Pens lose to Caps

At the end of the day the Penguins let too many early chances go…Sidney Crosby had a breakaway but couldn’t score. Jordan Staal came down on a 2 on 1 and was rebuffed. On and on, so it goes.

--Rob Scuderi caught a shot in the face and was obviously out for the game. Dropping to five defensemen for the rest of the night on back to back games may not be an excuse they’ll use, but it looked like it took it’s toll.

--Hold your breath on the Crosby injury front, looked like Sid was in a lot of pain. Hopefully we’ll hear something today and it will be good news…Remember with the All-Star break the Penguins only play three games in the next 13 days.

--For the chances the Penguins failed on, the Caps seemed to put them in. There were certainly no shortage of weak calls (for both teams) to give each other’s power-plays chances to separate. Credit the Caps on this night for doing that.

--The Malkin/Ovechkin angle is fascinating. We can’t remember two players so good just going after each other so personally. It elevates both of their games too, with three combined goals on 22 shots. This could be the angle of the Olympics, how the two countrymen interact and coexist.

--You still get the feeling this team is missing that certain something, but what is it? Sergei Gonchar can do a lot of things, but playing the wing is not one of them. Ray Shero’s inactivity is starting to hurt the team. No one wants him to make a move just to make a move, but at some point he’s gotta step up to the plate and make something happen. Is it fire the coach? Is it shaking the team up with a trade? Hey we don’t have the answers, but “do nothing” seems to be the wrong one. The season is slipping away.

--Finally, eye rolls on Ted Leonsis taking swipes at the Pensblog and then follow up by tooting his own team's blogosphere for being "sophisticated". (Side note: we still can't find the page in the sophistication manual where it says you can call someone a clown?) It's doubtful he'd be crowing like this if the Penguins had won yesterday. But the Caps carried the play so give the man his day.

Still, it's the Pensblog, what do you expect? They "job" everyone all the time, themselves included. The Pensblog is like a juvenile George Carlin--it's profane, it's shocking, it's loud. Japers Rink is like a hip network news show that's always a good read. Both are excellent in their own regards, but they have different ways and different methods. There's no shortage of analytical, even-handed Penguins blogs that offered accounts of the game that Ted would have found a little more mature, but it seemed like he wanted to target the Pensblog and get off a shot while he could at an entire fanbase while he was at it. Classy indeed.

The Great Race...Malkin v. Crosby v. Ovechkin

Through 29 games a pop, here's early chart of game by game points for the the three amigos: Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. This goes off of a team's game, so if a player misses a game (like Ovechkin did to visit his grandfather) than obviously his amount of points remains stagnant for that game.

Out of curiosity, here's the same chart if you include Alex "Dead Wood" Semin. As Crosby can tell you, an longterm injury really derails your chances. All of Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin have seemed to have nagging injuries early in the season, but all have been able to trudge onward. Hopefully for the league's sake, they can keep it up.

Click on images to make them bigger. As you can tell, the lines have only advanced about 1/3 along the right axis, plenty of time left.

We'll update this again probably around the all-star break to see how things are going.

Game 5: Caps/Pens...the opening salvo

Thanks to geography, we're in the middle of Capitals country...The Penguins and Capitals both feature some of the best and most active blogospheres around and we have friends on both sides. Our circle of hockey buddies is split: 2 Penguins fans (and the editor) and 3 Caps supporters.

With all this mixing, we're stuck right in the middle. So even though tonight's game is just one of 82, and in the big scheme of things not that important, anytime you've got Crosby vs. Ovechkin vs. Malkin, it's a big deal. Each one of those guys wants to be the one to shine the brighest anytime they share the stage together. Bragging rights personally are on the line. It's what the sport is all about.

