Paul Lukas of Uni Watch fame has published his NHL preview, chock full of hockey uniform photos from new sweaters, to memorial patches, to the sneaky “C” that Roberto Luongo added to his mask since by NHL rules no goaltender may wear the captaincy “C” on his jersey. So if you’re into the details of hockey uniforms, check out his article here and geek out to the hockey-gear minutia.
Category Archives: Buffalo Sabres
Hockey Sweater Obsessives, Your Ship Has Arrived
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Friday, October 10, 2008
Collin McKinney Sees Life Through Hockey [Part II]
By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
[Miss Part I? Click here.]
What kind of job does a suddenly blind-in-the-middle-of-his-life man perform? For two years Collin McKinney didn’t see anything at all. Eventually, he could see out of his left eye an area “about the size of a 50-cent piece.” His medical remedies more or less exhausted, McKinney contacted the Virginia Department of the Blind and Visually Impaired. The work options offered him there — “moving paperclips” was how he described the meager administrative listings — were a poor fit for his broad and varied educational background and work experience.
But back in his Fairfax neighborhood, McKinney had developed an affinity for taking care of dogs belonging to his neighbors. He’d walk them during business hours, care for them during neighbors’ vacations. He developed a reputation for being something of a “dog whisperer,” effectively training unruly canine rascals on his block. Dogs and a blind man, working well together. Who knew?
Post- NHL lockout, and now fairly a fixture at Caps’ games, McKinney was enjoying himself and the friends he was making from the experience. Except for one set of fans: Buffalo’s.
“Buffalo fans are the worst,” McKinney told me. “They actually stole my blind stick one time from me at a game.”
Now you’re certainly reacting as I did as those words arrived on my ear — Buffalo Sabres’ fans . . . did . . . what?
It was two seasons ago, during the final game of the 2006-07 campaign, at Verizon Center, the one that was sold out, lamentably largely due to wave after wave of belligerent Buffaloan.
“Thank God I could see a little bit, because they decided to play keep away with my stick, and I managed to grab it back, which surprised them, I think,” McKinney related. “I couldn’t believe people would do that. They were so obnoxious and so foul-mouthed.”
As shocking as this story is, having been in Verizon Center that day (Washington’s hockey bloggers hosted an end-of-season party at the Chinatown Clyde’s after the game), I look back and think that something like this monstrosity was entirely plausible amid so large an ornery and inebriated set of visiting fans. Not all Buffalo fans in Verizon Center behaved badly that day, of course, but a striking and surly subset most certainly did.
“Collin,” I told my dinner partner, “there really was something about that day that was distinctive in a very bad way. A lot of people had a bad experience that day, although what you describe is off the charts — sub-human, really. Our team was lousy, theirs was in first [place], and the scene was just unruly and altogether unpleasant.”
Wanted: One Hockey-Loving Ocularist
In early 2008, as Collin McKinney grappled with the reality of having his right eye removed and replaced with a prosthetic, his “twisted” sense of humor set upon a novel idea. He was fitted with a standard prosthetic eye, but he again wanted to summon his passion for hockey to help alleviate his trauma. He had been in contact with an area ocularist to try and get the Capitals’ logo etched on a second prosthetic eye. In other words, when you looked Collin McKinney in his replacement eye, he wanted you to see his passion. But first he needed the team’s permission.
“I have a twisted sense of humor,” he told me. “If something horrible like this is going to happen to you, you better have a sense of humor about it at some point, because if you can’t laugh, you end up sitting around doing nothing, wasting away.”
“I just thought it would be funny and cool, ‘cause it kinda shows what I’m into.
“I don’t get tattoos,” he added with a laugh.
McKinney wrote Capitals’ owner Ted Leonsis, seeking permission to use the team’s trademarked logo on a prosthetic eye. He sent the owner his request in a letter. And the owner replied.
“‘Wow,’ I think was his very first reaction,” McKinney noted. “‘You really want to do this?’”
“I think he thought I was a kook at first,” McKinney said with a laugh.
The request, McKinney pointed out, required more than just the owner’s blessing — that of lawyers, as you might imagine. Capitals’ attorneys were consulted, but also ones from the NHL’s league offices. Ultimately, McKinney got the team’s permission, and that of the league. He also received an invitation from Leonsis to take in a game in the owner’s box, where he could model his passion-prosthetic.
Now comes the hard part. The personalized prosthetic comes with a $3,000 sticker price. McKinney, an early recipient of Social Security due to his disability, subsists on $12,000 annually and some additional, modest money from helping out his Fairfax neighbors by walking their dogs and performing odd jobs.
“There’s no way I can afford that,” McKinney noted. “But now I know that there’s an ocularist in town who’ll do it. That’s what is important to me. If he had turned me down I had already Googled the entire country for others [ocularists]. I’d have contacted every one of them. It’s not something I’m going to give up on.”
At this point I wanted to reach into my back pocket, pull out my fraying black leather wallet, open it and turn it upside down and empty out all of its contents in this cause. Problem there is that that wouldn’t have purchased McKinney a temporary tattoo.
“Things are thrown your way in life,” Collin McKinney told me over our final sips of Monday night beer. “You just have to find a way to move on.
“This idea I have for ultimately winning over . . . getting the better of, my misfortune, it’ll happen one day. I believe that.”
