Kukla's Korner Hockey

Category: Washington-Capitals

Winnipeg One Point Away From Elimination

by Paul on 04/24/13 at 08:21 AM ET
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

With 51 points, the Jets can finish with no more than 53 by winning their final game. It means the teams they’re chasing – the eighth-place Ottawa Senators and the seventh-place New York Rangers – can clinch a playoff spot with a single win in any of their remaining games. Despite earning just a single point in the shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, the New York Islanders locked down the sixth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference when Winnipeg lost.

So things are dire for the Jets, who were playing for the second time in two nights, and running mostly on adrenaline, knowing the stakes were so high. But the Capitals knew that, too.

It was the last time the two teams met as Southeast Division rivals and Washington can thank the Jets, in many ways, for saving their season. It was back in the third week of March when the Capitals, languishing in 14th place in the East, visited Winnipeg and swept the Jets in two one-sided games, outscoring them by a 10-1 margin.

more

Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals, Winnipeg Jets, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Video- Situation Room Supports Call On The Ice, No Goal For Winnipeg

by Paul on 04/23/13 at 08:25 PM ET
Comments (2)

No goal for Winnipeg and I believe it was the right call.

The screenshot is right when the puck hits the ice, on edge and you can see it makes contact with the goal line.

 

 

 

Watch the video below...

Continue Reading »

Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals, Winnipeg Jets, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Capitals And Jets Still Battling For Playoff Spot

by Paul on 04/19/13 at 11:03 AM ET
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from Katie Strang of ESPN,

The third-place Capitals and ninth-place Jets are separated by a mere two points heading into the penultimate weekend of the season, each team with four games left on its schedule.

Washington, whose eight-game winning streak was snapped by the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night, remains in the division lead with 50 points, but the Jets trail by two after edging the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime Thursday 4-3.

Though the Jets are tied with the New York Rangers at 48 points, the eighth-place Rangers have a game in hand.

The two competing storylines are both compelling: one a team that has essentially risen from the dead after a dreadful start to the season, much in part to Alex Ovechkin's dynamic play; another club desperate to earn its first playoff berth since 2007.

Who has the advantage from here?

Three of the Caps' final four games are against playoff teams -- Montreal, Ottawa and Boston. The other game?

That's right, an all-important four-point match against the Jets at home Tuesday.

more

Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals, Winnipeg Jets, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Video- Nate Thompson’s Visor Shatters After Taking A Mike Green Slapshot

by Paul on 04/13/13 at 07:54 PM ET
Comments (3)

Thanks to SB Nation for the quick video.

 

Filed in: NHL Teams, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: nate+thompson

The Capitals Are The Best Of A Bad Division

by Paul on 04/11/13 at 11:09 AM ET
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from Katie Carrera of the Washington Post,

In the final year of its existence, the NHL’s Southeast Division is living up to its mocking moniker of “Southleast” — and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Washington Capitals.

Despite getting off to one of the worst starts in franchise history and an uneven first half of the season in which they couldn’t win more than three games in a row, the Capitals could take comfort in the knowledge that beating up on inferior opponents from their underwhelming division could pave the way to a sixth consecutive playoff berth.

After all, some team has to win the worst division in hockey — taking the third seed in the Eastern Conference and home-ice advantage with it — and it might as well be Washington, which is 12-3 against Southeast foes and 9-14-2 against everyone else.

“It’s been our saving grace this year,” goaltender Braden Holtby said. “It’s been lucky that we’ve got to play those teams so much, but at the same time, we’ve done a good job with them and we haven’t taken a lot of those games lightly because we know how important they are.”

continued

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Evening Line

by Paul on 04/08/13 at 08:19 PM ET
Comments (2)

Best thing about Ovechkin scoring: we’re talking about him again, for all the right reasons. Hockey needs that. It’s no secret, he’s fallen behind Pavel Datsyuk and Kovalchuk as even the best Russian player over the last couple of years.

-Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal where you can read more on Alex Ovechkin.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: alex+ovechkin

Video- Major Boarding Call On Erik Gudbranson For Hit On Martin Erat

by Paul on 04/06/13 at 08:53 PM ET
Comments (1)

Gudbranson received a five minute major for boarding, a ten and game misconduct.

Erat was questionable for a return.

First the Washington broadcast and below watch the Florida broadcast...

 

Continue Reading »

Filed in: NHL Teams, Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: erik+gudbranson, martin+erat

What Did McPhee Do?

by Paul on 04/04/13 at 10:33 AM ET
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from pucksandbooks of On Frozen Blog,

Once upon a time, Capitals General Manager George McPhee was viewed, rightly I think, as cautious and shrewd each spring around trade deadline time. Never one to radically revamp his roster with wheeling and dealing then, McPhee in fact over the years has widely earned a reputation for perhaps being overly cautious, a bit too much of a deadline fence-sitter relative to his manager peers — particularly the elite ones.

A little before happy hour Wednesday George McPhee took a sledgehammer to that characterization, and in the process he may well have mortgaged a promising future for his hockey club.

There are tiers to NHL prospects, but consensus on Filip Forsberg was clear: He’s a bluechipper. Addressing the media Wednesday evening, McPhee didn’t dispute one reporter’s contention that Forsberg represented “a big part” of the Capitals’ future. And from every reasonable vantage since his drafting last June, how couldn’t he had been so regarded? He was considered a bit of a steal by the Caps at no. 11 in the first round, he earned the captaincy for his hockey power nation at this year’s World Juniors, and he was even pointed to by the team owner recently as a cornerstone prospect. So in moving a bluechip prospect for Martin Erat, a 31-year-old wing whose minutes-eating production in Nashville this season allowed him — in 11 more games — to equal the goals production of Wojtek Wolski in Washington, McPhee has invited the interpretation that it’s win now — and take an enormous risk in trying to do so — for a team that in this truncated season has veered little from 14th to 11th in the Eastern conference.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Erat Asked To Be Traded

by Paul on 04/03/13 at 08:35 PM ET
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from John Manasso at NHL.com,

General manager David Poile said he had a number of meetings with Erat, who ranks second all-time in most of the franchise's offensive categories, to make sure the request was not being made on an emotional basis. When Poile was satisfied it was not, he took 24 hours to consummate a deal with the Washington Capitals, satisfying Erat's demands.

Wednesday, Erat waived a no-movement clause allowing Nashville to trade him along with minor-league center Michael Latta for top prospect Filip Forsberg.

"I can't sugarcoat it," Poile said of Erat's request. "It's really disappointing."

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Nashville Predators, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: martin+erat

Nashville/Washington Trade

by Paul on 04/03/13 at 04:56 PM ET
Comments (6)

added 5:18pm,

Nashville, Tenn. (April 4, 2013) – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has acquired forward Filip Forsberg from the Washington Capitals in exchange for forwards Martin Erat and Michael Latta. Forsberg has already been signed to a three-year entry level contract and is eligible to play in North America immediately.

“With one of the best goaltenders in the world in Pekka Rinne, and the top defenseman in the game today in Shea Weber, along with Roman Josi, Kevin Klein and other young defensemen we continue to develop, we believe we are well positioned at these two positions, but have lacked a dynamic offensive forward.” Poile said. “In Filip Forsberg, we are adding one of the top rated young forwards in the world; we are excited to have him join our other emerging young talent and solid veterans at the position.”

“We have used draft picks in recent years to add players at the trade deadline. Over the last several years, we traded away four first round picks. It was imperative that we add a potentially dynamic offensive forward such as Forsberg. Our goal remains the same—to win the Stanley Cup. We believe our current team is a playoff caliber team. At the same time, we have to be mindful of the long-term and this deal allows us to acquire a top-end young offensive forward that will help us.”

Filed in: NHL Teams, Nashville Predators, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: filip+forsberg, marin+erat

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