Alexander Semin slides the puck past Henrik Lundqvist to make the score 2-0 Caps in the first period. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Wow! I’m not sure you could ask for 60 minutes of better hockey, in Washington's simply dominate, 4-0 victory over the Rangers. At 20 years-old maybe Simeon Valramov is too young to be scared. Tonight he was simply too good! Varlamov made 33 saves and throughout the game never lost focus. A 2-1 down the ice? No problem! A Markus Naslund move that brought Varlamov out of the net? Try again!
And with the Rangers slipping on the scoreboard, Sean Avery seemingly tried his hardest to rattle the young goaltender. Now I don’t know what was said, and I have no idea if Avery knows Russian, (he probably has dated a model or two) but whenever I saw Avery’s mug on the screen, he was always trying to yap with Varlamov. Who knows what he was saying, but watching prior interviews, Avery seems like a guy who thinks he is a lot more intelligent than he really is, so I have no doubt that this guys insults were probably a lot more rudimentary than you may be lead to believe. He probably said something substantially dull and basic to Varlamov like, ‘I slept with you mom,’ ‘Russian girls are easy,’ or knowing that Avery interned at Vogue (how do you get away with that as a hockey player) maybe the forward mocked Simeon for wearing an orange goalie helmet that didn’t match the complexion of his eyes. Whatever it was, Varly never was rattled and like a good secret service guard, John Erskine seemed to always be their to have his back. Unlike the secret service though, there is absolutely nothing clandestine about Erskine. He made it clear to Avery that if he tried anything suspect, the tooth fairy would be sure to ruin that late-summer photo shoot for Esquire magazine.
But forget talking about Avery, or any other member of the Rangers, for tonight it was all about the Caps. From the opening minute in which Alexander Semin got a chance all alone in the crease area, you could tell that Washington would not be lacking in the effort category tonight.
Most of all though, what Washington did to crash the party at MSG was crash the net. You saw it during Brooks Laich power-play goal in the 2nd period as Laich just camped out on the left side and sent the puck in while standing next to Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, that gave Washington an impenetrable 3-0 lead.
While the Caps needed Laich’s and the rest of the team’s grit in crashing the net, it wasn’t a game in which Washington left its finesse at home.
Nicklas Backstrom once again made a case for why he is one of the best pure passers in the NHL, all while at the tender age of 21. The cross ice pass that from the lower right corner hit Semin streaking down on the right for Washington’s first goal was a thing of beauty, and whether it’s a short touch pass or a pass all the way to the other side of the ice, I’ve seen this guy make plays that yes, even the great Adam Oates didn’t have the ability to do. (yeah I said it)
The win was also built through Alexander Ovechkin playing like a complete player. Sure Ovechkin occasionally tried to bully his way between three guys for a goal tonight, but more indicative of his play were the two touch passes behind his back he made to Mike Green and Victor Kozlov in the first period as the defense was latching on to him. This is how I expect Ovechkin to play in the playoffs and tonight he did his job.
A couple more thoughts:
- What more can you say about Alexander Semin. The man simply gets the job done. Two goals tonight and the game tying goal on Thursday. Right now this guy is the Capitals playoff MVP and if the Capitals come back, he will deserve credit just as much as Varlamov for helping to save the season.
- The Capitals defense was phenomenal tonight. Sure the Rangers like in the previous two games had odd-man rushes, but countless times tonight I saw the Caps force the Rangers to the sidelines and not allow them to carry it through the middle down the ice, (ala Naslund’s goal in game 1.)
- Just for the fear factor alone, I love having Donald Brashier back. He quietly had a great game. Michael Nylander is about as good at bringing ‘playoff intensity’ as Jim Cramer would be in teaching meditative yoga, so I was very glad to see he was scratched for Brashier tonight.
Alright, we are still in this one. On to game 4!
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For more info: Check out New York Rangers Examiner for more coverage of this series.
Comments
Go Caps! Oh geesh re: slide #3. Thanks for the re-Cap, Michael.
I think Nylander has received disgraceful treatment in Washington. They barely ever give him a chance to do what he does best (create offense and make plays) yet he is the one who keeps getting scratched and blamed for all the Capitals' ills.
Nylander is not the reason you lost the first 2 games. You lost just the same WITHOUT Nylander, now what? What has Fedorov done to justify having a spot cemented on the top two lines? And don't give me playoff experience because Nylander has playoff experience too.
I am not cheering for either team but for personal reasons was quite delighted to see the Caps lose (and struggle to score) without Nylander.
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