Monday night at Verizon Center was a drama that took a horrific turn for the hosts in the game’s final 10 minutes, when a Capitals’ club combined a lethargic work ethic with too soft a shell in their own end, watching a 4-1 lead evaporate in the final frame before succumbing to Toronto 5-4 in a shootout. Toronto entered play Monday night tied with the Islanders for the fewest road wins in the league.

It wasn’t as if the Caps hadn’t had warning about the possibility of such a fate. On the Leafs’ last visit to town on November 3 the Caps took a 3-1 lead into the final 20 minutes only to watch the Leafs surge out to a 4-3 lead. The Caps prevailed 5-4 in a shootout that night. Two nights later the Caps lost a 3-0 third period lead at home against the Bruins. The Caps still have one of the best records in the league, and their record at home (12-2-2) is the envy of most; but losing commanding leads late this season is more than mildly unsettling.

It wasn’t a night to remember for Nicklas Backstrom. Despite recording two assists on the evening, the Caps’ top center skated a -2 and was on the ice for all three Leafs’ goals in the final 20 minutes. He was off his game Monday night.

The Caps did lose defenseman Jeff Schultz midway through the game with a fractured thumb. He’ll be out four to six weeks, Bruce Boudreau noted in his postgame address to the press, which was shorter than any recent TV promo for the Winter Classic. “We quit playing in our zone,” the subdued coach said.

The plot unfolded rather nicely through the opening 40 minutes. The Capitals, looking to rebound from Saturday night’s deflating 3-1 setback against Atlanta, rode an Energizer Bunny pivot from Quebec out to a 4-1 lead against the Leafs. And through two periods Monday night it looked as if HBO had another ‘Rudy’ storyline unfolding before its cameras, as Mathieu Perreault, recalled earlier from Hershey on Monday, scored two impressive even-strength goals to help stake the parent club to what looked to be a comfortable lead. Perreault earned the evening’s second star; to his coach, he was probably the first.

“If some of the other forwards had played with as much energy as [Matty], we wouldn’t have been in the situation we were in,” Gabby noted.

I’ve long wondered what Alexander Semin would look like if he were paired, durably, with an elite playmaking pivot who could keep up with him and who shared his elite hockey sense. Someone not named Nicklas Backstrom, so that the Caps could durably forge two elite scoring lines. On Monday night, Perreault auditioned magnificently for just that role. He was the best Capitals’ forward, probably their best player, and flanked by Brooks Laich on the left, the second line created offense and forechecked effectively. There is a wide open job available in the middle of the ice on the Capitals’ second line, and if Perreault can forge lasting chemistry with the Capitals’ big goal scoring gun this season, and play accountably away from the puck, the job is his.

“Every time I get called up it seems like the first game I’m flying. Now it’s just a matter of doing it every night,” MP85 reflected in postgame defeat.

Really it should have been an HBO hit feature wrapping up in the game’s final 20 minutes. Matty had already secured the first two-goal game of his young NHL career, and the entire arena elevated its collective attention throughout the third period every time he touched the puck; the rink wanted nothing so much as a hat trick from this endearing folk hero. It could have happened, too. With a little over 11 minutes remaining Perreault had Leafs’ defenders off balance and guessing as he quarterbacked the puck into the Leafs’ zone, Semin speeding up through center ice for a stealth feed. Perreault’s patience with the puck opened up a clear shooting lane on Leafs’ netminder Jonas Gustavsson, but instead of shooting Perreault directed a perfect pass that Semin blasted off the crossbar. On the other side of the ice the young center made some nice defensive plays, and he even threw a big hit along the boards. Perreault must live up to his end of the audition bargain, and if he does and if Bruce Boudreau sticks with this line combo there could be some special evenings ahead this winter.

Fair or not, moderate or undersized centers like Perreault commonly are held to higher performance standards. It’s the curse of the puck artist. Even in a brilliant career Denis Savard suffered from it to a degree. On nights when they fail to land on the scoresheet or otherwise deftly set up linemates, such players tend to get singled out as inconsistent, when in point of fact being a regular scorer in professional hockey is very much the exception to the performance rule. It’s the catcall of the size bigots.

Inconsistent very much describes to me Dave Steckel’s play of last season and this, but how much criticism has he garnered for it?

Monday night did offer a silver lining of excitement for the Red Army and its zealous infatuation with MP85.

Also on the plus side of things, the curse of the President’s Trophy resides this morning in Pittsburgh.

Alexander Semin, however, answered late on the power play  — and eventually added the shootout winner. The Caps are 4-0-0 on the season when he scores. More on him in a moment.