In my nearly 35 years as a Caps’ fan I thought I had terrific reason on top of terrific reason to support this city’s pro hockey team, and to champion its cause. Over the years it had hockey heroes — Rod Langway, Dale Hunter, Olie Kolzig, Peter Bondra, now Alexander Ovechkin — wear its sweater. It had endured, in searing and endearing fashion, a brush with death, a thrilling run to a Stanley Cup finals, a sale to a hockey-town-constructing-committed owner. And the drafting of a franchise-altering and anchoring talent. But in September 2008 I found the best possible reason yet to be a Caps’ fan: Collin McKinney wears our team’s colors, and life can’t attack his hockey heart. There’s a life-long, no-trade clause in Collin McKinney’s allegiance to the Caps. He belongs to us.
Your Presence Is Requested - 2008-09 Washington Capitals Schedule
By The OFB Team
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The NHL released the regular season schedule for all 30 teams today. The NHL will open its 91st season in Stockholm, Sweden and Prague, Czech Republic with a pair of games between the Rangers and Lightning in Prague and the Senators and Penguins in Stockholm on October 4th and 5th.
The Capitals begin the season on the road in Atlanta on Friday, October 10th with the first home game the next day against Cristobal Huet and the Chicago Blackhawks. Olaf Kolig visits the Phone Booth for the first time on November 10th.
This season’s schedule is under a new matrix that has each team to playing six games against each team in its division (24 games), four games against the non-division teams within its conference (40 games), and 18 non-Conference games — at least one game against each club in the other conference (15 games) and three home-and-home series against non-Conference teams.
Some schedule notes:
All thirty teams will be in action on the same day on Saturday, October 25th.
The 2009 Winter Classic will take place on January 1st at Chicago’s Wrigley Field with the Blackhawks facing the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Redwings.
The NHL All-Star Game will be held in Montreal’s Bell Centre on January 2tth. Montreal will also host the 2009 Entry Draft on June 26th and 27th.
Hockey Day In Canada returns to its all-Canadian lineup on Februay 21st with Ottawa at Montreal, Vancouver at Toronto, and Calgary at Edmonton.
[Full Capitals Schedule after the break.]
First-Round Flops Over the Years
By pucksandbooks
Friday, June 20, 2008
No team can get it right in round one every year, even drafting very high. And at times all teams get it really wrong then. A survey such as this is a powerful reminder of the crapshoot that is selecting 18-year-old hockey players. However, it is also an invitation for fans to react with, “What the *@^* were you thinking?”
I’ve included picks made by the Whale with those of the Hurricanes, and of those made by the Nordiques in association with Colorado, to even out the survey period. No need however to add Winnipeg to Phoenix’s draft woes — the Desert Dogs know how to screw the draft pooch up high all on their own. Take a look:
| Team | Player Picked | Comment | Studs Selected After |
| Anaheim | Stanislav Chistov (5th, 2001) | The ‘07 Cup win offers serious salve for the Stanislav screwup | Mike Komisarek, Pascal Leclaire, R.J. Umberger, Ales Hemsky, Mike Cammalleri |
| Atlanta | Patrick Stefan (no.1, 1999) | The ‘99 harvest wasn’t swell to be sure, but this still is a serious stinker | The Sedin twins, Martin Havlat |
| Boston | Lars Jonsson (7th, 2000) | A good recipe for Swedish meatballs would have delivered more | Brooks Orpik, Alexander Frolov, Anton Volchenkov, Niklas Kronvall |
| Buffalo | Shawn Anderson, (5th, 1986) | This was a Shawn of the Dead selection | Vincent Damphousse, Brian Leetch, Craig Janney, Teppo Numminen |
| Calgary | Bryan Deasley (19th, 1987) | The Flames’ no. 1 from ‘86, George Pelawa, died in a motorcycle crash that summer, making this a two-year strikeout stretch | John LaClair, Eric Desjardins, Mathieu Schneider, Stephane Matteau |
| Carolina/Hartford | Fred Arthur (8th, 1980) | No relation to Bea Arthur, except in NHL impact | Paul Coffey, Brent Sutter, Craig Ludwig, Steve Larmer, Andy Moog, Jari Kurri |
| Chicago | Tony Tanti (12th, 1981) | Wirtz maybe thought he’d sign cheap? | Al MacInnis, Chris Chelios, Mike Vernon, John Vanbiesbrouck |
| Colorado/Quebec | Aniel Dore (5th, 1988) | Who doesn’t own an Aniel Dore Nordiques’ sweater? | Jeremy Roenick, Teemu Selanne, Rob Blake, Rod Brind’Amour, Martin Gelinas |
| Columbus | Alexander Picard (8th, 2004) | Inspector Clousseau isn’t going to look into this pick — he made it | Alexander Radulov, Drew Stafford, Andrej Meszaros, Wojtek Wolski |
