A closer look at the Caps’ first loss of the 2009-10 season, by the numbers:

11 – goals combined for two teams that have been promising better defense

5 – goals for Ovechkin through 3 games
5 – goals for Richards through 3 games
0 – times anyone on the broadcast mentioned the possibility of a 70-goal season for Richards (hmm, odd…)

6:28 – amount of PK time for Poti
4:32 – amount of PK time for Erskine
3:54 – amount of PK time for Green

3 – number of Flyer PP goals scored while Poti was on the ice
3 – number of Flyer PP goals scored while Erskine was on the ice
0 – number of Flyer PP goals scored while Green was on the ice

7 – faceoffs between Backstrom and Richards
0 – faceoffs between Backstrom and Richards that were won by Backstrom

4 – blocked shots for Jeff Schultz
3 – blocked shots for the rest of the Caps’ defense

12:41 – amount of power play time for the Flyers
6 – Caps with less than 20 seconds of ice time shorthanded (Ovechkin, Morrison, Clark, Semin, Backstrom, Kane)

10 – points by defensemen from both teams
4 – assists for defenseman Matt Carle in the second period

4 – giveaways apiece for “shutdown” defensemen Pronger and Coburn

1:06 – amount of power play time for the Caps in OT
0 – number of shots taken by the Caps during OT power play
1 – total number of shots taken by the Caps during OT

.853 – save % for the Caps’ goaltenders (.840 for Varlamov alone)
.857 – combined save % for all three goaltenders

63:52 – length of the game
41:51 – total amount of even strength time

1 – number of goaltender interference penalties called
0 – number of legitimate goaltender interference penalties called
2 – number of useless referees on the ice

Considering it’s only the third game of the year, saying this was the strangest game of the season doesn’t quite have the weight it should – but that was one strange, odd, batsh*t crazy circus of a game. Breaking it down:

- Now, I’m not an officiating expert. I haven’t studied the rule book from front to back (although after tonight, I might). So someone might need to explain to me how being checked into the goaltender – and then being checked by said goaltender – equates to goaltender interference. Color me confused.

- So this was supposed to be an epic battle of wills between the Caps’ high-flying offense versus the Flyers’ big, slow, reworked defense. I guess half of that was right.

- A typically schizophrenic game for Alexander Semin, who had two nice goals as well as a hooking minor and a few bad turnovers. Still, was Semin’s goal a thing of ridiculous beauty or what? The kid’s got sick hands.

- Also with a pair of sick hands – Nicklas Backstrom, who picked up three more assists to round out his early season totals to a gaudy 8 points. In three games. That would be downright stunning if some guy named Ovechkin didn’t already have 9 points.

- With the parade to the penalty box in the second and third, this game had very little flow – and really, very few of those calls (for either team) were blatant or dangerous in any way. When the teams were allowed to play 5 on 5, though, it was highly entertaining, which is frustrating because that time was so short. Sometimes the referees really just need to put the whistles away, not make themselves the story and let the boys play.

- Poetic justice in this game would have been Ovechkin getting the OT winner to complete the hat trick as the Philly faithful booed him off the ice. Or Tom Poti scoring one in the correct net to erase two karmic debts against Philly. Or Knuble coming back to his old barn and getting the winner for the right team this time. It is NOT Briere getting the GWG on his birthday. Ew.

- Speaking of that goal…John Erskine is 6′4″, 220 pounds; Danny Briere is 5′10″ (HA!), 184 pounds. In the future, it might do Erskine good to remember the difference in height and weight between himself and the Magical Spearing Midget. You know, just in case playing the body on Briere might have made a difference.

- Morrison’s goal was a great example of what the team in general needed to do more of in the game and what they need to do more of in general – crashing the net. Good things happen when you go to the net, and Morrison’s goal was just as much about being in the right place and being aggressive as it was about skill.

- Next time the Caps play the Flyers, the Care Bear line should be nowhere to be found. Yes, they had almost all of the offense for the night – but they also were trying to be a little too cute against a Flyers defense that wasn’t biting and could have had more chances (or prevented others) had they focused. Surprising that Boudreau didn’t break them up and throw Knuble or Laich out there on occasion.

- I don’t care how bogus some of those calls were – nine penalties in a game is not okay, not against a team with a power play almost as vicious as the Caps. Actually, it’s not okay against any team. Ever.

- Game 3 and still no sign of Varlamov grabbing hold of the starter’s job with both hands just yet. And you know what? That’s okay. He’s 21 and will hopefully get there someday – and in the meantime, Theodore’s played great and was very solid coming in to relieve Varly.

- Chris Clark was very good tonight, when allowed to play; not really sure why he had just over eleven minutes of ice time, and exactly zero time on the penalty kill. It’s not like there wasn’t plenty of PK time to go around…

- Poti and Erskine were on the ice for 5 of the 6 Philadelphia goals, including the game-winner. Ouch. Rough night for those two, who alternated blame on a lot of those goals against.