So, for our Penguins readers and comrades, here's a look at the Caps with things you need to know:

• Viktor Kozlov is out with injury, and Caps captain Chris Clark is on the top line now. Clark's kind of like an undersized (but more mature) version of Ryan Malone. His precense in front of the net and down in the corners should mesh well with the skill of Nicklas Backstrom and Ovechkin.
• If the Penguins forwards don't challenge Mike Green, he will rush the puck all the way up the ice into a scoring area. Green's off to a ridiculously frantic start (3 goals in 3 games) and if unchecked will do damage.
• Alex Semin, the enigmatic but extremely talented winger, has been one of the hardest working players on the ice this season. That is a scary thought, when he wants to be one of the best players in the sport he can be, but his work ethic (be it from injuries or disinterest) hasn't seemed all there in the past.
• The Caps have experimented with Sergei Fedorov on the blueline but appear to have him as a forward tonight. This is good news as it means that the dim-witted and slow skating John Erskine is back in the lineup and probably paired with the not fleet-of-foot Milan Jurcina. This could be a great matchup for the Pens speedy 3rd line with players like Tyler F. Kennedy and Max Talbot.
• Jose Theodore settled down a little after the second game but the fact remains he's given up 6 goals on 48 shots and has been very shaky early in games.

Crosby vs. Ovechkin head-to-head

So far, it's been a huge mismatch or mixmatch, as Emmitt Smith did actually say.

Team Records:
Penguins: 10-1
Capitals: 1-8-2

Sidney Crosby: 7 goals, 12 assists, 19 points, +7
Alex Ovechkin: 4 goals, 8 assists, 12 points, +3


(In interest of painting the full picture, AO did go 2g +1a in a 6-5 win for the Caps while Crosby was out with an ankle injury).

I'm just sayin' too...

Sometimes when it pays off, it pays off... (click on the image to see it better....considering how young we are it's probably criminal how little usage of technology we have)





Also if that Dany Heatley could play games 3-82 like he plays the first two he would re-write record books, eh? (If you click the link and the picture you'll get it)

Malkin and Gonchar staying busy

Last summer Sergei Gonchar and Evgeni Malkin trained in St. Petersburg Russia and both had great seasons. Gonchar, a notoriously slow starter from his early years in Washington, particularly played well. Need proof? The first two months of the 2007-08 season the Sarge put up 24 points in 23 games, better than the 17 point in 23 games in 06-07 and 12 points in 22 games for the 05-06 season.

This summer the pair of Russian Penguins are seemingly participating in similiar activities, as they're playing in a tournament August 1-6 in St. Pete, along with a fellow by the name of Alex Ovechkin.

It's interesting that Malkin and Ovechkin are taking another similiar path. Ovechkin has been friendly and open about Malkin's talent and ability, all the while saying it doesn't matter if his opponent is Russian or Canadian. Malkin has been a little frostier towards his countryman; once saying the relationship between the two were "teammates" (as in the Russian National team), not "friends" as the reporter suggested in a question.

Hockey is a tight knit circle and we assume there's not too much world class training going on in summer in Russia so the two will likely be in close quarters again. It'll be interesting to see what if any reports come to this side of the world about the participation of some of the biggest NHL stars in the world right now.

And the ESPY goes to....

Hint: the guy on the left

Japers doesn't like it one bit (or doesn't care), after all this is supposed to be the year of Alex Ovechkin. Sidney Crosby is still the higher profile player with the constant media spotlight, the unending Gatorade commerical and the storybook GWG on the year's most widely watched game.

If you look at pure points per game in playoffs plus regular season, Crosby was in a virtual dead heat with Ovechkin. Sid talled 1.33 (99 points in 73 games) to AO's 1.36 (121 in 89). Crosby played 20 playoff games (to Ovechkin's 7) where points are supposed to be harder to come by.

Not to mention Crosby helped his team to within 2 games of Lord Stanley, while Ovechkin and the Caps were shown the door in the first round of the playoffs.

So picking Crosby over-all as player of the year isn't as bad as Captial fans may cry about....But for Christ's sake it's the ESPYs, not anything important.

Congrats Alex!!

Uhh, yeah, best player in the league this year....You da man?

NHL Awards....Sweater Ted Style

**Note: We predict playoff series on who we think will win....We're giving these awards on who we think OUGHT to win. Big difference***

Vezina Trophy: Top goalie
Nominees: Matin Brodeur (NJD), Henrik Lundqvist (NYR), Evgeni Nabokov (SJ)

--All three were absolute workhorses, appearing in at least 72 of the 82 games for their teams. Lundqvist has a mostly "no name" defensive core and an offensive unit that struggled early on in the season. Nabokov lead San Jose to another great year, winning the most games of any of the nominees. We're going for Martin Brodeur here. The two time Vezina winner was said to have been a product of New Jersey's defensive system, but seemingly every year retirement or free agency has taken about every piece of the puzzle away. Brodeur is the constant. Brodeur is the reason that NJ is in the hunt every single year, the numbers don't lie.

