Caps-Panthers Live
Welcome to RRT's live coverage of Caps hockey. Tonight's opponent are the pesky Florida Panthers, who have been a royal thorn in the Caps' side recently.
Pregame Notes
Another small crowd here at Verizon Center. Donald Brashear is serving as an assistant captain tonight along with Alex Ovechkin, who is entrenched in that role. Alex Semin is dressed and skating with the rest of the team.
Both teams are 1-3-1 over their last five games. Additionally, the Caps are 5-3 when they score first but are 1-9-1 when their opponent notches the first goal. The Caps also are 6-2-1 when they don't allow a power play goal but are 0-10 when they do.
Michael Nylander has eight goals and 19 assists in 30 career games against the Panthers, Chris Clark has nine goals and four assists in 19 career games against the Cats, while Alex Ovechkin has nine goals and 12 assists in 17 games vs. Florida. In 47 games against the Panthers, Olie Kolzig is 23-18-3-2 with 109 goals allowed (2.36 GAA) and six shutouts.
The Caps only have registered 40 or more shots on goal once this season -- their season-opening win at Atlanta.
Tonight's scratches for the Caps are Matt Bradley, Milan Jurcina, and Steve Eminger. Kolzig and Tomas Vokoun are the starting goalies.
First Period
The first 50 seconds were spent in the Caps' zone, although Florida didn't score or unleash a shot on goal. Florida did score at 3:33 (David Booth from Ruslan Salei and Stephen Weiss) on a deflection with no Caps down the middle of the ice in front of the net.
The Panthers got a power play at 4:17, but the Caps got a shorthanded goal by Brooks Laich (unassisted) on a breakaway through Vokoun's legs. It's the Caps' second shorthanded tally this season (thanks JP, who is sitting next to me).
The Caps went on the power play three minutes later and, even though they had a two-man advantage for about 45 seconds, could not put one past Vokoun. During the extra-man advantage, the Caps had trouble entering the zone and getting more than one shot on goal before the Panthers cleared the puck.
They also consistently missed the net with shots and/or had their shots blocked. (That was throughout the period, not just on the power play.)
Chris Clark took a penalty at 12:49, but the Caps were able to kill it off even though Florida had an extra minute in their offensive zone after the man advantage expired.
During the last minute, there was a bunch of Panthers in front of Kolzig and Kamil Kreps put the puck into the net for his third goal of the season (and second against the Caps) at 19:10.
There's one fan in the crowd with a horn that sounds like a very sick duck.
Caps are 1-6 when trailing after one period and the Panthers are 6-3-1 when leading after one.
2-1 Panthers after one.
Second Period
The Caps killed off a Florida power play about six minutes into the period and then got one of their own as Mike Green (who took the penalty) got the puck on a breakaway and, although he couldn't convert, he drew a penalty. After 33 seconds, the Caps took another penalty but then went up four-on-three after a Panthers penalty.
The Caps couldn't convert on any of the man advantages, and the closest they came was Nicklas Backstrom hitting the post.
Florida scored its third goal of the game on a sprintout led by former Cap Richard Zednik. Olli Jokinen got credit for the tally (from Zednik and Jozef Stumpel).
Overall, the Caps are definitely out of sync. Michael Nylander and Alex Ovechkin have been consistently good, but the rest of the team is up-and-down. Alex Semin has logged 10:55 of ice time in his first game back and has looked decent. However, the team just doesn't have the depth of skill to pose a consistent threat on every shift.
As the period wound down, loud "Fire Hanlon" chants spread throughout the arena and the Caps were resolutelybooed as they left the ice at the second intermission. It's getting ugly, folks, and sooner or later somebody is going to take the fall for the debacle known as Caps hockey.
Panthers 3-1 after two.
Third Period
The final stanza started out poorly for the home team as they stayed in a rut. Kolzig's decisions to keep the puck moving often led to immediate scoring chances for the Panthers. Additionally, every time the Caps got Vokoun out of position, they couldn't even get a good shot on net and had trouble making easy tape-to-tape passes.
The Caps made the game a lot closer with goals at 8:14 (Semin's first of the year from Flash and Nylander) and 13:35 (Clark on the power play from A.O. and Nylander) but couldn't get any closer. They turned up the pressure over the game's last five minutes but couldn't tie it.
Kolzig was pulled with about 1:30 left and the Caps took a timeout with 24.1 seconds left.
