When asked about the postseason troubles that have been plaguing the Capitals over the last few years, Bradley spoke about a number of different players “not showing up”, however he refrained from naming any players specifically.  When pressed further about the issue Bradley stated “Our locker room was maybe a little too nonchalant, and guys weren’t disciplined the way they should have been.”  Bradley didn’t stop there.  He also called into question some of the habits of his former teammates, more specifically about their practice habits and their overall work ethic stating that certain guys weren’t ready for practice due to “questionable injuries”.

For the entirety of last season and the majority of the season before, I’ve been pretty candid about the lack of leadership on the Capitals team, and it starts with the Captain Alex Ovechkin.  Obviously any news regarding an injury or any other reason why a player missed practice we have to take at face value.  Anyone outside of the locker room should do that.  But the frequency of hearing news that players like Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Semin are “taking their option” and missing practice or a morning skate is a growing concern for me.  So Bradley’s comments come as no surprise to me.  But what does this boil down to?  The message is pretty clear to me that there are guys on the roster who’s commitment and work ethnic need improvement, or it points straight to the top with Bruce Boudreau.  Head coaches have a lot on their plate.  They have to be role models, leaders, and without question they have to create an environment of discipline.  Perhaps that is lacking right now in the locker room.  To be fair to Ovechkin, Bradley did go on to say that he never questioned Ovechkin and went on to say that he’s “an all-in guy”.  But still, there is a perception.  The question would not have been asked if there wasn’t one.

Matt Bradley did have something special saved up for Alex Semin.  The story has been written on Alex Semin numerous times.  The secret is out.  Semin is an all world talent that dangle through anybody, but his enigmatic nature has always been his major flaw.  Semin can go on torrid streaks, scoring goals seemingly at will, and other times will disappear and do more damage to the team then good.  He at times appear lazy on the ice and his work ethic has in the past been criticized.  Whether justified or not, one thing everyone agrees on is that for the Capitals to have any success, Semin has to be a contributor.  Apparently Matt Bradley agrees saying “could easily be the best player in the league but for whatever reason just doesn’t care”.  When it comes to perception, this is spot on.  But let’s be fair to Semin, you don’t become an elite player in the NHL by not caring.  Semin has never been criticized for being out of shape or being a bad teammate.  It’s just that his performances on the ice and perhaps his “questionable injuries” Bradley was possible referring to has cast a bit of a shadow on Semin.

As this story gains a bit of steam in the blogosphere, it will be interesting to see if any other former Capitals share Bradley’s feelings about his old teammates.  Oh…and that first game against the Panthers just got a bit spicier.

What’s your take?  Is there a culture problem in the Caps’ locker room?

The Caps had the lead mid way through the first period when Gaborik struck again from a sharp angle. Varlamov played generally well, but continued to have rebound control issues. This was the case in both Gaborik goals. Juicy rebounds are equivalent to chum in the waters for Marian Gaborik. To nobody’s surprise Gaborik collected those rebounds and made the Caps pay. So far Gaborik has been the best off season acquisition. Gaborik now leads the league in goals and is on pace for 50+ goals. The issue with Gaborik has always been injuries. The Rangers have trouble scoring goals. If Gaborik is injured for any extended period of time, the Rangers are dead in the water.

Tonight’s hero was Matt Bradley. Talk about blood and guts, Bradley had his face caved in by Aaron Voros during a first period fight. It was this fight that really energized the Caps. The Rangers were controlling the first period up until this fight. Bradley, who fights occasionally, knew something had to be done to energize a sluggish Caps team. He made the sacrifice and the Caps looked like a different team there after. Matt Bradley then scored the game winning goal with about 4 minutes left in the game on a breakaway. Blood and guts describes Matt Bradley and he was the best player on the ice for the majority of the game. It’s players like Matt Bradley that every team covets. A player who isn’t scared to get hit, punched, and beat up for the great good of his team.

All in all a great win for the Caps. The Caps are 11-2-2 in their last 15 games and have now regained the first overall spot in the Eastern Conference. This marks the first regulation victory for the Caps in Madison Square Garden since 2004 (not including playoffs). MSG is an incredibly tough place to play so points are at a premium. Stealing two points is an extra bonus.

Going Green – Capitals defenseman Mike Green was a revelation a year ago, scoring twice on opening night to kick-start a record-setting season. Tonight he and the Capitals face off against the only defenseman to garner more Norris Trophy votes than Green, Boston’s Zdeno Chara. Despite his overwhelming offensive performance, Green appears to still have something to prove – ESPN.com surveyed six experts who named four other defensemen as favorites for the Norris this year. Add in the chance to represent his country at the 2010 Olympics and Green truly has an opportunity to grab the spotlight even more in 2009-10.

Start at the top – The top two teams in the Eastern Conference in 2008-09 square off to open the 2009-10 season. These two teams combined for four of the six members of the NHL First All-Star Team last season (Zdeno Chara, Mike Green, Alex Ovechkin and Tim Thomas) as well as the top two finishers in the Norris Trophy voting (Chara and Green).
Get it started – Washington is an even .500 in season openers in the club’s history (16-16-2) as it starts its 35th season. The Capitals have only faced the Bruins once in a season opener, a 4-3 Boston win on Oct. 8, 1987. Washington is 5-11-2 overall when opening the season on the road and is starting on the road for the fourth season in a row.
Jump start – This matches the earliest start in Capitals history; Washington opened on Oct. 1 once before, winning 4-1 at Toronto in 1997.
Intros needed – Washington’s two significant free agent acquisitions, Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison, should make their Capitals debuts tonight. Knuble and Morrison have been teammates before at the University of Michigan and with Linkopings in Sweden in 2004-05. Four players – left wings Boyd Kane and Quintin Laing, defenseman Tyler Sloan and goaltender Semyon Varlamov – have made an NHL opening-night roster for the first time in their careers.
Familiar faces – Washington’s top five point scorers and top six goal scorers from last season are on the opening-night roster, as are seven of the top eight defensemen (by games played) and the top two goaltenders.
 

