{"id":3212,"date":"2009-12-10T18:00:52","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T18:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thehogs.net\/blogs\/?p=3212"},"modified":"2009-12-10T18:00:52","modified_gmt":"2009-12-10T18:00:52","slug":"caps-recap-filler-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/12\/10\/caps-recap-filler-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Caps Recap – Filler Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Caps recap articles will resume this Monday, but with the way the Caps played last week, I really felt I needed to acknowledge a few things.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The NHL needs to reconsider it\u2019s stance on Ovechkin – <\/strong>Due to mounting pressure from the 29 other teams in the league looking for a way to \u201crestrain him\u201d the league has painted crosshairs on Alex Ovechkin. Any little thing he does is going to be subject to penalization and suspension. The knee-on-knee hit was not a \u201cdirty play\u201d as much as some would like to say it is. Alex went in for the hit up high, the defender swung inside on Alex who had planted himself to make the hit, and their knees collided; Ovechkin got the worst of it. The Game-Misconduct was unnecessary as there was no way he was coming back into the game anyway, and it triggered an automatic \u201ctwo-game\u201d suspension.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ovechkin isn\u2019t just a local favorite, he is a superstar. Even people who aren\u2019t fans of the Capitals are sometimes fans of Ovechkin. They love to see him play. He scores goals, he makes hits and he celebrates after each goal as if it were his first. He plays with a passion seldom seen in the NHL.<\/p>\n

Penalizing Ovechkin, and suspending him from games isn\u2019t going to \u201clevel the playing field\u201d for other teams. As a matter of fact, the Caps scored 14 goals in two games all without the services of one Alex Ovechkin.<\/p>\n

Like it or not, the two-time reigning MVP is the current face of the NHL, and their overly harsh treatment of him is only the league trying to cut it\u2019s nose off to spite their face. The league should not want to give their best player a bad reputation by making him seem like a \u201ctrouble-maker.\u201d I\u2019m not saying they should give him carte-blanche to do whatever he pleases, but they should think very carefully about how they have instructed the refs to look at him. Last night Ovechkin was penalized for \u201cUnsportsmanlike Conduct-Diving\u201d when it was clear to anybody who saw it that Ovechkin wasn\u2019t \u201cthrowing himself to the ice\u201d in an attempt to draw a penalty, he had his skate kicked out from under-him.<\/p>\n

They penalized the other player for tripping, so how can they also penalize Ovechkin for \u201cdiving\u201d if they saw that he was tripped?<\/p>\n

This is a classic example of the league\u2019s \u201cshow of force\u201d so that the coaches from the other 29 teams around the league can\u2019t accuse the league of giving him \u201cspecial treatment.\u201d Sure, it may quell some of the angry letters submitted by the \u201csour-grapes\u201d coaches, but at the same time the league is painting their best player as a villain for the general public.<\/p>\n

The league should find a way to reconcile this, and lay off Ovechkin. If he is getting the \u201csuperstar treatment\u201d it would be hard to argue that he doesn\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How about that Semyon Varlamov, huh?<\/strong> \u2013 There is something special about this kid, and I think the Caps are starting to see that they have their lockdown net-minder in their midst. Varlamov has posted two shutouts in his last four games and, dating back to the playoffs, has four shutouts in his last 28 games. He is 7-0-2 with a 1.53 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage in his last nine appearances and has been one of the three stars in four of his last six games. The 21-year old has won 10 of his 14 starts this season and is now 12-1-2 on the year with a 2.21 GAA and a .924 save percentage. Varlamov\u2019s 12-1-2 record gives him the best points-percentage in the NHL and makes him 16-1-3 in his career. Not bad for a kid only in his second year!<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Living Out of a Suitcase \u2013 <\/strong>Did you realize that the Caps have played eight of their last twelve games on the road? They aren\u2019t done yet; by the time they wrap up their game against Montreal on December 19th<\/sup>, they will have played 12 out of their 17 games (dating back to November 14th<\/sup>) on the road, and played 17 games in 36 days. That is basically a game every other day for over a month, with 70% of them being on the road.<\/p>\n

4) <\/strong>A Quick Recap \u2013 <\/strong>Now you know I couldn\u2019t resist this, and while it is not my traditional recap of each of the Capitals opponents for last week, I feel it necessary to see where we are in the standings. Even after last night\u2019s blanking at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Caps are:<\/strong><\/p>\n

19-6-6 with 44 points<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

1st<\/sup> in the Southeast Division \u2013 <\/strong>11 points ahead of Atlanta (15-10-3)<\/p>\n

1st<\/sup> in the Eastern Conference \u2013 <\/strong>1 point ahead of New Jersey (21-7-1)<\/p>\n

1st<\/sup> overall in the League \u2013<\/strong> One game up and tied with San Jose (19-7-6)<\/p>\n

1st<\/sup> in Goals Per Game \u2013 <\/strong>Averaging 3.48 goals scored per game.<\/p>\n

1st<\/sup> in Power-Play Percentage<\/strong> \u2013 Scoring on 24.2% of time when they have the man-advantage.<\/p>\n

1st<\/sup> in Win Percentage when trailing After the 1st<\/sup> Period \u2013 <\/strong>They bounce back and win 62.5% of the time.<\/p>\n

Undefeated in the Southeast Division<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Caps have two more games this week; at home versus Carolina tomorrow, and then the turn around and head out to Toronto for a rematch versus the Maple Leafs on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Washington was just in Carolina November 30th<\/sup> and came away with a 3-2 win in a game that wasn\u2019t as close as the score implies. Carolina scored their first goal in the first five minutes of the game, and scored their last goal with around 0:16 seconds left in regulation. Between those two times the game was all Washington.<\/p>\n

When Washington last visited Toronto, they lost 2-1 in a game that required a shootout. Similarly, the Caps played a game at home the night before their last game versus Toronto. In that two game series the Caps lost on both Friday (to Montreal 3-2 in regulation) and Saturday so Caps fans are hoping history doesn\u2019t repeat itself here.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be back Monday with more, but in the meantime\u2026<\/p>\n

LET\u2019S GO CAPS!!!<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Caps recap articles will resume this Monday, but with the way the Caps played last week, I really felt I needed to acknowledge a few things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[41,570,1656],"class_list":["post-3212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-washington-capitals","tag-alex-ovechkin","tag-semyon-varlamov","tag-washington-capitals"],"yoast_head":"\nCaps Recap - Filler Edition | The-Hogs.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/12\/10\/caps-recap-filler-edition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Caps Recap - Filler Edition | The-Hogs.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My Caps recap articles will resume this Monday, but with the way the Caps played last week, I really felt I needed to acknowledge a few things.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2009\/12\/10\/caps-recap-filler-edition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The-Hogs.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/the-hogs.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-10T18:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/washington-commanders-helmet.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bobby Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheHogsdotNetv2\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheHogsdotNetv2\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bobby Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/10\\\/caps-recap-filler-edition\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/10\\\/caps-recap-filler-edition\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bobby Johnson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cabc19e8164a026bb9deffbb65ee2ffc\"},\"headline\":\"Caps Recap – Filler Edition\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-10T18:00:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/10\\\/caps-recap-filler-edition\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1036,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Alex Ovechkin\",\"Semyon Varlamov\",\"Washington Capitals\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Washington Capitals\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/10\\\/caps-recap-filler-edition\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/10\\\/caps-recap-filler-edition\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/the-hogs.net\\\/blogs\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/10\\\/caps-recap-filler-edition\\\/\",\"name\":\"Caps Recap - 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