| Dallas | Jason Bacashihua (26th, 2001) | Played with the ECHL’s Johnston Chiefs in ‘07-08, which for a first-rounder seven years after being drafted is a fairly moderate pace of development | Derek Roy, Fedor Tyutin, Mike Cammalleri, Jason Pominville, Dave Steckel |
| Detroit | Shawn Burr (7th, 1984) | I thought briefly of exluding the Wings from this exercise, they draft so well, and you have to go back a bit to find a serious screwup | Shane Corson, Sylvain Cote, Gary Roberts, Kevin Hatcher, Scott Mellanby |
| Edmonton | Marc-Antoine Pouliot (22nd, 2003) | Overlooked this scouting report by the rest of the league: “Thin, weak, won’t hit or backcheck or play in traffic. Other than that, he’s dandy.” | Mike Richards, Corey Perry, Patrice Bergeron, Matt Carle |
| Florida | Petr Taticek (9th, 2002) | Why no postseasons in Sunrise, Cats’ fans ask? Look at this pick | Alexander Semin, Chris Higgins, Alexander Steen, Cam Ward |
| Los Angeles | Wally McBean (4th, 1987) | Not a new lunch item at MickeyD’s | Joe Sakic, Andrew Cassels, Mathieu Schneider, Luke Richardson |
| Minnesota (Wild/Stars) | Brian Lawton (no. 1, 1983) | The bridesmaid to Daigle | Pat LaFontaine, Steve Yzerman, Tom Barrasso, Cam Neely |
| Montreal | Terry Ryan (8th, 1995) | Terry Hatcher would have looked better here | Jarome Iginla, J.S. Giguere, Petr Sykora, Martin Biron |
| Nashville | Brian Finley (6th, 1999) | The day the music stopped in Honkeytonkville | Barret Jackman, Martin Havlat, Mike Commodore, David Tanabe |
| New Jersey | Adrian Foster (28th, 2001) | Yo, Adrian! Legend has it that Foster wasn’t even on other teams’ lists — anywhere! | Fedor Tyutin, Mike Cammalleri, Peter Budaj, Ray Emery, Patrick Sharp |
| NY Islanders | Dave Chyzowski (2nd, 1989) | Can’t blame Mad Mike for this one — he didn’t arrive until ‘95 | Bill Guerin, Pavel Bure, Olaf Kolzig, Stu Barnes |
| NY Rangers | Hugh Jessiman (12th, 2003) | Hughe mistake! | Brent Seabrook, Steve Bernier, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf |
| Ottawa | Alexander Daigle (no. 1, 1993) | The Mother of all Misses; to “Daigle” in round one is every GM’s nightmare | Chris Pronger, Paul Kariya, Todd Bertuzzi, Brendan Witt, Adam Deadmarsh |
| Philadelphia | Claude Boivin (14th, 1988) | Philly does real well in the first round; this year, not so much | Rob Blake, Alexander Mogilny, Tony Amonte, Bret Hedican, Tie Domi |
| Phoenix | Blake Wheeler ( 5th, 2004) | Wheeler of misfortune; think Gretz & co. reached here? | Rostislav Olesz, Alexander Radulov, Drew Stafford, Wojtek Wolski |
| Pittsburgh | Zarley Zalapski (4th, 1980) | ZZ FlopTop and agonizing alliteration | Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Steve Larmer, Craig Ludwig, Brent Sutter |
| San Jose | Pat Falloon (2nd, 1991) | Plus, Pat had to don that original San Jose teal sweater on the ‘91 draft stage | Scott Niedermayer, Peter Forsberg, Martin Lapointe, Brian Rolston, Alexei Kovalev |
| St. Louis | Perry Turnbull (2nd, 1979) | 188 goals in an NHL career is nothing to snicker at, but methinks Ray Bourque would have helped out more | Ray Bourque, Mike Gartner, Brian Propp, Kevin Lowe |
| Tampa | Alexander Svitov (3rd, 2001) | Tampa (Nikita Alexeev) hasn’t exactly struck Lightning with first-round Russians | Pascal Leclaire, Alex Hemsky, R.J. Umberger, Shaone Morrisonn |
| Toronto | Gary Nylund (3rd, 1982) | This is the stuff of Cup droughts | Scott Stevens, Phil Housley, Dave Andreychuk, Doug Gilmour |
| Vancouver | Jere Gillis (4th, 1978) | The Canucks have no home-grown Hall of Famers, including Gillis | Mark Napier, Don Maloney, Doug Wilson, Bengt Gustafsson |
| Washington | Greg Joly ( no.1, 1974) | Good Golly what a stinker! “The next Bobby Orr” it was said of Joly in ‘74. Umm, not so much. | Clark Gillies, Pierre Larouche, Bryan Trottier, Doug Riesbrough |
A Facelift for Hockey in Portland, Maine
By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Buffalo Sabres today announced a brand new American League affiliation, in Portland, Maine, with the Pirates. Such news generally doesn’t catch the OFB eye, but in this instance, the affiliate happens to be in one of our favorite towns, one we’ve blogged from before.
Portland of course was recently the affiliate for the Caps; in fact, the Caps’ American League affiliation in Portland began when the Baltimore Skipjacks departed Charm City for Portland in 1993, carrying with them the Caps’ affiliation. And it’s where Kevin Kaminski’s sweater is retired. It’s also the home of the best breakfast in all of New England, Becky’s. It ain’t a bad bar town, either: the motto at Bull Feeney’s is “Thirst is a shameless disease, so here’s to a shameful cure.”
After the Caps severed ties with the Pirates following the 2004-05 season, the Anaheim Ducks shipped their prospects all the way across the country to the quaint Maine metropolis. That was obviously impractical, and Anaheim will affiliate with the Iowa Stars beginning next season.