Popular guys – Each of Washington’s first three games are televised nationally in either the U.S. (tonight and Tuesday, VERSUS) or Canada (Saturday, CBC).

 

Caps Lineup & GameDay Notes

• as per Tarik @ CapsInsider:

Forwards

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin
Laich-Morrison-Knuble
Laing-Steckel-Clark
Kane-Gordon-Bradley

Defense
Morrisonn-Green
Poti-Jurcina
Erskine-Pothier

Goaltenders
Theodore
Varlamov

Lineup Notes

• Now, I realize I said that Boudreau is likely to give with the “safe” option in Theo, yet Gabby has surprised us before and it has yielded positive results for the Caps. That said, Bruce has still maintained that Jose is the starter and for that reason and that reason alone, it will be Jose Theodore opening in goal for the Capitals this evening.

• The Caps are healthy apart from Tomas Fleischmann and Eric Fehr, both of which won’t be out of the lineup long as they are recovering from injuries and should join the team within in the next 4 weeks.

• Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green and Alex Semin are all in top shape, having recovered from their respective injuries, bumps and bruises from last season, and are raring to go.

• Nicklas Backstrom is awesome.

• Mike Knuble is going to be a force on the top line and is going to make that top trio even harder to contain. Expect him to get in Thomas’ face quite abit tonight.

• Brendan Morrison appears to be fully healed from all of the injuries that prevented him from playing to the best of his capabilities over the last few seasons. If he can stay healthy and return to form, he is going to be an excellent compliment to super-sniper Alex Semin and yeo-man Brooks Laich.

• Although Quintan Laing wasn’t slated to play on the 3rd line with David Steckel and Chris Clark, he will bring 110% energy to that line and will pester the likes of Marc Savard, David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron mercilessly.

• Michael Nylander remains on the outside looking in(and a healthy scratch) and will continue to watch and wait as Caps GM George McPhee seeks to find a suitable home for the banished centerman.

The Opposition

Here is what the Bruins lineup should look like tonight:

Forwards

Milan Lucic- Marc Savard- Marco Sturm
Blake Wheeler- David Krejci- Michael Ryder
Mark Recchi- Patrice Bergeron- Chuck Kobasew
Shawn Thornton- Steve Begin- Byron Bitz

Defense

Zdeno Chara- Derek Morris
Andrew Ference- Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart- Matt Hunwick

Goaltenders

Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask

- As per Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe.

• It is interesting to note that David Krejci is going to be seeing his first game action this evening after taking all of the pre-season to recover from summer-time surgery. I expect that this is going to be a tentative move and that Krejci will not get too much ice-time. I would expect that Patrice Bergeron will likely step into the 2nd line role if, and likely when, Claude Julien determines that Krejci begins to fall behind by a step.
• The Bruins have a few new faces in town in Morris and Begin, while the return of Marco Sturm should help ease the loss of Phil Kessel to the Maple Leafs.
• These two teams finished 1 – 2 in the Eastern Conference last season and every game they played felt like a true playoff battle. It may be tough for both squads to gear into playoff form for the season opener, but there is no doubt that this will be an exceedingly exciting game between two of the top teams in the NHL.

• Washington took 3 out of the 4 games last season, but never by a wide margin and always while fighting off a rugged Bruins squad.

I have also written a GameDay Feature for Versus, which you can check out HERE.

steven.hindle@hotmail.com

 The Big TWO-FOUR

Today is Alexander Ovechkin’s 24^th birthday and he will be enjoying a very odd day off as a result. The Capitals are set to kick off the pre-season tonight against the Sabres and, although it is OV’s 24^th birthday, he will be celebrating it from the Press Box.

Playing or not playing, Happy Birthday Alex!

For the rest of the Capitals who are playing in tonight’s game though, it shall be business as usual.

Here is the lineup the Caps will be icing tonight at the HSBC Center in Buffalo at 7pm:

Forwards

• Laich-Backstrom-Knuble
• Giroux-Morrison-Clark
• Bourque-Gustafsson-A. Gordon
• Finley-Beagle-Pinizzotto

Defense

• Pothier, Alzner,
• Schultz, Carlson,
• Sloan, Collins

Goaltenders

• Varlamov
  Bacashihua

Those not playing tonight include Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Jose Theodore, Michael Neuvrith, Michael Nylander, Dave Steckel, Boyd Gordon, Matt Bradley, Tom Poti, Shaone Morrison, Mike Green and Milan Jurcina. Expect those players to suit up for Saturday nights tilt versus the Blackhawks. 

Pre-season for the Caps will be very interesting as coach Bruce Boudreau will be auditioning players for the remaining two spots on the top 2 lines as well as figuring out who the 7^th and 8^th defenseman should be and who will be Jose Theodore’s backup.

The game will not be broadcast on TV, but if you want to listen in to the action, be sure to tune into Washingtoncaps.com for the live audio.

stevenhindle@hotmail.com