Bears Blow Lead, But Rally to Win Shootout

Alexandre Giroux Provides the Knockout Punch in the Shootout
Hershey Bears 3, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2
Boxscore

It’s a little ere how much the Bears game resembled their parent club’s game. The Caps, who were playing at the same time tonight as Hershey, jumped out to a 2-0 lead just as the Bears did, only to allow their opposition to tie the game up and eventually send it to a shootout. The difference was that Hershey was able to pull out the win, while the Capitals could only manage a single point on the night.

Tomas Fleichmann got the scoring started as he parked himself in front of the net and knocked home his 20th goal of the season following a nice feed from Mike Green behind the Penguins net. In the second period, Louis Robitaille extended the lead to 2 in what looked like an innocent looking play. He gathered the puck off the boards and just fired a shot, beating goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers.

The Bears took that lead into the third period and looked to be on their way to an easy victory before the Penguins were able to rally and tie the game. With 11:30 left in the game, Micki DuPont tallied his 9th goal of the season on the power play with a shot from the right circle that found the top right corner of the net. A little less than six minutes later, Kyle Brodziak would knock home his 18th of the season as another shot from the right circle beat Maxime Daigneault. It was the result of a quick offensive attack following a defensive zone faceoff win by the Penguins.

After Jakub Klepis hit the post, an excellent performance by Daigneault on some quality scoring chances led by Brodziak, allowed the game to go to a shootout.

Goals by Mike Green and Alexandre Giroux along with a clean sheet from Daigneault, gave the Bears the victory and the much needed extra point to extend their lead in the standings to 4 points over the Penguins. With Norfolk defeating Springfield 2-1, the win also kept Hershey seven points behind the division leaders.

The hit of the night came from none other than Jakub Klepis as he nailed Penguins defenseman Noah Welch. The hit left Welch wobbly and resulted in a scrum that sent Mike Green and Ryan Stone to the box with ten minute misconducts.

Your Top 3 Stars:

1. Maxime Daigneault, Hershey 38 saves

2. Tyler Kennedy, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2 assists

3. Tomas Fleichmann, Hershey 1 goal

Game Notes:

Jamie Hunt (wrist), Chad Wiseman (day-to-day), Pete Vandermeer (broken leg), Jonas Johansson (healthy), and Donny Grover (healthy) were the scratches.

Hershey is Finally Beaten by Albany

River Rats snap 19 game losing streak to the Bears Dating Back to March 28, 2004

Albany River Rats 3, Hershey Bears 1

Boxscore
(Photo Courtesy of Mark Newman/AHL.com)

It looked like a completely different River Rats team than the Bears were used to facing. In the week since these two teams last played, Albany was lucky enough to receive some much needed help in the newly assigned left wing Antti Laaksonen from the Colorado Avalanche and defenseman Anton Babchuk from the Carolina Hurricanes. Each played a big factor in the River Rats first win over the Bears since March 28, 2004.

A sellout crowd of 10,598 at the Giant Center saw Albany jump all over Hershey from the start. Following a Matt Hendricks high-sticking penalty just 4:03 into the game, Matt Murley put home a power play goal on a rebound shot in front of Nolan Schaefer, after the Bears’ goaltender had originally made the save on a Kyle Cumiskey shot. It was Murley’s 14th goal of the season and gave Albany an early 1-0 lead.

Just 15 seconds later the River Rats struck again as Jakub Petruzalek took advantage of a Bears defensive lapse to knock home his 8th of the season and put the home team in a 2-0 whole. Hershey continued their lackluster play and the crowd started to get on them. They voiced their displeasure after some more sloppy play in their own zone lead to a couple more quality scoring chances for Albany after the Bears failed to carry the puck out of their defensive zone cleanly. The River Rats outshot the Bears 14-9 in the first period and were 1-3 on the power play. The score could have been much worse than 2-0 at the intermission if not for some nice saves by Nolan Schaefer in his first start since being reassigned to Hershey by his parent club, the San Jose Sharks.

The second period didn’t start much better as the River Rats struck again just 14 seconds into the period as Annti Laaksonen put home a pass from captain Keith Aucoin right into the slot area. It was Laaksonen’s 3rd goal in his 2nd game since being reassigned to Albany.

The game finally started to turn Hershey’s way at the 8:08 mark of the second when left winger Louis Robitaille got involved in a scrap with Kevin Estrada of the River Rats. The fight brought some energy into the building as it gave the fans something to cheer about. Hershey seemed to feed off of this as they pretty much controlled the action the rest of the game. They were finally able to solve goaltender Tyler Weiman with 2:28 remaining in the 2nd period as Jakub Klepis won a battle for the puck in the offensive corner, and found Kip Brennon in front of the net. The Bears’ resident tough guy received the pass and beat Weiman for his 1st goal in a Hershey uniform. The goal was also the 200th of the season for the Bears, giving them some life heading into the 3rd period.