Three stars: Jokinen, Zednik, Nylander
Panthers 4, Caps 3 (final)
Look for more on the game tommorrow.
Pregame Notes
Another small crowd here at Verizon Center. Donald Brashear is serving as an assistant captain tonight along with Alex Ovechkin, who is entrenched in that role. Alex Semin is dressed and skating with the rest of the team.
Both teams are 1-3-1 over their last five games. Additionally, the Caps are 5-3 when they score first but are 1-9-1 when their opponent notches the first goal. The Caps also are 6-2-1 when they don't allow a power play goal but are 0-10 when they do.
Michael Nylander has eight goals and 19 assists in 30 career games against the Panthers, Chris Clark has nine goals and four assists in 19 career games against the Cats, while Alex Ovechkin has nine goals and 12 assists in 17 games vs. Florida. In 47 games against the Panthers, Olie Kolzig is 23-18-3-2 with 109 goals allowed (2.36 GAA) and six shutouts.
The Caps only have registered 40 or more shots on goal once this season -- their season-opening win at Atlanta.
Tonight's scratches for the Caps are Matt Bradley, Milan Jurcina, and Steve Eminger. Kolzig and Tomas Vokoun are the starting goalies.
First Period
The first 50 seconds were spent in the Caps' zone, although Florida didn't score or unleash a shot on goal. Florida did score at 3:33 (David Booth from Ruslan Salei and Stephen Weiss) on a deflection with no Caps down the middle of the ice in front of the net.
The Panthers got a power play at 4:17, but the Caps got a shorthanded goal by Brooks Laich (unassisted) on a breakaway through Vokoun's legs. It's the Caps' second shorthanded tally this season (thanks JP, who is sitting next to me).
The Caps went on the power play three minutes later and, even though they had a two-man advantage for about 45 seconds, could not put one past Vokoun. During the extra-man advantage, the Caps had trouble entering the zone and getting more than one shot on goal before the Panthers cleared the puck.
They also consistently missed the net with shots and/or had their shots blocked. (That was throughout the period, not just on the power play.)
Chris Clark took a penalty at 12:49, but the Caps were able to kill it off even though Florida had an extra minute in their offensive zone after the man advantage expired.
During the last minute, there was a bunch of Panthers in front of Kolzig and Kamil Kreps put the puck into the net for his third goal of the season (and second against the Caps) at 19:10.
There's one fan in the crowd with a horn that sounds like a very sick duck.
Caps are 1-6 when trailing after one period and the Panthers are 6-3-1 when leading after one.
2-1 Panthers after one.
Second Period
The Caps killed off a Florida power play about six minutes into the period and then got one of their own as Mike Green (who took the penalty) got the puck on a breakaway and, although he couldn't convert, he drew a penalty. After 33 seconds, the Caps took another penalty but then went up four-on-three after a Panthers penalty.
The Caps couldn't convert on any of the man advantages, and the closest they came was Nicklas Backstrom hitting the post.
Florida scored its third goal of the game on a sprintout led by former Cap Richard Zednik. Olli Jokinen got credit for the tally (from Zednik and Jozef Stumpel).
Overall, the Caps are definitely out of sync. Michael Nylander and Alex Ovechkin have been consistently good, but the rest of the team is up-and-down. Alex Semin has logged 10:55 of ice time in his first game back and has looked decent. However, the team just doesn't have the depth of skill to pose a consistent threat on every shift.
As the period wound down, loud "Fire Hanlon" chants spread throughout the arena and the Caps were resolutelybooed as they left the ice at the second intermission. It's getting ugly, folks, and sooner or later somebody is going to take the fall for the debacle known as Caps hockey.
Panthers 3-1 after two.
Third Period
The final stanza started out poorly for the home team as they stayed in a rut. Kolzig's decisions to keep the puck moving often led to immediate scoring chances for the Panthers. Additionally, every time the Caps got Vokoun out of position, they couldn't even get a good shot on net and had trouble making easy tape-to-tape passes.
The Caps made the game a lot closer with goals at 8:14 (Semin's first of the year from Flash and Nylander) and 13:35 (Clark on the power play from A.O. and Nylander) but couldn't get any closer. They turned up the pressure over the game's last five minutes but couldn't tie it.
Kolzig was pulled with about 1:30 left and the Caps took a timeout with 24.1 seconds left.
Three stars: Jokinen, Zednik, Nylander
Panthers 4, Caps 3 (final)
Look for more on the game tommorrow.
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