Earlier this year there was serious concern that pro hockey would depart Portland, as the Pirates’ arena ain’t exactly contemporary or state of the art. (But it has a lot of relic charm.) Last year the city authorized a $175,000 study to renovate Cumberland County Civic Center, the Pirates’ home.
“Modern multi-purpose venues dwarf the building in both capacity and amenities,” a Portland Press Herald story on renovation plans understates. Political support appears to exist for a substantial renovation of the building; one wouldn’t imagine the Sabres entering into a long-term affiliation with the city otherwise.
The Sabres’ agreement with the Pirates ensures that there will be an American League presence there through 2010-11, and the Sabres have an option to extend the affiliation two years beyond that.
June 4, 1998: Washington Seriously Parties Over Hockey into the Wee Hours
By pucksandbooks
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Ten years ago today Joe Juneau scored what many Washington hockey fans consider to be the most significant goal in Capitals’ history — a game and series-ending, Wales Trophy earning tally, one catapulting Capsdom into delirium, 6:24 into overtime, on the road, in the Eastern Conference Finals’ game 6, giving the Caps a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres and sending the Caps to their lone appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.
It wasn’t a wicked wrister or a booming slapshot but rather a fortuitous tuck-in of a rebound from linemate Brian Bellows’ close-in jam attempt against Dominik Hasek. You remember the JOB line, don’t you — Juneau, Oates, and Bellows?
For those of us who go back a bit with this organization, those seconds immediately after seeing that little black disc cross the goal line — it just glided rather casually across the line, the net never budging behind Dominik Hasek — seeing Joe Juneau’s arms raised in elation behind Hasek’s cage, followed soon after by his being swarmed in the rink corner to Hasek’s right by a skating stampede of teammates, are forever seared in our memories. Steve Kolbe, then new to the Caps’ radio play-by-play duties, horror-movie-screamed a call of the winning goal so memorably that WTEM played it on a virtual loop in its expanded coverage of the Caps late that spring . . . and some of us used it as a voicemail greeting at home for a few weeks.
Good times. Good times indeed.
That ‘98 Caps team had a flair for the dramatic that postseason — they played seven overtime games, winning five of them. They played three extra session affairs against Boston in round 1 (going 2-1 in them), won all three OTs against Buffalo in the Eastern Conference finals, and lost one more against Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals. Still to this day I say to myself, what if Kono hadn’t turned an ankle . . . did we let go of Killer one season too soon?
Any D.C. team that goes on a long postseason run is sure to capture the locals’ hearts, but in ‘98, Olie Kolzig’s brilliance, combined with the NHL’s sudden death overtime drama and the Caps’ regular immersion in it, seemed to coalesce our community around those Caps in a way that was distinctive and unprecedented beyond normal postseason bandwagon followings.
Proof of this would arrive about four hours after Juneau’s hero tally, in the middle of the night in the middle of Washington/Baltimore suburban nowhere.
Juneau was the the leading scorer for the Caps that postseason, with 7 goals and 10 assists in 21 games, and so his heroics in that game 6 OT were perfectly appropriate. On Tuesday afternoon, Capitals’ Director of Media Relations Nate Ewell arranged a conference call for a few of us who wanted to stroll down Memory Lane with Juneau in acknowledgement of the 10th anniversary of his historic score. He acknowledged that the goal was the biggest of his NHL career, but then he admitted something startling about it: He hadn’t seen a replay of it until this week.
“Just a couple days before Nate got in touch with me about doing this conference call a friend of mine sent a link to go on YouTube — I was able to see it that way. That was the first time since 10 years ago that I actually saw it,” he said.
Isn’t that amazing?
Next I asked Juneau what made that band of ‘98 Caps such a special team.
“It was a great mix. Late in the season the team added some experienced players . . . Esa Tikkanen and Brian Bellows and guys with experience. They just brought something special to the team. Although we did have an older team, we didn’t have guys that actually had won the Stanley Cup or had gone far in the playoffs. Those guys were able to transfer their knowledge and experience of winning and what it takes to win the Stanley Cup.”
After the overtime stunner in Buffalo, iconic Washington radio personality Ken Beatrice urged his listeners to race out to the team’s practice facility, Piney Orchard, in Odenton, Maryland, to meet the team bus that would be returning from BWI airport that remarkable night 10 years ago. Thousands took him up on the invitation. You could tell that something quite dramatic was unfolding a little before midnight in the Odenton area as parked cars packed tightly near one another on Piney Orchard Parkway some two miles from the rink. A facility that snuggily seats 750 for hockey would by some estimates cram 3,000, maybe more, in a weeknight of frenzied euphoria, where they patiently awaited the arrival of their heroes at 2:30 a.m. That following morning fatigue at work felt so f’in wonderful.
Ten years later, it’s difficult to convey to an Ovechkin-era fanbase just how powerful that night was for the devoted. It was preceded by a quarter century of rank incompetence, middling mediocity, and gut-wrenching shortcomings in the postseason as Patrick division favorites. Until Joe Juneau washed it all away 10 years ago today.
I remember folks standing literally six- and seven-deep all around the Piney rink glass that night 10 years ago, standing, cheering — stranger hugging stranger — screaming “Let’s Go Caps” maybe 750 times while awaiting their heroes. I asked Juneau what he remembered about the team bus turning onto Piney Orchard Parkway and seeing such sea of support in the middle of the night.