The final period saw a furious comeback attempt come up short as despite dominating the play, outshooting their opposition 19-5, Hershey was unable to beat Tyler Weiman who made some excellent saves on two quality chances by Chad Wiseman in the period. With 2:48 to go, Wiseman celebrated what he thought was a goal after he had a point blank shot in front of the River Rats goal. It was not to be as Weiman did not allow the puck to squeeze through his pads as he secured Albany’s first win over Hershey this season in their seventh try.

The game marked the season debut in the AHL for defenseman Mike Green who was reassigned to the Bears this past Thursday. He wore number 25 and was paired up with defenseman Tyler Sloan, who coincidently wore number 5, the number Green wore with the Bears last season. He also saw time on the first power play unit on the point with Alexandre Giroux.

Your Top Three Stars:

1. Tyler Weiman, Albany 35 Saves

2. Keith Aucoin, Albany 2 Assists

3. Antti Laaksonen, Albany 1 Goal

Game Notes:

Mike Vogel was a guest in John Walton’s booth during the first intermission. He talked about Kolzig’s recent injury, Frederic Cassivi possibly playing in Washington’s game at Montreal on Tuesday, Mike Green’s reassignment being a numbers game, and Jeff Schultz’s impressive play with the Caps that he credited to his long reach and good poise…. Tim Leone of The Patriot News was Walton’s guest during the second intermission and he credited Louis Robitaille’s fight as a momentum changer in the game, and talked about Hershey’s goaltending situation as Maxime Daigneault is not quite ready to play as of yet…. Nolan Schaefer made his 19th start of the season in the AHL, and his 3rd with Hershey…. Jamie Hunt (wrist), Pete Vandermeer (broken leg), and Deane Arsene (suspension) were scratched to go along with Marc Busenburg, Joey Tenute, and Jonas Johansson, who were listed as healthy scratches…. Former Capital Stephen Peat was a scratch for Albany. He is currently out with a broken leg.

Reinforcements Are on the Way to Hershey

Some much needed help is on the way to Hershey. Defenseman Mike Green of the Washington Capitals and goaltender Nolan Schaefer of the San Jose Sharks were both reassigned to the Bears today.
(Photo Courtesy of Dave Sanford/Getty Images)

The 21 year old Green was a key member of the Hershey's Calder Cup championship team last season and had spent the entire season so far with the Washington Capitals. He played in 54 games for the big club recording 2 goals and 8 assists while putting up a +1 defensive rating. Since he returned from a foot injury just before the All-Star break, his play has been inconsistent at best. He has also seen his ice time decline as of late, including a season low of 5:23 in a game against Ottawa on January 16th. The return to the AHL should help Green reestablish his game back to the level he played at during the Bears playoff run.

Schaefer returns to Hershey after spending a week in San Jose as he was recalled when Evgeni Nabakov suffered a slight groin injury. He previously played in 2 games with the Bears recording a 0-2-0 record with a 4.05 goals against average and an .863 save percentage. Schaefer will provide some much needed experience to the Bears as he will split time with Maxime Daigneault who is returning from an ankle injury. The move would also allow the team to return Daren Machesney back to the South Carolina Stingrays for more seasoning.

Capitals Sunday Practice Update

First a quick look at the lines for today's practice:

1. Red line - Ovechkin, Zubrus, Clark, plus Zednik who should play Tuesday in Ottawa
   
2. Teal line - Semin, Laich, Fehr
3. Yellow line - Pettinger, Gordon, Sutherby
4. Black line - Brashear, Beech, Clymer

Mike Green was the first to hit the ice 15 minutes before practice was scheduled to begin. He showed no signs of his recent ankle injury and seemed to be skating at 100%.

Once again Brian Pothier and Matt Bradley were not at practice today joining injured list members John Erskine and Brian Muir on the sideline.

The practice had a very technical feel to it and the team was treating it that way as, despite the big win last night, there was not a lot of hooting and hollering today. They started off with a forechecking drill where the center was responsible for pressuring the puck in the offensive zone while the two wings covered the side boards preventing the breakout pass. Next was an outlet drill that had a couple of variations to it, all of which ended up in a breakaway scoring chance. This was followed by a drill that focused on their quick breakouts as 2 defensemen were located on each side of the forward line. They would change directions a couple times before entering the offensive zone.

