Now, I don't know how the legality of this works, if it's the players union who should pursue action, Alexander Ovechkin or the Washington Capitals, but looking at the CBA Brendan Shanahan's ruling definitely violated the CBA. Ironically, it's the video he released that's the evidence of this violation.

Of course, I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not talking about whether he should or shouldn't have been suspended, but rather, that Shanahan and the NHL actually violated the CBA. So for that purpose I ask that you try to put aside your predispositions for a moment and try not to focus on whether he should, or shouldn't have been suspended. This is more about the rights of the players and the adherence to the CBA.

Some exciting news just arrived from our friends at Defending the Blue Line.  As if rolling out a spiffy new and improved website earlier this week wasn’t big enough news (Click here to check it out!), they’re also in the running for a pretty big award.  The White House (yeah, that one) has named DTBL one of 20 finalists in a competition to recognize a non-profit organization that supports military families.   As we’ve mentioned a time or two before, Defending the Blue Line’s misson is to ensure that children of military members are afforded every opportunity to participate in the game of hockey.  The Washington Capital’s Matt Hendricks is a big supporter of DTBL, and he’s hoping the DC faithful will rally behind him for this cause.

The competition is being decided by public vote, so head on over HERE , register (really, it only takes a minute) and vote for DTBL.  You can vote once a day, so come back as often as you can and keep the votes rolling in.  Hendy’s Heroes needs you (and you wouldn’t want to let Mr. Hendricks down, would you?)!

I mean seriously. Look at the guy.

Well, that was unexpected.

The Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins entered Tuesday night’s game at Verizon Center on polar opposites of the momentum spectrum.

The Bruins, the defending Stanley Cup Champions who have rolled all season and have a ridiculous plus-71 goal differential, were coming off a 6-5 win over the Flyers on Sunday.  The Capitals, owners of a minus-three goal differential, had lost three of four, struggling to find consistency all season.  They were missing a full third of their payroll and their three biggest stars.

The script was set perfectly for a Boston Massacre, as it were.

So, naturally, the Capitals were 5-3 winners in what was a huge victory heading into the All-Star break.

No, the Capitals did not execute an excellent game plan; they did not beat down the most physical team in the NHL with aggressive forechecking.  They were out-muscled along the boards often, made silly passes, and were dominated for stretches by a clearly superior hockey team.

Instead, they rode a hat trick from tiny Mathieu Perreault, who was playing on the top line for the second game in a row to help compensate for the loss of Ovechkin, to their biggest win of the season.

“This is the best feeling ever,” said a red-eyed Perreault in the locker room afterwards.  “Getting three goals and we win the game, this is awesome.  This is what you dream of.  You dream to play in the NHL, but when you score three goals, it’s even better.”

Washington got lucky on several of their goals, including Cody Eakin’s and Perreault’s first.  They got very lucky with several Bruins chances in their own end and, as per usual over the last month, needed a great performance from Tomas Vokoun to stay on top and win the game.

Read on.

The Washington Capitals are in dire need of a hero at the moment.  When Sheriff Shanahan rounded up the last Young Gun who was on the loose by slapping Alexander Ovechkin with a 3-game suspension, the Capitals suddenly went from a star-filled, talent-laden roster to one without a rudder.  Alexander Ovechkin is the team's captain and emotional leader, not to mention the best goal scorer.  He was the driving force behind the Capitals getting a point out of Sunday's loss to Pittsburgh, posting two assists and the go-ahead goal in the third period.  He used to be the most fun player to watch in the league, but lately he looks like he is being dragged down by the "C" on his chest and the public persona change that happened when he signed with IMG.  He has been a shadow of himself for over a year.  Even so, he has set up or scored 5 of the team's 8 goals over the past 5 games, he anchors the powerplay, and he is the most dangerous player on the ice.  Without him for three games in seasons past, the Capitals would buckle down and find ways to win.  Now, a 3-game absence for the 100 million-dollar man on the heels of his first 3-point performance of the season means the Caps aren't likely to make much of an impact on the score-sheet.