Lady Byng Trophy: Most Sportsmanlike
Nominees: Pavel Datsyuk (DET), Jason Pominville (BUF), Martin St. Louis (TB)

--This award should be re-named "player who scores a lot of points but doesn't rack up a lot of penalty minutes" because that's basically what it is. Datysuk had 97 points and 20 penalty minutes, Pominville had 80 points and 20 PIMs and San Louie had 83 points and 23 penalty minutes. So we're picking Pavel Datsyuk, he's dangerous in the offensive zone and mindful enough without the puck to be good, but gentlemanly. Whatever that means.

Masterton Trophy: Perseverance to the sport of hockey
Nominees: Chris Chelios (DET), Jason Blake (TOR), Fernando Pisani (EDM)

--Blake played through cancer this season, Pisani dropped a ton of weight and missed the beginning of the year with the disease colitis and Chelios has dedicated himself to hockey through 46 years of age. We think Jason Blake's condition was probably the toughest of the three to fight through, and statistically he had the best season (82 games, 15 goals, 37 assists). Despite being a disappointing free agent on a disappointing team, Blake showed up every night and that's pretty inspiring. The Masterton is a cool award because every team gets a nominee, and the stories that are around, be it through guys fighting through injury, illness or just dedication deserve the honor and recognition that goes with it. So, as corny as it sounds, there's always 30 winners of the Masterton every year if you think about it.

Frank Selke Trophy: Top defensive forward:
Nominees: Pavel Datsyuk (DET), Henrik Zetterberg (DET), John Madden (NJD)

--Votes are cast for these awards before the playoffs, but from watching the Stanley Cup finals, there's no doubt in our mind who the finest defensive forward in the league is. Collect your award Henrik Zetterberg.

Jack Adams Award: Best head coach
Nominees: Mike Babcock (DET), Bruce Boudreau (WAS), Guy Carbonneau (MTL)

--For the longest time we were leaning towards giving this award to Carbonneau. He's coaches in, after all, arguably hockey's hottest pressure cooker in Montreal and when not many experts predicted him to make the playoffs (and his GM traded his top goalie for a draft pick at the deadline) and the Habs ended up the #1 team in the East for the regular season. Babcock has a thankless job, if he wins it's expected due to the strength of his team, but if they lose it's his fault and all the "monday morning quarterbacks" come out of the woodwork to second guess his decisions. After significant thought, we're giving the award to Bruce Boudreau. He breathed life into essentially a dead team and they responded, going 37-17-7 and winning their division on the last night. A story that could have been written by the folks at Disney, the middle age coach finally getting a chance at the top level with a last place team who turns them into a success.

Norris Trophy: Top defensemen
Nominees: Zdeno Chara (BOS), Nicklas Lidstrom (DET), Dion Phaneuf (CGY)

--Lidstrom captained his team to a President's trophy (and Stanley Cup), Chara was the captain of an upstart Boston team that defied expectations and made the playoffs and at age 23 Phaneuf has the movie-star girlfriend, youtube highlight reels and all-around game to be at least a pretty constant nominee for this award for next decade plus. At the end of the day though this one is going to be a runaway for Nicklas Lidstrom, when it comes to the best defenseman in the game, he's clearly got to be #1 on everyone's list..

Calder Trophy: Most proficient rookie
Nominees: Nicklas Backstrom (WAS), Patrick Kane (CHI), Jonathan Toews (CHI)

--The key word is proficient. Backstrom had a great year, a player capable of keeping up with Ovechkin and feeding him sensational passes. Pat Kane, the youngest of the three at age 18, fired up a dormant city of Chicago with his offensive genius and ended up with the most points of the three. Toews suffered an injury and ended scoring fewer points (but more goals!) than any candidate. When Toews was out, coincidentally or not, the wind was taken out of the Blackhawks' sails and it took them out of playoff contention. Toews also scored what we feel is the goal of the year just two weeks into the season. That doesn't figure into consideration for this voting, but hey. We're picking Jonathan Toews for the Calder. While no one in the hunt would be a bad choice, he was just a little above the rest.

