With the first round winding down and teams like Vancouver, Boston and Chicago advancing recently, the Montreal Canadiens are proving to be a handful for the Washington Capitals.

In a thrilling contest, Jaroslav Halak and the Habs took on the Capitals and defeated them by a final score of 4-1 to force a seventh game. Halak made 53 saves in the victory, setting a club record. In back-to-back Montreal victories, Halak surrendered just two goals.

Halak’s performance made things difficult for the Capitals, to say the least, as they went a dismal 0-6 on the power play to total up a terrible 1-30 in power plays for the series.

This distinction is made all the stronger by the fact that the Capitals finished a full 33 points ahead of the Habs in the regular season and lead the league in most offensive categories. For the Canadiens to have shut the Capitals down this much in the post-season is perhaps one of the biggest stories of the playoffs thus far.

“We have tied the series, but there is one more to get,” Halak said. “Still, we have nothing to lose. We just need to go out there and play our game.”

Of course, this presents some problems for a seventh game as the Canadiens have to know that they need to tighten up defensively. They simply cannot rely on their goaltender that much and expect to make it deep into the playoffs, let alone past another game with the Capitals. Eventually, the Caps will strike and will crack through Halak’s armor.

That’s not to say that the Montreal Canadiens haven’t been doing a considerable job taking on Alex Ovechkin, however, as defenceman Josh Gorges has been able to frustrate the Russian superstar.

And the Habs have done an admirable job blocking shots, too, with 23 of them in Monday’s game.

But if they expect to come back and win the series’ seventh game, which goes Wednesday night back in Washington, they’ll need to learn to close the gaps and let some of the pressure off of their goalie. As good as Halak has been playing in the post-season thus far, the Canadians run the risk of tiring him out if they expose him to any more onslaughts like the one we all witnessed Monday night.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

With the series between the Washington Capitals and the Montreal Canadiens moving to the Bell Centre on Monday night, things are heating up just at the right time. The crowd at the Bell Centre is expected to be raucous, to say the least, and the verbal sparring underway off the ice should give the environment an edge when the puck drops.

The series started with a little bit of a spat after Tomas Plekanec stated that the Washington goalies weren’t anything to be overly concerned about, adding that the Capitals didn’t have a “dominant” keeper. Jose Theodore’s “Tomas who? Jagr?” response might have been clever at the time, but it was Plekanec who beat him in overtime in the first game of the series.

Theodore didn’t play badly in the first game, but he didn’t do his Caps any favours in the second game after getting pulled for letting in two goals on two shots. Washington would come back to win the game, once again in overtime.

With the game set to shift to Montreal, Alex Ovechkin offered his own words of wisdom to the media regarding Habs goaltender Jaroslav Halak. According to the Great Eight, Halak was “shaking.” Halak declined to respond.

So were the Capitals in Halak’s head or merely trying to get there?

The series has been close so far, with overtime needed to solve both games. It’s hard to say if any goaltender has been dominant, although Montreal does appear to have more confidence in Halak than Washington has in Theodore or Semyon Varlamov.

Going into the third game, neither Bruce Boudreau nor Jacques Martin would reveal who their goalies of choice would be for the tussle at the Bell Centre. This is standard practice for Martin, who rarely if ever reveals his goaltending choices until game day.

Boudreau did say that he expected both Theodore and Varlamov to play again in the series.

Goaltending wasn’t the only issue of the day when it came to Ovie’s chirping off the ice. He also stated that he thought defenceman Marc-Andre Bergeron is “not that strong.”

The verbal sparring didn’t seem to bother the Habs, who reportedly had a loose practice Sunday and talked to media about the various series issues.

Mike Cammalleri, when asked about Ovie’s comments, didn’t seem to mind a bit. “It’s good for the game,” he said. “He speaks his mind. I have no problem with that. I like a little flair in the game, so good for him. We’ll have some fun with it.”

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Alex Ovechkin continues to define himself as a player that skates right on the edge of sanity. This time he was tossed out of the game for shoving Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Brian Campbell from behind into the boards. Ovie was assessed a match penalty and a boarding major for the senseless move.

“I didn’t hit him hard,” Ovechkin told reporters. “He fell bad. But you can see, every shift this happens — little pushes, little battles … I didn’t think it deserved five minutes.”