The 2011-12 season started out with so much promise for the Capitals.  The team had a lot of new, veteran faces and they were loaded for bear to march all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.  For the first 7 games, nothing could go wrong.  Even when the team looked out of sync and disjointed, they found ways to win.  That's the mark of a great team, the ability to win games even when you're not at your best.  Not coincidentally, those 7 wins, plus one more on November 11, are the only games the four core players this team has been built around have played together this season.  Since then, the Capitals have been a patchwork quilt of overpriced veterans, minor-league call-ups, and spare parts.  The entire team got put through the wringer when Bruce Boudreau was fired as head coach.  New coach Dale Hunter is an excellent replacement, but the team still needs to adapt to his coaching style and establish the identity he wants to stamp on them.  Hunter is getting the most he can out of this line-up, but the spokes on the wheel can only do so much without the hub. 

Hunter has the ball rolling in the right direction, but until he gets Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Mike Green, and Nicklas Backstrom in the line-up at the same time, hopefully in the playoffs, we won't get a true sense of how good this team really is.  General Manager George McPhee hates overpaying for anything, but he will pay to keep these four players together as long as he thinks they can win together.  Money can only take the team so far, though, if the players aren't in the lineup.  As Capitals' owner Ted Leonsis said in his rebuttal to Ovechkin's suspension, one-third of the team's payroll is tied up in Green ($5.25M), Ovechkin ($9.5M), and Backstrom ($6.7M).  In real money terms, the 20 players who suited up for opening night counted $59.6 million against the salary cap.  The 20 players expected to suit up for the Caps tonight combine for $39.3 million, just under 66% of the opening night roster.  Considering the salary cap floor is $48 million, don't expect too much from the Caps tonight as they face the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins. 

Read on.

As reported by TSN's Bob McKenize, Washington Capitals Captain and left wing Alex Ovechkin has been suspended for three games for a hit on Pittsburgh's Zbynek Michalek during Sunday afternoon's game with the Penguins.

Ovechkin will miss three games: Tuesday against Boston, January 31st at Tampa Bay and February 1st at Florida.

Update (2:15pm):  Alex Ovechkin has opted out of participating in the NHL All-Star Game.

The Washington Capitals were on ice for practice Monday at 11 AM as they prepare to take on the Stanley Cup Champion Bruins at Verizon Center on Tuesday night.  Some updates from Kettler Capitals Iceplex:

Nicklas Backstrom skated for the first time since his injury, though he was only on the ice for five minutes and was not wearing any equipment.  Backstrom merely stickhandled, not doing anything strenuous.  It's a start, but Nick is still obviously a long way off.  He did not speak with reporters but Dale Hunter confirmed he would stay in Washington over the All-Star break.

Marcus Johansson returned to the practice ice after missing Sunday's game with the Penguins because of an illness.  Mathieu Perreault, however, remained on the top line, practicing with Alexander Semin and Johansson so he can take over in the likely instance that Alex Ovechkin gets suspended for DC's game against Boston.

The other lines were as follows: Hendricks-Laich-Brouwer, Chimera-Halpern-Knuble, and Beagle-Eakin-Ward.  Eeesh.

Check back later.

Harry Hawkings is a college student who covers the Caps for RtR.  Follow him on Twitter here. 

After 47 games, it has never been clearer to me that this Washington Capitals team is different than those of the last five years.

Over the last five years, the Capitals have either been an explosive team on offense or a standout team on defense, almost exclusively the former.  They knew what their identity was.

This year, they have neither a dominating offense nor a standout defense, and they don’t have an identity.  Sunday’s game against the Penguins was a perfect illustration of this.

The Capitals fell behind early on two goals, one of which was incredibly poor penalty killing and the other a poor screen by Dennis Wideman that gave Michal Neuvirth no chance to react to an absolute rocket that was over his shoulder before he could move.

In fact, it was only a sensational save from Neuvirth, and quite frankly a bit of luck that James Neal didn’t get a better handle on his shot, that kept the game from being effectively over after eleven minutes.

Yes, the Capitals battled back by taking advantage of opportunities and by capitalizing on mistakes.  They played desperately.  But other than the first half of the second period, there was little time in which the Capitals were dictating the pace of play.

Eventually, after taking a lead, the Capitals folded, and they didn’t deserve to win that game.  They showed admirable determination and heart, but even without Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal, the Penguins were the better team.

That’s been a theme of the Dale Hunter era – getting outplayed.  Most nights, the Capitals have needed a huge game from Tomas Vokoun, and occasionally Michal Neuvirth, to pull out a victory.