“I remember that very well — it almost seems like it was yesterday.
“We heard right away that there were some people waiting for us at the practice facility, and it was very special in the middle of the night to get there . . . it was just a dead area and we were just off to unpack our stuff and take our cars to drive home. Getting there that night and seeing that many fans waiting for us outside and inside the building — it was something else.
“It was obviously the high point of my time in Washington.
“I think it would be fair to say that it was obviously the high point of many guys that played in Washington for so many years, you know like the Dale Hunters and those guys, Kelly Miller.”
It was, without question, the high point of nearly 25 years of professional hockey in Washington.
Ten years ago today.
I’ll be toasting to it tonight.
Washington Capitals’ Playoff Math Redux
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Thursday, April 3, 2008
The Washington Capitals’ season is down to the proverbial wire: one or two games remain for each of the teams in the Eastern Conference race, and that race is tighter than fitting these guys into adjacent Metro Rail seats.
The Capitals received some help last night from New Jersey, who kept Boston to just one point with a late goal, a two-point night from former Capital Dainius Zubrus, and a shootout victory.
Pittsburgh chipped in by defeating the Flyers, in regulation. It certainly helps matters that the Penguins and Canadiens are battling for the first seed. Caps fans can only hope that Pittsburgh (on 4 days’ rest) plays Philly hard in their last game–Montreal must go at least 1-0-1 to ensure the Pens’ final game matters.
Yet Carolina won handily, led by Corey LaRose’s hat trick, putting the Southeast Division title firmly within their reach.
Read on for analysis, tiebreakers, and likely finishes . . . your own predictions and comments are welcome as always.
| The Playoff Picture: Eastern Bubble Teams’ Remaining Games | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Date | H/A | Vs. | OFB | Res | Analysis | Playoff Chances |
| Washington . 90 points |
3/25 3/27 3/29 4/1 4/3 4/5 |
Away Away Away Home Home Home |
Carolina Tampa Florida Carolina Tampa Bay Florida |
TU LW TU TU LW TU |
W W W W . . |
The Cardiac Caps won their first two games in heart-rending fashion; they won their next two with dominant performances, capped by last night’s victory in a sea of red. The Caps still need help from one or more of the teams they’re chasing, and more importantly they must look at Tampa and Florida as critical–both winnable games, but Coach Boudreau is certainly driving home that a winnable game is by no means already won. |  7th Seed? |
| Carolina . 92 points |
3/25 3/28 3/29 4/1 4/2 4/4 |
Home Home Away Away Home Home |
Washington Atlanta Tampa Bay Washington Tampa Bay Florida |
TU LW LW TU TU LW |
OTL W L L W . |
Last week, “Suddenly the SE Division Title is no longer a foregone conclusion for Carolina.” Neither, it seems, is the making playoffs at all. But their win against Tampa puts them in good shape, and if they beat Florida the division crown is theirs. . Tiebreaker Scenario: The Caps would lose the first tiebreaker (wins), so they must exceed Carolina’s point total to win the Southeast. |
SE Div Champs? |
| Ottawa . 92 Points |
4/3 4/4 |
Away Home |
Toronto Boston |
TU TU |
. . |
Given the oh-so-different ways the Sens and Caps started the season, it’s stunning to think that the Caps have a chance to bump the Senators out of the post season. The Sens head to Toronto Thursday night–and you know the Leafs are looking to play spoiler. Then Ottawa finishes its season hosting Boston a mere 24 hours later. . Tiebreaker Scenario: If the Caps and Sens end with the same number of points and wins, the Caps have the tiebreaker courtesy of their season sweep of the Senators. If the Sens go 1-1 and the Caps win out (or the Sens go 0-2 and the Caps 1-1), then the Caps are in. Unlikely but possible: the Sens could lose both games and the Caps could get two OTLs, thus giving the Sens the tiebreaker. |
Golf in early April? |
| Boston . 92 points |
3/25 3/27 3/29 3/30 4/2 4/4 4/5 |
Away Home Home Away Away Away Home |
Toronto Toronto Ottawa Buffalo NJD Ottawa Buffalo |
TU LW TU TU LL TU LW |
W W W OTL OTL . . |
The Devils helped the Caps a bit Wednesday night, though the Bruins came away with a point. What the Caps need most from Friday’s Boston-Ottawa tilt is a regulation win for either team–and whom Caps fans root for will depend on the outcome of Ottawa’s Thursday game. A three-point Bruins-Senators bout would be terrible. . Tiebreaker Scenario: Equaling the Bruins’ point total will get the Caps into the playoffs. But with three games remaining, the Bruins must go 1-1-0 or worse for the Caps to catch them. |
6th Seed? |
| Buffalo . 88 points |
3/25 3/27 3/28 3/30 4/1 4/3 4/5 |
Home Away Home Home Away Away Away |
Ottawa Ottawa Montreal Boston Toronto Montreal Boston |
TU LL LL TU TU LL LL |
L W OTL W W . . |
Last week: “4 of 5 against Montreal and Boston likely spells the end of their run unless Ryan Miller notches a couple shutouts.” An impressive 3-1-1 effort in the past five games has kept Buffalo alive, but with the number of teams ahead of them the Sabres will fall short of the playoffs this year. |  Done |
| Philadelphia . 91 points |
3/25 3/28 3/29 4/2 4/4 4/6 |
Away Away Away Away Home Home |
NYR NJD NYI Pittsburgh NJD Pittsburgh |
LL TU LW LL TU TU |
W OTL W L . . |
Painful, but true: Capitals fans must root for Pittsburgh on the last day of the season. Though Philly finishes at home, the Devils are trying to stave off the Rangers to keep 4th and Pittsburgh is chasing the conference title. Tiebreaker Scenario: Like the Bruins, equaling Philly’s point total will get the Caps into the playoffs. The Flyers must go 1-0-1 or worse to stay within the Caps’ reach. |
8th Seed? |
The Stretch Run, Revisited - Eastern Conference Playoff Bubble
By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Friday, March 28, 2008
Four days have passed since our original Stretch Run post, so an update to The Playoff Picture table seems in order. The Panthers have stumbled, their loss to Atlanta likely ending their post-season hopes. But not much else has changed as Washington, Buffalo, Boston, Carolina, and Philadelphia have gone 6-1-1 so far this week.