Hart Trophy: Most Valuable Player
Nominees: Alex Ovechkin (WAS), Evgeni Malkin (PIT), Jarome Iginla (CGY)

--Iginla is the classic captain; on a given shift he's just as likely to help his team by dishing a big check, scoring a goal, setting up a goal or dropping the gloves to stand up for a teammate. We've been talking for months about how Malkin put the Pens on his back when Sidney Crosby went down with injury and really became a true superstar. But you can't argue against 65 goals and 112 points. Alex Ovechkin was the man every night, his team counted on him every game down the stretch to produce and he answered the bell almost every night. He was simply the most forceful, explosive and tremendous player in the game...This year.

Lester B. Pearson Award: Most outstanding player (as voted by the players)
Nominees: Alex Ovechkin (WAS), Evgeni Malkin (PIT), Jarome Iginla (CGY)

--We're not an NHL player so we don't have a vote. But if we did it'd go to Alex Ovechkin for the same reasons as we listed in the Hart.

Ovechkin: "Pittsburgh is that good"

“I am sure that Pittsburgh will win the Stanley Cup. They have to do it. Malkin is having an unbelievable season. Hossa has found chemistry with Crosby. They
have a great goaltender in Fleury. Their defense is pretty even. Pittsburgh is that good, they don’t have challengers.”

Hat-tip to Caps blog On Frozen Blog for the interview translated from Russian....As usual, it's Ovechkin, so it's pretty entertaining.

Did he shoot that in his own net??? He shot that in his own net!

The best is 48 seconds into this when they show #8's reaction.

Alex Ovechkin = Stunned.

New man on the top of the mountain

As the Russian fans used to chant: "Zhenia is the best...Zhenia is God"

Your move, Alex.

These two have been a treat to watch, but our guess is you haven't seen anything yet. Both Ovechkin and Malkin--while friendly towards one another-- are very fiercely competitive and want nothing more than to out-produce their fellow countryman. Don't think for a second that Ovechkin won't know heading into tomorrow night that not only is he 2nd in the scoring race; he's 2nd to Malkin.

27 points in the last 14 games. Unbelivable. Everyone knew Malkin was among the top players in the league, but few knew he is towards the top of that heap. Perhaps now he'll finally get recognized for what he deserves by the media at-large. Geno's not just a sidekick to Crosby or stuck in the shadow of the more flamboyant Russian, he belongs right in their class.

Caps fall to the Thrashers

I wish I was awake when this happened

And now thoughts from the game we attended and didn't Tivo tonight:

• You'd look at the shots (advantage Washington 36-13) and think they really carried the play. But they didn't really apply pressure in flurries or come close to scoring that often.
• Atlanta, without their best player in Ilya Kovalchuk, looked like a boxer that wasn't trying to land any punches but was being very cautious about not giving up the knockout blow either. Though the ever dangerous Alex Ovechkin registered 7 shots on net (and 10 more that were either blocked or off-target) he wasn't really that much of a threat.
• Ovechkin did have one golden opportunity, he was close to the net (with Kari Lehtonen out of position) but his back was turned and he rushed the shot. Literally, after he spun around and controlled the puck he had almost the entire net empty but he shot before his balance was set and it sailed high and wide. Unknowingly he could have had another second or two to steady himself and slam in the easy goal; but that's an easy call when you're in the stands and not on the ice.
• Alex Semin continues to be consistently inconsistent. While not news to Caps fans he often takes terrible penalties. Plus it seems like he loses and edge and wipes out at the most inopportune of times. Also we can't find the exact stat category right now but he's got to be among the league leaders in diving penalties...
• Shaone Morrisonn (or however you spell it) seemed a little over anxious in his first game back from injury in pinching in. Considering that he wasn't too effective at it, plus his role is to be the steady partner for the very talented Mike Green it seemed odd. Morrisonn needs to settle down and not try to do too much to be at his best.
• We thought Pascal Dupuis (even though he had just one shot on net and no points) was the most forceful and best offensive forward for the Tbombs throughout the game.
• It was nice to see Old Man Recchi end up with 2 assists on the night, he made the play happen on Todd White's goal (the only goal of consquence in the whole game) and deserved to be a star of the game over Ovechkin.
• Coaches will tell you there's no such thing as a bad idea to throw the puck at the net. We'd disagree. Ovechkin will shoot from anywhere anytime he can. Shooting lanes or angles be damned; he WILL shoot as much as possible (as evidenced above from 10 ten shots either blocked or mis-fired). Ovechkin must be the least efficient superstar of all-time. But considering he's still the goal and points leader in the league at the moment perhaps there's no room for our insight there.
• Point being, if old boy could learn a little bit of patience and try to work to pick his spots a little better he could become an even more effective player. Now that would be a scary thought. It'll be interesting to see if he ever tries to adapt and adjust his strategy towards this or just keep firing away. Maybe there's no use in changing his style, since it's working for him. Maybe we're not in any position to offer advice. Just calling it like it seems.
• Ifwe know Caps fans, some blogger will probably point their injuries (like Captain Chris Clark and top 4 defenseman Brian Pothier) to show the result could have been different. While Clark is a warrior and a heart-and-soul guy and his absence from the lineup is notable, it's an impossible game of "what if" to imagine him actually suiting up and playing.