Even when the Capitals had their struggles last year under Bruce Boudreau, very rarely were the Capitals beaten down physically like they were against Carolina on Friday and Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The irony, of course, is that Dale Hunter was supposed to get the Caps playing a more physical style of hockey that wore teams down.

Oops.

Granted, the Capitals missing their top two centers and Mike Green didn’t help matters.  But this is a team that is being consistently out-shot since Hunter took over, and it’s been even worse since Nicklas Backstrom went out – the Caps are getting out-shot by an average of twelve shots in the period that Backtrom has been absent with his concussion.

Read on.

The Washington Capitals were on ice for a practice Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh following their 3-0 embarrassment against the Hurricanes on Friday night.  Some updates from the CONSOL Energy Center:

Dale Hunter changed up his lines again following Friday night's game.  They were as follows: Ovechkin-Johansson-Brouwer, Semin-Laich-Knuble, Chimera-Halpern-Ward, and Hendricks-Eakin-Perreault-Beagle.

Hunter, who said before the game with Carolina knew who would start tomorrow's game against the Penguins, was not divulging who his selection was after the skate.

Nicklas Backstrom now has not skated in over two weeks.

That's all for now.

Information from Steve Whyno was used in this post.

The Washington Capitals laid another tremendous egg on Friday night, falling at the hands of the cellar-dwelling Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 inside RBC center.  Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves in a very solid performance, but Jussi Jokinen scored twice and Jiri Tlusty added a third as the Caps failed to pick up any momentum from their win over the Canadiens on Wednesday.  It was the second time in three games that Washington has been shut out after not being shut out before Tuesday of this week.

Carolina got off to a hot start, forcing turnovers in the DC zone and making Vokoun play sharp early to keep the score deadlocked.  After those chances, though, there was little offensive flair or opportunities, until Marcus Johansson drew a tripping call with 8:36 left in the opening frame.

After a very poor opening minute of a man advantage, it got worse quickly when Eric Staal poked the puck away from John Carlson and Jussi Jokinen collected the loose change and popped it past Vokoun for a shorthanded goal.

Washington got another opportunity to get into the game with another power play three minutes after Jokinen’s goal, but again came up with a pathetic effort, giving up more chances than they created and relying on Tomas Vokoun to save their bacon.  The period ended with Washington down 1-0 and lucky not to be down much more.

The Caps came out nicely in the second period, generating a couple nice chances, but Mike Knuble hit the post with Cam Ward out of his goal and Jason Chimera made a bad pass on a 3-on-1 to eliminate those opportunities.  It got worse with 13:43 left in the frame when Mike Knuble was sent off for holding.

Read on.

Michal Neuvirth made 31 saves in his first start since December 26^th and the Washington Capitals got goals from three separate players Wednesday night to take out the Montreal Canadiens inside the Bell Centre.  Hometown kid Mathieu Perreault, Marcus Johansson, and Alex Ovechkin scored the goals and nine different Capitals had points as well in the victory.  With their win, Washington ensures they remain in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

After Matt Hendricks danced with Rene Bourque early as payback for the latter elbowing Nicklas Backstrom, Washington began to establish some pressure.  The Capitals were then able to get an early lead when Perreault, who had spent the previous week as a healthy scratch, ripped one over Carey Price’s shoulder after less than five minutes.  Johansson doubled the lead in short order with another shot over Price’s other shoulder, and then the Caps were awarded a power play, giving them a chance to really go for the jugular.

They could not add another, though, and soon enough the Habs began to pressure and earned their first two power plays of the evening over the next eight minutes, being unable to convert on either one.  The period closed with DC ahead 2-0.

Montreal was granted a third power play less than three minutes into the second period to try and pick up more offensive punch, but again were listless and conceded a four minute power play to the visiting team.  And after a very poor opening two minutes of the man advantage, Ovechkin walked in and pumped one past Price for a 3-0 lead, silencing the Bell Centre.

The Canadiens could not play poorly forever, though, and as the period continued began to establish a good forecheck and neutral zone presence, forcing Neuvirth into some nice saves, particularly with his glove hand.  Montreal pushed particularly hard within the final 30 seconds of the period, but the frame ended with the Caps ahead 3-0.

Read on.