Hey, They Said It...

I missed the Caps/Rangers game as I am in the Midwest for Christmas. As soon as my phone buzzed that the Caps were down 4-0, I turned if off and spent the rest of the evening with my family trying not to think about another disappointing loss. Imagine my surprise this morning when I woke up to read about the debacle that Haven so kindly stepped in to write for me in my absence. It was a great Christmas present to open this morning!

Here are a few quotes from the game:

"They stopped playing hockey. They probably believed (at) 4-0 they'd win the game. They tried to play conservative, but we play a different way. We play a hard, physical game and take lots of shots. You see the results."
--Alex Ovechkin on the comeback win.

"The good thing is we were down 4-0 early. It's almost better. If we could get one and start believing ... that's all we kept thinking about in the room. If you believe, it can happen."
--Bruce Boudreau on Christmas miracles.

"Sometimes the coach wants to give you the chance to bounce back, and that's what he did. I was really lucky that I did have the chance to show character."
--Jose Theodore on being pulled and put back in.

"When he came in and he stopped Zherdev, you need defining moments, you need saves at the right time. And that was a save at the right time. The guys knew on the bench that we had the opportunity to come back after he made that save."
--Boudreau on Theo's save in the third period that could have made it 5-2 for the Rangers.

"I was looking at the goals in my head. The way the plays kind of happened, I wouldn't do anything differently. I was just trying not to get down on myself. I was just thinking, 'Do the same thing and it's going to pay off.' In the second I made a couple of saves, and the confidence kicked in."
--Theo on his return to the net in the second period.

"It was a hard loss for us. We just want to improve every game, especially when we lose 7-1. It was a great comeback. We started believing each other again and we won the game."
--Ovi on rebounding from the loss in Philadelphia.

"It came right back to me. It was on edge and I just fired hard. And got a break. It was huge."
--Birthday boy and red hard hat wearer Shaone Morrisonn on his OT game winning goal.

"That was the hardest shot I've ever seen him take."
--Boudreau joking about Morrison's OT winning shot.

"There were some signs in the first period when we were building our lead that we were playing with fire a little bit."
--Ranger coach Tom Renney.

"You've got to let this one go. It happens. They took advantage of the special teams. We've got to regroup. We just let it slip."
--Scott Gomez on the loss.

Quotes are from the Washington Post, AP and broadcast services.

Make That #82

Capitals 0, Sabres 2
Scoresheet - Wash Post

I tried to be as positive as I could going into this game against Buffalo. It was the inconsistent offense that once again failed the Capitals and all the Caps can talk about now is next year. Not sure what was more disheartening, a disappointed finale loss, or a Verizon Center filled to the gut with Buffalo Sabres fans.

The Washington Capitals finish with a 28-40-14 record and finish 5th in the Southeast Division for a third season in a row. They will finish 14th in the Eastern Conference for a third year in a row.

Alex Ovechkin finishes this season with 92 points (46 goals - 46 assists). He was also a -19, worse plus/minus on the Capitals this year. He led the team in shots however taking 384 of them.

Alex Semin finish second in the points for the Caps with 73 points (38 goals - 35 assists). He led the team with 17 powerplay goals. Boyd Gordon had the teams best plus/minus with a +11, Donald Brashear led all Capitals with 156 penalty minutes. Chris Clark led the team in shorthanded goals with 4.

Some Capital Quotes:

"We'll add to the team until we're like Buffalo. I really take heart in looking at some of these teams that were on the bottom. Buffalo wasn't a very good team for a long time and had a very good business model, the same with Pittsburgh, and now both of those teams are 100-point teams and have very high expectations, and I think that's where our bar is going to raised." -Ted Leonsis

Caps' fans tear your hair out no more.

"It's nice if you get a few fans in there that remind you you're not in quite as hostile an environment as you thought." -Ryan Miller on the large number of Buffalo fans at the Verizon Center.

Sure. Why not, it's not like Caps fans are showing up.

"I think it will be a good summer for us. But you don't know who signs, who will come. But I hope. [The fans] hope. Coach hopes. Team guys hope." -Alex Ovechkin

We all had hope at the start of this season too.

"I'm definitely looking forward to next year, with everything that's being said and with what we have here right now. We have the makings of being very good. We were right there up until Christmas time, which is when our lack of depth really showed. Hopefully next year when guys get hurt they won't be missed as much." -Olaf Kolzig

Or everyone just has to stay healthy.

Buffalo Sabres clinch the President's trophy with the win. Capitals just get to go away. But hey, there is always next year!

Quotable Caps

Recent quotes from Panthers/Capitals game:

"I would like to have that play back ... You think in overtime they would
let us play a little more." -Steve Eminger

Welcome to the new NHL Em.

"We're taking penalties at inopportune times and the other teams are capitalizing. ... It's rough. But we've got to bounce back because we've got another game tomorrow." -Brent Johnson

When is a good opportunity to take a penalty?

"We needed to get a stop on the penalty kill." -Brian Potheir

Yea, that would have been nice. Although, the Caps did kill 4 of 6 against the Panthers Friday night. They didn't stop the goals (tying and overtime winner) that matter.

"Our penalty kill let us down. That's kind of been the story the past few games." -Glen Hanlon

And he's the coach! He should know.

"I wish the call went our way... It seemed inconclusive." -Glen Hanlon

Code for: "I'll let this one slide, but I better get a call next game!"

Pondering numbers:

• The Capitals were called for 6 penalties, all infractions were committed by different players (Beech, Pothier, Jurcina, Semin, Morrisonn, Eminger). Four of the six guilty were defensemen.


• The Caps are second in the league for goals against in the second period, allowing 100 goals slip past them (only 73 goals for in the 2nd). Philadelphia is first with 102.


• Kris Beech was 28% in the faceoff circle. Compare that with Novotny with 57%, Gordon at 52%, Laich even at 50% and Clark with 80% (of players that took 4 or more faceoffs, Fleischmann and Brashear both were 100% after only one draw).


• Ovechkin, Semin and Potheir combined for 22:25 on the power play against the Panthers. They combined for only 2 points (both assists) with the extra man. All three averaged :50 or more per shift for the whole game.


• The last three goals scored by the Caps and Cats were all power play goals.