You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him

Per Japer's Rink: Matt Bradley has scored at least one goal in more games since Oct. 8 than Alex Semin has.

So he spreads out his awesomeness while Semin shoots his ... whoops ... not going there.

Oh and you all know Daniel Carcillo didn't knock him out, right? It was a dive. In that split second when Carcillo was drawing back for the punch, Professor Bradley quickly calculated that if he acted like he got knocked out, he could induce 9 minutes of power-play time for the Capitals, and that Carcillo would be tossed from the game so nobody would have to look at his bad facial hair any more.

New uniforms for old friends

Alex Semin stinks

There was some kind of smell in the Verizon Center last night. Now we know what it was.

Separated at birth

Actor Jay Baruchel and Michal Neuvirth. Betcha Jay couldn't beat Ryan Miller and Martin Brodeur in back-to-back games, though.

I think Neuvy looks more like Volkswagen TDI Cup racing driver AJ Nealey:



I also think AJ should make an appearance at a Caps game (and they should put his name on the VW Cup car on display on the 4th level).

You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him

Matt Bradley boldly predictated before the season that he would score 10 goals. His career high is 9 his second season in San Jose. His rifle shot Phil Niekro knuckleball against Martin Brodeur last night was his 7th of the season, and the Capitals aren't even at the halfway point yet.

Russian Tickle Machine and Smell the Glove

CapitaLOLs welcomes two contributions from Clyde:



I wonder what Don Cherry's thoughts are of the Russian Tickle Machine. ???



Rivet must not be a Spinal Tap fan.

Merry Holidays!

Photo from the Army's photostream on Flickr.

Between the legs, over Ryan Miller, nothing but net

And in case you missed it or want to watch it again and again and again:

Apparently, B-Mo learned his lesson from a couple weeks ago:

Nick Backstrom, hottie

Separated at birth

On the left, GMGM (aka Capitals General Manager George McPhee), on the right, Arturs Irbe, Capitals goalie coach.

The next one is a little obscure ...



On the left, Capitals winger Alexander Semin, on the right is Jay Ferguson, the rhythm guitarist (and occasional bass player) for Canadian band Sloan. A lot of people in America have never heard of Alex Semin Sloan, but I've been listening to them for 15+ years, and the first time I saw Semin, I thought, "Hey, it's Jay Ferguson!" (Actually, Jay is a shrinky dink version of Jizz Sasha.)

Jay and the rest of Sloan are from Nova Scotia, as is you-know-who. But listening to Sloan doesn't make me grit my teeth and want to gouge out their eyeballs, unlike you-know-who.

And FWIW, this would make a great pre-game/intermission intro at a Caps game:


Here's one that's more hockey relevant:



Alexandre Giroux of the Washington Capitals Hershey Bears and Patrick Sharp of the Chicago Blackhawks. Which one is which? Just look at their NHL stats to tell the difference.

Hugging match

The game was interrupted briefly in the second period when Capt. Chris Clark and Steve Staois got into an argument over who could hug the hardest.

Smooth laich glass

Get it? Glass? Tanner Glass. OK, how about this:

Thankfully only laich five people read this crap.

Anyway, that's probably the weirdest assist by a Capital this season. It tops Philly a couple weeks ago where Eric Fehr had a broken stick assist (as he turned to skate toward the bench to get a new stick).

Chocolate flavored Canuck

I'm on a roll now.

Hey, I could have said "laich semin."

Rock paper scissors

At one point in this morning's last night's game, Mike Green and Shaone Morrisonn were both out due to injury, and John Erskine and Tom Poti were in the penalty box. That left the Capitals with two defensemen. Here, Steckel and Bradley do "Rock-paper-scissors" for who gets to play defense next:



Weird, though, Steckel was calling it "Koci-paper-scissors."

Matt Bradley's revealing interview

Smokin' Al Koken interviewed Matt Bradley after the second period of the Dec. 11 Caps-Canes game after Alexander Semin had tied the game up with two second-period goals. Listen very carefully to the beginning (the audio is out of sync), and Brads reveals what Semin's nickname on the the team is.

On the lam

Well, there was a mugging in Toronto Saturday night.

Off day

On non-game days when Coach Boudreau doesn't hold practice, the Capitals players watch game film. When Coach Boudreau leaves the room, they watch something else.

Mite on ice

Nathan Gerbe is listed at 5'6". Danny Briere is listed at 5'10". One of them is lying. Possibly both.

Everyday is a bad hair day

Former Capital Brendan Witt warming up prior to last night's Flyers game. The Islanders lost, Witt didn't have a shot on goal, he was called for a minor penalty, and his hair was whistled twice for being offsides. However, he was undefeated against SUVs

.

A tender moment from Tampa

Edit two days later: Varlamov is out with a "lower body injury" ... speculation is that it came on this play (in which Malone wasn't called for a penalty).

Yahoo fail

Screen shot from Yahoo over Thanksgiving weekend. Not only was Knuble on injured reserve, he, duh, no longer played for the Flyers.

The year so far

Steckel scores ... and Sasha wants in.

I've been rocking the red for quite a while. Vote Ndamukong Suh for Heisman!

Oldies from the 2008-2009 season

One of mine that appeared at nhlol, for you Karate Kid fans.


Ovechkin's The Goal II, another one that appeared at nhlol.


Comedy doesn't happen just when the Caps are playing.




Again, I'm an equal opportunity offender.


That humanitarian Brooks Orpik is nice enough to get his competitors presents in the playoffs. What a nice feller. In the Ovechkin-Crosby hat trick game, he gave Varlamov a cross-check upside the head. Edit: Thanks to a reader for pointing it out (sorry I mistakenly deleted your comment), I got my cheap-shot-artist Pens mixed up. It was Chris Kunitz that cross-checked Varly upside the head.


I was at the game for the famous Semin-M.Staal bout, and I didn't notice until I got home to watch the game on DVR that Sasha had 3-4 gold chains under his jersey. I imagined that's what Michal Rozsival was trying to point that out to Mike Green?