Games are picked as “Toss-Ups,” “Likely Wins,” and “Likely Losses” in the OFB column–original predictions are unchanged for the games already played, but we’ve reevaluated some of the others. We’ve also updated the analysis and added a Results column to track the games played.
The Capitals have fought to within just two points of Philly, Boston, and Carolina; but all three of those teams have a game in hand over the Caps, so the road to the playoffs remains long, and winding. Still, if Washington can continue its winning ways, a post-season berth is certainly within reach.
Looking at the remaining schedule, it seems the only “three-point games” results that could put a double-whammy on the Capitals’ run for 8th are the two Boston-Buffalo tilts . . . and, for a shot at the Southeast crown, the Caps need to beat the Hurricanes in regulation on April Fools’ Day at the Phone Booth.
Here, then, is the updated playoff picture. We’ll revisit it early next week; in the meantime, your input is always appreciated.
| The Playoff Picture: Eastern Bubble Teams’ Remaining Games | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Date | H/A | Vs. | OFB | Res | Analysis | Playoff Chances |
| Washington | 3/25 3/27 3/29 4/1 4/3 4/5 |
Away Away Away Home Home Home |
Carolina Tampa Florida Carolina Tampa Bay Florida |
TU LW TU TU LW TU |
W W . . . . |
The Cardiac Caps won the past two in heart-rending fashion, but four points are still four points. The Capitals must take advantage of a disheartened Panthers team on Saturday, since they certainly aren’t receiving help from the teams ahead in the standings. Once the circus leaves town, the Greatest Show on Ice can return home for their final three games. | 8th Seed? |
| Carolina | 3/25 3/28 3/29 4/1 4/2 4/4 |
Home Home Away Away Home Home |
Washington Atlanta Tampa Bay Washington Tampa Bay Florida |
TU LW LW TU TU LW |
OTL W L . . . |
Suddenly the SE Division Title is no longer a foregone conclusion for Carolina, with only two points separating them and the Capitals. However, they do have a game in hand on the Caps and face the two worst teams in the East this weekend, so they still hold the reins. |  SE Div Champs? |
| Florida | 3/25 3/27 3/29 4/1 4/4 4/5 |
Away Home Home Away Away Away |
Tampa Atlanta Washington Atlanta Carolina Washington |
TU LW TU LW LL TU |
L L . . . . |
While not mathematically eliminated yet, two straight losses — and 3 of 4 remaining on the road — pretty much guarantees the Panthers’ playoff drought will continue. | Done |
| Boston | 3/25 3/27 3/29 3/30 4/2 4/4 4/5 |
Away Home Home Away Away Away Home |
Toronto Toronto Ottawa Buffalo NJD Ottawa Buffalo |
TU LW TU TU LL LL LW |
W W . . . . . |
Boston had an auspicious start this week, eliminating the Leafs and getting four must-have points in the process. Their road gets tougher now as they face a Senators team struggling to hold home ice advantage, then go to Buffalo where the Sabres are fighting for their playoff lives. | Golf in early April? |
| Buffalo | 3/25 3/27 3/28 3/30 4/1 4/3 4/5 |
Home Away Home Home Away Away Away |
Ottawa Ottawa Montreal Boston Toronto Montreal Boston |
TU LL LL TU TU LL LL |
L W . . . . . |
The Sabres could not afford to lose both games versus Ottawa — and they didn’t. While Buffalo collapsed in the 3rd at home, they staged an impressive Shootout win in Canada’s capital last night. But 4 of 5 against Montreal and Boston likely spells the end of their run unless Ryan Miller notches a couple shutouts. | Golf in early April? |
| Philadelphia | 3/25 3/28 3/29 4/2 4/4 4/6 |
Away Away Away Away Home Home |
NYR NJD NYI Pittsburgh NJD Pittsburgh |
LL TU LW LL TU TU |
W OTL W . . . |
A good start for the Flyers, and tonight they face a bruised-and-battered Devils team coming off a heartbreaker of a loss to the Rangers (though one should never bet against Brodeur). Then the black and orange go to Long Island on Saturday for another winnable game. And they’d better win, as their last three games are exceedingly difficult. | 7th Seed? |
A Stretch Run That Could Yield a Southeast Facelift
By The OFB Team
Monday, March 24, 2008
Take a look at the records of these Southeast division teams in their last 10 games:
Carolina: 8-2-0; Washington: 7-3-0; Florida: 8-1-1
That’s a .766 winning percentage by the division’s top three teams in crunch time. All three have entered March as lions. These seem more like performances by Southbeasts than teams from the “Southleast.”
