Capitals Practice Recap for 2/23/07

Brian Pothier and Boyd Gordon were the first to hit the ice at 9:52 AM. With that, here are your lines for today:

Red - Ovechkin, Zubrus, Brashear, plus Jurcina and Morrisonn
Yellow - Semin, Beech, Fehr, plus Pothier and Erskine
Teal - Pettinger, Gordon, Bradley, plus Schultz and Heward
White - Clymer, Sutherby, Zednik, plus Laich, Nycholat and Eminger
Goalies - Johnson and Cassivi

Chris Clark and Brian Muir both did not practice. Although Muir came out at the end and did some light skating. With Clark out it was interesting to see Brashear being called to fill in on the 1st line. We'll see how long that lasts. Remember earlier in the year he was put on the second line in a brief experiment that lasted about a period. Also something worth noting, Eric Fehr left practice just ten minutes in. The word is he is suffering from a slight groin injury.

Coach Glen Hanlon started out practice by preaching to the team the importance of not turning the puck over at their own blue line, and as a result that seemed to be the main focus of the practice.

The first drill involved each line of five practicing exiting their zone with precise passes. Next was a breakout 2 on 0 drill with shots on goal. This was followed by another breakout drill where a player would take the put at the blue line and shoot on goal while another player would stand in front of the goal and try to deflect the pass. After shooting, the original player would skate to the opposite end of the rink, retrieve a puck and fire an outlet pass for a breakaway.

A lot of time was spend during 2 on 2 breakout drills. There would be 1 forward and 1 defenseman on each pairing. Once you went on offense, you would then go on defense. It was a fast paced drill that again focused on bringing the puck up the ice and entering the offense zone without turning the puck over. This was followed by 5 on 2 drills that once again focused on exiting their own zone and generating an attack up ice.

We then moved on to working on the power play. Since Clark is out, a second defenseman has now been inserted into the top line. Pothier now takes the point position in the umbrella formation with Semin and Heward on each board. Zubrus is assigned to the front of the net while Ovechkin is a roamer. The second line has Jurcina paired up with either Clymer or Schultz to go along with Pettinger, Beech, and Zednik.

A fifteen minute session of shootouts finished up practice with the team split up into two squads. The losing team each time was forced to do sit ups, push ups, and jumping jacks. Ovechkin continued to struggle going 0 for 4 on the day.

After practice Zubrus and Ovechkin (pictured) were having a good time trying to recreate his famous goal from last season.

I don't think many people got the notice of the change in time to 10 am because there was maybe about five people there. However, people were trickling in around 11 with some still arriving as I was leaving at 11:30.

Capitals Practice Recap

Brian Muir and Brian Pothier were on the ice again this morning as I arrived at 10:30 AM. However there was no sign of John Erskine so I wonder if he has had a setback in his rehabilitation. The lines for today saw no changes:

Red - Ovechkin, Zubrus, Clark, plus Beech
Black - Semin, Laich, Fehr
Teal - Pettinger, Gordon, Zednik, plus Clymer
Yellow - Brashear, Sutherby, Bradley
White - Schultz, Jurcina, Nycholat, Green, Morrisonn, Eminger, Heward

The main focus of practice today involved neutral zone trapping and working on their power play.

The practice started with a lot of full length skating drills. Hard to tell what the main point of this was besides maybe just warming up. One variation included two guys that would be circling in the center ice area before receiving an outlet pass and heading in on goal.

The same 5 on 2 drill as the other day was next. The team of five would retrieve the puck in their own zone and head up the ice into the offensive zone. After taking a shot on net they would then immediately head the opposite direction and attack the other net. Lots of end to end skating here.

One of the main focuses of practice was next as the team worked on their neutral zone trap. It was a 4 on 5 drill that would concentrate on making sure two men would pressure the offensive player with the puck. This drill went on for a good 20 minutes and had some good intensity to it. During the drill Coach Hanlon singled out Eric Fehr for some back checking pointers.

That drill was followed up by the team working on their power play, a part of their game that Hanlon had said, after last night's game, needed work. Over their last four games they have been 0 for 15 with the extra man.

The first power play unit consisted of Ovechkin, Zubrus, and Clark up front, with Semin and Heward on the point. The unit seemed to concentrate on getting both Ovechkin and Clark in front of the net to create traffic around the goal. Semin was at the center of the ice by the blue line, while Heward and Zubrus were on each side.

The second unit saw Fehr, Laich, and Zednik up front with Green and Jurcina or Clymer on the backline. This unit used the traditional setup of two on the point, two on each board, and one in front of the net. Hopefully the work they got in today can help break them out of their funk.

After the main drills were over the guys each got in some individual shooting work on one side, while the other side of the ice saw Johnson involved in the same goaltender drill as the other day. One guy would shoot on him while at least four other players surrounded the goal like you would see when someone is on the free-throw line in basketball. The play would continue until Johnson was able to control the puck.

