Canadiens 3, Caps 2
Well, it was a fun final two minutes or so as the Caps pushed for the game-tying goal. Mike Green almost had it when his shot slid off the right post. Tough loss – and it doesn’t help that the players immediately had to board a flight for Toronto for two more games over the next three days in Canada.
I wrote about the injury situation in my game story. Things are getting worse on that front and the Caps will almost certainly make another Hershey callup tonight. Now, if forward Mike Knuble is on the long-term injured reserve list (unconfirmed per team policy) then the money is likely there to call up defenseman Karl Alzner. He could seamlessly team up with Hershey partner John Carlson, who made his NHL debut and acquited himself well Friday night. Alzner is a +15 with a goal and three assists for the Bears, who played last night in Binghamton, NY.
If Knuble isn’t on LTIR – or the Caps just want to move Tyler Sloan back to his natural defensive spot, where he finished Friday night after Tom Poti was hurt – then a forward makes the most sense. It would be a winger for sure. They already have Mathieu Perreault, a natural center, playing wing on the third line. Alexandre Giroux would work. He came up earlier this season and had one goal in three games. He already has nine with Hershey in just 14 games and had 60 last year with another 15 in the playoffs.
The Bears have some offensive depth, though. Andrew Gordon has eight goals in 18 games. He played one game with the Caps last year. Francois Bouchard has seven goals and seven assists in 17 games. Oskar Osala has six goals and Boyd Kane – who started the year in Washington – has five goals and four assists. He’d be a natural at left wing on the fourth line and could probably do a pretty good Quintin Laing impersonation. Laing, of course, is out five-to-six more weeks with a broken jaw. Anyway, just some candidates. One of those guys is probably already on a plane – or in a car – to Toronto just in case Tom Poti or Shaone Morrisonn can’t go at all. Kane, Gordon and Giroux each scored a goal in a 5-2 win at Binghamton on Friday night. I’d expect Michal Neuvirth – Friday’s starter in goal against Montreal – to head back to the Bears to create a roster spot.
As for logistics – this is always an issue with the AHL when a callup is needed on short notice. Remember good friend/star web producer Brett Leonhardt having to serve as the backup goalie for a period last December as Semyon Varlamov desperately tried to get from Houston – where the Bears were playing – to Verizon Center. Binghamton, meanwhile, is about a five-hour drive to Toronto. We’ll see what happens.
Other notes:
» Carlson played well in his debut. He even hit the post with a shot in the second period, just an inch away from his first NHL goal. That would have been something. Thanks to Comcast SportsNet’s cameras we saw Carlson’s mom, Angela, disolve into tears when she saw her son take the ice for the first time. Not sure what her reaction would have been if he actually scored a goal. “I thought John Carlson played well. But it’s his first game and you’re putting him in positions that are probably not conducive to him in his first game,” Boudreau said, referring to Poti’s injury early in the second. The 32-year-old veteran had been paired with the 19-year-old Carlson.
» Caps F Mathieu Perreault continued to shine. His hard work along the boards and then great pass to Eric Fehr set up Washington’s first goal. He now has six points in eight games since being recalled from Hershey for the first time. And he did it against the team from his home province in Quebec. Trust me – the Montreal media rolls deep. There were a half-dozen or more at Verizon Center on Friday. Perreault will get some ink back home tomorrow in French and English.
» D Mike Green was all over the place on Friday. He was booming shots on goal during the Caps’ two first-period power plays and was just unlucky not to bang one home – especially hitting the rigth post late in the third period as Washington pushed for the tying goal. Green had two more assists on the night and extended his point streak to five games. Green is way off last year’s 31-goal pace. Yet he is still tied for the NHL lead for points among defenseman with Toronto’s Tomas Kaberle (22). Maybe the two can put on a show for us tomorrow night at Air Canada Centre. It’s the second game of a back-to-back and will be one of three games in four days. But don’t think the Caps won’t be jacked for this one. A Saturday night game in Toronto is special – even if the Leafs are the worst team in the league. If there’s a letdown coming I’d go with Monday in Ottawa.
» Good job tonight by Montreal goalie Carey Price (32 saves on 34 shots). The kid is under such a microscope in Montreal, but he played well as the Caps took control midway through the second period and his team simply stopped generating shots at the other end of the ice.
» Not so good for Alex Ovechkin. He only had one shot Tuesday night in his return from injury – albeit a power-play goal – but he wasn’t much of a factor tonight. Whether he’s still dealing with the pain from his upper-body strain or just struggling with his timing, Alex didn’t really see any decent scoring chances in this one. He was credited with five shots and four hits so he still was a presence. Linemate Nick Backstrom has been struggling big time – three pointless games and a -4 in that stretch with two minor penalties. But he did have a secondary assist Friday on Brendan Morrison’s goal with 2:32 left. It was Morrison’s seventh goal of the year. He also has seven points over his last seven games.
» Caps winger Eric Fehr scored his third goal of the season and has five points in his last eight games.
» Washington failed to score on a power play for the first time in seven games. The Caps did generate plenty of chances on the second of their PPs in the first period. But they couldn’t finish with the man-advantage for the game’s final 1:58, including 6-on-4 for 1:26 with the goalie pulled.