The next part of practice was the most heavily practiced drill of the day as they worked on their play in the corners. The exercise would last as long as the offense controlled the puck. There were three variations of this drill that included dividing the offensive zone into a smaller area. They were highly contested drills as there was a lot of hard hitting led by none other than Ovechkin. Jeff Schultz also knocked Brooks Laich to the ice, drawing a roar from the players. While this was going on, Kolzig and Johnson took turns working with goaltending coach Dave Prior on the other side of the ice.

The practice finished up with a 3 on 1 breakaway drill that also included a trailing defenseman. Ben Clymer had the prettiest goal in this exercise beating Johnson glove side that drew an applause from the nice crowd on hand. I would estimate that there was about 200 people there on this Sunday morning as the bleachers were mostly full.

After practice Jamie Heward brought his son out for a little mites on ice entertainment. I lost track counting the number of times he fell which was amusing.

The NHL returns today to NBC with a regional game at 3:30 PM ET. If you are a fan of hockey you should support the sport as we need all the ratings we can get. The local game in DC should be Philadelphia at Atlanta.

Down on the Farm:

Before a sellout crowd of 10,734 people at the Giant Center last night, the Hershey Bears took a 2 goal lead into the third period before falling to the Norfolk Admirals 4-3. Newly demoted Jakub Klepis scored his first AHL goal of the season and Chris Bourque added his 12th and 13th in the losing effort. It was the Bears second straight loss heading into the All-Star break as they are now 4 points behind the division leading Admirals.

Matt Stefanishion tied the game at 3 late in the third period and Donny Grover got the game winner in overtime as South Carolina rallied for a 4-3 win at the Texas Wildcatters. It was the third consecutive game in as many nights between the two teams. Davis Parley stopped 42 of 45 shots for the win in his fourth consecutive night of work including his game with Hershey on Wednesday. The Stingrays will take a much needed break and return to action on Friday night in Duluth, Georgia against the Gwinnett Gladiators.

Young Stars and Super Skills Competition Do Their Job: Entertain

It was an exciting preliminary night to be followed by the main event tomorrow, the NHL All-Star game. The young stars put on a show of their skills and how the game would look should it start to resemble the NBA (The No Defense League).
Capitals defenseman Mike Green was able to play in the exhibition despite still recovering from an ankle injury he suffered last week. He recorded two assists and had a breakaway opportunity that was denied by Colorado's Peter Budaj.
Alex Ovechkin participated in the second half of the events for the night, the Super Skills competition. He was a contestant in the fastest skater competition which seemed to be suffering from technical difficulties. The electronic timer was not functioning correctly so the time was being recorded on the ice via a stopwatch. It was not exactly the most efficient way of conducting this event. Ovechkin seemed to be flying around the ice, but when he finished he was announced as having a time above 15 seconds, which was a full second behind the leader at the time Patrick Marleau. The commentators even suggested that the time-keeper obviously was no Capitals fan. Later on, Ovechkin continued his struggles in shootout situations as he missed his only attempt of the night.
Did anyone else have trouble following the ending to the Super Skills competition? How did Sidney Crosby get to take 4 shootout opportunities in a row? Maybe I was just tired, but it was very confusing.
Overall though it was an outstandingly entertaining night, which will hopefully lead to a memorable All-Star game tomorrow night.

Will the Real Caps Team Please Stand Up?

Tale of Two Games as Capitals Start Out Strong Then Disappear As Panthers Dominate Once Again
Florida Panthers 4, Washington Capitals 1
Boxscore

In front of a crowd of 13,877 at the Verizon Center, the Caps came out guns a blazing, just as they had two nights ago in Raleigh, North Carolina. They took advantage of a penalty-plagued opening (14 minutes of penalties combined in the first 8 minutes of the game) and converted on a two man advantage when Danius Zubrus took a cross ice pass from Alex Ovechkin, and slipped the puck between goaltender Ed Belfour's pads for an early 1-0 lead. It was Zubrus' 17th goal of the season and the 3rd time he has scored while the Caps enjoyed a two man advantage. Alex Ovechkin's assist extended his career high point scoring streak to 9 games.

But that would be the end of the highlights for the Capitals. Beginning in the second period the game quickly resembled last Saturday's debacle in Florida as the Panthers dominated every aspect of the game. They tied the score at the 2:42 mark on a beautiful backhand cross from Anthony Stewart which Marin Gelenas had no problem depositing into the back of the net for his 5th goal of the season. The Panthers would not let up, and despite a Nathan Horton tripping penalty, they would continue to control the action converting on their second quality scoring chance of the penalty kill when Jozef Stumpel snapped a wrist shot past the glove of Kolzig. The score would give the Panthers the lead for good. The Capitals did not record their first shot on goal in the second period until jthe 14:00 minute mark.

