the Flyers for first place in the Eastern Conference. A regulation win for the Caps would place both teams at 96 points with the Flyers having played two less games this season than the Caps.
Hurricanes at Capitals In-Game Blog: 03-11-2011
Pregame Preview:
The Caps come into tonight’s contest riding high on a six-game winning streak, with the latest victory coming on home ice Wednesday night against the worst team in the NHL, the Edmonton Oilers. Three point milestones were set that night in Washington’s 5-0 route with Jason Arnott gaining his 900th, Dennis Wideman reaching his 200th and Alex Ovechkin eclipsing 600 at just 25 years of age.
Rangers at Capitals In-Game Blog: 02-25-2011
Pregame Preview:
The Caps enter the final meeting between the New York Rangers and themselves having won three of their last four games and are coming off of three days of rest. That should bode well for the team’s energy tonight.
Four of the next seven games for the Caps will be at home, which should help after a solid 3-2 road outing.
Since their 2-1 shootout win against the Capitals on January 24th, the Rangers have mustered a 3-7-1 record since, including a six game losing streak.
An interesting note: the Capitals are 13-0-0 when Alexander Semin scores a goal.
Caps Earn Tough Win
A great big friendly raspberry to all of the Caps fans that were belly-aching throughout the game about the Caps not showing up in Florida – they showed up for long enough! Washington put the finishing touches on a great come-from-behind victory on their 6th penalty shot of the shootout on Wednesday night; Tomas Fleischmann put his penalty past Tomas Vokoun to give the Capitals the 5-4 win.
Montreal Canadiens @ Washington Capitals 01-05-2010
Ovechkin named Captain before Capitals play first home game of the decade.
For the first home game of the new year, the Washington Capitals are looking to avenge a dreadful two-game trip to the West Coast that saw them lose their respected matchups by a combined score of 7-3. The Caps had their work cut out for them, facing two of the of the top teams in the Western Conference in the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings. The road trip proved that there is plenty of work to do if they truly want to make a Stanley Cup run.