Overall it looked like a very productive practice. The guys seemed to be in good spirits following last night's overtime win.

Morning Thoughts

It's games such as these that show how bright the future is for the Washington Capitals. They outplayed one of the better teams in their conference despite still being shorthanded with injuries. The only thing you can be disappointed about from the game was the score. They controlled the action, especially during the third period, and had many quality chances to tie. Once again, the team needs to build on this momentum as they have another important game Thursday night in Florida. A win and they are still only a few points out of a playoff spot. A loss and they would fall into last place in the division and possibly 14th place in the conference. Now some hump-day morning thoughts:

• After the game, coach Glen Hanlon said that it will be up to Zednik whether or not he will play Thursday night. He has been medically cleared to do so.

• Alex Ovechkin now leads the NHL in goals with 32 and is second in points with 69, which is 10 points behind the leading Sidney Crosby. He is currently on pace for 111 points which would surpass his total from last season.
  

• Don't look now but Kris Beech has put together back-to-back solid games. He followed up a goal against Carolina Saturday night with a beautiful assist last night. It was a nice individual play that involved winning a loose puck from veteran defenseman Wade Redden.

• The Capitals lost for only the third time this season when their goaltender Olie Kolzig has faced 35 shots or more. His record now stands at 11-3-1 in these games.

Draft Pick Updates:

• The Capitals 2005 first-round pick Joe Finley currently leads the North Dakota Fightning Sioux with a +13 defensive rating. The 19 year-old 6 foot 7 inch defenseman also has 1 goal and 1 assist on the season.

• Michal Neuvirth, the 2006 second-round pick, currently leads the OHL with a .933 save percentage. He has posted a 19-6-1-1 record to go along with a 2.28 gaa and 4 shutouts.

• The Fourth-round pick in 2006, Luke Lynes, has 21 goals and 24 assists but is -12 defensively for the OHL's Brampton Battalion.

• Another 2006 Fourth-round pick Oskar Osala has 13 goals and 11 assists and is +9 defensively for the OHL's Mississauga IceDogs.

• The 2005 Fourth-round pick Patrick McNeill has 17 goals and 24 assists and is +2 defensively.
  

A+ Team Effort Ends Losing Streak

Semin, Kolzig Key Victory Over the Defending Stanley Cup Champions
Washington Capitals 5, Carolina Hurricanes 2
Boxscore

The fourth out of eight meetings on the season between these division rivals had a special meaning tonight. The Caps entered the game desperate to get anything positive going in their direction, while the Hurricanes looked to continue their dominance of the Southeast division, having not lost in regulation since October 26th.

Injuries forced the Capitals' head coach Glen Hanlon to juggle his defensive parings matching Steve Eminger with Shaone Morrisson, and Brian Pothier with Lawrence Nycholat. The changes seemed to spark the team as they played a consistent defensive system throughout the game. This defensive improvement helped spark their standout goaltender Olaf Kolzig who had an excellent game stopping 34 of Carolina's 36 shots. The key to Kolzig's performance was the fact that he was not allowing any rebounds, preventing the Hurricane's from any second chance opportunities.

The Caps came out blazing in the first period dominating the action early on and getting quality scoring chances from role players Boyd Gordon and Ben Clymer. But Hurricane's goaltender John Grahame was up to the task turning aside shot after shot. At the 13:00 minute mark though the Capitals got the bounce they needed when a Chris Clark dump in from just beyond the red line was deflected with a high stick by defenseman David Tanabe into an empty net vacated by Grahame. The kind of breaks this team had not been getting during their three game losing streak. Clark would add an empty net goal giving him his second of the night and 19th on the season.

The Hurricane's would play the majority of the game with only five healthy defenseman after Niclas Wallin left the game in the first period with a lower body injury.

Alexander Semin was spectacular scoring with a wicked wrist shot on a power-play goal off a Danius Zubrus faceoff win in the second period, and then providing what turned out to be the game winning goal on a breakaway at the 9:33 mark in the third period. It was Semin's 4th multi-goal game in the month of January giving him 27 goals on the season. In 16 division games this season, Semin has scored 14 goals.

Alex Ovechkin notched his 29th goal of the season on an empty net goal in the closing minute of the game to put the contest out of reach for good. The goal ties Ovechkin with Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Marian Hossa, and Teemu Selanne for the league lead.

Game Notes: The Capitals were once again dominated in the faceoff department 38-27. The only center with a winning percentage on the night was Brooks Laich who won 4 out of 5 for 80%... Rookie Jeff Schultz stepped in for the injured Mike Green and was solid playing 18:49 minutes of ice time and finishing the game +1 defensively. He even saw some action on the penalty kill... Kolzig won his 270th career game moving him into a tie for 30th place all-time with Gilles Meloche.