The hit was a dangerous play, to be sure, and Ovechkin should have been thinking clearer. But the league certainly won’t be looking at any suspension on the play, especially with Matt Cooke going without a suspension for his actions against Marc Savard.

This brings up a compelling point, though, and shines a light on a growing movement of hockey fans who categorize Alex Ovechkin as a dirty player the likes of Cooke. I think it’s probably worth arguing, but the final conclusion appears to have more layers to it.

In order to categorize Ovechkin as the same type of opportunistic thug as a Matt Cooke, we have to make a few jumps.

For starters, I remain unconvinced that Ovechkin is a player who skates with the intent to injure. Instead, I deem him as a player who wants the puck more than anybody out there on the ice. And I think he’s willing to do anything to get the puck, too, which puts him right on the edge between controlled and reckless play.

In looking at Ovie’s litany of questionable calls, there are a number of examples of hits that could have deserved a more significant look from the league. His hit on Buffalo’s Patrick Kaleta, for instance, got him a match penalty and is often considered to be a hit from behind. Watching the hit over again, it’s clear that Kaleta has more than a few looks in the direction of Ovechkin before playing the puck. It’s certainly a play that could have been avoided, but it’s hardly the type of thing that makes for a dirty player overall.

The Jamie Heward hit is a compelling one and may be one of the best example of Ovechkin crossing the line as a player. Watching it over again, it’s certainly a questionable play but it almost looks as if Ovechkin shoves Heward and rolls off of him to the side.

The case for Ovechkin being a dirty player gets stronger, however, when one looks at the host of knee-on-knee type hits that he’s delivered. The knee-on-knee to Sergei Gonchar is especially damning and the knee-on-knee to Tim Gleason doesn’t get any better. Of course, it’s possible to argue that those two knee-on-knee collisions have more to do with both players attempting to avoid contact than they do with intents to injure.

The question about Alex Ovechkin’s play has been in existence since he stepped into the game. He’s always been a player on the edge and he’s always used his explosive speed and strength to get at the puck - wherever it happens to be. But does that make him a dirty player?

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

The Washington Capitals have acquired defenceman Joe Corvo from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Brian Pothier and prospect Oskar Osala.

In Corvo, the Caps get a puck-moving defenceman who can team up with Mike Green on the power play to generate some seriously dangerous offensive chances. Corvo is a solid player and has good defensive sense, too, so he’s far from a liability.

Pothier was also a pretty slick defenceman for Washington, but concussion problems kept him from realizing his full potential and he should appreciate a fresh start in Carolina.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

It may be the calm before the storm, but things have been pretty quiet thus far on trade deadline day.

We do have a trade regarding the Washington Capitals to report, however, as Scott Walker has been moved from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Capitals in exchange for what looks to be a 7th round draft pick.

The Capitals get grit in Walker and will have a nice hard-working forward to line up against their tough playoff opponents. The Capitals are looking to go deep into the post-season this year and a guy like Walker helps them do that.

The deal likely means that the rumours about Whitney moving out of Carolina are probably not going to work out to be true. There’s little chance that the Canes will move Whitney now unless an absolutely perfect deal comes around. Of course, anything can happen on trade deadline day but a Whitney move looks unlikely.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

We probably shouldn’t be all that surprised that Don Cherry would spend time on his intermission break show on CBC to chastise someone for beating up on the Toronto Maple Leafs. We probably also shouldn’t be surprised that he went after the Washington Capitals and Bruce Boudreau for “running up the score” against his beloved Leafs on Friday night’s contest.

The Capitals, led by Alex Ovechkin’s season-high five points, felled the Leafs by a final score of 6-1. For Cherry, however, it was all a sign of bad sportsmanship. Putting Ovie and Mike Green out on the power play was just too much for him to handle.

Cherry has gone after teams for “running up the score” before. Perhaps his most famous tirade came when he attacked the Canadian women’s team in 2006 during the Olympics. Cherry complained that the “Europeans” who run the Olympics would drop hockey because one country dominated too much.

The women didn’t take too kindly to Cherry’s comments, of course. Even Cassie Campbell, who now works for the CBC, wasn’t too keen on embracing his advice on not scoring too many goals.