Overall it was probably one of the most boring and least active games we've seen this season. Both teams--but especially Atlanta, were playing a very conservative playoff style game. For a while, we thought it was actually Minnesota vs. Calgary (minus Jarome Iginla and Marian Gaborik). Literally that much of nothing was happening throughout most of the game. It's a shame it was a vanilla game too, there was a large crowd on hand and we get the feeling more than a couple were taking in a game for the first time....We get this feeling because it was overheard by someone behind us asking a buddy: "So what number is Ovechkin again?"

In the end, Atlanta made one play (courtesy of Recchi and White) and Washington couldn't make any. That was your "ball"game. Whether this game at the end of the year ends up being just 1 out of 82 or a turning point for either club or even the difference in the division race remains to be seen. One does get the feeling though while Atlanta is happy and relieved to get two points on the road, it's more of a disappointment for the Caps to let this opportunity slip away.

Pre-game Washington thoughts

JP says Malkin hasn’t established himself as a center, citing mainly his very low faceoff percentage this year. Not that big of a deal to us; the biggest factors in improvement are experience and strength, two things that will come with time. We think Malkin’s improvement will continue. The style he likes to play; that of carrying the puck through the zone, dishing it to teammates and wheeling around a lot makes him a natural center. That he is defensively responsible and backchecks well as the deep forward in his own zone continues that.

Also JP takes a swipe at Malkin’s post-season performance. His pure stats weren’t bad (0g, 4a in 5 games) and the most games he had ever played in a season was 57 in the RSL; which doesn’t much compare to 83 in the NHL that he did last season. It will be interesting to see how JP’s boy Nicklas Backstrom handles the rest of the season, as he’s basically in the same uncharted waters and now is the #1 center due to Michael Nylander’s injury.

The Penguins calling up 3 players is significant. Our guess is the majority of the 3 banged up forwards (if not all of them) will miss this game. Losing Colby Armstrong, Adam Hall and Tyler Kennedy hurts, all play important roles. Hall is one of the top penalty killers.

But we are excited to see Chris Minard. At 26 he’s no spring chicken and hasn’t appeared in a NHL game yet. But he’s been productive this season in Wilkes-Barre and after a little slump after an opening night hat trick has become one of the team’s best offensive weapons. Minard’s a goal scorer and said to be willing to go into high traffic areas. We wouldn’t mind giving him a brief audition in a situation setup to give him success with other skilled players.

Also Tim Brent and especially Jonathan Filewich are prospects that have impressed before and diehard fans have long been awaiting seeing them in Pittsburgh. Tonight could be the chance.

Speaking of chances, huge game for Dany Sabourin. After the impressive shutout of Montreal the other night the pressure is back on him to stick in the starting lineup. A poor performance could end him back on the bench in favor of the Conkmania. And with Marc-Andre Fleury a couple of weeks from returning, who knows how many chances Sabs will have to prove that he shouldn’t be waived when there are 3 healthy goalies around (more on this later).

As always when you play the Caps you have to account for Alex Ovechkin. Sergei Gonchar has done pretty well so far shadowing AO, expect that to continue tonight. The real matchup could be trying to limit the Caps 2nd line, Alex Semin is finally over his high ankle sprain and producing points again and Tomas Fleischmann is playing the best hockey of his NHL career so far.

