Caps 2, New York Rangers 0
Give credit where credit is due. Caps goalie Jose Theodore wants to again be the team’s starter when the Stanley Cup playoffs begin next month. For the second time in three games since the team returned from the Olympics break he provided a compelling case. Theodore stopped all 30 shots the Rangers threw his way on Saturday night and finished with his first shutout since March 17, 2009. New York’s putrid offense didn’t challenge Theodore consistently. But when the Rangers generated some quality chances he was there. Heck, he was there when his own defenseman gave New York quality opportunities. Shaone Morrisonn’s second-period turnover should have been an easy mark for New York. But Theodore’s pad stop on Brandon Dubinsky bailed Morrisonn and the Caps out. You can maybe blame rookie defenseman John Carlson for abandoning his post on that one, too. He was the intended target of the pass. Theodore played well on Wednesday against Buffalo on the road with 23 saves. And rookie Semyon Varlamov was just okay on Thursday in a 5-4 win over Tampa Bay. Since Jan. 13 Theodore is 12-0-2 with a 2.38 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.
“Right now – the last month – I feel good,” Theodore said. “You just want to have that stretch when it counts.”
It was the 29th shutout of Theodore’s career. He is 22-7-6 on the season and hasn’t lost a game in regulation since Jan. 12. He has stopped 53 of the last 54 shots against him. The Caps have three shutouts on the season.
Added coach Bruce Boudreau: “I thought he was great. I thought he was by far our best player. Any time they were putting pressure on us Jose would get it and he would stop it and he would not let a rebound go tonight. And that’s, I think, the key to his game. He’s brimming with confidence and we hope he can keep it.”
So the Caps have won all three games since returning from the break. At 44-13-8, 96 points they are 14 points ahead of the Penguins for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race and would need a complete meltdown at this point to miss home-ice advantage at least until the Stanley Cup finals – if they made it that far, of course. The 13-game unbeaten streak at home is t he longest in franchise history and ties the 2006-07 Detroit Red Wings for the second-longest home winning in the NHL since 1994-95. A day off Sunday leads into Monday’s home game against the Dallas Stars as this season-long five-game homestand continues.
Game Notes
» Caps defenseman Joe Corvo had an assist on Eric Fehr’s first-period goal. That is his first since Wednesday’s trade from Carolina. All three trade acquisitions who are healthy – excluding defenseman Milan Jurcina (sports hernia) – have registered at least one point in the last two games. Eric Belanger scored a goal in the second-period for his first point and Scott Walker scored two goals on Thursday.
» F Brooks Laich assisted on Belanger’s goal and is two assists shy of his single-season high (30) and 100 for his career. Laich has eight points in his last six games.
» Belanger earned the hard hat for his performance – a goal on two shots with two blocked shots at the defensive end. He also won five of nine faceoff attempts after struggling in that category on Thursday vs. Tampa Bay.
Notable Quotable
Caps defenseman Joe Corvo on his second game with Washington
“I think this game I was a little bit more relaxed and just more aware of everything that was going on around me rather than being nervous and tight.”
Rangers forward Ryan Callahan on the Caps
“That’s a good team over there. It’s tough to get moving against them in the neutral zone. You don’t want to turn pucks over with the offense they have. That’s what they rely on is clogging up the neutral zone and going back the other way. For the most part I thought we got pucks deep, but unfortunately we didn’t put some pucks in the net.”
Rangers coach John Tortorella
“We had a 2-on-0 and we didn’t even get it to the net. The [Caps] didn’t fill us with scoring chances. When they had chances they scored. We have to find a way when we have opportunities to at least get a shot on the net. We struggled with that tonight.”