• Just a Coincidence? It is clear the power-play, Boyd Gordon, scoring more than three goals and playing beyond regulation have been good things for the Capitals this year. They are 5-0 when converting on the PP, 6-0 when Gordon steps onto the ice, 7-0 when they light the lamp at least three times and 4-0 in overtime. What all of that turns into is 16 points, an 8-4 record and first place in the Eastern Conference.

• The Silent Leader: Jason Chimera scored yet another goal and earned the hard hat for his effort last night. He sounded an awful lot like a leader in the locker room after the win. While head coach Bruce Boudreau wanted to give Toronto credit for their comeback, Chimera held the guys in the room to a higher standard, saying, “It was nothing they really did, we kind of gave them three goals.”

• Fuzzy Numbers: Offensive production can be deceiving. Mike Green has scored goals in the last two games, and four points in them, but he wouldn’t boast much about other aspects of his game. He skated a -3 last night. Some of it was not his fault, but there was one goal he directly contributed to by leaving his feet. Ed Frankovic of WNST believes the worst thing a defender can do is leave his feet, and Green did just that, resulting in a Toronto goal.

• Sarge had a third period to forget as well — he was on the ice for all three Toronto tallies. He was a -2 on the evening.

• Four for the Show: Washington renewed from last season a trend of winning despite surrendering four or more goals against the Leafs last night. Washington had eight wins last year despite giving up four goals in a game, and last night was this season’s first.

• Young and Impressionable: Rookie Michal Neuvirth has taken perhaps the biggest step in his play this season of any Capital. Not only has he played in 12 games, but he is also first in wins with eight and tenth in the league in goals against, posting a 2.31 average. Neuvy’s teammates have taken notice too. One guy in particular, Mike Green, feels particularly good about him between the pipes.”He’s incredible. I don’t want to pump him too much but he’s been outstanding for us. As a defenseman I feel so comfortable with him behind us,” Green said. “There’s already a mutual bond that we feel even though he’s only been here a short period of time.” Wednesday’s game was Neuvirth’s first shootout win at the NHL level. It might be worth noting: the last time you heard Caps’ defenders sing high praise for playing with supreme confidence because of the caliber of netminder backstopping them, that goalie’s name was Cristobal Huet. Huet’s acquisition was a bit of a magic charm in 2008. Big juicy rebounds left by Olie Kolzig suddenly disappeared. Caps’ defenders just seemed to know where the puck was going to be with Huet in net. The same quality appears to be taking hold with Neuvy.

• Wednesday night offered yet another “Semin Hat Trick”: Alexander Semin is an enigma that could stump Sherlock Holmes. After taking an offensive zone penalty in the game, authors a beautiful assist on the Caps’ first goal on the power play, later takes another offensive zone penalty, and finally scores, dramatically and late, to send the game into overtime. A goal, an assist, an offensive-zone penalty–from this we’ve coined the phrase “Semin Hat Trick,” but hardly an improvement on a Gordie Howe’s labor. Like it or loathe it, it’s become somewhat of a trademark of Semin’s play. Out of career totals for all players currently on the Washington Capitals’ roster, Semin leads in penalty minutes. He has even more than Alex Ovechkin or seasoned veteran Matt Bradley. Since (mercifully) Semin doesn’t fight and isn’t known for delivering life-altering hits that could be called for something, those high penalty numbers aren’t coming from rugged play that could perhaps be defended on some level but rather from mental errors and especially undisciplined stick-work, mistakes he’s clearly a talented enough player to avoid. There has been maturation in his game over the past season and a fraction, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Or maybe this just is Semin’s game, and you have to live with it.

OK, not quite a million for the tickets, but still pricey

I just received the annual email from the Washington Capitals to renew season tickets for the 2010-11 season.

This year’s increase in price? Approximately 32%.

Ouch.

Yes, the Caps’ current ticket prices—particularly for my seats in the front row of the upper deck—are not only significantly discounted from face value, but quite a bargain by league standards. According to The New York Times, 20 NHL teams charged more, on average, for tickets than the Capitals did in 2009-10.

Nonetheless, it was a bit of a shock seeing the new total invoice amount in a painfully-enlarged lump-sum. Marketing suggestion: since the per-ticket price is not provided anyway (it required math… “It was my understanding that there would be no math”), why not proffer the bill in easier-to-digest monthly payment amounts? It’d be no less frustrating than obfuscating the individual ticket price, and it would be much be easier on fans’ hearts.

One must admit that this increase, while a bit breathtaking at first, is actually reasonable. After all, aren’t the Washington Capitals the hottest ticket in town? Sure, demand jumps even higher for marquee opponents (Pittsburgh, Detroit, Philly, etc.); but no matter the opponent, D.C. is craving Caps games. One needs look no further than the team’s impressive streak of sold-out home games reaching back to last season’s playoffs… something previously unimaginable for a hockey team in Washington.