It will be interesting to see how this shorthanded and mish-mashed lineup the Pens throw out there responds. We fully expect the best out of Malkin, and hopefully Ryan Malone and Petr Sykora can carry their end of the bargain tonight. That, plus limiting Ovechkin, stopping Semin and staying out of the box as much as possible are the keys to the game. If the Pens do that, they’ll probably win. If not, the streak of games over the Caps will end at 6.

124 million reasons to stay in DC

Now I see why Alex Ovechkin fired his agent….No person in the world would advise him to sign for such a long-term contract. Well, apparently one person in the world, his mother.

The Peerless appropriately points out that AO saved a nice chunk of change by not having to pay the agent’s commission, which is true. But consider the salary cap, which was at $39 million the first season after the lockout (max player contract is 20%: $7.8 million) has grown to $52 million this season (max $10.4 million) and the NHLPA has already stated they expect league-wide revenues to increase, and thus push the cap up further.

With the league looking at an inevitable return to ESPN in some form in the very near future, one could speculate hockey could ‘pop’ in the public image. Especially when young stars like Sidney Crosby and, ironically, Ovechkin push the sport further to more and more revenue. In a sense, Ovechkin could grow the sport with his play, which would raise others salaries but not his own.

Don’t get me wrong, $124 million guaranteed is nothing to sneeze at. It’s financial security for your kids’ kids kids. Just as impressive is the commitment Ovechkin made to the Caps. He could have used what little leverage he had to try to get in a new city on perhaps a team closer to competing or with a bigger (and more visible) market for hockey. But, as he said all along we’ll point out, he wanted to stay in Washington.

Congrats to the Capitals for getting their cornerstone locked up. Congrats to Ovechkin for deservedly breaking the bank. Congrats to the Caps fans for having something to get excited about. Congrats to us all for no longer having to hear morons like Eklund and Larry Brooks and wishful thinkers North of the Border with their crazy fantasies about where he might end up.

Ovechkin-gate

Washington (Com)Post: Ovechkin's Treatment Questioned

Allow me to break it down for you, if you haven't already heard....I do like Tarik El-Bashir, but like most newspaper writers he feels the need to repeatedly write one sentence paragraphs, so I've srunched it together a little better.

The winger left Washington's 4-3 overtime loss in Pittsburgh on Thursday
early in the third period after Kris Letang's skate caught him when he checked
the defenseman along the boards. Ovechkin, who entered Friday night as the NHL's second-leading goal scorer with 26, did not return to the game.

Ovechkin went almost immediately to the visitors' locker room at Mellon Arena for medical treatment after suffering the cut. But he said he had to wait for the Penguins' medical staff to finish tending to a Pittsburgh player, and therefore ended up missing the rest of the game. Coach Bruce Boudreau was not pleased by the delay....
"You make your assumptions on that," Boudreau said. "I don't know why. I'm
just told that it took upwards of a half-hour."

Pictured: Bruce Boudreau

Thoughts:
#1: Where's your medical staff, Bruce? Were they attending to the MRI of backup goalie Brent Johnson? If that is the case, perhaps it's your priorites that need a little adjusting.

#2: I put in bold the key phrase: the Pittsburgh doctor did not avoid treating Ovechkin, he was needed (and already in the process of) looking at another player (who happened to be a Penguin). Should he drop everything just to attend to the visitor? No. Just as if the doctor was already stiching AO's leg he shouldn't drop everything to treat a Penguin; unless of course there was a catastrophic injury. First come, first serve if you will.

Further, I don't recall a Penguins leaving the game in the 2nd period. The lockerooms are not behind the bench in Pittsburgh so it's clear if you have to leave the ice you just can't duck behind your bench. However I was not at this game so perhaps I didn't see or notice a Penguin off the ice. I think it's possible the doctor was treating the only player who it was very obvious that left the game: the aforementioned Caps goalie.

Truth be told, I lost a little bit of respect for Boudreau for this whole hub-bub. I can understand his frustrations of seeing a lead slip away late in the game and not having your best player around to help but does he really believe the Penguins and their medical staff would intentionally delay treatment to any player (regardless of stature) when they are injured? For shame, Bruce, I thought you were better than that.

Hockey Players: Best in the world

No professional athletes are more approachable, more friendly or more compassionate than hockey players. From my own experience of seeing what the Penguins (namely Jaromir Jagr, and Kevin Hatcher) sent to my best buddy who was diagnosed with lymphatic lymphoma at the age of 10 in the late '90s, our parents transplanting us 300 miles away fromPittsburgh...Everything from pucks to sticks to well wishes written down, signed by all.