Washington has wins over Nashville, Boston, Calgary, and Buffalo during its run. Carolina took down Ottawa (badly), Chicago, Minnesota, and Buffalo. Florida bested Boston, Pittsburgh, and the Rangers recently. It’s not like these three clubs have been feasting on bottom-dwellers. The result is that, whereas three weeks ago conventional wisdom had only the Southeast winner earning a postseason berth, today there’s serious talk of all three teams qualifying.
Likely that will prove difficult. All three teams, beginning this week, close out their schedules with Southeast-exclusive slates. With a sufficient number of “three-point” games between them, and with the backsliding Bs, the Flyers and Sabres closing out with conspicuously tough matchups, it’s conceivable, but odds are that at least one Southeast club will cool off coming home. Right?
The Southeast has a long, long way to go before achieving anything approaching the respect the East’s other divisions enjoy, but if it is able to qualify more than just its division winner for the playoffs, and if over the next two weeks we see some fantastically competitive and compelling games among the three contenders, it’s difficult to imagine serious hockey fans giving the division more of the back of their hands.
Maybe Alexander Ovechkin is going to raise more than just hockey’s profile in the District, and take his team’s division along for the fun ride as well.
Here’s a look at the way the season’s final half-dozen games break down for contenders for three playoff spots — 3rd, 7th, and 8th — in the East. We’ve identified games at “Toss-Ups,” “Likely Wins,” and “Likely Losses.”
| Eastern Contenders’ Remaining Games- as of March 24 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Date | H/A | Vs. | Res | Analysis | Playoff Chances |
| Washington | 3/25 3/27 3/29 4/1 4/3 4/5 |
Away Away Away Home Home Home |
Carolina Tampa Florida Carolina Tampa Bay Florida |
TU LW LL TU LW TU |
Three road games followed by three to finish at home, with the goal being to still be in the hunt when the team returns to Verizon Center. Intriguing storylines: AO may already have a Hart Trophy locked up, but if he carries the Caps to the postseason, that vote may be unanimous? Second: how will Gabby rotate his no. 1 netminders? | 8th Seed? |
| Carolina | 3/25 3/28 3/29 4/1 4/2 4/4 |
Home Home Away Away Home Home |
Washington Atlanta Tampa Bay Washington Tampa Bay Florida |
TU LW LW TU TU TU |
The Canes’ mission couldn’t be clearer: win four of their final six games and they’re assured of the Southeast division crown and the no. 3 seed. And they play four of the final six at home. Nothing’s guaranteed in this dogfight, but of the teams in this list Carolina seems most assured of a post-season appearance. | SE Div Champs? |
| Florida | 3/25 3/27 3/29 4/1 4/4 4/4 |
Away Home Home Away Away Away |
Tampa Atlanta Washington Atlanta Carolina Washington |
TU LW LW LW LL TU |
The ‘Cats have some pretty smooth skating all the way until the regular season’s final weekend, when they play back-to-back on the road in Carolina and Washington. Seems imperative for them to win all four that precede . . . which is a tall order. | Golf in early April? |
| Boston | 3/25 3/27 3/29 3/30 4/2 4/4 4/5 |
Away Home Home Away Away Away Home |
Toronto Toronto Ottawa Buffalo NJD Ottawa Buffalo |
TU LW TU LL LL LL TU |
Seven games remaining, and not an easy-breather within. Especially trying trio of road games (Buffalo, NJ, Ottawa) to close out March and begin April. Patrice Bergeron is skating with the Bs but not taking contact — he’s an unlikely addition for the tough closing stretch, and the team will miss him. | Golf in early April? |
| Buffalo | 3/25 3/27 3/28 3/30 4/1 4/3 4/5 |
Home Away Home Home Away Away Away |
Ottawa Ottawa Montreal Boston Toronto Montreal Boston |
TU LL TU LW TU LL TU |
The good news for Buffalo is that they have seven games remaining. The bad news is that all seven opponents have winning records, and four of the games are on the road. It’s simply a very tough final stretch. | Golf in early April? |
| Philadelphia | 3/25 3/28 3/29 4/2 4/4 4/6 |
Away Away Away Away Home Home |
NYR NJD NYI Pittsburgh NJD Pittsburgh |
LL LL LW LL TU TU |
Four straight road games in the middle of the Flyers’ home stretch — three of them against toughies the Rags, Devils, and Pens. The East’s most inconsistent team in the season’s second half has demonstrated a conspicuous inability to close out games. But they’re atop the heap of wanna-bes this morning, and their recent strong play rebounding from a near-crushing 10-game losing streak should carry them in. | 7th Seed? |
Victory in the Lion’s Den: A Moment To Savor
By The OFB Team
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Tarik’s Washington Post game file today leads with, “After scoring his second goal of the game, Alex Ovechkin skated toward the corner boards at HSBC Arena, waving his arms in the air, imploring the capacity crowd to increase the volume . . . They did — and he loved every second of it.” Over at the Times, Corey’s game file is headlined, ”Victory for the villian.” Both files allude to Alexander Ovechkin’s bad-guy status in Buffalo – likely made worse last night by his heroics.