As a side note, not all ticket holders received quite the sticker shock I did. For instance, a friend in Section 104 faced the same dollar increase I did… which translates to a much more palatable 14% increase for him.

Even after these increases, the Caps’ 2010-11 season ticket price increase will bring their average price up to approximately the 2009-10 league average — in other words, roughly a middle-of-the-pack ticket price for a top-of-the-pack team.

So yes, after recovering from the initial shock, I’ll be re-upping for season tickets. After all, the chance to see the most exciting team in the NHL play 41+ times a year is a rare and wonderful opportunity, and one worth a premium price even during tough economic times.

Let us hope, however, that this year’s big increase remains an aberration — a one-time “market adjustment” to bring prices more in line with demand — in the Caps’ overall ticket-price history. The last thing the Caps (or their supporters) need is to price out loyal fans and fill the arena with cellphone-talking corporate types who kill the amazing energy level at the games.

The kickoff of an active and notable pre-Olympic player swap spree . . . or just the big-time shakeup of two seriously struggling Canadian franchises?

UPDATE: The Leafs continue the moves by getting Jiggy, acquiring veteran goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere from the Anaheim Ducks for Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala.

• Much of the gear that travels is the same that was just worn in the game that night. Only the helmets, socks, and sweaters generally change. Everything is packed “sweaty,” meaning that the training staff must take it straight from Toronto Pearson Airport to the Air Canada Centre at a godforsaken Saturday morning hour to get it hung to dry in time for Saturday’s on-ice action. What does this mean for sleep and rest for the training and equipment staff, relative to the rest of the traveling troupe? Serious sleep deprivation, that’s what. Remember, they must be first on the rink scene in the morning to attend to various player equipment needs, such as skate sharpening.
• But first the Caps have to get to the airport from Verizon Center. And before the Caps’ training staff can focus exclusively on their team’s travel needs they must assist the visiting team’s training staff and get its gear packed up for their own hurried trip to the airport. I remember how surprised I was the first time I saw this when the Caps afforded me locker room access a few years back – I thought it was strange to see Capitals’ staffers working with Penguins’ or Flyers’ gear. But it’s simply tight travel time pragmatics, and every host team’s staff so assists the visitors. 

Because of late-night travel restrictions out of Reagan National (there’s an 11:00 curfew), the Capitals fly out of Dulles. Not terribly convenient, that.  The Caps typically are able to get to Dulles by 11:00 after games. At least the roads at that hour are relatively congestion-free, but this past Friday they encountered a backup on 66 West (imagine that).

• NHL membership has its privileges: the Caps are afforded a private TSA screening and are able to get boarded and settled in time for an 11:30 departure.
• I wondered about player nutrition in such a hectic and contrained schedule. Recall that players generally don’t eat after about 2:30 on game days with a 7:00 start — a late lunch — so by post-game you have to figure they’re fairly famished. Turns out they dine on a very late dinner on the plane.   
• Now remember that by virtue of crossing borders as the Caps did Friday/Saturday night they must enter Toronto Pearson through Canadian Customs. You better believe that that adds to the trip travel time. I’ve gone through Pearson for pleasure hockey trips a half dozen times, and when I identify the purpose of my visit  usually a sizable gang of male Customs agents converge on me and regale me with all manner of puck talk. They live for that. Imagine their excitement at chatting up Ovi and the boys after hours on a weekend night. It’s a wonder the Caps can even can make it to Saturday’s game considering the puck interrogation they likely get.  

By the time they make their way by bus to the team hotel and check in, few are asleep before 2:30. Like you I thought the Caps looked supremely tired in Toronto Saturday night — and no wonder! Friday’s game with the Habs was an exceptionally hard one; and remember that they lost Tom Poti early on to injury and skated with a short bench the rest of the way.     

• But as tired as the players understandably were, it’s the equipment and training staff that really feels the stress and strain of such quick turn-around time. “When I make the trip I have to struggle to get the game notes done for the next day,” one Caps’ media relations staffer told me, “which is nothing compared to what [the training] guys do.”

Think about the sheer volume of gear two or three training staffers must secure and navigate from city to city. Twenty-plus stuffed gear bags, about twice as heavy when wet, easily pushing 50 pounds each; about 100 sticks; and a couple of cabinets full of medical/training paraphanalia. The whole thing is not unlike the breakdown, travel, and setup roadies of a name rock band undertake on tour, except there are far fewer hands involved in hockey’s traveling road show.