Cherry has made no secret about his dislike of Europeans and some of the NHL’s flashier players. This goes hand in hand with his dislike of “running up the score,” as he considers that to be the antithesis of Canada’s “humble” attitude. In other words we’re to dominate physically and throw hits like nobody else while bragging about our greatness at the game, but we aren’t to actually score too much and prove that dominance within the rules of the game.

Cherry’s dislike of Ovechkin probably factored heavily into his comments on Saturday night. It’s no secret that he’s not a big fan of the flashy winger, but when does that dislike tarnish his reputation as an analyst of the game.

Theo Fleury deliberated this point in March of 2009 when he lambasted Cherry in the Calgary Herald. “The NHL wants more scoring. Does Don Cherry want to sell the game? No, it’s all about bashing the European players,” Fleury said. “I thought the object of the game was that the team that scores the most goals wins. I guess Don didn’t score too many goals in his day, so he has never experienced the feeling. Maybe he’s jealous.”

The Leafs didn’t appear to be crying about the Capitals’ “running up the score” in their post-game comments, either, as they are professionals who know that being blown out in embarrassing fashion is sometimes a part of the game.

“Ovechkin makes things happen,” said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. “If you play the game in a deer-in-the-headlights kind of mode against him, you’re probably going to get run over.”

“We gave him too much time and too much space,” said Jamal Mayers. “He’s one of the most dominant players in the league and if you give him that much time, he’s going to make a play, and we made him look good.”

When will Don Cherry accept that the nature of hockey has changed since he was a relatively unsuccessful player and a pretty mediocre coach? While there’s no questioning his passion for the game, one has to wonder if his zeal is as inclusive as it could be to hockey’s changing tide. Like stale Republicans in the United States, Cherry’s desire to hide behind an outmoded branch of hockey is starting to get embarrassing.

And more critics, like Fleury, are coming out of the woodwork. Canada’s hockey fans and players used to unite behind Cherry, but that, like the game itself, is undergoing the natural buckles of change.

While his criticism of the concept of “running up the score” has its merits in his promotion of humility, it seems to me that his preaching of the ideology of humbleness while wearing an obnoxious suit and advocating a violent, Wild West-ish code of “ethics” in hockey with a booming voice and an inability to listen to his “co-star” is starting to ring a little hollow.

There is a place in hockey for humility, to be sure. But Don Cherry simply doesn’t know where that place is anymore.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Washington’s Alex Ovechkin was suspended for two games on Tuesday following a knee-on-knee hit during Monday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. The hit was to Tim Gleason of the Hurricanes and it managed to take out both players, with Ovie getting the worst of it.

The Capitals announced that Ovechkin was day-to-day following the hit, but the suspension handed down by the league will keep him out of action for at least a pair of games. This marks Ovechkin’s first suspension and some analysts are wondering why it didn’t come sooner.

Ovechkin was ejected from the game on Monday, receiving a five-minute major for kneeing and a misconduct. The ejection marked his second in three games, highlighting the rougher side of one of the league’s most talented players.

The incident with Gleason is far from the only one spotting Ovechkin’s record as a player who often walks the line between rough and dirty play. One doesn’t have to reach too far back in the manual to see incidents that find Ovie taking liberties. October saw an incident with Atlanta’s Rich Peverley and a slew-foot that cost No. 8 $2,500. And Tampa’s Jamie Heward still hasn’t played since Ovechkin sent him head-first into the boards last January.

Last Wednesday, Buffalo’s Patrick Kaleta was the victim of another borderline Ovechkin play that saw Alex get ejected after sending Kaleta face-first into the wall.

But is this just par for the course for a player that skates and performers at 100% each and every shift? With Ovie skating as hard and fast as he does, isn’t a little rough play to be expected?

There’s no “proof” that Ovechkin deliberately stuck out his knee on Gleason, as the Canes player clearly was trying to avoid the check. To play the devil’s advocate here, contact damn sure could have been incidental. The Kaleta hit, too, could have been the result of Ovechkin’s hard and fast style of playing. He was clearly aiming for the player’s shoulder when making the hit.

In the end, it may not matter whether Alex Ovechkin is a rough or dirty player. As a superstar, he’s bound to get preferential treatment from a league that needs players like him to sell the game. The truth is that he is an impact player and he leaves it all on the ice in exciting, fast-paced fashion. He is far from a consistently dangerous player, but there are more than enough sore spots on his resume thus far to warrant a second or third look.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

After missing six games with an upper body injury, two-time MVP Alex Ovechkin looks to be set to return to the Washington Capitals lineup on Tuesday when the team laces skates against the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden.