But nothing, and I mean NOTHING, topped a clearly personalized and signed letter from Mario Lemieux, a cancer survivor himself. Inspiration indeed to my buddy and gestures that I will never, ever forget.

And with that, today's PG on what Sidney Crosby has rented out a suite:

Twenty-five children and their families attended practice and a luncheon with the team that included autographs and photos as part of the Penguins' annual Make-A-Wish party.
Two players, forwards Sidney Crosby and Mark Recchi, facilitate similar, albeit smaller, parties regularly. They have bought suites for children and families to use at home games through various children's charities.
Crosby's family decorated his suite, which is closed off with dividers so that only his guests get to see it.

"My mom and dad went through a lot of albums and took out some pictures when I was the age of a lot of the kids who are in there, and more of them are from school and away from hockey," Crosby said. "There's a map of Cole Harbour [Nova Scotia, his hometown], and they can see where it is compared with Pittsburgh. When kids go there, they can see more than just the hockey side of things, be able to have fun and maybe see things that everyone doesn't typically see."

Countless other hockey players (including Alex Ovechkin) entertain special guests like this on countless nights. These men are answering beyond the call of their professional super stardom, they're being terrific human beings that are leaving a great impact than they'll ever know....A heartfelt hat-tip to them all.

Report From Caps Practice

From one struggling team to another; I decided to take the short trip (for me) to the Washington Capitals practice facility. Some thoughts and observations:

``Not even a losing record and supposedly a coach and a GM on the hot-seat can shake Alex Ovechkin. He was out there carrying on and generally enjoying himself. Very few NHL players act like they enjoy practice. Ovechkin seems like he's having too much fun out there. His energy and exuberance is refreshing.

``As you could imagine for a team in a deep hole, a lot of X's and O's and teaching by embattled head coach Glen Hanlon. He seemed very confident and in control out on the ice, not looking at all like a coach who's shaken by knowing he could be out the door with a few more losses. Hanlon also had about a 5 minute on-ice conversation with Olie Kolzig.


``The defense really focused on a lot of "D to D" passes, making sure they were crisp and accurate.

``At one point there was a modified criss-crossing 3 on 2 drill that had players shooting on both ends of the ice at the same time. The difference between what a starting goalie (Kolzig) lets in the net and what a backup goalie (Brent Johnson) lets by was pretty obvious.

``After the first half of team drills, Michael Nylander and Viktor Kozlov separated themselves from the forwards and worked at center ice on some close-range stick handling drills and skating. Nylander constantly looked like he was out of breath, always doubled over and even tripped a couple times. Everyone has bad days, but Nylander usually seems a lot more smooth and in control than he was today.

``The rest of the forwards mainly worked on some shooting drills and then did a rebound drill with Kolzig. The two most impressive surprising players for me were Boyd Gordon and Brooks Laich. Those guys can really let it rip, I was impressed. It's surprising they don't score more goals in games when they count.

``During one drill, the team was basically using 3 players to play keep-away from a 5 man forechecking unit. I mention this only because at one point while playing keep-away, Tom Poti rushed the puck up the ice coast-to-coast. The goalie denied his shot, but he skated clean through Nicklas Backstrom's line. Ovechkin, predictably, was whooping it up on the bench and definitely enjoyed that the most.

``Donald Brashear was pretty brutal in all facets (skating, passing, shooting, controlling the puck). It's easy to see why some Caps fans are getting frustrated that he never gets scratched and always manages to be on the 4th line. However, Brash was off the ice early, so it's looking like he might be in the press box tomorrow night.

``On the way out of the place I ran into John Erskine, and said hello and wished him luck. He's every bit 6'4" and was a pretty nice guy. Hopefully the Caps will put him back in the lineup soon, I didn't think he really did half bad so far this season.


Overall the team seemed pretty loose. Caps beat writer (and one of the best around), Tarik El-Bashir said the mood seemed pretty tense at Monday's practice. Maybe it's just getting more guys like Poti and Chris Clark back, but the mood seemed pretty loose from the players at least on the ice. Ovechkin was joking on Clark seemingly all practice and a lot of guys like Gordon, Laich and Brian Sutherby were pretty loose joking around with each other and the assistant coaches.

