Washington Capitals 2010-2011 ongoing thread

Just so I'm clear can I expect the rest of this type of talk for the remainder of the regular season? It's like you guys have the perfect out to bitch during the regular season seeing as any regular season success can be quelled with "oh lets see them do it in the postseason." "They still have to learn to win in the postseason." "Choke choke choke, rabble rabble rabble."

We've played 4 games and played well in all but 1 (the one I went to) and on top of that the Pens are 0-3 at home. Life is good. The team is playing more physical and we might have a star goalie in the making to go along with a very good netminder. Let's enjoy it and worry about the playoffs in April. I swear if I didn't know any better I'd think you guys were talking about the 09 Redskins.

Just so I'm clear can I expect the rest of this type of talk for the remainder of the regular season? It's like you guys have the perfect out to bitch during the regular season seeing as any regular season success can be quelled with "oh lets see them do it in the postseason." "They still have to learn to win in the postseason." "Choke choke choke, rabble rabble rabble."

We've played 4 games and played well in all but 1 (the one I went to) and on top of that the Pens are 0-3 at home. Life is good. The team is playing more physical and we might have a star goalie in the making to go along with a very good netminder. Let's enjoy it and worry about the playoffs in April. I swear if I didn't know any better I'd think you guys were talking about the 09 Redskins.

Caps are like the freaky mixture of previous Cowboys and Eagles teams. It's just that the fans don't see it.

I don't know that they will choke, but I'm definitely of the mentality that they're past the point where regular season really even matters. Thought the same last year in fact

By the way Smoot, whats the chance that we'll see hockey on ESPN sometime in the next year or two?
Which U.S. network will broadcast the NHL in its next TV deal? - Puck Daddy - NHL - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Which-U-S-network-will-broadcast-the-NHL-in-its?urn=nhl-274484)

All that talk in the offseason from the ESPN about how the Caps needed to sign a veteran Goaltender. I have a feeling that if the Caps win the cup this year it'll be with Nuevy in net. Not that Varly is bad or anything, great in fact when you consider his postseason experience, but Nuevy is starting to turn into something special. Before Nuevy was just the guy with great positioning while Varly was the athletic guy that could make spectacular saves. Now it's looking like Nuevy can do both. Some of those glove saves we saw last night were ridiculous.

We were missing what, two of our top four defensemen while facing a 3-0-0 team? Impressive.

Looks like the old Capitals team we're use to finally showed up.

Yes solid performance on the road last night, outstanding second period! Nice contributions from all lines.

And once again great between the pipes.

Lets keep it up! Way to roll CAPS!

LETS GO CAPS!!!!!

Anyone else worried about Tampa?

Yes, I told a lot of my friends, we keep doing this up Tampa will walk with the division.

Biggest game of the year tonight. Right now beating Tampa means a lot more than beating even Pittsburgh (who's below .500 right now even when you forget to count OTL's as losses).

Things to know going into this game, in case you haven't been keeping up:
- Tampa is much improved this year playing a wide open style under Joe Boucher. They use a rarely seen 1-3-1 allignment that puts an emphasis on double teams and turnovers on the defensive end.

- While he'll never match Ovechkins physicality Stakamos is more then capable of matching his scoring numbers

- Tampa is still trying to find an identity on defense. They certainly don't have the type of Offensive Defensemen the Caps have in Carlson and Green or even a plus/minus monster like Schultz. Dan Ellis is their best option at goalie with a 2.11 GAA. Mike Smith on the other hand is currently posting a 3.43 GAA. Ellis is coming off a shut out win against the Maple Leafs that saw him stop 28 shots.

- Tampa is 8th is Goals per game (3.1) and 14th in Goals Against (2.8). They are 6th in Power Play Percentage (23.7) and 3rd in Penalty Killing (90.6).

- Washington is 1st in Goals per game (3.4) and 9th in Goals Against (2.5). They are also 10th in Powerplay percentage (20.3) and Penalty killing (85.9). The first in Goals per game is a huge surprise for the Caps considering how conservative they are on offense.

- Only Carey Price has played as many games as Capitals netminder and October rookie of the month Michael Neuvirth. Currently Neurvirth leads the league in wins though the grind of playing many games seems to be getting to him lately. Neurvith has currently started all but 2 games thanks to the groin injury to Varlamov.

This is ridiculous. No one is even viewing this thread. We're winning 2-1 against one of the better teams in the league right now. A division rival no less.