The third period was more of the same as the Capitals were outshot 10-1 early on. The game was put out of reach for good when Steve Eminger turned the puck over in his own end, which quickly turned into a 2 on 1 which the Panthers converted on as Ville Peltonen beat Kolzig for his 8th goal of the season and a 3-1 lead. Martin Gelenas would add his second goal of the game on an empty net goal in the last minute of the game making the final 4-1.

A week after giving up 54 shots to the Panthers, the Capitals were once again manhandled by the Southeastern Division dwellers giving up 42 shots on goal while only recording 18 shots themselves. The one positive stat to take away from this game was the Caps holding the Panthers to 0 for 10 on the power-play.

Game Notes: Brian Pothier was scratched from the lineup with what the team said was an "illness". Make your own judgments on the validity of that statement based on the team's history of not reporting injuries to the press....Jamie Hunt was recalled from Hershey but did not dress as Mike Green was able to return to the lineup....Shaone Morrisonn limped to the dressing room towards the end of the first period after blocking a shot off his foot, something that is becoming an epidemic for the Capitals' defenseman, but he was able to return in the second period and finished the game....Boyd Gordon was dominant in the face-off circle winning 15 of 22 for a 68% win percentage.

Capitals Practice Recap

The team seemed to be in good spirits today, as expected following a key victory the night before in Raleigh. Here are some of the highlights from the practice today at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex:

• Alexander Semin, Donald Brashear, and Brian Pothier all missed practice today. When asked Capitals coach Dean Evason was unsure why and said it could be for a number of reasons. I asked Danius Zubrus as well if he knew of any reason and he shrugged his shoulders. So hopefully this means it is no big deal.
• Richard Zednik took Semin's spot on the second line and looked as though he was practicing at full speed. When asked if there was any chance he would play in tomorrow's game Zednik said, "No". But look for him to be back in the lineup after the All-Star break.
  
• During 2 on 1 drills Boyd Gordon provided the highlight of the day scoring on an excellent backhand move around goaltender Brent Johnson. The play drew applause from Alex Ovechkin who pounded his stick against the boards in approval.
• A good portion of the practice focused on their defensive structure as coach Glen Hanlon's main focus that he was stressing to his players was to keep the opposition to the outside as they exit their own zone.
• The team had a shootout competition where Jeff Schultz put on a show going 3 for 3 before being stopped on his last attempt which was the championship round with Jakub Klepis. Klepis scored on his attempt past Johnson for the win. Ovechkin missed on both of his attempts.
• Mike Green came out at the end of practice and was skating around gingerly without pads. You could tell that he was trying to put pressure on his left leg, but looked very uncomfortable in doing so. He was skating for about 5 minutes before noticeably limping back to the locker room.
  

Capitals/Hurricanes Preview

Washington Capitals (19-20-7, 45 Points)
at
Carolina Hurricanes (25-18-5, 55 Points)

TV: Comcast Sportsnet
Radio: Sportstalk 980-AM
Gametime: 7:00 PM

Only two games to go before the Capitals reach the All-Star break. And it can't come soon enough as they enter Thursday night's game riding a six game road losing streak and a three game losing streak overall. The Hurricanes enter the game riding a five game point streak posting a record of 4-0-1 over that span.
The Caps lineup will be missing another key defenseman as Mike Green will not accompany the team to Raleigh. He was injured while blocking a Christoph Schubert shot (who has been known to hit 100 mph at times) during the Caps 5-2 loss to the Senators Tuesday night. While it was revealed today that the x-rays on his left leg were negative, he is still listed by the Capitals as being out indefinitely. In his place Washington recalled 20-year old prospect Jeff Schultz to take his place on the blue line. In 35 games for the Hershey Bears this season, Schultz has recorded 1 goal and 5 assists and is plus 11 defensively. It will be his second recall of the season as he played in 2 games in December for the big club.
Alex Ovechkin enters the game riding a 12-game point scoring streak where he has scored 5 goals and 13 assists.
It seems as though the Donald Brashear on the second line experiment lasted all of one game as he is listed on the fourth line in Mike Vogel's pregame report. Another interesting note on the lineup is that Boyd Gordon is listed as the second line center. He has been a solid checking line center all season long, and has shown in Hershey the ability to put up points. Hopefully that will transfer over given the opportunity to play alongside Alexander Semin and Matt Pettinger.
The Caps and Hurricanes will be seeing a lot of each other in the near future. Including tonight's game they will play each other three times in the next 10 days. The Canes come into this contest have having won the previous two in this matchup, outscoring the Caps 9-1 in those games.
A quick start will be critical for the Caps to avoid losing more confidence and because Carolina is 17-0-0 when leading after two periods.