Is Alex O About Finished in DC?

Hat tip to the Fanhouse, for this interview given to a Russian newspaper and translated to English:

"Do you plan on changing teams at the end of the season? Washington's game looks hopeless."

"I don't know yet where I will be next season. I am not negotiating my new contract. I want to stay in Washington. But who knows what is going to happen?"

This is very significant. Ovechkin's now openly questioning whether or not he'll be a Capital for much longer. With guys like Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and, yes, Sidney Crosby already signing long-term deals with their clubs, a framework is in place.

Many Caps bloggers opined over the summer when Crosby resigned that it wasn't for very long (even though Crosby was forgoeing one year of UFA) and that at $8.7 million, it was hardly a hometown discount. You probably won't be hearing too much of that again.

Ovechkin scenarios now:

#1: Finish out the season, become a RFA. Someone obviously offers a huge contract, Caps obviously match and retain rights. Ovechkin either sucks it up and becomes a little happier for playing for $10+ million a year, or whines and demands a trade.

#2: Becomes RFA. Let's it be known he'd rather be playing in Russia next year than come back to Washington and force a trade that route. If Aleksey Morozov can command $4 million (US), then I'd imagine some wealthy owner could and would make an enticing offer for Ovechkin if the Caps try to call his bluff.

#3: Commit himself fully to his team, sign a long term contract that forgoes 1 year of being unrestricted and tailor the terms of the contract to well under a million dollars of the current maximum.

#3 is how Crosby went. I have a feeling AO will be a lot closer to one of the top 2 scenarios. If you think there's frustrating times for the Penguins right now, a look to my hometown shows there's definitely trouble brewing...

Uhh, this is gonna end well...

Sometimes I wonder about people in positions higher than me; what coaches think putting out certain line combos (like giving Mark Recchi 20 minutes of ice time Wednesday night and giving Evgeni Malkin 14)...Or what GMs are thinking when they make trades or signings.

Add the Washington Capitals promotional department to the list.

Given that:
A)You have one of your closest geographical rivals in town
B)Fans don't really come to your own rink that much (the announced attendance last night was just above 11,000)
C)Your opponent often draws many loud fans

Why would you take the following steps:
1)Announce a "white-out" night, where fans wear white. This is a cool idea when it comes off well (see Penn State, Calgary's 'Sea of Red', etc).
2)Stick your team in white jerseys, which is what the road team wears in the NHL
3)Give out Terrible Towel knock off white towels to fans that come in

Uhh, I hate to break it to you guys, but this is possibly the worst idea since someone thought to fill a blimp with hydrogen.

What could go wrong?

BUT!

The Capitals have aggressively marketed special discount tickets to fill the seats against their biggest regional rivals (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, Toronto) with their own fans. A great idea. I bought this. I'm not going to be a dick and sell my tickets to the non-Pens games on eBay, I live close enough to attend. Plus, it's usually worth the price of admission to see guys like Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin and Nicklas Backstrom.

So maybe, unlike last year, there won't be as big of a Penguin partisan crowd. Maybe the Caps who've been losers of their last three games, and without the services of Semin will come out the gates fired up.....If the Penguins get a quick lead though and jump on the Caps early (Olie Kolzig gave up 5 goals last night, some pretty soft) it's going to get ugly. Caps fans will be quiet and the Pens fans will be more fired up.

The ultimate kicker:

If a Penguin scores a hat trick (I'm looking at you Petr Sykora), heaven help us all. Those Terrible Towel knockoffs are going to rain down on the ice so much it might just bring a tear to the old Pacman's eye.

I am very excited for this hockey game. I will be there. It's going to be very interesting to see the atmosphere and if there's more Caps fans than last time around. I went to the Caps home opener and they seemed to be very well represented. Judging from the locals, everyone has had this game circled on the calender for some time now. Should be electric.

Also, since the lockout, some head to head numbers:
Penguins: 7-1
Capitals: 1-6-1 (a shootout loss)

Sidney Crosby: 5 goals, 9 assists, 14 points
Alex Ovechkin: 4 goals, 4 assists, 8 points

So that's right, if you're keeping track at home, Croz is "Gretzky-ing" Ovechkin so far. That of course meaning he's got more assists than you do points.