Headed to the Great Northwest

The Washington Capitals are about to embark on their toughest three game stretch through the first two months on the season.  The Caps will play their next three games in hostile territory, this time in a tour of the Northwest division.  Starting tomorrow night against the Colorado Avalanche, Friday night against the Canucks, and finally in a HNIC showdown against the Edmonton Oilers.  The Caps are the Eastern Conference leaders, but have yet to face the challenge they will face this week.  We know this team is good, but this may give us an idea of just how good this team is.

The Colorado Avalanche are in my opinion the most surprising team so far this year.  After finishing a western conference worst, 15th, in 2008-2009, the Avalanche now lead the Northwest division with 44 points, good for third in the Western Conference.  The Avs are also one of the highest scoring teams in the NHL.  So what is the cause for this drastic improvement?  The play of Paul Stastny, Wojtek Wolski, and Calder Trophy contender Matt Duchene.  The former Brampton Battalion and current Avs center has 9 goals and 10 assists in his first 35 games as an NHLer.  Four of his nine goals have come on the power play.  Matt Duchene isn’t the only former Brampton OHLer on the Avalanche.  Wojtek Wolski is having a career year thus far.  Wolski comes into Tuesday night’s game with 13 goals and 20 assists.  All three of these players are playing a big role in turning this franchise around. 

The Caps are entering Tuesday’s game losing two of their last three games.  The Caps were unable to play a full 60 minutes against the Maple Leafs on Saturday night.  This is still a cause for concern as the Caps, with the exception of two shutouts, seemingly continue to fail to put a full game together.  The Caps quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Leafs and appeared to be ready to run away with an easy two points.  The top line of Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Semin were almost unstoppable for most of the game.  The top trio’s game stats were as follows:

Ovechkin: 1G, 2A
Backstrom: 2G
Semin: 1A

Unfortunately for the Caps, that is where the production ended. Also shaky was the play of Michal Neuvirth. With Varlamov injured, Neuvirth was called upon to make a start as the Caps were playing the second leg of back-to-back games. Jose Theodore started the first game against Carolina but was not called upon in Toronto. My guess is Boudreau felt this was a good opportunity for Neuvirth get some work against NHL competition. Neuvirth was noticeably weak with his rebound control and allowed two goals in the short side. This was Neuvirth’s second NHL start this season. He has struggled in both games boasting an o-2 record, 4.56 GAA, and an .845 save percentage. That will get a coaches attention, but not exactly the right type of attention. No word yet on whether Semyon Varlamov will be ready, but if he is I’m confident he’ll get the call between the pipes.
Before the latest mini slump, the Caps had reeled off 7 straight wins. Here are some notables:

–Alex Ovechkin: Since returning from suspension, AO has had a hand in 7 of the Caps 10 goals (3G, 4A).
–Nick Backstrom: Last week was named NHL player of the week. Backstrom recorded 2G and 2A against Carolina last Friday night. Backstrom has 3G and 6A in his last 5 games. Backstrom is currently 4th in the NHL in assists and 5th in points with 35.
–Alex Semin: Over Semin’s last three games, 3G, 4A, and is a +4.
–Thomas Fleischmann: Flash has been a steady contributor after missing most of the first month of the season. He’s recorded 7 points over his last 6 games.

Mike Knuble has returned from his broken finger that sidelined him for the last month. Surely it will take some time for Knuble to get back into the swing of things. He is a minus 3 over his last two games since returning. Knuble did have a few golden opportunities in the game against the Leafs so that is encouraging. Continue to see Knuble in front of the net on the power play. Knuble and Laich will need to be a major presence against the Avs. The Avalanche will undoubtedly try to avoid the run and gun style the Caps love. I expect a gritty game which means Knuble, Laich, and Bradley will need to be ready to crash the net, and cycle the puck deep. Laich had a rough week registering no points. I expect a big turnaround on this northwestern swing.

The next three games will be the Caps toughest test thus far. The Capitals have to stress discipline and hard work on this trip. If their power play continues at the current 24% clip, that won’t be bad either.