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Saturday, April 10, 2010

What a game. The Atlanta Thrashers, especially Ondrej Pavelec, managed to control the mighty Washington Capitals for two periods. However, even a hot goalie could not stop them for long, and, following a 3-goal burst in just 3:16, the Washington Capitals ended the night with an exciting 5-2 victory.

I have to say, the Alexander Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Alexander Semin line really is incredible, and can bring the goals when needed. How does 4 goals, 5 assists, and 9 points for an average ice time of about 21 minutes sound? Also, the line went a combined +11 in one game, and had a total of 18 shots on goal. Boudreau, if you need offense, all Ovechkin – Backstrom – Semin. They’ll get it done.

Alexander Semin really wants goal #40….. he had 11 shots, and both of his line mates had 2 goals apiece. He apparently was mad after the game….. hopefully #40 comes for #28 against Boston on Sunday.

Alexander Ovechkin, meanwhile, picked up goal #50 for the season. He has had 4 50-goal season in his first 5 season in the NHL.

Ovechkin, who also had an assist, retook both the NHL goal scoring lead and the points scoring lead, from Sidney Crosby (who trails by 1 goal) and Henrik Sedin (who trails by 1 point) respectively. Crosby has 2 games remaining, and Sedin has 1 game remaining.

With a 3-point night against Boston, if he plays, Ovechkin can match his career-high in points, 112, which was set in the 2007-2008 season.

Backstrom has set career highs in every category;

Goals, 33 (previous high was 22)

Assists, 68 (previous high was 66)

Points, 101 (previous high was 88)

Plus/Minus, 38 (previous high was 16)

Penalty Minutes, 50 (previous high was 46)

Shooting Percentage, 15.1% (previous high was 12.6%)

Also to note; Backstrom’s average time on ice has only increased by about 30 seconds.

Jose Theodore was fantastic; the only goals he let in were a strange, very-top-of-the-net goal that went in right under the crossbar, and a own-goal of the skate of Brendan Morrison. I’m thinking Theodore is the playoff starter.

Theodore’s save percentage was an excellent .935.

Theodore also had his 4th 30-win season.

Jeff Schultz continues his strong play and was a +4 for the night…. he is now +2 better than Ovechkin with 1 game remaining; his total +/- is an incredible +48.

Speaking of +/-, 5 Capitals players, essentially last night’s 1st line and 1st defensive pairing, lead the league in +/-; Capitals players occupy 6 of the top 10 +/- rankings, and the rest of the top 10 players are Canucks.

Take a look;

+/- Rating

Player

Team

Game Played

+ 48

Jeff Schultz, D

Washington Capitals

72

+ 46

Alexander Ovechkin, LW

Washington Capitals

71

+ 38

Nicklas Backstrom, C

Washington Capitals

81

+ 37

Mike Green, D

Washington Capitals

74

+ 35

Alexander Semin, LW

Washington Capitals

72

+ 33

Christian Ehrhoff, D

Vancouver Canucks

79

+ 32

Daniel Sedin, LW

Vancouver Canucks

62

+ 31

Henrik Sedin, C

Vancouver Canucks

81

+ 31

Alex Burrows, LW

Vancouver Canucks

81

+ 26

Tom Poti, D

Washington Capitals

69

Most impressive, I would say.

Also to note about tonight’s game; Mike Knuble, David Steckel, Matt Bradley, John Erskine, and Tom Poti were not playing. Milan Jurcina is still recovering from surgery, and will be able to play later in the playoffs.

Reports are that Alexander Ovechkin might rest for Sunday’s game against the Boston Bruins; however, should the scoring title not be locked in by then, I’m fairly sure he’d play.