There was something superbly schadenfreud-ish for a few fleeting seconds last night as AO skated toward the HSBC plexiglass, victory virtually assured, behind which was perched a confab of the stunned and Slug-sweatered. His arms were raised in triumph, his gaze fixed on them. We wondered what he might possibly have mouthed to them in those sweet seconds of triumph. Then we thought, why not invite our readers to offer up their ideas — the more creative, the better.
So have at it; just what might those sad eyes in their blue-slugged sweaters have lip-read from Ovie?
The Southeast Field Thins, and Some Starting To Dream Large
By pucksandbooks
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Through the middle of the first week of March, we’re gaining, at long last, a firm sense of identities in the Southeast division. To state the most obvious, Tampa and Atlanta have forks in them: It’s a three-team race through the final 15 games, and Florida could be the next casualty. Their no. 2 goalie is their best and hottest goalie.
Speaking of hot no. 2 goalies, we learned Wednesday night in upstate New York that there’s a lot of fight left in Olaf Kolzig. ‘Clutch’ is the only way to describe no. 37’s stellar effort against a Buffalo club that had prevailed in almost all of the previous 15 games against the Caps. Since the 2003-04 season, Buffalo had vexed the Caps more than any team in the East; in 15 games, including three this year, the Caps had earned only four points out of a possible 30 against the Sabres. Dispassionate or partisan, you can’t look at Wednesday night’s outcome — hard on the heels of Monday’s Massacre — and not think something special might be brewing.
In this the springtime of our increasing content, none of the bad karma of the past much seems to matter. This is a hockey team that’s absorbed two-and-a-half seasons’ worth of rough blows, appears today to have profitted from them, is guided by an upstart and Adams-candidate coach, a Hart-and-a-few-other-pieces-of-hardware leading left wing, and perhaps most of all is skating in a hockey sunrise’s aura.
Take a look at the way this weekend sets up: Huet — white-hot in his career against the Bs (who responded to Monday’s massacre by failing to score a single goal at home against Florida the very next night) — a likely starter Saturday, and Kolzig, seeking victory no. 300 of his career, at a sold-out Verizon Center Sunday afternoon, against the black and gold and poorly coiffed. Think Coach Boudreau might reference what’s at stake for Olie in his pre-game comments Sunday? Think the home partisans might be behind no. 37 to prevail in that one? Think Kolzig himself could ever want to win a game as much as that one, on national TV?
I know the Hollywood writer’s strike is over, but is elite script-writing suddenly stationed in a D.C. hockey rink? Some weeks back, the Caps were rather commonly identified as the season’s “feel-good” story. It’s suddenly starting to feel a lot better, and more significant, now.
Wednesday morning here had the feeling of anticipation of a playoff game in the evening, and the game in Buffalo was contested very much like a postseason showdown: the scoring was low, the checking tight, the goaltending superb. There was even a grotesque and incongruous imbalance of power plays tilted against the Caps. And for good measure, a lengthy ‘was-it-a-goal?’ replay that outlasted the Caps’ flight to Buffalo. Somehow, just like in springtime 10 years ago, the visitors prevailed. This team has won four of its last five, against formidable foes, and imagine if they can add their captain to the mix in the next few weeks.
But here’s what’s beginning to distinguish the 2008 Caps from their counterparts of 10 years ago: the every-shift presence of a go-to guy who can come through in the clutch en route to a Hart Trophy (among others). Seriously, it’s necessarily the case that if the Caps qualify for the potseason the league’s finest performer will be wearing a Caps’ sweater. How marvelous would it be to have Kolzig partially backstop another memorable run in hockey’s spring, but with the franchise’s greatest-ever talent also helping out? Not Todd Krygier as hero, but rather the planet’s best hockey player. That ‘98 Caps’ team finished the regular season 10 games above .500 — kinda about what this team just might.
We began hearing the first whispers of “That Caps club could be dangerous in the postseason” a few weeks ago — before the arrivals of Huet, Fedorov, and Cooke.
All of us in D.C. are understandably focused on the night-in, night-out scores of March 2008, but it’s worth noting that a durable changing of the guard in the Southeast is likely taking place as well this spring. Atlanta won the Southeast last year, was unceremoniously swept in round one by the Rags, and has made little news since save for the sell-off of Marian Hossa. Tampa was able to resign Dan Boyle last week, and at long last acquire a good netminder (Mike Smith), but it parted with another key piece of the 2004 Cup champions, Brad Richards, and will again miss the postseason. The battered Hurricanes’ are playing fabulously this stretch run, but there’s an awful lot of age in that organization. Among the rest of the Southeast there is precious little in the way of prized prospects to bolster the present mediocrity.
The Caps’ owner on Tuesday told television viewers of Washington Post Live that his team absolutely had to win two of its next three games. Wednesday night, it won the toughest of those — the first, on the road, against a club it rarely had beaten the past three seasons.
Times are a ‘changin. But is some respects, they’re also looking like better than our favorite spring.