FanNation - The Republic of Sport

I had the chance to attend both ends of the weekend home-and-home series between the Washington Capitals and the New Jersey Devils, the latter of which was played in Jersey on Saturday night.

Washington won the Friday night home game, 3-1, and lost in a shootout on Saturday after a 5-5 tie. The Capitals earned their point with 1 second left when Alexander Ovechkin put home a rebound past Scott Clemensen, who would have needed Martin Brodeur's good elbow and arm in his glove to make the stop. Ovechkin had 2 goals and a helper, but failed to convert in the shootout (Jersey's Zach Parise got the lone goal, more on that in a minute), insisting on shooting from a bit of distance rather than skating in and faking then burying it. Are you kidding? Alex Ovechkin can't fake out Scott Clemensen, so he would rather shoot? I just don't buy it. 

But anyway, with the result, the Caps are 10-4-3 (23 points, 1st, Southeast) as they start a western swing that takes them to Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose - a span that will feature those three games in four days. Following an off-day, the Capitals are in Minnesota before coming home in the middle of Thanksgiving week. 

I ask if the record is a mirage because as I look at this team, and I see them every home game in person, I'm concerned that while they are good enough to win the division, they are not yet good enough to advance past perhaps the second round of the playoffs. Jose Theodore made several sparkling saves Friday night in the win, and even had a few great ones in Saturday's loss. But he was out at sea badly on the Parise shootout goal, taking the fake and just about sliding to Hoboken as Parise potted the puck into a suddenly empty net. 

But the Capitals were lucky to even get to that point. A woeful effort at the start of each period gave the Devils the ability to assume the attack mode, and poor defensive decisions and marking in the second period very well could have allowed the Devils to have 7 or 8 on the board after 40 minutes (this was when Theodore did his best work). 

Beyond Mike Green, the Caps defense is slow, doesn't read plays well, and often makes poor decisions. On Saturday, Milan Jurcina had a chance to clear the puck through many open lanes, and he was only about 15 feet from the blue line anyway. Instead, he turned sideways on the boards, floated the puck up in the air, and it sailed into the crowd on the opposite side for a delay of game penalty. This is just not acceptable. Oddly enough, the defender I love to hate, John Erskine, has actually been better of late. He seems to be hustling more - which is big for him because it helps him make up for his, shall we say, lack of speed, and gets him in better position so he doesn't take so many penalties. 

But Jurcina, Jeff Schultz, and Shoane Morrisonn when he's healthy need work. The Caps are in a tough spot, as Salary Cap (no relation to Washington Cap) keep Karl Alzner from being called up, despite his play at AHL scoring machine Hershey. He and Sami Lepisto are both ready, in my humble opinion, but one of the current crop (at least) has to go to make room. 

I hope the Capitals are as good as their record indicates. This road trip will tell us a lot. But there are holes that need to be filled, lest anyone get too Cup crazy just yet.