- Quite the opposite for a couple of other blueliners, however; Morrisonn continues to very quietly have a great start to the season, while Schultz was big, well-positioned and even a little physical in his first regular season game.

The rule of thumb when playing on the road is generally to play for the point in regulation and then steal the extra point if possible – and technically the Caps did that, picking up their 5th point in 6 games and continuing to score goals at a furious pace. Still, this was two points they could have potentially had if they’d just played a little tighter.

Lessons learned. Only three games in, this is the time to learn them.

Bobby Clarke’s kind of a tool.

From The Hockey News:

“We were allowed to spend the money, we always tried to win,” Clarke said. “We didn’t do what Pittsburgh did; lose seven years in a row so they could get good. They did it twice, in fact. They went through six or seven different owners. We’ve had one owner.”

Clarke finds the strategies of some current teams appalling when considering the way other organizations have built competitive teams.

“It’s somewhat embarrassing that three of the last teams (in the 2009 playoffs) missed the playoffs six or seven years in a row; Washington, Chicago, and Pittsburgh,” he said. “Now they’re good and the teams that try to win all the time get penalized. Our philosophy has never changed since 1967.”

Sure…because that whole rebuilding, growing your own talent, developing chemistry thing is overrated. All the Penguins and Wings have to show for it is a handful of Cup rings over the last two decades. All Washington and Chicago have done is suffer for a few years so they could become teams that are considered contenders.

This isn’t baseball, you can’t buy championships in the NHL; and if you could, it seems that being able to draft high when you’re bad would serve as some sort of balance for those teams who, unlike the Flyers, maybe don’t have owners with pockets that run as deep.

(Of course, lest we forget that one of the worst seasons in Flyers’ history was just a few years ago and resulted in Philly snagging a very promising #2 pick, James Van Riemsdyk.)

But no, Clarke’s right. That “spend until you can’t spend anymore” philosophy’s working really, really well for the Flyers. 1975, was it?

Yeah. Keep talking, Bobby.

Update: And of course just as this is posted the Flyers do what they’ve been hinting at doing for the last few days and sign UFA defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefson. Salary cap? What salary cap?

It’s a lovely spring day, isn’t it? Perfect for a little pre-playoff excitement! Eleven games on the docket, ten of which will impact where teams will be seeded, who they’ll face or if they’ll even be getting to the playoffs at all, means tonight is a pretty thrilling night if you’re a hockey fan.

Except for that eleventh game; sorry, Stars-Avs – we’re just not that into you.

Here’s what could happen, just in the East:
- If the Hurricanes win and the Flyers lose, Carolina jumps into 4th place (although Philly still has a game in hand)
- If the Devils lose and the Flyers win the Atlantic Division race gets a little more interesting, as Philly pulls to within three points with two games left
- If the Devils lose, whether in regulation or in overtime, the Caps clinch 2nd seed
- If the Caps gain just one point, regardless of what the Devils do, they clinch the 2nd seed
- If the Hurricanes lose and the Penguins win, they’d be tied for 5th with one game remaining
- If the Hurricanes AND Flyers lose and the Penguins win, there would be three teams tied with 97 points (although again, Philly has that pesky game in hand on both)
- If the Penguins win they cannot finish lower than 6th
- If the Canadiens get at least a point they clinch a playoff spot
- If the Caps clinch second, the Canadiens win and the Rangers lose, the Caps will play the Habs in the first round
- If the Canadiens lose in regulation and the Rangers lose in overtime or the shootout, they’d each have 92 points, 41 wins…and one game left for all the marbles (or…8th place, whatever)
- If Florida loses they’re out; if Buffalo loses they’re out – of course when your playoff hopes are riding on the Canadiens and Rangers both losing, that optimism will tend to kick in
- If the Rangers lose and the Panthers win, they’ll be tied with 91 points apiece and one game left for each; the Rangers would have to lose both their games for Florida to have a shot
- And all of this means that depending on what happens tonight, Saturday and Sunday night could be either the most insanely intense night of hockey, scoreboard-watching and standings-hopping…or the most frustratingly pointless night of hockey ever.

…anyone dizzy yet?

Here’s the good news: the Caps are in the playoffs regardless. They’re the division champs regardless. They’ll be a second or third seed regardless. They’ll have home ice in the first round regardless. Life is good – enjoy your hockey tonight, folks! Have a fourth cup of wine for me.

With Donald Brashear out of the lineup tonight, there are some questions floating around as to whether the Caps are tough enough to face a very physical Flyers team.

To which I have to say…so what?

Even with Brashear in the lineup, there’s still a lack of so-called “enforcers” on the Caps. You have Matt Bradley, who was pretty banged up after a run-in with Jordin Tootoo’s helmet and therefore probably wouldn’t be fighting much. There’s John Erskine, who has always been pretty good at using his fists when necessary – but we also need him to play defense. You know, just for funsies.

Beyond that, all we’re left with is skill.