Morning After Thoughts

First of all it feels a little like Ottawa this morning here in DC. What happened to our 70 degree weather? The arctic chill has set in, just as it has for the hopes of the Caps season. But not all is lost, let's take a look at the bright side of things.

• The Caps are 19-20-7, 45 points and technically only 1 game behind .500.
  
• Despite their resent struggles, they are only 5 points out of a playoff spot.
• We can't be anything but excited about the play of our superstar players Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin. They have proven that they are two of the most feared snipers in the game. And at the ages of 21 and 22 respectively, their game has no where to go but up.
• The Capitals have one of the best minor league teams out there in the Hershey Bears. They have followed up their Calder Cup Championship with a solid season proving that the future is bright for the Capitals young prospects.

On the other hand:

• The Caps have lost six straight games on the road, including three straight games overall.
  
• The defense has been anything but stellar as of late, allowing at least 5 goals in each game on the current road trip.
• Already missing defenseman John Erskine and Bryan Muir to similar injuries, it looks as though the Caps may have lost the services of another in Mike Green. He took a hard slap shot off his left leg and could be out for a while depending on the results of his x-rays taken after the game. Keep your fingers crossed Caps fans, we can ill afford to loose Green for any significant length of time.
• The Caps need to work on their faceoffs. Last night's stats proved this fact as the only centers above the 50% mark were Brooks Laich with a 75% success rate and Boyd Gordon with a 60% success rate. Kudos to you Brooks and Boyd. Now how bout helping out your fellow teammates. Here were the others' faceoff win percentages last night: Danius Zubrus at 45%, Brian Sutherby 37.5%, and Jakub Klepis 0 for 5 for 0%. Attention must be given to the little details of the game in order for the team to improve.
• If the Caps continue to side, they must then make room for some of their top prospects in Hershey. Eric Fehr and Tomas Fleichmann have nothing left to prove at the AHL level. Get them some experience this year so they would be ready for a full time position from the first day of the 07-08 season.

The schedule does not get any easier as the Caps head to Carolina on Thursday to take on the defending Stanley Cup Champions. This will be the first of 3 meetings between the 2 teams over the following 10 days.

Ottawa feels more like Florida

Streak Continues as Caps Drop Their Sixth Consecutive Road Game, And Lose Defenseman Mike Green
Ottawa Senators 5, Washington Capitals 2
Boxscore

A new climate nor a new country could snap the Capitals out of their current slide as they brought their sloppy play with them from Florida. The Caps kept pace with the swift footed Senators for most of the game, but suffered from mental lapses that led to Ottawa's goals.
Brent Johnson was solid at times keeping the game from getting out of hand, but allowed a couple soft goals in key situations. With the Caps trailing 1-0, Johnson seemed to freeze the puck following a routine save, but the puck would never find his glove and squeezed through his pads to a waiting Mike Comrie who slammed the gift home for the 2-0 lead. The other soft goal occurred midway through the second period with an assist from an unlucky bounce off the Scotiabank Palace end boards right into the front of the Caps net where Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson converted for the short-handed goal, and a 3-1 lead. The newly aquired center Comrie would then put the game out reach a minute later scoring on a wrist shot for his second of the game and the 4-1 lead.
The Capitals' highlights of the game came from Steve Eminger who recorded his first goal of the season, snapping a 41 game goal scoring drought dating back to last season, on a nice hustle play from Boyd Gordon. Alex Ovechkin also got credited with an assist on the play extending his goal scoring streak to 7 games. Earlier in the game Chris Clark scored his 17th goal of the season on a short-handed goal at the end of the first period that pulled the Caps to within one 2-1.
The news got even worse for the Caps after the game as they learned that Mike Green could soon join fellow defenseman John Erskine and Bryan Muir on the injured reserve list pending the results of the x-rays taken on his left leg. Green was injured while blocking a shot towards the end of the first period. He hobbled to the bench, then even returned for a shift at the beginning of the second period before leaving the game for good. The injury could not come at a worse time for the Caps who are thin on defense to begin with. Now they could be looking at calling up another defenseman before Thursday night's game at Carolina. In all likely hood that man would be Jeff Schultz who made his NHL debut earlier in the season with the Caps.