“I feel pretty good, excited and ready to get in,” Ovechkin said.

Ovechkin skated in Monday’s practice, playing on his usual line with Nicklas Backstrom and Chris Clark. He participated in every single drill during the hour long skate and looked to be putting forth maximum effort, a sure sign that he’s ready to roll.

Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau told reporters that “As of today, he’s in.”

The Capitals will certainly benefit from his return to the lineup, as any team would. Ovie’s posted 14 goals and nine assists so far this season before suffering an upper body injury in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets back on November 1.

His Capitals are still in good shape, thankfully, leading the Southeast Division and going four for six since he went down.

“Let’s be serious, people come out to see Ovie and every time he touches the puck they expect to see something spectacular. There is an energy in the building and most times he delivers,” said Brendan Morrison, who’d been playing in Ovechkin’s spot.

One thing that may change for the Capitals with his return is the squad’s power play configuration. Ovechkin, at least in practice, was shuffled down in to the slot position with Morrison taking Ovie’s familiar spot on the point. Boudreau seems game to try that out, at least for now, and is looking forward to the challenge of mixing things up.

“You’re trying to do different things because you knew he was coming back eventually and you knew what the story would be, ‘Well, the power play is going so well so where do you put Alex?’ ” Boudreau said. “We’re practicing different stuff and we’ll see what the best situation is for him. The options are good.”

With the return of one of the NHL’s best players to the lineup, it certainly bears repeating for Washington fans: the options are certainly very, very good.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

It’s looking like veteran center Michael Nylander is gearing up to spend the rest of the 2009-2010 season in the KHL, joining a number of NHLers making the jump to the Russian league.

There is, of course, no future for Nylander within the Washington Capitals organization and GM George McPhee hasn’t exactly been subtle about the possibility that Nylander might be on the move elsewhere. He hasn’t dressed for the Caps at all this season and spent time with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL on a conditioning stint. Nylander cleared waivers on Monday and is now free to move about the cabin.

There has been no effort to trade Nylander, McPhee has said, and all signs point to his departure from the NHL for at least the remainder of this season. He is expected to sign with Dynamo Minsk, a club that boasts other former NHLers including Ossi Väänänen, Byron Ritchie, Ville Peltonen, and Duvie Westcott.

“We just thought it wasn’t a good fit,” Boudreau said,” Without going into it too much, we just didn’t think this year was a good fit for Mike. We’re hoping… if he gets picked up that’s great for him, if not, we’ll deal with that.”

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

The status on superstar forward Alex Ovechkin has changed quite a bit over the last couple of days, going from day-to-day to week-to-week to “hopefully it’s no more than two days.”

By all accounts, it looks as though the Washington Capital and two-time NHL MVP is suffering from the worst injury of his young career so far. He is suffering from what is being called an “upper body strain” and didn’t practice Tuesday. He did, however, talk to reporters in the dressing room and was pretty mum about the whole thing.

“Sometimes players have injuries,” he said. “Every player gets hurt. I’m lucky I don’t have nothing broken. It’s just…something. You think I’m going to tell right now?”

Secrecy is the name of the game when it comes to an injury to one of the best players in the sport, so it’s no surprise that it was hard to get any real information of substance out of the Capitals camp.

Luckily for the Capitals, they’re looking good with a comfortable lead in the Southeast Division and are a club with a lot of confidence right now.

“I think we can pick up the slack,” said captain Chris Clark. “We have a really good team and we’ll be able to show that to everybody else now. There’s been games where he hasn’t scored and we’ve won, but he does take a lot of focus on the ice.”

As for when or how he was injured, Ovechkin wasn’t too sure about that. There are some theories that it occurred during a scrum in the second period of Washington’s loss to Columbus, but nobody was saying for sure.

Regardless, Ovie has no plans on sitting at home while his team goes on the road. “Take some nachos, take some Coke, and enjoy the game. Hope the guys are going to win,” he said. “I don’t want to stay at home and watch the game at home. I want to travel and I want to be a part of the team, too.”

Posted by Jordan Richardson.