Gosh darn it.

If the Caps are going to hold their own against the Flyers, and I fully believe they can, they’ll have to return to the form that got them back into the series last April. That basically equates to what they’ve referred to as team toughness – everyone plays physical, and the rest is up to the skill.

Riley Cote averages 4:23 of ice time per game – that’s the 844th lowest ice time in the entire league (out of 856 players). It’s also the second lowest total behind Pittsburgh’s Eric Godard for ice time among any player who has played over half this season’s games. His 155 penalty minutes, fourth most in the league, are equal to more than half of his ice time for the entire year.

In other words, he ain’t out there to score goals.

And neither is his new teammate, Daniel Carcillo, who leads the league in penalty minutes with 195.

And neither is Arron Asham, 10th highest PIMs in the league – although he did a good impression of it the last time these two teams met.

On the flip side, playing physical for the Caps doesn’t mean taking away offensive talent (or…talent in general). Ovechkin can hit. Jurcina and Morrisonn and even Green have been picking up their physical games lately. Backstrom is actually learning to hit, which still cracks me up. Hey, even Semin has laid out a big body check from time to time – and he was exceptionally scrappy during the playoffs last year.

…anyone else get the feeling special teams will again be a big factor tonight?

But more than that is the fact that the Caps still have the speed and transition game to match and even top the speed and transition game of those players who do provide the skill for the Flyers. All four lines have some element of quickness to them, the ability to maneuver with the puck and without and the ability to win the battles along the boards.

Now if we could just get someone to park their rear in front of the net…

Well, it wasn’t for lack of chances that the Caps failed to get two points last night. It wasn’t because of shoddy goalies or lack of firepower or power play opportunities. It wasn’t because the Flyers were getting spectacular goaltending. It wasn’t even because of the parade to the penalty box (although let’s not kid ourselves, getting more minor penalties than the Flyers isn’t exactly good).

In fact, save for that three minute span in the third period, this one could go into the books as a win.

Instead it is now the third straight game in which the Caps have dominated the Flyers for a significant length of time – fifth or sixth if you count back to the playoffs – only to see a lead evaporate or watch the momentum inexplicably swing Philly’s way. Sometimes they’ve gotten away with it; yesterday they weren’t so lucky.

Four or five breakaways. Numerous power play opportunities. No Timonen. A Flyers power play that was less than stellar. Multiple chances for the Caps while shorthanded. A 2-0 lead.

…but I can see why a win was hard to come by. Sure. Makes sense.

Assorted goodies before shoving this one into the trash can:
- After the first period Craig Laughlin was commenting on how great it was that Mike Green had already racked up about 10 minutes of ice time, gushing about how he’s “tireless”. Am I the only one who cringed knowing Green was on pace for a 30 minute outing? Too much ice time against a fast, physical opponent – I don’t care how young and energetic he is, by the end of the game Green was dragging.

- Someone should hire an exterminator – I think there’s something living in Hartnell’s hair.

- If nothing else, last night’s game reminds us once again just how important Viktor Kozlov (or someone like him) is to the Caps’ success. To all those out there who say that anyone would score points on a line with Ovechkin and Backstrom, you just have to look at the failed experiments from this year alone – Nylander, Fehr, Nylander, Laich…Nylander…

- Speaking of Nylander, last night was the final straw for me. No movement clause or not, GMGM has got to find a way to ship him out. And it’s not because he isn’t talented or wouldn’t be an asset to another team – he just doesn’t mesh well with this one. Players disappear when they’re on a line with him, and that’s not exactly what the Caps need right now (or ever).

- Maybe I’m just jaded from years of watching Kolzig rear back and absolutely deck guys who infiltrated his crease, I don’t know. But I thought that roughing call on Theodore was more than a little lame.

- And if you want to talk lame calls, the cross-checking minor on Semin with about twenty seconds left in the game was pretty ridiculous.

- On a positive note, the Caps limited the Flyers to a 5-on-3 power play goal and actually out-Flyered them at times, getting a few golden opportunities of their own on the penalty kill.

- On a negative note, it really was playing with fire to take that many penalties in the first place. While the penalty killers did do a good job overall and penalties weren’t the reason this game ended as a loss, it was only because Philly looked a little disorganized with the extra man that the Caps emerged relatively unscathed.

- Others have said it already, but…Arron Asham? Seriously?? In the past I’ve called Jeff Schultz out for not playing physical enough – that doesn’t mean that Schultz needs to hit as much as someone like Brashear or Ovechkin, mind you. I’m aware that’s not his game. You just can’t tell me that laying a shoulder into someone like Asham stops that from being a goal; the height differential alone is almost an entire Briere, for gosh sakes.

- Boudreau made a comment about sending a message for taking too many penalties, indicating that someone (or a few someones) might be taking a seat for a game or two. Should we take bets as to who is first in line?

- Yeesh. Two whiny, diving Pennsylvania captains in the span of three days is just a lot to take.